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3197. The Summer Woman - 8/21/2005 7:07:09 PM I've always wondered if Europeans are more efficient workers. it seems to me that the more hours people work, the more tired they become, and the less efficient they are. Which creates a vicious cycle. 3198. wonkers2 - 8/22/2005 3:48:56 AM I think that labor economists would say that any effect on worker productivity due to working excessive hours would occurr at much higher levels of hours than currently worked in the U.S. or Europe. That is not to say that the U.S. practice of working more hours is superior. I think the practice of shutting the plant down for a one-month vacation for everyone in the summer is preferable to the U.S. custom of basing paid vacation entitlement on length of service. The need for and benefit from a vacation is independent of length of service with a particular employer. 3199. Macnas - 8/22/2005 8:18:24 AM It's a wonder how we've managed to turn a few bob at all eh?
But it's good to see the U.S. is hard at work, the munitions industry in particular must be going, well, a bomb at the moment.
I cannot comment on many European models, hoilday habits differ from country to country, a fact not pointed out by the article, for whose writer Europe consists of 3 or 4 countries in the middle somewhere. 3200. Magoseph - 8/25/2005 10:45:24 AM Pictures from my son's house;
3201. thoughtful - 8/25/2005 1:20:26 PM Wow he's doing a great job....very nice...what a view! 3202. Magoseph - 8/25/2005 2:22:13 PM A contractor did the extension, but he and his wife plan to finish the ceiling, floor, and walls. They have added over 500 sq. feet to the body of the house. The property is large as is the view on the lake. My daughter-in-law has done wonders in landscaping. In time, they plan to add another story. 3203. Jenerator - 8/25/2005 5:11:33 PM Note to self: Hire Magospeh's son IMMEDIATELY! 3204. Magoseph - 8/25/2005 11:52:04 PM Now my son tells me that they are not going to do the inside work themselves because their time is worth more financially to them than spending it finishing the lake room. 3205. judithathome - 8/26/2005 12:12:59 AM Heh...that was my thought when you said that...I wouldn't do the finishing work on any room for all the tea in China. It's a big pain and I would feel totally comfortable letting the pros do it because, after all, that is what they do. They know all the tricks and shortcuts and they have all the tools already.
Now, furnishing the room and decorating it? I there 100%! 3206. Jenerator - 8/26/2005 3:03:56 AM My husband is the type to need a project, and I am lucky that he can do most anything - framing, sheetrocking, wiring, plumbing, etc. It's just getting him to finish a job that's the hard part.
Our next project is to tear down the garage that's on a different foundation than the house, but attached at the roof, and to build a new two story garage/guest room in its place. 3207. PelleNilsson - 8/27/2005 6:36:24 PM This is our oldest orchid. It is ailing - this may be its last flowering.
 3208. judithathome - 8/28/2005 8:23:48 PM Well, that last flowering is pretty spectacular. As they say, to everything there is a season...looks like yours has had a long and happy one. How old is it, anyhow? 3209. alistairConnor - 8/28/2005 9:59:55 PM I've always wondered if Europeans are more efficient workers.
France, which surely has the most paid holidays and probably the shortest working week, has the highest (private sector) hourly productivity rate in the world.
The work's there, you do it. 3210. arkymalarky - 8/28/2005 11:18:50 PM I do much better on the job with a good amount of time off. In teaching, it gets oppressive for teachers and students to spend too much time in class, and extra class time becomes counter-productive after a certain point. 3211. arkymalarky - 8/28/2005 11:22:27 PM My goodness, what a beautiful orchid!
I can't believe sluggish connection loaded it.
And I can also see Mags' pictures. The addition looks great, and I know your son's family will really enjoy it.
When we built our house we thought we'd do some of the work ourselves. We did very little, and no painting at all. It just wasn't worth the grief while we were trying to work full time and deal with Mose's activities, etc. 3212. thoughtful - 8/29/2005 5:44:38 PM Pelle, that orchid is beautiful!
My denny the dendrobium is pushing up another shoot...hope to have some flowers of his to enjoy before too long.
I cleaned out a bunch of plants...my plant room was getting so overwhelming I could hardly fit in. It's much nicer and neater now, but I just hate throwing out plants.
I have a burro's tail...though it's not so full and rich as this one. They're a neat plant but if you touch them, the petals fall off like mad, so once you place it, you have to leave it. But the petals will root themselves if placed on the soil, so I trim it back and grow some more. THey were from a gf's mom over 30 years ago...managed to keep the thing going.
3213. Jenerator - 8/29/2005 6:46:23 PM Beautiful orchid, beautiful picture Pelle. 3214. Ms. No - 8/31/2005 4:05:03 PM Mago, that looks great! What a wonderful place to relax. 3215. Magoseph - 9/1/2005 4:28:38 PM Yes, thank you, Ms. No, it is nice and it will be pleasant to entertain there because of the facilities (gas and implements) to barbecue just outside their door on the lake side--at least, this is what I understand. They are contemplating a second floor--just the place to put their aged mother in time, so they say winking at each other. You know, I forbid myself to impose my very old age to such a nice couple. By then, I hope that I will have enough sense left so as not to saddle them with a crotchety-and-mean-character, which if I am anything like my mother was before her death, I may just have eventually. 3216. Ms. No - 9/1/2005 5:42:57 PM But how much like your mother have you ever really been in your life?
My mother has been begging my brother and I for years to tell her at the first sign she develops any of her own mother's less attractive habits. Now, certainly, she shares some similarities with her mother --- hell, we're family, we're all somewhat alike --- but they are fundamentally different people. She's not going to be annoying or difficult in the same ways my Mamaw was.
She'll be annoying and difficult in her own special way.
When I told her that she was less than thrilled, but truly, she'll never be as difficult as my Mamaw because she's more invested in the idea of being a fun and capable and youthful person. She's a more positive person overall than my grandmother was --- not that I didn't adore my grandmother, I did, but she could be a pill.
What makes the elderly a pain in the ass? The same things that make anyone a pain in the ass: rudeness, incessant complaints, whining, cruelty and overall crotchety-ness that stems from being physically and/or mentally/emotionally unable to keep up with the world.
Some people are more adaptable than others and they continue to grow rather than be left behind the times.
I sincerely doubt you'll ever be the kind of senior to sit complaining on the porch about how the world of the day is inferior to the world of your youth.
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