Outliers exposes the 10,000 hours threshold

In this year's (2009) Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about successful people who are more than just lucky. Regular folks like Bill Gates and the members of the The Beatles have put many hours into honing their particular talent and skills in optimum settings, at just the right time for them to rise to the top of their ouvre. This fairly self-evident observation is eye-opening in the amount of time stated to begin to be an expert, master, or champion. That amount of time is, more or less, 10,000 hours, or well over three solid years to master a skill. Yes, I think that is about the minimum one needs to master a skill such as playing the guitar or computer programming. Come to think of it, it's about the time it takes to get a bachelor's degree. Nevertheless, it's time to get practicing those skills in which one wants to become proficient, . . like writing (Wasn't this sentence awfully awkward?)

Please . . .don't waste my time

While trying to analyze a bureaucratic problem at work, today, it occurred to me the process in place was wasting my time, even if I was working, and technically, it was the company's time. What the process was asking of me had no purpose. At one time, perhaps, it did, but no longer, yet the process was still in place. After deciding, no, I was not going to participate in a purposeless process, it occurred to me how, as a non-believer in afterlife, I should place a very high value on my time because, let's face it, when you're out of time, there are no do-overs. Definitely don't participate in purposeless activities, unless they bring some sort of pleasure to someone. And definitely, do not become part of a mindless process at work or on my own time! Be it resolved.

Now I am examining the idea of continuing at this job at all.

H1N1 is Flu--Pay attention to cars and guns

Now that the H1N1 panic is subsiding, please remember to pay attention when you are driving and also, sell your guns. Your children don't need them unless people decide this is no longer a nation of laws.