Friday, November 30, 2007

Loyalty - A thing of the past?

I finally did it! I replaced the old worn out tires on my car with some brand spanking new ones. Whatever "brand spanking" new is...

I could have gone to any of the local tire shops that abound in my neighborhood and purchased tires, but I waited until I could travel the 20 miles to MY mechanic's shop to get them.

In spite of the convenience of online shopping, and the deals that the superstores advertise, I feel that the relationships I have developed over the years with people like Brent, my mechanic, are worth more than anything else.

I can get tires a dollar or two cheaper somewhere else, but I can follow Brent around the shop as he works on my car, and the others in the shop that day, and discuss important things like NASCAR, professional baseball, and racing engines.

As we wander around the shop, I can take in the sites and smells of a working garage - I can peer into the open hoods and check out the engine compartments, I can walk under the cars perched on the lifts and inspect their undersides, and best of all I can look through those gigantic tool chests at all the neat tools of the trade.

Besides working in a restaurant, working as a mechanic has always been one of those things I thought I might have enjoyed doing. This is the third shop Brent has owned or worked at since my wife and I met him. As he has moved, we have followed him. We trust him with our vehicles.

Of course, I still take into consideration getting a good value for my shrinking dollar, but that usually comes along with the kind of people I have been lucky enough to build strong relatonships with. Brent is my friend. Even though we only see him a couple times a year, I value his friendship.

Loyalty. In today's world, I think we need more of it.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Blogging Thoughts

The Blogosphere has captured my full attention. I’ve made it through the first week of posting and I am excited about sharing my thoughts online.

As a confessed bookaholic I picked up a couple of books on blogging and have been scouring them and the blogs on blogging to learn all I can about this brave new world.

Bob Walsh has some good advice in his book, “Clear Blogging,” and on his blog at http://clearblogging.com. If you see me tweaking things on a daily basis it is because I have read something that educated me just a little bit more. I will still make amateur mistakes and overdo things as I try out new widgets and features. It will all calm down in time.

A distinct voice, I feel, will also come along with time. Thanks, Kelli, for the sound advice about being patient and waiting for it to develop. I’ve appreciated comments from people very much and hope to soon get the trackback and comment etiquette part of it all.

I love Bob’s words in his book, “The reason the number of people blogging keeps doubling every five months…is that blogging gives us a new way to communicate, to share, to influence, to connect, to outrage, to matter.”

Count me in!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Founders Quiz

I love reading books about how companies began their lives.

My favorites are about companies in the high tech industry - since that is where I’ve spent the majority of my career. I am currently reading the “The Google Story” by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed on my Palm T/X, something I would never have endorsed in theory, until I tried it myself.

I love traditional paper and ink books. I love the look, the feel, and the smell of them. I love turning the pages and taking them in and out of the book shelf at the library or my favorite book store. But for the sake of convenience, I also like a good electronic book. I can slip it into my shirt pocket and read it at times when I couldn’t, or shouldn’t, be seen reading a book. I’ll let you be the judge of when those times could be.

The Google Story takes me back many years to the beginning of my career when I daydreamed about working in the next garage development lab. I wanted to work next to the greatest whiz kids of my generation. Late nights at the computer banging out code, or bent over breadboards designing the next big electronic thing-a-ma-jig.

See if you can match some of the founders with their companies.


Don't peek at the answers!



A-6, B-8, C-1, D-2, E-3, F-7, G-5, H-4

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

First Snowstorm Has Arrived

The first snowstorm of November has arrived and that usually means a traffic-headache filled commute. Since the weather people guessed that the storm would hit about the time of the evening commute - I planned for it. First thing in the morning I told the boss I was out of there as soon as the storm started to roll in.

I checked the weather radar web site throughout the day and raced home just in front of the storm. I left work in snow and arrived home, 50 miles later, in sunshine. Great planning. Of course the storm caught up with me, but I could now watch it out the living room window.

Snow and snowstorms during the commute are not my favorite thing. I am a warm weather man, but I love Utah and will put up with it. The good thing about the snowy season is that it is also Christmas music season! I do love to listen to Christmas music to and from work. Yes, that is me you see singing along with the songs. Don't tell anyone! Tis the season!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Passion - You Got It?

Lately, I've wondered if there was any passion left in my soul.

Same routine day in and day out. Work, no travel, no excitement, nothing out of the ordinary happening here. Just spending a lot of time at home, reading on the couch in front of the TV, or surfing the Internet on the laptop.

But something stirred the passions this weekend. A good old football rivalry game! It was pretty ugly football most of the game. It looked like the home town team would win sooner or later in a duel of field goal kickers. Then the visiting team turned it on, scoring a touchdown and going ahead by one point with a couple minutes left in the game.

The doubting Thomas attitude came out full strength and the blame game began. "It was the coaches dumb decisions," I told the wife. "They HAD this one," I added. And true to form, three downs and no progress. There they sat. Fourth and 18 on their own 12 yard line. The expletives were coming fast and strong. Unlike the home team... I gave up and conceded the victory to the opponents.

And then it happened. With barely a minute left in the game, the quarterback scrambles to his right...looking for a receiver...let's the ball fly...for a 49 yard first down reception! My heart beating faster and faster, adrenaline rushing through my body, and my head throbbing wildly. They had a chance! Oh ye of little faith! I was alive again. A football game had ignited the passion once again.

They scored a couple plays later, and with a two-point conversion forced the visitors to make a touchdown instead of a field goal to be able to tie or win the game. It didn't happen. The home town team held the visitors and triumphed in the end. I danced jubilantly around the living room.

Life is back to normal today. Work is work and the commute is the same. For just a moment in the middle of the day, I thought back to the last seconds of the game and the passion was alive again!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Smart Car - I Want One

I am tired of wasting money on gas commuting 100 miles round trip to work every weekday. The announcement that the Smart fortwo car will be coming to the US in 2008 has me intrigued.
I saw one on a trip to Japan and would love the 40 mpg (average highway and city) and under $15,000 price tag that it affords.
Being 6 ft 2 in and over 200 lb might be a challenge, but years ago I commuted in a GEO Metro and that worked. Can't wait to see one in a showroom!
For now I will have to just check in at http://www.smartusa.com/ for a sneak peek.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Weight Loss Plateau - Help Needed

I have been on Weight Watchers for a couple of years now. My wife and I religiously attend our weekly meetings and read nutrition labels like pros. I initially lost 90 pounds, but over the last six months I have gained back about 20. Part of the problem is that I injured my shoulder and my back (rotator cuff tear and chronic compression fracture). But the real problem is lack of following the solid weight watchers principles that got me here. I need motivation to begin tracking my points again and getting the daily exercise (even when it hurts the injuries).

My eating habits are definitely better than they ever have been. I need to get going again on the weight loss track. Can somebody out there in blog land tell me the secret to staying on track long term?

The Times Are A Changing

I can tell the grandkids that I started using computers in the olden days. The first personal computers I used only had cassette drives for memory and professionally it was server-based word processors on Wang workstations.

The first PC-based word processor I ever used as a technical writer was PC Write with ASCII text files and embedded control codes for bolding, italics, etc. WSIWIG was unheard of. It pains me to admit that I was around when the first IBM PC was revealed. It makes me feel very old.

Shoot forward many years and today I am sitting in front of my laptop watching a collegiate rivalry football game on cable TV and surfing the Internet for blogs of interest. Oh, and did I mention IMing with my friend and ex-coworker in Japan who happens to be listening to the same football game (tomorrow morning our time) on his laptop PC?

When I began cable TV, the Internet, and blogs were not household words. To use a computer, I would have to go to a user group meeting and migrate from table to table watching others on their computers and wait for an offer to take their place at the keyboard. Today, we have two laptops and a desktop computer at home (not to mention two Palm handhelds). Even our cell phones do more today than those early PCs!

Anything I can learn about blogs has been an insatiable desire. Although my goal is to hone my writing skills with this blog, I am curious about what others are doing with their blogs. I want to know about voice, ads, interactivity, trends, techniques, and all the other things that go into a successful blog.

So, the journey has begun. Daily blogging will help me to improve the writing skills while lots of Internet research reading other blogs will help me to make this blog more successful.

Hold on for the ride.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Black Friday

FOUR A.M. Darkness is well upon us. It's too cold , and too early, to be standing outside in a slight breeze with hundreds of crazy, anxious parents waiting to capture a bargain for Christmas. At least the snow hasn't come yet.

With an hour to go before the store opens the front doors, people are gathering across the parking lot road to find a gap in the seemingly endless line and slip in when the crowds begin to move. They are the special people, you know them, the ones who think that the rules are for the rest of us. We are the only ones who need to wait patiently in line. They are the ones who are so important they can butt ahead of us!

When the lady behind me in line gets into a match of wits with one of the line-crashers I just cinch up the draw string on my jacket and bite my lip. People are so funny. I don't mean in the humorous way either.

The morning's activities take me back to my teenage years. Working retail for ten years - from high school through college and young married life - made me hate the Christmas season.

Watching people push and shove, scream and scowl, trying to be the first to get that bargain kinda takes the goodness out of it all. But the worst of all was the day I had to arrest the grandmother trying to sneak out the IN door with a cart full of gifts for her grandchildren. She couldn't afford Christmas and with the pressures put on us to give, give, give, even when we can't, she resorted to attempting to steal something for her family. It was a sad day for me. The pressures of want sometimes overwhelm the voice of reason.

Ten years of Black Friday's did me in. It has only been during the last couple of years that I have been able to listen to Christmas music on the radio and hum along with the tunes on my way to work in the morning.

I remember the Christmas mornings at our house growing up. We kids would get up early and anxiously wait in our bedrooms until Mom and Dad finally gave up and got up themselves. Mom and Dad would go downstairs before us to turn on the Christmas tree lights and put on the Christmas music. We kids would line up, youngest to oldest, and on command would march down to the living room where Christmas awaited.

I can still see the picture in my mind of Christmas morning in our house. With six kids, and later one or more of the cousins, colorfully wrapped presents began at the base of the tree and flowed out into the room taking up half of the living room. There were always plenty of presents. Mom and Dad made sure of that.

Each of us found our spot as one of us passed the presents, one at a time, around the room. We all watched the current present holder open their gift. Christmas morning lasted a good long time. I remember that the presents were even coded with a number in case Santa forgot to put a name on one of them!

When it was all over we had a big Christmas breakfast and then it was get dressed and off to the neighbor kid's to see what they got from Santa Claus.

Well, this post makes it sound more like Christmas day than Black Friday... maybe it will get us all in the mood for a good Christmas season; a season of joy, and love, and remembrance; maybe we can forget the hustle and bustle of shopping and trying to make sure we get that new Nintendo game or pretty pink dolly so as not to dissappoint a young child.

Maybe this year we can all remember the real meaning of Christmas - the young child lying in a manger. Peace. Love to all of you.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

It's here again. Time to give thanks. It seems like time flys nowadays. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Life is funny. I was thinking this morning about all those family and loved ones who have passed away and what I remember of them. What were their strengths? What were their weaknesses? What did we gain from our relationship? What do I miss most about them? I thought about how I want my kids to remember me and asked myself what I am doing to give them good things to remember.
What did I do to take advantage of my parents life experiences? I let their busy lives and mine take over our days. There were so many things I didn't know about them and their parents and grandparents. Now it is probably lost to me.
And brother Bob. I was excited to work with him on our family genealogy. He left us too young.
If only I could have a day to share with them and say all the things I wanted to say to them but didn't think about until I was peering over their final earthly resting places. I should have thanked them while they were still here with us for all the things I loved about them.
Thank you all my friends and family for all you do for me. Whether you are here in Utah, Japan, or across the country, I love you all and hope we get to share some happiness together again real soon.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Where Have You Been?

Now that I have the hang of this blogging thing, where have you traveled? What are your favorite vacation spots? Why do you like to travel?

First Post...Hopefully Not The Last

I established this blog a while ago. I have not posted to it yet. I need to write more often and so maybe this blog will allow me to do this.

I enjoy reading the blogs from people around the world, especially in Mexico and Japan. Having visited both, and would love to visit more often, I am very interested in what people say about life in the two countries.

We will be returning to Mexico on our cruise in February 08. The cruise will be too short. We booked a 5 day Carnival cruise to Baja, Mexico because we wanted the itinerary. We will be sailing on the Carnival Elation.

The Elation is the same ship layout as the Ecstasy which was the first ship we cruised on. Home port is San Diego, CA and we will visit La Paz, Ensenada, and Cabo. We have visited Ensenada once and Cabo twice. We will be taking a trip to Todos Santos, an artists colony, instead of spending the day in Cabo when we arrive.

I love to take photographs when I travel. I look forward to taking plenty of photographs of the people and the architecture.

I wanted to learn spanish before we returned to Mexico. I bought workbooks, CDs and a computer program. None of these seemed to work for me. Now, three months away and I am no closer to knowing any spanish.

When we visit Puerta Villarta we eat at a great little seafood restaurant: the Blue Shrimp. A wonderful restaurant. I hope we can find at least one good restaurant on this trip. Fresh shrimp is one of my favorites.

Anyone out there with any ideas? Not that anyone will be able to see this blog...