March 6, 2023
Good morning! Will you be hosting — or attending — an Oscars Watching Party? How about a March Madnesses party? Wait, do they overlap; are they mutually exclusive? Be sure to not be an hour late… it’s that nasty annoyance of the clock thing again. More snow, more snow, more snow… don’t know whether to trust the data, or the reporting of them, but supposedly it has been thus far the #1 greatest amount of snow here in any given winter in the history of the world. When out on the hike it’s somewhat routine to encounter five-foot (5′) and taller piles of snow. The latest craze: Slalom ski through the letters of the Hollywood sign in Beverly Hills. To inflation or not to inflation, that is the question.
- Looks like one of my great weaknesses has been further exposed; I knew nothing about this guy.
- The Russian painter, Kandinsky, just sold a painting for $45,000,000 — though I don’t think he got any of the money.
- Is it the end of English majors?!
- Or, how about history or philosophy or art or theology?
- Colleges are scrambling to rid themselves of these once-vaunted majors which have been at the epicenter of education for 2,500 years.
- Book: On Hitler’s Mountain, Hunt, 2005
- Do not despair.
- If you have been on-queue at the Dairy Queen (DQ) for a week or more thinking you missed the opening ceremonies, fret not a minute longer.
- For the first time in more than a half century, the DQ opened one week later — and is now open, though absent the traditional winter weather which made opening day such fun.
- Due in part to the calendar confusion, we have yet to enjoy that first tasty treat of the season.
- My paternal grandparents died fifty (50) years ago.
- My inheritance was $500 — a huge sum for me, or for that matter, for my Dad.
- With a portion of that windfall I purchased a twelve cubic feet chest freezer from Sears and Roebuck, went right to the store, bought it, and hauled it home on the roof of the car.
- And then I purchased half a cow from a local meat market; I still had plenty of money left.
- The half a cow filled my new freezer to about 25% full — and it has never gone completely empty since.
- That freezer still works perfectly, and I hope I’m not jinxing it by telling this story.
- Thank you Sears, thank you cow, thank you grandparents, thank you, Dad! (I think you probably gave me some of what was rightfully yours.)
- If you are working mostly from a space NOT used as your work space prior to three years ago, what do you miss most about not being back at your old space?
- Maybe nothing? Maybe lots? How about those work place relationships?
- Well, wouldn’t you know it?!
- A new scary monster related to this topic is rearing its ugly head — and we will confess to having not anticipated it.
- Approximately eighteen percent (18%) of United States workers are NOT back at the traditional office; twenty-five percent (25%) in Europe. (Chavarro, 2023)
- As Bill might say (or was that Hamlet?!), here’s the rub.
- “… the increased flexibility and cost savings of remote work also mean employers no longer have the kind of control over the safety and stability of their employees’ work environments… Employees also might find it harder to separate their work and personal lives…”
- “These issues have prompted a surge in new regulatory developments… aimed at making sure workers are protected under existing environmental, health, and safety legislation…” (Ibid.)
- O.S.H.A. or Federal Agency WXYZ anyone?!
- How about when it’s Doughnut Day or Special Treats Day at the office and the not-at-the-office people get none? Uber Eats?
- From our good friends at McKinsey:
- “Organizations are seeking ways to build resilience in a world where they’re confronted with continuous, overlapping disruptions.
- Maintaining a long-term perspective is crucial even amid short-term crises.
- Leaders should avoid being overwhelmed by immediate issues…
- Choices about how to create a resilient world can translate into trillion-dollar swings in (global) GDP growth —
- — and incalculable differences in the quality of human life.” (Sternfeis, Brende, Etc., et al., 2023)
- Need an uplifting, tear-jerker of a story? Iowa Goose (short advertisement first)
- We might explore more of this in-depth next week:
- Fifty-five percent (55%) of current public school teachers think about leaving their jobs “sometime soon”,
- …while seventy percent (70%) of those same teachers find their work very meaningful. (Bryant, Ram, Etc., et al.)
