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Mr. Indispensible

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I hope Steve Jobs recovers quickly from whatever health problem led him to take an indefinite leave of absence from Apple yesterday. I know when I’m sick I think it should make global headlines, and usually I act like it has. If you want to talk to me about anything other than my scratchy throat and the weird ache in my right knee, see me next month, because right now my miserable condition is The Most Important Story In The World. That’s how it seems, anyway. In Steve Jobs’ case, it happens to be true. Apple’s value on Asian stock markets dropped with the news of his leave. The same type of reaction is expected today in the U.S., once markets open after having the day off yesterday.

Everybody wants to be told they are valued for the work they do. Usually a bigger-than-average pay increase will do the trick. In lean times, even a kind word from the boss is a morale lifter. But what must it be like when a company worth 321 billion dollars loses a large chunk of its value because you appear to be ill? That’s got to feel good, but in a very, very bad way.

If you were Steve Jobs and you happened to own a lot of Apple stock, such a market reaction to your illness would only make you feel sicker as you watched your net worth plummet alongside your downwardly spiraling vital signs. What’s wrong with you Wall Street people! Have you no compassion? We should be buying Apple stock to help finance whatever treatment Jobs needs to feel better. And that goes for you too, magazine publishers! This is no time to hold a petty grudge.

In the absence of real information, speculation is rife. Mr. Jobs had a liver transplant 2 years ago, so some suspect there are rejection issues. I hope not. With all the money that could potentially be lost during an extended episode of Joblessness at Apple, some of the company’s most passionate enthusiasts might resort to leaving their own livers as get well offerings at the corporate headquarters. No doubt the app for that is already being developed.

It is odd and weirdly comforting, though, that in a time when a common complaint is that individuals matter too little, we can have a situation develop where an individual appears to matter far too much.

Speaking of indispensability, I’m planning to take a week or so off in early February, so guest bloggers are welcome! Let’s fill the dates from February 1st to the 12th with entertaining and informative guest blogs. Let me know you’re interested by sending an email to connelly.dale@gmail.com.

Global stock markets and the world’s press are poised to react to word of how you’re feeling today. What do you tell them?

73 thoughts on “Mr. Indispensible”

  1. I come from a long line of foolishly stoic Germans when it comes to health issues. It is the stuff of family legend.

    I’m fine, nothing to see here, carry on.

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      1. oh, famously, thanks for asking MIG – and to their delight, i need to feed them more grain mix. (not that i’d ever be accused of having thin goats! i had once considered calling our farm “Fat Goat Farm”). Everyone is healthy and Alba is in her pregnant crabby mode. and she looks like she will have quads this time (oh gosh, i hope not!) it’s been so dark – i’m trying to get them outside to prevent depression (for me and for them 🙂

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  4. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    Now I have questions: Do I have money invested in this global stock market? My bulletin about how I feel will depend on that certainly. If I don’t have money in the market, then I am wretched! If I do have money in the market, I AM WONDERFUL!

    Is the stock in question a medical stock that would treat my particular malady? Then I have that malady. I’d like to do a testimony about how the product helped.

    Meanwhile, really. I’m feeling good this morning as I type on my MacBook that Steve Jobs provided.

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  5. Since I am the Family Member Least Likely To Get Sick, when I do take to my bed, there is Great Concern, at least in the very small trading floor in our living room. Global markets hardly notice. A few might notice at work, but since I can work from home if need be, that’s usually only a small sneeze in the global scheme, too. Mostly I just want to nap when I’m sick, not make pronouncements to the newsies. No story here, move along please, my fuzzy slippers and fleece jammies are calling…

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    1. True, indeed. Does it say something about me as a kid that I have *no* memories of my mom ever being sick enough to stay in bed? (Or does my mother suffer from the same foolish stoicism noted above?…)

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      1. The few memories I have of my mom being sick enough to stay in bed (maybe 2?) have a strong aura of gravity around them. It did not happen-if it did, we were very subdued. I don’t think my mom is a stoic, I think she just has excellent health, which is good because “sitting around” drives her nuts.

        When I am felled, I set up meals, lay out clothes and generally make sure things can carry on before I go vertical. It is the way of the mom.

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  7. The market can be assured that I am very predictable-no uncertainty here. Hold a steady course. Renee will go to work on almost all days, is rarely sick, but will take the odd day off if she feels that it will prevent more days off in the short term. Nothing dramatic, nothing exotic, keep accruing value.

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      1. No but I found two more in my daughter’s room. I have 6 and I am waiting on 6 more. Now I have to figure out what I am going to do with my rapidly deteriorating dining room chairs. The dry climate is hard on wood, and after 20+ years they are falling apart. We have to enlist the aid of the piano bench when we have more than 6 people to dinner. I guess I’ll have to hit some farm auctions to see what I can find.

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      2. Renee, I wish you were closer, I have chairs for you. My grandparents had 17 grandchildren all in attendence for Christmas dinner and my grandmother did indeed attend farm sales and stocked up. When we dispersed their house, some of them were just too interesting and I hauled them home (along with a set of bowbacks that someday I will be regluing), I would happily lend some to you. (and yes, I also have the ironstone we ate off of-it matches in pattern, but as time went on, the plates got thicker and less refined-funny).

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  8. i am never sick but the energy level i approach the day with is the varible. today i begin at a 7, need to crank it up a notch and get out the door. the waning energy varies from 4-11 in an average day and i am good at cranking it up a notch. the health issues get dealt with on an ongoing basis with my homeopathy and chiropractic stuff to keep me from getting too far into a problem.
    i went to a dem meeting last night and am reminded again and again when i do that why i am not cut out for politics and the like. th negative energy i feel while waiting for good caring people to take 3 minutes to say something that could be said in 8 words is enough to make me scream.

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    2. I get wild with frustration when inarticulate people call into MPR call-in programs and try to make their point. I’ve concluded that people who cannot make a concise point have some foolish faith that repetition of a vague statement will make it clear.

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      1. And think how many more people could be fit into the hour if 9/10 of the callers did not say “Thanks for taking my call…”

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      4. Oh, do I ever agree, Steve! And wild is a good adjective…I often shout at the radio “You have made your point…move on!!!!” Tom Ashbrook who hosts “On Point” on NPR (I hear it on WPR) often interrupts such callers, thanks them for their call, says “we get it, time is short”

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  9. Global stock markets and the world’s press both thrive on fear, panic, suspicion, and negativity. Jobs should tell them that his body died ten years ago in a tragic paper cut accident and he is now a prototype called i2 (that would be “i-squared”). Other possible marketing names could be iMe, iSelf, or iI. Talk about win/win…he’d fuel a conspiracy story plus catch the tech headlines. He could follow it up with a statement saying that he’s a vast improvement over the old ‘nuts ‘n bolts’ robots which were prone to lapses in judgement, replacement of major parts, and pure evil. (…dick chaney…)

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      2. If I had an iMe, maybe I could finally get that week I’ve been wanting to just sit and read while iMe does the rest of my stuff (including cooking, shopping, as well as work).

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      3. I think a LiMe would be the derogatory name of a British-made iMe.
        Then there’s the model that you can wear instead of a watch that also laces your shoes…the TiMe.
        This has all the markings of the tree-punfest all over again. At which point, I’ll have to get a ~Si~Me.

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      4. If you want a new you to be a Republican lobbyist, do you buy a SLiMe? Or your personal shopping assistant would be a BiMe? How about the PiMe for those days when a slice of strawberry-rhubarb is just what you need (or perhaps PiMe would provide assistance with geometry exams)?

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      6. Or the in-your-face… TriMe. And my favorite, which is used occasionally on the teenager.. the please don’t DefiMe!

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  10. Like Anna and tim, I am rarely ill. However, although the global markets may not notice when I do get sick, the household and the teenager grind to a halt very quickly.

    I just don’t understand the market. When it was spirally down, seemingly out of control, all the folks (who are the ones driving the market, or so it appears) whined and whined about stocks selling at lower rates, but aren’t they the ones who were selling and selling at lower and lower rates???

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  11. Good morning to all,

    I guess I fit in there with MIG and Clyde. “I’m fine” or “bugger off” would also be my response. My Dad was from another group of people that I think are more or less stoic, Friselanders from the Northern part of the Netherlands. Some of them would probably just keep working with no regard to the state of their health. Anyway, I think it is best not to tell the world press or Wall Street anything because they are not known to be very trust worthy.

    I wasn’t around yesterday because I was in the Twin Cities to hear the Orange Mighty Trio at the Cedar and didn’t get back until late yesterday. It was nice meeting tim at the show and I am glad it was able to spot me there. I have a lyric to add to those mentioned yesterday which always stiuck in my mind and which would fit with Martin Luther King day:

    if you’re white, you’re all right
    if you’re brown, stick around
    but if you’re black, get back,
    get back, back back

    This is from a Big Bill Bronzy record that had notes by Studs Turkel on the record cover. Big Bill Bronzy, Studs Turkel, and some others, like Pete Segger date back to before Martin Luther King and should be remembered for their willingness to push for change at a time when that was very unpopular. Martin Luther King became unpopular in the last year of his life because he spoken out strongly againest the war.

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  12. I’m peachy, but when I worked clinically I was the only one with my job and went in no matter what. This attendance record was encouraged by my physician colleagues. I remember once saying on the phone “I have a fever of 104.” The doc’s response, “The patient feels worse than you do. Get in here.” Even though it was late at night and I felt terrible, he was right. The patient did feel worse and I was able to help her. Hard habit to unlearn.

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  13. The last time I upchucked was in 1973, and yes “alcohol was involved.” My last headache was so long ago I cannot remember what they feel like. I’ve had one cold in the past 11 years, and it lasted two days. In my fantasies I sometimes see myself being introduced to a convention of family practitioners by some famous doctor who shows me off–the medical miracle–and announces “Our studies show that people can be THIS healthy just so long as they have his kind of pathetic social life!”

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      1. I thought, “I’m fine” meant “I can still get meals on the table, clothes washed and show up for work, so no need to organize a jello brigade for me at church, but don’t ask me to bring the cookies for coffee hour next week”, but maybe that is just a Lutheran “I’m fine”.

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      2. “I’m fine” is something I might hear which means – “Oh it’s you again. Don’t bother me with all of your blabering.”.

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    2. You’ve got it just right. “I’m fine” means “I can do the coffee and washing up after church services today, but don’t count on me a month from now because I might be dead, and then I likely won’t be able to help much.”

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    3. This is fun. “I’m fine” also means, Yes I can take Lola for a couple of hours today, and help her get her homework donw, but let’s not include dinner.”
      or
      Yes I can get to the bank and Cub, but can you do the shoveling?

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  15. I don’t recall my mother ever being sick! Never thought about it before. Maybe she was one of the walking wounded, or maybe my memory is just toast. Will have to ask her what she recalls.

    I too rarely catch anything, and if I feel a cold coming on I take a nap. I have aches and pains that I associate with being 62, but my stock should be good for a while yet.

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    1. My mother wasn’t sick much either, which was a VERY good thing because when she did come down with something, right about the time she would start to feel better, my dad would come down with it. My dad was the absolute definition of a bad patient.

      Of course, all this came to an end right before my junior year, when my father came down with my mother’s summer flu. Turned out to be morning sickness, not flu. After we laughed (& laughed & laughed) at my dad’s expense, he never caught anything from my mom again!

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  16. Afternoon…

    I stay more healthy than the rest of the family. I don’t think it’s the “Foolishly Stoic” but I’ve been pretty lucky the last few years to avoid all the bugs. Fresh air and sunshine….

    Is it still foolish when the work just has to get done? I mean like milking cows or goats? I remember a few times when milking took a little longer because I had to go sit down. Or throw up. Or hustle up to the house to use the bathroom… pull the milkers off and make a run for it. And there just was no one else to do the milking. So you soldier on.
    Planted corn one morning, went to my son’s soccer game and out for lunch, home, got sick, back out in the field in the afternoon… I think that was a longer night milking too…

    Now my parents, from whom I learned this behavior, just last week Mom was in the hospital with atrial flutter (accelerated heartrate) and she said ‘Well, I did think my heart was running too fast and I was tired but I didn’t think it was anything….’ MOM!
    And then she said ‘Well, the Lord didn’t have to make such a big deal out of it’… I told her she wasn’t paying attention to subtly so he had to get a bigger hammer.

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    1. Looks like I need to clarify what I mean by “foolishly stoic”. Dad walked around with a ruptured appendix for 3 days, Grandpa walked around on a broken ankle for a couple of days until after Grandma’s funeral.

      I was seriously concerned I would consider labor pains to be the result of a dietary indiscretion and keep putting off the trip to the hospital. Emergency c-section for the only child I was ever going to have spared me from ever knowing if I am THAT stoic or not.

      Doing what needs to get done with a cold or flu, that’s just Midwestern, ignoring and atrial flutter-heading right towards being silly about it, I am afraid.

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      1. We had a track coach at Grinnell who was . . . well, the only word I know for guys like that is hard@ss. He was that. If you had a pulled hamstring, he’d tell you to suck it up and go run three laps. If you had a fractured tibia, he’d snarl that you should suck it up and go run four laps. When the coach himself felt wrong in his belly, he took off running to work it out. By a simple fluke of luck, someone came along early in the morning that day and found his body on the track. He’d been trying to “run out” a bust appendix.

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  17. A transformer blew at the ND State Capitol this morning and the entire state e-mail and information system has gone down. The back-up generator isn’t working, either. We have no access to our email, daily schedules, or client records. It may take days to fix. I can’t even schedule clients for appointments next week since I don’t know what my schedule is and won’t know until the system is up. It is going to be kind of boring at work for a while. The legislature is in session and they can’t meet since their chambers have no windows. They had to evacuate the capitol with flashlights.

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      1. Yes, I just have to sit there and wait for God knows what clients to show up. It is interesting today, as the elevator in our building is out of order for the whole week for maintenance, the roads are so icy we can’t drive anywhere, and we have no capacity to do case notes or anything, as that is done on our state-wide records system. I really hate being bored at work. I hear now that the power is back on in part of the Capitol, but not in the Judicial Wing which is where the IT department (and our records system) is located.

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    2. Wow – exciting stuff, but difficult, too, I’m sure. No email and no scheduling would bring most businesses to a halt, can’t imagine what it does for a state. Yikes. Maybe if the legislators need to keep working by flashlight they’ll get it fixed faster for you (?).

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    4. This is what I have against using only online means for calendars, and other eneities that will sort of blow up if the computers are compromised, like Wall Street and our Government. Come the revolution…

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  18. Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now
    I feel good, I knew that I would, now
    So good, so good, I got you

    Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice
    I feel nice, like sugar and spice
    So nice, so nice, I got you!

    James Brown said it so well! I like to try to imitate him.

    I’d like to feel that I’m indispensable but I know I’d be hallucinating. The stock markets would not tank if I got sick. The world would keep on turning without missing a beat.

    I come from the same kind of “foolishly stoic” Prussian-German stock as some of the rest of you. I fell in my house one evening around suppertime a few years ago and I knew immediately that I’d broken my foot. It felt okay as long as I didn’t put any weight on it, and I didn’t feel like driving to Northfield, so I didn’t go in until the next day. I drove myself to Northfield the following morning without any difficulty. However, driving a manual transmission Civic home to Waterville with my right foot in a cast was actually pretty foolish. I will not do it again.

    I’ve also been very seriously ill a few of times in my life. I’ve had asthmatic bronchitis, pneumonia and whooping cough all as an adult (get those DPT boosters, folks!) These, combined with my sensitivities to dust and toxic fumes, left me with asthma. I can’t allow myself to get sick, especially respiratory illnesses, because I won’t get well for a long time. Not that the stock market would tank…

    Right now, I am the iMe! I’m working from home while an asbestos abatement project is completed on our building. And I feel good!

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    1. so….. maybe they should save a lot of money, not do the abatement and just let you continue to work at home, with a nice bit of a stipend for kitting out your home office in gratitude for all the money they will be saving.

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  19. Mike or JASPER must be tuned in to this conversation… “Nobody knows you when you’re down and out…”

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