Wal-mart's second surprise.

Wal-mart has once again shattered my stereotype of the monolithic-juggernaut company. They are now trying to give the country affordable prescription drugs. Is the ghost of Sam Walton haunting his heirs (clanging his chains like Jacob Marley)? Whatever the motivation, it gives me hope that change for the better is possible even in our hyper-capitalistic society. We need reform (or revolution?) in our medical system, and maybe this nudge from our "new" Uncle Sam will help.

Work, part deux

'We may still talk of "working like a dog," but the Russians lately have coined the expression, "to work like an American," reflecting our 24/7 on-call mentality. These days, for Americans, "home office" is not just a place, it's a state of mind.'

-excerpted from this Slate article

Shine a light

What I'm getting everyone for Christmas this year
or
The reason that I don't hate Wal-Mart anymore

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/108/open_lightbulbs.html

Work

I came across this quote today when skimming through one of my favorite little books:

"The world is full of people who seem to have listened to the wrong voice and are now engaged in life-work in which they find no pleasure or purpose and who run the risk of suddenly realizing someday that they have spent the only years that they are ever going to get in this world doing something which could not matter less to themselves or to anyone else. This does not mean, of course, people who are doing work that from the outside looks unglamorous and humdrum, because obviously such work as that may be a crucial form of service and deeply creative. But it means people who are doing work that seems simply irrelevent not only to the great human needs and issues of our time but also to their own need to grow and develop as humans."

-Frederick Buechner (The Hungering Dark)

What Dreams May Come

I've heard it said that a person's dreams are only interesting to him/herself. I'm going to test out this theory...

I few weeks ago, I dreamt that I died. This is not unusual for my dreamlife. I have died in all manner of ways... my least favorite being the "falling" deaths, due to the sickening feeling in the gut on the way down. What was peculiar about this dream was what happened afterward. Normally, I wake up at the instant of death, gasp, and thank God that it wasn't real. This time, I found myself alone in a bare yellow-walled room, and I knew that I was in Purgatory. I had this overwhelming feeling of sadness at the prospect of being completely alone here. And I didn't know what to do. What does one do in an empty yellow room? Thankfully, I woke up due to some noise outside my window. For once, I was happy to be a light sleeper. How long would I have been trapped in that room otherwise?

Naturally, this dream engendered a slew of questions: do I even believe in the idea of Purgatory? why was I alone? what is one supposed to do in Purgatory, if one finds oneself there? why yellow?

If you have any answers to my questions, or an interpretation of my dream, or would like to share one of yours, I'm all ears.

Numero Uno

Ah, post number one. There's nothing like the first post.

This blog is a continuation of my random thoughts from http://wabfu.blogspot.com.

And, yes, I will be updating this one regularly.

As the Hungarians say, "Egesegedre" (Pronounced Egg-eh-sheg-eh-dra)