It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. While most of us use work as an excuse to get out of jury duty, this next manager will not. Enough said.

MOTW: Do Good Activist Manager

A bundle of energy, Do Good Activist Manager is constantly giving inspirational speeches and urging his/her staff to donate blood, vote, give to charities and anything else that relates to community service. These priorities tend to shift focus away from the actual work that needs to be done, but Do Good Activist Manager’s theory is that by doing these things the staff will feel fulfilled, thus creating a healthy working environment. There is nothing better than a good corporate citizen in Do Good Activist Manager’s book and nothing excites him/her more than a summons for jury duty.

Weekend Haiku

The winter sun-
on the horse's back
my frozen shadow.

Basho (1644-1694)

This is bizarre

Predicting a man's strength by his voice.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. This next manager makes mountains out of molehills on a regular basis and causes much anxiety to the members of the team.

MOTW: Brouhaha Manager

This manager blows every single minimal detail into a full-blown crisis, regardless of whether it matters or not within the overall scheme of things. Brouhaha Manager thrives on chaos and hyperbole. Controversy follows this manager wherever he/she goes and giving this manager a wide berth is highly recommended. Aspirin is also recommended as working for Brouhaha Manager can result in suffering debilitating headaches with regularity.

Weekend Haiku

Morning breeze
riffling
the caterpillar's hair.

Buson (1716-1783)

Destroyer

Destroyer from The Kinks. Enjoy and happy Friday.

World Cup calendar

Here is the best World Cup calendar I have found to date. It is brilliantly organized.

No one is immune...

The Jersey City offices of Goldman Sachs have been treated for, of all things, bedbugs. How they got there no one knows, but I think these pests are not the only things keeping Goldman executives up at night.

Is there a parallel universe?

Where the real game was played? Actually no. It really happened. European minnow Switzerland beat European giant Spain 1-0 in the World Cup today. While I think Spain is a great team, fully loaded with stellar players, the World cup stage has always loomed a bit large for them. We will see if they regroup to move in the right direction for the rest of the tournament after this setback.

World Cup coverage

The Wall Street Journal's coverage site of the tournament here.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. There was a company, I can't remember which one, that had as an advertising slogan, "The relentless pursuit of perfection." Now that is great as a campaign pitch, but do you really want that in your manager? We have all probably run into this next manager and have different battle scars to show for it.

MOTW: Nitpicky Manager

This manager takes your magnum opus, the report you have slaved and agonized over for weeks and hones in on the one typo within the three hundred pages of perfection you have produced. He/she will highlight it with a red pen and send the entire report back to you for review. This cycle will occur over and over again until finally one day you know it has been accepted when you never hear about the report from your manager, or anyone else for that matter, again.

Weekend Haiku

The fat priest-
edging out
while he reads the last prayer.

Issa (1763-1827)

Uprising

Muse plays Uprising live. They just sound great live! Enjoy and happy Friday.

To decant or not to decant

If you have ever been in a nice restaurant, ordered an older wine and when the waiter brings it asks whether you would like it decanted. What do you say? In this very short article the duo at the WSJ give some hints around this question.

Film reviews

A few film reviews from Joe Morgenstern at the WSJ. Among the films reviewed are Splice, Ondine and Living in Emergency.

Woman says Citi fired her because she was too hot

She is working on a lawsuit and if it is true, Citi just made another ridiculous misstep. At least one thing about the case will be true. She is hot.

It's Monday

And we all know what that means. Time for another MOTW, Manager of the Week. If you have never worked for a manager of this next type consider yourself lucky. These managers only cause strife with their inability to decide anything, including your merit increase.

MOTW: Indecisive Manager

While this manager may be a good human being he/she is a complete source of angst for subordinates. Unable to make even the most miniscule decision, Indecisive Manager wavers and asks for input from every life-form on the planet before contemplating any action. Staff members vie to be the last person to talk to indecisive manager on any subject since whoever does so seems to have the most influence on the “consensus course of action to be taken decided by the team” when eventually announced by Indecisive Manager.

Weekend Haiku

Stillness-
the cicada's cry
drills into the rocks.

Basho (1644-1694)

Quarter of a Man

Get your reggae on. David Lindley and El Rayo-X perform Quarter of a Man in concert. Enjoy and happy Friday.

Distance butterfly

I am a distance swimmer and like most distance swimmers can swim freestyle for a very long time. Again, like most distance swimmers, what I cannot do is swim the butterfly for any great length. While I am a pretty good butterfly swimmer for a short length, even a couple of laps leaves me gasping. Now, distance butterfly is becoming a bit of the rage. This WSJ article covers this phenomenon and even has some video of a distance butterfly swimmer going for it.

How to get better sleep

Lately my sleep hasn't been all that great so I have been doing some research about how to remedy the situation. This is a pretty good article with a lot of tips to re-boot your sleep cycle. There is no doubt about it. There is nothing quite as restorative or salubrious as a good night of uninterrupted sleep. Until you don't have it, you don't value it.

Hurricane season begins today

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season begins today and experts are warning it will be one of the busiest seasons in the last decade. Things will get extremely complicated if one hits and stirs up the oil from the BP disaster.

The demise of "Friendster"

An Internet archaeologist speculates on the sudden disappearance of the "Friendster" site.


Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of 'Friendster' Civilization