The (CEO) Rules

This USA Today article is primarily about how people treat waitstaff, but there's also an interesting list of "rules" for CEOs in a sidebar at the left.

I'm one of those who tries to treat people in service positions well. They're human beings too, and even if I didn't think that, I certainly know they're the ones with all the power. Earlier this semester I found my monitor was flickering, so I emailed the IT HelpDesk. The next day it was replaced. The man who does that job is severely overworked, and I know perfectly well that if I'd ever said an unkind thing to him, I would've been placed at the bottom of his list, not the top as I apparently was. It occurs to me that I try to cultivate such good will more actively with those I know I will interact with frequently - I do not go as out of my way with waitstaff, as I rarely interact with the same one twice, and I never truly depend upon one.

Others that I liked:

7: Constantly review developments to make sure that the actual benefits are what they were supposed to be. Avoid Newton's Law.
14: Strive for brevity and clarity in oral and written reports.
22: Cultivate the habit of making quick, clean-cut decisions.

I liked the implict assumption that everyone knows Newton's/Galileo's Law of Inertia. Brevity is really important when people are going to have to read a billion such papers - if they have to go past one page, they'll lose interest and put it down. Making quick decisions in insufficient information is quite a pain. I'm learning to deal with it, especially when student say they want to meet me ("when works for you?" "um, whenever"). As my dad once told me when trying to teach me to drive (before I gave up on learning from relatives), the worst decision is none at all. It's better to make a wrong choice and then fix it than be paralyzed in inaction forever.

Peanuts, whoah whoah whoah, peanuts!

Let me clarify for you my allergic relationship with peanuts.

Yesterday I really wanted a salty snack, and all that was available at the time was dry roasted peanuts. Unsalted, but better than a sugary snack at the time. I had just opened the package when I remembered that I was currently being allergic to something else (probably the inch-thick coating of green-yellow pollen that's been collecting on every surface). So I reluctantly put the peanuts back.

The part worth noting about this story is that the peantus were perfectly fine for me to eat until I realized that I was at that moment, experiencing a mild allergic reaction to something else. In the absense of all other stimuli, peanuts are awesome! However, for me they act as a catalyst when there is already something else in my environment that I am known to be allergic to. Hence my evening's sniffles would've turned into continual sneezing. Had it been mild eye-itching, that would've become sniffles - that always happened at my Nga Boo's house, as she used to have cats, and then just a dusty house, and always offered me peanuts. Had it been continual sneezing, it would've made me reach for my inhaler.

Maybe I should just avoid peanuts during the entirety of allergy season, as these times I'm always innundated with allergens.

Despite it being legal in New York City,

Liberation only goes so far.

Dyscalculia?

Ever heard of dyscalculia? I'm curious about it, but can find little on the web (so far). I believe that a person who can't understand numbers can't make a good scientist. If nothing else, just having a calculator won't let them choose the right formula to put the numbers into. If you have dyslexia, I'd think you could come up with different ways of understanding the formulae, but if you can't understand the concept of numbers at all, I really don't know what could be done.

Sign of the times

While handing out final exams in one of my classes, a student asked me if I take credit card. That was routine.

Then another student asked me if I take PayPal.

dress

I bought the most adorable little plaid dress from New York & Company, but there's two unfortunates to it: it's gonna stay cool and rainy for at least another week, and I can't find an image of it on their webpage. I really like the company, their clothing is built for my body type, and it's the professional look I want - in blouses, little strappy dresses like this one aren't professional. :-P

I have a weakness for plaid dresses. *blushes*