The "concentration, thought, and WORK!" I spoke of in my previous post is not meant to be directed purely at the world of academia. It seems to me that far too many people would rather seek employment that requires only a minimum of these things. Even in recreation, it would seem that a lot of folks will simply shuck out a mess of money to have someone else plan all of the details - or else they avoid such adventures entirely because they refuse to attempt to do any planning themselves. I am not necessarily talking about travel planning. Travel agents are sometimes simply priceless. I mean things like taking a four-day boat trip somewhere and planning meals, equipment needs, logistics, etc.. Often the overall policy appears to be: if it requires "concentration, thought, and WORK" either forget about it or try to get someone else to do all that stuff.

Granted, there are times when I, too, want to be pampered a bit. But I have also learned the rewarding feeling when the value of something is increased by the effort that went into making it. (I now relinquish my soap box.)