Every time I sit down to write something here, I am amazed at the amount of time that has passed since my last post. I look and say to my self “How could it be almost a month since I wrote anything”. Feels like it was yesterday

I want to wish my dad a healthy recovery from bypass surgery last week. Even thought he was feeling fine, the doctors noticed something during a routine check-up, with led to a stress test, which led to bypass surgery. Everything went well and my dad is back home recovering. Its going to be while, but hopefully he comes out better after time. It is really amazing what doctors and nurses can do these days. They are all dedicated to helping people and making sure things go smoothly. I big Thank You to all who worked on and helped my dad

Had an interesting discussion the other day at a vendor lunch. We talked about how teachers have something ingrained in them that motivates them to want to help other people. Its a feeling of purpose that drives them. Ask most teaches and they will say they always wanted to be a teacher, that is was their calling. This can be both a gift and a curse. Over the years management has determined that they can take advantage of the teachers drive and passion and offer less money than in other professions. Teaches very rarely will walk away if things get bad. They just want to teach. The opposite is true for the white collar worker. Most did not dream of getting into Accounting, or Finance or Information Technology. They kind of found there way there as a means to provide a comfortable living. Ask them and most will say they had other dreams and ambitions. This is bad for management, as a lot of workers have no problem jumping from job to job for whatever gives them a better opportunity. This makes companies have to pay more and offer more to get people to stay.

This leads to the overall theory that you can get away paying less to people who are highly motivated (at a determent to production and moral, as teachers will likely stay at a job, but probably not do their best due to burn out and frustration) but you need to pay more for people who have less passions and really could care less, since if you don’t, they will leave and you will end up in a constant cycle of hiring people and eventually end up with the bottom of the barrel. It was an interesting discussion and one I had not really thought about before.

Survivor has been interesting this season. Started off crazy with all the twists and turns, and immunity idols that were in play. But so far there has been no big pay-off. Was looking forward to some epic tribal councils with people playing Idols and other advantages. But nobody seems to want to break away and make a bold move. Hope we are not left with the last few tribal councils where basically everybody plays an idol, and ends up simply getting rid of people who don’t have an idol or advantage to save them selves. This kind of defeats the purpose of outwitting people and makes it simply outplaying them by finding idols. Maybe a rule that idols are only good for 1 or 2 tribal councils before they expire, or a rule that only 1 or 2 idols / advantages can be played per tribal council would help.

The Mets are off to a 5 – 5 start. Not the best, but not that bad as there are really no NL Teams that are starting off strong. The have 3 home games against the Padres before heading out for a 10 game west coast trip (including games against the dreadful Oakland As). Then home for 3 against the equally dreadful Washington Nationals. If they can go 10 – 6 during this stretch they will be fine

Update on TV shows

Star Trek Picard: – Really Enjoying this season (almost caught up)
Rabbit Hole: – Can’t go wrong with Keifer Sutherland
CSI: Vegas: – Great to see Greg back. Now we need Nick Stokes
The Blacklist: – Sad that the show will be ending. Still very enjoyable
The Mandalorian: – On the list to start soon
The Accused: – Really good with some interesting and thought provoking topics
9:11 / 9:11 Lone Star: – Catching up on both of these
Not Dead Yet: – Makes me laugh – Need some more comedies

Finished reading “The House at the End of the World” by Dean Koontz. Always enjoy his books and this was a good one. Now reading “What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies” by Tim Urban. Check out https://waitbutwhy.com/homepage for info on the book.

More to come soon

Andy