Tag: Wall Street Journal

He’s read 6,128 books…

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Joe-Queenan, The-Wall-Street-Journal, ColumnistHe’s Joe Queenan, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal.  He started reading when he was 7 years old.  Fifty-five years later, he has read 6,128 books.  He “hopes to get through another 2,137 books before he dies.”

He often “reads dozens of books simultaneously.”  “(He) starts a book in 1978 and finishes it 34 years later.” 

He states that “a case can be made that people who read a preposterous number of books are not playing with a full deck.  I prefer to think of us as dissatisfied customers.  If you have read 6,000 books in your lifetime, or even 600, it’s probably because at some level you find ‘reality’ a bit of a disappointment.”

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Stressed? Try Butterflies.

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Fifteen years ago, I would have told you to get out of my office (get out of my face) and stop wasting my time.  10 years ago, I would have called “bulls-” on this malarkey.  Today, the image above calms me.  And I’ve come to believe that I need this…It’s good for me.  It’s good for the team around me.  (But let’s not get too excited.  I’m a toddler here.  I’m on the 3rd step of a 107 step program.)  And since it has now been endorsed by the Truth, the Wall Street Journal,  I’m in. (:)  Lao Tzu (604 BC – 531 BC): “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Takes a Single Step”…Time to take that step… Continue reading “Stressed? Try Butterflies.” →

30% of U.S. Workers Get < 6 Hours of Sleep A Night.

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wsj - sleep 3These statistics are shocking.  And here I thought I was in a minority class…

“A growing number of Americans don’t get enough sleep, thanks to higher stress and other factors”

“Some 20% of automobile accidents come as the result of drowsy drivers”

“U.S. military researchers, meanwhile, have concluded that sleeplessness is one of the leading causes of friendly fire.”

“Technology was making the world smaller by the day; the global economy blurred the lines between one day and the next, and things like time and place were supposed to be growing ever less important in the always-on workplace”

“74%: People who drink a caffeinated beverage on an average weekday”

“13%: People who drink more than six caffeinated beverages on an average weekday”

wsj - sleep

“Researchers are increasingly finding that lack of sleep is terrible for our health. Sleeplessness has been linked to increased rates of heart disease, obesity, stroke and even certain cancers. The exact reasons for these effects are still largely unknown, but give support to the theory that sleep is the time when our bodies naturally repair themselves on a cellular level.”

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So, let me tell you about my day Dad…

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daddy and daughterWeek 3: Rachel’s summer job in Manhattan where she’s interning in a Human Resources Department.  She’s been coming home and thematically asking this line of questions:

“How’d your day go Dad?”  (For 19 years, I’d come dragging through the front door at the end of a long day. She’d be lying on the couch watching continuous loops of reality TV.  Not a peep from her on how my day went.  Now she’s asking.  Hmmmm. Until you walked a mile in a man’s shoes…) 

“Let me tell you about my day Dad.”  (She proceeds to jabber on and on and on about her day…giddy almost…youthful exuberance.  Anxious. Yet excited.  Learning.  Being stretched into new territory.  Unsure footing.  No worries Honey.  It will come.  It will surely come…) 

“Dad, did you read about the Greek vote in the Wall Street Journal?”  (Read what, where? Rachel reading a newspaper?  The WSJ?  I’m getting woozy.)

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If you can’t entertain yourself with your own thoughts, then go ahead and text, Plato…

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From WSJ.com: Culture City: Theaters Still Vexed by the Text

Recent article in the Wall Street Journal on texting that was written for me.  Author outlines the top 10 reasons why you shouldn’t text in the theatre (and it’s applicable for meetings, movies, seminars, dinners, etc).  I’ve excerpted my top 5 of her 10…good article – I would encourage you to read it in its entirety…

9. You’re rotting your brain. (Multitasking is bad for you.  It reduces your ability to focus and think deeply about task at hand.  If you can’t think deeply, you can’t feel deeply, which means you’re missing out on a rich, creative interior life.)

8. It’s annoying to other people who are trying to watch the show.

7. Maybe the show isn’t boring. Maybe it’s you. (…if you can’t entertain yourself with your own thoughts, you’re in bad shape. For centuries, philosophers have grappled with the concepts of love, beauty, religion, the meaning of life…Have you exhausted all that? If so, then go ahead and text, Plato.)

4. You’re not “in the moment.” (…Set an intention for your practice of watching a show. Separate yourself from the demands of your world. Be mindful of what you are experiencing. Hug every breath, and inhale that theater air.)

1. You’re missing the obvious.  It’s just plain rude.