I’m no George Clooney but…
Posted on March 5, 2010 | By bmasterson | No Comments
Brian Masterson?
Some think it’s all fun and games when traveling for business. Movies are made about it (Up in the Air, Airplane, the list goes on), books are written about it, and hundreds of stories are told at businesses all over the world. Different cities, different countries, new faces, new adventures. To be fair, I have traveled more than my share in my short time of business travel, and have visited hundreds of cities and towns around the world. I have visited friends halfway around the world, eaten interesting cuisine, seen some amazing things, and had my share of fun. Someday, I hope my children can experience the same things I have been able to experience.
There is another side of business travel that most either do not know about, or care to think about. The DARK SIDE of business travel. From sitting next to and meaninglessly chatting with the nameless (and sometimes smelly) faces on airplanes, to eating dinner on your own (again), getting lost because the GPS you rented is not working, driving through snow/ice, it’s not always glamorous as some folks think it is. Think about it in these terms – for a normal week long business trip, it takes about 6-8 hrs of preparation – setting up appointments, booking flights, finding hotels close to the meetings, booking car rentals, figuring out directions to each appointment. The list goes on. And this is PRIOR to you even leaving. Read more
MTV Pushing out ‘cynical’ Generation X
Posted on February 24, 2010 | By Christian | No Comments
Here's to you MTV!
Well, its official. MTV has announced their focus on Millennials, casting aside Generation X… the generation that made MTV. Sad news indeed. I’d like to give a big FU to MTV. Not just for this recent admission, but for the crap they have been broadcasting for the past 20 years. There was a time when MTV was about music television. It was certainly a revolutionary, but simple, concept that changed music forever. Play popular music but with supporting video. It changed everything. No longer were we sitting by the radio listening to music while doing something else. Now we were completely focused on the music as a total sensory experience. And when I say focused, I mean sitting like a zombie starring at the TV, one music video after another… completely enthralled. It was a perfect formula and our generation shaped it. Read more
Gen X and retirement
Posted on January 8, 2010 | By Christian | 1 Comment
The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran a mini-series of articles about Generation X and Retirement written by Maria Panaritis. I know what you are thinking, we are still way too young to really worry about retirement. So many things can happen that are out of our control between now and retirement, there isn’t much sense sweating it too much. Well, if you haven’t been thinking about retirement, its time to start. Now, I don’t want to bring you down but… reading this may.
Between making less overall than our parents did (accounting for inflation etc), the housing market just plain sucks, Baby Boomers taking forever to retire and eating up social security and basically sucking the life out of the economy, and don’t forget the cost of health care; Maria points out we are pretty much SOL. And lets not forget about the melting polar ice caps, but that’s for another bitch session.
Maybe it is time to just roll over and accept the fact that we are screwed on so many levels? Never! If Generation X knows anything, its that we can expect the worst and there isn’t much we can do about any of it. But don’t give up hope, somehow we always persevere. ~cg
Gen X- Small But Mighty
Posted on January 5, 2010 | By Christian | 1 Comment
If you are like me, you don’t really feel the love at work. Treated as a commodity with the ever present threat of corporate layoffs which seem to hit people by lottery since the “dead wood” has already been culled through the previous 5 layoff rounds. It gets old. I would like to reassure you that there is hope! Many of us forget that a large part of today’s workforce are Baby Boomers, and guess what… they aren’t getting any younger. Take a minute to read this article from October by Kelly Sharp called Gen X- Small But Mighty which talks about the Baby Boomer workforce of today.
What I especially like is the point Kelly makes about the number of Baby Boomer employees in the workforce today who are planning on retiring in the next 10 years, but the number of Gen-X employee which will back-fill them is fewer than the number retiring. Now, this is no panacea but its at least a glimmer of hope. One point Kelly does miss is the fact that many Boomer employees are working further into their 60’s than their parents generation, which certainly doesn’t help the Gen-X workers waiting for promotions.
Well, I could stand a little more appreciation at work – even if it is only through attrition. ~cg
P.S. I just ran across this blog on Roberts Virtual Soap Box called Why we (non-boomers) hate our jobs. You should definitely check it out. And while you are there check out his list of people he would like to see die in 2010 in his Top 10 Wingnuts Whose Deaths I’d Celebrate, 2010 Edition. He has Glenn Beck as #1 and I couldn’t agree more!
Irrelevant: Generation X, and Me
Posted on November 12, 2009 | By Christian | No Comments
I was reading an interesting blog by Buzz at buzzmusicmedia. He talks about how he, as a Gen X’r is feeling irrelevant. He makes a couple of very good points. How is Generation X represented in the media? Not by the likes of babyboomers Katie Couric and Brian Williams!
And he makes a second point. As Generation X members we are starting to fall into that crevice (much like the one between the cushions of my couch) where we are too old to hire and too young to take a pay cut to compete with the likes if Generation Y. “Companies are suggesting the HR people not hire someone over 30 these days because of financial needs of the company are paramount.” Hiring someone over 30 certainly wouldn’t please Wall St. and we wouldn’t want that – Boo-Hoo!
Hang in there Buzz! Maybe CBS will call you and offer you Andy Rooneys job. The only prerequisite is an abundance of ear and eyebrow hair. ~cg
