Brent Hall's blog

Is working too much unproductive?

I am a director of a home health agency with about 30 staff and 240 patients.  My business office manager has been off on medical leave for going on three weeks now.  The first two weeks I worked day and night to get everything done and to assure that it was done.

Over the holiday weekend I purposely didn't do ANY work.  None.  I was stressed this morning about that fact but found that I easily did the needed tasks this morning rather quickly.  Doing those same things would have taken hours over the weekend.  My question is this:  Do we fit the amount of work to the time or fit the time to the amount of work?

From previous experiences I would have spent a good 3-4 hours on just the schedule for this week had I worked over the weekend.  I straightened all of that up within and hour and a half this morning.  This morning I had a time crucial task and I got it done.  The weekend presents without that time restriction and it would have taken me twice the amount of time.

I have a theory that working excessively after hours isn't so productive.  Sure some things need to be done and can't wait till the work day but I think those things are fewer than we think.  I went into today with a rested feeling, better mood, and willingness to have others "mess with" the schedule.  Had I put hours into it over the weekend I wouldn't have been nearly as willing to have my staff guide the needed changes because "I spent half the weekend on it and there's no way anyone could do it better!". 

Mental shift.  I'm not going to do more than 1 hour of work each day outside of business hours.  We'll see how that goes.

The world of Avatar

After looking around online for the Avatar soundtrack (which isn't as good as I had thought it would be) I've found several books already out.  From the art of Avatar to a secret field manual for Pandora, there are some options out there for getting to know the world a little better. 

I have never really caught onto the whole supplemental material thing with movies but I think this time it's going to be different. I'm going to compile some sources as I find them and will publish here once complete.  My week-day life is crazy busy so will probably be next weekend.  I would also like to find some references on the Na'vi language.  What I got from the movie sounded like a real language that was then customized for the Na'vi.

Yes, I'm still obsessed with Neytiri!

Avatar will be the before and after moment.

O.K., I'm a 36 year old married male with children.  As a child I had a fascination with dungeons and dragons, lord of the rings, etc.  Avatar has brought the organic and magical worlds of such and blended them with the sci-fi hi tech world of space travel, future worlds, etc... This movie brought me back to my childhood imagination yet didn't abandon my adult intelligence and sense of attractiveness.

All I can say is WOW!  The technology used in this movie combined with the perfect use of 3-D to bring us INTO the movie instead of bringing the movie out of the screen to us is just awe inspiring.  This movie will be the pivotal moment in movie entertainment.  In my opinion, in the future we will discuss movies as pre-avatar or post-avatar.  If not the word avatar at least pre or post real 3d even though Avatar put this technology on the map like no other film has. 

I have one nagging issue (if you could call it that) with this movie.  I cannot get Neytiri out of my mind.  This character is what no previous sci-fi or fantasy character has ever been.  She is beutiful.... there's no other word for it.  Not just physically, but on a deeper level.  It's as if she has a soul, and that soul is absolutely everything I am attracted to.  I have never had such a reaction to any real or computer generated character, EVER.

O.K., I admit it.  I have a crush on a 9 foot tall 8 toed blue woman with a tail. Wheather that's wrong or not is up to you.  It is what it is.  My wife picked up on it right away, there's no hiding it.  At least she doesn't have to worry about me ever leaving her for a computer generated character! 

Am I the only "regular" guy out there that has had this reaction?  I didn't want the movie to end, I could have sat there all day without eating, peeing, or anything else.  If this is where the world of virtual reality might lead us then I'm in real trouble as I would be addicted right away.  Right now I wish I could put on a VR headset and enter Pandora as a Na-vi.  Could you imagine?  The outside world would disappear.  This struggle is touched on in the movie.

Anyway, what a great experience.  I want more and I want more now!  Avatar has replaced The Lord of The Rings as my favorite movie experience of all time.  I'm going back soon.... even if I have to sneak!