Netflix Usage

I found this interesting article thanks to Clever WoT on Netflix user's viewing habits.

The article claims that high brow movies tend to catch dust, while low brow movies are watched and then quickly returned. Sad, but typical, I'd say. There's a reason why Blockbuster doesn't stock too many copies of documentaries and indie flicks. People just don't care to spend their entertainment time on thought-provoking or depressing movies.

I like to think that our queue reflects a more balanced approach to watching movies. We currently have 140 movies on our active queue, with the following breakdown:
Drama 21.43%
Documentary 15.71%
Comedy 12.86%
Television 12.86%
Foreign 11.43%
Romance 5.71%
Thrillers 5.71%
Action & Adventure 2.86%
Anime & Animation 2.86%
Sci-Fi & Fantasy 2.86%
Children & Family 2.14%
Independent 1.43%
Music & Musicals 1.43%
Horror 0.71%

And we typically watch at least 3 movies a week. I am glad for the extensive Netflix library. We have been able to watch movies that are hard to find in a typical movie rental place. We've been able to watch several great TV shows and have pretty good access to new releases. We've watched 282 movies since we joined in February 2004. At about $1.98 per movie, I'd say we could have done worse things with our money :)

Wasting time at work

According to Salary.com, "Time wasted by employees at work is down from 2005, but it is still costing companies billions in 2006. According to the 2nd annual survey by America Online and Salary.com, the average worker admits to squandering 1.86 hours per 8-hour workday, not including lunch and scheduled break-time, which is down from 2.09 hours in 2005. As a matter of practice, companies assume a certain amount of wasted time when determining employee pay. However, the 2nd installment of the survey indicates that employees are continuing to waste about twice as much time as their employers expect. Salary.com calculates that employers spend $544 billion per year on salaries for which real work is expected, but none is done."

I wonder what those wasteful employee workloads look like. Are they getting their jobs done in less time? From my personal experience, I waste a WHOLE lot less time if I have something to do with my time that is work related. My boss knows I'm caught up; I've asked him for more work, but I haven't recieved those new assignments yet... you do what you gotta do. I'd go home if I were allowed.

Interestingly, of the employees who admitted to wasting time, they said that they spent 52% of their wasted time on the internet.

Deep Friendships

I found this post in an interesting blog on the philosophy of friendship:

"The American Sociological Review has published research which shows that the average American has only two close friends, and that a quarter don’t have anyone at all.

The study compared data from 1985 and 2004 and found that the mean number of people with whom Americans can discuss matters important to them dropped by nearly one-third, from 2.94 people in 1985 to 2.08 in 2004.

Researchers also found that the number of people who said they had no one with whom to discuss such matters more than doubled, to nearly 25 percent. The survey found that both family and non-family confidants dropped, with the loss greatest in non-family connections."

How incredibly sad. And yet, prior to Mosaic, I would have said that I had no one (outside of my husband) with whom I could discuss deep and personal things. Part of this was finding others who were interested in hearing about the things I cared about. After college, I found myself in a desert without people who cared to go very deep on hardly anything. Even Jason forbade me from discussing politics more often than not. And when I attempted to discuss things (politics, the environment, etc.) the conversations were typically short and one-sided.

At Mosaic, there is a community of individuals who seeks to go deeper, who seeks to live a consistent life, who love to seek out the holes in things and work on them. I'm not saying that every person at Mosaic is interested in all of these things, but there are many there who are. I can say that I have at least 6 or 7 people with whom I would say are very close friends. I am fortunate, it seems, to be able to count on so many individuals with whom I can share my hopes, dreams and fears and who can do the same for me. Fortunate indeed.

On the Journey to Motherhood

One of the reasons that pregnancy takes so long, and believe me, when you are the one who is pregnant, these 9 months seem like forever, is so that the host/woman/mother-to-be can transform herself from a woman/girl/young adult into a mother. I am 5 or 6 weeks away from the midway point of my journey and I have become aware that as I am walking, I am changing.

The first, most obvious change was that I suddenly became intensely interested in all things child-birth and early child rearing related. This from a person who would avoid, avoid, avoid all things baby like it was the plague. Not only did I find myself wanting to know about these things, I have strangely not been able to get enough of that information. Still, after 3 months of searching, reading, collecting, musing, I'm still hungry for more.

I am paying attention to my body more than ever before. If I am hungry, I eat as quickly as possible. If I want something specific, then I try to find it and eat it. I drink when I'm thirsty and sleep when I'm tired. I use the bathroom at the first sign of discomfort. I have been paying more attention to how my muscles and bones feel than I ever have before. For the first time in my life, I feel completely in tune with my body and her needs. And it is wonderful. I think I finally understand what my mom meant when she said she enjoyed being pregnant. I feel fabulous. For the first time in my life, I am less focused on what I look like and more into what I feel like. It is an amazing transformation in relatively little time. I cannot wait to see what the next 5 months bring.

Emotionally, I am beginning to withdraw from my own family. Strangely, I am feeling more capable and desirous of handling this child on my own and with my community here. When I first found out that we were going to add a member to our little family, I was incredibly jealous of other women who's family is near enough to help. Of family who cared enough to take time off to come help, to be there for you. I can't say how sad I was that my family was so far away and/or doesn't seem to care to take time out of their busy schedules to come visit. Granted, I'm not dropping work or my schedule to go see them every free moment I get either, but, honestly comparing my family to others left mine lacking alot. Not to say that my family isn't great. After all, I was the one who chose to live all the way out here in TX, but there are times where I feel incredibly abandoned and unloved by my family.

However, my wishing my family lived closer ended with our trip to MO this 4th of July. It wasn't that there was a huge blowout or anything, but I suddenly realized that the reason that I live 1400 miles away from them is because I don't NEED them. Strangely, I think our relationship is better if it is long-distance. I don't have to deal with the step-siblings, or the step-dad, or the shy dogs, or rules that I don't know are there until I've broken them. I get to call and chat, and then hang up and deal with my own things, boundaries that I've made, friendships I've developed. I think, finally, I have grown up. It has taken 8 years of me distancing myself, going to new places, meeting new people, developing my passions and interests to realize that my family is best kept in MD and me in TX. That is why I never even considered living in MD as an adult. It wasn't even an option when we were looking at our options at the end of college. Separation, at least for me, is what I needed to be able to find my self-identity. I need separation from my family in order to preserve my sanity.

Somehow, carrying this child has helped me realize this. I think this child is helping me to concentrate on who I am. On how I will integrate caring for this little one into my life, my passions, my loves. I am beginning to love her/him already and I cannot wait to feel them moving. I can't wait to not be able to hide that I am pregnant, I can't wait to see them moving on the ultrasound. I can't wait to hold this one in my arms and cuddle. To answer questions, to get to watch her/him learning everything for the first time. I cannot wait to be amazed.

Chalkboard

Dear my blog, it has been too, too long. I have so many posts swirling around in my head that need to be written, but I'm *strangely* being unusually focused at work (but not so much that I am not posting this now :) )

For now, this post will serve as a chalkboard for some of the things I am working on so I don't forget, or leave it behind me. These things need to be given a place. So, for future posting (or past posting perhaps:

Book Review: Guns, Germs & Steel

Book Review: The Revolution: a Field Manual for Changing Your World

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