The movie Up in the Air resonated with me on many levels. I travel a ton for work, I hoard my miles, and I know which security lines I can possibly sweet talk my way through to a more pleasant experience. Still, despite being a pro at this […]
Travelling is tough for a toddler like me. Foreign countries rarely have my favorite foods, like mac ‘n cheese or pancakes. Sometimes they don’t even have milk. I find this incomprehensible, since warm milk is one of life’s greatest pleasures. When Mom and Dad told me we were […]
All hail the number seven, a number of great historical and cross-cultural significance. The number seven impacts you individually and has enormous consequence in your daily life. Yet nobody except Sesame Street (See #7 Rhumba) has celebrated the number in song, unless you count the White Stripe’s Seven […]
In the words of Sir Adam Thomson, founder of British Caledonian Airlines, “A recession is when you have to tighten your belt; depression is when you have no belt to tighten. When you’ve lost your trousers—you’re in the airline business”. Anybody who travels for work can vouch for […]
Those of you that have been paying attention have realized that I draw many of my metaphors, examples, and philosophies from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was my guilty pleasure for a number of years, and I’m fairly certain that its humor-tinged angst is the proper perspective on […]
Lies make the world go round. Especially mothers. As author John Green said, “Mothers lie. It’s in the job description”. We don’t like to call it lying. In fact we invent all sorts of euphemisms for it – gilding the lily, telling tall tales, inventing a fish story, […]
Without any particular effort on my part, I seem to have achieved mythological status at my last place of employment. Apparently in a fit, I stood up on a table in the middle of a team meeting and announced how full of crap everyone was and resigned on the spot. […]
It’s not a coincidence that “meaningless” is synonymous with “academic”. Since the collapse of the academic job market in the 1970’s, universities have been cranking out doctoral students across a wide range of fields. And as the graduate student population sells, the relevancy of academic research shrinks. Smaller […]
We have much to learn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For those of you who live under a rock and have never seen Buffy, the opening credits tell you what it’s all about – “In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the […]
Okay, listen up conference attendees, I don’t often assume the mantle of Miss Manners and discuss etiquette, but this is where you’ve driven me. Here’s the background. I work out. I don’t love to work out, but I do like to be able to fit into my dresses. […]