Tag Archives: Opinion

You Have a New Friend Request

by Michael Fineman on 18. Feb, 2009 in Uncategorized

Today’s economic environment has proven that almost every industry and profession provides little job security. Whether we work for a Fortune 500 corporation or start-up business, we are all “self-employed”. Corporate downsizing, outsourcing and consolidation are ever increasing the volatility in our employment and the frequency of our job changes. Networking, both social and professional, [...]

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The Picture of Calm

by Kate Holmquest on 16. Feb, 2009 in Uncategorized

Leading up to this President’s Day, I caught myself feeling surrounded by the image of Barack Obama. First, passing by a parking garage on my usual walk to work, I noticed the attendant’s computer flanked by two identical photos of a waving Obama. “Whatever gets you through the day,” I thought dismissively.   Later, I [...]

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Touching Base

by Coby Hakalir on 15. Feb, 2009 in Uncategorized

Last week a friend of mine text messaged me during the day to ask if I'd be joining her that night at Karaoke at Four Farthings, a cozy irish pub in Lincoln Park. They've got karaoke every Thursday night, and a group of my friends can usually be found there a couple of times a month. We know the bartenders, the waitresses, and the guy who runs the karaoke machine was even a guest in my home this past Thanksgiving. But all of that is mostly beside the point. Ok, it's entirely beside the point. So, after getting this text from my friend Lisa, I responded that I was most likely going to be there that night. Her response was this: "Sounds Gr8. Let's touch base later". 

Now, I'm aware that we live in a world in which we constantly say things we dont really mean: "Hi, how are you?", "Take care", and my personal favorite – "talk to you later (TTYL!)". We dont really care how the other person is doing, "take care" means I hope I never see or talk to you again, and TTYL simply means "leave me alone". But "touching base"? I know what that really means is "let's be in touch", but how did such a simple phrase turn into touching base? What base? Whose base? Mine, yours? Is there a neutral base? To find out more about this, I went to the source of all of life's information: Wikipedia. This search left me even more confused. Here's what Wikipedia told me:

  • touch base, as in "we will touch base at the meeting" — To ensure
    everyone has the same information. In baseball, a player who is touching a base
    is not in danger of being put out. May also be a military term. Another
    explanation is that a player briefly touches each of the bases when he runs
    around after hitting a home run; therefore "touching base" is briefly checking
    in (this is more similar to the meaning in the above example). It may also refer
    to a seldom enforced rule, 7.08(d) which implies that a runner must touch base
    after a batter hits a foul ball which goes out of play.      

    •  
    Huh? how is this even close to an explanation?   

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