Tag Archives: Book discussion

These tend to be short-ish reviews of books I’ve read recently. I tend to focus on character development more than the plot of the story, so the interestingness of the story itself is not likely to be ranked too highly in my review.

When Reading Drags

I may have caved to an Online Reading Syndrome. I’m finding it increasingly hard to read some books, while I have no trouble reading various articles, blagoposts, stories, and graphical matter on the internet.

Now, in my defense, I’m reading non-fiction, and that’s never been my strong suit, no matter how much the concept of the subject matter appeals.

But still.

I find myself feeling the flaws of books more acutely than I would in an online piece. For instance, Amartya Sen’s Identity and Violence. Excellent concept for a book:
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One on One Meetings: How We Do at Big Corp

One-on-ones. Damn, how do they work?

(I swear, that video has provided me with endless amusement.)

Go read or re-read the earlier post. Shoo.

Several things make one-on-ones rather different here at Big Corp than they were at Skookum:

I’m a contractor

The “long-term view” is ultimately a question of “How long do we need you?” and “Will I stay that long?” It’s all very amicable and such, but I don’t get things like: company-paid conferences, to attend internal bigwig visits, paid lunches, to meet my boss’s boss, or much internal mobility beyond what I carve out for myself. (Big Corp is very paranoid about contractors thinking they’re employees.)

Instead, there’s a short- to mid-term view that focuses on workflow, project timelines, and resource management. Many of the hands-on folks in my area are contractors, and there are relatively few of us remaining, so any comings and goings are big news.

More manager involvement in projects

My new manager isn’t a producer1 or project manager, per se, but does run the occasional project and is a head honcho on the public site. That puts him in a spot where he can directly influence my work by talking with the relevant producer. Not that I’d be uncomfortable talking to most of them, unless there’s a real mess in the making that someone with seniority needs to handle.

Less structure

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Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning: Self-Employment Account Options

A 401(k) for MacGregor? Muy awesome.

I had no idea that there were traditional or Roth 401(k) options for the self-employed. I figured that Greg was due to be stuck with only IRAs, as well as a tangle of alphabet soup even I didn’t want to swim in: SEP-IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, Keoghs, spousal IRAs.

This totally changes our game plan, even though we won’t hop to a 401(k) immediately.

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Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning: Investment Policy Statement

This is the second of my Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning series.

“Investment Policy Statement” a hoity-toity term for “make a contract with yourself on how you’ll invest”. What’s your risk tolerance? What allocation of investments do you want to maintain? How often will you rebalance? What’s your goal? How often will you reassess your goal?

I’ve had these things in my head, shuffling them around as I researched and toyed with percentages and numbers. What they weren’t was written down.

Continue reading Bogleheads’ Retirement Planning: Investment Policy Statement