Desktop Tiki fountain - gift from my brother Darren. Nodders and bobbleheads. Betty Boop on Tiki Island, Lucha Libre- Mexican wrestler, Homer with Tiki cocktail, Freaky Tiki, and Monkey with Fez.

2009/10/29 14:00 We have been told that we are all getting smaller cubes. No one knows for sure yet just exactly how small the new office space will be but I am told this is a pretty good representation of what we have to look forward to.

Tiki fridge magnets on my overhead filing cabinet.

Disney Enchanted Tiki Room Tikis.

Aloha Elvis fridge magnet on my overhead file cabinet.

An LP from my collection. Drums of Bora Bora; Songs of Tahiti.

Close-up of my computer.

One of the Tikis on my desk. It's heavy ceramic. Got this at an estate sale.

My computer.

Esquire magazine from the mid 60s. The cover says, "Get up from your desk. Leave your sweaty office. Go straight to the South Pacific. Now!" That was good advice 45 some years ago and nothing has changed. It's still good advice.

Print of one of the Mai Kai mystery drink girls. When you are at the legendary Mai Kai restaurant and you order the Mai Kai mystery drink it comes in the Mai Kai mystery bowl. The arrival of the mystery drink is announced by a gong, and comes with a dance by the Mai Kai mystery girl, and a lei.

For Christmas one year Karen got me a little tabletop fountain. It runs on house current. I took it to work and it is on my filing cabinet. One day Catherine, who works down the hall, stopped at my cube and inquired about my fountain. I explained that it wasn’t operational yet because I didn’t have an extension cord and that I called it my “Serenity Fountain”. She asked, “It’s so you don’t kill people here at work, right?” I said, “yes, exactly.” “That’s a really good idea,” she said, “I need to get one of those.” “Well,” I said, “truth be told, mine really isn’t big enough.” Marguerite later said, “Yeah, we need one big enough to sit in!”

Close-up of Orchids of Hawaii mugs.

Some of my awards, achievements, appreciations, and accolades amassed during a two decade plus career at first Niagara Mohawk and then National Grid.

I hung up my Tapa design, or at least an early prototype.

My Tikified office space.

I was slowly bringing Tiki objects into my workspace in an effort to improve my attitude. Marguerite had been watching the transformation of my cubicle and she brought me a Tiki mug that she had. It is an Orchids of Hawaii design, made in Japan. Orchids at some point ceased to exist and their designs turned up as Dynasty and are now made in China. This particular mug that Marguerite gave me is marked on the back “Ichiban Japanese Steak House” and based on the fact that Marguerite thinks she may have gotten this during her prom I am saying this piece is from the early 1970s. It is a truly nice addition to my collection.

2009/08/08 12:00 I have recently become dissatisfied and disenchanted with the direction the company I work for has been heading. Some of what I see at work has caused me to recently revisit an Economic theory I first encountered when I was an Economics major in college. First published in 1973 was the book "Small is Beautiful; a study of Economics as if people mattered" by E. F. Schumacher. The book was written in large part in response to the then emerging trend of globalization. Schumacher was a respected Economist who had worked with John Maynard Keynes and with John Kenneth Galbraith. Schumacher argued that the single-minded concentration on output and technology was dehumanizing. The workplace should be dignified and meaningful first and then efficient second. He faulted conventional economic thinking for not considering the most appropriate scale for an activity but rather just assuming that "bigger is better" and that "growth is good". For a large organization to work, he argued, it must behave like a related group of small organizations. "Smallness within bigness" was a specific form of decentralization. A lot of what he writes about are mistakes I see being made on a daily basis. Departments are too large to function efficiently and aggressively. By forcing the merger and centralization of work, and where that has increased the complexity of the work, the company is experiencing diseconomies of scale, and the resulting costs, where they have banked on economies of scale, and savings, that have never materialized. My own personal career path has been not so much a path but more like a large pothole. It has been about a year and four months since I accepted a promotion to management, with a resulting rise in compensation. I was never released from the job I held, and now still hold. I am too valuable and too hard to replace (that’s what I’ve been told). So, I was not permitted to start in my new job and thus never received the promised increased compensation. I have joked that I will be offering a course on career advancement and opportunities here at National Grid. It will be an independent study course and in keeping with my employment experiences you will receive absolutely no credit for it whatsoever at all. None. Nada. Zip. I am convinced that a large corporation, or any large beaurocracy, will in time become a soul crushing entity. I realized that I needed to improve my attitude. In an attempt to improve my attitude I set about to “Tikify” my work station. My theory was that surrounding myself with the things that make me happy would improve my overall attitude. The building I work in is the architecturally relevant ‘electric building’ in downtown Syracuse. The building is an excellent example of the Art Deco style of architecture. The building has seen much better days but glimmers of its old glory can still be seen.

Office space

Where does Khan Tiki Mon toil for the man?