Thought on Illegal Immigration

One of the arguments against enforcing immigration laws is that there will be a lack of people willing to do the jobs that illegal immigrants do. No one will pick fruit, mow lawns, or clean buildings. In pondering the issue, the thought occurred to me -- we have the solution sitting under our noses! There is a huge labor force between the ages of 14 and 21 (or so) that is missing out on the valuable lessons learned from hard work. Instead of learning to appreciate work and manage their money, they are being pampered by their parents and given a sense of entitlement that eventually filters into society and politics. I think teenagers' time would be far better spent harvesting oranges to pay for college than hanging out at the mall on their parents' tab. It'll never happen, of course, but it's a thought.

Offers I Can't Refuse

I currently have three job offers awaiting my response, with a fourth most likely on the way. I'm normally very good at planning and understanding the long-term consequences of my actions, but this job searching situation caught me a little off guard. I think what is on my mind is how much my life will be affected simply by the companies that chose to recruit at the career fair. After attending the career fair I interviewed with several companies and before I knew it, it was too late to consider whether I wanted to try to find employment elsewhere in other situations we had considered. To do so now would be to foolishly turn down good offers.

Don't get me wrong, I don't regret at all the way things have turned out. One of the offers is a no-brainer "no", but the other two are fabulous offers and the last will most likely be in the running. It's just not normal for me to feel like fate is deciding my future instead of me; that the jobs chose me instead of me choosing the job; that if a different company happened to be at that career fair, I could have a completely different life.

That leads me to the second issue swirling around in my head. It seems so strange to me that one single decision -- saying yes to one and no to the others -- can have such dramatic consequences on our lives. It determines where we will live for a good chunk, if not all, of our lives. It determines who my friends will be and who my kids' friends will be and the experiences they will have. It is the initial flap of the butterfly's wings that could cause me to experience a car crash or put me in a situation to save a life, that could lead to my house burning down or lead to perfect safety. I see diverging paths with different experiences, memories, joys, and sorrows, all of which exist right now, but with no way of knowing which will be better. And I feel a little bit of sadness that once we decide, the other paths will disappear and I'll never know what they would have brought.

I think it's my analytical, long-term-planning nature pitted against a superior foe: two good decisions with infinite possibilities. I'm just glad I don't have to make the decision on my own.

According to YouTube...

Laughter

Sometime in this past week I ran into a quote similar to this one about children laughing several hundred times a day compared to an adult's five and that we have a lot of catching up to do. I've already forgotten where I read it, but it's been festering in my mind long enough that I had to write this post to refute this obvious logical fallacy.

First, why do children laugh more than adults? We laugh for a variety of reasons, but most humorous things can be described as a juxtaposition of incongruous features or getting unexpected results from the combination of normal features. As an example of the former think of a big, burly man wearing a pink tutu. For the latter, think of the punchline of a joke (like one of my favorites here). These cause our equilibrium of reality to be slightly skewed and laughing affirms the absurdity, puts it into perspective and realigns our equilibrium. The same can be said for laughing after a painful or traumatic effect.

Children laugh more than adults because they have less experience with the world and have encountered only the small microcosm that is their life. To them, drawing a mustache on a picture is hilarious, because it is incongruous. For an adult, the best it would get is a chuckle because we've seen that many times before. Pretending to beat up an adult causes endless laughter in children because of the absurdity. Adults see it in the larger perspective that they are allowing it to happen, which makes it not nearly as funny. An American child might laugh at an Asian wearing a pointy hat because they haven't yet encountered it in life, while an adult with a larger perspective will realize we can look just as funny to them. How many times can a child tell the same knock-knock joke before it gets old? Even the child will eventually tire of it and adults have long since come to expect the unexpected, effectively negating the humorous effect. I am hesitant to imagine a world where adults laugh at the same things children do.

Second, why are adults expected to laugh as much as children? There are two prongs to this fallacy. The first prong is assuming that we should pattern our lives after children. What would a workplace be like where people were as silly and laughed as much as children? A certain level of maturity is required to accomplish anything in life. What would that same workplace be like if everyone adopted the other natural tendencies of children? Children also cry openly at the slightest provocation. Perhaps we should incorporate that into our daily regimen. They are selfishly possessive of their belongings and overly honest in their speech, if not verbally abusive. They are also easily distracted and less capable at working towards a long-term goal. I'm sure these are qualities every employer and spouse is looking for.

The second prong is assuming that adults need that much laughter to be happy. Children are happiest when laughing, but I believe that while laughter makes adults happier, it doesn't provide their happiest moments. A laughing adult will derive some happiness from the laughter, but true happiness comes from knowing, loving and having a bond with those with whom you share your life. Real happiness can come from sitting silently with someone you love or during moments of personal reflection. It's the moment after the laughter dies down and you look around you and realize your life is good. It comes from having years of perspective and understanding that are unavailable to a child.

Now don't get me wrong. I strongly believe adults should laugh more. They should take an optimistic view of life and laugh whenever possible. They should laugh at the absurdities of life and the unexpected. They should laugh to help them get through hard times. They should laugh to reduce the stress of a life of responsibility that inevitably comes. They should not, however, be encouraged to laugh 400 times a day simply because children giggle incessantly about pooping noises.

May I propose a thesis

My second committee member, after weeks of hemming and hawing finally approved my thesis proposal document today, allowing me to schedule my official thesis proposal for September 21^st. It's like replacing one looming cloud over my head with another, but it's nice to feel like I'm actually moving again after what felt like a stagnant summer. We might just get out of here by the end of the year after all.

Heat Mosquito

(inspired by Indexed)

Pet Peeve: Name Calling

In the process of moving to a new apartment I've had to call the electric, gas, and phone companies to have services canceled or transferred. This is not my pet peeve. Making these calls is an inevitable consequence of moving and these companies actually made the process quite painless. My pet peeve is that all customer service representatives are trained to learn your name and repeat it incessantly. I'm quite aware that my name is Steven, yet each of these representatives took it upon themselves to remind me of that fact approximately every other sentence.

If you know me, and you probably do if you're reading this blog, you know that I rarely, to the point of never, use the name of the person to whom I am speaking directly. Something in my hard wiring defines this as an inefficiency, seeing as how the person is already aware I am speaking to them, and it is eliminated. This causes me to be especially aware of it when others do, but it doesn't bother me when used in moderation.

My pet peeve is that these customer service representatives are being trained, against their natural tendency, to overuse my name to the point of creeping me out, all in an effort to make me feel like a valued customer. Honestly, I would prefer it if they didn't use my name at all, or perhaps only when coming back from putting me on hold. That would be natural. Instead they sound like one of those people who say "Father" at every pause in a prayer to remind themselves who they're praying to (sub pet peeve).

I realize it's not their fault, I just wish their employers would give them the leeway to actually come across as personable, instead of trained automatons. Grr.

Computer Science Pick-up Lines