10 thoughts on “Afternoon Off”

  1. Are you and your family going away at all in August? Why or why not? What are your friends doing? I have found that among middle to upper middle class NYC families, a very high percentage have a family vacation in August, but among suburban families in the tristate area, it is more like 50/50.
    More generally, the “way we live now” posts here are the most interesting to me, although I might comment more on the political ones.

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  2. Noxious fumes are one of the best sources of ideas that I have these days. Maybe you should have stayed in the office.

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  3. Heartwarming stories of people in their 20s who are supporting themselves through real jobs. Extra interest in this household for posts which highlight the exciting and glamorous lives accountants lead. (Family inside joke)

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  4. “Heartwarming stories of people in their 20s who are supporting themselves through real jobs.”
    My young relative (the 20-something ex-medical student) got quickly fired from her burger-flipping job (her boss wanted her to eat any cheeseburgers she burnt), but now she has two new jobs. The first one is a National Park seasonal visitor center gig, and the second one is a job delivering fresh fish.

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  5. Heartwarming stories of people in their 20s who are supporting themselves through real jobs.
    That depends on where you are. We recently faced difficulty getting applicants for entry level jobs. It took a long time to fill the positions despite benefits and pay sufficient to get a one bedroom apartment while making a car payment.

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  6. Environment/Consumption: how many loads of laundry do you do on a weekly basis? do you use ac inside constantly or moderately? do you turn off your car or let it idle? do you use paper goods or non-disposables? do you say anything if you see someone litter? (who litters? and why?) clothe or disposable diapers? real faux xmas trees?
    Somewhere in this list of questions are some pet peeves (of mine) and a general interest in what people are doing or not doing. And, does it really matter? (The so what question…

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  7. As for a topic, I’d go with, “Who is going to be the first up against the wall? And before or after 2016?”

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  9. MH – why are you choosing 2016 as the year? Why not 2012? I assume you are talking about the next Presidency, and that this means you think Obama is a 2-termer.
    Exciting and thrilling, death-defying Bungee accountants? Well… when I was a kid I figured out that there were jobs where you felt a calling and tried hard and most folks didn’t make it (bookseller, Hollywood star, interior decorator, restaurateur, architect, college professor) and then there were jobs where there was a field, and if you were diligent and learned the work there would be work for you, and that some of the work might be drab (engineer, librarian, bookkeeper, civil servant, locksmith). And I had ‘accountant’ on the second list. Now I know a woman who is a forensic accountant, and her life is a blur of going to companies where money has gone sideways and trying to find it, and developing evidence and the travel is sometimes to exotic spots (and sometimes to Cincinnati).
    To the extent that my kids are steerable (!) I will try and sell them on List 2 jobs. But, parents always do, right? “dear, it’s just as easy to love a dentist”

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  10. ok, I vote for more talk on dave’s list 1 and 2, and it’s corollary — how we’re “steering” our offspring.
    I would have differentiated dave’s lists as the ones where you work for yourself and the ones where you work for others (though then college professor belonged on two). And, I think, list two is shrinking. Don’t know where accountant should belong, or dentist. Perhaps an orthogonal classification is whether you have earned a certificate that legally permits you to do things that others can’t, well like a taxi medallion.

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