quick lunchbreak rambling

i started following julian baggini's blog when my friend heather was having trouble tracking down a book on atheism by him that her class was using as a textbook... google search -> oh, interesting, he's got a blog. anyway, as an american who's recently been name-called a bit for negativity and change resistance, i found this article on cultural attitudes toward success pretty fascinating. (and yes, of course i think of myself as practical... change can be great, just think it through properly and implement it sensibly. fine, fine, so maybe i'm a little demanding...)

in other news, my company has brought in physical trainers for a trial week, working on setting up an even more comprehensive fitness program. (for what it's worth, the existing health program is one of my favorite things about the company anyway -- fruit in the breakrooms, gym memberships, tolerance for longer lunchbreaks if you're using them to work out.) i went to a "walking clinic" today expecting not to break a sweat. it hurt. this is awesome.

from reading this blog, one might easily think i never read anything but the nytimes.com website.

not true. but prob'ly a little closer to true than it ought to be. but it's interesting.

among other discoveries on a very quiet thanksgiving weekend, this article by a psychiatrist who got pulled into partnering with effexor reps to give talks about the drugs. one of the more bizarre rules in the household when i was a kid was a prohibition against tv commercials -- i could watch any show i wanted, i just had to request it ahead of time so mom could tape it and fast-forward through the commercials. midway through the story, i started laughing out loud, because i found myself suddenly (20 or so years later) agreeing that it was a durned good idea.