by Sima Matthes (New York City)
In one of my colleague’s cubicles, there a cartoon by the brilliant and irreverent Scott Adams hanging over the desk. The cartoon has his protagonist, Dilbert, remarking to the company’s blood drive sponsor “You’ve already taken everything I have…” and the sponsor saying “There’s a six pint minimum,” or something like that.
Undoubtedly, we’ve all felt that we’ve given everything to our company, our co-workers, and our bosses at one time or another — but at least we had the weekends to look forward to. In Tammy Erickson’s recent article on the Harvard Business Publications web page, she asked the audacious and provocative question of whether we even need weekends. Her point is that in this age of telecommuting and what she calls “asynchronous” work, where we can work anywhere, at anytime, weekends as they currently are defined may not be as necessary as once thought. “I’d like to see companies re-think the idea of a pre-set “week day” and a “weekend” and look instead at which jobs actually need synchronous activity with what frequency. If the job doesn’t require it, why not let the worker decide his or her own schedule?”
Sunday’s New York Times ran an interesting take on the fallout from the subprime crisis and economic slowdown: 
All too often, the achiever/overachiever in us zealously books appointment after appointment and takes on one commitment after another. At work, we feel compelled to be the “go to” woman in hopes that we will make significant career strides and appear to be infallible in the face of multiple and difficult challenges. Unfortunately, our ambitions and desires to excel can take a toll on our health, emotions and personal relationships.