man with black hat: business

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Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

The Partridge in a Pear Tree climbed 16 percent in 2024, to $370.18, this year’s biggest percentage jump in price. The bird costs the same, but the tree is rooting itself deeper in True Love’s wallet this year.

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The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, and into the dawn of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmastide is 25-26 December, ending with Twelfth Night on 5-6 January.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but here at Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not ...

[NOTA BENE: The use of this song as a "secret catechism" for children, employed by Catholics persecuted in post-Reformation England, is a matter of some dispute, as pointed out in this article from Snopes.com. Leave it to them to bring the party down, especially when they're actually wrong some of the time.]

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Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For over forty years, PNC Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

For many years, Mr Dunigan himself presented the complete rundown of the cost of the entire entourage on video. Closer to the present, we have this report from WITF-FM, public radio for central Pennsylvania.

In the years following his departure, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on.

Meanwhile, from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you "Maligayang Pasko at Makabagong Bagong Taon!"

You get the idea. Now, dear minions, go forth and spread joy!

+ + +

See all twelve days in progress at the "xmas12days2024-2025" label.

(The illustrations for the PNC Christmas Price Index are from the website of PNC Bank, NA, and are used here without permission or shame. It's the least they can do for charging me twenty-five bucks a month to earn interest off my own damn money.)

Monday, December 25, 2023

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

Rents are rising again for the Partridge in 2023. The price of the bird stayed flat, but the tree it lives in grew by 13.9%, reflecting overall growth in housing costs (at $319.18).

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The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, and into the dawn of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmastide is 25-26 December, ending with Twelfth Night on 5-6 January.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but here at Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not ...

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For forty years, PNC Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

For many years, Mr Dunigan himself presented the complete rundown of the cost of the entire entourage on video. For now, you can get this year's short version from WXIX, the Fox affiliate in this writer's old stomping ground known as Cincinnati.

In the years following his departure, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on.

Meanwhile, from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you "Maligayang Pasko at Makabagong Bagong Taon!"

You get the idea. Now, dear minions, go forth and spread joy!

+ + +

See all twelve days in progress at the "xmas12days2023-2024" label.

(The illustrations for the PNC Christmas Price Index are from the website of PNC Bank, NA, and are used here without permission or shame. It's the least they can do for charging me twenty-five bucks a month to earn interest off my damn money.)

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

While the price of a partridge is unchanged, continued growth in the cost of its tree, due in part to higher fertilizer costs, means an overall price increase for the first gift in the 2022 index (at $280.18, or plus 25.8 percent).

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The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, and into the dawn of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmastide is 25-26 December, ending with Twelfth Night on 5-6 January.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but here at Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not ...

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For thirty-nine years, PNC Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

For many years, Mr Dunigan himself presented the complete rundown of the cost of the entire entourage on video. For now, you can get this year's short version from Canada's CTV "Your Morning" show -- which appears to measure the results in American dollars and not Canadian ... eh?

In the years following his departure, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on.

Meanwhile, from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you "Maligayang Pasko at Makabagong Bagong Taon!"

You get the idea. Now, dear minions, go forth and spread joy!

+ + +

See all twelve days in progress at the "xmas12days2022-2023" label.

(The illustrations for the PNC Christmas Price Index are from the website of PNC Bank, NA, and are used here without permission or shame. It's the least they can do for charging me twenty-five bucks a month to earn interest off my damn money.)

Saturday, December 25, 2021

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

The price of the Partridge and Pear Tree has grown this year, entirely due to rising cost of this tree (at $222.68, or plus 6.0 percent).

+ + +

The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, and into the dawn of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmastide is 25-26 December, ending with Twelfth Night on 5-6 January.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but here at Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not ...

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For thirty-eight years, PNC Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

For many years, Mr Dunigan himself presented the complete rundown of the cost of the entire entourage on video. For now, you can get this year's short version from the Toronto-based CityNews (which hopefully measures American dollars and not Canadian). According to PNC: "Comparing 2019 data is a better gauge of the impacts of inflation, before the pandemic’s effects took hold of the global economy. We are trying to normalize the comparison by excluding a-once-in-a-century pandemic that had an outsized impact on last year’s data."

Be that as it may, in the years following his departure, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on.

Meanwhile, from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you "Maligayang Pasko at Makabagong Bagong Taon!"

You get the idea. Now, dear minions, go forth and spread joy!

See all twelve days in progress at the "xmas12days2021-2022" label.

(The illustrations for the PNC Christmas Price Index are from the website of PNC Bank, NA, and are used here without permission or shame. It's the least they can do for charging me twenty-five bucks a month to earn interest off my damn money.)

Friday, December 25, 2020

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

While 2020 was anything but predictable, the Partridge sheltered in place, as the price for him and his Pear Tree remains unchanged from 2019 at $210.18.

+ + +

The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, and into the dawn of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmastide is 25-26 December, ending with Twelfth Night on 5-6 January.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but here at Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not ...

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For thirty-seven years, PNC Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

For many years, Mr Dunigan himself presented the complete rundown of the cost of the entire entourage on video. For now, you can get this year's short version from the FOX affiliate in Indianapolis. The effect of the pandemic on various service industries brought the cost way down from last year, by a whopping 58.5 percent (from $38,993), to a mere $16,168.14 this year, what with all the drummers drumming, pipers piping, lords leaping, and ladies dancing, being out of work.

Be that as it may, in the years following his departure, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on.

Meanwhile, from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you "Maligayang Pasko at Makabagong Bagong Taon!"

You get the idea. Now, dear minions, go forth and spread joy!

See all twelve days in progress at the "xmas12days2020-2021" label.

(The illustration for the PNC Christmas Price Index is from the website of PNC Bank, NA, and is used here without permission or shame. It's the least they can do for charging me twenty-five bucks a month to earn interest off my damn money.)

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

+ + +

The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, through the morning of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmastide is 25-26 December, ending with Twelfth Night on 5-6 January.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but around Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not ...

+ + +

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For more than thirty years, PNC Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

For many years, Mr Dunigan himself presented the complete rundown of the cost of the entire entourage. For now, you can get the short version from the CNN. The cost of this year's CPI rose by a modest 0.2 percent to $38,993.59, just a wee bit higher than the previous year, but a 95 percent increase from the first Christmas Price Index in 1984.

And so, in the years following his departure, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on.

In previous years, we have provided a detailed look at the price of what somebody's true love give to them with each of the twelve days, also courtesy of PNC, and with a comparison of the previous year. But with plans to be on the other side of the planet during much of Christmastide, we invite our dear readers to check the PNC Christmas Price Index website for complete information.

All that being said (and all that which is said to follow), from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you "Maligayang Pasko at Makabagong Bagong Taon!"

You get the idea. Now, dear minions, go forth and spread joy!

(The illustration for the PNC Christmas Price Index is from the website of PNC Bank, NA, and is used here without permission or shame. It's the least they can do for charging me twenty-five bucks a month to earn interest off my damn money.)

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

This gift saw a slight uptick in price with a well-rooted Pear Tree that remained flat ($199.95) and a Partridge that barely stretched its wings (+.9% from $20.00 to $20.18). 2018 PRICE: $220.13 (+0.1%)

+ + +

The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, through the morning of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmastide is December 25-26, ending with Twelfth Night on January 5-6.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but around Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not...

+ + +

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For more than thirty years, PNC Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

For many years, Mr Dunigan himself presented the complete rundown of the cost of the entire entourage. For now, you can get the short version from the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia. The cost of this year's CPI rose by 1.2 percent to $39,094.93. And so, in the years following his departure, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on.

Each day of our series will include a detailed look at the price of what somebody's true love gave to them, also courtesy of PNC, with a comparison to the previous year, at the beginning of our day's entry. In addition, a much cheaper and more creative alternative to buying these gifts can also be found at each day's entry on the PNC website, where you can learn how to fashion homemade ornaments based on each of the twelve days.

All that being said (and that which is said to follow), from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you a most blessed Christmastide, and a prosperous New Year.

Now, dear minions, go forth and spread joy!

(Illustrations for the Twelve Days of Christmas are from the PNC Christmas Price Index website, and are used here without permission or shame. It's the least they can do for charging me $25.00 a month for earning interest off my money.)

Monday, December 25, 2017

Christmastide: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, through the morning of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmas is December 25-26, and the season ends with Twelfth Night on January 5-6.

By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but around Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning. Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who are not...

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

For more than thirty years, PNC Bank, one of the largest banking institutions in the United States, has calculated the prices of the twelve gifts from the classic carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The result is the PNC Christmas Price Index, originally the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, the former managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. The result is a unique and whimsical holiday tradition that makes learning about the economy fun.

Following what was in all likelihood his retirement, Mr Dunigan's legacy presses on. This year, rather than just one video giving the run-down, we are treated to a different one for each day on the website. But you can get the short version from a spokesman for PNC, thanks to the Fox affiliate in Cleveland. The cost of this year's CPI rose by a mere 0.6 percent to $34,558.65, due to the cost increases for the Pear Tree, the increased demand for Golden Rings and wage increases for the Lords-a-Leaping.

All that being said (and that which is said to follow), from all of us at Chez Alexandre, we wish you a most blessed Christmastide, and a prosperous New Year.

Go forth and spread joy!

(Animated illustrations for the Twelve Days of Christmas are courtesy of the Christian Resource Institute, under the authorship of Dennis Bratcher, and which are used here without permission or shame.)

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Christ-Mass: Day 1 (Nativity)

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the aforementioned items have been used as a tongue-in-cheek economic indicator. This custom began with and is maintained by PNC Bank. Two pricing charts are created, referred to as the "Christmas Price Index" and "The True Cost of Christmas." The former is an index of the current costs of one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The latter is the cumulative cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased.

The project was the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. Each year this project gives us the lowdown on last year's CPI, including a brief history, the impact of the economy on this year's results, and how the PNC CPI can be used in the classroom. The original 1984 cost was $12,623.10. The total costs of all goods and services for the 2016 Christmas Price Index is $34,363.49, up 0.7 percent from $34,130.99 last year, compared to being up 0.6 percent from 2014 to 2015. PNC used to do a cool video every year, but they stopped a couple of years ago, so others had to pick up the slack for them. After all, why tax your attention span for more than an hour on a website when you can just watch something in less than one minute, then go on to watch football? Or something?

For those of you with longer attention spans, learn the details, including which items went up, down, or stayed the same in cost, by visiting pncchristmaspriceindex.com to see the whole dog-and-pony show for yourself, (or you can read this piece in Business Insider).

And on that promising note, don't you have anything better to do on a day like this? Your friends as well as your "friends" are waiting on Facebook and Pinterest.

Go forth and spread joy!

(Animated illustrations for the Twelve Days of Christmas are courtesy of the Christian Resource Institute, under the authorship of Dennis Bratcher, and which are used here without permission or shame.)

Friday, December 25, 2015

Christ-Mass: Day 1 (Nativity)

And on that promising note, don't you have anything better to do on a day like this? Your friends as well as your "friends" are waiting on Facebook and Pinterest.

Go forth and spread joy!

(Animated illustrations for the Twelve Days of Christmas are courtesy of the Christian Resource Institute, under the authorship of Dennis Bratcher, and which are used here without permission or shame.)

Monday, April 27, 2015

Let’s Get Rid of Management

People
don't want
to be managed.
They want
to be led.

Whoever heard
of a world
manager?
World leader,
Yes.
Educational leader.
Political leader.
Religious leader.
Scout leader.
Community leader.
Labor leader.
Business leader.
They lead.
They don't manage.

The carrot
always wins
over the stick.
Ask your horse.
You can lead
your horse
to water,
but you can't
manage him
to drink.

If you want to
manage somebody,
manage yourself.
Do that well
and you'll
be ready
to stop managing.

And start
leading.

(A message as published in the Wall Street Journal by United Technologies Corporation, Hartford, Connecticut. – Warren Bennis & Burt Nanas. Harper & Row, New York, 1985.)

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christ-Mass: Day 1 (Nativity)

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), we present the continuation of a venerable man with black hat tradition.

Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the aforementioned items have been used as a tongue-in-cheek economic indicator. This custom began with and is maintained by PNC Bank. Two pricing charts are created, referred to as the "Christmas Price Index" and "The True Cost of Christmas." The former is an index of the current costs of one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The latter is the cumulative cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased.

The project is the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. Each year he gives us the lowdown on last year's CPI, including a brief history, the impact of the economy on this year's results, and how the PNC CPI can be used in the classroom. The original 1984 cost was $12,623.10. The total costs of all goods and services for the 2014 Christmas Price Index is $27,673.21 (up 1.0 percent from $27,393.17 last year, compared to being up 7.7 percent from 2012 to 2013, so things are looking up, people).

Learn the details, including which items went up, down, or stayed the same in cost, by visiting pncchristmaspriceindex.com to see the whole dog-and-pony show for yourself, including a special fairy tale about each set of gifts (or you can read this piece in Business Insider).

And on that promising note, don't you have anything better to do on a day like this? Your friends as well as your "friends" are waiting on Facebook and Pinterest.

Go forth and spread joy!

(This year we introduce a unique set of animations to illustrate the Twelve Days of Christmas, courtesy of the Christian Resource Institute, under the authorship of Dennis Bratcher, and which are used here without permission or shame.)

Monday, March 03, 2014

Not Dead Yet!

With six or more inches of snow on the ground, a sheet of ice on every road, and federal buildings closed in the DC area, it gives a man time to think. That's when I put the regular feature for today on hold, and also when I came across this:

Yeah, that's possible, but that could also be said about damn near everybody on the Hill that's been there for more than two or three terms. They come to Washington for the first time, wanting to be the next Mister Smith. They arrive at National Airport, with that free parking spot, a ten-minute limousine drive to the office, free haircuts at the office, the ability to tear up parking tickets in an officer's face, and let's not forget that private bowling alley ...

But this isn't about that.

Unless you're rich and/or famous, divorce affects most of us financially. Go through it once, and you spend the rest of your life paying for it, especially if children are involved (which there was), and especially if the former ball-and-chain gets half of your pension upon retirement (which she won't). The way I've figured it out, the earliest I can leave is at the end of the year of Our Lord 2020, with forty years of service, when I will have just turned sixty-six. But I may stick around for four more years, in which case I would retire at seventy. Now, just saying that seems shocking. Why would anyone want to work until they're seventy?

Here's my answer: Why would the same people not ask the same thing of a public figure who is pushing ninety?

Oh, sure, there are people saying that, including this John Ratcliffe guy ~~who wants the old man's job~~. But if you thought the Gentleman from Texas was one of your heroes, you'd just as soon keep him there until he turned one hundred, no questions asked. Keep fighting the good fight, pops. But we don't do that right off the bat. And we assume that everybody who retires is just like the couples in those commercials for financial companies who want to help you plan your retirement. There's a few people like that, but most would rather stay home and tend to their garden, or enjoy their grandchildren.

Me, I'll probably keep writing, or maybe play more guitar. Maybe get paid for it. Or something.

The men in my family tend to live a very long time. My father was eighty-six years old when he left us, and he had suffered from multiple sclerosis for the entire second half of those years. Hell, even the drunks in my family live into their eighties. So unless I get hit by a bus, the odds for me are pretty damn good.

Dad once told me that most men don't like what they do for a living. Dad worked at Procter and Gamble for twenty-four years before leaving on disability. His occupation at the world headquarters was "Sales Assistant." He was a detail man, essentially, for "Packaged Soap and Detergent" (or "PS&D"). His job was to keep track of the doings of sales guys in the field -- what they delivered, how much they delivered, how much arm-twisting they did to get a retailer to move so much product for so much of a price break per unit, stuff like that. Every eye was dotted, every tee was crossed, every jot and tittle accounted for. Dad didn't particularly like what he did for a living. He just happened to be very, very good at it.

After more than thirty years as a graphic designer, I decided that I had gone as far as I was going to go creating new varieties of landfill (publications). Five years of part-time studies in web design ended when there was a regime change at the office, and a subsequent refusal to let me finish, just short of the one requirement for getting the diploma, a requirement I later learned was dropped, thus screwing me out of a diploma -- thanks a lot, Art Institute -- seemed to spell out another dead end.

But even a curmudgeon-in-the-making can find a silver lining. I had worked with video cameras before, and had learned enough about animation software at the Art Institute, to transfer that skill to video editing software. So I did, and wowed the Powers That Be. I still wow them, and I'm happy for it, since it got me out of that black hole of an occupation I was in for so many years.

When you get a new lease on life in mid-career, you either go for it, or you're gone. I used to watch older people at the agency, hanging around with nothing to do, their jobs made obsolete by new developments or new technology, and the management just couldn't ~~take them out and shoot them or~~ force them to retire, much less fire them. So those geezers hung around, looking listless, and useless. I was determined to never be one of those guys.

And so, tomorrow, if there's any chance at all of going into work, that's what's gonna happen. God has been good. I love my job. It's the least I can do, don't you think?

Or don't you?

Friday, February 28, 2014

FAMW: A Conference Call in Real Life

If you haven't seen this go viral already (and you both know who you are), this is what the 21st century corporate office environment is like.

Recent years have seen the rise of "hotelling" or the sharing of desk space by alternating "teleworkers" -- Dick works at home on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while Jane works at home on her company laptop, and comes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays so Dick can stay at home and ... walk the dog and pretend he's working. It all sounds great, until you try to get them all together for a meeting. It's funny, yes, until you have to work this way, and find how easy it is for at least one joker to be perpetually disengaged from his virtual office environment.

It happens to yours truly on a weekly basis. Tripp and Tyler demonstrate what a regular in-the-office meeting would look like if it went like a conference call. It's hilarious, unless this is what your job is like, in which case it's REALLY hilarious. And so it goes for this week's Friday Afternoon Moment of Whimsy.

And while we're at it, welcome to my day job. Watch your American tax dollars at work.
.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Christ-Mass: Day 1 (Nativity)

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree.”

The period known as Christmastide begins with the Feast of the Nativity itself; specifically, with the evening of this first day, through the morning of the Feast of the Epiphany. And so the first day of Christmas is December 25-26, and the season ends with Twelfth Night on January 5-6. By tomorrow, you will stop hearing Christmas music on some radio stations, but at Chez Alexandre, whether here or on the road, as well as here at man with black hat, the Christmas season is just beginning.

Most of us are familiar with the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," and the significance of the symbolism therein. But for those who do not...

[NOTA BENE: The use of this song as a "secret catechism" for children, employed by Catholics persecuted in post-Reformation England, is a matter of some conjecture, as pointed out in this article from Snopes.com. But what do they know?]

Now then (and this should be a treat for those of you new to us), the return of a venerable man with black hat tradition ... or is it?

Since 1984, the cumulative costs of the aforementioned items have been used as a tongue-in-cheek economic indicator. This custom began with and is maintained by PNC Bank. Two pricing charts are created, referred to as the "Christmas Price Index" and "The True Cost of Christmas." The former is an index of the current costs of one set of each of the gifts given by the True Love to the singer of the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas." The latter is the cumulative cost of all the gifts with the repetitions listed in the song. The people mentioned in the song are hired, not purchased.

The project is the brainchild of Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investments with PNC Wealth Management. Each year he gives us the lowdown on last year's CPI, including a brief history, the impact of the economy on this year's results, and how the PNC CPI can be used in the classroom. The original 1984 cost was $12,623.10. The total costs of all goods and services for the 2013 Christmas Price Index is $27,393.17 (up 7.7 percent from $25,431.18 last year).

This year they've forsaken the usual video presentation in which they just tell us what we want to know, getting on the 3-D printing bandwagon as a means of keeping us in suspense. Earlier this month, they had a contest where you could go to the site, design and outfit your choice among one of the gifts, and submit it for consideration. Winners would get a 3-D printed copy of their creation. What you're supposed to do with it, who knows? But they couldn't just do the narrative as in previous years, as shown in the first video. No, they had to give us a little teaser, in the form of the second video.

Learn the details, including which items went up in cost, and which went down, by visiting pncchristmaspriceindex.com to see the dog-and-pony show for yourself, such as it is (or you can read this piece in The Washington Times).

And on that promising note, don't you have anything better to do on a day like this? Your friends as well as your "friends" are waiting on Facebook and Pinterest.

Go forth and spread joy!