What does it take?

Go get a drink, this one might take a while to read…

My wife's father used to work for one of the Big 3 automakers before he died many years ago. As his survivors, my wife used to get a discount and so she, and then we, bought cars from that manufacturer (I'll abbreviate BCC – Big Car Company). Then, a couple of year ago, BCC decided that due to her father's divorce a couple of years before he died, my wife was no longer eligible for the discount (after 20-some odd years of her family using that same discount including on the one my wife was driving at the time of our purchase attempt!). Though frustrating at the time, we simply used my employer's slightly less generous discount and bought a car from BCC anyway.

Fast forward a few years. That vehicle we purchased has now had at least five brake-related repairs (the latest just last week!), two transmission issues (including an entire replacement), and several other much more minor issues. The car does not yet have 60k miles on it! To me that's a little excessive.

The most recent issue is just the icing on the proverbial cake. Last Saturday, the family was shopping a half hour from home. When we returned to our vehicle to leave, the car started fine then, after about 50 feet, stalled. Restarting the car, the engine ran extremely rough, then stalled again as we tried to move forward. We also lost transmission control – no forward and no reverse – intermittently. These were the same symptoms that my wife experienced last year when they ended up replacing the transmission. We called a tow truck and had the car towed to the same dealership that did the replacement last summer, expecting them to find additional transmission issues, and made some short-term alternate transportation arrangements.

When I heard from the dealership on Monday (I had to call them, by the way), they said that the processor, the brains of the engine, was submerged in water and that was what was causing the issues. The transmission was a symptomatic casualty, but not the root cause. They had no idea where the water came from (it had rained the night before, but we had driven in the rain many times since purchasing the van). They could offer no reasonable source of the water. Had I driven the van through a puddle 5 feet deep? No. Had I been in an accident with the vehicle? No. Had I poured 25 glasses of water down a channel that didn't exist into a cavity I couldn't reach in the firewall between the passenger compartment and the engine? Uh, not that I can remember…

Two questions pop out here. One, the more obvious one, "Where did the water come from?" and two, "If there is an electrical component susceptible to water damage, why wasn't it sealed to protect it from that water?" Answers: "Don't know" and "no water should've been able to get in there."

Having JUST gotten the vehicle back from the brake repair LESS THAN A WEEK BEFORE THIS, my irritation level was understandably a little higher than baseline when this issue presented itself.

This just doesn't make sense. I was getting no help from the dealership, so I escalated. I escalated at the dealership and had the distinct pleasure of talking to someone their website identifies as their "Customer Relations Manager" who is not someone who should even be allowed to talk to customers. I eventually talked to the Service Manager. Same crap! So I escalated to the Manufacturer's Customer Service department. Not sure why I expected anything other than just some call center phone jockey who'd give me the corporate line and toss me to the curb, but I had hopes…that were dashed. No satisfaction there either.

Meanwhile, my short-term alternate transportation arrangements had expired and I was out of options, so I paid the $340 labor costs so that I'd get my car back and vowed to continue fighting for remediation through channels other than the dealership. (The dealership's resolution? Seal the whole housing with silicone and wrap it in a plastic bag, then reattach to firewall. Now I'm concerned about lack of circulation for an electronic component as well!) I did ask the Service manager to escalate through his channels to express my concern over the lack of true resolution to this issue. He confirmed that he had done so, but the technician was on vacation this week… Did I mention that I did the same thing JUST LAST WEEK after the FIFTH brake-related repair? Different dealerships, different tech escalations, but now there should be TWO people looking into this vehicle.

So… that's just the background; it's not really what I wanted to talk about here, but I'll post updates to this saga as something happens – hopefully next week. What I wanted to talk about was customer service. You know, servicing the customer, hopefully with the intention of keeping them as a customer and selling them more product so that the company makes more money… I think that's still the goal of every capitalist company in the world.

Common sense reasons, and surveys prove, that it takes a lot more money to win a new customer than to keep an existing one. Most surveys put it at a five to seven fold difference. To KEEP one customer would cost you say $20, but to replace that customer would cost you $100-$140 dollars. But those are the numbers of video stores, and florists, and moving up to ISPs and cell carriers (both also blind to this apparent "new-fangled concept"), not the range of dollars that losing a customer means to an auto manufacturer. Total sales to one customer alone could reach half a million dollars or more over their lifetime. Granted, sales does not equal profit, but it's an important number all the same to demonstrate scale. And that doesn't even touch on the word of mouth marketing impact a bad experience can have. I can't find the study, and it was probably done before the advent of blogs (like this), and all of the other social networking phenomena, but it said that for every bad customer experience, the average person is likely to tell about 20 people versus just a couple about a positive experience. That can only be worse for the manufacturer nowadays. I've tried to praise the positive companies by name here, while protecting the names (or me from lawsuits) of the outcast.

Think of the positive, FREE publicity that this (or any) manufacturer could get if they just did the little things for their customers in situations like mine. Say they're sorry. Offer a discount on the service. Prove to me that they recorded the issue to the development team to review. ANYTHING! But nothing yet for me.

Most large companies have their share of ACMESUCKS.com websites. Do they troll those and try to win customers who post there back? I don't know, but by then, it may be too late. I'm willing to offer feedback. I'm willing to provide details and work with them to rectify this issue. I've opened the doors for them and invited them in. Others may have just walked away, told all their friends and relatives and BCC would never know what happened, not gotten the opportunity to fix things and make them right. When something like this comes up, I feel it's my responsibility to tell the company. Then my duty is done. How they react is up to them. If I don't tell them, it's my fault. If they don't fix the issue, it's their fault.

Did I mention that I actually work at a BCC facility and have to walk by their internal marketing about the quality gains that they've made, and the posters that say "We're the voice of the customer."? Talk about salt in the wound. Great -- their new cars are top of the line quality. What would make me want to buy one if they treat me like I've been treated in the last several weeks. And, so what about the new cars. What about the ones that millions of us already own? Don't they care about US? My coworkers (as employees of BCC) have said that they're embarrassed by how I've been treated (and they've only heard some of the phone conversations).

I've been fighting off the comments by friends and relatives every time something goes wrong with either of my BCC vehicles (yes, I own two currently). The ones that take the BCC name and make up new meanings for acronyms, etc. (think Northworst Airlines instead of Northwest Airlines as an example). It's getting harder and harder to defend that position now. Other members of my family are driving "other branded" vehicles with over 250,000 miles on them – no issues – or getting 50 miles to the gallon as the price of gas approaches $4/gal. I get reminded of that quite often -- especially during vulnerable times like this. I had even changed my wife's ringtone to play one of BCC's classic commercials when I called (but I've now changed it back to my son announcing my call instead).

I was planning on replacing my van this fall (if it makes it that long). I had a BCC vehicle all picked as a top contender, with really nothing else in the lineup. I'd talked to coworkers who have that same model. I'd found the support forums and looked at BCC's model site. Discount aside, I was still interested in purchasing a BCC vehicle. Of course that was two weeks ago; the feeling is waning. I'm not a lost customer yet, though. They've got another couple of weeks to win me back. The ball's in BCC's court. They need to decide how much they want me as a customer. Is it quicker, cheaper and better for them in the long run to rectify the situation now and earn my goodwill, or to continue to battle the failing auto market because they're losing customers? Their choice.

What do you think? Has anyone provided great customer service to you? Especially in the automotive world? Leave a comment and let me know. One never knows when one might need such advice…

Shuttin' 'em down...

I'll post the whole issue soon, but I've been having a lot of car issues lately -- my car and my wife's car both. It made me remember something -- two of the four dealerships that we've used for maintenance on our cars are gone. Shut down. Closed for business.

The first was where we attempted to purchase my wife's current vehicle. Too many delays, etc forced us to go to another dealership. A week or so later that original dealership shut down.

The second one that closed was actually the one closed to our house, but one that we had never used until my car broke down a half mile away from it. They got the business by default (shorter tow). I was not pleased with the service, but they got my car running (though I'm still not convinced at 100%). I guess I wasn't' the only one not satisfied given that they closed a month or so after my repair. I actually talked to the General Manager of the dealership because of my service experience.

Now I'm curious what will happen to the dealership that just services my wife's car given our record. We'll see...

Full details on my experience to follow (I need to sanitize it a little still).

Strike One

BCC's Customer Service Department said I was out of luck.

BFE

If you search for BFE in Google or any acronym finder, you're likely to find that it means a "way out of the way place." -- rated PG-13 for language :-p

But for me, that was BK (before kids). Now, BFE means Boxtops For Education. General Mills started the program in 1996 in which they donate money to schools and other non-profits by having consumers return a special proof-of-purchase icon found on their products. Many other brands have joined the cause since then and the total donations so far top $200 million! The donations usually go toward the school's PTA or other school organizations that provide general funds for the students' education.

Here's the challenge... Print the list of participating BFE products. Tack it on the refrigerator or somewhere else visible. The next time you go to toss product packaging into the trash (or hopefully the recycling bin as most of these are on cardboard containers) take a look for the icon shown above. Clip it and put it in an envelope so it's safe (it's small and prone to loss if not secured). Every so often, send that envelope to a school that will then transform it into cash! If you know who I am, send it to me and I'll make sure that it gets to a good school, but if not, simply donate it to a local school in your area.

It doesn't cost you anything extra. You don't have to fill out any surveys. You don't have to give any of your personal information to who knows who. It doesn't take much time. Yeah, it may not be quite as rewarding as winning the state lottery (as if!) that claim to provide funds to the schools, but you're giving back in a real way.

Thanks!

Spanning the globe

I've added a section at the bottom of the right column that lists where people have come from who have visited this blog. I've been keeping track of the locations for a while, but finally got a place to make them public. It's interesting to watch and I'll add more as other unique countries or states find me here on the Web... :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Animator vs Animation

A friend sent this to me at work today. She thought it might bring a laugh. The video won't embed properly so you'll just have to go to deviantART to see it directly. It's worth the link, though.

Take a hike!

It's been awhile since Google released it's StreetView data. I've bounced around a bit in there, but this is the best use of the recently released API I've seen. Not only does this site provide directions, it actually drives it for you! I wish that there was a way to control the speed, but cool nonetheless.

People is People

One of the only things I dislike about the town I live in is that it is not very racially diverse. Despite the lack of local diversity, my wife and I try very hard to instill a sense of "everyone is equal" and "everyone is different" in our kids. I think that we've done a fairly good job of this based on the comments that they make when describing someone that they meet, or see, etc.

TrendHunter spotted an advertisement from McDonalds the other day that uses a shock factor to catch your attention, but then really shines as far as the end message is concerned. It's from McDonalds in Sweden, but should apply globally...

Gas prices

I came across this widget the other day that will automatically display your local gas prices based on your computer's IP address.


Disclaimer: All prices are approximate :-)

Give'm the finger

One custom of small town North Carolina that's kinda growing on me is the obligatory raise of at least one finger, if not the whole hand in a greeting gesture as you pass someone on the road. Depending on the placement of their hands (you still drive at 10 and 2?), whenever anyone passed me while in my mother-in-law's neck of the woods, they would raise at least part of their appendage in greeting.

One funny thing that I noticed about this custom was that it only applied in the most rural part of the countryside. As we passed the town of Joe (population 2) and Trust (population 16) and moved toward Asheville (population 70k+) the greetings diminished greatly. Funny thing is, as you pass up to the cities with populations nearing 250k+ and up, with traffic jams, road rage and too much extra-caffeinated Lattes, the gestures reappear... Though not in the same friendly kind of gesture I experienced. :-(

Back from vacation...

... or starting a new one. :-)

Vacationing with the family is always a fun time, but the disruption of schedule, including sleep, is a hard one to deal with sometimes. I'm not taking about the kids. For the most part they're back to their ol' happy, normal selves. I, on the other hand...

While my employer was shut down last weekend, we took the opportunity to head down south to North Carolina for a visit with my mother-in-law. After a 12 hour ride in the car, we were all exhausted. The kids compensated for this exhaustion, by exerting any last remaining adrenaline they could muster and stayed up for another several hours before crashing, and then waking up at, as my wife would say, "the butt-crack of dawn."

My mother-in-law lives almost as far from civilization as you can go without falling off the edge of the globe. Well, OK, not really, but she lives far up in the mountains, quite a distance from any McDonald's, Walmart or other store you might know by name. The last 15 miles to her cabin is literally switch-back after switch-back after switchback. That's all fine and dandy. But all this seclusion comes at a price -- actually a rather reasonable one if you're interested in renting her cabin apartment as you travel. But I digress... The price, as far as I'm concerned, is the several days it takes me to get over the fact that if something happens, the nearest hospital is who knows how far away. It takes me quite awhile to fall asleep. "Did we remember the Epi-Pen for my son?" "Did I set the parking brake?" "Was that a branch or a bear shadow I just saw?" All of these "non-sensical" things kept shooting through my mind, preventing sleep. I often would have to drown those thoughts with mind-numbing television (thank goodness for satellite TV) and pure exhaustion before I could fall into at least a fitful sleep. So much for using vacations to rest and rejuvenate.

It's all good, nonetheless. I'm glad for the time with family.

Funny knows no language

It's all about attitude

I received a letter from my homeowner's insurance company the other day saying that I was past due on my payment. The thing is, I don't make a payment to them -- it's all supposed to be taken care of by my mortgage company. They apparently didn't pay it. That's a problem. No payment, no coverage.

I figured that something had gotten mixed up, but that with a couple of quick calls I'd get the whole thing straightened out. I called my mortgage company (hereafter referred to as Big Company 1) first to see if they had made the payment. Navigating through the endless menu of a too-big-for its-own-good IVR system, I was able to determine that BC1 had made a payment to my insurance company (hereafter referred to as Big Company 2) on the 11th. BC1 sent my letter on the 12th. Payment was due on the 13th. I assumed that payment would be made at that last minute. Score BC1 - 0, BC2 -0

With information that BC1 had paid BC2, I tried to contact BC2 to verify that my letter was just sent "too quickly," and that they in deed received payment and that I was still covered. Unfortunately, it was a weekend and BC2 was not big enough to have a 7-day call center to answer my questions. This would have to wait until Monday. BC1 - 0, BC2 -1 point for not being open on the weekend when I needed to contact them.

So on Monday I called BC2 and asked them to verify that they had received payment. They had not, but based on my statement that BC1 had sent payment, they made note not to cancel my coverage pending receipt of payment from BC1. BC2 stated that in their dealing with other members that had BC1 mortgages, this was not unusual and that they had likely send the payment snail-mail so they were expecting a 5-10 day window before they received my payment. Why a Billion dollar banking company (aka BC1) still uses snail mail to sent payments instead of EFT, surprises me, but I guess it earns them a few hundred thousand dollars in float interest -- stuff we get penalized for and pay the price for. BC2 also stated that BC1 called BC2 on the 10th to verify the premium amount. Score BC1 -2 points for not using the most efficient means of finance and causing problems for me and apparently many others, BC2 - 0 for continuing coverage and the friendliness of the agent.

Grateful for continued coverage, I then called BC1 back to validate the payment and complain that they caused a late payment. They said that they never actually received a bill, but had noticed that a bill should've been received and made a proactive (but tardy) call to check on the amount due. At my initiation, I checked the address that the bill should've been sent to. It was wrong on my paperwork from BC2. I obtained the correct information to pass along to BC2. BC1 also stated that they had sent a letter to BC2 in February of 2007 to correct this information because of apparently similar issues last year. As I ended the call, BC1 agent had to finish her script ("I'm glad I was able to help resolve your issues today. Was there something else that I could help you with today? Did you know that you could also check the status of your account on line? Thank you for choosing...blah, blah, blah) So, now back to BC2 to complain that they weren't following up. Score BC1 -1 (points for being proactive and trying to correct the problem, but no bonus points for the the attitude and scriptiness of the BC1 agent ) BC2 -1 for not keeping a clean house.

Calling BC2 back to correct the address, I was connected to another agent than the one I talked to before. When I explained the issue she was quick to verify that the address was correct in the record now, but had been recently changed. She also pointed out that she, at BC2 processed over 50 BC1 policies a week (or was it day) and that BC1 used a boilerplate contract for each of them. Nothing should've changed from any other policy holder with regard to the address, etc. She couldn't explain how things got out of synch, but was empathetic to my problems and woes. She assured me that things were all set now and thanked me for my leg-work. We'll have to wait for next year to see if things are REALLY taken care of. Score BC1 still -1, BC2 - even for attitude.

So after all that, I'm not overly impressed with the whole system, but I was thinking about it last night and I still had a generally negative attitude toward BC1, while my attitude toward BC2 was actually overall positive. Both companies said that the other one was to blame for the issues. Both companies seemed to screw things up or at least drop the ball (though with all facts on the table, it looks like BC2 may have messed up a little more.) Yet I still had a better impression of BC2 than of BC1. Why? I guess BC1 was too big and made me feel like account #A2047265582, while BC2, treated me like one of their customers who had been inconvenienced. In the end it didn't matter who was wrong, it was how they made me feel...

I'm still a little pissed that I, the customer -- of BOTH companies, had to be the one to do the leg work, but unfortunately that's not unusual nowadays. I remember spending over a week dealing with the dealer when trying to get my first car. The car was late and they couldn't give me an ETA on when it would arrive. I finally gave up and called the manufacturer customer service line and within about 10 minutes I knew exactly where my car was and when it would arrive. It ticked me off so much that I wrote a very detailed 10-page letter to the dealership management, ownership, the manufacturer, and about 10 other people I'm sure really didn't care either, but at least I got it off my chest. In the end I was told that my letter was used in dealership training classes for the brand. I don't believe that, but that's what they said.

It's a real shame that we as consumers have to do so much ourselves -- stuff we're paying others to do. If a company were to just focus on customers for a while, image the possibilities...

God rays

I was always fascinated by the streams of light that seemed to burst through the cloud cover particularly after a storm. I'm not sure where I heard it, or if I made it up myself, but I started calling them "God rays." It seemed a little romantic, in an other-worldly kinda way.

Then along came the big book of Google and ruined it all. I was searching for something and came across the "real" name for these picturesque events... Crepuscular rays. Sounds a lot more ominous, almost medical, when compared to "God rays."

Well, fear not. There are still others, I've found, that think God rays is a more romantic, if not appropriate, term for the rays shining down from the heavens; the smiling twinkle of millions of hues of yellows and whites intertwined in their ephemeral journey toward this cold, dark rock we call Earth.

Yeah, I like the romantic better. :-}

WAKE UP! You're Late!

This weekend, this morning actually, the United States began Daylight Savings Time. Implemented a little earlier than usual beginning this year, it was designed to save energy, but the Wall Street Journal reports that it may, in fact be backfiring... Those living in Indiana had, in the past, been split on whether to follow Daylight Savings Time. Some counties changed their clocks with the rest of the nation, others didn't. This provided a sample for researches to measure the impact of the change when this year the whole state began observing the time change.

You apparently don't have to live in Indiana to be confused about what time it is today. According to Google's Trends web site, a lot of people are trying to figure that out. Fully 1/3 of all entries at the site are about time change this morning. Some of those, I'm sure come from Arizona who is still a bit confused about the switch :-)

A great site I've found for all things time is WorldTimeServer.

EDT

Engineering a purchase

When our printer gave out last year I decided that we needed two printers to replace it -- a color ink jet for my wife's photo printouts and the occasional need for color projects, etc and a laser for the bulk of our printing. Despite my proclivity for all things technical, I still like to read things in print. It's more portable and I think easier on the eyes.

I know that most manufactures enclose starter cartridges with the printers when they sell them. They give you enough to get started right away, but not so much that you can go too long before needing to pay up for their over-priced toner (or ink). When I bought our printers this time, specifically the ink jet, the "thirsty-factor" played a big part in my decision. Other than quality of output, this is the most important thing when choosing a printer in my mind. For the laser, this was less of a factor for me for some reason.

We're just now running out of ink for the ink jet after a marathon photo-printing session my wife made in preparation for a retreat she's attending this weekend. The laser is a different story...

Almost a month ago, during one of my marathon printing sessions, I picked up the stack of papers and realised that about halfway through the output, the printer had begun leaving a white streak down the center of the papers. No fear. After finding the websites again that I had been printing, I simply removed the cartridge, shook it good, rolled it around a few times, re-inserted it back in the printer, and re-printed the pages that were at issue. The printer had no issue printing clean, crisp output this time.

Several weeks, and about 100 pages went by without incident. Then I started to notice faded output. I repeated the steps from before (remove, roll, shake, re-insert) and went back to work. Again perfect output. Several weeks have once again gone by without issue.

I have the new cartridge sitting by the printer for when it really gives out, but had I, like I assume most people would, replaced the cartridge when it first started failing, it would certainly cost a lot more in toner each year -- money that no one can afford to toss out the window nowadays.

I've not had the same luck extending the life of ink jet cartridges, but I think I'm finally gonna try one of the refill services this time. It used to be, through a lot of successful OEM propaganda I'm sure, that I was afraid of damaging the print heads by using non-OEM inks. Now, printers have gotten so cheap that even if I do completely wreck the heads, the money saved on the ink will make up for it.

Try extending the life of your toner, and pocketbook, not to mention the environment...

BUT... when you're ready to purchase new toner/ink, use the link on the right side of A World Discovered and shop at Amazon to save!

Also, remember that most schools and other non-profit organizations (churches, clubs, etc) collect used toner and ink cartridges for recycling and to earn a few dollars. Take your empties where they'll do some good if you're not gonna refill them.

The Phoenix

One week ago today, someone, or someones, lit fire to my daughter's elementary school in the middle of the night causing approximately $3 million worth of damage, completely destroying four classrooms and everything in them as well as causing smoke and water damage to all of the other classrooms, and forcing 350 students plus staff to relocate to another school for at least the rest of this school year. It was a very cowardly act of aggression. And it appears that it wasn't their first or last such act. The local police are now looking for a serial arsonist with at least 5 other school fires set in local schools the last 3 months.

While I am greatly saddened by the arsonist acts, and the sadness, grief, fear, anger, rage, nervousness, anxiety, frustration, hatred, worry, depression, and shock it has caused the students, teachers, staff, parents and community, that's not what I want to talk about. That would be too obvious and would dwell on the bad. Though the individual(s) is still on the loose, the students, staff, and community are moving on -- getting back to the business of teaching our children in the excellent fashion that our school district has been known for. They are not ignoring that the event(s) occurred, but choosing to not be held captive by the fear -- to rise above it.

When the company I work for was going through a massive growth spurt, stretching the internal resources way too thin trying to keep up with hundreds of new-hires, server capacity, etc, we used to comment that it was a good problem to have. Better to have to deal with how to manage too much business than how to manage not enough business. Since initial word of the fire broke last Monday, the community, students, families, and honestly, people around the world, have offered their help and resources. So many people flooded the school offering to help that the Principal and PTA president have had to ask people to stand down on their offers of assistance -- for now. You know how hard that must have been? To tell people "I'm sorry, we can't take your assistance right now." Their main focus and immediate concern was the student's safety, and getting something in place where they could continue their education.

There was SO much to do! In addition to the obvious requirements of time from the Police and Fire Departments (and the media), there was assessing and then finding a suitable location to continue schooling, evaluating the usability of the contents of the damaged school, dealing with the emotions of the staff affected, the logistics of bringing a school mothballed for almost 2 years back on-line and finding places for all of its guests for at least the next five months, preparing the school with comfort items to make the transition easier for the students, and I'm sure at least 500 items that we'll never even know about. All of this while dealing with the wide range of emotions running through their heads personally. I'm sure that their professionalism has held most of their emotions in check for now, but when the wave, hits, it will hit hard I'm sure.
They're not turning away the volunteers. They're not turning away the supplies being offered up by students, parents, local citizens, merchants, media and others. They're just deferring. As they get their hands around what's left to do, I'm sure that they will be GLAD to graciously accept the offers.

On Sunday afternoon, less than 7 days (only 156 hours) from the time the fire alarm went off, an uncountable group of persons transformed what was a devastating event in our community into a triumphant victory of teamwork, commitment and hard work as they opened the doors of the school now deemed the temporary home of those 350 students displaced by cowardice aggression, welcoming each of them with open arms. Despite the inherent confusion with all of those students and each of their parents crowding the school at once as if this was the first day of school, things looked incredible! The student's desks had their things in them (where possible). There were posters on the walls – many from other schools providing support and well wishes! There were pictures of past events all over the school. There were maps and signs and guides to make sure people knew where to go. There was A LOT of energy and excitement as students took to discovering new rooms and hallways. Some things may even seem like an "upgrade" – I remember my daughter commenting, "the bathrooms have three stalls in them!" This school also has air conditioning lacking in their last school. What was missing, mostly, was the fear. It had been supplanted by the positive energy and excitement all around.

There will be bumps in the road. Unplanned glitches will need to be addressed. Emotions will have to be discussed and overcome. The one thing that really came across though, almost from the start of the communications a week ago, was that everyone would be riding the same figurative bus down that road. It doesn't matter what school it stops at, it's the same group of people, the same community of caring teachers, staff, and parents that support these students. It's still the same school -- just in a different building... For now...

Sometimes you need to trust them

During lunch today, my son complained of a tummy ache. Though, I thought he was just trying to get away with not eating so he could play, I let him off the hook and didn't make him finish.

During dinner, he said he was stuffed after just a few bites. This time I didn't relent and made him eat more. It was a struggle, but he often plays games to avoid finishing his meal. He's been saying he's hungry all day for several days so I didn't want to continue that pattern. We just can't fill him up right now. He's in a growth spurt. So when he said he was stuffed (while his brother and sister played) I thought that this was just another ploy so that he could go play with them instead of eating.

I was wrong.

He told me, actually my wife first, that I was wrong when he awoke at 12:30am just now and threw up all of that meal that he didn't want to eat but I made him eat all over his bed and himself.

"Take that!" his stomach was telling us. And just for emphasis, after my wife and I got him all cleaned up, changed his sheets, got him tucked back in bed and had headed back to find our own Mr. Sandman, he threw up again!

Ah well. Guess as parents we never learn that sometimes we should just trust him a little more when he says he doesn't want to eat anymore. He's not gonna starve.

Let's try this again... I hear Mr. Sandman calling my name...

Gas prices

GasBuddy has an interesting graphic (called a heatmap) that shows the average price of gas around the nation. I would think that, in general, the further you are away from the source of the product (the Gulf mostly) the higher the price would be because of transportation costs. Obviously there are other things in the mix here too though based on this picture; Supply and demand issues and local taxes come to mind.

Another interesting use of heatmaps is shown by some research done by EyeTools that tracked where subjects eyes looked while looking at a Google results page.

GCal Widget...

Apparently, the Google Calendar widget I installed to make it easier to get to the Google Calendar listing Radio Disney events does not work as expected. I left all of the detail right from the Radio Disney site in the descriptions so that you'd have easy access to it, but unless you are signed in to Google, you can't expand the event to actually see those details. Sorry. I'll leave it on there for those of you that do have a Google account, but keep that in mind. I'll see if I can find an alternative, but you can always look at the RadioDisney site directly as well.

Going Down?

I've been a GMail user for quite a while and one of the things that I REALLY like about it is that I don't have to worry about SPAM. I don't mean I only get a few. I mean I don't ahve to worry about it at all! (can you say that about YOUR email provider?) I was so confident that GMail could handle all of the SPAM I could throw at it, I now have it sucking in my old 99.95% used-for-SPAM account. And even with over 130+ messages a day for that email account alone, I still only see 3 to 5 A WEEK that it misses! I dutifully click on "report as SPAM" and save hundreds or thousands from seeing the same SPAM in their mailbox as I help train GMail's filters. I don't even check my SPAM "folder" in GMail anymore either 'cuz they have only marked a couple of messages as SPAM in the life of my account that really weren't SPAM -- and even then, just bulk newsletters. Honestly, after reading them, they were kinda SPAMmy... :-)

According to the graphic represented above (click to enlarge), Google's doing a pretty darn good job of staying on top of the continuous flow of SPAM. Another reason to switch to GMail!

PS. You can usually click on the leading graphics in my posts when I include them to get to some more information. In this case, I linked the graphic to Google's explanation on how the manage SPAM. Check it out!

Deezer's Back!

Looks like Deezer is back online. I hadn't checked it out for quite a while after the problems I'd been seeing with the embedded music I'd included with some of my posts. I'll add some more in the upcoming posts and see if they can stay online... {fingers crossed}

Whew!

The great folks over at Radio Disney caught my post about creating another calendar listing Radio Disney appearances and were kind enough to leave a message saying that they didn't mind a little extra (free) advertising for their Road Crew! Ok, I'm paraphrasing. But they deserve it. Job well done Radio Disney Road Crew!

No need to keep watching my mailbox for a letter from their lawyer. :-)

Cell phone support numbers

Not everyone has a fancy iPhone with all its applications and connectivity. For those of us still hobbling along with a plain old cell phone that just makes phone calls, there are still some resources available to help you get along a little better in life...

Here's a list of phone numbers that you might want to add to your cell phone. All use voice recognition, so they're (fairly) safe to use while you're driving -- hands free of course. I took a ride in a friend's Sync equipped Ford Fusion the other day. These kinds of resources are a perfect fit for that system!

Directions – spell out "DIRECTIONS" on your phone (347-328-4667) and tell it where you are and where you want to get to and it will send you text messages from MapQuest with driving directions. It uses voice recognition. You can ask for a specific address, a business name, or an event. See http://www.dialdirections.com/. Synch could even read these text messages back to you!

Free 411 – free directory assistance – 888-373-3411. It uses voice recognition, but has live-operator backup if needed. See http://www.free411.com/.

Google's free 411 (Goog-411) – 800-466-4411. Directory search. It will connect you to the number you're asking about as well as send a text message or map link if requested. See http://www.google.com/goog411/

Jott – allows you to send email reminders to yourself and others. You must configure your account first via Jott, but then when you call it will ask you who you want to Jott (including "myself") and you speak the message that is transcribed into an email (with link to recorded voice for backup). 877-568-8486. I use this to send reminders to myself, either to my regular email account or to my blog site to remind me about things to post about.

MS Live Search – 800-225-5411
From Press Release: "Call 1-800-CALL-411 (1-800-225-5411) and say where you are and what you're looking for. You can also get text messages, maps, traffic maps, and text-based driving directions sent to your mobile phone.

We've built Live Search 411 to go beyond just finding business information. Because our goal is to help you complete your task, we've included features like:
· Connect to any business listing you find-for free
· Receive SMS links to maps, driving directions and traffic conditions (just say "text me the info")
· Get movie showtimes and even buy tickets over the phone (via our partnership with Fandango)
· Share text messages of business details with friends so they can easily meet you there
· Hear the current weather conditions and the forecast
· Quickly access travel resources like airlines, hotels, and rental cars
· Remember your personalized locations for movie theaters, weather and traffic, and your preferences for receiving text messages. "

Tellme – Also recently acquired by Microsoft. Call 800-555-8355 (800-555-TELL) and get weather, news, sports, stock quotes, business search, driving directions, movies, horoscopes, etc. They used to allow you to set up favorites (stock symbols, sections of news, etc). Can't seem to verify that this is available any more.

My Traffic – 866-698-7232 visit http://www.traffic.com/ You Can also set up alerts via email from the site for your common routes.

From Site: "When drivers call 1-866-MY-TRAFC, they receive a detailed traffic report that includes a Jam Factor(R) rating (a traffic scale that grades traffic conditions from 0-10 with 10 representing the worst possible traffic conditions); travel and delay times; accident reports; construction delays; and more.
Registered users of the http://www.traffic.com/ Web site can access their saved, personalized drives via the hotline; unregistered users will be prompted for their city and the roadway on which they are traveling. The driver will then receive the real-time traffic report for that particular drive or road."

What other voice-based systems do you use?

Where's my editor?!

Blogger's spell check feature is still down, so let me know if you find any errors... :-)

50 life lessons

Every once in a while, something that would normally get stuck in the spam file catches my eye. This one happed to do just that. I have no idea if the prelude is true and I don't care. I'm not going to bother to check Snopes 'cuz it really doesn't matter. The prelude is not the important part. The rest of the pieces are the important part... (but I present it in it's entirety)

For over 7 years, Regina Brett was a columnist at The Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio. During that time, she was diagnosed and successfully treated for breast cancer. Regina is now a columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland , Ohio.

Lessons in Life By Regina Brett:
To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's mo re healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no
for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone, everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

Got any more to add? Leave a comment.

Quicker access to Radio Disney event calendar!

I just noticed a feature of Google Calendar that I hadn't noticed before -- the ability to embed a calendar in a external site. So... I've added the Radio Disney calendar I created a couple of weeks ago to the right bar of this blog! Easier access, and it works even if you don't use Google Calendar yourself. Hope to see you there!

That darn river quiz again

This time it's in Japanese -- the classic "get everyone across the river but follow all the rules about who can stay with whom" game.

Read the translated rules below and then click on the blue circle in the lower right of the site to begin.
~ Only 2 persons on the raft at a time
~ The father cannot stay with any of the daughters, without their mother's presence
~ The mother cannot stay with any of the sons, without their father's presence
~ The thief (striped shirt) can not stay with any family member,if the Policeman is not there
~ Only the Father, the Mother and the Policeman know how to operate the raft

To move the people click on them. To move the raft click on the pole on the opposite side of the river.

I you figure it out, post the solution in the comments for those of us with bruises on our heads from hitting the wall...

A stitch in time...

...creates a panoramic picture! AutoStitch is a small downloadable application that will create some pretty cool panoramic shots out of your pictures. Simply take a bunch of pictures of a scene in slightly different angles (remember to overlap a bit) and feed them to the Stitcher. It finds the common points and "stitches" the pictures together creating a bigger panoramic picure out of the composites.

A lot of the samples shown in the Gallery are of outdoor snowy scenes that I would imagine would be more difficult to stitch (with all the white and all), but they came out great.

Give it a try. Maybe I'll find a new graphic for my blog header...

Montage Mania

I found an interesting site just now. Just type in a word. It grabs 20 images from Google and then creates a montage out of those images. Kinda cool. No way to export the montage so you need to do a screen capture if you wanna save it, but... Check out Grant Robinson's Montage-a-Google site. There are other cool projects on Grant's site as well.

Stay on top of it...

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Nature has a sense of humor

Last month we finally had a couple of days where we had snow on the ground and it was warm enough for the kids to go outside and play. Each of the snowfalls before that, even last year, were accompanied by bitter cold and winds that made it unbearable (for us as parents, anyway) to be out playing in the snow. This time the weather was warm (high 30's). The snow was heavy and sticky -- perfect for building.

My older two went to work immediately on building their snowmen. The snow was sticking so well that it was like rolling up carpet (or sod) as they rolled their balls across the yard. It took off the entire snow blanket -- right down to the grass. When my youngest saw how easy it was he decided that he wanted a snowman too. He built with a little ball in his mittens and then started rolling. He was ecstatic! He was making a snowman!

The bigger base was first. Followed by the big white belly. I helped lift the belly up on top of the first snowball. As I did this, he started to roll out the head. While he worked on his own snowman head, his siblings were working on "decorating" theirs with sticks and other paraphernalia. As I turned to lift the now-finished head on my son's first snowman, my wife started chuckling. I thought I had some snow stuck to my backside or something. Then she pointed to the now-finished head I was about to lift. From her angle, on the other side of the ball, she was seeing something a little different than I was on the back side. As I came around to see what she saw, I realized that Mother Nature had already decorated the face on this ball -- complete with two eyes, a nose and a mouth! The picture on this post is exactly what she left for us! As my son had been rolling the ball, he had picked up a couple of leaves and sticks that Mother Nature had laid in just the right spot on the ground this past fall -- just waiting for a snowman to personify!

That Mother Nature... always planning...

TRASH!

There's a slogan used by many nature-themed companies that is some derivative of: "tread softly, leave only footprints." They are reminding their customers, and all of us, that we should protect the Earth we live on and the environment that we live in. That's all well and good, but there are very few of us that can leave ONLY footprints. As a product of the modern world that we live in, there are other byproducts. But, with a little effort, we can minimize the impact we are making on the world.

I think that if we start small, we've at least started, and we can build on that as we are able. With that in mind, my family and I have been a big recyclers for quite a while. We recycle as much as we can curbside (plastic, metal, etc). We recycle paper at my son's school just down the road so that they get a small stipend in return (we have a large paper recycle bin that I take every couple of weeks). We use other odds and ends for craft projects ourselves and/or donate items to the schools for them to use in their crafts. We even collect recycling from my church and parents in areas that don't have strong enough recycling efforts.

It didn't hit me until the other day, though, how much this recycling has helped though.

As a family of 5, according to some researchers, we'd be expected to generate nearly 200 pounds on average a week. I'm proud to say that at least from home, we're contributing only about 1-1/2 bags of trash a week -- in total! All the rest is recycled!

We collect cardboard in the kitchen compactor, glass, metal, plastic and batteries in the utility room containers, paper in the big container in the living room. We recycle the pop bottles and use rechargeable batteries. And the best part is that it's second nature. It doesn't take any more time or effort really. It makes us feel a little better that we're minimizing our impact.

There's still a lot more that we can do. We need to be better at buying recycled products. We need to educate some of our neighbors. We need to reduce our use. We need to encourage our cities and employers to do more to make it more convenient for people to participate in recycling. The more that we can do as individuals, the more individuals we can get to participate, the greater the impact we can have on making a lessor impact on our Big Blue Planet.

Are you doing your part?

Radio Disney Detroit Events Calendar

The family and I have been attending the Radio Disney events in our area for less than a year now. Seems like a LOT longer then that. They've become so much a part of our weekend activities. The kids really enjoy them and they're not only FREE, but you win stuff too!

The kids (and my wife and I) often hear about events on the radio itself, but Radio Disney has an events page on their site as well. Unfortunately, it's not been easy for them to keep it updated. We often hear about stuff the day before the event.

I know that I'm diluting the possibility for my kids to win prizes by doing this (and I hope that Radio Disney doesn't mind), but I really think it's a good, fun, free activity that a lot of families would enjoy if they knew about it... So... I created a public Google Calendar that you can check in on and add to your own Google Calendar to see where Radio Disney Detroit will be. I've setup alerts on the official Radio Disney events calendar to let me know when they add new events and I'll add them to this calendar as well.

No guarantees of completeness given the issues stated above, but I'll add things to my calendar as soon as we hear about them. One more source of information to keep you on top of things.

If you're not in the Detroit Area, check out Radio Disney to find a station in your area. If you are in the Detroit area, click on the link below to see where Radio Disney Detroit is gonna be.

Parenting Refresher Course

My wife has a friend who's about to have her first baby in July (I think). Congratulations to her and her husband! Parenting is hard work. They'll come to know that soon enough, but even those of us with a few under our belts already could use a refresher course once in a while. The guys over at C00lstuff have compiled a graphic list of Do's and Don't with babies. I now understand some of the issues that I had raising my kids. I was doing all the Don't and not doing enough of the Do's.

Bit by the bug

Whatever is going around here is nasty!

My wife was sick a couple of weeks ago -- knocked her out completely for a day, and kicked her pretty good for several days around that one. Then my son got sick. He got something completely different I think. Symptoms for him were mostly congestion and coughing...lots of coughing. On a couple of nights, I sat with him on the recliner downstairs at night so he'd get a little relief by being upright. Helped him, hurt me. I lost some sleep, making me more susceptible to the coughing all around me. It finally grabbed hold of me this past weekend. I spent the weekend in daze, and Tuesday and Wednesday on the couch. I thought I was good enough to go to work today, but only made it a half day before heading home, light-headed.

I feel like a sissy going to the doctor for a cough and congestion, but if this keeps up, I might cede.

My daughter's school principal sent an email home on Tuesday saying that 77 kids called in sick that day -- a little more than 25% if I did my math right. Maybe this is what all the hype's about in Cloverfield.

There are three kinds of lies...

"This well-known saying is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularized in the U.S. by Mark Twain: There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics" according to Wikipedia. Based on my recent experiences I'd like to amend this a little bit.

There are four kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, statistics, and political polls.

In the US, the political campaigns are in full swing as presidential hopefuls try to convince us citizens that they are the best ones to guide us as a nation into the future. With so many candidates to choose from, and the primaries and caucuses going on, the field is pretty crowded still. That will change in the coming months as the two primary parties select their delegates.

Trying to keep up with all of the candidates is still pretty tough. A number of them have something of interest. A number of them have things on their platform that really scare me. Sometimes, unfortunately it comes down to a lesser-of-two-(or more)-evils. Trying to see how the candidates stack up against the issues most important to me, I decided to take a few on-line polls. The polls asked my feelings on several issues and how strongly I felt about those issues. Pretty standard polling method. But what the polls revealed was a lot more than I was expecting. According to the polls, I'm a "Demo-Inde-Publican."

I'm a what?!

Each poll I answered had ideal candidate different. On one poll, I was very much entrenched in the Democratic camp. The next one had me on the exact other end of the spectrum. Still a third had me off the two-party system completely saying that one of the potential independent candidates most matched my presidential objectives. I knew that there would be some differences (OK, a lot of differences) between the candidates, but I didn't expect as much in polling. These weren't "Joe's Political Polls" questionnaires. These were national, and international, well-known sites offering to help me find the best person to lead this country.

True, the sites asked slightly different sets of questions, so that might skew the results a little based on my answers, but skew so much that I ended up at opposite ends of the spectrum? It made me think a little more about the motives of the pollsters. And in questioning their motives for the polls, I started to question their motives for the content of their other publication's content (newspapers, web sites, etc).

I admit that I am swayed by the public presentation of the candidates. That's the first step in rehabilitation. I've done some research, and I know that if I don't participate I can't complain after the fact if things don't turn out as I would like. That won't stop anyone from complaining no matter who wins, but... I can't stand to watch the debates live. I can't stand to see everyone in defense mode. I'd rather see them when they can present their views and plans without the "distraction" of everyone else. I've watched several candidates being interviewed alone. In each of those interviews, I caught something that made me think that the candidate really knew what they were talking about, or made it readily apparent that they were only saying what their handlers had told them to say -- that they really didn't know how to react when the interviewer went off script.

I can't say that I have a favorite candidate yet. I have several that scare me, but thankfully, they're dropping in the polls enough that my fear is subsiding. But, the election polls aren't closed yet -- not by a long shot -- so anything can happen.

Regardless of who wins in November, they will have an uphill battle in front of them. A battle to convince all of the people, not just those who didn't vote for them, that they really do know what needs to be done and can make it happen. They need to do it for all of US, and for the rest of the world that depends on us or despises, or just puts up with US.

I hope they can do it.

More Google StreetView Voyeur photos

You can find a lot more photos here if you're a closet voyeur looking for StreetView photos. Street View Gallery has thumb shots of the image as well as links directly to the Google captured image on Google Map's Streetview.

Tired of cubicle life?

Just take a vcation...

Oh, yeah. It helps to work with a certain type of person, too... Revenge sometimes IS sweet.

Bathroom etiquette

Is it just me or is it wrong to carry on a conversation on your cell phone while in the stall in the bathroom? And doesn't everyone know to wash their hands after using the facilities by now? I experienced each of these atrocities in one trip to the bathroom today.

When someone is on the phone, I make an effort to flush an extra toilet or two for emphasis (hoping that the embarrassment will come from the person on the other end of the phone as opposed to me confronting the one in the bathroom). And to see someone leave without washing their hands is like seeing someone smoking nowadays. Both filthy habits -- not good for you or the ones around you. Come on people!

This ain't no beach sand...

Found this artist again today -- Ilana Yahav - The Sand Artist. There are several more examples of her work on the her site, but here's a sampling. Quite amazing...

Erase this!

I had the opportunity to hear a couple of very dynamic speakers this past weekend. Each told stories in their own style and I connected with their voices in different ways. The second speaker left something with me that I wanted to share here though.

The story was a quick little one-off in the hour-long talk. It occurred at the end. It was part of the overall story she was telling, but somehow seemed disconnected. There was something about this 60 seconds that hit home though.

Forgive my paraphrasing. It's not nearly as engrossing when I try to tell it.

There was a student who was working on a school project and had to write the answer to a problem on a piece of paper. His teacher was standing over him while he was working this problem and after he had written his answer, the teacher told him that he was wrong and made him erase his response and re-work the problem. He did so and came up with another answer that he proceeded to write down. Again the teacher told him that the answer was not correct. He dutifully picked up his big pink eraser and erased the second answer as he had done before. A third time he tried and a third time he was told he was incorrect. When he erased the answer this time the paper began to fall apart. Too much abrasion from the eraser had taken its toll on the paper and it ripped where the previous answers had been written.

All too often we correct someone to the point of tearing the paper. Once that paper is torn, you can't put it back together. You can tape it. You can write elsewhere on it. But it's never the same. Never as strong. Never as pretty or as pristine. The same can be said of relationships. If you are constantly trying to "correct" someone else, constantly trying to "change the answer", eventually the paper is going to rip and the relationship will never be the same. Instead of erasing and changing, how about appreciating the effort and working together to a common goal or answer so that the eraser leaves but dust that is blown away and forgotten instead of a path of destruction in its wake.

I need to remember this while helping my kids with their homework. I think that this ties into a post I've been waiting to write about the difference between common sense and domain sense. I'll work on that one soon.

Hannah Montana Concert

My daughter (and my wife) had a great time at the concert last night. They both commented on Miley's (aka Hannah) stage presence and energy. The number (and speed) of the outfit changes was also something that amazed them.

My daughter sat with the other Radio Disney winners, most of which we had seen at other D-Tours so they already knew each other. I can't even imagine the decibels that were released that night from the tween screams alone, let alone the concert itself. I picture the movie Monsters where they turned the screams of frightened kids into energy to run their city. Hmmm... Maybe that's something worth looking into -- (c) established by this post if I take it anywhere! :-)

They got a few really good pictures from the concert, but most unfortunately turned out rather blurry. We did get a GREAT one of my daughter with Miley at the Meet-and-Greet. That one will be framed on her wall. She's almost back to normal, but this will definitely be an experience that she talks about for quite a while. She's now seen Corbin Bleu and Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, the two people she's been most enamoured with, both thanks to Radio Disney.

I can't imagine a 14-year-old with the energy and wits to maintain the schedule that she does. I just hope that she doesn't flame out like so many other young stars have. Her Disney support system while still in place and the experience of her father should help.

Back stage too!

We got a call from Radio Disney earlier today to let us know that we'd won the back stage meet-and-greet passes for tonight as well!

They're on the way home right now. Can't wait to see the pix!

SHE WON! SHE WON! SHE WON!

THANKS RADIO DISNEY!

We went to another Radio Disney D-Tour tonight and my daughter won tickets to tomorrow's Hannah Montana concert! She is still freaking out after more than an hour. She keeps wanting me to pinch her to wake her up. "This must be a dream," she keeps saying.

We go for the fun and the exercise and something to do, but the prizes keep the interest up. I think that the interest will be there for quite a while after a win like this!

My wife and daughter will be enjoying the show tomorrow night and I'll take the boys for a guy's night out. We'll probably go see Alvin and the Chipmunks. They are both really looking forward to that.

THANKS RADIO DISNEY! YOU ROCK!

Double Bonus Days!

We take the kids to Home Depot for Free Crafts the first Saturday of every month. They get to hammer, glue, sand and screw together projects. They get a sense for craftsmanship, hard work and attention to detail. They get to feel more comfortable building things with tools. They get to have something to do away from the television. They get something to show for their work. They get a project pin to put on their overflowing "Home Depot Orange" apron. We get time with the kids doing fun projects. We get time away from the house. We get to see the kids progress in their abilities and independence. Home Depot gets to instill brand recognition and project enthusiasm to the kids at a young age that they're count on will bring them back for purchases later in life. Home Depot gets to express an appreciation for their customers and their community. All in all, it's a good thing. This month, it was extra fun!

Each night before bed, we try to talk to the kids about what is in store for the next day. Last Friday night, we mentioned that it was Home Depot Craft day on Saturday. In addition to their excitement, my daughter mentioned that Radio Disney was going to be there as well. BONUS! We've been taking the kids to the Radio Disney D-Tour shows for a year or so now since they came to our market. The high-energy shows are very entertaining and the kids often walk away with free stuff as well (CDs, DVDs, t-shirts, posters, etc). With all of the hype over the Hannah Montana concerts going on again (she announced a second show in our area a little bit ago), they were looking forward to having another chance to win tickets. With about 50 or less kids at the shows we've been to, the odds are pretty good -- even better when we take all three kids and triple our chances!

This time, the D-Tour had a balloon artist, an animal clown and face painting in addition to their normal show, AND the kids craft. By now my kids all know the Disney cast members at the show and greet them as soon as we get there. Each of the kids loves to participate in the show (though to differing degrees) and has a great time. We didn't win Hannah tickets that time, but we went to another show on Sunday...then Monday. Still no tickets :-( But tomorrow's another day. Literally. The last chance to win tickets from Radio Disney's Local D-Tour before Friday's show. Cross your fingers...

Toast and Spam

Clever presentation of the history of the real Spam:



How they made it:

It's a numbers game

Found this one looking through an old TV guide. It's being marketed as a spin off of the CBS TV show Numb3rs. It's Chain Factor. Essentially, you need to match the numbers on the falling balls with a series of balls that form a chain of the same number of balls as the number on the ball that's falling... Confused yet? The site describes it as "Whenever the number on a disc matches the size of the row or column that disc is in, it will disappear. "

There are several games out there with this similar concept that have formed an addiction for me lately. Wellgames and OneMoreLevel have several like this. My wife has been playing a couple on "MyFaceBookSpace" lately as well :-)

It's a simple thing to just clear the board (well in the short term anyway), but it's a completely different game when you try to apply strategy to get higher points...

Have fun, but don't let the boss catch you...

Be forewarned -- they're additive.

Count 'em up!

None of us can afford to leave loose change lying around anymore given today's economy, but if YOU feel you can though, feel free to send it to me :-)

I came across a gallon-sized penny bank I had stuffed to the hilt the other day and decided it was time to cash in the coinage. Coinstar, those big green machines that count your coins for a fee, has been offering free coin counting if you convert the coins into gift certificates. We'd been using the one at our local Farmer Jack to get Amazon certificates until Farmer Jack shut down all of their stores several months ago. (you can also get gift cards for a lot of other sites including Starbucks, Circuit City, JCPenney, iTunes, Borders, Pier 1, Eddie Bauer, Cabela's, KB Toys, Old Navy, Timberland, Disney, Hollywood Video, AMC Theaters and Linens 'n Things).

I spent a while dumping and digging the pennies out of the bank and then decided to weigh them -- a whopping 74 pounds of pennies had been sitting in my closet for several years. My wife asked me how much I thought that would yield and I guessed about $50-$60.

We grabbed the paper bags we'd off loaded the copper into and headed off for the big green monster. It took quite a while to process them all, but in the end we traded 74 pounds of cents for about $75 in Amazon credit. We ended up using it for a new printer since ours had recently gone kaput.

AFTER I had made my guess on value, and AFTER we turned them in, I found a site that could have helped estimate the worth a little better than my pull-it-out-of-thin-air method. At Coincalc you tell it how many pounds of loose change you have and how many of each coin are in a small representative handful and it'll estimate the value of the whole lot. For my after-the-fact exercise, it was pretty close!

Now go gather all those piggy banks and put that money to use.

PS. Don't forget that if you do choose Amazon credit, come back to this site and search for your item by using the link on the right side -- then we both win. You get a great deal on a great product from Amazon and I get a little of your change back to keep my kids fed :-)

OMG!

For many years now I've stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve and taken pictures of each of my kids and wife (each usually sleeping snugly in their beds) right at midnight. This year, for some strange reason, the kids (the older two at least) made it all the way to midnight with me. Not sure how, but I really hope that they sleep in tomorrow... They've tried in the past, but only made it until 10 o'clock or so. My youngest made it until 10:30 tonight (without a nap) and my wife until almost 11 before she gave into the Sandman and headed up to bed.

The kids and I kept each other awake by watching reruns of America's Funniest Videos and Myth Busters and playing a no-scoring version of their new Christmas game - Uno Attack.

I joked with my wife as she headed up to bed that it won't be too long before the kids will be sneaking in to catch both her and I in bed at midnight. I'm not sure how many more years I can make it.

Happy New Year! Hope it's a great one (and that some really good things happen in the world to help at least balance the devastation inflicted this past year).

DaVinici's Code

According to Dan Brown, Leonardo DaVinci hid a lot of secret information in his art works. Believe it not, so do you! And you don't need to traipse all over the world to discover it. If your camera saves it's images as JPG files, simply browse to Camera Summary, upload a picture taken by a camera, and this site will ferret out the details of the picture and camera hidden in the JPG format. According to the site, it "provides information like: camera make / model, detailed information about how the picture was taken and even the thumbnail that was embedded in the file." On a sample file I used from our summer vacation, the site provided over 50 pieces of information about the picture. Some of it is useful even for the novice photo-bug, but some of the details are pretty technical. Some of the details could be used for CSI-esque investigation as well...

Be complimentary

When designing websites, or anything else for that matter (scrapbook pages?), it's always more appealing when the colors used are the right ones. Once you have a primary focus for your page, the color scheme, a title or background graphic, etc, head on over to What's Its Color. Tell it where the image is (upload a local file or point it to an image on the web) and it will "evaluate an image and give you the image's primary and complementary dominant colors of an image, how many visually unique colors are in an image, and the top ten visually unique colors in an image."

Granted, this is mostly for web design, so the returned colors are only identified by Hex values, but a quick Google search will return English names for the colors as well.

Local News

Why read the local Observer & Eccentric news when you can see it all mapped out on a Google maps interface? :-)

Give mibazaar your ZIP code and it'll find local news and show you where you live on a map.

Blow it up!

Sometimes a full screen view is just better. Bret Taylor thinks so -- at least when he's trying to navigate Google Maps. So, in the spirit of giving back, and statistical probability, he thought someone else might feel the same way and so he made this full screen Google Maps site available for all of us! Thanks Bret!

Locally famous

Tim Allen is famous for inserting local references into his entertainment projects -- his Home Improvement show, The Santa Clause movies, etc each make reference to his home town of Detroit, or to places around there where he grew up. Moviemappr (ala Flickr, remind me to blog about the naming of web sites later) allows you to find movies filmed in your area. You give it a city/state and it'll list all kinds of movies that spent some time filming in and around the area. Live in Cedar Rapids, IA? Did you know that Incident at Oglala, Miles from Home and, perhaps the most famous of the three - Starman were filmed in the area. Oglala might not be the summer blockbuster of 1992, but the others brought someone some money and had famous people involved...

Check out your city. Might be worth renting a movie or two just to see some local hangouts. The database seems pretty complete with movies ranging from the VERY low budget and audience to the most popular titles on the market.

Map your face -- or anything else!

Google's mapping interface defined the new standard for on-line mapping (draggable panning, dbl-click zoom, annotations, satellite and street-level views, etc), and it continues to get even better! Some people REALLY love the interface. If you're one of those people, you might like MapLib.

The site allows you to create your own maps. Big deal, right? So what! Oh, yeah. Something a little different from all of those other Google Maps Mashups -- This one allows you to use your OWN PICTURES! Not just maps, but anything. You can map your face. You can map a store. You can map Lord of the Rings. All of these maps can take full advantage of the Google Maps API -- the same features you'd see and use on maps.google.com.

Pretty cool!

Take your picture and eat it too!

One last graphic site for tonight. For a very personalized cake topper at your next party, check out Icing Images. Upload one of your images and they'll turn it into an edible image to apply to your cake. Something different and a very personal touch. You supply your own cake. :-)

Size DOES matter!

One more site that helps you get more out of your digital pix, Block Posters, aims to take your pictures out of the album and slap them all over the wall -- in larger than life size! Images in excess of 9'x9' are possible! "Upload, slice, download." That's it. Take a look at the gallery for a LARGE collection of very creative results.

A similar site I've used in the past is available at http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator.

Try using some of the sites together. Maybe make a mosaic of an image at Mosaickr and then blow it up really big here. See the graphics label on the side bar for other sites to combine!

More things for, and from, photos

FotoTiller bills itself as "a website covering all things photographic, with a particular focus on the intersection of photography and design." Lots of inspirational ideas here to make more out of your pictures.

More Flickr toys

I've posted about the guys over at BigHugeLabs and their Flickr tool/toy sets before, but here's another tool I came across today: Mosaickr. Using pictures selected from Flickr based on tagging, you create your own PhotoMosaic (a big picture made up of many smaller pictures). The samples they exhibit include an image of jumping dolphins made up of pictures tagged with ocean. Quite impressive and cool... Somethign different to do with your pictures.

Got another cool Flickr tool/toy? Do share!

Help yourself, help others

As the bustling holiday season encroaches on our laziness that attempts to settle in as we cover ourselves with more and more covers to hide from teh cold, take a step back and remember what the season is all about -- giving. I hope that whatever your means, whatever your budget, you will take a few moments this year to provide some comfort to someone else in need. That comfort can come in the form of a monetary donation to a national charity, a local church, a toy or food collection organization, time with a shut-in or elderly person in need, or however else you can contribute. Make sure you know who you're donating to in order to make sure that the gift being given is getting to those in need and not those in want.

Another way to assist those in need, while helping yourself is via the Free Rice site. Basically, you work on increasing your vocabulary, while earning grains of rice for someone else. It's a fun little diversion when you need a little brain stimulation, and you get the glow of giving deep down in your heart at the same time!

This one is stuck in my head too...

My wife thinks I like this song because Colbie Caillat is cute (I don't disagree, kind of an old-school Jennifer Aniston look to her, but not as beautiful as my wife! Love ya honey!), but it's really the haunting melody that is suck in my head for some reason.

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal a while ago about how Colbie's label tried to falsely pass her off as this "out-of-the-blue" up-and-comer, but I don't care. I like her earthy song style.

Birds do the wave

Interesting how nature imitates nature...

Traveling Salesman Problem

Salesmen have existed for thousands of years. In the early years, they traveled from cave to cave selling sticks and stones and tried their hand at up selling their clientele on "fire." The plight of the traveling salesman has not changed that much in the past millennia though. They still travel door to door trying to sell us products and services (thought a lot of perennial d-t-d sales have moved to the Web). As they travel door-to-door, they must do so in a way that conserves their time (the more potential clients they can see, the more fruitful their labors), and increasingly, their gas.

Though the price of gas wasn't at issue hundreds of years ago, efficiency still was. From that quest came the Traveling Salesman Problem. According to Wikipedia, the problem can be summarized as: "Given a number of cities and the costs [mileage] of traveling from any city to any other city, what is the least-cost round-trip route that visits each city exactly once and then returns to the starting city?"

For a small collection of cities, it's relatively easy and can be done by hand. As the number of cities increase, the computational power increases to compensate for all of the new permutations. Hundreds of people much smarter than I have battled the problem for ages trying to come up with the optimal (read: least cost) path.

All that aside, there are two things I wanted to get out there in this article. First, a Google Maps implementation or the TSP available for your personal travels this holiday season. As the Nuclear Family has exploded and we have so many more holiday family gatherings to attend, this site could help you get it all done in one day -- efficiently!

For a little more (geeky) fun, try your hand at some simple TSP games for yourself.

Happy travels...