Thursday, October 14, 2004 You want off? Fine. Here's off. 1:40 AM

Tuesday, September 21, 2004 Goodie goodie. I have a test coming up thursday in International Business...wait, I've said that before, haven't I? Oh well. At least the Vikes lost yesterday. Although I almost feel sorry for them. The same thing happened to them that happened to GB. They had the ball, down by 4, on the opponent's 1 yard line. And Culpepper fumbles, the Eagles recover. Now what would be amazing is if it happens to the other two NFC North teams in the next couple weeks. Hm. Culture. Yogurt has culture. So all I need to know about international business, I can learn by buying yogurt! Fabulous. My group in two weeks has to make a presentation on tarrifs and the U.S. steel industry. Fun times ahead, for sure. I'll keep everyone posted. 11:47 PM

Monday, September 20, 2004 Well for fuck’s sake. I’ve twice tried to post something on my damn blog and the fucking blog wiped out the entire text that I had written. Unfuckingbelievable. Fuck. Words fail to describe how pissed I am right now. I was writing about one of my classes I’m taking now. JHMAChrist. I guess I’m gonna really really remember it now. I’m watching Single In South Beach right now on the WE network, of all shows and channels to choose from. Maybe I should move down there. Lotta hot chickas there. Anyhow. In International Business class, and it’s tough to write this and watch a tv show with hot chicks in it at the same time, we’ve leaned that U.S. companies that are doing business internationally, can find it a tough row to hoe. I just came up with that line, myself, thank you very much. Like I was saying, Maybe I should move down to south beach. But not until after hurricane season. Man have they gotten hammered. Ok. what have we learned in class? Other than fumbling at your opponents 5 yard line is almost never a good thing? Well. Culture is made up of many things. Such as what values and norms a society holds. Which are influenced by political and economy philosophy, social structure, religion, language and education. None of those factors is a stand-alone thing; what affects one, inevitably affects the others. For example, what is happening in Russia right now. With the changes that Putin enacted this last week—he’s consolidating his power, and it looks like Russia is becoming less of a democracy than it was before. This will have an effect upon the economic structure of the country, no doubt. The most basic way a society can be different is how it is organized. By this I mean are the accomplishments of the individual the most important? Or are those of the group, collectively? America is a good example of individualism. Many countries in western Europe, as well as china (although they are moving more towards a democratic society and free market economy now) and the former Soviet Socialist Republic. How societies view class structure is important, and the ease with which people can move between the classes, is important. As is religion. Wait. I said religion already, didn’t I? And then some dude named Geert Hofstede came up with a few different ways of how culture relates to the workplace: Power Distance. How a society deals with inequality, in power and wealth. Individualism vs Collectivism. Nuff said, already covered that. Uncertainty Avoidance. How cultures deal with risk and change. Masculinity Vs. Femininity. Relationship between gender and work roles. Culture is so bloody complex: it is no wonder that U.S. firms can struggle with it. You can’t ignore the host country’s culture entirely. And you can’t take the ‘when in Rome’ approach all the time, since in some countries crap like bribery and such occur a lot. And you need to research the country you’re going to. That’s for damn sure. The book goes into crap like ‘employ host-country nationals.’ Whatever the hell that means. Ok. Enough about International Business. Although I can tie the class with Single In South Beach since there seems to be many cultures present in the show, like from the myriad of small islands in the Carribean, or whatever area they are from. Like one couple found out they were both from St. Kitts. Wow. I saw some wild rhubarb plants behind one of the chicks in the show. It’s a sign, I say! I’m off to Florida! It’s nice to know, that I’m not the only one that is single and has a hard time finding, ‘the one.’ I had a weird dream last night about how I got to sit down for a few hands for Annie Duke. For some reason, arrogant, uppity, rich kids have figured prominently in my dreams as the bad guys. Hehe. Well, at least Seattle won today. And the Twins. Johan Santana is Lights-Out. I was going to say something else here, but I forgot. 1:00 AM

The Packers rock.  12:05 AM

Sunday, August 08, 2004 Ok. I had to post this. The character who got turned into Poison Ivy just torched her lab. This, after going on about how she loved plants so much and killed anyone who harmed them. The UCF? Almost off the charts. 1:33 AM

You know not much is on tv when you're reduced to watching Batman & Robin. Not the campy 1960's movie. The one where Val Kilmer foresakes every thing he stands for and goes from comedy, where he was actually quite good (a la Top secret--note to self--get the DVD sometime), to Batman. Ok. Never mind. It's George Clooney. Not sure if that makes it worse or not. I still can't wait for the NFL season to start. The packers offense torched the defense tonight for Family Night. I'm shocked. I still don't understand where vikings fans think that corner they picked up from buffalo makes their secondary better than green bay's. The guy has a total of like 2 interceptions in 4 or 5 years! Oh and Brock Lesner starting a fight? Comical. What an idiot. 1:18 AM

Sunday, August 01, 2004 100 posts. Unbelievable. What does it mean when someone you thought at one point in time doesn't sign online until you sign off every day? Gee I wonder. I've decided to go permanently work at schwans and go back to school. Although it will take me 3 semesters instead of 2 to complete my degree, I think. Man, I can't wait for the football season to begin. The packers have what could be one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history this season, and their defense is supposed to be more aggressive. Which means They'll either get involved in a lot of shootouts, or totally dominate. Either way, gonna be fun. Oh. And of course the Vikings fans are already guaranteeing that they're going to be at least in the NFC championship. This from fans of a team that played .300 ball the last 10 games of the season!! If they live up to their potential, they'll win 10 or 11 games and get a wild card. This is the Vikings we're talking about, though. 11:07 PM

Thursday, July 29, 2004 Yippee skippee!  100 posts now!  Somebody pinch me.  Don't know why I'm fixating on miss you know who.  I'll repeat myself.  Somebody pinch me.  My parents will be out of town for this weekend so I'll have the place to myself.  So I can sleep in till whenever.  Wait.  I already do that.  Which means I'll probably be up by 9 every day this weekend.  With nothing else to do but sit on here all day, with any luck that'll mean I'll be adding to this.  Or not.  1:03 AM

Monday, July 26, 2004 Different day.  Same thing.  She signs on.  I say hi.  She blows me off and signs off.  This keeps up, I may have to just say screw it and move on.  And I found out today I have a week to decide whether or not I want to keep working temp at Schwans since the temp places' contract with them runs out friday.  Can anything else in my life go wrong?  11:53 PM