| Elected! |
[Nov. 11th, 2009|09:27 am] |
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On Monday night, I was elected Worshipful Master of Federal Lodge #1, for the 2010 Masonic year. Installation will be Monday, December 14th beginning at 6:00pm at the Belmont Mansion in Washington DC. Leave a comment if you'd like an invite! |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 9th, 2009|02:25 pm] |
Full story
"Maclaren recalls 1 million strollersStroller maker says its umbrella strollers have resulted in the amputation of 12 children's fingertips."
Is that an unspecified number of fingertips from 12 children, or a 12 fingertips from an unspecified number of children? Shoddy reporting, CNN... Very shoddy.
I also just came up with an idea for a great new invention: The guillotine-stroller!
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| Green |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|04:42 pm] |
My office building is a green building. This means it's supposed to be energy efficient and have a low carbon footprint. One of the ways they (try to) achieve this goal is by not having any light switches. Instead, every light is connected to a motion sensor with an "off" button. If you turn the motion sensor off, the light won't turn on. If you turn the motion sensor on, the light will only turn on when the sensor thinks someone is in the room.
Even the bathrooms have motion sensors on the lights. The sensors in the bathroom must be on pretty long timers, though, because they've never gone off while I've been sitting in a stall, hidden from the sensor. In contrast, the lights in my office go off a few times a day, if I don't move around at my desk enough.
I can tell when it's quitting time, because lights in the bathroom actually have a chance to turn off. Usually this happens around 5. Today must be a Friday, because they were off by 3:30.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to stand up and wave my arms around - the lights in my office just went off. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|06:29 pm] |
Stolen (sort of) from CNN:
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 24th, 2009|07:40 pm] |
Stole from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) browstein who MUST respond.
The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.
Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you. |
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| Weekly Dose of Dialogue: Marriage (Addendum) |
[Oct. 21st, 2009|07:01 pm] |
ren_flora raised an interesting point or two in my previous post about marriage.
(1) Is marriage a religious or secular institution, or both? I believe it is both. Rather, I believe there are both religious and secular (civil) marriages.
(2) In so far as marriage is a religious institution, does the State have any place requiring religious organizations to perform marriage according to State mandates? I believe it does not.
The State can say that (secular) marriage licenses must be granted to any pair of consenting adults such that no such license will be granted to an individual already in possession of a valid license, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. etc. etc. However, it cannot require that your friend the clergyman perform the ceremony. Neither can it prohibit a Church from recognizing polygamous marriage, marriage between an adult and a minor, etc, though it does not have to recognize every marriage recognized by a Church.
If you want to be married in the eyes of the State, you must meet the State's requirements and no others. Meeting other requirements is fine, but not mandatory.
If you want to be married in the eyes of God, you must meet God's requirements and no others. Meeting other requirements is fine, but not mandatory.
It is perfectly valid to be married in the eyes of one but not the other.
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| Weekly Dose of Dialogue: Marriage |
[Oct. 19th, 2009|03:15 pm] |
Two newlyweds are fighting for the dismissal of the justice of the peace who refused them a marriage license because they are of different races. Full story on CNN.com.
If you change race to gender/sexuality, does this story arouse the same response from the government? From the public? Within the past century (or even within the past 50 years?) the country's stance on inter-racial marriage has gone from a point where this story would be "nothing new", to where we are today, where it is the exception, rather than the rule. Will same-sex marriage make the same transition? Where are we in the process? |
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| Weekly Dose of Dialogue: Work Stress |
[Oct. 7th, 2009|01:36 pm] |
Wow, last post got a decent number of comments fairly quickly, so while I'll be continuing dialogue there, I thought I would post another one.
5 ways to cut work stress from CNN.com
Are the five 'simple' steps listed in this article realistic, particularly in the current job market? When jobs are plentiful and qualified workers are scarce (for example the unemployment rate in this region had dropped below 3% at one point) it's relatively simple to cut work stress, because an employer would rather keep their employees than risk not being able to find new ones. When jobs are scarce, though, and employers get to pick and choose among the most qualified candidates for a position, is it safe to try to push back against job-related stress?
1. Clearly articulate your expectations.
This one should be a no-brainer. Open lines of communication are important in any social or professional relationship. Though this bullet in the article is more oriented towards managers, I think it's equally valid throughout the entire employment chain. By communicating to your boss what support you expect from them so that you can do your job, as well as what you believe is expected of you, stress caused by misunderstanding of responsibilities can be reduced.
2. At the end of each meeting, ask someone to sum up what's been said and who is going to do what.
This goes with point #1 - communication. This bullet is really a more specific way of improving lines of communication. Just be careful that at the end of a long meeting you don't drag people into re-hashing what's already been discussed, and instead just provide a non-conversational summary of action items.
3. Put a cap on hours
This is probably the most challenging one to accomplish, in a job-scarce economy. It's hard to convince your employer to let you stick to a 40 hour week, when other people are willing to 50, 60, or even longer weeks because at least it means a steady paycheck. Pay scales in the US are based on a 40-hour work week, and if you're working more than that you're effectively taking a pay cut. It may be worth it in order to keep your job, but it can also burn you out if it goes on for too long. And when the 50 hour week becomes the accepted standard, it just makes it that much easier to push for "just another hour a day", then "just one more" and now you're at 60...
4. Schedule some downtime each week.
Wait, isn't that what weekends are for? Of course right now a lot of people I know are being forced (expected?) to work weekends, so maybe downtime is something that does need to be scheduled. How do you make sure you have enough "me" time, with so many professional and social demands on your time?
5. Help people set realistic priorities.
Remarkably, even writing down your list of priorities can help accomplish them. If you're being pulled in so many different directions you don't know what you're doing from one moment to the next, it's hard to get any of it done. By setting priorities, when you're lost you can go back and refer to the list to see what you need to focus on next.
What are your thoughts? Do you have any other techniques for cutting work-related stress? I'd like to hear from managers as well as workers. |
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| Weekly Dose of Dialogue: Overdraft fees |
[Oct. 7th, 2009|10:08 am] |
I'd like to start doing a semi-regular open discussion on topics I find interesting when reading online news. Some of these topics may be contentious and strongly emotional, though I hope to avoid those topics as much as possible. Today's topic, I think, won't be one of those.
Congress is riled up - Overdraft fees on CNN.com
How do you feel about overdraft fees? Have you been hit by these fees in the past? Was it 'fair' (e.g. you legitimately over-spent your account) or 'unfair' (e.g. bank processed a debit before a credit, even though the credit should have been processed first)? Are the fees reasonable? Is the IDEA of an overdraft fee reasonable?
Here's my thoughts.
Bank customers should not automatically be signed up for overdraft protection - any more than they should automatically be signed up for a credit card. Overdraft protection is a form of credit, and carries with it an obligation for repayment. A consumer should always enter that obligation knowingly and willingly.
When a bank customer signs up for overdraft protection, the fees should be disclosed clearly and completely, in advance. The customer then enters into the arrangement with full knowledge of what the expense will be, and can choose whether or not to incur that expense. If a bank wants to charge its customers $100 per overdraft transaction, that's fine with me, because they are under no obligation to provide that service at all, nor is a customer under any obligation to avail themselves of it.
However, I think overdraft fees should be based on the amount of the overdraft. It is certainly usurious to charge $100 (or $35 to use a more realistic example) for a $1 overdraft - 3500% interest? No thanks! Perhaps banks should instead charge a percentage (potentially with a minimum interest charge), as credit card companies do. In fact, if you have a credit card issued by the same bank as the account that goes into overdraft, they could even 'automatically' transfer the overdraft amount onto your credit card as a cash advance (if you sign up for that service.)
When processing transactions, banks should at the very least process them in the order they are made. If you deposit a large check that takes a few days to clear, and in the meantime draw on those funds in an amount that, prior to the check clearing, would cause an overdraft, the bank should refund that overdraft charge once the check clears - but keep the charge if the check fails to clear. A 'kinder' bank could even go so far as to process transactions in the order most favorable to the customer - for example, process all credits on a given day before processing any debits for that day, or process debits from smallest to largest to reduce the number of overdraft transactions even though the total dollar amount remains the same. Of course, if the overdraft fee is a percentage rather than a fixed amount, the number of transactions doesn't really matter anymore.
I've only had an overdraft fee once - and it was totally my fault.
What are your thoughts? What's your story? |
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| It's all about to change |
[Oct. 3rd, 2009|03:13 am] |
It's the same thing, the same dream every time
You're running in a straight line, speeding through the light
And you're stronger than you've ever been
In a place you've never seen and everything is right
Something's calling
Something's haunting you
And you want it
And you want it
It's all about to change
Nothing stays the same
It's getting closer every single day
It's all about to change
It'll never be the same
Any day now, you will start again
And you wake up, stranger to your bed
But science tells your head
That nothing looks the same in the light
And your day's spent looking for the dream
Is it going to come again?
Could anything be so bright?
Hear it calling
All day long
And you want it
And you want it
It's all about to change
Nothing stays the same
It's getting closer every single day
It's all about to change
It'll never be the same
Any day now, you will start again
Don't you wanna go?
Don't you wanna go?
it's the same thing, every time
It's all about to change
Nothing stays the same
It's getting closer every single day
It's all about to change
It'll never be the same
Any day now, you will start again
It's all about to change
It'll never be the same
Any day now, you will start again
Well, everything you know
And everything that you believe
Far away
Far away |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|04:36 pm] |
I hear all sorts of 'horror' stories about people having to wait a long time to get an appointment with their doctor. Usually those stories are about seeing a specialist, and the waits are not because of any insurance issues, but because the specialist has so many patients there's simply a long waiting list to get in.
When I had to make an appointment to see a pain specialist, they needed about two weeks to fit me in. The physical therapist needed a month.
I just called my primary care physician to make a non-urgent appointment. He can see me tomorrow. |
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| Let's go diving! |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|04:20 pm] |
My local dive shop is planning a trip to the Cayman Islands from March 13th to March 20th, 2010. This is a live-aboard, which means we'll be on a boat pretty much the entire week. Trip cost is appx. $2700 plus airfare, exact cost varies depending on cabin type.
If you're interested in joining us, let me know! |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 20th, 2009|11:57 pm] |
CNN headlines, right next to each other:
Yeah....
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 4th, 2009|04:10 pm] |
My boyfriend bought me an orchid. :-D
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 31st, 2009|05:26 pm] |
CNN article
Cheney:
Holder's decision to review waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques was politically motivated.
Translation:
Holder's decision to review waterboarding and other torture techniques was politically motivated, and had nothing to do with the fact that torture is illegal.
Article:
During his Fox interview, Cheney repeated his defense of the effectiveness of what are called enhanced interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding.
Translation:
During his Fox interview, Cheney repeated his defense of the effectiveness of torture.
Cheney:
The techniques "were absolutely essential in saving American lives and preventing attacks on the United States,"
Translation:
Torture is absolutely essential in saving American lives and preventing attacks on the United States.
Cheney summary (not in his own words):
It's okay if we use enhanced interrogation techniques as long as they are effective and save American lives.
Transation:
It's okay if we torture people and lie to the American public, as long as we can claim to save American lives in the process.
Anyone still wonder why I didn't vote for Bush a second time?
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 30th, 2009|03:16 pm] |
 This</a> is not a shark attack. That is me kneeling in the sand, about a foot or two behind the shark. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 29th, 2009|10:58 pm] |
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I am back in the US. I survived a shark attack. That is all. |
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| NOW HIRING: Java Developer |
[Aug. 17th, 2009|08:31 pm] |
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Segue Technologies, Inc. is hiring a Java developer for a permanent full time position (salary + benefits) in Quantico, VA. Inquire within! |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 31st, 2009|06:59 pm] |
Google Voice has me.
(When you click on it it'll prompt you for your phone number and name - you can also optionally hide your number. When you click Connect, it will call you, then call me and connect us.) |
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