Barney Fife on Global Warming (aka Climate Change)

We all need to seek the experts on any topic that comes up. Yesterday, I heard a comment by Barney Fife (as good as any other expert) on Global Warming.

Barney, as you probably know, was Andy Taylor's deputy on the Andy Griffith show and had an expert opinion on almost every subject. The episode is titled "Opie's Newspaper" and it was aired on March 22, 1965 (see IMDB for details)

In one scene, Andy is staring out of the kitchen door, Aunt Bee and Barney are sitting at the table. The conversation goes like this:

Andy: Nice day, you know that?

Aunt Bee: It seems a little warm to me.

Barney: Well, the weather's been changing so much lately. Must be the bomb.

That proves it. Global warming is a communist plot.

(Turns out I'm not the only one interested in this episode. See the first q&a at this site. There is also a podcast with the explanation of this comment).

Seinfeld gets people fired

This story from the DesMoines Register shows how a joke from a Seinfeld episode went a little too far and got a man fired. Seems a group from the Brain Injury Association of Iowa attended an outdoor event where there were a lot of blooming plants. After one person sneezed, a lady in the group explained that in her house instead of say "Gesundheit" or "God bless you", she and her husband say "You are so good looking" - which was the basis for a Seinfeld episode. As the event went on, several people got into the game.

After the event, John Preston continued to email the lady telling her she was good looking. Apparently, he liked the episode of Seinfeld too. But this unnerved the lady, who complained to her bosses and they told Preston. A few weeks later, he met the lady in the hall and talked with her and "massaged her shoulders." She complained again and this time he was fired.

This wasn't the first time Seinfeld got people fired, another Iowa case in 2004 resulted in Ronald Knight of the Fareway grocery store being fired after he repeated some comments from a different episode. And in 1992, Miller Brewing company fired an executive for telling his secretary about an episode and showing her a word in a dictionary (the referenced article contains both stories).

What lessons can we learn from this? 1) Just because you saw something on TV doesn't mean you can repeat it in the office. 2) You can carry a joke too far and 3) massaging a co-workers shoulders in the workplace is NEVER acceptable.

In this case, some blame should also fall on the female. Apparently, she started the gag at the outdoor event. If it was unacceptable for Preston, it was unacceptable for her also. She needs to learn some discernment in sharing stories from her home life.

Red Box vs Netflix

A co-worker mentioned that he uses Red Box a lot and I decided to check it out. Red Box operates those kiosks you see in the grocery store and rents DVD's for $1/day. They claim no late fees, they just charge $1 each day.

I compared this to my current Netflix plan which is $8.99/month. These DVDs tend to sit on top of the TV for a while, so at $1/day, I'd probably be paying $10-$20 a month. Of course I could delay picking up until I was ready to watch and could return sooner (even on Sundays), so maybe I'd be at the low end of that. And there's no driving with Netflix, it's all done through the mail.

Out of curiosity, I took my Netflix queue and checked it out on Red Box (you can reserve movies ahead of time). To my surprise NONE of the top 5 movies were in Red Box. Now a lot of my Netflix queue is "older" movies (2-5 years old) that we never watched the first time around. So I guess this is understandable. But it doesn't make me want to switch DVD providers

What do you think? Netflix or Red Box?

Smoke alarm false alarm

OK, once is bad, twice is downright spooky. Tonight about 9pm while watching the movie Chain Reaction, the smoke alarm went off. It lasted about 15 to 20 seconds and then quit. When it's done that before it was due to a candle nearby, but such was not the case tonight. Candles have gotten to the point where they upset my wife's sinuses, so we've stopped using them.

I checked all around, but no smoke. No smell of smoke, no reason for a smoke alarm. We joked that the hydrogen explosions on the movie set it off.

Then around midnight, it went off again. Again for 15 to 20 seconds. Again no smell of smoke, no apparent reason. I checked the attic. I checked outside. No smoke.

I took the battery out and will go get fresh batteries in the morning. But usually when the batteries are dieing, you get a nice occasional chirp and it doesn't stop after 15 to 20 seconds.

Spooky.

* Update - After the 4th time, I made a 1am run to CVS for new batteries. New batteries didn't help, I ended up unplugging the stupid things. I've never had so much trouble. Now I can't sleep.

* Update 2 - this morning I gently took the smoke detectors apart and vacuumed them. Each had a small cobweb in them. Cleaned them good, put them back up and all quiet so far (about 3 hours of experience). I'm afraid to test them though.

And the winner is... And my vote is....

Glenn Chatfield is the winner.

A little over a week ago, I posted a contest, asking my readers to post their idea on who was the smartest president in recent history. Rather than try to judge the best answer, I held a drawing and Glenn Chatfield won the drawing. Glenn will be the recipient of his choice of an iTunes or Amazon gift card.

Most of the votes came in for Ronald Reagan which didn't surprise me. Most of my readers are conservatives and he is the ultimate conservative choice. But I also have some less-conservative (and some down right liberal) readers, so there were also votes for Clinton, Obama and even Carter (that one surprised me). I even had one reader expand the definition of "recent" president and include a vote for Lincoln.

Thanks for all the comments and I really appreciate the different views. Now I'll give my view for the smartest president and it may surprise some. I'd say President Obama is the smartest.

The current president is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School. That says something about his IQ right off the bat. He served in the Illinois Senate starting in 1997, then was elected to the US Senate in 2004. He gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in the same year. That's when I realized he was going to go somewhere. His speeches move people.

He's received a lot of negativity because of his use of teleprompters, but he mostly deflects these comments. During his presidential campaign, he sidestepped one of the most divisive subjects - abortion - with the comment that it was above his pay grade. After his inauguration he took action by funding foreign abortions without a lot of statements. You may disagree with his politics, but I think this shows his political IQ.

Obama has also been able to push a lot of legislation through congress by using the economy as cover. A lot of the items in the stimulus bill had nothing to do with stimulating the economy.

So, my vote goes to Obama as the smartest president even if I don't agree with his politics.

How many pillows does one man need?

I'm traveling this week and the idea hit me last night as I crawled into the king sized bed at this Hilton - how many pillows do they think I need? In this case, the answer seems to be five. Being the only one in the room and being unable to have a pillow fight by myself, that left four unused.

Don't forget my contest and your chance to win the $10. All you have to do is tell me who you think is the smartest president and why. I've had some good answers with votes for Obama, Reagan and Carter (you can't get more diverse than that). Read all about it here.

Pre-existing Conditions

The health-care reform bills currently in congress are receiving a lot of national attention. This post will cover a single aspect of the discussion, preexisting conditions. I recently did some research about this for a family member and I relayed some of the information via email to one of my readers. I'll first explain what the term means, speak about the current law and then offer my opinion. As always, I'll welcome your comments.

In health terms, a preexisting condition is any medical condition that exists before you first sign up for insurance. Those big evil insurance companies don't want to pay for them. For example, suppose you are part of the 46 million people who don't have insurance and suppose further the reason is you just want to spend your money on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not on insurance. You wake up one morning and find you can't stand without a severe pain in your hip. After a visit to a doctor, he suggests this might be related to back problems and sends you off for an MRI. You decide to enroll in insurance on the way.

After the MRI (which costs $1000+), you learn that you will need cortisone shots and surgery for your back. The total cost is expected to be over $50,000. That big, mean old, awful, capitalist insurance company doesn't want to pay the bill because you knew about the problem when you signed up and they want to keep their profits. (see here for my discussion on profits).

In his recent town-hall meeting in Montana, President Obama said that with the new legislation "Insurance companies will also be prohibited from denying coverage because of your medical history. A recent report found that in the past three years, more than 12 million Americans were discriminated against by insurance companies because of a preexisting condition." (see here)

I'm a little confused why the president mentioned this, it turns out that discrimination by employers based on past history isn't allowed. "One of the most important protections under HIPAA is that it helps those with preexisting conditions get health coverage." (from here) Maybe the president is talking about something else all together.

Insurers are "allowed to look back only 6 months for a condition that was present before the start of coverage in a group health plan." That means in my example above, if you waited 6 months for the MRI, cortisone shots and surgery, you would be ok. Maybe the president's idea is right, maybe you should just take a pill and delay the surgery.

Another confusing point happens when people change jobs. Suppose that in my example before you had insurance through your employer when the doctor told you you'd need the surgery. Then you decided to change jobs and look for greener pastures. Assuming your new employer provided insurance, the new insurer would have to cover you. As long as your "creditable coverage" did not lapse for longer than the new employer's preexisting coverage clause, you would be ok. I'm no lawyer, but this doesn't seem like it would really exclude anything if your previous coverage had been in effect for at least six months.

So, in summary, in many cases, preexisting conditions are not an issue at all. If you hear reports of someone complaining, they should examine this web site and see if they really have a problem (often times the reports you hear are from a friend who heard a story about someone who knew of a person whose first cousin-once-removed heard a story. Somehow, details get lost in the conversation.)

My opinion is probably tougher than most people would like. I believe insurance should be insurance, not automatic payment. Everyone needs insurance and everyone should have some. They shouldn't wait until they have an issue to buy it. If President Obama is right and 12 million Americans were discriminated against, he should use his executive powers to go after the insurance companies in question. If they broke the law, they should be prosecuted. If not, by definition, they weren't discriminating.

This topic only deals with preexisting conditions. There are a lot of other issues in the new heath care bills that warrant discussion and I may bring them into my blog in the future.

Contest for comments (If you bribe them, will they come?)

This thought has been on my mind a lot recently and I want involvement from others. Several of my readers are apolitical - it's not that they don't have political ideas, they just don't want to share them. So I'm going to entice them a little bit, I'm going to have a contest. The winner will get their choice of a $10 iTunes certificate (assuming I can figure out how to get one) or a $10 Amazon certificate.

All interested parties should comment on this post with an answer to the following question - "Who do you think is the smartest president we've had in recent history?" By recent history let's say as any president including JFK and beyond, I get hazy on who was who before that. The comment should include a brief description of why you think your choice is the best choice. I'm not going to restrict the answers by defining the word "smartest", I'll let you do that, but be sure to explain your choice.

I'd like to ask respect for all presidents, so as my daughter would say "don't be dissin' nobody." I'd also ask for respect for my readers, if you don't agree with what they have to say, please refrain from commenting on their comments, just offer your own opinion of who is best.

Rather than try to pick a winner based on content and risk showing bias, I'm going to put all of my commenters names into a hat (or bowl) and choose a winner at random. I've asked the lovely Vanna White to do the picking, but she's not available, so I'll ask my lovelier wife to do the honors. I'll post the name of the winner. Be sure to include your name in your comments.

I'm traveling a bit this week and next, so I'll close the comments on next Friday, August 21. That gives everyone a little over a week. Enjoy!

Cash for clunkers - Grandma doesn't qualify

I saw this story on NBC this morning, now it's popping up everywhere. Seems 90 year old Rachel Veitch in Florida has over 557THOUSAND miles on a car (some reports say 559Thousand). No, it's not a Honda or Toyota, it's a Mercury Comet. Made in the USA in 1964. Back in the day, when you bought a car, you named it. Her car is named "Chariot." (my first was "Red Bird", third was "Betsy" -- can't remember second).

Veitch said her "Chariot has never lied to me or cheated on me and I can always depend on her." (source here) It "has outlasted her three marriages and has gone through eight mufflers, at least 17 batteries and three sets of shocks" according to this story. She says that she's a believer in maintaining a car, "I've never been a destructive person and I've just taken care of everything, except my husbands."

According to reports, she's had the car up to 120mph (as high as the speedometer goes) and once got a ticket for going 92mph (she installed a cruise control after that). She even got to take the car onto Daytona Motor Speedway once.

Clark Howard, the master penny-pincher picked up the story. When Veitch started driving her Comet, gas was 39cents/gallon. Even though the car only gets 15mpg (well below the CARS threshold of 18mpg), she isn't eligible for the program. Her car is 45 years old and CARS is limited to 25 years old or younger.

Even if it did "she'll never sell, and she packs a .38-caliber handgun in case anyone tries to take her chariot for a ride without her."

Somehow, I don't think I'd mess with Grandma...

(Photo credit here).

I see the bad moon arising...

With apologies to Creedence Clearwater Revival, I off the following fact list:

• My paternal grandmother did everything based on the phase of the moon: planting, cutting wood, even weather forecasting. Anecdotal evidence proved her right more than the local TV weather man.


• Nurses and doctors believe the ER and the OB both fill up under a full moon.


• Teachers believe students misbehave more often under a full moon.
  


• Yesterday, a full moon, congress approved an extension of the cash for clunkers program and approved Judge Sotomayor as a Supreme Court Justice.

Grandma wasn't wrong very often...

Cash for Clunkers - Continued

Well, it looks like it's official (see here), the Senate has now approved an extension of the Cash for Clunkers bill. The bill was either a huge success or a huge expenditure depending on your point of view. It's a redistribution of wealth from the taxpayers (only 50% of Americans) to those who are in a position to buy a car. Or maybe it's another bailout for car manufacturers.

Some interesting information has come out about the program and actually a lot of details have not come out. But so far, it looks like GM has been the biggest winner with 18.7 percent of new sales. Ford has actually seen a profit. From my previous post, I showed how the increase in sales was short lived, so I hope Ford is investing the profit wisely - it won't last.

Another report I saw said that Ford Explorers were the most traded in vehicle along with older mini-vans. My suspicion is that these owners had been waiting to get rid of their "clunkers".

Remember the program had a dual purpose: #1 to help the auto industry and #2 to increase fuel efficiency. If the Ford Explorers and mini-vans were actually being used and the new cars are taking their place, the second goal will have been reached. I suspect the less fuel efficient cars weren't in heavy use and the newer efficient cars will be used by new drivers, thereby increasing overall fuel usage. (I considered selling a clunker and getting my wife a new car, but I didn't qualify).

Details of the clunker program have been hard to find. The AP reports that the "Obama administration is refusing to release government records on its "cash-for-clunkers" rebate program that would substantiate — or undercut — White House claims of the program's success." So despite promises of "transparency in the people’s White House," things seem to be mostly cloudy. I guess like the stimulus plan, we don't have time to be forthcoming, we have to act now.

My main concern though is the change in the program. The program was initially approved (after a lot of discussion) for $1BILLION or until November 1, which ever came first. We've reached the $1BILLION mark, so the program should be ended. The expansion is going on without any real analysis. Everyone's having a good time, so we just go on spending.

Some of my kids have learned (the hard way) that only the Federal Government can continue spending when they run out of money. In this case, the government doesn't even know how much it has. It's like ignoring the balance column in the checkbook register (do people still use those?)

The new bill should have gone the way of the clunkers -- into the shredder. What do you think?

Defying Gravity - New Series review

Last night I watched a pilot of a new series, "Defying Gravity." My wife was unenthused, as she is about anything sci-fi. But I decided to hog the downstairs TV and watch it anyway. The premise is that a new space-ship is taking off for a 6 year tour of 7 planets. First stop is Venus, after a brief pitstop in earth orbit. Only the astronauts don't know that some unknown thing, "it" or "Beta", is making all the decisions, including who is on the mission.

Set in 2054, the mission is commanded (or some other role, it was difficult to tell), is the man who commanded a Mars mission 10 years earlier, a trip that left two people stranded on the red planet. The show is full of flashbacks to the Mars mission and to the 5 years of training this set of astronauts went through to earn a spot on the ship.

One interesting aspect is the view of abortion. Now we're never really told that one of the astronauts had an abortion, but it's certainly implied. Zoe, had a one night stand with the mission commander (the one from the Mars trip). She was drunk and he was persistent, so they ended up at a no-tell motel. He's quite a womanizer, seen hitting on several different women in the pilot (and one woman actively hitting on him).

It is confirmed that she's pregnant and her friend tries to talk her into an abortion. We haven't seen yet that she decided to go through with it, but presumably she wouldn't have been allowed on the trip with a 5 year old at home. What makes all of this interesting, is that all through the pilot, she hears a baby crying. No one else hears the baby, so I'm assuming that it's the baby she aborted.

The series focused more on the romance and tension between characters than it did on any real sci-fi. I was surprised at the free sex within the astronaut community (maybe AIDS and STDs have been eradicated). The tension between former sex partners is shown, so surely, some mission psychologist would have prevented this kind of action. Also, all of the characters went on a drinking binge the night before lift-off. Today airline pilots are prohibited from drinking the night before flights (which makes me glad), why would you let astronauts drink before their flight? One astronaut is even confronted as being an alcoholic, they would let him go? Oh yea, Beta is making the decisions.

All in all, it was a good show. I'll probably watch again next week, but it comes on very late for me (10pm). I can't stay up that late every Sunday night.

Upcountry - Book Review

The other day, I posted a quote about the book Upcountry, by Nelson DeMille. I finished reading the book and thought I'd post a review. I had read other DeMille novels - Plum Island, The Lion's Game and Nightfall, and knew this would be an adventure. The further I got into the new novel, the more adventurous it became.

Upcountry is set mostly in Vietnam. The lead character, Paul Brenner, is a retired Vietnam War veteran who stayed in the Army for several years in the Criminal Investigation Division. After his exit from CID, he is called back for one case - to investigate a 30 year old murder that occurred during the height of the war.

Brenner's travel to Vietnam brings back a lot of memories, some of them quite graphic (not for kids). While I was too young to know details back then, the details provided in this book seem accurate and an epilogue explains DeMille's background and gives authenticity.

Of course there has to be a woman involved, in this case it's Susan Weber. She's been in Vietnam for a number of years and likes the fact that she's living in a new territory, likened to the Old West. Susan decides to accompany Brenner and he's not sure he wants her there.

Typical for DeMille, the novel is action packed. There's some romance in it, and a lot of unanswered questions at the end (but none that affect the quality of the story). The novel is somewhat of a sequel to The General's Daughter (which was made into a John Travolta movie), but I didn't know this until half-way through and I didn't miss anything.

Vietnam War veterans may find this book brings back memories and that could be good or bad. Also, the graphic descriptions could prove too graphic for some people - on at least one occasion I had to take a break from reading to wash my hands. But the story line was excellent and kept you guessing as to what would come next. The ending questions (what happens to Susan Weber?) are not so bothersome as to leave you hanging - I hate it when that happens and often refuse to buy the sequel on purpose alone.

Lately, the idea of race relations has been forefront on my mind, and this book helped understand the issues a little deeper. As noted in my previous post, the regional pride of the North and South Vietnamese, seemed to echo the regional differences in the U.S.

All together, a very good read, I recommend it. I'm interested in your opinion.

Cash for clunkers

By now you may have heard that the "Cash for Clunkers" program is broke (or not depending on who you listen to). This post is NOT about that issue. The story on that issue is not yet complete. I may post about that in a week or so when all of the facts are out.

Back about a year ago, I posted an entry about the cost of a gallon of gas (about $4 at the time). A year ago when gas was $4/gallon, I made the bold prediction that "the subject of gas prices will be quiet again." (see here).


Well, let's check into the current situation. People have criticized American automotive companies and said that they focused on trucks and SUV's. During times with high gas prices, this hurts auto sales and, according to critics, helped cause the downfall of GM, Chrysler and Ford. However, prices are down now, around $2.20 or so depending on the day. It now appears that SUV sales are back up (according to Bloomberg) and truck sales are also on the rise (see here). Maybe American car companies were focusing on the right markets after all.

Of course, you have to acknowledge that everyone wants to save gas and go green right? Well, Toyota is having a tough year just like the American companies and has decided to close a Mississippi Prius plant even before it opened (see here). In fact, Motor Trend magazine says Toyota is no long profitable in the US. Seems it's not just American cars that are hurting.


So what does this have to do with "Cash for Clunkers"? The program was initially designed to improve fuel mileage on the highways by encouraging consumers to get rid of older, less fuel efficient cars in favor of newer, more fuel efficient cars. A side benefit is that the ailing automotive market (both domestic and foreign) gets a short-term boost.

The program has been tried in other countries as well. Countries such as Slovakia, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have all unveiled a cash-for-clunkers program at various times in the last year according to this NY Times article. And the program has some history as France had a "similar incentive program ... from 1994 to 1996."

How successful will the program be? According to the same NY Times article, the "plan produced a comparable sales bump initially." Sounds great, right? Well the rest of the sentence goes on to say that the initial sales bump "was followed by a severe drop in 1997 and 1998."

So here's my prediction for 2009 and it will basically echo the prediction from 2008. Americans are less concerned about fuel efficiency than they are about the size of the vehicle (see SUV sales and truck sales above). People will trade in cars under the plan and get minimal improved gas mileage (2 mpg improvement for trucks and 4mpg improvement for cars is the minimum to get the cash). More importantly, these people will take out 4, 5 or 6 year loans to pay for these cars and find that they have trouble making the payments or making their other payments (e.g. mortgage). Next year, we'll all be worse off.

And the country will be no greener than it is today.

This animosity between the North and South...

It's unusual for me to comment on a book before I finish reading it, but in this case I just had to do so. I'm reading Nelson DeMille's story about an Vietnam War Veteran who goes back to investigate a murder that took place during the war. I'll do a full review on the story in a few days when I finish the book.

The subject line is part of a quote from the book and it struck me in that it could pertain to the struggle we in the U.S. continue to have with race. I've always thought that if the Civil War and the Reconstruction had taken place differently, race relations would be different. Maybe I take it a little to personally, but I've always felt that we Southerners unfairly get the blame for a lot of racial issues.

The book has nothing to do with race relations (or does it?) but everything to do with war. DeMille has some very colorful descriptions of battles and the characters "detective work." Bottom line, it's not a story for children.

The entire quote: "This animosity between the North and South Viets, the victor and the vanquished, went on, and it was a very complex thing, having less to do with the war, I thought, than what came after. War is simple; peace is complex."

What do you think? Does this apply to the Yankees and the Rebels?

Old dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine

For some reason this weekend, this old Tom T. Hall song entered my ADD-rattled brain and I've had trouble getting it off my mind. A quick search this morning showed me I'm not completely alone (see this lady's blog about the song and her family).

In the song, the singer stops in a hotel bar in Miami for a quick drink before bed. He sounds like he'd prefer to be alone, but someone sits down beside him and begins to talk. Man, I hate it when that happens. But the singer learns something from the visitor as he explains "Ain't but three things in this world that's worth a solitary dime..." ...wait for it... "...But old dogs and children, and watermelon wine."

Hall has many songs that I love, including his hit "I Love". Some of his songs are funny, one that my kids have heard me sing a lot is "Sneaky Snake". I also like "Faster Horses" (another song about the virtues in life, in this case "faster horses, younger women, older whiskey and more money").

Probably my favorite song by Hall is the simple melody "I Like Beer". But of course a paragraph on simple melodies would be incomplete without the mention of the song "That Song is Driving me Crazy" - ever get a song stuck in your head and it won't leave? - this song will stay in your head for weeks.

Rhapsody describes Tom T. Hall as "story teller, poet, philosopher." I think when I die, I'd like to be known as a philospher (it would be even better to be thought that way now - but the pay isn't what it used to be). You can read the lyrics and even listen to "Watermelon Wine" on Rhapsody's site here.

Health care - who needs it?

I was probably 23 before I even thought about health care issues. I can't remember every going to a doctor as a kid, I know I had to have a physical before college. I also know I got my shots, some from the health department. I have a vivid memory of the polio shot, a lot of us were lined up in what might have been an old school (circa 1965). I went to the infirmary at school one time while in college, it was a waste of my time and the doctors' (a story for another day).

After graduating college at the ripe old age of 22, I got married. I had health coverage on my job and my wife had coverage on her job. About a year later, we decided it was time to start planning for a family, but planning didn't include insurance. When our daughter was born, we found that we had to pay her part of the hospital bill ourselves (I think it was around $2,000 -- I still have the bill somewhere).

It turns out a lot of people don't think about insurance until they start having families. And a lot of people don't want to sign up for insurance even if they think about it.

To me, that's freedom of choice. Certainly the bills are higher today than they were in 1983 when my first was born, but if a person decides to pay their own way, they should be allowed.

It concerns me that in one of the drafts of the new health care bills, people will be FORCED to have some form of insurance. They will no longer have the option to choose to pay their own way. Some Americans are all about freedom of choice, as long as you choose their way of dealing with problems.

The push for health care - our economy depends on it

I have to give our current administration the credit, they've certainly learned the way to America's pocketbook. "It's the economy stupid!" is what I've been reading between the lines the last few days.

See, President Obama keeps telling us he inherited this mess, it was worse than anyone thought and the stimulus plan is working exactly as planned (was this Plan B or Plan C?). Then he tells us the we have to have health care reform in order to save the economy.

This way, he wins either way. If health-care gets voted in, obviously he's lived up to his campaign promises (until it doesn't work - then he changes his promises). If it doesn't get voted in, well he tried. If the economy continues to go south, it's not his fault, he tried to pass health-care to fix it. Soon, the economy will be the reason we do everything.

It really bothers me the "change" I've seen in the last six months. During the campaign, abortion issues were above his paygrade. Well, he's gotten a payraise and now we are funding abortion in other countries and he's pushing for funding here. The stimulus plan was needed immediately to fix our economy, the money was going to create jobs immediately and now it's working as designed and will take a few years.

Sadly, none of this surprises me, I expected it all along. Now what's next?

Funny email response

I sent an email to an individual trying to set up a meeting for next Tuesday afternoon. The response I got said:

"Unfortunately Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I am volunteering to read to some 8-10 year olds. I felt I needed to work with some people that were properly mature for their age. I can understand tantrums from an 8 year old, it is the 30-60 year olds throwing tantrums around here that puzzle me."

I tend to agree.

Mr. President, what's the rush?

* Forgot to thank Chuck for his link to the LA Times article. Thanks Chuck.

A couple of days ago, my wife asked me what the proposed healthcare bill would do to our medical coverage. The truth is, I don't know. I've heard lots about what it might do. I know that some proposed Medicare legislation will cut the payments for MRIs and "could affect the availability of MRIs and other tests particularly in rural areas." (see here) It's only logical that the same would be true of the proposed overall healthcare legislation.

I also know that the president thinks that sometimes "maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller." He also thinks "that one way to shave medical costs is to stop expensive and ultimately futile procedures performed on people who are about to die and don't stand to gain from the extra care." (see here) While I actually agree with him on both of these fronts, I'm very sure I don't want the government involved in the decision. I also think that might be why some people pay into insurance in the first place, so they can have expensive life saving treatment when they need it.

But what scares me the most about the locomotive pushing its way through congress, is the need for speed. Why is it that this bill must be pushed through? If the health care bill is important (and it is), it's important to do it right. Instead, many in congress have laughed at the idea of actually reading the bill they will be voting on.

Take for example, Congressman Hoyer from Maryland. He said he's "laughing because ...(he doesn't) know how long this bill is going to be, but it’s going to be a very long bill." (see here). I also heard that the leaders of both houses of congress have said they won't read the bills, but I could not confirm those reports.

The last time a bill was pushed this hard, we ended up with the so-called-stimulus package. That bill wasn't read by most members of congress either. There are several organizations that are suggesting congress should actually know what it's voting for - "Let Freedom Ring is a conservative backed site that is attempting to get our representatives to read the bill before they vote on it. Backed by liberal organizations, ReadTheBill.org is pushing the same thing." (reference here)

I also think that we, you and I regular people, should have a chance to read the bill. We should know what our representatives know (or in this case, what they don't know). We should be able to examine the pros and cons and we should advise them on how we feel, so they can make the hopefully-intelligent decisions we have sent them to make.

Jupiter Struck by Object, NASA Images Confirm

This article confirms that the planet Jupiter has been struck by a comet or an asteroid. You may think "so what, I'm not moving to Jupiter anytime soon and I don't know anyone who lives there."

But what if the comet or asteroid had hit the earth? Well, it would have been a very bad thing. All you have to do is watch the movies, like Deep Impact, Asteroid, or any Saturday afternoon B movie to understand.

Thankfully, our solar system has a couple of big planets out there that act as magnets to attract comets and asteroids. I mean, think of it this way, if you were aiming at planets, would you rather aim at a big target like Jupiter, or a small target like Earth?

So, we all can be thankful that Jupiter is out there. You know, when you think about it, it's almost like someone designed it that way :)

The Great War: American Front - Book Review

The cover declares this book is "the definitive alternate history saga of its time." I have to agree. Harry Turtledove does his expected excellent job of telling a story that could be from a parallel universe. It's history, but not the way you remembered it.

At the beginning of the book, Turtledove sets the tone. It's near the end of the Civil War, but things have not gone well for Lincoln's USA. In fact, they have lost the war. The middle part of the North American continent is split into two nations, USA and CSA. The story line jumps to 1914 and the outbreak of The Great War. But the alliances aren't what you would expect. The Confederate States are joined by England and France. Which means that the USA allies with Germany.

The American Front details the battles between the USA and Canada and between the USA and CSA. President Roosevelt (Teddy) is guiding the USA, while President Woodrow Wilson guides the CSA. Slavery has ended long ago, but blacks are treated poorly in both nations. Armies discover machine guns, tanks, and chlorine gas. Trench warfare breaks out in Virginia, Kentucky and Utah.

Not only are there strange international alliances, there are a couple of intra-national alliances (or at least intra-continental). The Mormons of Utah originally were part of the USA, but they rebelled and tried to secede. Some Indian nations also sided with the CSA and fought against the USA.

Turtledove moves from the USA front lines to the Canadian, then to the CSA, then back again. You look at the war from the view of the soldiers, the workers in the steel mill, plantation owner and plantation workers. Socialism is about to break out and you see the war from a socialist's view.

A good bit of the book deals with the way blacks are treated. There's a lot of foreshadowing to indicate that the next book will focus on this issue as well. It's clear from this and other Turtledove books he believes that part of the reason for the Civil War was States' rights. But he also acknowledges the fact that slavery played a major part and shows that the problems didn't end in 1865.

I was very impressed with the book and have just ordered (thanks to my wife) the sequel and the third book in the series. Race relations have been on my mind a lot recently and all the political talk about socialism from the right wing feeds right into the story line. The book isn't negative on any of this, the reader is left to determine the impact.

Some of the language used in the book will probably offend a great many people. Words that were commonly (but rudely) used in the 1915 time period are used throughout the book. Being set in the middle of a war, there is a lot of profanity as you might expect. And there are some scenes described that would probably warrant keeping kids away (both for sex and violence).

My favorite quote from the book is a real quote from Vegetius of the Roman Empire "Let him who desires peace prepare for war."
I highly recommend the book.

$2000 Light Bulb - now free?

A couple of years ago, I posted an entry about a $2000 light bulb. The problem was that California was trying to mandate use of CFLs (I'm not sure if they ever succeeded) and the cleanup from dropping/breaking a bulb could cost as much as $2000.

Thankfully, things have gotten better. There's an EPA procedure for cleaning the bulbs up, documented in this PDF. I won't say it's easy, but it's doable. I remember as a kid, we used to break thermometers and let the mercury roll around in our hand, so the mercury in these new bulbs can't be that bad. I still believe in freedom and that market demands should dictate what bulb you choose to use.

Which brings me up to today, or actually yesterday. On a trip to my favorite toy store, Lowe's*, I saw a display of CFL's. I had seen the display before, but this time I looked carefully. You get seven 60-watt equivalent bulbs for $10. The box claims that the bulbs will save you $329 over the life of the bulbs. That's for all seven bulbs, over nine years, so it saves just over $5 per year or 43cents per month. Can you tell a difference of 43 cents in your electric bill?

In my book, these "typical savings" numbers are never enough to make my jump on the new product, but a little more analysis helped in this case. First of all, 7 bulbs for $10 is a reasonable price. Saving me the hassle of changing bulbs every few months is worth something. And long term savings is always good, even if you never notice the savings.

But the best news (pay attention now) is the bulbs come with a $10 coupon off your next purchase at Lowe's (for $50 or more). This effectively makes the pack of bulbs free. So, I spend $10 today, get light bulbs that save me 43cents a month, save the hassle of frequent changes and get the $10 back? This makes it an easy decision.

I just wish I could get some sort of sticker on the bulbs that say "I'm a capitalist, not an environmentalist" (with apologies to Star Trek fans) to explain why I'm buying CFL's.

* Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I'd like to note that Lowe's is one of my customers.

How much is that pack of cigarettes - Part 2

Back in May a year ago, I posted this entry about the cost of a pack of cigarettes. I showed how a pack a day, started at age 15 continued until retirement could cost you up to $1.6 MILLION.

Turns out, I may have UNDERestimated. This story, tells about a man who used his debit card to buy a pack and was charged slightly over 23 QUADRILLION dollars. Well, actually it was 148 trillion over, but what's a few trillion when you get that high?

After a while, he was able to convince Bank of America that this was an error and they resolved the problem. But it makes me wonder, how many packs could he have purchased for that much?

I heard this story on the radio today, then captured the link from Adam. Thanks Adam! Guess it's time to redo my spreadsheet.

At least we can be thankful that the debt hasn't climbed that high yet.

Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how

No, I'm not talking about that kind of surfing, I'm talking about internet surfing and I have a question for you: When you're surfing the web, where do you surf? While I'd like to be surfing the big waves off Maui, it seems that most web surfers prefer Facebook. According to this article, more time is spent on Facebook than any other site.

The article gives a lot of boring statistics (especially for us surfer dudes), the only interesting stat being that the average person spent just over 4.5 hours on the site in June.

Hulu made the list of most visitors to a site, which I think is neat when you think about Maui, Hulu and surfing (or is that hula?). Seems a lot of people are watching old TV shows on the web instead of Nikelodeon. MySpace is getting edged out by Facebook as anyone with teenagers and young adults know.

But I have to question, what do you do for 4.5 hours on Facebook? I go there, check my messages, and go somewhere else. I visit my Google personalized webpage a LOT and read news articles, check my email, etc.

So the question of the day is, where do you surf? How much time do you spend on any one website (or family of websites)?

P.S. For the record, that is not me in the picture, I'm much more buff, dude.

What is your level of immaturity?

The other day, I was reminded of an event from my childhood. For several years in a row Mr. Patterson was my Training Union teach (training union is an old Baptist thing, probably doesn't exist any more). Mr. Patterson tried to teach a group of boys age 10 or so a little bit about the Bible and how it fits into life.

The problem was that this group of boys was a little rambunctious. And no one wanted to take over. So each year as we got older, Mr. Patterson moved up with us. He was probably the only one who could manage us.

At the end of each year, Mr. Patterson held a party at his house. He had a pool in the back yard and we'd swim, eat burgers and do what boys do - make a lot of noise. Mr. Patterson filmed all of this on his trusty 8mm home camera (with no sound). Of course, this film had to be developed (no VCR's back then), so we couldn't watch it immediately, but we could watch the film from the previous year.

My single recollection of these films is remembering how silly (immature) we seemed the year before. "Man," we thought, "look at the ridiculous things we did last year." Of course we still did those things and the next year was exactly the same.

I recalled all of this when I heard a young adult talking about how immature a teenager seemed. "Man," they thought, "look at the ridiculous things they do. We used to do that." Pretty much the same attitude I had back when I was a kid.

As they said this, I thought how immature this young adult was and how they had so much to learn. Then it occurred to me, how immature am I now? My mother probably realizes that in 20 or 30 more years, I'm going to understand so much more about life.

I'm not sure any of us can see our own immaturity. I've decided that I'm going to (try to) stop pointing out this in others, they'll grown into their situation and in a few years think "Man, look at the ridiculous things we did last year."

Profit in healthcare

You may have heard that the health care industry is stepping up to the newest health care plan working its way through congress. This article says that the drug companies were first to step up by giving up $80Billion and now hospitals are stepping up to accepting $155 in cuts. The reason they are willing to give this up (according to the article) is that "they're trying stave off a much bigger hit if the government sets up a public health insurance plan that pays them according to the relatively stingy fee schedule of Medicare."

So they see this as the least offensive option. But my question is, where will the cuts come from? Now I'm the first to say that hospitals charge very expensive rates. They routinely discount their rates 50% or more for insurance companies and my recent experience with some self-paid bills indicate that an individual can get the same discounts.

So these new cuts must be in addition. But what are they going to cut out? Just the "overhead"? Well, even if that's true, "overhead" results in jobs. In moving all records to electronic records, some paper pusher will lose a job. But my concern isn't just for paper pushers, it's for the other jobs. The person who cleans the rooms, the person who prepares the meals, and (most importantly) the nurses, doctors, aides, etc.

If profits are good (as I stipulated last month here), then profit in health care is good. And cutting that profit means job losses and (more scarily) potentially cuts in service.

Michael Jackson takes on the world

I've decided that Osama Bin Laden was right, America is a paper tiger. For the last several days, America has been focused on the death of Michael Jackson. All this while we have an economy that needs attention, a president engaging in foreign policy with (IMHO) our number 1 enemy (Russia), a continuing war in Afghanistan and Iraq, etc. etc.

Some would blame the news media for this fiasco. I don't. Personally, I don't believe the media is in conspiracy to destroy the US. I think the media is as capitalistic as they come, they will put in the news whatever they think the consumers want.

Instead, I blame you and me. We need to turn off Entertainment Tonight and get our news from legitimate news sources, not tabloids. We need to tell the newscasters were more interested in the price of tea in China (literally) than in who is shacking up with Brittney Spears.

The media attention around the Michael Jackson mess amazes me.

Gaffney serial killer is caught

Gaffney, SC is a small town best known for it's peach water tower, a symbol of the peach orchards in the area. Some have said the peach resembles the back-end of a woman bending over. In addition to the peach orchards, Gaffney, population around 13,000 is also home to Limestone College, a small "private, Christian, non-denominational, coeducational liberal arts college."

Recently, Gaffney has been terrorized by a serial killer who has murdered five people in three separate incidents. There has been no known connection between these people and no pattern. Yesterday, the suspect was killed in nearby Gaston County, NC after a shoot-out with police.

My family has two separate connections to Gaffney, about 50 miles away from my back door. My daughter-in-law's family lives in Gaffney and her mother works at Limestone College. They have lived in Gaffney their entire life. Additionally, my son-in-law's parents attended Limestone back before they were married. The town of Gaffney has been hit hard with this incident and they are all glad it's over.

Much will come out about the individual who committed these crimes. 41 year old Patrick Burris. During a press conference last night, SLED investigators waved a 25 page rap sheet - asking for an explanation as to why this man was on the streets. When captured, Burris was in the company of a couple - what is their role in this mess? Where has Burris been the last two weeks and what led him to Gaffney (he was caught about 30 miles away) to commit these murders?

There will be more research into all of this and I, for one, am interested in the answers. But for now, this saga is over and Gaffney can return to its peaceful nature again.

Mars & Venus for dummies

I said in my last post that I had trouble understanding the Mars & Venus thing. Once I realized that this was talking about men & women and not about planets, I was in even more trouble. But it seems like Governor Mark Sanford understands even less about the subject, so I figured I could help him out a little.

First, if you're hiding a relationship with an Argentinan mistress and you keep emails lying around, don't send your wife in to look for financial documents. Yep, Sanford sent his wife into his office and she found out about his affair. He had to confess and blow up the whole thing. It's almost like he wanted to get caught.

Second, once caught, don't ask permission from your wife to go see your mistress. Somehow, this seems obvious, but it must've gone over his head. The governor asked several times over the last few months if he could go see his sweetheart again. Maybe he was absent on the day they covered this in Cheaters 101 during his college days, you just don't do it. That's what cutting class will get you. I can just hear the conversation - "can I please just see her, just this once? I promise, we just need to talk." Yeah, right. Just talk.

Third, and this is important, if you're trying to make things up with your wife - especially if she seems agreeable to the idea - don't call someone else your soul mate. Now this is certainly one of those mars/venus things, but women tend to be a little jealous. Saying something like this is almost as bad as saying something like "yeah, she could lose a couple pounds" or "she doesn't look half bad once she puts the makeup on."

Now I should quickly point out that none of this comes from first hand knowledge. I did not attend Cheaters 101 class while in college (nor at anytime since) and didn't even sign up for it. My wife is very understanding, but has let me know in no uncertain terms what would happen if this ever became an issue with us (it's a scary story). And most importantly, I have NO DESIRE to find out what "the other side of the fence" is like (and the fear factor helps). My side of the fence is quite nice thank you.

But it sure seems the governor could learn a couple of lessons.

And now the hard part

I've made the last two posts notes to my sons/daughters/-in-laws, with some directions on how they should treat their marriages. And now comes the hard part... living it on a day-to-day basis.

When I first got married, I naively was looking forward to the day when I could coast. Looking for that day when everything was safe. Once past that day, I wouldn't have to work to protect my marriage and I would know that my marriage would be safe forever and ever, amen.

Of course that's one of those fleeting thoughts and as soon as you express it, you realize how silly it is. No, you realize, you're going to have to work each day to prove your love to your spouse, to protect your heart from those that would steal it. You're going to have to show her each day that she made the right choice when she said "I do."

But then, I realized there's two simple reasons not to fear this continued work. First, it's not that hard. Watch your heart, don't get into situations that create an opportunity for problems. Listen to her (or him for the ladies) daily, actually care about what's going on in their life.

Second, the benefits of working on your marriage daily are fabulous. So while this is the hard part, in many ways, it's the easy part too.

A note to my daughters/daughters-in-law

Last week, I published a note on the Sanford affair and included a note to my sons/sons-in-law. Now it's time for a counterpoint, a message to the girls in my life.

I need to start with a couple of strong caveats. I do not mean this as an attack or even a statement about Mrs. Sanford. I don't know (and don't want to know) anything about her marriage and (to date) she has acted with class. In fact, this doesn't apply to anyone who has had problems in the past, it applies to future actions only. Second, no where does this give any man any excuse to cheat. That's inexcusable. I'm hoping I can tell some women how to make their marriage better.

And my final caveat is that I am not now, nor ever have been (or desire to be) a woman. I struggled with the mars/venus thing when I thought it related to planets, once I discovered it was about men & women I was even more confused. I claim no special knowledge about women, a lesson I've learned the hard way several times.

That said, I saw something in Mark Sanford's letters that needs to be pointed out. He was looking for someone to confide in. He was looking for someone to share his daily life with. He found it in the wrong place.

There's a song that says "he'll have good times doing things that you don't understand." You don't have to understand the things your husband enjoys. But you can still listen to him talk about those things. Or go watch him do them. Cheer him on. And "if you love him, ... be proud of him." There isn't a man alive who doesn't want his woman to be proud of him. And he needs to hear it.

You also need to watch yourself and choose your friends carefully, especially the opposite sex. If you're confiding with another man things you haven't confided with your husband, you're committing emotional adultery. This can quickly lead to physical adultery.

Ok, there I said it. I've probably proven how little of the mars/venus thing I understand. And who knows how many times I'll have to clean up the mess I created with this post, but at least it's out.

SC Governor found out

A couple days ago, I posted that the SC Governor was missing. Well, he turned up yesterday. Not in a good way.

By now, most everyone knows the whole story. Originally, no one knew where he was for 5 days, then they said he was hiking, then it was found he was in Argentina. Having an affair. A tryst. A fling. Whatever name you want to put on it.

At this point, I think the governor should resign. He has lied to his staff and to the state for the last year. Some of the lines were not overt, he never said he wasn't having an affair. No wagging his finger at the TV saying "I did not have sex with that woman." But regardless, he lied. And the next time he stands up to fight fiscal irresponsibility, we will wonder about his purpose. He has shown a willingness to lie to his wife, his children and to all of us.

I don't think he should be impeached. I haven't read the SC constitution, so I'm assuming it's like the US constitution. That allows impeachment for "high crimes and misdemeanors." This (so far) was neither. Lying is not the same as perjury (like lying to congress). There may come some facts about his misuse of public funds and my feeling on this may change. But for now, I don't think he should be impeached.

My hat is off to his wife. She has shown a willingness to try to rebuild the marriage. She didn't have to do this. The choices are all hers at this point. But, she seems willing to try. What a classy lady.

I want to give a message to my sons and sons-in-law. Watch yourself carefully. If it can happen to this man, it can happen to you. Never, never develop a "dear, dear friend(ship)" with a lady. It can only lead to problems. In this case, Sanford apparently had a friendship with this lady for 7 years, before it turned sexual. In my opinion, his adultery started long before the last year. I firmly believe that you can't have a close relationship with any woman other than your wife.

And finally, we need to pray for this man. It's not clear to me if he is truly repentant yet. But he has completely destroyed his wife and family. If he takes my advice and resigns, he will lose his job. Where will his income come from? We need to pray for his wife and his kids.

Profit revisited

Last November, I posted an entry about profits. (see here) The basic point I tried to make was that profits are not immoral or evil and it's actually good for companies to make a profit.

Lately, I've dug up an old memory from back in the 1990's related to profit. It seemed very important to me. During that time, we were experiencing what some people called a "rolling recession". One industry would be hit with hard times for a while, then another. One of my co-worker's parents ran a fishing boat, somewhere up North. Small, family-owned business at it's best.

One day he reported a story where he asked mom & dad how the business was doing. "Hard times" they said, they had to run the business with just 3 or 4 workers. The output was higher than ever, but competition and the "rolling recession" was hitting the business hard.

He explained that in good times, they had 8-10 people working for them. "How are you able to make it with just that few people?" he asked them. "What's different?"

Their reply was that in good times, they hired more, in rough times they trimmed down. A higher gross profit allowed them to spread the wealth (at their choice).

It seems to me that when companies like this profit, it's a good thing. They hire more workers. Sure, they aren't as efficient as they could be, and the consumer ends up paying for it, but (if there is competition) the consumer doesn't really lose out.

More about profits on another day...

SC Governor missing?

It's been all the talk on the local news, our governor is missing. Most of my readers are out of state, and therefore unconcerned. But I promise you, this story gets better.

Seems at least one person has a unique idea of what he might be doing. You see, Governor Sanford is known for being conservative. In fact, he takes conservative to a new level, refusing to ask for some of the stimulus money because it would cause more debt for US citizens.

In the Governor's first term of office, he decided to make a point out of his desire for fiscal conservativeness. He wanted to come out against pork spending in the state budget, so he walked into the legislative office with a pig under each arm.

His latest disappearance occurred over the weekend, with his last known location somewhere outside Atlanta. His own wife said she didn't know where he was. Finally, last night, his spokesman said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail.

The interesting turn of events is pointed out by this Christian Science Monitor story that realizes that the hiking takes place on Naked Hiking Day.

Now the thought of this conservative governor hiking naked may amuse some people, but it's a picture I personally don't need. Even the write of the article admits it's unlikely.

Alas, I just heard news that Governor Sanford will emerge tomorrow (hopefully fully clothed). The mystery will soon be over. But it's had a lot of play on the local news.

And the blogs were silent

Ok, maybe a little over-dramatic. It's been about a week since I posted, I promise to get back at it. In addition to the funeral last week, my wife went in for back surgery. So I spent Friday-Monday sitting at the hospital with her.

The surgery went well and she was able to walk some and even take on steps. We're home and she's made it up the stairs to our room (hopes to make it back down today). She continues to progress and gain strength.

We had an interesting experience at the hospital ("interesting experience" and "hospital" probably shouldn't be in the same sentence). This hospital is relatively new (1-2 years) and ONLY does surgeries. They have NO emergency room. No Pediatric ward. No Labor & Delivery. ONLY surgeries. Mostly hips & knees, but other miscellaneous surgeries too (I wish had more information on that).

There are two floors active - one for administrative, X-Rays, Labs, etc, one for surgery and patient rooms. The third floor is built out, but has not yet been used. There is a fourth floor, but it's not built out yet. There are 36 patient rooms on the second floor.

Since these type surgeries are elective and can be scheduled, they tend to be scheduled early in the week. Doctors don't want to be on call on weekends. In our case, we went in on Friday. So the hospital was less than full capacity. In fact, for part of the weekend, there were eight patients, for the rest there were only four. During one "event" in our room (sounds ominous - it wasn't) we had 100% of the on-duty hospital nursing staff in our room - two nurses and a nurse supervisor.

I was VERY impressed with the way everything was handled. Job separation was very fluid among the nursing staff, various levels of nurses, even housekeeping. If you needed something, it got done. No one said "I'll have to call someone else, that's not my job".

But the world moves on, and a lot happened while I was out. I'm going to catch up on my blog reading and news reading and post more this week. Oh and there's that silly thing called a job, whereby I work a little here and there and my employer sends me a little money (not enough) here and there.

More to come...

a great loss

Yesterday, my former father-in-law passed away. Some of you know that I was married before I met my current wife. I still kept in touch with her family, especially her dad. He was an important man in my life and one that I admired greatly.


I never called him by his first name, it was always Mr. Tumblin. For someone to have gone through as much pain and suffering, he was an exceptionally happy man. He grew up in the depression and I never heard him complain about it. He dropped out of college to go to war, but I never heard him complain about that either. And believe me, I heard a LOT of stories about his time in the army.


After the war, he went to college again, but never finished. He got married and started a family. He was a rural route postal carrier and was proud of what he did. His daughter had open heart surgery at the age of four. Being the man he was, he just kept going, dealt with all the fears and pains without complaint.


One of his greatest joys was his grand-children. having 5 grand-daughters and one grand-son, he loved having them around. Once he decided to buy hearing aids and spent a small fortune on them. Unfortunately, they didn't solve his most pressing need - he wanted to hear his grandchildren. These little ones had high pitched voices and even with the aides, he couldn't hear them. The hearing aides wound in in a drawer, unused.


He lost his wife to cancer. He sat by her side for the few months she was in the hospital. He taught me an important lesson - we asked what we could do and he said "Just pray!". Several years later, he lost his only daughter after a short illness. The lesson I learned from him then was we just needed to be thankful for the time we had her.


One of the most important lessons he taught me was on the unlikely subject of racism. He grew up in a time and place where races were treated differently. It wasn't a matter of hatred. It was just what was done. But he also showed love to one individual of another race who touched his life. He showed it by caring for her when her own family wouldn't. And he showed respect to others, based not on the color of their skin, but based on what they did and what they could do. He showed me that racism can be overcome, one person at a time.


I had breakfast with Mr. Tumblin last week. We talked and he told stories. I'm not sure if I could remember a single one, but I'd probably heard them all several times. I'm glad that I was able to share the time with him and hope that I made his heart a little lighter for that day.


The last several times I had breakfast with him, I had noticed some of his problems. Trembling hands, sometimes forgetting where he was in a story, other problems that he wouldn't want me to mention. He was beginning to face the reality that he might not be able to take care of himself. Because of the man he was, I knew this would be a problem for him. In some ways, I'm not sure if he could have lived that way. Now that problem is solved. I've heard him talk about his faith and I know he was a Christian, so I'm not worried about his soul. I know he's in a place of no more suffering.


I knew him for for 30 years and if I live another 30, I hope that I can begin to live like he did. We will miss him greatly.

Anyday payday, how about today - revisited

Last May (slightly over a year ago), I did a three part series on Payday lending. In the first part (here), I talked about the business and some of the requirements for the business. In the second part (here), I talked about what two states (SC & Ohio) were doing to try to stop the business and in the final part (here), I gave my opinion.

I won't rehash all that was said back then, but I will say that this conservative who prefers less government interference spoke in favor of more government regulation and less payday loans. If you're interested in the details, go back and read those articles. I'll be glad to answer any posts.

Since that time, Ohio passed new legislation aimed at killing the Payday loan industry. The industry used loopholes in the law and kept working. SC failed to pass any legislation, but this year tried again. The legislation passed, however, it was vetoed by Governor Sanford.

According to the Greenville News, "The regulations this bill would place on payday lending would not force the lenders out of business." Of course if you read my initial posts, you'll see that this only partly true, Payday lending can't survive outside its current business model. The bill would have limited the loans to $550 and "consumers would be prohibited from having more than one payday loan outstanding at any given time." There would also be "a one-day waiting period would be established between loans for the first eight loans, with a two-day waiting period on any loans beyond that." This would keep borrowers from paying off one of the loans with a new one. "A statewide database would be created to track who is eligible for payday loans."

All of this seems reasonable. However, the governor disagreed. He said "it is this administration's abiding belief that government's role is not to protect people from their own actions." (Newark Advocate). He also said "he recession leaves consumers needing the ability to get access to cash to avoid eviction, foreclosure, bankruptcy and having their lights turned off."

The bill had an unexpected advocate - Advance America. Now you may be surprised that a payday lending company would support the bill. They said the bill "would have provided consumers who choose to use the cash advance product in South Carolina with comprehensive reforms and protections." (Charleston Regional Business Journal) Advance America realizes that if the bill had succeeded, it would have been free to continue to compete, while smaller companies may have had trouble with the new legislation.

Remember, the best payday loan is your own payday loan. Put $500 in the bank for the emergencies that come up. When an emergency comes up, pull it out, then put it back just like a payday loan. You'll save yourself large fees and maybe even gain a little interest.

Book 'em Danno

This morning our local station did a "Timeline" story, a story where they explain something significant that happened this day, June 13. Now I would have thought they would have recognized my son-in-law's birthday or maybe granddaughter #3's one month birthday, but rather they focused on a court decision, the decision of Miranda v. Arizona.

Most of us are familiar with the Miranda decision, from watching television (analog or digital). The decision (1966) marked a time when the Supreme Court ruled that an individual must be told his rights when arrested, you know, the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, etc.

But I got to thinking, whatever happened to Mr. Miranda? Well Wikipedia is always a good source, especially if you aren't writing a paper. In this Wikipedia article, it's all spelled out. Seems 22 year old Ernesto Miranda was arrested for robbery and while under arrest, he confessed to raping a girl 2 days earlier. At trial, his victim positively identified him and his confession was entered into the courts.

The Supreme Court indicated that Miranda didn't know (or wasn't told) his rights and sent the case back to trial. Now Paul Harvey would say, here's the rest of the story. When the case went back to trial, the prosecution entered the same witnesses and "other evidence" (Wikipedia isn't known for detail). The result? Miranda was convicted, sentenced to 20 to 30 years, served 5 years in jail, was released on parole and went on to lead the life of a prosperous citizen.

Well, maybe not that last part. Seems he spent time autographing Miranda cards for police officers and then was stabbed to death in a bar argument four years later. Even when given the protection of his full rights, he was still convicted. And in his final trial, he was afforded the same rights he gave his earlier victim.

Moral of the story: Just because someone gets a big case named after them, doesn't mean they weren't guilty.

My newest granddaughter

Frequent readers of my blog may be experiencing a little deja vu or thinking "wait, Randy's rerunning blog posts." Quite the contrary, this is a NEW blogpost about a new granddaughter. Yes, I told you about Kayden back in December and Audry in January (actually came 12/31) and about Caroline a few weeks ago. Now, it's Anna Grace's turn.

Last night at around 8:45, Anna Grace made her entrance. She weighed 7,11 (Oh thank heaven!) and measured 20+3/4 inches long. She joins her three girl cousins (all 6 months old or younger) and her lone boy cousin (3 years old - details way back here).

Although I had nothing to do with the name choice, I think it's perfect. She will teach all of us, so much about God's grace.

Congratulations Adam & Emily, you have a beautiful little girl. And no idea what you have coming at you. (But I'll give you a hint - it's wonderful!)

For more information, see my wife's blog in one of her very infrequent blogposts.

NC Law bans texting while driving

I'm traveling through NC this week, so I heard on the radio about this new law in NC that bans texting while driving (see news story here). The station I was listening to asked listeners what they thought of the idea.

I confess I only heard one or two callers and then not completely, definitely not a representative sample. One caller complained that police officers had enough to do as it was, burdening them with more workload was counterproductive. He claimed they "barely knew enough about the law to make arrests." His tone was very anti-police.

I also confess to wanting less government interference in our lives. But this one seems reasonable. I've seen people texting, sending notes on Blackberries, etc and it just doesn't seem safe. Passing a specific law, rather than having police interpret bad driving, seems like it will help.

First, some number of people will follow the law, simply because it's the law. Ok, that's a small number, but it's significant. Then, some will be afraid of the $100 (plus court costs) fine and will stop. Others will hear about friends who were ticketed and decide to save the $100 for themselves. Regardless, the number of texting drivers will decrease and that's good.

I've also heard of an increasing number of warrants being drafted for cell phone records. Seems you can't hide, they will find out if you've been texting while driving. And expect the lawsuits to be quite large.

I once held an instant messenger conversation with someone and then found out he was using his laptop while driving. My last message to him was that I was not going to do this and I shut down the instant messenger session. I have no doubt that he continued to use his laptop while driving, but I didn't want to be a part of the wreck he caused. That's been 2 or 3 years ago, he now has a Blackberry and I don't want to know what he does with it or when he does it. But I don't have to be a part of it...

My favorite hotel chain

I've been traveling a good bit lately and I'm trying to book all my stays at a hotel in the Hilton chain. These include Hilton, Hilton Gardens, Hampton as well as Doubletree and Homewood Suites (mostly, I use the first three).

Recently, on two separate occasions, I stayed for free (once for two nights) using the points I've built up. I like a free weekend (even if I was helping someone move).

Last week I found an extra charge on my corporate charge statement for a hotel that I have used several times. I made a few phone calls and found out that the charge was for a reservation made in my name, but was a no-show.

What really bothered me about the charge was they didn't award my any Hilton points. If I was going to pay for the stay, at least I could get reward points, right?

So, I made a few other phone calls. Looks like I made the reservation, the date of travel was a week where my plans were very fluid. I must have made the plans, then changed them and never cancelled. I don't remember it, but it must have happened.

So today, I called the Hilton again. Monica in accounting (who I had talked with last week) answered the phone and I explained the situation. She remembered me and I asked if there was something we could do about the charge. I explained I was a frequent guest and didn't feel I should have to pay.

To my surprise, Monica agreed to reverse the charge - "this time" - but she admonished me to please call next time so they could rent the room. I told her I would and that I would definitely stay at her hotel again. I thanked her and will be watching for the credit to show up on my account.

Now, the last time I stayed at this particular hotel, they were no where near full. I doubt that the room would have been rented even if I had called. But the hotel had within their rights to charge me for the room and I (or my employer) would have had to pay. I'm very glad they reversed the charges.

This particular Hilton gives me a free buffet breakfast including a made to order omelet, so it was already top on my pick list, but after this treatment it will stay there.

Voicemail 101

Some people hate dealing with voicemail. Actually, I typically don't mind. It's an effective way to communicate. You can call someone, tell them what you want, they can call you back, tell you the answer - effective communication.

So what happens when someone calls and leaves a message like this - "Hi this is John, I need to talk to you, call me." Then you call him, he's not in - "Hi, this is Randy, returning your call, call me back."

Then you get on the phone, John calls back, blah, blah, blah.

So, instead of getting on the phone, you wait on John to call back. And wait. And wait. How long is the appropriate time to wait?

Wouldn't it be better if John left a message instead?

(You might guess, this was a frustrating day).

Stock picks

I mentioned in my last post that I purchased some GM stock last year. I have never made public my stock picks in the past, so I decided this might be a good time to explain.

I'm not a big believer in buying individual stocks and in fact, I'm not sure I'm a believer in mutual funds. The former bears more explanation, the latter, well, it's just not time to discuss that now. With individual stocks, you put a lot at risk. One of my MBA professors said that a stock's value represented the market's opinion on future value. It's sorta like taking a vote on how good you think the company will be 5 years down the road. And if you think voting is the right way to determine value, take a look at our presidential elections over the last several cycles: Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama - I think the word "fickle" applies.

So if you assume the market is fickle, individual stocks are scary. However, I decided several years ago, that I could afford to invest a small amount of money in individual stocks. My first attempt to beat the market was by buying Palm stock. I was impressed with the product, they were way down in price and I thought they were making some good technical and marketing decisions.

After about 2 years, my value was up about 50%. I saw some folks using Blackberries and decided to sell. Timing on the buy and the sell was not perfect, but who can argue with 50% over 2 years.

My second attempt at stock picks was a company named Ahold. Years ago, Ahold moved into the U.S. by buying the grocery chain I worked for, Bi-Lo. They had grown since that time and reached a peak. Then they hit some accounting scandals. When I chose them, they were making several corporate decisions to restructure and to sell Bi-Lo. To make a long story short, there were some good days and some bad days, but I made about 100% over 3 years. Again, no one can argue with success.

My goal has been to pick stocks on companies that are down, but have a solid product and a decent plan. Then hold the stock for at least 2 years. Don't try to time the entry or exit to the best day, but choose a "season" when it's low to enter and a "season" to exit when it's high.

In August of last year, I chose GM & Ford. I did this because I thought they were "too big to fail" and the government would bail them out. They did, several times, but finally, the downward momentum killed GM. Ford is up about 30% from where I got into it and I think it will go on up. I'm not sure it will go up enough to recoup my GM loss.

My fundamental mistake here was buying not what I thought was a stable company, but based in what I thought the government would do. I should have remembered the word "fickle" (see above).

I should also point out that this is not a pump-and-dump blog. You won't see other stocks mentioned here, at least not daily. I won't try to convince you to sell or to buy. If comments show up about the latest greatest thing or something "they" don't want you to know, I'd strongly advise you to ignore them or at least investigate before you make a decision (I typically don't edit comments out, but may if needed). I just wanted to share my experience and see/hear your opinions...

Misc topics and random thoughts

Camping trip was great. I took about three short hikes. The first one was on a trail I hadn't seen before, part of the Palmetto Trails to Jocassee Gorges. It's a 12.5 mile hike, I did a small part of it, but was expecting visitors, so headed back. From what I can see, it's a good hike but not real scenic. The second hike was along the Carrick Creek. On this hike I was accompanied by my three year old grandson. We hiked for about 20 minutes, took a 10 minute break, then hiked another 10 minutes before heading back. The hike is supposed to last about an hour, but with his short stride, I'm sure we didn't go half way in 30 minutes of walking. The last hike was back along the Palmetto Trail, but he was tired so we didn't go far.

All in all the trip was great. Two nights in a tent, far from everything. I'll post more about it later.

While I was gone, GM announced bankruptcy. I haven't blogged about it, but last August I bought some shares of GM on a lark. This was back in early August, before the bottom fell out. My theory was that the government would bail them out and the stock would go up. They did get a bail-out that month and the stock ticked upward for a day or two, then the credit market fell and, well, it was a lark.

I don't mean to imply that I backed the bail-out. I think it was a bad idea. But I really didn't think the government would let them go bankrupt. Who knows what will happen now. Maybe I'll blog more about that later too.

This past weekend, an abortion doctor was shot and killed. Make no mistake, this was murder. The conservative blogs that I read agree. The doctor has been called a killer (and I agree with that), but it doesn't make his murder any less of a murder. His (alleged) killer has been arrested. He deserves a fair trial, but assuming he is found guilty (and I see no reason why not), he should probably face the death penalty. It was simple pre-meditated murder.

Camping trip - take two

Last August I tried to go camping but was rained out (read about it here). Today, I leave for another attempt at the trip. If the weatherman is accurate, and if I believe in signs today like I did last August (see the post), this trip is meant to be.

Some family members are supposed to visit tonight and I'll grill some burgers. My 3 year old grandson is supposed to stay with me and tomorrow, we'll do some hiking, then come back the following day.

Wish me luck.

P.S. Sorry, that's not my tent in the picture. But one can hope....