Product Plug: Sirius Internet Radio

Surprisingly enough, my current company has not blocked streaming media. Myspace yes, Friendster yes, my personal Yahoo Mail account, YES, but not my Sirius Radio subscription.

My wife bought me a Sirius for the car, and well, I take the train to work.

But the side benefit of this is that you can log in to the web based streaming player and listen to music, talk and Howard Stern while blocking out those annoying cubicle conversations.

Recently, Sirius started offering just an Internet only account, which I think is the best deal out there for fellow dwellers.

It certainly beats those goofy noise cancelling headphones people wear. Jeez...

I feel like the person next to the person who got shot in a drive by

So in my current illustrious cubicle home a peer in my group got the "package".

I was truly betting it was me. I'm surprised somewhat that it wasn't.

He told me that he expected it (seems like we're all under our own death watch) because he didn't have good relationships with some senior managers. Bad things happen to good people. He was good people.

But on the flip side, he's happy! He is getting a sizable pay out to leave. The market is very strong right now. The employment levels are year 1999ish which means that the demand for people in our field is strong. http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/03/markets/stockswatch/index.htm?section=money_latest

He has just got himself a mini lottery winning.

Now, as a fellow dweller, but contractor, I feel a bit of envy. If I get sacked, that's it! No big bonus, no payout, just a high five and a kick in the ass.

But then again, I've never been sacked, other than one time in a very bad company. Hey wait, I won that lottery too, but it was only a two month severance. Not the payout my friend is getting.

So, for now I'm safe, but who knows what comes about next week.

Until later, peace!

Workers of the world Unite!

Growing up in NYC where unions are the norm, I've come to generally have a distate for most of them.

In my view, there are no good unions left, their time has come and gone. The purist vision of a union was a great idea when they became relevant in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Over time though they became bloated and corrupt with mob influence directing their activities rather than the original mission statement, protecting their members.

But now........I think a union might not be a bad idea. Here's why..

The original intent of unions was to protect the single worker from the greed and mistreatment of the company he or she worked for. In the vein of that mission why isn't there a union being formed to protect the modern day cubicle dweller from the abuses of the global corporation? Since many of us aren't even employees of the company we work at these days, this idea actually should grow some roots.

Think about it, if a union was formed to promote, protect and lobby for workers that are at risk of being offshored, companies would be less inclined to make these waves of moves to off shore companies.

It can happen. An accounting union comprised of members that do AP, AR, ledger work etc forms nationally. Their membership can create pressures across multiple companies whenever a company reviews the possiblity of offshoring their functions. It's potentially a powerful lobby, with reach not only in the company that is considering the offshore move but other companies as well.

A national "sick out" happens when XYZ co in Denver starts talking to a Wipro about offshoring their IT staff. Productivity drops off all over the place, that's millons of lost time and effort.

Why not?

There was a time a union was needed to protect the little guy. The little guy was the average blue collar joe who toiled hard for himself and family.

Now I am seeing that the "little guy" can easily be a post graduate degreed white collar professional. Who would have thought?

I have to get back to work now, but I will explore this in the future.

What do you think?

Product Endorsement Time - Thinking for a Living

I love this book. Good reading for people who create, package, deliver, or manage information and the people that do information worker tasks.

Great author, easy to read, and it gives you great insight on who you are in this Information Economy.

http://www.tomdavenport.com/

Product endorsement time - Power Blast Energy Drink powder

This stuff is FANTASTIC.

Get a 20 ounce water bottle, drop this in first, then fill with water. You are revved up, but not in a heart wrenching "Oh god, why can't I stop fidgeting" sort of way.

The one odd thing that is really disconcerting is the fizzing and bubbling that it makes when water comes in contact with it.

Hope it's good for my insides. Ah well, screw it, I'm going to the home stretch getting things done without jumping out of my skin.

Check it out. http://www.powerblastenergy.com/ I bought it in Costco for about 20 dollars for a box of 24.