It gets harder to concentrate, the closer a holiday comes. For lack of a better term, I call this the Haze Factor -- that inverse relationship of decreased work focus and attention span with the increased nearness of friends, family, free time, and fun.
If the Haze is conjuring up banks of fog moving through your area, and/or your own mind, welcome to the club. (For my part, it's taken ten minutes to write three sentences.) With everyone likewise debilitated today, we'll attempt only one bit of serious business here, then amble over to a transition piece, and finally wander up to the sideboard of those fluffy meringue and cream pies, and puff pastries.
There's hardly a handful of calories in any of these things, so graze away, even as the Haze steals your gaze away from your work and that whatsit you were just thinking of, and now can't quite grasp or seem to get back.
* * * * *
Hostess: We've already flayed here the executives who have systematically stripped riches from the company for themselves, and at the ongoing expense of workers -- all while blaming the unions, actively burying the company in debt, walking away from pension obligations, and other legal behaviors that would normally be considered frauds and swindles, if you or I tried to carry them out.
You may be interested in hearing what a baker's union member has to say about this sorry state of affairs, and ride along on some of his recent experiences, including writing a piece for CNN Money, and a guest shot on CNBC.
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