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Marshmallow World
I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to a fluffy white world of stay-the-heck-home. Winter is not over by a long shot, folks. Got some exercise shoveling. Got some important tasks accomplished. Got some tasty comfort food in the crockpot. Life doesn’t get much better.
Building my snow fort
So, I’ve got some key things to attend to yet. Each action has its prerequisites. In order to do one thing, you’ve got to do a half-dozen others. It’s like building a snow fort. You really want to have a snowball battle, but you’ve gotta:
- dig a trench
- decide the dimensions of your fort
- shovel the snow forward to make a berm
- pack the berm to make a strong base for the wall
- build a wall
- pack snow into snow bricks
- stack a layer
- mortar with loose snow
- stack the next layer
- repeat
- make your stash of snowballs
- pack loose snow between your gloved hands
- roll it over while patting it to smooth it into a sphere
- repeat
Sure, that seems really OCD and overdone but if you want something done right, you need to have a solid plan. When you have a plan, you have to work it item by item. The more detailed it is, the easier it is to see how much progress you’re making. Thing is, you need snow first. You can’t do any of it without any snow.
Well, some of my tasks require QUIET . When I have that, I can get some more prerequisite tasks done. First, QUIET ; then, recording.
That’s all there is to that.
Some More Rules
Rule #111: Treat people in your debt like family… exploit them
[On the Bridge of the Defiant]
O’BRIEN: Commander, I’m receiving an incoming emergency message. It’s from DS Nine.
SISKO: On screen.
QUARK [on viewscreen]: Commander, am I glad to see you.
KIRA: This better be good, Quark. You’re on an emergency channel.
QUARK: I just received a message from the Grand Nagus. He wanted me to remind you of the critical role he played in establishing contact with the Dominion.
SISKO: You can assure the Nagus I will mention his assistance prominently in my report to Starfleet.
QUARK: There is one more thing, Commander. It seems the Nagus’s nephew Belongo is currently being held by Starfleet authorities on Aldebaran Three. A slight misunderstanding, I’m sure.
SISKO: A misunderstanding the Nagus no doubt wants to be cleared up. I do owe him a favour.
QUARK: He thinks so too. And to quote the one hundred and eleventh Rule of Acquisition
SISKO: Treat people in your debt like family. Exploit them. I have been reading up. You can tell the Nagus I will do everything I can, but also remind him of the two hundred seventeenth Rule of Acquisition.
QUARK: You can’t free a fish from water. I’ll be sure the Nagus gets the message.
That’s a pretty rude rule. The Ferengi love having leverage over each other and anyone else foolish enough to fall into debt with them. Even so, there’s always Rule #66. Just when you think you’ve got someone over a barrel, they’re probably working a scheme of some kind. That’s why you shouldn’t focus on exploiting people.
Partnerships are a much better approach. Nobody knows how to do everything. When you can partner with someone whose strengths are your weaknesses, you are setting up a win-win environment. The Ferengi don’t believe in the Win-Win. They always want the edge. Don’t go there. Win-Win is a much better way to do business.
Rule #112: Never have sex with the boss’ sister
[At Quark’s Bar]
(Arjin finishes his blue drink.)
QUARK: Another?
ARJIN: Just keep pouring until I drown.
QUARK: Sounds pretty serious.
ARJIN: Serious? No. I just threw my whole life out a porthole. Nothing serious.
QUARK: There isn’t a problem in the world that can’t be fixed by the right holosuite programme.
ARJIN: Never trust a Trill, Quark.
QUARK: Why not?
ARJIN: They’re two-faced.
QUARK: That go for all Trills or just for the ones with the worm?
ARJIN: Any worm named Dax.
QUARK: Did she break your heart, son?
ARJIN: What?
QUARK: Mine too. And Bashir is in here every other day crying in his synthale over her. The Promenade is littered with the bodies of…
ARJIN: It wasn’t my heart she broke. It was me. My career, my life.
QUARK: Wait a minute. Is this about all that initiate stuff?
ARJIN: She told me I wasn’t preparing myself to Join.
QUARK: With the worm? So, that’s her opinion. What’s that worth, anyhow?
ARJIN: A bad recommendation from your field docent and you can forget it.
QUARK: Listen, son. When I was a young man, no older than you, I had an apprentice position with the District Sub-Nagus. I licked his boots like you couldn’t believe. He loved me. I was his golden boy. I was on the high road to the top of the Ferengi business world, and then it all fell apart.
ARJIN: How?
QUARK: Rule of Acquisition one twelve. Never have sex with the boss’s sister. I was fired, broke. It was quite a setback to my ambitions.
ARJIN: How’d you recover?
QUARK: Never did. Look at me. Tending bar out here in Wormhole Junction while the big boys fly past me at warp speed. You only get one shot at the latinum stairway. If you miss it, you miss it. Welcome to the club, son.
ARJIN: Thanks.
QUARK: Glad I could help.
So, from the Ferengi point of view, an employee is someone who is as beneath you as a wife, child or non-Ferengi is. To sleep with the boss’ sister is a massive insult because you’re climbing way above your station. It’s an obvious ploy to climb the ladder by potentially marrying into the boss’ family. It’s just not gonna fly.
In the real world, it’s still not a good idea. If the relationship goes sour, you’ve just complicated things to an untenable level. Likewise, brothers are generally very protective of their sisters, so if you’re just sleeping with her and not having a proper relationship, you’re looking for trouble that you’re definitely bound to find.
Rule #113: Always have sex with the boss
There’s nothing a Ferengi likes better than exploiting his female employees. Sitting around contemplating quarterly gains while some nubile woman performs oo-mox is the Ferengi’s idea of a great day.
In the real world, just don’t. There is so much trouble these days from all of the pigs in our society who were taking sexual advantage of their employees or other people who were somehow dependent on their largess. Harvey Weinstein, Bill Clinton and so many others have taken despicable liberties over the years. For Harvey, the blade has finally dropped. Do not be like these revolting men. Employees are not to be used. They have lives outside of work. They have hopes, dreams and goals. They do not need to be used like old hankies. Show some respect, for God’s sake!
Rule #114-116: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things
Well, the Ferengi have made me feel pretty unhappy with their rudeness and sexual exploitation today, so I found you this quote to move things back to the positive message I hope to bring you on this blog. Apart from Ferengi sexual exploitation, I am actually quite happy today. I’m taking the advice mentioned above. Snow makes me happy, even if I have to shovel it. Staying home makes me very happy. I’m a homebody by nature. Getting tasks checked off of my to-do list makes me happy. I’ve got some others to attend to, but having more items on my to-do list to work on also makes me happy.
If you haven’t gotten the idea, I’m really happy today. I hope you are, too.
Rule #117-120: Not yet cited in Star Trek episodes, movies or novels
The secret to happiness is freedom…
And the secret to freedom is courage
~Thucydides
You won’t hear the Ferengi talking like this. The Ferengi are cowardly, selfish and greedy. They don’t respect the value of genuine freedom. Their idea of freedom is however much they can get away with and still make a profit. Playing an angle is not freedom.
Freedom is having the ability to lift others up. Freedom is having the time to appreciate the simple joys of life. Freedom is the ability to choose. Having the courage to claim and secure your freedom is an uncommon thing. You have to choose. You have to choose to be happy. You have to choose freedom. You have to have the courage to choose and to act.
A lot of people gripe about snowy days but when you own your time and your own information business, you won’t need to. Stay tuned for more details on how to build your own information business.