Sunday, November 25, 2007

60 Minutes of Dinosaurs

So I am totally psyched about turning on 60 Minutes tonight to find Anderson Cooper as a guest contributor. There are so many reasons to love Anderson Cooper - his mother is Gloria Vanderbilt and I am a child of the 70's, he has had his share of heartache with the death of his father and suicide of his brother, and he is unbelievably talented. I have seen him on Oprah a handful of times talking more about the state of America and third world countries than himself, but he seems intensely modest, sincere, and genuine. I am also psyched that 60 Minutes might be attempting to fight its way out of the prehistoric era that it has secured itself to for all of these years. Although Anderson is a man, he is an unlikely candidate for the old boy's club. So again, I am psyched about Anderson Cooper appearing as a guest and hope that he will become a more permanent fixture. That in itself would lend me the title of 60 Minutes fan!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Holiday Travel

So NBC News just showed a live shot of the number of airplanes that are in the air, or on runways about to take off. This is something I do not need to see. The airlines are trying to turn planes around within 45 minutes to an hour. OH GAWD - How is there time to gas it up, unload/reload, and make sure something important has not fallen off the damn thing? Oh Yes folks, this is why I do not fly during the holidays. In fact, there is very little I like to do during the holidays because it all comes with too many people, other people's children, and an enormous lack of common sense. A friend of mine told me today that I am going to make a highly successful middle aged person some day. I am not really this grumpy, I just do not like crowds or stupid people! Does this really make me crotchety?

At lunch today I saw a table of military personnel in uniform. This stopped me for several reasons. First of all, I love men in uniform and especially military (well, ok, policemen on their Harley's and firemen in anything do it for me too). Secondarily, there is not a base close to where I was and it struck me as odd. I am always so proud of military troops because I am a good Republican, a proud American, and very patriotic! Thank you all for serving and especially during the holiday season when I know you are desperate to be home with your families.

We all know how I feel about crimes against women and children, it is no secret. What you may not know is that I had the opportunity to go to Aruba to scuba dive this year and refused to go based on the tragedy of Natalie Holloway's death and the way the case has been handled. I am happy that all three of the lying bastards who were originally suspects in this case have been re-arrested with new evidence supporting the right to take them in to custody. Though the information will not be released until Friday, I hope the Holloway family can enjoy this holiday in some small way just knowing that investigators may have something to nail these guys.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Out of the Loop

It is amazing to me how quickly you can get out of the know. I have been busy trying to dig deep within myself to determine my next professional move, cleaning out rooms of my house, and reading like nobody's business. I have also been sick and so my trips to the gym have been sporadic at best.

I was reading MSN this morning and came across this article about Bad CEO's who walked away, or were fired, with millions. Here is the list:

Supersized CEO exits
Executive
Company Walk-away pay
Stanley O'Neal Merrill Lynch $160 million
Philip Purcell Morgan Stanley $43.9 million
Richard Grasso New York Stock Exchange $140 million
Douglas Ivester Coca-Cola $120 million
Robert Nardelli Home Depot $210 million
So the question that everyone is asking is what is wrong with our economy? This is what is wrong with our economy. It is said that beginning with Generation X, the workforce went south. Each and every one of these CEO's are Boomers and I see nothing in the way of work ethic or taking responsibility for their actions. In fact, these Boards are regarding bad behavior and asking consumers to pay the bill. Secondarily, take notice that none of these CEO's are women!