happy new year 4707

Chinese New Year begins this week. It's the Year of the Ox which some say portends good things for the economy because in Chinese astrology the Ox is also represented by the Bull. Those born under the sign of the Ox are said to be dependable, calm and stable. Which presumbly means good things for our country as Ox Obama takes the helm.

For Ox readers (born in 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985 or 1997) your lucky numbers are 1, 3, 5, 12, 15, 33, 35, 51 and 53. Your recommended careers are composer, landlord, doctor, cook, police officer, teacher, judge, banker, insurance broker and gardener. Nice to know you've alternatives as more and more jobs dry up in advertising.

attend today's events from your office? yes you can!

Couldn't snag tickets to today's festivities? No matter. You can view them better right from your desk via a multitude of video streams, pictures, and live feeds while still nabbing your day rate.

First, figure out which events you want to attend by checking the Inaugural Committee's Official Schedule. Sign up at the PIC's mobile update site for text alerts of news updates, weather and schedule changes, etc.

The Big Three are all online with free streaming coverage. NBC's coverage is over at MSNBC's inauguration page. CBS' Inauguration webcast goes all day, ending with a web-only wrap-up hosted by Katie Couric at 10 p.m. CBS' coverage is on Joost's Everything Obama site. ABC News is hosting live coverage at its 44th President site.

C-SPAN's main page features a kind of "control room" that lets visitors switch between four feeds of the goings-on on the fly.

Twitter is providing real-time tweets/updates you can follow by searching keywords like #inauguration or #Inaug09. Perhaps the cleanest, most easy-to-follow interface is provided by Deep Focus whose Tweet the Inauguration provides one at a time updates, like a slide show.

Also offering free streaming coverage are the Washington Post, New York Times, and the BBC.

For info on more venues, such as how to Ustream through iPhone or Androids, go to Lifehacker from whom I unabashedly cribbed most of the above. Viewing is a lot more comfortable from an Aeron, anyway.

photo by Sapphireblue

brand obama--free gas cards and a fragrance, too!

As no doubt you know by now, Obama's Twitter account was hijacked today. He inadvertantly sent out tens of thousands of requests to fill out a survey to win $500 in free gas. Within minutes, the site was shut down and the hack message removed. But does his transition team know that he and his family have also launched a perfume? Who's going to shut down the hackers at Perfume Depot on Fifth in the 30s?

used to be there wasn't enough fuss about a woman getting a job as a secretary

Whether or not you agree with Obama's pick, you have to admit that Hillary's appointment says something about how times have changed since I was a kid, when girls grew up to be only one kind of secretary and the only cabinet they worked with was in a kitchen.

Being a secretary was a job I did not aspire to. (I thought waitressing better: at least you got tips.) So when I was in college and looking for summer work, I snubbed Katy Gibbs and Kelly Girl and drove over to Manpower Employment Agency instead. As its name suggested, it listed jobs for men. But by the early 70s, there were laws that said they had to list jobs for women, too.

I'd seen an ad they'd run for a landscape worker, thinking how nice and tan I'd get by July. But when I asked about it, I was told I'd come to the wrong place. "This is the men's side. The woman's side is around the corner."

I went back out and through another door and there I found listings for secretaries, cashiers, nannies, candystripers, restaurant help. But no jobs outdoors. And no pay that approached what was offered on the other side.

So, I drove home, took off my interview dress, put on overalls, came back and (deep breath) walked through the men's door. My reappearance caused much consternation. "You can't take a job away from a man supporting his family, honey," I heard not only from the woman (!) behind the desk, but from men in line behind me, hoping for work. I saw their point. I really did. Part of me felt sorry for them. But part of me felt I had a right to work, too.

I held out for a day or so before taking a summer job as a waitress.

yes we did