Monday, February 17, 2014

Review: The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death by Laurie Notaro

Dear Lit Loves,
 My husband picked up my most recent book purchase, The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death by Laurie Notaro, and he said "I seriously hope the NSA doesn't show up at our front door." I just started laughing hysterically.  This most recent read is an interesting way to take on memoir:  the author writes short/long essays pulling from specific experiences in her life as opposed to one long time span.  Some of the chapters relate to one another and other chapters take off on an entirely unrelated tangent.  Ms. Notaro is a very spirited, feisty writer.  I had to check to make sure she wasn't a southerner; sure enough, she hails from Brooklyn, New York.  You know, that's where the Beastie Boys are from as well.

I have to say I will probably never move to Arizona after reading about this author's experiences there.  Just the description of the heat and desert conditions was enough to make me think twice about even visiting Arizona.  The  neighborhood in which she lived in Arizona was quite unique.  I must admit I've seen my share of suspicious characters in the northern suburbs of metropolitan Atlanta; however, I have never received a letter in the mail informing me a pedophile or rapist was moving into a home near me.  Just to be on the safe side I looked up where the nearest predatory individuals live in Georgia and big surprise, just two miles from my home!   I do understand Ms. Notaro's getting attached to a house and finding it hard to move.

You will have a whole new appreciation for the incidents and situations repair men and women go through after reading about Ms. Notaro's adventures while someone visited her house to repair a tread mill or elliptical trainer.  Let's put it this way, her husband and I were both mortified.  This author can keep you in stitches just talking about the weather.  And I dearly loved when she moved to Eugene, Oregon so her husband could attend graduate school and she was tailgated by people she classified as hippies.  Bad things happened though when the hippies decided to lay on their horn while the author was attempting a turn.  The same tendency overcomes me when people in Atlanta cut me off in heavy traffic on Interstate 85.

The best chapter in this book is the last one in which the author and her close friend decide to take an Alaskan cruise.  From the tiny cabin they are assigned to the adventures off the ship, I could not stop laughing.  This is a book to read when you need a serious laugh and a hilarious distraction.  I highly recommend it.

Till my next update,
Grace

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

PayPal Founder Needs To Get A Clue About How To Lead

Dear Literary peeps,
Forgive me for going all astray here on my blog which usually discusses the publishing industry and what I think about the latest memoir releases.  I just read the most insane article on Yahoo! news.  Evidently, David Marcus, president of PayPal, just sent a memo to his employees at the San Jose PayPal offices informing them that it had come to his attention that the employees evidently went to a cafe and didn't use their PayPal apps to pay for their purchases.  Or shockingly (according to Mr. Marcus) some employees claimed that they didn't remember their PayPal passwords.  He believes the employees in the San Jose offices of PayPal are not referring enough business to PayPal either.  And he goes on to applaud an example of employees at other offices hacking Coke machines in order to make them use PayPal.  With finality and a great deal of who died and made you God attitude, Mr. Marcus ends his memo to employees with "Get with the program or get out!"

Dude, Mr. Marcus, Asinine Tech Mogul, do allow me to shed some light onto what is obviously a very dark and encumbered world in which you must live:  you are completely OUT OF LINE.  I don't use your product because I DON'T TRUST IT.   It's hackable ad I prefer to use CASH dear sir.  When an employee pays for a purchase, he/she can use whatever means necessary to pay for said purchases. You can't make an employee use your app, I don't care if they work for your company, consult for your company, or like me, write about an insane memo released by you, the company president.  If you wish to join a dictatorship I highly suggest you remove yourself and join Eric Snowden and Vladimir Putin over in the no-man's-land called Russia.  Here in the United States we believe in something called FREE WILL.  Check the constitution if you fail to remember anything from your history classes sir. 

And finally, Mr. Marcus, are you seriously imploring your employees to hack the products of other companies who do not wish to do business with you or your product/app??  I mean, REALLY?!!  This delves into the territory of what I define as "illegal behavior" dude.  If a company does not choose to use your product, guess what?!  THAT'S THEIR GOD GIVEN RIGHT!  That's what makes America so great.  If we think a product, company, or a person leading a company is not to our liking, doesn't support our values, and has a sub par product, we get to CHOOSE NOT TO SPEND OUR DOLLARS SUPPORTING SAID PRODUCT, COMPANY, OR COMPANY PRESIDENT!.

Now here is one small suggestion:  if your employees are not using your product, can't remember their product passwords, or aren't generating enough business leads for you, maybe you should find out why the very people who work for you aren't enthusiastic about your product because I have a hunch they have valid reasons for not utilizing a company product.  Do not sit there and simply think they don't have good reasons for not using the product.  Insiders always know the best and worst about their tech products, trust me.  Maybe you should tap the abundant resources in your own offices to discover the problems with your product before you start throwing verbal grenades and threatening people. ENOUGH WITH THE "LEADERSHIP THROUGH DICTATORSHIP" MANTRA.

You should really apologize and get with the program yourself Mr. Marcus.

Grace