Little pleasures

In no specific order:

• reading before going to bed, until your eyes become all heavy
• having a coffee while reading the paper (I don't really buy the paper, but I do read some stuff online)
• going for a long walk in the Spring
• repotting plants

I think the beauty in all these pleasures is that you get to take some time to unwind. My days are usually filled with all kinds of projects and responsibilities, so any time I get to take my time feels really good.

I recently finished reading The Lexus and the Olive Tree, by Thomas L. Friedman. Friedman is an American journalist who has traveled extensively when he was bureau chief in Beirut and Jerusalem for the New York Times. The Lexus and the Olive Tree is a book on globalization that he wrote in 1999 (I have the revised 2000 version). I was curious to see how well the book had matured, considering that our world has changed substantially politically and economically in the past five years. 2000 was before the downturn of the stock market, before 9/11, before Afghanistan, before Iraq... Well, I was pleasantly surprise that the book was still very relevant today in explaining the nature and impact of globalization. The author describes the shock of globalization on emerging economies with interesting examples and anecdotes about the Lexus (globalization, the race for profit) and the olive tree (holding on to cultural differences). He also includes an analysis about why we cannot let globalization run wild and uncontrolled, especially when it comes to our environment. Unfortunately, I don't think we've done too well on that front since the book was first published.