Irish Just a Teddybear's blog: "Random Thoughts and Holiday Madness"

Hey everyone, just wanted to write a few lines about what happened here in Midtown Manhattan yesterday. A steam pipe blow up at 5:57pm EDT about 6 blocks away from my job. Luckly I was at another subway stop when everything took place. Midtown has so frozen zones because of the blast and due to health concerns. It is disconcerting that the infrastructure in the nation's big city is falling apart and still the head of the power company makes over a million a year. Makes you think about what is this guy doing to update things, is it a Oh Sh*t attitude of we will replace things only when they break and scr$w everyone who is effected by the break. I am doing ok but just kind of p*ssed about it. Have a great day everyone!

Hey All, I will be off the Tap for a few days as I have been summoned for Jury Duty, don't know if I will be called for a case but we will see. Have a great week and weekend everyone!

Hi All, Over the weekend my Mom's brother past away over in Ireland from a heart attack while having his leg amputated due to blood clots. He was in his late 60's and had diabetes but still a very young age to go. We also think he passed away due to a broken heart as he wife died from cancer just 10 years ago this month. Please keep my family in your prayers. I won't be on here as much the next few days. Thank you for your understanding. Irish, just a saddened teddybear.

Economic View Job Security, Too, May Have a Happy Medium By LOUIS UCHITELLE Published: February 25, 2007 NYTimes FOR more than a decade, many American economists have pointed to Europe and Japan as prima facie evidence that layoffs in the United States are a good thing. The economies in those countries were not nearly as robust as this country’s. And the reason? Too much job security in Europe and Japan, the economists said. American employers, in sharp contrast, have operated with much more “flexibility.” Hiring and firing at will, they shift labor from where it is not needed to where it is needed. If Eastman Kodak is struggling to establish itself in digital photography, then Kodak downsizes and labor moves to industries and companies that are thriving — software, for example, or health care, or Wal-Mart Stores or Caterpillar. This shuffling out of one job and into another shows up in the statistics as nearly full employment. Never mind that the shuffling does not work as efficiently as the description implies or that many of the laid-off workers find themselves earning less in their next jobs, an income roller coaster that is absent in Europe and Japan. A dynamic economy leaves no alternative, or so the reasoning goes among mainstream economists. “Trying to prevent this creative destruction from happening is a recipe for less economic growth and less productivity,” said Barry Eichengreen, an international economist at the University of California, Berkeley. Starting in the mid-1990s, Europe and Japan did wallow in recession or weak growth while the American economy expanded at a spectacular clip. But no longer. Growth is slowing in the United States just as it speeds up in the 25-nation European Union and in Japan. Unemployment rates in those countries are also beginning to come down, suggesting that the American system is not the only route to full employment. As the gaps close, does that mean that job security, in the European and Japanese style, is the right way to go after all? The question would be easier to answer if the European Union countries and Japan had stuck to their orthodox job security. They have not. On their way to revival, they adopted some of America’s practices. “A number of countries have found ways to make their labor markets more flexible, without sacrificing their greater commitment to a government role in equalizing incomes,” said Paul Swaim, a senior economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. So the old dichotomy — insecurity versus security — is gradually giving way to a new debate. “It is obviously the right mix of security and insecurity that has to be achieved,” said Richard B. Freeman, a labor economist at Harvard. “You can’t protect people their whole working lives. That undercuts incentive. But you can’t tell people they have no security at all.” The guideposts in this search for the right mix should not be just economic growth rates and unemployment levels. These are too often affected by business cycles. Many American economists, bent on demonstrating the payoff from layoffs, paid relatively little attention to the cyclical reasons for the underperformance of Japan and Europe. “Sometimes we forget these cyclical forces,” said Sanford M. Jacoby, an economic historian at the University of California, Los Angeles. Japan and Western Europe flourished in the 1980s. And then the cycle changed. Japan plunged into a prolonged recession, brought on by the bursting of stock market and real estate bubbles, an overcautious central bank and a banking crisis. Europe also fell into the doldrums, partly because of the difficulties of organizing the European Union. Integrating East Germany into West Germany, Europe’s strongest economy, did not help, either. But now Japan is in the fifth year of an ever-stronger recovery, and this year, according to some forecasts, growth in the European Union may even exceed that in the United States, where the economy may be weakening in the sixth year of a recovery. Cycles count. But so do labor policies. In some European countries, employers are using temporary and part-time workers much more than they did in the past. That gives them leeway to expand and contract their work forces without having to add full-timers who are protected against layoffs. Similar protection exists in Japan, which also relies for “flexibility” on part-timers and temps. If cost-cutting is necessary in Japan, there is a pecking order, says Yoshi Tsurumi, an economist at Baruch College in Manhattan and a consultant to Japanese companies. Dividends are cut first, then salaries — starting at the top. Finally, there are layoffs — if attrition is not enough to shrink staff. “The matter of flexibility is important,” Mr. Tsurumi said, “but the Japanese notion is to retrain and transfer people within an organization.” Elsewhere, France and Germany have eased job protection for employees of small businesses. Payroll taxes paid by employers have been cut for some low-income workers, increasing the demand for them. And the Danish model is getting a lot of attention. Employers in Denmark are relatively free to lay off workers, but the state then steps in with benefits that replace 70 percent of the lost income for four years. Government also finances retraining and education, pressuring the unemployed to participate and then insisting that they accept reasonable job offers or risk cuts in their benefits. THE Danish government devotes 3 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product to retraining, compared with less than 1 percent in the United States. And, of course, everywhere in Europe, the state pays for health insurance and for pensions that often encourage early retirement by replacing big percentages of preretirement income. “What the Europeans and the Japanese understand is that modern economies can sustain social protections without killing the golden goose,” said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. That is an understanding that perhaps will take root among American economists and policy makers, deprived as they now are of their long-running contention that job security resulted in weak economic growth in Europe and Japan.

Life’s Work Some Respect, Please, for the Afternoon Nap By LISA BELKIN Published: February 25, 2007 KINDERGARTNERS fight against naptime because they want to be just like the grown-ups. But those grown-ups would give anything for a chance to close their eyes during the endless time between lunch and dinner. You know the feeling — your screen starts to blur, your eyelids become heavy, your mouth feels cottony, and you would give back all the perks of adulthood to be able to curl up on the floor. Now, out of Greece, comes permission to do exactly that. A study of more than 23,000 adults shows that those who napped for about 30 minutes each week had a 37 percent lower risk of dying from a heart attack than those who did not. So this should mean that all working Americans will receive permission from their bosses to close their eyes every afternoon at about 4 p.m., right? Don’t bet your blankie on it. This is hardly the first study showing that sleep is more than simply time when we really should be at work. Other studies, though few as extensive as the Greek research, show that short periods of sleep during the day increase productivity and creativity while reducing stress. And even without surveys, we know this from experience. When you need a nap, you need a nap. Nothing — not caffeine, not a chocolate bar, not a pill — recharges the battery in the same way. Which is why so many of us have been sneaking naps at work for years. Mark Lipschutz, a computer specialist in Philadelphia, for one, acknowledges disappearing out to the company parking lot when the need hits. There he reclines the front seat of his car, sets the alarm on his mobile phone, puts on the eyeshade he carries for just this purpose and sacks out. Eight or 10 minutes are often enough. More than 20 and he wakes up groggy. Jen Singer has been known to tell clients that she can’t make a 1 p.m. conference call because “I have a meeting.” What she does not tell them, she confesses, is that “it’s a meeting with my pillow.” She edits a Web site called MommaSaid.net from home, which makes it easier to nap without being seen. (As one who also works from home, I understand this strategy; I have been known to tell my children that I am on a “conference call” for an hour and cannot be disturbed. Heaven forbid they find out that Mom is asleep in the mid-afternoon.) The most interesting thing that Mr. Lipschutz and Mr. Singer have to tell us is not that they nap, but that they feel the need to sneak those naps. They don’t simply announce “I am off to take a nap,” in the same matter-of-fact tone as “I’m off to lunch” or “I’m done for the day” (or “I’m on a conference call”). This is not the case in other parts of the world. The legacy of the siesta lingers in Spanish culture, and in some countries of the Far East, workers all put their heads on their desks in the middle of the day and snooze as one. Nor has it always been an embarrassment to nap in the West. Thomas Edison was famous for his ability to catnap anywhere. Winston Churchill napped once a day, without apology, during World War II. “You must sleep sometime between lunch and dinner,” Churchill said, explaining that this includes taking off one’s clothes and climbing into bed. “Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imaginations. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one.” But over the last several decades, as workdays lengthened, as executives began to brag that they functioned best on a mere four hours’ sleep a night, as Americans started bringing their laptops along on vacation — when they took those vacations at all — sleep has come to be seen as a luxury at best, and as a weakness at worst. The only way the Greek napping study will make a substantive difference in the average workday is if it somehow helps to redefine sleep as something macho and competitive. A few companies out there have added rooms outfitted with couches, recliners, comforters and pillows to their menu of life/work perks. Some businesses describe these rooms not in terms of health and well-being, but as a way to gain a competitive edge. At the office of the law firm Kilpatrick Stockton in Raleigh, N.C., for instance, the room in question is called the Power Room. As in power nap. As in “taking away the stigma of napping and replacing it with strength and energy,” says Carol Vassey, the firm’s office manager. Sleep as strategy. As secret weapon. As business plan. Call it what you must. And then get some rest.

You Know You're From New Jersey When...

You've been seriously injured at Action Park. You know that the only people who call it "Joisey" are from New York (usually The Bronx) or Texas. You don't think of citrus when people mention "The Oranges." You know that it's called "Great Adventure," not "Six Flags." You've ordered a hard roll with butter for breakfast. You've known the way to Seaside Heights since you were seven. You've eaten at a diner, when you were stoned or drunk, at 3 am. Whenever you park, there's a Camaro within three spots of you. You remember that the "Two Guys" were from Harrison. You know that the state isn't one big oil refinery. At least three people in your family still love Bruce Springsteen, and you know what town Jon Bon Jovi is from. You know what a "jug handle" is. You know that a WaWa is a convenience store. You know that the state isn't all farmland. You know that there are no "beaches" in new Jersey - there's "The Shore," and you know that the road to the shore is "The Parkway" not "The Garden State Highway." You know that "Piney" isn't referring to a tree. Even your school cafeteria made good Italian subs, and, you call it a "sub" not a "submarine sandwich" or worse yet, a "hoagy" or a "hero." You remember the song from the Palisades Park commercials. You know how to properly negotiate a Circle. You knew that the last question had to do with driving. You know that "Acme" is an actual store, not just a Warner Bros creation. You know that this is the only "New..." state that doesn't require "New" to identify it (like, try ...Mexico, ...York, ...Hampshire (doesn't work, does it?). You know how to translate this conversation: "Jeet yet?" "No, Jew?" You only go to New York City for day trips, and you only call it "The City." You know that a "White Castle" is the name of BOTH a fast food chain AND a fast food sandwich. You consider a corned beef sandwich with lettuce and mayo a sacrilege. In the 80's you wore your hair REALLY high. You don't think "What exit" (do you live near?) is very funny. You know that the real first "strip shopping center" in the country is Route 22. You know that no respectable New Jerseyan goes to Princeton - that's for out-of-staters. The Jets-Giants game has started fights at your school or local bar. You live within 20 minutes of at least three different malls. You can see the Manhattan skyline from some part of your town. You've gotten on the wrong highway trying to get out of Willowbrook Mall. You've eaten a Boardwalk cheesesteak with vinegar fries. You have a favorite Atlantic City casino. You live within 20 minutes of at least three different malls. You refer to all highways and interstates by their numbers. Every year you have at least one kid in your class named Tony. You know the location of every clip shown in the Sopranos opening credits. You know that people from North Jersey go to Seaside Heights, and people from Central Jersey go to Belmar and people from South Jersey go to Wildwood. You weren't raised in New Jersey -- you were raised in either North Jersey, Central Jersey or South Jersey. You don't consider Newark or Camden to actually be part of the state. You remember the stores Korvette's, Two Guys, Rickel's, Channel, Bamberger's and Orbach's. You also remember Palisades Amusement Park. You start planning for Memorial Day weekend in February. You've never pumped your own gas. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from New Jersey.

Hey All, I am in my first gift contest, please stop by and show some love. Thanks! You Rock!

At this time of year is it always difficult to pick out just the presents for friends and family. It is tempting to go the gift card route but they are people who you care about. Thought should go into the gift to try and make it personal practical and useful for them since they care for you all year long and are there for you in good times and in bad times. And for those friends with kids who annoy you remember that toys without an off switch are subtle ways to get back at them ;-)

Just some thoughts on how NYC is both wonderful and stressful during the Holidays. There are so many wonderful sights to see so there are so many people who come and see them, The tree is beautiful so everyone drives in to look at it. The stores have amazing displays so the sidewalks get over crowded with everyone looking at them. The stores have great sales so eeveryone is in the stores grabbing the last item before you can reach it. The subways are packed but you feel like you need a cigarette after. Happy Holidays to all.