Category: Random thoughts

Two debutantes, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, are starring in an upcoming series The Simple Life. The premise is the two rich girls leave their life of luxury to work on a farm for five weeks. MSN’s article provides a number of quotes from the women that are none too flattering.

Here is a sample:
Paris on proper rural attire: “We don’t have, like, farm clothes. We just sort of, we just wore our own clothes, and I don’t know. It was cute.”

Nicole on higher education: “I went to University of Arizona and I stopped going there because I went there for two years. I felt like I experienced the college life, or whatever, but I know … I’m over it.”

Clearly these two women are morons – probably because of, rather than in spite of, their fortunes. A life of every want being met does not develop the self-reliance one needs to lead a meaningful life. Is it fair these two manufactured idiots will have hundreds of millions at their disposal? No it isn’t fair these two can buy $1,500.00 bags for their dogs. It also isn’t fair they don’t have the necessary tools to find happiness in their lives either. Life isn’t fair.

Yes they are spoiled little rich girls. The thing to remember is you really can’t judge your happiness by the material possessions of others. Right now my biggest want is a $3000 camera set. These two could by it and not make any adjustment in their spending while I would have to save for at least a year.

Still what I have, they can’t buy – a spouse who I love and returns my commitment to her. It may sound cliche, but I know I’m richer. These two brats do prove the adage. Money can’t buy happiness, er sum junk.

Our society routinely tells little girls they can be anything they want to be, but should there be a limit on that? Do we need women acting like men? The latest example is boxing.

Christy Martin is coming out of retirement to fight Laila Ali. During their first press conference, the two boxers got into an onstage scuffle like Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis (and others). I don’t understand the desire to masculinize women. How does it help society to turn women into entertainment fighters? It robs women of the mystery of femininity when you turn them into inferior versions of men.

Yes, I said it. Women will never compete effectively with men in the boxing ring or any other athletic (not performance) sport. As a result, their athletic performance is inferior to men.

Women have many wonderful gifts. Their creativity, intellect and femininity should be emphasized – not suborned.

Meanwhile, the neutering of the U.S. male continues. People are trying to convince men they can be just like women. Stay-at-home Dad’s are they new cultural phenomena. Do women really want their husbands to be the nurturer? I doubt it.

I was reading an article about John Mack the CEO of CSFB (a very large bank) in the September 1 issue of Fortune magazine. Mr. Mack was brought into the company to turn it around after a series of bad business decisions and corporate scandals.

The article shows him as being an ethical man, seemingly rare in today’s evironment of regulatory investigations. He is directing employees to cooperate fully with investigators. When an issue comes up that may be of interest to regulatory agencies, he is proactive in notifying them of any problems. He has been able to get top executives to actually give up hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed cash payments – a marked contrast to other firms that are giving executives over priced salary packages.

That is all well and good, but you know what makes this man qualified to be an ethical leader? It turns out he has been married to one woman for 30 years. Doesn’t this indicate how important a person’s family life is when judging his character? If he can keep his commitments to his wife, surely he is much more likely to keep his promises to coworkers, employees, and shareholders.

In my professional life, I have had the unpleasant experience of dealing with diversity issues in the last few days.

Where I work is truly a diverse workplace. The problem with “diversity” is that it focuses on people’s differences. Supposedly celebrating diversity only keeps people with common goals seperated by constantly suggesting we do not have common ground.

I’m reminded of the last winter Olympics in Utah. The U.S. won a gold in the 2 person female bobsled event. As I was watching the gold medal ceremony I was briefly happy the U.S. won. That is until the NBC announcer informed me that it was the first bobsled medal for an African-American. In one split second I went from viewing that person as an American the whole country could celebrate to a black woman. Phrases like “A good role model for black children” infer that she is not a good role model for children of other ethical backgrounds. Isn’t it great we have a media that further divides us when we have the opportunity to be most united?

I went to the local community college open house this evening to check out check out some possible career moves. I have been really hooked on the idea of pursuing digital photography lately. I realize the $3000 worth of camera equipment and a new computer is a bit out of reach at this point. I think I’m going to shelve that idea and go after something a bit more realistic but just as interesting to me.

I seem to have an apptitude for things in the computer realm. Tomorrow I’m going to call a couple universities and check out their Master’s programs. I think network security is going to be the next (or current) big opportunity in the industry so we’ll check that out.

Aren’t people tired of Madonna? Gap now has her doing a very high profile ad campaign. You’ve probably seen her doing a commercial singing a wierd mix of her newest single “Hollywood” to the tune of one of her first singles “Get Into the Groove” but with new lyrics about Gap jeans interspersed with rapping by Missy Elliot.

I’m sure she is getting paid a load of money and some market research somewhere indicates the spot will be a big hit. But doesn’t that music scream 80’s? Is this suppose to be a retro look? Certainly the music doesn’t make you think of being current with the times. I hear that music and think parachute pants (no, I never owned a pair; I wasn’t that cool).

Looking at today’s Reuter’s headline you would think that the city of New York was the only place hit by the power outage. Reading the story you may revise that belief to include a small part of Canada. Barely a mention of any other cities affected. Reuters bends over backwards to provide quotes lauding New Yorkers on their ability to get by without electricty and air conditioning (and apparently ATMs).

Here are the top three headlines I pulled up on Yahoo news:
New York Gets Power Back After Massive Outages
Libya Takes Blame for Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
New York City Bounces Back from Massive Blackout

This media infatuation with NYC is getting old.

Here it is – without a doubt the most idiotic headline and news item of the year.

“ATMs Down in Areas Hit by Power Outage”
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Large automatic teller machine networks in areas affected by the power outage in the Northeast on Thursday were shut down, making it impossible for most retail customers in those areas to withdraw their money.

You have gotta be kidding me. Really? ATMs don’t work without power? We can rest easy knowing that the press is there to discover these otherwise unknown facts.

Next week be on the look out for more headlines like “The Sky is Blue” and “The Sun Rises in the East.”

I must be going through my 30-something crisis. I have gotten to the point where I want to do something for a living that I enjoy. Anyone know where I can get $10,000 worth of digital photographic equipment for free? Huh? Didn’t think so.

I was reading a book on being self employed. The author Kenn Oberrecht made a great point. He said that many people considering their own business fear they lack self-motivation and self-discipline. These people still must have these qualities to hold a regular job, get to work on time, and meet family obligations. Great food for thought.

Now I just need some direction. I want to be a photographer, work with computers (which you can do in photography) and be a writer (blogging anyone?) Of course I’m not good enough at any of them to make a living out it. Maybe I should do something about that.

—————
The scratch on my nose from the new kitten is getting better. She is still a terror though. Its amazing how annoying and aggressive a 2 lb kitten can be when she decides she wants to share the cereal in my bowl.

The NAACP is once again showing they are more concerned with a political movement than social causes. Even democrats believe a judicial nominee should be approved because she applies the law.

The 45 Democrat Senators in Washington D.C. apparently can’t abide having anyone with that level of integrity. They are expected to filibuster.