Where is the point where youth expires?

I am known to eat what I want, when I want, and in large quantities. I have always felt that the 3rd level of super-size was an appropriate development of the fast-food franchise. I do not approve of McDonald's bending to criticism from liberal yahoos who videotape themselves having a panic attack and gaining weight. The food is still bad for you! It's not like the regular size will make you thin. Super-sizing is a qualified judgement call for people already able to eat the food.

The persistent question remains: is anyone who cares about their cardiac health allowed to eat that stuff in any quantity?

According to a new article in the NY Times hammering home the Mediterranean diet, "no." The US and Finland, two countries with excellence written all over them, kill themselves with saturated fat and not enough vegetable fat.



Over the years, as people gladly filled my plate for the third time, I had a very, very small voice wondering if I was doing something bad for myself. But people like my parents would reassure me, that at this point, in my youth, it was OK to eat in large quantities.

Unlike when I was twenty, nowadays I think that part of my youth is coming to nigh. Oh, the Mediterranean regime will be difficult for me, but I think this is the next step in the Wellmus "Life Playbook."



As long as the Feta comes in large quantities, I may survive.

What to do about agressive male co-workers

That's me, by the way. I'm the agressive male co-worker. Angry at work because of lack of sleep plus dealing with small business owners. Small businesses, that noble breed, you say? How on earth could they be frustrating? Well, even though it happens week after week, it always astonishes me when these people (who often have 20+ years of experience) call me with a problem and just say that they're 'confused.' They're not confused, there's nothing confusing about the business I'm in. It's so clear cut that with 25 pages I can have a temp worker do my job (4 hour workweek anyone?). What's clear cut for me is even easier for them. Yet, they get confused, meaning that I have to step in and offer them concessions because they're unhappy about something.

This business that I'm in offers:

100% return policy on product, meaning all products that don't sell in the store can be returned for the money owed on them.

100% replacement policy on damaged goods

All sorts of retail incentives in the form of coop, or money back for promoting our items. Oh, by the way, isn't promoting items to sell something that businesses should do so that they can, I don't know, sell items?

Fair business policy. Meaning, we cannot offer a great rate on our product to the biggest vendor, and a lesser rate to the smaller vendor. It is against the law. The only time we can offer a better rate to a vendor is if they, essentially, do some of our distribution job for us. If they distribute to other vendors (or to their own locations, essentially other vendors), we can offer them a better discount. This is about as level a playing field as it gets (how would you like to be told that a bulk discount is illegal???)

And boy do they complain. Everything is a complaint, and they are flabbergasted when we do not single them out for the best promotions.

I do sympathize with them. All of these small business owners got into the business when it was not that great of a business to begin with. Then, national players opened successful, attractive chain shops, plus online retailers flipped the playing field even more. These small businesses are dropping like flies. One minute I'm trying to help figure out their promotions, the next minute I hear that they're closing. The amount of closings is at least one store a month, and a few major stores each year.

The survivors of this bunch are a mean, Dickensian lot who do whatever it takes to stay open. I need to compile the dirty playbook at some point because these businesses truly have the Darwinian gifts to survive against all odds. They will do anything to stay open, anything to extend their credit, and then when folding, 'settle' with the suppliers only to somehow reopen again. Can they be ignored? Hardly.

But back to me. My boss used to say that she thought it was good that I didn't just roll over and take what these small business owners were dishing, that it was good to stand up to them. Yet, is it really? I know I get some bad vibes coming off me, and I don't like to give out the bad vibes. Is the agressive male co-worker toxic or just a part of the cog in the wheel? Is being nice all the time to people who're taking advantage of your corporation just as bad?

That is more than enough questions for one day!

Hardest guide to follow

The 48 Rules of Power is a compliation of philosophical teachings by a guy who, more or less, spent a lot of time reading philosophy books: Robert Greene. He's not Trump or Howard Hughes or even Carrie Fisher.

I grabbed this book out of the office of a recently fired co-worker and read it over a weekend. The editing is great. Each law of power is about four pages long with tons of historical anecdotes. It's a great way to learn about philosophy and history, especially Ancient Chinese History, European History, and Japanese Tea Ceremony History. Also in there are snippets about characters like Henry Ford, Mata Hari, and Haele Selassi. All in all, it's a grand scope book that pulls it off.

Almost. This book originally caught my eye in a New Yorker piece about how bigtime rap stars were touting this as the key to success. That's cool, I thought. Better than the Secret. The author, even, was going to these hip hop parties and though he looked out of place, he got nothing but love. At some point, him and 50 Cent are to make a book together, called the 50th Law.

So, maybe I could get some more power in my life? Not likely. By trying to follow some of these rules of power, I just came across as an asshole. I need a book about getting by, or being content. "Enjoy the Small Stuff." Sometimes, when things are going drastically wrong, especially between me and authority, it seems that I've violated one of the rules of power. There are too many to follow. I just don't want to end up like one of the loser anecdotes in the book. There are just as many of those as there are winners.

Click here for Robert Greene's site.

Click here for the New Yorker article, though you have to register to read the full piece. If you like hip hop stars, and you like out of leftfield success stories, I recommend it.