May the force be with you

Last night I was watching the movie Star Wars on television. Guilty pleasure, I guess. However, as I was watching, I came to a conclusion: Luke Skywalker is a Gen Xer.

As I watched the movie, Luke’s experience mirrored the Gen X experience. And as I thought about the other episodes in this film series, everything started to come together.

It all started with a couple of peace-loving Jedi Knights – Obi-wan and Anakin. They were trying to make the galaxy a better place. I thought to myself, “Self, isn’t that kind of like the Boomers in the 60s?”

So then Anakin wants more. More power. More everything. Kind of like a Yuppie. He’s willing to do whatever it takes. At this time he sires two children who he doesn’t raise. Granted, he didn’t know they existed, but the result is still the same: Luke Skywalker is left to fend for himself.

Now the Empire has taken over. And everything has changed. The good-old-days no longer exist. Kind of like the 1970s.

At the same time, Obi-wan becomes this guy who is holding on to his ideals. He’s still wearing his Birkenstocks and he’s still trying to make the world a better place.

And in the end Luke Skywalker eventually shows his dad that he should strive for peace again and he saves the galaxy. Kind of like the Xers will save the environment.

So okay, I came up with this after two glasses of wine, but I still thought I’d put it out there.

Twitter is the new solitaire

I admit it. I’m now a little bit addicted to Twitter. I can’t stop reading the updates from the people I’m following. I can’t stop posting pithy things about what I’m doing at this exact minute. I just can’t stop. If I didn't telecommute and still worked in a maze a cubicles this would be even better than solitaire in terms of passing time and looking busy.

The cool thing about the evolution of media that is going on is that you don’t really know where it’s going to go. I think back 10 years ago when I was working for a PBS affiliate. We worked in the media and we weren’t sure what digital television was going to evolve into. We’d go to conferences and they’d tell us that in the near future we’d all be sitting in front of a television with a computer mouse so we could click on Jerry Seinfeld’s shirt if we wanted to buy it.

And now we have Web 2.0. When I first heard about it through my work, I admit I had to look it up. And now I’m blogging like a fool, networking, making friends.

So this Twitter. Right now it’s just a little hobby of mine. I’m even putting my updates on my blog (learned from the Brazen Careerist bloggers that you need to personalize what you write, you know.) And I like it, because it’s totally a pull communication at this point. Nobody’s shooting me messages I don’t want. But where’s it going? Can’t wait to see.

Gen Xers have rockin' hair

I'm in a bad mood today, so I'm posting these pictures to cheer myself up.

I am going to argue that Xers had the best teenage/early adult hair of any generation.

The silents had the Richie Cunningham hair - ick.

The boomers had long stringy hippy hair - unflattering

And the Millennial boys are running around with girly curls - yikes.

Nothing says work-life balance like a Gen X retro mullet. Business in the front, party in the back. You know it's cool.

Perception versus reality: What do Socrates and the Boomers have in common?

I saw this article in the LA Times by Kathy Kristof that was supposed to a primer of sorts for the Millennials entering the workplace. I found it insulting - and I'm not even a Millennial. How much of this "down with the Millennials" rhetoric is based in fact and how much is based in people getting old and cranky.

One of Kristof's big arguments is that Millennials did not have as many part-time after school jobs as previous generations (I have no idea if this is true - my guess is it's not) and therefore did not learn key work lessons like "don't wear flip flops on casual Friday." What I learned at my after school job was how to fry cockroaches on the grill without getting caught. I also learned not to lean on anything, because "If you have time to lean, you have time to clean."

The article immediately made me think of a quote from Socrates:

"The Children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for adults, and love to talk rather than work or exercise. They no longer rise when adults enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter in front of company, gobble down food at the table and intimidate their teachers."
--Socrates (469-399 B. C.)

Boomers ruin college experience for Millennials

Time Magazine is reporting that university campuses are adding retirement villages to attract empty-nest Babyboomers to campus.

Now it's been a long time since I went to college in the 1990s, but seeing my dad at a kegger was not the experience I had in mind. Neither was meeting my mom at Cafe V to study for finals.

Recently, there have been many, many reports in the decline of male college graduates in America. Could this be related? It's kind of hard to pick up a hot chick if you're sitting next to your mom in freshman comp.

So, okay, I was being the glib Gen Xer that I am. But seriously, universities need to focus on our young students. Seriously, Boomers had their time on campus. Do we really want a country 20 years from now full of uneducated men in their 40s?

Newsweek determines Gen Xers NOT slackers

You got to love the popular media. Newsweek has decided the Generation X really is NOT made up of worthless slackers.

Thanks, guys. 15 years too late. But thanks anyway.

New! Generations quiz

When you see this picture, you think:

A. That looks tasty

B. Cholesterol - bad egg!

C. Hey, that's my brain on drugs!

D. What does an egg have to do with anything?

If you answered:

A. You are a "Mature"

B. You are a "Boomer"

C. You are an "Xer"

D. You are a "Millennial"