The Panfa Bear on her Return, Personal Life Update and the Great Recession and the Arts

The Panda Bear Blog will be resuming publication.   The Panda Bear Blog is a blog by written by a humble office worker who is writes against the oligarchy.

During the years of her blog, the Panda Bear has seen a rise in anger against those in power.   The Panda Bear is most proud of the defeat of the plan to hold the Olympics is Boston.   The leaders who opposed the building of the Olympics said this was an example of a grass-roots effort rising against a plan put forth the make the Oligarchy rich.   The Panda Bear was proud to contribute her small social media presence  in opposing the plans to build the Olympics.

On a personal note, the Panda Bear lost her job after having it for a year.   Readers of the Panda Bear Blog will remember that the Panda Bear did not like her previous to last job.   The job the Panda Bear just lost she liked better.   The Panda Bear worked very hard at it and vowed to be totally positive about the job for as long as she had it.    However, hard work and a positive attitude did not stop the Panda Bear from losing her job.

The Panda Bear thinks the economy is in a terrible state-much worse than is mentioned in the news media(maybe because most big news outlets are owned by big business).    However, the Panda Bear finds it interesting that the poor economy is not making much of an appearance in popular culture(i.e movies, TV, fiction).    The book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn is the only book recent book the Panda Bear has come across where the economic downturn of 2008 plays a role.   The Panda Bear wonders why the entertainment/popular culture and the arts are so afraid to take on the current economic downturn.

The Panda Bear on Work Stress, Personal Stress and Blog Publication.

The Panda Bear Blog will be suspending publication for the summe.   The summer is always a bad time for the Panda Bear Blog.   With the nice days, the Panda Bear does not want write and blog but rather side outside and read(The Panda Bear knows this is a pitaful idea of summer fun).   In addition she faces a very busy job and several personal issues.   Therefore, the Panda Bear Blog will suspend publication until October 1, 2015,

The Panda Bear on Her New Job, the Boston Marathon and the Olympics

The Panda Bear is the blog of a humble office worker who wants to change the world.   

In November, the Panda Bear switched jobs.   She likes her new job much better than her old job,   She will be learning new skills-this is the first time she has on the job training in about twenty years(the Panda Bear thins this is a major problem in the job market today is that employers no longer want to train people).   Unlike her old office, the new office is pro-plant and in general a much more lively place then her former position.   Furthermore, her new organization’s goal is to challenge the status quo in her industry a goal which the Panda Bear shares so she feels more of personal commitment to her job.

However, the Panda Bear has also learned that a job one likes is still work.   She still comes home from work tired.    Her employer acknowledges it is a high stress position and the Panda Bear expects to feel more stress as she gets more experienced. (In the Panda Bear's work life she has found that the two year anniversary on the job can be a high stress time.   She will be seen as fully trained and will have made some mistakes on the job ;).   Also the Panda Bear has found just changing jobs can be stressful.  It takes the Panda Bear a while to get used to the new routines and the new people.   In the past, the Panda Bear has underestimated how tiring job change can be.

Therefore, the Panda Bear will be posting less frequently then she has in the past.   She needs time to get used to her new job and some personal issues have come up to keep the Panda Bear busy.   (Note-this is a problem in modern life-people go from job stress to personal stress after work).

However, the recent events in the Boston area have made the Panda Bear take up her pen again.   The intense security measures that there are today because of the Boston Marathon and Red Sox games and the disruption this is causing many businesses and workers makes the Panda Bear think that it is absurd to have the Olympics in Boston.   She thinks only a few special interests will benefit from having the Olympics here.   Somehow, the ordinary taxpayer will have to foot the bill for a big part of the games.   In other countries where they have had the Olympics the Panda Bear hears about how ordinary people have to suffer to make more "pretty" the area of the games.

Furthermore, there is some evidence that most people in Boston don't want it in Boston.    The push for the Olympics is coming from the local government which is run by the political party the Democrats who are seeming more and more undemocratic.

The Panda Bear on Hillary Clinton and The Panda Bear's New Work Schedule

After the terrible snows of  the Boston area, the Panda Bear is having one her first "normal" evenings at home.   The Panda Bear's husband(Mr. Panda)  has gone to the YMCA.    It is the first time the Panda Bear has been at home in her apartment at night in several months due the snow and Mr. Panda's month off at the end of the year.  It is in these times of quiet solitude that the Panda Bear can write her blog.

The Panda Bear Blog is the blog of a humble office worker who wants to change the world.   She wants to restore the position of the average worker to that of respect for being the mainstay of the economy.

In November of 2014, the Panda Bear started a new job.   Her hours have changed; instead of working from 7:00-3:30(a schedule that she has worked for many years), she now works 8:00-4:30.   The reader may laugh and say that is not a big change in hours.   However, the Panda Bear has found these small changes make a difference particularly in modern times when there is pressure to do ev many things in short time frames.   One advantage the Panda Bear has found with working slightly later is that when she comes home it is dinner time.   On the earlier schedule, the Panda Bear wanted to have a snack after work than eat dinner.    The later schedule eliminates the need of a before dinner snack.

Today, in the Panda Bear's new humble office job, the Panda Bear heard on a television in office lounge Hillary Clinton's lame excuses for using personal e-mail for government business.   Now the Panda Bear supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 and thinks its cool that she has not driven a car for many years(the Panda Bear does not drive).   However, the Panda Bear thinks Hillary Clinton is in the process of self destruction; she did put herself in this bind not the evil right wing.

Hillary Clinton sounded like a teenager in her need to use personal e-mail.   She sounded like a dumb blond(which she is not) in the problems using two devices one for personal and one for the job.

However, national defense is a serious issue.   Even in the Panda Bear's humble job, she knows that work e-mail is more secure than personal e-mail and that work and personal e-mails should be separate.

Hillary Clinton had her own server in her house for her e-mails.  It appears that she never used her work e-mail.   The Panda Bear thinks it was very well thought out decision on Mrs. Clinton's part not to use the government e-mail in order to hide information.   Her releasing her e-mails is like Nixon releasing the Nixon tapes(and Hillary Clinton worked on the Watergate hearings).   Someone objective needs to go through the materials.

The Panda Bear is tired of "leaders" of all political stripes and organization types who think they are above the rules the rest of the world needs to follow.   Many of these rules came about for a reason.   The theory behind constitutional government is that a country is more effectively run when the rulers follow the laws.

Please Hillary don't run-let's get someone new.

The Panda Bear on Snow, Political Corruption and Hillary Clinton

Readers of the Panda Bear know that the Panda Bear lives in the Boston area which has been hit by enormous amounts of snow.   Life for the Panda Bear for the past six weeks has just been a struggle to get to work and back.   The snow banks are very high and the walking is difficult.   Cars are having time driving through the snow.    While the Panda Bear does not drive, she finds the walking difficult and frightening.   For the first time in her full-time working life of nearly thirty years all what she does is go to work and back home(rather than doing additional activities after work).

Normally, this time of year the Panda Bear would be feeling something like cabin fever.   However, this bad winter has made the Panda Bear not hurt but numb.   All of her energy has been going into getting to work and back.   She feels the large banks of snow will never go away.   The Panda Bear feels that people have been snowbound here for so long that it is effecting people’s physical and emotional health. The return to "normal" life will be like a person returning to "normal" life after an illness; it will be an adjustment.

However, the snow has also made the Panda Bear and others more critical of the corruption of government.    People feel the government could be doing a better job of removing the snow.   The mayor of Boston has proposed putting large fines for people who don't clean their sidewalks within a few hours of the snow stopping.  While the Panda Bear does see some sidewalks where the people have not cleared their sidewalks and probably should be fined, she still thinks the Mayor of Boston proposed fines smack of those in power making one set of rules for themselves and another set for those below them.  She thinks the city of Boston has not made snow removal a top priority and that the Mayor of Boston diverted some resources from snow cleaning to the Patriots victory parade this winter.

Of course, the major politician who has been in the news for breaking the rules is Hillary Clinton for using personal e-mail for high level government work.   The Panda Bear thinks she should not run for president; she has too much baggage.  The Panda Bear also thinks the Clinton e-mail scandal reflects negatively on President Obama who must have known about this arrangement.   Did he not promise to have an open and transparent administration?

In many ways the Panda Bear considers herself to be a "Liberal" but she thinks many "Liberal" leaders are corrupt and elitist.    Political corruption and elitism need to be confronted regardless of political party.