On the 8 Spot

Hope the rational parts of the Republican party can at least overcome these idealogues.

I just read a comment from a House Republican who helped to defeat the bailout. It said that passing the bailout would represent “a coffin on top of Ronald Reagan’s coffin.” In one statement, this guy made it clear what his camp’s priorities represent – ideology over the welfare of the public.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. – The Bing Blog.

This is nice to hear, I know I’ve been transformed by reading the alchemist.

Thanks to my sister. I think I know what I’ll be giving people at the fast approaching holiday season.

In 2003 the city of Arendal was going through a rough time financially, and the motivation among the employees sank dramatically. The city council ordered 3.000 copies of The Alchemist and hoped for a miracle.The unorthodox plan turned out to be a success.

“After reading The Alchemist we all became aware of the importance of our visions, and that it is possible to make them happen.” Kjell Sjursen, leader of the city council

Alchemy in Arendal at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

I’ve excerpted half of this great post so do read it! As years pass I get to see people I know find success in their different endeavors , This is so very true.

How much of your day is spent doing things you have to do (as opposed to the things you get to do.)

In my experience, as people become successful and happier (the subset that are both) I find that the percentage shifts. These folks end up spending more and more time on the get to tasks.

Seth’s Blog: Get to vs. have to.

I’ve seen this in some upscale places I’ve eaten in, but not in mid to mass class establishments.

Which begs the question why they don’t do this considering that this directly affects employees pay?

Either they don’t know, or they don’t care, Here’s to hoping they do not know and would gladly implement the extra management overhead that such a scheme would entail if given the chance.

To illustrate why it’s popular, I’ll use an analogy from the restaurant industry. Have you ever noticed that at restaurants, your waiter doesn’t bring your food? Other waiters always bring out your food, during which time your waiter is nowhere to be seen. This is so that if you become infuriated because you specifically ordered tartar sauce on the side, and after a 45-minute wait the chef seems to have emptied the entire bottle of tartar sauce on your fish sandwich in some sort of twisted artistico-culinary attempt to make it look like he threw up on it, then you don’t blame your waiter. Instead, you unwittingly direct your anger at the person who brought your food, who makes sympathetic noises (“Gosh, I’m so sorry – I can’t believe they messed that up!”) and runs away, never to be seen again. After it’s eventually resolved (by still other people bringing replacements out), your waiter finally rematerializes and apologizes for the kitchen screwup.

Stevey’s Blog Rants: The Bellic School of Management Training.

Bravo Mr Paul Newman! A life well lived!

The movies are not kind to older actors and yet Mr. Newman walked away from this merciless business seemingly unscathed. During his second and third acts, he kept his dignity partly by playing men who seemed to have relinquished theirs through vanity or foolishness. Some of them were holding on to decency in an indecent world; others had nearly let it slip through their fingers.

Decency seems to have come easily to Mr. Newman himself, as evidenced by his philanthropic and political endeavors, which never devolved into self-promotion. It was easy to take his intelligence for granted as well as his talent, which survived even the occasional misstep. At the end of “The Drowning Pool,” a woman wistfully tells Mr. Newman, I wish you’d stay a while. I know how she feels.

An Appraisal – An Actor Whose Baby Blues Came in Shades of Gray – An Appraisal – NYTimes.com.