Category Archives: Reviews

Work Stats

Posted on by

Everyone should read a great new book out called The 4-Hour Workweek.  Here are a few work stats from the web site:

Compared to 1970, American managers are working an additional month per year

In 2005, a psychiatrist at King’s College in London administered IQ tests to three groups: the first did nothing but perform the IQ test, the second was distracted by e-mail and ringing phones, and the third was stoned on marijuana.  Not surprisingly, the first group did better than the other two by an average of 10 points.  The e-mailers, on the other hands, did worse than the stoners by an average of 6 points

26% of Americans take no vacations at all. Only 14% of Americans take two weeks or more at a time for vacation. The average American therefore spends more time in the bathroom than on vacation.

People work approximately 8 weeks longer per year than in 1969—in the space of a single generation—but for roughly the same income (after adjusting for inflation)

40% of employees work overtime or bring work home with them at least once a week

Average Annual Vacation Days
Italy     42
France     37
Germany     35
Brazil     34
Britain     28
Canada     26
Japan     25
USA     13

Best Superbowl Commercials

Posted on by

What a great game yesterday!  And yet another year of entertaining commercials.  The top 10 best superbowl commercials were:

  1. Coke old guy
  2. Bud dalmation for a day
  3. Doritos spicy cheesey crunchy
  4. Careerbuilder fight for promotion
  5. Tacobell lions
  6. Bud light hitchhikers
  7. Coke grand not-theft auto
  8. GM robot dream
  9. Bud light wedding
  10. Chevy carwash

And an honorable mention has to go to Nationwide’s Kevin Federline… seeing that boy make fries for some reason brought joy to my heart.

Housing Boom Levels Off

Posted on by

Another article about "the end of irrational exuberance" in the housing market. This one is more rational with less gloom and doom and more reality check. Not only for the excited home owners, but also the 250,000 new realtors wanting to cash in on the boom.

During the boom’s peak from 2002 to 2004, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) saw memberships soar 26 percent. Today, over 1.2 million Americans call themselves Realtors.

While many thought a real estate license would be an easy way to make money – most are learning the opposite. Like any commission job, there is more to sales than showing up. And even with the right sales techniques, it can take a while to buildup your sales pipeline.

The NAR reported in 2005 that those who have been in the business for two years or less had an average income of only $12,850 a year. Long-time brokers – those with at least 26 years of experience – had an average of $92,600.

Thanks Dre

No River City

Posted on by

I discovered a new band last nite: No River City. I would have snapped some pics with my camera phone but the venue was really dark so I didn’t waste my time… but their lead singer looks a lot like the that guy from My Name Is Earl:


They’re a talented rising group from Atlanta. They’re style is rock with a tad of country and a dash of Americana. They’ll be a band to watch as they definately have the skills, charisma, attitude, and song writting ability to be the next Eddie From Ohio. My personal favorite was a song about falling in love with a billboard lady. They are currently working on their second album and, from the sampling we heard, it’s going to be great.I give them :
The probably could have gotten another half star at a venue more suited to their style and their electric guitarist – while extremely talented – could use some caffeine to up his charisma to the level of the group.

U2 & Idolaters

Posted on by

So I attended a U2 concert recently and I’d give it:

The Good: U2 always puts on a great show. And one of the great things about U2 is that they have so many “hits” that they have more than enough great songs to keep you rocking the entire concert. I’ve heard that not too long ago Lou Bega performed his hit “Mambo Number 5” twice at his concert. (can you blame the 1-hit-wonder?)

The Bad: U2 has gotten a little preachy. Now don’t get me wrong, Bono is one of the few celebrities that can respectably push his views on others. He has been a champion for peace for years and his Country has a history that further supports such efforts. So Bono, use your concert soapbox to push your cause du jour, fine. But pick ONE ok? (no pun intended) Let’s see U2 wants to support the troops, end the war, fight AIDs in Africa, forgive debts to 3rd world countries, create a universal bill of rights, oh and END poverty. Did I leave out the part about convincing Jews, Christians and Muslims that we all brothers serving the same God. Yeah, like I said.. a tad bit preachy. (Never mind that while the One campaign plans to do most of this through US tax dollars… that money really does have to come from somewhere – even though people tend to forget that fact.)

A funny side note: On my way into the concert I saw a street preacher — one of several actually. Anyway, this particular street preacher was wearing a wooden placard warning the gamut of sinners. You know: idolaters, adulterers, fornicators, drunkards, revilers, and get this “general heathens”. It actually said general heathens… I guess that’s a good, biblical sounding, catch all.