February 29, 2008

An extra day of work . . .

. . . and no, I'm not talking about working Saturday and Sunday without compensation, but 2008 is a leap year and February 29 is a "free day." While many marketers are taking advantage of this, it's also a work for free day if you get paid twice a month as most of us corporate junkies do. I think we should all go work for National Trust.

Off to sleep I go, because off to work I go in less than seven hours, for which I won't be compensated for since I don't work at a company that observes "Leap" days or any other holidays during busy season. But for our clients, it's great, an extra day of slave-labor at no incremental cost.

Good Night/Good Morning/Happy "Leap" Day!

Cognitive Dissonance

Perhaps the title above is not necessarily the correct title for this post, but I just really liked this phrase. (Thanks Arky or your roomate.) In talking to Julie last night during one of our usual gab/gossip fests, she spoke an interesting phrase, "you do what you gotta do, and let other people follow accordingly." This leads me to a more famous saying of Rabbi Hillel, "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?"

In talking to Julzie this morning who was "woken up with 5 requests from 4 different people" which turned out to be 4 requests from 3 people was trying to help everyone except getting her own work done. We (that may be too general of a term) often find ourselves in situations where we will sooner help others then ourselves. We will proof a friend's paper, translate something for our parents, run to the pharmacy for a sick relative and maybe even google a topic that someone we know is having a "problem" with instead of tackling our own work and life. Perhaps, it is because it's easier to deal with other people's stuff rather than our own. Perhaps, it's a way of escapism or procrastination. Some of us multitask in order to accomplish things that have no benefit to ourselves except "being there" and often times that's not something that's even appreciated or considered. Maybe, there are no selfless deeds because helping someone in need is a way for us to feel better about ourselves. Yet, maybe we really do want to help, try to help, often in spite of ourselves. In helping others however, do we harm ourselves by putting our own issues/problems/work on the back-burner? If each of us isn't there for our own self, can we truly rely on others to be there? But, if we don't [try] to help others, are we really human?

I'm not sure if the above makes any sense but it's 12:30 am and after a week of 13 hour workdays and a work-filled weekend ahead of me, I'm sure it's forgivable. Maybe it's not and this is where the cognitive dissonance comes in. How do you prioritize between having a career, a family, a social life and extracurricular activities that you truly enjoy (i.e. [in no particular order] posting on your blog, that you seldom update; reading random things on the internet [really good NYT read that sort of kind of fits with this post, at least in my head]; seeing loved ones; and being really ticked off that there's way too many quotes, paranthesis and miscellaneous punctuation in this post and perhaps it's because I haven't read nearly as many books as I should've and want to and wish that i could.) This has become one big massive run-on, much like the jumble of thoughts and ideas that are in my head. I was never good with outlining or bulletpoints or PowerPoints, but get me started on a topic and I'll go off on all kinds of tangents, telling you all kinds of stories, except for whatever it is that I really want to say. . .

February 20, 2008

"Счастье не в тех женщинах с которыми хочется спать, а в тех с которыми хочется просыпаться. . ."

February 19, 2008

GEORGE CARLIN'S NEW RULES FOR 2008

I thought that these were great!

New Rule:
No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule:
Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days --- mowing my lawn.

New Rule:
Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain...Lobster?

New Rule:
Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: 'Lucky bastards.'

New Rule:
If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keep sakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.

New Rule:
Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Good, we're done.

New Rule:
There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but, without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule:
Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule:
The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a 'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,' ooooh, you're a huge asshole.

New Rule:
I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up Is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule:
Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to 'beef with broccoli.' The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule:
Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN Recently televised the U.S Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait, they're already doing that. It's called 'The Howard Stern Show.'

New Rule:
I don't need a bigger mega M&Ms. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

New Rule:
If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.

New Rule:
And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell If he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, Dude. I just want to wash my hands!

New Rule:
When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

New Rule:
If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than Minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, 'Do you want fries with that?'

February 14, 2008

V for Vendetta

WHERE WOULD YOU BE:

IF - YOU HAD ALL THE MONEY YOUR HEART DESIRES

IF - YOU HAD NO WORRIES

IF - YOU CAME HOME AND THE FINEST MEAL IS AWAITING YOU

IF - YOUR BATHWATER HAD BEEN RUN

IF - YOU HAD THE PERFECT KIDS

IF - YOUR PARTNER WAS AWAITING YOU, WITH OPEN ARMS AND KISSES

SO, WHERE WOULD YOU BE?

HELLOOooo!!!!!!!!!
YOU'D BE IN THE WRONG DAMN HOUSE!

HOPE YOU HAVE A REALLY GOOD VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

February 13, 2008


Муж под каблуком жены? Неправдоподобно. Вот под шпилькой,- бывает.

Чтобы жена считала мужа точкой опоры, - он должен носить ее на руках.

Самое верное решение принимают, когда нет выбора.

February 12, 2008

Google Quote of the Day

"Don't go through life, grow through life." -Eric Butterworth

What is "busy season"?

An explanation, from a co-worker:

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would like to take a brief moment to explain to you what is known, in some circles, as “busy season”. Here’s a hint before I get started though – it’s a season and it is very, very busy. Shocking, I know. If you’re a tax accountant or auditor (i.e. the last legal form of indentured servitude) or you have friends who are, you know this term well. Between January and mid-March, your ass belongs to whichever public accounting firm you have been fool enough to sell it to for the tuppence that you have agreed to accept as biweekly pay. You get to work at the butt-crack of dawn and routinely watch the sun rise from your desk. You see the cleaners so often, you now know the names of their children in ascending order of age and the name of their favorite pop group. You work through what used to be your lunch-break and is now just the ten minutes (usually around 3:45pm) during which you run to the bathroom, check your voicemail, check your email and/or catch your breath. You deal with bitchy clients, bitchy managers, bitchy receptionists, co-workers who used to be congenial but who are now just bitchy because they can’t stand busy season either. You get fat because of all the other things that your firm has denied you (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), it will provide you with the equivalent of your body weight in food with the highest caloric content possible. Here’s a snapshot into the snack-drawer (more like snack-closet) at my most recent busy season client – KitKat, Cheez-it, Cheetos, Doritos, Lays, Twix, Hershey bar, Ferrero Rocher (we’re classy, y’know!), Twix, Twizzlers, Reese’s Cups, Pringles, cupcakes, fruit snacks -- all in bags weighing about a hundred pounds each. And what happens when you get frustrated, irritated and all-round aggravated? You reach for the snack drawer and pretty soon, your sizeable arse can no longer fit in your pathetic Office Depot swivel chair.

Of course, because of all the snacks you’ve been eating, you begin to break out, so you’re not just fat, you’re pimply and ugly too. This brings with it a wave of self-consciousness and low self-esteem comparable only, perhaps, to your ‘awkward teen years’. Perhaps. Your teeth begin to degenerate because you’ve basically been surviving on pure sugar and where do you think you’re going to find the time to visit a licensed dental professional? Not this busy season! You better pray your teeth hang in there till April.

When you notice the sun setting, you realize the second part of your day is just beginning! Your shoes start coming off under your little desk and you start getting real comfy – maybe you’re even sitting Buddha-style with your firm-issued laptop sitting beside your fifth cup of coffee of the day. The air-conditioning goes off, the client is long gone, the fatigue and the depression set in because you realize you’ve still got a full day’s work ahead of you and the partner’s just shown up. When you eventually get to leave work, your friends (remember those people? No? I didn’t think so) are practically already in bed. Oh, let’s talk about that – personal relationships. They’re shot. Just forget it. They’re shot because not only do you not really have any time to commit to nurturing these relationships, you’re so burned out from the day that the little time you do find to converse, you’re irritated, wired and snappish. So let’s recap; your formerly fabulous self has become an over-worked, under-paid, burned-out, pissed off, fat, pimply, love-less, friendless, sleep-deprived, caffeine-dependent mess, ticking and tying from here to eternity.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is busy season.

This is my life until 04/15 when all birthdays start, this year is especially great since all of my friends are turning 25 and Danik's 30! Wooohooo!

P.S. If you still need me to do your personal return, please get in touch with me ASAP.


Самый полезный вид отдыха - это игра в работу. Надо только уметь выигрывать.

February 7, 2008

Digsby is HeRE!!!!

Digsby is an app to manage IM/Email/Social networks that my dear friend Steve has been slaving over for the last two years! Download Squad is offering 5000 free invites to digsby, a brand new app that lets you use many IM services, Email, Myspace, FaceBook, and more. It's an open beta, so they're eventually going to add even more services.

Check it out, while it's FREEEEE!!!!!!


Stevie, Good Luck (not that you need it!)

read more * digg story * http://www.digsby.com/

February 4, 2008

Denial

Truth is a virtue, while lying is a sin. Yet, somehow most of us lie. Some are pathological liars, but generally we lie to (instead of with) people we love. Foremost, we lie to ourselves. We, as people, have an innate ability to believe what we want to believe and listen to only what we want to hear. We always blame others for our own wrongdoings or better yet we place a halo around those who seldom deserve it.

We lie to our parents about where we are going and with whom, so that they wouldn't worry. We lie to our friends about our grades or education in order to seem smarter. We lie to our significant others to protect them. In the end, we are only lying to our innermost self - we live in a state of denial, blaming everyone for what we ourselves don't want to believe, for a mess we always create with our own hands, though often unconsciously.

Writing all of this I can't get this saying out of my head - "and still despite evrything, I truly believe that people are realy good at heart" - written by Anne Frank at the age of about 16 while hiding out in a basement during WWII. I wish I was as optimistic as Anne, but then I wouldn't be the cynical me you all know and [love], writing a stupid blog post on the train back home from work, being in the worst mood ever!



* * *

Living in a State of Denial,
On an Avenue of Blame
You took my hand in passion
And now, I am in shame

I thought it'd all be over,
But lying never stops
My life may not be over
My feelings, raindrops

Scattered everywhere
I call out a prayer
But noone hears me now
I'm too far gone. . .

Go New York, go New York, GO!

Like most females, I watch the SuperBowl for the commercials, and this year they sucked!!

A few did slip through the cracks, enjoy:





February 2, 2008

Kill with a smile

I would rather have one rose and a kind word from a friend while I'm here than a whole truck load when I'm gone.

February 1, 2008

Randomness...

Riding on the "B" train to work, I thought that I can use my commute (and my berry) for something productive. Yet, I already passed Church Street and nothing intelligent comes to mind. I have thoughts circling my brain at a rate of 3027 per minute, yet I feel that they are (for the most part) too private to share with the world.

Someone (Rizhik) recently suggested that I have an anonymous blog, but then I'll loose the limited readers that I have - my friends and family. Although, I've been getting miscellaneous hits from all over the world, I doubt that I'd have the same success sharing my innermost thoughts. Then again, you never know!

To go in a completely different direction, today is groundhog day?, wear red for heart disease day (I'm wearing a red sweater), and my personal favorite, National-hug-a-Jew day! I hope to get many hugs today (hopefully not from random strangers). Enjoy your day, keep readings and maybe soon I'll find something interesting to write about - the book "eat, pray, love" by Elizabeth Gilbert that I recently finished reading, superbowl weekend (go giants!, I guess) or some other random thoughts that may enter my disturbed mind.

As I'm crossing the Brooklyn Bridge (my favorite bridge in New York), peace, love and smiles to all and hugs to all the jews (at least for today!)

P.S. I realize there are a lot of run-ons and other grammatical mistakes in this post, but in the days of modern technology and my random mindset-deal with it! (Though, that's not really an excuse, it's just really annoying to edit on this thing - it's a phone, damn it!!!) I love technology!