I've never had an overly developed fashion sense. I would even be tempted to say I don't even have a developed fashion sense.
Growing up, Mom had 3 types of clothes for me--dressy (those frilly, lacy clothes for special occasions), regular (no holes, no stains for school and such), and play clothes. Play clothes were the regular clothes that were no longer acceptable for regular purposes. Play clothes were also called grubbies, meaning if you get them dirty (grubby) or otherwise ruin them no one is going to be upset.
When I would stay with my Dad, he only recognized two types of clothes--dressy and regular. As such, he would often dress me in what Mom would call regular clothes for something Mom would have put me in grubbies. Which, of course, by the time I was done doing whatever I was doing, I had new grubbies.
As far as Dad was concerned, kids shouldn't be dressed in anything you don't expect to get ruined anyway--it was only natural for kids to destroy their clothes. He never understood why Mom got so angry when I came home with a suitcase full of grubbies that used to be school clothes.
Eventually Mom just stopped packing regular clothes for me when I went to stay with Dad and I'd run around all summer dressed like a ragamuffin urchin, which is totally fine when you're 9.
These days I have dressy clothes (formal wear, very few of these), office clothes (slacks and blouses), casual (denim and cotton shirts), and grubbies (denim and t-shirts I don't mind getting dirty or ruining).
Today, the editorial department at work will be fulfilling our pledge and volunteering at the Alameda County Food Bank. We've been instructed to wear comfortable clothes that we can move freely in and that we don't mind getting dirty in the warehouse.
Clearly, this is a situation for grubbies. But I also need to wear these clothes to work in the morning. Not a situation for grubbies. I could just take a change of clothes, but it's casual Friday anyway (not that we limit casual to Friday at our office--cargo shorts and flip flops are de rigeur).
Most of my co-workers are pretty cosmopolitan; I'm just fretting that what I consider grubbies might really belong in the rag bin. Because after clothes are too ruined to even be grubbies, that's where they go. Another Momism.
I'm starting to think my neck may be redder than I realize.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Friday, January 23, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
It Ought to Be a Crime
I don't like to dwell much on things I have no control over, but I'm going on a mini-rant, 'cause if I go for a full rant I'll probably explode.
So Scoob works for Hewlett-Packard. He's worked there 15 years; 3 as a contractor and the last 12 on payroll. He has received one, count 'em, one, 2% raise in the past 7 years, and in that time his workload has easily quintupled. More than that actually. He used to be responsible for 5 wizzy-whigs, now he's responsible for 90 whizzy-whigs and managing other people (not that his job classification has changed).
Hewlett-Packard laid off nearly 25,000 employees last year due to "the poor economy" and "restructuring." They have plans to lay off another 2,600 in the next few months.
Yet, Hewlett-Packard reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that CEO Mark Hurd's total compensation for 2008 was in the neighborhood of $42.5 million. MILLION. Other high level executives were reportedly compensated in the $20 million range.
Just last week, managers at Hewlett-Packard met with their project teams for brainstorming sessions on how to save the company more money. Well, I can see some glaringly obvious opportunities for saving some money—a helluva lot more money than cancelling holiday parties, turning down the thermostat, and taking away the free coffee and tea in the break room would.
Where is the Board of Directors in all this? They approve the CEO's compensation. I bet their compensation packages are just as padded, even though corporation Boards typically only meet once per fiscal quarter. Where are the shareholders? Your Board is not protecting your interests when it approves such astronomical compensation packages.
We're just frustrated. As Scoob says, "Hell, even the mafia takes care of its people." Scoob actually likes the work he's doing, but it's getting awfully difficult to want to go to work everyday and give 100%.
All I can say is W.T.F. It's just obscene.
So Scoob works for Hewlett-Packard. He's worked there 15 years; 3 as a contractor and the last 12 on payroll. He has received one, count 'em, one, 2% raise in the past 7 years, and in that time his workload has easily quintupled. More than that actually. He used to be responsible for 5 wizzy-whigs, now he's responsible for 90 whizzy-whigs and managing other people (not that his job classification has changed).
Hewlett-Packard laid off nearly 25,000 employees last year due to "the poor economy" and "restructuring." They have plans to lay off another 2,600 in the next few months.
Yet, Hewlett-Packard reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that CEO Mark Hurd's total compensation for 2008 was in the neighborhood of $42.5 million. MILLION. Other high level executives were reportedly compensated in the $20 million range.
Just last week, managers at Hewlett-Packard met with their project teams for brainstorming sessions on how to save the company more money. Well, I can see some glaringly obvious opportunities for saving some money—a helluva lot more money than cancelling holiday parties, turning down the thermostat, and taking away the free coffee and tea in the break room would.
Where is the Board of Directors in all this? They approve the CEO's compensation. I bet their compensation packages are just as padded, even though corporation Boards typically only meet once per fiscal quarter. Where are the shareholders? Your Board is not protecting your interests when it approves such astronomical compensation packages.
We're just frustrated. As Scoob says, "Hell, even the mafia takes care of its people." Scoob actually likes the work he's doing, but it's getting awfully difficult to want to go to work everyday and give 100%.
All I can say is W.T.F. It's just obscene.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Good Enough
Things have been a bit crazy back at work this week, but in a good way. Reality set in on Monday that we are launching our new website at work on Friday. Friday! Everyone seems to be in good shape for their specific area for launch, so it's really just adrenaline. We've only been working on this for about 18 months taking a static HTML site and transforming it into a dynamic, CMS database driven site with a complete design and functionality overhaul. It's been a major undertaking and it's exciting to finally see it come to fruition.
I'd love to post links to it, but I am trying to maintain some distance between work and this blog. (I will probably send out an email to you that I know in the flesh, though.) But I can't not talk about it in some way because it has been 18 months of my life, 8 or more hours a day, 5 or more days a week. I'm sure there will be plenty of bugs to work out once we take it live this weekend, and then there's always the next stage of development and content rollout, so it's not as if there will magically be no more work to do after Friday.
With all the giddiness at work, I realized I've been sitting on more than a few links for the blog. First things first. I think it's pretty safe to sweep out all those holiday shopping links at this point. Talk about a day late and a dollar short. I will pass along this one though.
So after my initial panic when I learned about one week before Christmas that we were exchanging gifts this year after all, I headed out that weekend for some marathon shopping. I had planned several stops, but I ended up finding a little something for everybody at Big Lots! I was honestly surprised at the variety of things they had and I'm happy to have rediscovered the store. Apparently, I'm not the only one. The Budget Fashionista has posted some helpful tips to keep in mind when shopping Big Lots!, the biggest of which may be to keep and open mind and be patient.
Before we completely leave the subject of shopping, I ran across this project today. This person has plotted the location and date of each and every Wal*Mart opening in the continental United States. It starts out slow but then it kind of resembles what I imagine blossoming bacteria in a Petri dish might look like. Funny, I think about the immediate backlash to even the rumor of another Wal*Mart opening out here on the West Coast, then I look at the concentration of stores in the East and realize that we really just have no idea what a significant influence Wal*Mart must have in the lives of so many. Here's hoping they use that power for good.
Okay, stepping away from shopping, but not entirely (I think I may have a problem), I spotted this article about decision making almost a month ago and it really rang true. It actually reminded me of something else I'd read a long time ago about being happier by learning to let got of perfectionist tendencies in favor of satisficing, but I can't remember where I read that.
I try to embrace satisficing a lot now, but how this relates to shopping is actually kind of key in our house. Scoob is an optimizer. He wants to know everything about every product and compare them to make sure he's getting the most perfect product at the best possible deal. Me, I'm a satisficer. I'll figure out what it is I need the product to do, find 2 or 3 that meet the criteria, read a few reviews, and make a decision. If it does what I need it to do and it is reasonably priced, do I really care that there's this other model that also glows in the dark? No.
On more than one occasion Scoob's optimizing behavior has stalled a purchase. Take, for example, the purchase of our vacuum cleaner. It's not accurate to the day, but it's also not a gross exaggeration to say that it took us 2 years to buy a new vacuum cleaner. Mostly because he would wait long enough between doing the research and making the purchase that he would either forget what model he decided to purchase, or newer models would come out and he needed to redo all the research. We don't play that game anymore.
To be fair, we actually balance each other out. I help him realize when enough is good enough. But on more than one occasion he has helped me see that something really wasn't good enough when I had thought it was. So because we're together, I usually end up giving decisions more thought and he usually gives them less than we would have on our own.
Another couple items that caught my attention, then I'm off to bed. Wired rounded up some of their favorite tech-related cartoons as part of their end-of-the-year wrap up. #9 is funny, #7 is unfortunately true, and from what I hear, so is #4.
I've been paying a bit more attention to photography articles since getting the new camera. This one is noteworthy in that it give a lot of non-photography tips for getting more out of your digital camera by using it in unexpected ways. Some of them are kind of out there, but several are surprisingly practical.
I'd love to post links to it, but I am trying to maintain some distance between work and this blog. (I will probably send out an email to you that I know in the flesh, though.) But I can't not talk about it in some way because it has been 18 months of my life, 8 or more hours a day, 5 or more days a week. I'm sure there will be plenty of bugs to work out once we take it live this weekend, and then there's always the next stage of development and content rollout, so it's not as if there will magically be no more work to do after Friday.
With all the giddiness at work, I realized I've been sitting on more than a few links for the blog. First things first. I think it's pretty safe to sweep out all those holiday shopping links at this point. Talk about a day late and a dollar short. I will pass along this one though.
So after my initial panic when I learned about one week before Christmas that we were exchanging gifts this year after all, I headed out that weekend for some marathon shopping. I had planned several stops, but I ended up finding a little something for everybody at Big Lots! I was honestly surprised at the variety of things they had and I'm happy to have rediscovered the store. Apparently, I'm not the only one. The Budget Fashionista has posted some helpful tips to keep in mind when shopping Big Lots!, the biggest of which may be to keep and open mind and be patient.
Before we completely leave the subject of shopping, I ran across this project today. This person has plotted the location and date of each and every Wal*Mart opening in the continental United States. It starts out slow but then it kind of resembles what I imagine blossoming bacteria in a Petri dish might look like. Funny, I think about the immediate backlash to even the rumor of another Wal*Mart opening out here on the West Coast, then I look at the concentration of stores in the East and realize that we really just have no idea what a significant influence Wal*Mart must have in the lives of so many. Here's hoping they use that power for good.
Okay, stepping away from shopping, but not entirely (I think I may have a problem), I spotted this article about decision making almost a month ago and it really rang true. It actually reminded me of something else I'd read a long time ago about being happier by learning to let got of perfectionist tendencies in favor of satisficing, but I can't remember where I read that.
I try to embrace satisficing a lot now, but how this relates to shopping is actually kind of key in our house. Scoob is an optimizer. He wants to know everything about every product and compare them to make sure he's getting the most perfect product at the best possible deal. Me, I'm a satisficer. I'll figure out what it is I need the product to do, find 2 or 3 that meet the criteria, read a few reviews, and make a decision. If it does what I need it to do and it is reasonably priced, do I really care that there's this other model that also glows in the dark? No.
On more than one occasion Scoob's optimizing behavior has stalled a purchase. Take, for example, the purchase of our vacuum cleaner. It's not accurate to the day, but it's also not a gross exaggeration to say that it took us 2 years to buy a new vacuum cleaner. Mostly because he would wait long enough between doing the research and making the purchase that he would either forget what model he decided to purchase, or newer models would come out and he needed to redo all the research. We don't play that game anymore.
To be fair, we actually balance each other out. I help him realize when enough is good enough. But on more than one occasion he has helped me see that something really wasn't good enough when I had thought it was. So because we're together, I usually end up giving decisions more thought and he usually gives them less than we would have on our own.
Another couple items that caught my attention, then I'm off to bed. Wired rounded up some of their favorite tech-related cartoons as part of their end-of-the-year wrap up. #9 is funny, #7 is unfortunately true, and from what I hear, so is #4.
I've been paying a bit more attention to photography articles since getting the new camera. This one is noteworthy in that it give a lot of non-photography tips for getting more out of your digital camera by using it in unexpected ways. Some of them are kind of out there, but several are surprisingly practical.
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