Guilt and a bit of restlessness has sent me back to this blog... I have found myself writing all kinds of stuff for a bunch of different places on the net. Of course there is my mog (www.mog.com/iren) page, but also I have been writing reviews for the Ann Arbor District Library website, and have started an Sheldari thing as well (http://www.shelfari.com/) so I figure that I should start trying to keep everything posted on this blog in addition to all the other places, or at least that's my intention.... so I am going to try and up date this with what ever I am writing for other sites.....
and then there is the fact that I am going to try and seriously take a stab at writing and getting published. This is something that I have always toyed with, dreamed about, and been interested in. It's finally time to stop planning, to stop thinking and start doing. I feel that I have been pretty lackluster with most of the things that I have attempted to do with my life. My career has stalled several times, my personal life never seems to get off the ground and I have resigned myself to not having to worry about any of that stuff any more and to put my extra energy into writing...
Writing what you ask... my goals right now are pretty modest... I want to write a volume for the 33 1/3 series of books (check out there blog at http://33third.blogspot.com/ .... and I would like to have a book published as part of the Hard Case Crime Series (http://www.hardcasecrime.com/)... I hope to use this blog to keep track of the progress of several of these projects, and to help keep me working on them.
more to come...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
No Time
Ok... It's been a while since my past post, and that is tied to my lack of time and energy, working full time and my other commitments... so I am going to just idle this blog for the time being....
thanks for reading,
Eric
irenzero@yahoo.com
thanks for reading,
Eric
irenzero@yahoo.com
Sunday, April 13, 2008
It's Ann Arbor...
I didn't live my whole life in Ann Arbor Michigan, but I consider myself a townie. I did spend all of my childhood that I can recall in this town, I went it's schools, it's churches, and it's....wait... that's something else. Anyway, if I am going to shift my focus on this blog to the It's Ann Arbor, I feel like I should give some background.
To start with, Ann Arbor is a vocally liberal, secretly not-liberal, college town located in Michigan. One thing that you need to know about Michigan... pretty much we are a bunch of hicks. I won't go into that yet, but it's true. So Ann Arbor is a town that is filled with a couple of types of people, and it's these people that I will be ranting about here... and make no mistakes this will be mostly ranting.
The whole idea for this shift in focus comes from my talking to people since I have returned to the area. I have found myself working with a lot of people who are not Ann Arborites (and that is the prefered nomiclature) and started to pick up on the fact that they see Ann Arborites in a special way... As a townie I started to wonder about the things that I was hearing and seeing. A lot of them I already knew about, many of them were things that I had been seeing since High School... mostly the Hippy-ocarcy of this place.
I am going to stop and define that for you for a moment. A hippy-crit is someone that has a save the earth bumper sticker on their car, but has to use the gas powered mower every weekend to keep the grass short, and in the old days had Chem Lawn come out every other week and make the grass greener than green... that's it in a nut shell.
Other things that I have noted as of late is that there are a lot more of the Ann Arbor Crazies, and of the Angry White Men in their 50's in this town than I had remembered.....
more later.
To start with, Ann Arbor is a vocally liberal, secretly not-liberal, college town located in Michigan. One thing that you need to know about Michigan... pretty much we are a bunch of hicks. I won't go into that yet, but it's true. So Ann Arbor is a town that is filled with a couple of types of people, and it's these people that I will be ranting about here... and make no mistakes this will be mostly ranting.
The whole idea for this shift in focus comes from my talking to people since I have returned to the area. I have found myself working with a lot of people who are not Ann Arborites (and that is the prefered nomiclature) and started to pick up on the fact that they see Ann Arborites in a special way... As a townie I started to wonder about the things that I was hearing and seeing. A lot of them I already knew about, many of them were things that I had been seeing since High School... mostly the Hippy-ocarcy of this place.
I am going to stop and define that for you for a moment. A hippy-crit is someone that has a save the earth bumper sticker on their car, but has to use the gas powered mower every weekend to keep the grass short, and in the old days had Chem Lawn come out every other week and make the grass greener than green... that's it in a nut shell.
Other things that I have noted as of late is that there are a lot more of the Ann Arbor Crazies, and of the Angry White Men in their 50's in this town than I had remembered.....
more later.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Ann Arbor...
Just a quick note for anyone who reads this, I am going to change my focus from the Job hunt to talking about Ann Arbor, Michigan and the things about this town that annoy me. I will still do the On the Road entries just maybe not as frequently as I have in the past.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
40 hours
I have let this blog slack a little and I am sorry about that. One of the worst things about the 40 hour work week, is that it takes, well 40 hours out of your week. Just stop and think about that for a moment.... 8 hours... no more like 8 and a half or 9 hours, depending on the lunch break set up. That's a good chunk of the day, that is an investment of your time, of your energy and your brain. Even with jobs that may not seem to be that taxing can take their toll. You show up, you do what you are being paid to do, or you do your best to look busy, and then all those hours later you leave.... who came up with this system? Why is it still the standard? really? Now I am happy to have a job and a regular paycheck and the benefits, let me be clear about that, but I'm open to having a less standard schedule. Back when I first moved back to Michigan I interviewed for a job that I was shocked to not get past the first interview with... one of the elements of that job was that they had a schedule where you worked 36 hours one week, and 44 the next, so that you were working 80 hours for the pay period, but four of those hours were built in overtime... bumping the pay up that extra bit. All those hours, it's kinda crazy when you stop and think about it, and our world just buys into it for the most part....
On the Road. Well it's starting to warm up, and there are a few more places that I would want to check out before it becomes to hot to be in the south. One of them is Albuquerque New Mexico. I don't know why, it's just one of those places, like Idaho, that has called to me, whispering for me to come and visit to come and see. I am not sure what there is to see, but it's a college town, and it's got an art community that I would like to check out... and there is also Santa Fe, another American city that I would like to walk the streets, poke around the book shops, drink coffee and eat the local fare. New Mexico is also the a easy way to get to Colorado, which is where I think that I would visit next.......
On the Road. Well it's starting to warm up, and there are a few more places that I would want to check out before it becomes to hot to be in the south. One of them is Albuquerque New Mexico. I don't know why, it's just one of those places, like Idaho, that has called to me, whispering for me to come and visit to come and see. I am not sure what there is to see, but it's a college town, and it's got an art community that I would like to check out... and there is also Santa Fe, another American city that I would like to walk the streets, poke around the book shops, drink coffee and eat the local fare. New Mexico is also the a easy way to get to Colorado, which is where I think that I would visit next.......
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
New Math
The name of this blog comes from the song by New Math... along with the song Can't get off the Ground.
both of these tracks, along with a couple of other great ones are now for sale at anthology recordings where you are also read a bit about the band. More info on New Math can be found at
Myspace
Fan Site
and you can get the New Math CD at CD Baby
both of these tracks, along with a couple of other great ones are now for sale at anthology recordings where you are also read a bit about the band. More info on New Math can be found at
Myspace
Fan Site
and you can get the New Math CD at CD Baby
Training
So this is going to be a short one... I really need to get to bed cause I have to be a work early.... speaking if which, I have been training for the last several days, reading the rules and reg, getting used to the new workplace and figuring everything out. It's still strange to think that I have this job, after looking for so long and after having more than a couple of close calls... and getting worried as my part time gigs started cutting back on hours. I will write a little more about by new job as time goes on.. but I just wanted to take a moment to talk about something that's been on my mind...
The work week. Simply this 8 hour work day is out dated and really leaves many people with out enough time to live their lives.. however there is a solution, it's either the 6 hour work day or the 10 hour work day. Either you can get your time done in fewer days, or have less hours. Now, it's not for everyone or for every job, but I really believe that this is a idea that needs to be looked at.
Once upon a time I did work a job that had 10 hour shifts, I was part time (sort of, I received the same pay and the benefits as the full time staff), it was great. I worked 3 shifts a week and I was done, unless there was overtime and then I could work another shift and get a days pay, and when I left that job the staffing was such that there was a lot of overtime and I was working 6 days a week and making time and a half for all those extra hours. I look at the 10 hour shift like this, you have all ready committed most of your day to work, and an extra two hours isn't all that much... and when you get an extra day off each week, it's all that much better...
On the other end of this idea is the six hour work day. Really this would be great, and there have been cases where companies found that productivity was such that you could pay your staff that was working only 30 hours a week the same that you were paying them when they were working 40 hours a week. The story that I have always heard was that when the Great Depression was on, that one of those Michigan cereal companies started to have 4 six hour shifts in place of the 3 eight hour shifts so that they could employ a whole additional shift of people, and that they were so productive that they were able to pay workers the same that they had with the eight hour shifts... add to this most American workers say that they would give up a days pay for a day off, and we could help solve so much of the time crunch that people are feeling.
As with the idea of the Salary Cap, the extended or shortened work day is one of my new favorite ideas that companies should look at to help out not only themselves, but the country.....
Speaking of the Salary Cap, did anyone else notice that Congress recently held hearing about the pay of top CEOs? I didn't hear all that much, just that they were noting that it was getting insane that these people are making millions while the companies that they are charged with leading are losing millions. I have always thought that if the company isn't making money then the people at the top shouldn't be receiving anything beyond their pay check, and if people at the bottom are being asked to take a cut in pay or benefits so should the people at the top.... this isn't something that the should be required by law, but out law makers should issue a public plea that large companies start cutting back on the top pay and increasing the pay of workers at the lower levels... but that isn't going to happen as long as we live in the greed is good world of the USA...
No on the road this time... maybe next time.
The work week. Simply this 8 hour work day is out dated and really leaves many people with out enough time to live their lives.. however there is a solution, it's either the 6 hour work day or the 10 hour work day. Either you can get your time done in fewer days, or have less hours. Now, it's not for everyone or for every job, but I really believe that this is a idea that needs to be looked at.
Once upon a time I did work a job that had 10 hour shifts, I was part time (sort of, I received the same pay and the benefits as the full time staff), it was great. I worked 3 shifts a week and I was done, unless there was overtime and then I could work another shift and get a days pay, and when I left that job the staffing was such that there was a lot of overtime and I was working 6 days a week and making time and a half for all those extra hours. I look at the 10 hour shift like this, you have all ready committed most of your day to work, and an extra two hours isn't all that much... and when you get an extra day off each week, it's all that much better...
On the other end of this idea is the six hour work day. Really this would be great, and there have been cases where companies found that productivity was such that you could pay your staff that was working only 30 hours a week the same that you were paying them when they were working 40 hours a week. The story that I have always heard was that when the Great Depression was on, that one of those Michigan cereal companies started to have 4 six hour shifts in place of the 3 eight hour shifts so that they could employ a whole additional shift of people, and that they were so productive that they were able to pay workers the same that they had with the eight hour shifts... add to this most American workers say that they would give up a days pay for a day off, and we could help solve so much of the time crunch that people are feeling.
As with the idea of the Salary Cap, the extended or shortened work day is one of my new favorite ideas that companies should look at to help out not only themselves, but the country.....
Speaking of the Salary Cap, did anyone else notice that Congress recently held hearing about the pay of top CEOs? I didn't hear all that much, just that they were noting that it was getting insane that these people are making millions while the companies that they are charged with leading are losing millions. I have always thought that if the company isn't making money then the people at the top shouldn't be receiving anything beyond their pay check, and if people at the bottom are being asked to take a cut in pay or benefits so should the people at the top.... this isn't something that the should be required by law, but out law makers should issue a public plea that large companies start cutting back on the top pay and increasing the pay of workers at the lower levels... but that isn't going to happen as long as we live in the greed is good world of the USA...
No on the road this time... maybe next time.
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