In 15 years, gas prices rose $3+ a gallon

Come Thanksgiving Day weekend, my 15-year high school reunion will occur at the Canton Town Club and if it's anything like the 10-year reunion I attended, many of us will laugh over the good old days, exchange phone numbers and email addresses, and never talk to each other again until the next reunion.

It's not that we don't try to remain in contact, but the pressures of life (and many of my peers with children) interfere with the simple act of picking up a phone or sending a quick e-mail to say, "Hi John, Thinking of you. Hope all is well. Write back, Mary."

I used to say I was friendly with all of my high school classmates, but when my mother heard that, she asked me, "If they are all your friends, how come they never come over to the house?" Good question. In retrospect, I had a small group of friends (who did come to the house) but larger concentric circles of acquaintances and other degrees of contacts.

In recent years, with the advent of social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, many of my high school friends and acquaintances have re-entered my life and while we may not even e-mail each other, we do keep in touch through the simple acts of checking out each other's public profiles, writing short "happy birthday" and "how are you" notes, and commenting on posted pictures of each other with friends, family members, and celebrities. In this sense, we try in our own ways to keep the flame alive.

At a gas station this week, I filled up my 15.7-gallon Subaru tank at $3.67 a gallon and remarked to myself that when I drove my hatchback Dodge Omni in high school, I was paying about 90 to 99 cents a gallon. I even remember the price of unleaded gas dropping to a low of 88 cents! Imagine that; a pipe dream for the future?

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The Wall Street Journal recently reported that analysts at Goldman Sachs, in response to Nigerian unrest and Russian instability, predicted the price of oil would jump to about $200 a barrel by the fall; oil trades around $120 now.

"That would put oil at unprecedented price levels, even going back to just after the Civil War," said Stephen Brown, an energy economist at the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank.

Running quick and dirty math, if I drive to a job in Lowell, a distance of some 30-40 miles one way, five days a week for a year, I would accumulate some 15,600 miles a year. And that doesn't include incidental and vacation driving. Let's say I drive 20,000 miles over the next 12 months; with the price of gas at, say $4 a gallon, it would cost me about $4000 for gas, not to mention any repairs or depreciation costs.

If I don't drive to Lowell but commute by train to a Boston job, I would spend about $4000-5000 a year, depending whether I park at the $2 MBTA lot or ride my bike and take the bike with me into the city. If the price of gas increases, the cost of taking the train, all things relative, stays the same.

U.S. health care workforce needs reform

In "Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce," a new report released last month, the Institute of Medicine prioritizes a need for the U.S. health care workforce to receive increased training and higher pay as a prerequisite for meeting the needs of 78 million baby boomers who turn 65 between 2011 and 2030.

Three years from now, if the status quo remains, the aging baby boomers will comprise 20 percent of the U.S. population and be met by a health care workforce that is too small and very unprepared for the necessary geriatric care of aging adults.

The IOM charged its ad hoc taskforce, the Committee on the Future Health Care Workforce for Older Americans, to determine the health care needs of Americans over 65 years of age and to assess those needs through an analysis of the forces that shape the health care workforce, including education and training, models of care, and public and private programs.

The committee determined three steps must be taken immediately before 2030:

First, we need to increase the competence of virtually all members of the health care workforce in the basic care of older adults.

Second, we need to increase the number of geriatric specialists both to provide care for those older adults with the most complex needs as well as to train the rest of the workforce in basic geriatric principles.

Finally, we need to change the way that care is organized and delivered, using each person to his or her highest level of ability, including family, friends, and patients themselves.

Today's older Americans comprise 12 percent of the total population but 26 percent of all physician office visits, 35 percent of all hospital stays, 34 percent of all prescriptions, 38 percent of all emergency medical responses, and 90 percent of all nursing home use.

The health care workforce, though, comprises a mere 7,000 certified geriatricians which sounds lofty until you realize this is a 22 percent decrease from eight years ago.

And mental health? There is one geriatric psychiatrist in today's industry for every 11,000 older adults; and if growth rates remain consistent, there would be one for every 20,000 in 2030.

Despite the disproportionate health care numbers, "the U.S. health care system is in denial about the impending demands," said committee chairman Jack Rowe in this testimony last month to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.

Rowe argues that our society places little value on the expertise needed to care for our vulnerable population of frail older adults, considering that a geriatrician earned an average salary of $163,000 in 2005, compared to a general internist salary of $175,000 despite extra training for the former. The disconnect is further seen in a dermatologist salary of over $300,000 a year.

More alarming (though not surprising to me) is that federal standards for nurse aide and home health aide training has not changed in 20 years from its current level of 75 hours. California, Rowe says, requires more training hours than the federal minimum, but has even higher standards for dog groomers, crossing guards, and cosmetologists.

The next issue of my American Society of Public Administration journal is expected to have a larger story about this, and its impact on municipal workers.

The Fate of Employment Prospects

I don't believe in coincidence.

I believe everything happens for a reason. Some call this fate.

In the hours since buying a desk and erecting it, one organization asked me to interview with them on Thursday; and a contact at another organization is trying to set up a different interview with me.

I don't believe in the independence of the two events &mdash desk installation and employment conversations. Rather, one is the direct causation of another.

Feng shui designing my home office

With feng shui as my guide, I am attempting to design a quadrant of my apartment into a home office. For the past seven months, I propped my laptop computer on my, err, lap; and while I may still do that, it would be less frequent as I now have a proper desk that I bought yesterday at IKEA.

After assembling the desk today (very easy) and moving existing furniture around to maximize space and comfort (not very easy as I kept changing my mind), I think I'm set for now. I still have some organizing to do (taking clutter off the floor, consolidating multiple bins' and baskets' worth of stuff, buying a floor plant, buying another floor lamp, etc.), but apartment life is much nicer-looking now than yesterday.

Comparing the living room with the office room, here are some pictures (which can be clicked on for a larger view).

BEFORE:





AFTER:

How did I miss Kay Hanley's latest gig?

I'm behind the times.

I never saw Boston-based band Letters to Cleo in concert but I always liked their pop melodies. About 13 years ago, I bought their 1994 album, "Aurora Gory Alice," which I uploaded to iTunes last spring.

As I listen to it now, I wondered what happened to lead singer Kay Hanley. I found this Boston Globe article from last December that highlights Hanley as a backup singer to Miley Cyrus.

If I was a bigger Letters to Cleo fan, I suppose I would have known this. But it goes to the bigger issue that I'm out of touch with today's music scene.

As a college student, I belonged to BMG, Columbia House, CDNow, and other music "clubs" that sent packages of free CDs if I agreed to buy so many more at jacked-up prices. That's how I built up most of my collection of 500+ CDs over the years.

But now? Do I buy a CD or do I download it off iTunes Music Store? I used to buy CDs for no reason than the cover art looked pretty or a song sample sounded good; it's too easy to buy music these days and there are a billion and a half more music concerts today than 10 years ago, so how am I supposed to choose what I like?

Ikea looms this weekend

As I head south to the family abode this weekend for Mother's Day, I'll stop off en route at Ikea and buy this desk. With a birch enamel color over the particleboard, it will fit in nicely in an area of my to-be home office.

One of the first stories I'll be writing will be an essay comparing the past eight months living in Newburyport versus about two years in Somerville.

I started brewing a story idea earlier today while eating lunch beside the Rowley River in said town, and how the outdoor sounds were eerily quiet until an MBTA train rumbled by. I thought of many afternoons walking around South Boston's Castle Island and hearing and seeing the planes land at Logan across the harbor. Then, my mind shifted to downtown Newburyport and surrendering my senses to the tranquility of mildly moving powerboats on the Merrimack River.

Once complete, I plan to pitch this story to the Boston Globe.

Desk hunting

Last week, I wrote about wanting to buy a writing desk.

Easier written than done.

Over the past few days, I walked into downtown antique and used furniture stores, drove to similar stores in the region, and even checked department stores like Staples and Homegoods.

Everything is either too expensive, too heavy, too many accessories (shelves, drawers, and the like) or not the right color.

On the tip of a former colleague, I'll visit two more places tomorrow that may stock used furniture for what I want. If I can't find anything in my style and price range, I'll wind up buying one of three desks online:

A desk from Staples:


A desk from Target:


Or a desk from Ikea:


Ikea would probably be my choice.

Cartooning me

Looking back over the better part of 25 years, I've enjoyed watching TV cartoon shows and animated films and reading newspaper comic strips, but I never got into reading comic books.

While my peers collected comic books and shared graphic novels, I devoted my childhood to matchbox cars, Star Wars creatures, and Lego sets.

Considering I always read more than other kids my age, leading to high scores on read-a-thons and book reports, it's ironic I never got into comic books.

Never say never.

After listening to Lauren Weinstein talk about her cartoon book, "Girl Stories," at the recent Newburyport Literary Festival, and in reaction to yesterday's national celebration of Free Comic Book Day, I looked up the nearest participating comic book retailer and drove to the Toy Soldier in Amesbury.

In lieu of stereotypical superhero comic books, I asked Mick for suggestions. He seemed about my age and knew the genre.

I ultimately walked away with three free books, provided by different publishers specifically for the national day:

1. A Marvel Adventures story about Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Man

2. A preview of four comic strips to be published this year converted from bestselling novels by Jim Butcher, George R.R. Martin and Dean Koontz

3. Atomic Robo

I wonder if I'll like the comic books...

Chinese steel

I shot this picture on May 11, 2006 in Beijing.

With the Olympic Games beginning on August 8, the Chinese spent many man hours over several years constructing structures, including this one.

The Olympic torch arrived today in Macao, and makes its way to the mainland. Over the next three months, the torch will relay through every Chinese province. I wonder how much of the relay will be on foot, as much of the nation is desolate.

I wonder if my above picture is for an athletic venue or a peripheral lodging structure.

Foray into iTunes music store

Nearly two years after purchasing an iPod and storing my music on iTunes, and about a year after buying a CD, I finally downloaded two songs from the iTunes music store.

It seems Starbucks has a 'Pick of the Week' featuring a different song each week, where patrons can walk out of the physical store with free cards that specify redeemable codes to download songs.

This week's song is "So Many People to Love" by Carly Simon.

I don't own any (other) songs by Carly Simon, but a free song is a free song, no?

Around the same time I was looking at the iTunes music store website, I saw the music video for "Famous Last Words" by My Chemical Romance on Comcast's alternative music channel... so bought the 99-cent song on impulse.

It's convenient, for sure. But how often will I be playing songs on my computer or listening on my iPod?

P&G says no

Not even 48 hours after applying for a management position at Procter & Gamble and filling out an exhaustive 67-question multiple choice test, P&G sends me a generic email and says it's a no go.

How much time did they really spend looking at me, or did they just look at how I answered their leadership survey questions?

I think it's humorous how they suggest I try again in 12 months.

Dear Ari,

Thank you for applying to [position title here]. We appreciate your interest in Procter & Gamble.

We have reviewed your qualifications and, unfortunately, are not able to pursue your application further. We encourage you to apply again in 12 months and consider the available opportunities at that time.

Thanks for the time you have invested in applying to Procter & Gamble. We wish you every success in finding an excellent career opportunity.

Sincerely,

P&G Recruitment

Taking a tip from H.G. Wells

In his classic, "The Time Machine," H.G. Wells writes about a scientist who builds a time machine and travels hundreds of thousands of years into Earth's future.

Wells' hero meets the Eloi and the Morlocks, two human species evolved from different genetics. The Eloi, a pretty species, are the bourgeoisie who spend their days singing and dancing amid the gardens. The Morlocks, an ugly group, are the proletariat who build things and live underground with no distractions.

As I seek a means to maximize an approximate 64 square foot section of my apartment into a home office, I think I'll work like a Morlock. That is, the nearest windows are a good 12 to 14 feet away, adjacent to my now living room and TV. I currently sit on a couch during work; another distraction.

Feng shui dogma dictates that office space should be near windows to extend positive energy. Since I like the outdoors, wouldn't working next to a window be a distraction?

I can always re-arrange things later... but for the time being, I'll find a simple desk and chair that I can sit down at, put my laptop computer on and other paperwork, and do work without the distraction of a TV or window next to me or a couch under my butt.