I went to Green Bay this last weekend and had a chance to spend some
time with my good friends from high school.  It’s something that I
enjoy more than they’re aware, I’m sure.  One of the conversations
that I had was with a good friend, Andy, who hiked the entire
Appalachian Trail.  I believe that experience was truly a life
altering experience for him…

Anyway, one of the things that he told me was that his most enjoyable
time thus far, was when he didn’t know what day it was.  This
happened while he was hiking the trail.  There was no reason to
know if the day was Monday or Saturday… I think there is a lot to be
said about that.  I don’t think I could count how many people
despise Monday and embrace Friday.  To be indifferent to all days
because they all provide equal joy, would truly be a nice
feeling.  I experienced this feeling, to some extent, when I was
un-employed last fall.  I didn’t work for about 6 months (sort of
on purpose) and days seemed to lose their meaning.  Everyday felt
like Saturday (or Tuesday for that matter) to me.  I don’t think I
felt quite what Andy felt, but I’m sure it was along the same lines.

So, Andy proceeded to then tell me about brain waves.  I hadn’t
really thought about them before, and I have to admit that I found this
very interesting… The fact that people study (and can prove) more
than the conceptual psychology of situations is pretty
interesting.  Now, he said that the first couple days in the woods
affect people differently.  The reasoning was that their brain was
switching from mainly operating in beta waves to more of an alpha wave
form.  He said that once you have been in the woods for a few
days, you’re brain waves are generally in the alpha state.

The closest thing that I can relate to this, is when you
meditate.  Meditation generally brings you from the (sometimes)
chaotic beta state to a more relaxed alpha state.  The idea is
that you push the immediate thoughts, needs, and desires aside and just
allow yourself to relax.  I personally think that if you “train”
by meditating consistently, it is easily possible to change your brain
wave from beta to theta in a short session.  The trick is to get
to delta without falling asleep 🙂  My experiences with meditation
is that it can be really quite pleasant for overall mental (and
physical?) health.

As a side note, if you ever have trouble falling asleep, try
meditating.  I have done it in the past, and it has not failed me.
 

For further information, despite it’s extremely annoying style, this
website does a pretty
good job of summarizing the different brain waves (beta, alpha, theta,
and delta). Also, have a look at the wikipedia page on Electroencefalography

For the first time in I don’t know how long… I bought a new cd today. Actually, I bought three but that’s just details… I picked up both cds from Kaki King and one from Souad Massi.

Other than that, just about every day, I think about how I’m going to teach my children. I don’t have any yet, but I figure that the day will come at some point. Anyway, I find it interesting that I’m going to have to explain how, way back in the day, I had to memorize phone numbers and other trivial information. I really see that kids won’t have to use that portion of their brains…. This makes me wonder if that’s evolution and if that part of the brain will become a second class citizen to other brain funtions. If you have a cell phone, when was the last time you memorized someone’s number for longer than it takes to put it in your phone? It wasn’t too long ago, that I had all phone numbers for people that I knew, in my head. That day has come and gone, though. It’s sort of like spelling… with intelligent spelling applications all around us, spelling has become less important…

Hunter S. Thompson died yesterday (2/20/05) of a fatal gunshot to the head. I learned of Hunter through the movies Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas and Where the Buffalo Roam. Since then, I have read his various articles on ESPN… I have yet to read his other books, but I’m sure I will in the future. In any case, rest in peace Hunter…

I have thought about writing this post for about a week or two. Either I couldn’t find the words before, or I’ve been working hard on something 🙂 So, I’ll take my best shot and throw some words together to try to get this thought across.

I have been thinking about the trend in America that, in my mind, has been developing for the last 15 years or so. It has definitely been more prevalent in the last 5 years or so. It seems as though the trend of American businessmen/women is that rather than manage local workforce (local to the US), the new trend is to manage global workforce. If you’re running a rather large organization and you don’t acknowledge off-shoring, you might be behind the game. I do realize that there are disadvantages to off-shoring, but that is for other people to bark about in a different post.

It seems to me that the US has become quite a producer of MBAs… you could think of it as universities mass producing MBAs… with 2 year degree programs being similar to assembly lines. That many people looking to expand their skills, takes away from people who work in factories, etc. Thus the gap is filled by off-shoring to “smaller” countries where people are eager to work for their money. Now I realize that the US still produces quite a lot of products, so I’m not ignoring those. I’m just curious where all of these MBA grads think they can fit in.

On a totally unrelated note, I’m not quite sure how I feel about this. If I get charged for gasoline and for the number of miles that I drive, I will not be a happy camper. I already pay taxes for roads. I would gladly pay higher taxes if the people responsible for fixing the roads would use better materials/techniques. As I understand, there are technologies/techniques available today, to allow roads to last much longer. They just don’t use them because then what would they do in the summer? People would be forced to be happy and not have to drive through half finished construction projects, everywhere. On the other hand, there is a downside to only paying the miles that you drive. It discourages buying gas guzzling SUVs and related cars/trucks. The sooner that we can wean off of oil, the better, in my opinion.