The Empty

There was a great WSJ article published this week that tals about how the US cell phone market is controlled by the carriers - Verizon, Tmobile, AT&T, etc.  For those that do not know, for phones that are released in the US, the carriers have the final say on design and software.  In fact, each carrier gets its own custom software build for a phone.  In other words, features are designed for the carrier, not the end customer.  This is back-asswards, hinders innovation and competition, and generally sucks.

In other countries, one goes to a store and buys a cell phone that he or she likes.  Then, you go and buy service for that phone.  You pop in the SIM (since most of the world uses GSM technology) and off you go.  In the US, you go to the carrier and they tell you what phone you can get with the service you want.  The hook is that they subsidize your phone by locking you into a contract and overcharging you for service.  This cycle will be hard to break out of since US customers are used to the 'free phone' from the carrier, but the end result will bring lower prices and better features overall.

I read this column by Garrison Keillor in the trib.  Fortunately for Mr. Keillor, who wants people to read his stuff and have it strike a chord (like any writer), it did strike a chord with me.  Unfortunately, this means I am getting old.  Yes, yes, I'm not really that old, but I am surely an adult that is wondering wtf is wrong with kids these days.  Get off my lawn, you young punks!  Mr Keillor says:

A Harris Interactive poll of Generation Y's feelings about work shows 92 percent want a "flexible work schedule," 96 percent want a job that "requires creativity" and 97 percent want a job that "allows me to have an impact on the world." All I can say is, Wow. Good luck. And now you know why we need illegal immigrants to do the inflexible, uncreative stuff that simply needs doing right now.

Wow, indeed.  Being a Gen X'er, I am somewhat in between the Y's and the older generations in both age and outlook.  Luckily, I have a job that I like with a flexible work schedule and requires some creativity.  I think that any job can benefit from some creativity, though.  However, I would agree that kids these days just don't understand the ethic of "get shit done" and then it will be done and you don't have to worry about it anymore.  Yes, it may suck.  Yes, it may be as boring as Uncle Jake and Aunt Myrtle's slide show from their vacation to Amish Country.  But it needs to get done.  Yes, you need to vacuum the house.  Yes, you need to mow the lawn.  Yes, you need to paint or wallpaper or scrub something.

I think part of it is the difference between a 'job' and 'work'.  Gen Y is looking for a job that is not work and yet has maximum impact and excitement.   I call that a Rockstar job.  Yes, they exist.  They are also few and far between.  Rockstars also work hard, too, though.  Not all jobs are glamorous, though, and not all need to be.  If you can find a job doing what you like to do, you have it made.  However, doing work that allows you to do what you like is also a pretty darn nice job.

Well, the Department of Homeland Security has done it again. They've tried to make us feel as insecure as possible.  I know I am few days behind on bitching about this, but I saved it to a draft, I got busy with other stuff - you know the drill.  Wil Wheaton has a great blog entry on this and it brought back the ring of truth I heard in Michael Moore's movie Bowling for Columbine.  I'm sure that 'die-heard conservatives' have tuned out already, but the point of the movie was the culture of fear that the US media (and government) breeds.  Of course, people eat it up with a spoon.  What is more exciting and believable than someone telling you about something to be afraid of?  Would you rather hear news about Bhutan's new constitution or about how someone's baby got eaten by coyotes?

I can't stand to watch TV news, myself.  I don't actually watch that much TV anymore at all.  That's one of the perks of having two small kids - I stay busy :).  I don't miss the 10 second news blurbs about what I have in my very own kitchen that might be killing me.  Tune in at 9 to find out!

The problem is that the more fear people get, the more they seem to crave it.  If one network news team changed focus to actually report things that mattered instead of the stories with the most 'fear factor,' who would watch?  People want to hear about the next thing they should be afraid of and to be kept apprised of the things they are already afraid of.  I think people have actually started to think that their neighborhoods are more dangerous than they actually are.  Not that there aren't some dangerous neighborhoods out there...

Any of you have the answer to breaking the Culture of fear?

OK, I had to add a rant category for this one. I like that they have an automated post machine at my post office; however, not many people seem to use said terminal. This is a good thing when I have only domestic packages to send. I walk in, laugh at all the numbskulls standing in line like cattle, and post my packages. Because of customs forms and all that jazz, one cannot send post things to international (or APO) destinations through the automated terminal. In those cases, I have to stand behind all the dummies who could be using the automated machine. I can't believe how many people would rather stand in a long line rather than just step up to a machine and do it right away. The machine actually has a very easy to use interface. I like it.

I think the situation is exacerbated in my locale because of the density of the senior population. They want to talk to a person and ramble on about how they are sending their daughter something for her beautiful new baby. Meanwhile, I am laguishing in the rear of the line while Myrtle rambles on and rumages through her purse to find her checkbook to pay for the $1.34 in postage. Get a clue, people!