Old-fashioned work traits still matter

If you start reading articles about getting a job in computer technology, you might quickly conclude that most of the jobs have gone offshore and that even if you find someone hiring here, all that matters is your experience. Both of those conclusions would be false.

The U.S. is in the midst of a growing shortage of skilled computer technology workers, so jobs are increasingly plentiful. Great jobs are probably as hard to find now as they ever were, but they're also probably no harder. It's not a seller's market, but it is a marketplace full of opportunities.

Experience does matter, as does training, but so do several old-fashioned work traits: having a great attitude, being willing to work hard, being aggressive enough to be willing to try any assignment, not finding any job to be below you, being loyal, and being smart.

I write this as someone at a company that's now beginning to look for a few good people, but the opinion is not just mine; I hear it all the time from hiring managers at a wide variety of companies.

The work world has certainly changed a great deal, but the value of these traits persists.

Make MPG the new MPH

Americans love competitions. Americans also love cars. The two passions have combined to yield countless car-related contests, from actual races to detailing battles to endless conversations, usually but not always among men, about how fast each person's car can go from zero to sixty miles an hour.

As Bill and I were discussing recently, if we want to encourage gas savings, one of the things we should do is try to shift the culture to focusing on MPG instead of MPH. So, for example, every car, but especially the hybrids, should receive a more standard and more reliable MPG rating. Cars with great ratings should broadcast them, ideally in real time, on rear and front displays. If you're considering speeding around the car in front of you, you'll also be able to compare its mileage to yours and decide if instead of speeding you'd rather have the smug satisfaction of being more fuel efficient, a goal you can achieve by maintaining your current pace.

Many Prius owners are already playing a version of this game in their quest for a full tank rated at or over 50 MPG. Toyota and all the other auto makers should encourage these contests by making models with Lithium-Ion batteries, a technology that would cost more but yield vastly better mileage. The technology doesn't have to pay off in gas savings as long as it pays off in coolness.

Adding models with better and better mileage would also increase hybrid sales, as well-off owners of current models succumbed to their lust for the more fuel-efficient older ones.

It could work.

Two music facts

Fact one: The Beatles are the greatest rock band of all time. If you don't know this already, then learn it now. For range, album quality, effect on culture, suite of hits that charted number one, you name it; the Beatles rule.

Fact two: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are in the top five greatest rock bands of all time. Your list of candidates for the remaining positions in the two, three, four, and five slots is up to you, but that this band belongs is not open to discussion.

And, the new album appears tomorrow (today as you read this)! I'm psyched.

Tokyo food-fight 2007: Robuchon kicks Ducasse's butt

While in Tokyo, we did what any sensible foodies would do: we ate at the restaurants of two famous French chefs. The first dinner was at Joel Robuchon's Atelier, his approachable, bistro-style establishment on the second floor of one of the shopping buildings adjacent to our hotel in Roppongi Hills. The second was at Alain Ducasse's Beige, a fancy place perched on the tenth floor of the Chanel building in the pricey Ginza district.

The Beige dinner cost more than twice as much as the one at Atelier and featured a setting that merged the themes of its name with the designs of Chanel (yes, the staff wore custom Chanel designs).

Robuchon's Atelier delivered far and away the better meal. Robuchon's dishes featured more inventive mixes of ingredients, better presentation, and, most importantly, better taste.

Both meals were, of course, extremely good, way past normal restaurant fare--as they should be, given the chefs, the settings, and the prices.

But Robuchon won going away.

If you're in Tokyo and you want great French food, head to Atelier.

Across the Universe

Tonight, we ate Indian at a nice local restaurant, Azitra, where a sitar player was providing background music. We then went to see Julie Taymor's film, Across the Universe.

I liked it a great deal. I liked its heart, its brash, bold approach, and, of course, the Beatles' music. Evan Rachel Wood was, from my perspective, good enough but no more, but the other leads were all wonderful I recommend the film.

I didn't find it flawless. Far from it. At least in my opinion, it quite often tried too hard, pounded its messages too long, and screamed too loudly "look at how clever I am!"

In the end, though, none of that matters. It has heart, and its heart carries the day.

Go see it.

Tonight's magic moment

was in the car, driving home at 11:30, listening to Snow Patrol's song, "Chocolate," a band and a tune that Sarah turned me on to. The air was cool, I put the windows down, and the music reminded me of all the passion and dreams I felt at sixteen--and still feel, at least at moments like that one, when I'm not working and not being a boss or a father or a partner or anything else, when it's just me, my thoughts, and the music.

Some will tell you to grow up, to abandon the dreams of youth, to let go of useless passions, to get over it all.

Screw them.

Cling tight to all of it, and never ever ever give up on any of it.

Three views of Japan

Summing up an entire country with a single anecdote is even more stupid than letting one story stand for a person, so I'm not even going to attempt it.

Sometimes, though, a single moment can serve to illuminate a country or person, to show some of the place's or person's complexity and character.

Here's a moment that did that for me in Japan.

Standing in the center of the overpass right behind the Harajuku station, facing the station, you can watch the famous Harajuku girls posing. Some stay in character through endless camera clicks; others huddle behind ropes and take their roles only if you ask and they grant permission for photos. You can't help but be aware that you're standing in the presence of manufactured culture, but there's also an underlying deep reality, that of teenagers everywhere struggling both to find and to hide from themselves.

Look to your left, and you can see the road leading to the torii gate that marks the entrance to Meiji-jingu, the Shinto shrine in memory of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken, his wife. The forest begins just before the gate, stands tall and dark and cool on either side of it, and extends backward on either side of the main road for a very long way. The place reeks of power, calm, and spirituality.

Stare to your right, and the road extends up a slow rise and beyond the edge of your vision. Lining it on both sides are high-fashion stores boasting the names of designers who sell in only the richest cities around the world, high-end installations of American chains, and restaurants catering to hungry and thirsty shoppers.

And, making its way down the left side of that same road on the day we were there, a Sunday, I believe, was a shrine parade that featured drummers, chanting, and a large gold bowl riding atop poles carried on the shoulders of a couple of dozen people, mostly men but here and there a woman, too.

My camera's battery died before I could photograph all of this, and at the time I was annoyed at myself for not remembering to charge it the night before, but now, I don't care. I take photos with the small digital camera I call blogcam, and I am learning more about photography, but what I most care about, what I collect, are moments and the stories that surround them. I treasure this one.