Month: April 2004

There’s an interesting story today on FastCompany.com about the offshoring of technology jobs.

What does it mean? This is something I’ve been thinking about lately, since we’re seeing some of the results of this here in Hamilton. This city is dependent on manufacturing jobs, which just don’t make sense any more, now that a lot of this stuff can be done cheaper elsewhere. So we’re seeing steel companies in big trouble, and just up the road from me, CAMCO has announced that they’re closing their Hamilton operation, throwing 800 people out of work. Is this the future for North American workers? When a company can find people in other countries to work for just dollars a day, why would they pay Canadian workers to do the same thing? Shareholders demand the lowest costs, right?

This will be an interesting debate in the weeks ahead. The outsourcing of American jobs is a major campaign issue in the US right now, and it won’t be long before Canadian politicians are talking about it too in a Canadian election. There are a lot of important issues here….is this what globalization is all about? for years, companies have been sending their product manufacturing to countries where labour costs are cheaper. Made in Japan (or China or Korea…etc) has meant cheaper costs for years. But the “brainy” part of the business has stayed home. The product development, or in the technology business, the software engineers, programmers and highly-skilled support types, were working on the home front. But that’s changing, and it’s happening fast. And suddenly, there are a lot more white collar types walking around without a job to move to…

Sunday morning…read the paper, perhaps clean up the kitchen a bit. It’s a good time to take it easy.

Of course, since I work at home, I tend to take it easy most mornings. So what makes Sunday any different? Well, it’s different for the significant others who live with me. The kids don’t need to rush off to rowing, or school. And while my wife usually works on the weekends, she can often get a slower start on a Sunday.

It makes me think about the rhythm of the week as we move from Monday to Friday, then Saturday and finally Sunday. Then we’re back into it all over again. There is a rhythm to it all, as one week moves into another, then a month, then a season, then a year. Elton John wrote a song called “The Circle of Life” for an animated movie about a lion cub who doesn’t want to take over his Dad’s job. Then the movie became a Broadway show and a huge success. I’m sure you know the song and the story. It’s easy to make fun of the stuff as sentimental, etc., but Elton (or whoever wrote the lyrics, if it wasn’t him) hit the nail on the head.

There is a rhythm to our lives and the way time passes. I think about it every morning, when I sit at the table with my morning coffee. The birds which disappeared last summer are back in full force. The robins are bouncing around looking for worms, the cardinals are zipping past and everywhere I can hear the songs of nature getting back into the swing of things. It doesn’t matter what I did yesterday, or what deadlines I’m facing today, this morning, the sun came up and the birds are out, the squirrels are zipping along the fence and the dogs are ready for their walk. And as I sit here, I realize that these are important things to me. And I’m glad I’ve got the chance to sit here and enjoy them. So maybe it doesn’t seem like I’m doing much, but I’ve got rhythm, and it feels good.

The Final Four is down to two. What a pair of games they were…Georgia Tech and UConn on Monday…it should be great!

There’s an interesting story here about the Spanish bombing.

Bomb Rocks Madrid Suburb (washingtonpost.com)

The NCAA Final Four is on. This is what basketball is all about. The skill level of the players and the coaches – heck, even the referees – is something to behold. I’ve played basketball or been involved with it for most of my life, and it’s weekends like this that convince me that it’s still the best sport out there.