American workers find new, recession-oriented ways to waste time

I'm feeling a little better today. Not well enough to do much actual work, but well enough to look through my e-mail inbox and find stuff like this:

Leadership IQ conducts an annual survey of workplace slacking, and 6,447 workers completed both the February 2007 and February 2008 surveys. In February 2007 these workers reported wasting 1.6 hours per an average 9.1 hour workday. But in February 2008, these same workers reported wasting 2.3 hours per an average 9.2 hour workday, an increase of 44%.

The biggest time wasters for respondents? In February 2007, the Top 5 timewasters were the typical culprits.
1. Surfing the Internet for Shopping (17% of respondents)
2. Surfing the Internet for Entertainment (15%)
3. Surfing the Internet for Personal E-Mail (10%)
4. Chatting with Co-Workers (9%)
5. Daydreaming about Positive Topics (9%)

But in February 2008, the Top 5 timewasters were quite different and clearly influenced by fears about a potential recession.
1. Surfing the Internet for Career Improvement (21% of respondents)
2. Surfing the Internet for Personal Finance (17%)
3. Daydreaming about Negative Topics (12%)
4. Chatting with Co-Workers (9%)
5. Surfing the Internet for Entertainment (7%)

In other important news from my e-mail inbox:

Eamonn Fingleton, author of the 1995 classic Blindside: Why Japan Is Still on Track to Overtake the U.S. by the Year 2000, has a new book out called In the Jaws of the Dragon: America's Fate in the Coming Era of Chinese Hegemony.

Cold Stone Creamery is expanding to Scandinavia, with its first store opening in Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens later this year. The Scandinavian franchise group is also "the largest Build-A-Bear operator in Europe," with the flagship store at Tivoli. And now no skilled Dane will ever again have reason to leave the country.

The National Pork Board recommends Baked Ham with Honey-Apricot Glaze for this year's Easter dinner. Seriously, they sent me an e-mail telling me that.