My mark of success

In this work-a-day world, how are we to measure success? Some measure it by fortune, some measure it in non-monetary, non-material terms.

I have to admit going both ways, of flip-flopping because I am, afterall, a Democrat. There was a time when I thought Donald Trump was the coolest guy on earth and that was before The Apprentice was on television. I think it had something to do with the fact that my mom subscribed to Money magazine in the '80s, when extravagant, no holds barred, money making was en vogue -- before Wall Street came out and savings and loans scandals topped the headlines. I was going to be the richest person in the world but I didn't know that I had to, you know, do stuff for it. I figured it would just kind of happen.

But then I rejected that world for the asceticism of philosophy. That was short lived because, in short, I'm not really smart enough to make it in phil biz. I have friends who are/will do that for a living, and they are about a mile ahead of me. Also, philosophy just doesn't pay the way it used to. I mean, the kings of Europe aren't hiring court philosophers the way they used to. Those were the good old days.

Anyway, I've gone back and forth but I've hit on the only reliable measure of success: I want to be in a position where I am a necessary, integral part of a meeting, but have enough stature so that if I fall asleep in the meeting, no one would dare say anything to me about it.

So, I guess success is, in some way, related to stature. Not objective stature, but relative stature. I might be a Senator, but if I am the most junior Senator and I have a razor thin majority in my state, then I best stay awake in meetings -- party leaders and whips, those guys can afford to catch a couple of winks. If I am the leader of the local PTA, then you had best keep mouth shut if I fall asleep. 'Cause if you give me any guff, I will end your PTA career faster than butterball chows down on cafeteria fish sticks.

Tyson Chandler, Republican squawk box

From the Chicago Tribune Sports Page

"Chandler and Curry still want that responsibility [of resuscitating the Chicago Bulls]. Perhaps that is the reason both are so frustrated by Skiles' move to bring them off the bench. It certainly is behind their perception that the team is now more centered on perimeter-based players like Deng, Hinrich, Nocioni and Gordon.

"If that's their wishes, then that's what they need to do," Chandler said. "It can't be flip-flopping. If that's what it is, that's what it is."

See, even Chandler is quoting Karl Rove.

Rick Steves cleaned out by gypsies

LISBON—Rick Steves, host of the PBS series Rick Steves' Europe, was robbed by gypsies while wandering the labyrinthine streets of the Alfama Monday. "These quaint but rickety sailors' quarters no longer house salty men of the sea, but they do play host to a colorful array of vagabonds," Steves said, clapping along to a band of dancing Roma children while his watch was being stolen from his backpack by their mother. "Peak time for seeing these lively characters is before sunset, as darkness attracts a less savory element to the area." Bonus footage of Steves getting mugged by a street punk in Berlin will be available on the Season 3 DVD anthology.
-- from The Onion

The Halloween barrier

Don't let anyone tell you that Christmas is more "commercialized" in the United States than anywhere else.  If anything, it is more so in the United Kingdom.

Take, for example, the fact that the bakery near my flat put its Christmas lights up in the middle of October.  Take, as another example, the fact that an air freshener company has been pushing their Christmas scented sprays (i.e. the smell of a gin-soaked Santa), again, since mid-October.  Finally, Woolworths has been bombarding us with their commercials featuring a wolly sheep and some other animal pushing Christmas deals on mobile phones since... that's rights, mid-October.

I know why this is.  In the UK they don't really celebrate Halloween.  They kind of celebrate it, but it isn't ingrained in their national consciousness the way it is in the United States.  Hell, in Detroit, they burn each other's houses for Halloween: that's dedication.

But, since it isn't an important event, it isn't something that is really marketed.  There are Halloween sale events, but not like in the US.  Because Halloween isn't seen as a consumer bonanza, marketers move straight from their autumn/winter commercials straight to Christmas.

I can't really recall ever seeing a Christmas commercial before Halloween.  Halloween is the barrier between autumn sales and Christmas sales.  Perhaps Thanksgiving used to be the barrier in olden days or days of yore, but with the rise of Thanksgiving Friday to the most active sales day of the year, stores must advertise well before Thanksgiving begins.