The 100 by 30 project

Professonalism and the generation gap

This story from the New York Times on Gen Y workplace behavior is so timely for me, although the big disconnect at my summer office seems to be more sartorial than electronic. And I'm on the old-and-scandalized side, not the young-and-free side. (I'm about average age among the interns in my group, but in general we're much older than the 20- to 22-year-olds making up the general intern pool.) Here are some of the thoughts I have had about my cohort:

1. How can you possibly interpret the dress code as permitting formal satin shorts?
2. Are those stiletto flip flops?
3. Why are you staring at yourself in the bathroom mirror every single time I come in? How much time do you spend in here? Do you need help?
4. Please use capital letters in your next email.
5. Maybe the next one then?
6. I don't think the fact that you take 7-10 personal cell phone calls a day is as mitigated by your stepping out into the hallway as you seem to think.
7. Honey, either get out of the bathroom or I'm calling health services for you.
8. Oh please, oh please, stop that painful flirting with each other until I get off the elevator. Oh god, pleeaaasee.
9. Asking if that ring on my left hand means I'm married is perfectly fine. Screeching about how weird it must be to be married is not. Quite honestly, I thought marriage was a little strange when I was your age, too -- but I still managed to understand that older coworkers were happy to be afflicted.

The job continues to go wonderfully, though!

Summer splurge

A month ago I spent $235 to book 8 weeks' worth of personal training in weightlifting.

I played sports in both high school and college, but we were never taught proper form; the coaches would point us to the weight room and say "Go lift". Most of it is pretty straightforward -- the Nautilus machines have clear instructions, and there are all sorts of lifting plans online -- but I wanted something more customized, especially given chronic health issues of mine.

So far I've been extremely satisfied. We've had four weeks working on a particular plan, and next week we'll switch to a different one to finish out the summer.