Are you a master prankster or are you the frequent victim of an Ashton Kutcher wanna-be?
Either way you could win a fun prize from the YDR.
The business staff wants to know about your April Fool's Day shenanigans. Leave a comment telling us about your best workplace prank or your most embarrassing moment of gullibility. The more details the better.
Picture this:
Joey and Susy are sitting in the living room talking about baseball players who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame trying to remember who the inductees were a few years back. Susy is positive it was one player, while Joey swears it was someone different. Joey says hold on, runs out of the room and Googles the information. Susy sits in the living room awkwardly because the conversation has died.
Now change the scenario and instead of Joey leaving the room to look up the information, he pulls out his iPhone to look it up. That still leaves Susy sitting awkwardly on the sofa because the conversation is still dead because Joey is focused on the phone.
In the world we live today, we are used to having instant access to information. While people may think twice about actually abandoning a conversation to leave the room to look something up, most think nothing of pulling out their smart phone to do the same thing.
Barack Obama is doing well in most of the United States, including small, rural states that have voted Republican since before I was born. But not in Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton has a double-digit lead by most accounts. And I think it's because Obama's message doesn't play very well in the Keystone State.
He tells America, "Let's have hope for the future." But this state gave up hope a long time ago.
I can't say exactly why everyone is so roll-over-and-die, it's just a fact of life. And this isn't some Maryland transplant talking; I've never lived much more than an hour's drive from Harrisburg my entire life.
The New York Times found the same thing when it parachuted in over the past few weeks. Read about it here.
Do you think this is a fair take on Pennsylvania. And is it any worse here than anywhere else?
I don't work at one of those offices that have a gym inside them for employees to use and I've always been kind of happy about that fact.
I like working out in private (or as private as a regular gym can be). I don't like people seeing me sweat while I'm running or chug water while I'm cycling -- especially if they are the same people I work with on a daily basis. I like to keep up some level of professionalism around them, and somehow being seen all sweaty doesn't scream professional.
I was mortified the other day at the gym when someone recognized me after I spent an hour in spin class. I wished I had magical powers to mind erase and make her think she saw me dressed in my work clothes, not my sweat-laden Under Armour.
On Sunday, I wrote a column on how I planned to save, rather than spend, my tax rebate check.
Check out the story at: http://ydr.inyork.com/ci_8656583
So far, I've received some interesting responses to my story. Here are two comments that were written about the column.
"The idea of the rebate is a stimulus package to get the economy rolling. More purchases, more manufacturing (China???), more employment, etc. And you and the Credit Lady are telling people to save...you all should have been saving a long time ago. Your mother is wrong in this case. We are supposed to go out and blow this money in order to stimulate the economy. Probably be enough to fill your gas tank for a WHOLE MONTH, maybe!" --- Economics 101
"China sucks and so do our crooked politicians." --- Carl
The New York Times today outlined why the current economic climate is both different from past recessions AND still not in a place to cause a depression. It's a little scary, but a pretty honest look at what could happen in the coming months and years. If you can only take the time to read one full article every few weeks or so, this one I think is it. See it here.
Earlier this week, I attended a seminar for parents on how to teach children to be financially responsible. And even though it was geared toward kids' saving and spending habits, I found that I was learning quite a bit.
For example, did you know the best age to start an IRA (individual retirement account) is at 15? I sure didn't.
Do you know what that means? Basically, if you do, you probably got rich in the post-9/11 years. If you don't, then you probably lost or came close to losing everything. See why here.
As I've mentioned in many previous posts, I am a huge sports fan. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that I was fairly excited about the start of the NCAA basketball tournament.
I wrote a story for Friday's paper about how March Madness affects workplace productivity. Every year all these studies are published saying companies lose millions because workers aren't doing their jobs.
But what I found was totally different. Turns out people do take their jobs seriously and instead of dedicating the whole day to watching the game, many people will head to a sports bar during their lunch hour or take a half day or use their multitasking skills to check scores and do their work.
One of the perks of the parking situation for the York Revolution's baseball games (that the parking is in city and private lots blocks away) is that it provides foot traffic passed some of downtown York's small shops and restaurants.
As one business owner recently told me, it brings people downtown who haven't been there in years.
If you are looking for some instruction on where to park for the Revs games and what to expect along the way, see my column from last year below:
Piggybacking on my previous post about why Gen Y doesn't seem to work as hard as our parents, one local company is apparently taking the Gen Y work ethic as a fact of life.
(Basically, to save you a search through the archives, we don't work as hard because big business threw our parents away like they were disposable cans, and both our generation and our parents are worth better)
Johnson Controls, parent company of the former York International, is co-sponsoring a study to see how the company can better cater to this group and retain them as employees. The logic is simple: Older workers retire, and we're all you got left.
See the story here.
What do you think of this move?
When I came to York about three years ago, one of the most evident things I saw going on was the home ownership push in the city. Every city leader wanted people to own their homes, not rent. And I could see the whole lot of good that would bring.
People who own homes care more about them, so it would help the blight and litter issues in the city. And that level of pride in something could translate into other parts of life, and might help that angry, bitter attitude that smacks visitors in the face when the come into the city.
So everyone from the president to legislators to local elected and appointed leaders began a rallying cry to help everyone in the city, and other urban areas across the country, own their own homes.
And then the other shoe dropped, because getting everyone to own a home is the same as saying everyone is going to get saddled with a mortgage. And let's face it, people who can barely pay their rent from month to month have no business signing a 30-year mortgage, no matter what kind of "deal" they get.
Read more about how the "a home for everyone," an odd version of "chicken in every pot" coming from a Republican president and embraced by both parties, helped crash our economy in today's Wall Street Journal.
Last month I wrote about how excited I was that Maryland was banning smoking in all bars, restaurants, etc. and how I was hoping Pennsylvania would follow suit.
In order for that to happen the House and the Senate need to decide on a bill both will agree to sign. Right now they both have passed separate bans, but aren't seeing eye-to-eye on some details. For more information on the specifics you can check out the article in today's YDR.
The next big step in the process is April 1, when a committee made up of members from both the House and the Senate will meet to try to work out the differences. Right now the big points of contention are whether to include bars, taverns and casinos in the ban.
I'm all for an all-out ban on smoking in public places. Part of it is absolutely for selfish reasons. I don't want to be breathing that crap. The other part is because I have had friends who work in these places and I don't think they should be forced to breathe second-hand smoke whenever they are working. Why should some servers, hosts, etc., be protected by this law, but not others?
It doesn't seem to make a whole bunch of logical sense.
Do you have stuff you wish you would have known about the workplace before you got there?
We want to hear about it.
Tell us, in 100 words or less, what you wish someone had told you about bosses, resumes, sick days -- whatever workplace wit or wisdom you have to share. Send your response to mburke@ydr.com. Include your name, age, where you work, the municipality where you live, and a daytime phone number.
Quick look around your office.
Is everyone wearing green? Are you wearing green?
I think it's great how when there is a holiday that is associated with a color that lots of people in the office wear that color to be festive at work. I know that's why I pulled on my green sweater this morning. (And because I got laughed at for not wearing green to the St. Patrick's Day parade this weekend.)
There aren't a ton of people in my department in green, but looking across other departments, people are wearing green beads or shamrock pins and other quirky Irish accessories.
What's the most festive outfit that you've seen at work today? Leave a comment and let me know.
Getting fed up with modern life, going home and starting a farm is hardly something new. John Wayne's character went home to farm in 1952's "The Quiet Man." (My shameless plug for a great Irish movie on this St. Patrick's Day)
But what might be odd today is the number of people doing it.
St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, and you’d have to be living under a rock not to know it, what with all the festivities surrounding the parade and bar specials that have been advertised.
You wouldn’t know by my last name, but I am in fact Irish — thanks Mom — and I love getting my Irish on as much as the next person.
However, I’ve always been a little bit curious about the symbolic, maybe a little over the top, green beer.
Yes, green is associated with the holiday, but unless I’m eating veggies, I don’t really think green food or drinks are the way to go.
But still, I was a little bit curious about where green beer comes from.
About 50 percent of teenagers didn't buy a single CD in 2007.
This fact didn't surprise me in the least, but it surprised my editor, who in absolutely no way could be considered old and out-of-touch with technology.
So when she saw the above statistic in a wire story and asked me if I could believe it, I said yes because I don't know a single person (well except my editor, who picked up Thriller 25 last month for her husband for Valentine's Day, and my college roommate, who has insane artist loyalty) who still buys CDs.
To me CDs are a thing of the past, replaced with downloaded MP3s.
The new $5 bill is being released today, and Lincoln's getting a splash of color.
And for comparison sake here's the bill we're all used to seeing:
Let's face it. Everyone hates dragging themselves to work on Monday morning. And come Friday, most employees have their minds set on pushing through to the weekend.
But what about they days in between?
According to a survey by Accountemps, Tuesdays are the most productive day of the workweek.
The New York Times had a piece on a new group that is opposing the opposition to biotechnology in agriculture. Our local Rutter's Dairy isn't named in the piece, but the image of the debate is in fact the bottling plant. Check it out here.
It's been some strange coincidence that every time I've gone to get an oil change I've always had a male in the car with me. Once it was my dad, who had offered to pick up the cost because I was home visiting my parents. Once I had my friend in the car because we were preparing for a road trip to North Carolina. Needless to say, I never had any problems with people trying to sell me more than I needed.
Yesterday, I went to get my very first oil change by myself. I was feeling a little bit proud of myself when I told the guy I only wanted an oil change. Nothing else.
It turns out that along with the oil change, I also needed a new windshield wiper and a fresh air filter. Yes extra costs, but things I legitimately needed.
According to the new perspective from a Catholic leader on the subject of confessing sins, environmental degradation is an evil of the modern world. Churchgoers would need to confess it. Don't believe me? Here it is.
What happened to the green movement? When did it transform from being all about conservation to being all about consumerism?
Going green is about cutting back --spending less money and wasting fewer resources and in the process leaving less of a carbon footprint.
Today's green movement doesn't conserve at all. It throws away and buys more.
Now that it's hip, trendy and mainstream to be "green," the grassroots movement is getting farther and farther away from it's original cause.
This article in the Washington Post says it best.
That's the bottom line, isn't it? So here are a few tips to really save money on your daily drive, without the caveats of saving the planet that can actually cost you money in the end.
It's just cold economics.
And interestingly enough, the main tip to take away from this: Having a little beater car for the commute can save hundreds of dollars - and hundreds of gallons of fuel - per year. You don't need a Prius to save gas, and you end up helping the planet by default.
So maybe what we need to see on the long road south to Baltimore every morning is a string of cars that looks more like our old high school parking lots than the Detroit auto show circa 2015.
The TV news magazine "60 Minutes" paid a visit to Chillicothe, Ohio recently, and an executive of a company we know well around here had something interesting to say.
We around York County know the town as the site of one of paper maker Glatfelter's production plants. The rest of the country now knows the town as the biggest hotbed of independent voters in the nation, according to "60 Minutes" reporting.
And the No. 1 issue for all those voters there is jobs. They don't have them.
With everyone having trouble getting through to Comcast customer service, this article in Sunday's Baltimore Sun seems especially timely.
One of the reporters ran a test with several companies, including Comcast, Verizon and Verizon Wireless. She called in to their customer service lines and timed how long and how many automated messages she had to wade through before she got through to a real person.
Verizon Wireless scored well, but both Verizon landline service and Comcast score poorly.
Once a month, I scribble out a check to Met-Ed with the knowledge that my electric rates rank among some of the lowest in the nation. Thank the state's decision to restructure its electricity market along with rate caps for my piece of mind. However, like most expenses, affordable electric rates in this area look to be coming to an abrupt end. On Dec. 31, 2010, Met-Ed's rate cap will expire threatening to push bill increases into the double digits. Some state lawmakers have proposed measures that would extend utility rate caps by two years. Other lawmakers and utilities contend that extending the rate caps would simply postpone inevitable jumps in monthly payments. Are you concerned that you may not be able to afford a jump in electric rates? What are you doing, if anything, to prepare for such increases?
I face real terror every weekday.
And it occurs as the clock approaches 5:30 p.m.
My heart starts to pound, and I wonder how I can possibly get all my work done in time to rush out the door, speed through rush-hour traffic on Route 30 and make it to my daughter's daycare before it closes at 6 p.m.
