WHAT SOULD BE DONE TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC FROM OUR GOVERNMENT

While talking to my daughter I realized that one way the American Public can protect itself from its' government, is to require that all elected politicians drink nothing but NYQUIL all the time. This should effectively keep them inebriated without requiring them to become alcoholics. Once they are permanently inebriated we should be safe from any of their harebrained schemes, since they should be so sloshed they can't stand up long enough to make long winded and pointless speeches. Followed by pointless but surreptitiously dangerous lawmaking. As a side benefit this drinking requirement should also act as a legislative term limiter. After our legislators and politicians, spend enough time drinking NYQUIL they should forget to go to work.

You Have the Right to Be Stuck In Traffic

Some days ago I read a small newspaper article that was a reply to a question about how those Highway On Ramp meters and lights work. It seems that some very smart traffic engineers have spent, what is I assume, a vast amount of the public's money to develop a system that tells drivers already on the on-ramps all around America, that road ahead of them is congested. What the genius traffic engineers didn't do was to place a RED traffic light or a flashing sign that says "Do Not Enter Congested" at the ENTRANCE to the on ramp. That way us dumb drivers, could avoid the congested roadway instead of just getting on, and then finding out the road was blocked or delayed.
This leads me to confirm that the people who design traffic control systems and roadways don't have drivers licenses. Just like the people at GM and CHRYSLER who build cars never drive them.

Collective Bargaining

I just read an article in the AARP magazine about a recent audit of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. A quasi-government authority that runs the New Jersey Turnpike. According to the article, the audit done by the New Jersey State Treasurer found millions and millions of dollars of wasted salaries and unearned bonuses. And how did the New Jersey Turnpike Authority management deflect the blame for its wastefulness? The management blamed the waste on its collective bargaining agreements. As if the NJTPKE management had not agreed to the wasteful agreements itself.
More and more it seems that when municipal or quasi-government agencies bargain with their unions, the unions get whatever they want, because the management and the unions are bargaining with themselves

Is it just me, or are all the articles written every day just seem to get me, more and more angry.

Y ME

So I board my plane to go back to Portland from LA and take my seat and everything is going fine. We reach 10,000 feet and the Waitress makes her announcement "We have reached 10,000 feet you may use your electronic gadgets and please recline your seats and relax and enjoy the flight." So, I recline my seat and the next thing I know I am being banged in the back of my seat. So, I calmly wait for the banging to stop, and it does not. So, I calmly get up, turn around and say to guy in the seat behind me,"Do you have a problem?" He answers " You Are In My Lap." He doesn't say, yes we have a problem, he doesn't say "please move & don't recline your seat as much", he doesn't say, "yes I have a problem could you please help me." No, my unassigned airplane buddy snarls at me. So, instead of starting a brawl on the plane, with a guy who is at least four feet above the back of his seat, sitting down, which means he will be scrapping the roof of the airplane when he pummels me, after I say anything. So what do I do, I turn around sit down and unrecline my seat, and wonder Y Me.

Random Thoughts

The other day it occurred to me that the smarter the cellphone a person has the dumber the person can be. I was also talking with my daughter and somehow the subject of Japanese World War II interment camps came up.It occurred to me that maybe the real reason for the US Government moving all the West Coast Japanese to interment camps was to ensure an uninterrupted pool of post war Japanese Gardeners.

What Is this Person Talking About?

While sitting in the PDX airport waiting to go to LA, I overheard the following conversation. One woman asked another person the following question: "Is the Portland OREGON airport an all-weather airport?" What could possibly be the answer to that? Would you want to go to any airport that had its commercial flights fly in any weather? That means they will put you on a plane in ice, snow, hail, earthquakes, torrential rain and/or any other natural weather related disasters in the making. The only all weather airport I know of is a Navy Aircraft Carrier, and that is not what I want my friendly commercial airport to be.

The Benefits of Free WiFi

Now that most airports have free Wifi, in occurred to me that I don't ever have to actually get on any airplanes. I can get go to the nearest airport get free WiFi and free SKYPE and never have to go through the hassles and expense of current day flying !!!. This would be especially good for me because ever time I go an airport lately, including this trip, I loose a pocket knife.

Social engineering or revenue producing?

If the political leaders of Tigard / Tualatin want to change our driving habits maybe they should pass an ordinance in place of the red-light camera ordinance requiring all offenders to attend psychological counseling for either anger management and / or anti-social behavior acts. In any case our political leaders should not be giving over our alleged behavior modification problems to the local police, unless the local police are all licensed mental health professionals. On the other hand if the red light violation act is designed to produce more local revenue than I would humbly suggest the local highways all be changed to toll roads.

CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

On 10/21/2010 my wife and I purchased a Quadra-Fire QF130 gas metal fireplace insert from NW Natural Appliance Center Portland OR. This unit was a replacement for a GTI insert which had become unusable. Once we made the decision to replace the GTI insert we decided to shop at NW Natural Appliance Center, not Sam’s Inserts, not Charlie’s Inserts or anywhere else, since we believed that NW Natural would give us the most reliable service, and best advice for our purchase. After working with NW Natural & its Sales Consultant we purchased a QUADRA-Fire QF130. On 11.5.2010 the NW Natural recommended installer, brought the unit to our home and began the installation. After completing the physical installation he began the electronics and mechanical installation and could not get the IPI or controller module to work. He then appeared to “consult “with NW Natural Appliance center people, and between them they decided to replace the control module. Due to the installers schedule and the fact that that 11.5.2010 was a Friday, he could not complete the installation until 11.9.2010. Even though this left us with a non-working insert for three days.

On 11.6.2009 I spoke with our NW Natural Sales Consultant as told him I had lost confidence in the unit and wanted it replaced with a completely new working unit, he convinced me to keep the unit and that everything would be fine on 11.9.2010. On 11.9.2010 our installer returned with a new module hooked it up and could not get the unit to stay on consistently and the fan units when they did come on were making mechanical noises. I paid the installer for his work, and then talked with my NW natural Sales Consultant, who assured that I would have a solution to my problems on or before 11.11.2010. On 11.11.2010 my NW SC advised me that NW & Quadra-Fire were aware of some defective units in the field that a fan recall has been instituted and that QUADR-FIRE and NW Natural would remedy the problem,. At that time I told the NW Sales Consultant that I still had lost faith in NW Natural & Quadra Fire and if they could get the unit working I wanted all parts in the unit not now warranted for life to have all existing warranty terms to be at least double., and that I wanted some monetary compensation for the loss of use of the unit, and for the time and trouble my wife and I had been forced to go through due to the lack of quality control on either NW Natural or Quad-Fires part.

On either 11.13 or 11.14 I received a call from Wade at NW natural telling me that the Quadra-Fire Factory Reps would be coming to my home on either 11.16 or 11.17 to fix the problem and I requested that a NW Technician come with them Wade did not seem to think that was necessary.

On 11.16 two factory reps from Quadra-Fire did come to my house and did get the unit working. They told me the IPI or control module did not malfunction, but was actually happening was a wiring harness had been installed and / or manufactured incorrectly and that caused all the unit’s malfunctions.

At this point I told them that as a result of the poor and incorrect communications from NW natural, combined with the obviously lax Quality Control on the part of Quadra Fire I had lost all faith in both companies commitment to their customers.

The bottom line is we now want:

1. All parts of our Quadra-Fire QF130 warranted for twice the time of the factory warranty, not including any parts already warranted for life.
2. We want monetary compensation for all our time and inconvenience for making ourselves available for factory authorized repairs, and the loss of use of the unit from 11.5 till 11.16
3. We also want monetary compensation for the time and trouble caused by the fact that a defective unit was sold to us, under the guise of a fully functioning quality product.
4. The total money back or credit towards our outstanding balance is $ 500.00.

I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my concerns and will wait until 12.4.2010 before seeking help from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau.

The Perfect Customer

It seems that no matter how hard we try to spend money in Oregon it seems to go awry. For example, we discovered that in our new condo the gas fireplace insert that came with the condo was broken, and could not be repaired. So we went to buy a brand new insert from what we thought would be the best place to buy, from the Gas Company.
I figured who would have the best products and provide the best installation, no one better that your friendly neighborhood gas utility. Boy have a gotten an education into how modern American Customer Service works. It is no longer true that the customer is always right, it is now true that the customer is only as right as he or she is willing to complain about. No one does the right thing without a fight. What happened is we went to the gas company retail store bought what they recommended and then then things happened, for example during the sale the salesman mentioned their were tax rebates and in-store special pricing. But he never mentioned that if I went to the gas insert manufactures web site I would find a 100.00 off coupon and then when I found it and brought into the store he had to get permission from his manger to honor it. In the good old days any salesman would have advised me about the coupon and would never has said anything about needing permission to honor it, but today I had fight to get it honored. And then when the unit was delivered by the independent installer, another goofy arrangement, the unit unit would not turn on due to a defective gas control module, whatever that is. So the installer gets new module comes back three days later and get the unit on buts its fan will not work and then I call the gas store and am told there is a factory recall for these units due to fan failures.
Now, they want to send two factory techs to fix my unit, and said no way, I paid for a working new unit not one with two major parts already repaired.

How Non-Profit Entities can keep themselves from getting Ripped-Off

I spent 90 days working for a for-profit fund raising company which was a major division of one of America's premier magazine publishing companies. The parent company has since gone bankrupt, but before they did, as a sales rep for one the fund raising divisions, we were lectured to keep informing our prospective education market fund raising targets, just how ethical our home office company was. This was in spite of also being told how our real mission was to get as much profit as possible from every school fund raising program, we could sell, with our real goal of selling the schools any fund-raising program so that they made as little profit as possible.

This is not an anti-cookie selling sales message its actually a message to all non-profits ( schools, churches, bands etc. ) to never do business with any for profit fund raising companies. And, by the way, I also found the worst offenders in short-changing the non-profits on fund-raising profits, were ex-educators ( ex-local school board members, ex-local principals, and ex local teachers.) All of whom used there supposed empathy with their ex-colleagues to further their own un-ethical goals.

My New Kindle

Hi,
So my children bought me a kindle and even though I have only just begun to use it I can see I will love to pieces. Which leads me to believe I must buy a cover for it, its not hat it seems flimsy it just seems that it would need a protective skin, since I will be dragging it around all the time. My friends back in PA who were the first kindlium ( plural of kindle?) that I knew, have given me three kindle user tips:
1. read all of the manual
2. buy sample books before I buy a full edition.
3. get a cover
So, we are now getting closer and closer to being full time Oregonians, we just got our first local newspaper subscription, and filled out forms to vote in OR.
We also received our new Seally mattress, amazing what a new mattress will do for a person's outlook on life.

Municipal Unions

Municipal unions serve no function other than to protect their members & union officials from economic reality. When municipal unions collectively bargain with our elected or appointed state county, or local officials they are bargaining with themselves. Municipal unions have fostered the idea that municipal workers (policeman, fireman, teachers, etc. ) work for the state, they don't, municipal workers work for the taxpayers, and the taxpayers have no-one to represent them in any collective bargaining between any current municipal unions. As some one once said " if you want to control someone first appear to serve them."

The Guitar Show

So today I went to a guitar show in Kent WA a suburb of Seattle WA, which is suburb of Western Canada. Its not really a suburb of Western Canada but it could be. Anyhow I saw lots and lots of guitars and some amps some aging wanna be Rock & Rollers. One of the agers about 60ish was wearing leopard skin leather pants and didn't seem to realize just how ridiculous he looked. I thought about telling him but then I realized he wouldn't understand one word of what I was saying and he might start crying. And believe me a an aging Rock & Roller in leopard skin pants who is crying is not a pretty sight.
I did see some really neat guitars ( do people still use the word neat?). They would have been even neater if I could play anyone of them. Or all of them simultaneously. I realized I need to learn to play guitar so that I too can wear leather leopard pants, or maybe zebra skinned leather pants since I don't want to be labeled a follower.

OUR NEW LIFE IN PORTLAND OREGON

We did close at 10: 30 am but because of local OR rules regarding the recording of the transfer in the county seat we could not get our keys until 4:00 yesterday afternoon, and by that time we were too tired to do anything but take a few things to the apt. So we spent one more night in the hostel and Keith will help us move in today.

Interestingly one of the first things Judy wants to buy for the apt are mums for the patio.

We still need a few things for the apt, like a new kitchen and all new appliances., all new floors, a new bedroom set, a new living room set and a new dining room set. We are planning to have that all done no later than the end of this week.

Armageddon

With all due respect to Pennsylvania’s municipal workers, why is the possible laying off 20,000 or more of them due to PA budget problems Armageddon ? Why isn’t a national unemployment rate of almost 10% Armageddon ?
Why isn’t the almost daily announcement of private company layoffs Armageddon? When the taxpayers of the state of PA are being laid off, and their employees, PA state workers jobs are sacrosanct, that is Armageddon.

ANOTHER CELEBRITY SEEKING FAMILY

Maybe I have lived too long, but sending your 16 year old daughter out to sail around the world is nothing but a stunt. If her parents really are interested in her doing this stunt send her out with a chase boat and rescue team following her, all of which her family should fund.

One way or anther the taxpayers of the world have to pay for finding and rescuing people who go around doing stunts. The least that can happen is the royalties from their books and TV shows and movies are sent to a fund to educate people to not do stupid publicity seeking stunts.

Comments on a Charels Krauthammer Op Ed Article

Mr. Krauthammer,

I should begin by saying I am Jewish, and therefore biased towards Israel. That being said I must say your column in the Philadelphia Inquirer about the away in which the world is conspiring to eliminate itself of Israel and the Jews was very frightening.. It was frightening because it showed the ways in which Israel and its “troublesome” Jews are never going to have the peace and tranquility they so desperately crave and are entitled to.

Just by coincidence on this past Tuesday night I attended a lecture about among other things the past and future of anti-Semitism or as it should Called today anti- Israelism. Combing that with your column has made me even more resolute in my support for Israel.

It seems that as pessimistic as it might be, the only true friends in this world who really support Israel are Israelis , and enlightened Americans such as yourself.

Please keep up your defense of Israel and its “troublesome “ Jews, as I heard Tuesday night, Jews are the worlds Canaries, as Canaries are to coal miners. As the world treats its Jews so will if find out how it will treat its other minorities.

Working in a Call Center

If you work in a telemarketing / call center, you have lots of time to:
1. Make up fictitious company slogans:
Blah Blah the call center company that lowers your expectations one call at
a time.
Blah Blah the call center company that lowers the service bar one call at a time.
2. You also have time to call people you who actually want to know if they are on candid camera?

Call center employees are minor executives in minor corporations.

The Beginning of the End

I firmly believe that when Microsoft created the Excel spreadsheet program, most middle managers lost their minds. What I mean is managers actually believe that if they can put some figures and some words into a spreadsheet they must be true. Somehow spreadsheets have come to mean credibility. And what is even is spreadsheets have became invincible. Whatever an off the wall manager puts into a spreadsheet must be doable, and once something is supposedly doable, in this economy the downstream workers can't say no to doing it. No matter how outrageous or impossible to accomplish the goals are, as set forth in any spreadsheet the worker bees must agree to actually trying to reach these ridiculous goals. Goals used to be attainable and mutually agreed on. Today all middle management has to do is create a spreadsheet or a Word document and all of a sudden all the worker bees have to line up and agree to march into the sunset and commit suicide if they don't reach the absurd middle management goals.

Career Politicians

I am sick and tired of career politicians. Elected officials who act as if their only job is too get themselves re-elected. What has brought anger on my part to a head, is the Democratic Party primary in Pennsylvania between the incumbent Senator Arlen Spector and his challenger Rep. Joe Sestak. What Spector has done is to attack Sestak on minor unimportant points and too attack Sestak's "mental health" and Sestak's allegiance to the United States, even though Sestak served as a three star Admiral in the US Navy.
Arlen Spector has been in the Senate too long, and he needs to be sent home. The founding fathers made a mistake but not including term limits in the original US Constitution and now is the time for the voters of PA to exercise their version of term limits and send Arlen Spector home to Pennsylvania.

What Used Car Salesman Say between talking to Used Car buyers

So, I have been advised I have to blog a few lines each day. So here goes:
Some of these lines were said by others, but I found them funny enough to at least remember to write them down. These were said by various used car salesmen I used to work with:
1. Here comes the Woodall Family. They Woodall have come to the showroom floor but they can't fit into their current car.
2. Down South we use automobile air bag recovery systems for only larger women. Weatherman can predict everything, including tornadoes.
God made whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
3. While at a small church in the South during a witness service an Old Man got up and said" I am thank full to the Lord because I had a bowl movement this morning and I feel great."
4. The theory of Relativity is only for people who can tolerate illegal drugs.

The Beer Police

I just finished reading an article about how my PA state legislators just held a hearing about how PA State Police were sent into some bars to check on whether or not all the beer for sale in these bars was registered with the state. Give me a break. Is there no other thing for PA State police to do then to police whether retail beer is registered ?
Stop protecting me from unregistered beer and start protecting me from beer with no taste !!!

My First Thoughts

For years my daughter has been all over me to begin blogging. Well get ready world because I have finally found the psych energy to begin doing the aforementioned blogging.

First, I have never seen American Idol and/or Dancing with the Stars, and I can't understand why anyone would spend any of their precarious time here on Earth watching either of these shows. I know they must entertain some people, but getting entertained is no excuse for mindless activity.

Also why did Ben Stiller make a movie called Greenberg to entertain one person in the world, Woody Allen? And why did I have to waste 17.00 dollars of my money so that Woody Allen could see Greenberg? And to add insult to injury I'm sure that Allen got to see Greenberg for free !