Tikkabik

Bottom Line – Twinkies maker Hostess Brands files for bankruptcy protection: “”We remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement that will allow us to amend our labor contracts so that we can emerge from Chapter 11 as a highly competitive company that provides secure jobs for our employees,” Chief Executive Brian Driscoll said in a statement.”

The ironic thing in Driscoll’s statement is that they’re blaming pension and medical insurance costs as one of the reasons that drove them to Chapter 11 to begin with.

So I guess “secure jobs for our employees” means “today, but don’t count on us filling our obligations to you when you retire.”

Zakaria: The real burden on the U.S. economy – Global Public Square – CNN.com Blogs: “the big shift in the United States over the past two decades is not a rise in regulations and taxation but a decline in investment – in physical and human capital. And investment is the crucial locomotive of long-term growth.”

Zakaria thoroughly debunks the GOP assertion that taxes are the problem.

In addition to our nation’s declining investment in infrastructure, Zakaria points to college graduates with poorer abilities than their counterparts in other Western nations and a reduced emphasis on science education as major contributions to this weakening.

In late November I posted a link to an article that talks about the absence of “old” people at Google, and compared that writer’s notes with my own job search. I lamented that I’m having trouble finding companies willing to take on a telecommuter.

One of the comments came from my friend Helen, who works at MIT, and raised her eyebrows a bit at my implication that telecommuting is no big deal. As Helen explained it, her staff is only allowed to telecommute part time, and only after proving themselves.

Helen and I are in different professions, however, and what may be a bit unusual for her line of work has been de rigueur for mine. Especially in tech journalism, it’s been a standard option for many years for writers to work from, well, wherever.

Admittedly, for larger publications, and especially for publications that remain in print, part-time telecommuting is more the norm than full-time; employees are expected to be in the office at least a few days a week for staff meetings, to meet vendors and especially to be on hand as print deadlines loom

But those are not by and large the jobs I’m interested in. I’ve been interviewing with Web-based tech companies that in some cases are veritable content farms. And that’s why I find their insistence that people work from the office to be so off-putting. There’s no real benefit there to keeping people corralled in office cube farms. If you want maximum productivity, let your employees work where they want. Set reasonable metrics to make sure they’re hitting their goals, and clearly define and use bidirectional modes of communication like IM, VoIP and video chat services as necessary.

But get over the idea that your people need to be in an office. It’s 20th century thinking for content production, and it’s just a bad idea.

Annual Rant: Cars are NOT Gifts | The Dog Ate My Wallet: “I HATE the car commercials that indicate you should buy a car as a gift. HATE THEM. Now, these commercials are almost always Lexus (this year’s biggest offender so far), Acura, Mercedes commercials- you know, luxury cars, though last year there was the Buick commercial. But still, even if you’re “rich” why does buying someone else a car seem like a good idea to anyone?”

(Via @HarryCMarks.)

So on Wednesday I started writing for Engadget. I’m starting out slow, simply contributing short news articles where I think I can make a difference.

This isn’t a full-time gig; I’m writing for them along with all my other endeavors, but if I can get up to speed and contribute regularly, Engadget will make a positive impact to my bottom line, which has been really bad lately.

So far I’m really impressed. The managing editor, Darren Murph, has taken me under his wing and is incredibly patient. There’s a huge amount to learn – a new content management system, a very well-developed and orderly editorial process, a new editorial style, and more – but Engadget really has a well-developed workflow in pace.

Anyway, I’ve been really dour and glum about my professional prospects for the past month or two, so this comes at a great time and I’m very, very happy for the opportunity.

What I learned from Google – You Get Fifteen Years – Unchartered Waters: “This is what struck me: Where were the old dudes?“

“During my interview at Google, I realized something very important: You get fifteen years.

“That is to say, your half-life as a worker in corporate America is about age thirty-five. Around that time, interviews get tougher. Your obligations make you less open to relocation, the technologies on your resume seem less-current, and your ability find that next gig begins to decrease.”

At 41 I’m definitely feeling the same thing that Matt Heusser describes. And I’m sure a lot of that comes with having children early in life – Bonnie and I had Robert at 25, Emme at 27 and James at 30. I’m now looking at two kids going to college in the next few years, while many people our age only now have babies or toddlers.

But issues like relocation or forgoing a decent paycheck for the possibility of future compensation in the form of stock options? Immensely complicated when you have a family of five to provide for and consider.

As my own job hunt continues, I’m disheartened to find fewer and fewer companies willing to make compromises for people with lives of their own.

What makes it particularly frustrating is that there seems to be a push back against telecommuters. It’s stupid and regressive.

I’m perfectly willing to compromise on pay and a cushy workplace if it means I’m able to stay home and work at my pace in my environment. But expect me to work for coolie wages and drive to the office every day? You must be joking.

My problems with major appliances this past week have left one of my Twitter followers to suggest that maybe the house is build on an old Indian burial mound. In the space of two months, the Kenmore refrigerator has died twice, the Samsung television needed repair and, most recently, the Whirlpool dryer crapped out.

The dryer is a six-year-old gas-heated model. Not under warranty any longer; not the newest but not old enough to replace, either. So I called Whirlpool to find out about servicing the unit.

After stepping me through the likely repair costs – $129 plus the cost of parts, the customer service rep suggested a different flat-rate plan that would cover me for 12 months for $259. And if the cost of repair were less than that, I could call the company to refund the difference. Seeing as how I didn’t have anything to lose, I decided to fork over the $259.

“OK, the soonest we can get someone out is…the 30th.”

A week from tomorrow. In the meantime, I have wet clothes mouldering in the basement.

I told her I wanted to cancel the contract – I’ll just call someone local who can do the repair more quickly. For that, she told me, I’d have to call another number.

The transaction was barely a minute before, but she lacked the ability to cancel it. Once it was done, that was it.

So I called, waited, and talked with someone. After I was put on hold and transferred, I was told I had called the wrong number and was given a third number to try.

Which I did. By this point I was steaming. But after I explained the situation, the rep told me the contract would be “same-day cancelled.”

Nearly an hour after I started, I was temporarily $259 poorer, much more frustrated and no closer to having my dryer fixed than before.

I ended up calling a local repair service which told me they’ll be out to fix the dryer tomorrow. In the interim we’ll run what we need to at the dryers at the nearby laundromat.

Look, I’m not unreasonable. I understand logistics for large-volume consumer-facing companies. Obviously there’s no sense in giving someone the ability to schedule a service call until the call has been paid for.

But for Whirlpool to make me jump through the additional hoops of having to call a different department (and giving me the wrong number on top of it) is inexcusably poor customer service.

I’m glad, in retrospect, that the fourth person I spoke with was able to at least cancel the transaction. I just wish it hadn’t gotten that far.

I’ve used Whirlpool appliances for most of my adult life – my wife’s insisted on them. When we needed to replace our washing machine last year, it was with another Whirlpool unit. And our dishwasher is a Whirlpool model as well. But I’m having serious misgivings about ever giving the company another dime of my money. Getting their products fixed shouldn’t be this much of a hassle.

So last night the students of Pen State rioted after nearing that their beloved football coach allowed a pederast in his employ to continue to molest children after he was caught in the act.

Wait, what? They were rioting because he got fired?

What the hell is wrong with these kids?