Psst! Psst!

My GF and I were walking around Ikea tonight. She hoped to find some good, cheap dishes for Thanksgiving. We didn't have much luck there, so we stopped at the Corelle Outlet store at the barely surviving SuperMall in Auburn. This raises two points.

First, the Corelle store is a great resource and she found everything she needed. And it was cheap.

Second, how is the SuperMall still in business? Even when the economy was strong, the place seemed empty.

But let's go back to Ikea.

While my GF was looking for exactly what she wanted, I meandered about the housewares department, trying to decide if I should buy some more bowls or just do dishes more often.

It was a tough internal debate.

It would be nice to have more bowls because that would mean there's one less thing to think about when I want oatmeal, Top Ramen, chile, or jarred peaches for lunch. Not that I would have all of those in the same bowl at once (I wonder what that would taste like).

On the other hand, I could save $5 and just wash my existing bowls more often. Of course, to accomplish that, I would actually need to wash my bowls more often.

So it was a tough choice.

I wandered around the department, checking Twitter now and again. As I was deep in thought, I would that cry arise from the aisles, "Psst! Psst!" I would pop my head up and begin walking toward the source of the call, thinking my GF wanted to get my opinion on something or let me know we were done there.

As my eyes found the source of the call, though, I saw that it was blonde. That was an important clue that the call came from someone other than my GF. I returned to my browsing.

And so did several other men in the department. It seems that the "Psst! Psst!" is the universal Ikea call that women shopping in housewares use to get the attention of their Significant Others. The call goes out, the SOs pop up to see where it cam from, and ultimately, one will follow the trail while the others go about their business wondering when their "Psst! Psst!" call will come.

Save 20% at all Starbucks locations

At Costco the other day, my GF and I were stocking up on frozen food. They shopping cart was a microwavable bonanza. In the middle of there store, there was a big display that caught my eye. It was Costco's big gift card display. They had great deals from a variety of vendors. I grabbed the Starbucks packet.

Costco is selling a pack of Starbucks gift cards worth $100 for just $79.99. It's like getting $20 in Starbucks coffee for free.

They expect people that buy them will use them as gifts, but there is nothing to stop the purchaser from using them him self. If you expect to spend $100 at Starbucks in 2009, it's a worth it to pick up this pack.

By using this for my regular Starbucks visits next year, I will save $20.01. I think this is what Southwest did with jet fuel...

Virtual Pet Hamster

This little guy is pretty cute.

And kind of mesmerizing...

TV Schedules in the 80s

My GF is a huge fan of the Cosby Show. That got me thinking about the shows I used to watch in the 80s. I enjoyed the Cosby Show, Night Court, Family Ties, Cheers, and the others.

I think I was a fan of a chimp show, too. As I recall, the chimp talked and may have been President. Or he was in the government somehow. I cannot remember the name of the show, though. Or even if it actually existed. If not, maybe I should pitch that to the networks.

For my first attempt to Google it, I searched for various combinations of NBC, Chimp, and President. That gave me a lot George Bush results than I expected.

A few more tries gave me this awesome site. Do you want to know what was on Tuesday nights, at 8:00 PM, on CBS, in 1984? It was AfterMASH.

They have the prime time grids for the entire 80s. If you want to explore more 80s content, you can find links, reference, and Trivia on the top page here.

Unfortunately, the site hasn't been updated since 2006-11-14. But if you want to bury yourself in the 80s, it's worth a visit.

And does anyone know what chimp show I'm thinking about?

Road Trip Must See Part 01: Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD

I had thirty minutes free before I needed to drive 65 miles from Mitchell, SD to catch a flight home. So I went to the Corn Palace.

It wasn't my first trip.

Back in 1993, I took a road trip with some friends from college. As we drove from Helena, MT, to New York, we zipped across South Dakota, spying signs for the Corn Palace all the way. On the way back, Mark and I had to stop and see what all the excitement was about. And the Corn Palace was just as awesome as I expected. Later that day, we managed a stop at Wall Drug, bookending the state with tourist traps.

The Corn Palace hasn't changed much in the last 15 years. The design is new, but the concept is the same.

The Corn Palace is the local Civic Center in Mitchell, SD. Inside, the building has a basket ball court, stage, plenty of seating, and photos celebrating the history of the Corn Palace.

Outside, it's covered with corn.

Each year, an artists designs and new theme for the Corn Palace and then artisians create the design in corn. That's right. The outside of the building is covered in different kinds of corn. They take ears of corn, split them in half, and nail them to boards. It's a giant paint by numbers puzzle with vegetables instead of water paints.

This year, the design theme celebrates tourism. The three main panels are the Space Needle (which I can see from my window), the Statue of Liberty (which I used to stare at during llunch breaks in Battery Park), and a Space Shuttle launch (which, considering the imminent retirement of the fleet I'm unlikely to see).

So if you're driving across South Dakota, take a few moments, and celebrate Corn. Celebrate small town creativity. Celebrate the part of the American character that drives us to create Corn Palaces.

And celebrate the part of America that drives us to promote them for miles around.

Email aggravation with Comcast and Bigfoot

My email volume suddenly declined a couple weeks ago. I didn't think much about it; I just figured these things run in cycles. I'd probably see a ton of email come through on my Comcast account any day. But I didn't.

Then I got a voicemail from my Mother jokingly chastising me for rejecting her email. Something was wrong with Comcast.

I use Bigfoot as one of my primary public-ish email addresses. Bigfoot is an email forwarding service. I give out my Bigfoot address, then people email me using that address. Bigfoot then forwards my email to whatever address I supply.

The great things about this is if I change email addresses or ISPs, I only have to tell Bigfoot about it. I don't have to get everyone else I know to start using a new address to reach me.

But then the email stopped and I got that call. After a little experimentation, I confirmed that Comcast was bouncing any email sent through my Bigfoot.com address. Comcast kicked back this error:

The original message was received at Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:01:55 -0500 EST from mail.bigfoot.com [66.114.252.252]



----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors ----- <[myusername]@comcast.net>

----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> RCPT TO:
<<< style="font-weight: bold;">[myusername]@comcast.net

I contacted Comcast tech support online chat and explained the problem to them. Previously I had turned off Spam filtering at the Comcast level to prevent bounces like this.

According to the tech, though, Comcast decided that anything from Bigfoot is Spam, so they decided to block the entire domain. He sent me a link to form so I can get the block removed (http://www.comcastsupport.com/Forms/Net/blockedprovider.asp). I should know in 24-48 hours if this works.

I understand the need to block Spam, but I find it hard to believe that everyone using Bigfoot is a spammer. Arbitrary blocks like this are one of the reasons there is so much Comcast hate out there on the web.

In the mean time, I redirected my Bigfoot forwarding elsewhere. So at least I'll know get my mail again.

Are your guns secure?

Here's a sign you don't see in many large cities:



It's hunting season in South Dakota, and these signs appear on hotel restaurants around town. It looks like the police department supplied them to cut down on gun thefts.

I made it

After 19 hours of travel, two flights on four aircraft, an involuntary overnight in Minneapolis, and a 65 mile drive I made it to Mitchell, SD. I even had enough time to change and shower before my meetings. So it all worked out.

There are some relaxing things you can do in New York, Boston, San Diego, Phoenix, Chicago, and other major cities around the country. But sometimes I just need that unique experience that comes from a smaller town.

Tonight I, I wandered to the other side of the freeway and sat down to dinner at Merlin's. It's one of those 24 hour restaurants in a truck stop.

I climbed out of the car to the rumbling chorus of a dozen 18-wheelers parked at the Pilot truck stop.

Inside I sprawled across a large booth, and waited for the waitress. She came over, and with a young smile that seemed to say, "This is not a career for me," handed me the menu. I ordered coffee while and quickly settled on a dinner of eggs, hash brows, biscuits, and gravy.

The coffee came in a large mug with a handle big enough to fit the largest trucker hands. A few minutes later, I had two nice sized plates of dinner breakfast food.

Eggs and hash browns are great late at night -- but only in some sort or diner. An omelet in my apartment during the Letterman show just seems kind of sad. But at a Denny's, Ihop, or truck stop, it's awesome.

So I sat there, wrapping up a day that started with 2.5 hours of restless sleep, with a hearty truck stop dinner, reading Cryptonomicon, and catching my breath after a hectic day. It was the kind of evening that can only happen just off the highway in a mid-western state.

And now it's time to look forward to the adventures and minutia waiting around the next corner.

Ending the day on a positive note

I was all set to rant about my travel issues tonight. I'm stuck in Minneapolis, because I missed my connection to Sioux Fall, SD. My flight to MSP from PHX was delayed because someone whacked the airplane with the jetway. And I guess that's considered a bad thing. You can follow that saga on Twitter if you like (@cromely)

So I got to my hotel in Minnesota for a 6 hour stay and logged on Entrecard.



And then the lights got bright and my smile got big. For the first time, Cromely's World ranks number 1 on the Entrecard campaign tab. I can't imagine this will last long, but for now, I'm glad.

I also want to say Thank you to all my regular readers and my occasional visitors.

I guess now I should write up my Entrecard best practices.

At the moment, though, it's time to focus on not missing my flight in the morning.

Japanese Gardens in Seattle

As we careen headlong into November, the annual gloom has returned to Seattle. The rain is here. The clouds are here. The winds are here. It's time to settle in for the gray winter. Why do people do it?

Because the summers are beautiful.

Back in July, my mother came out to Seattle. One of our stops was the Japanese Garden in the Arboretum. Her blog post about this trip is here.

The Japanese Garden is a peaceful oasis of plants and water. There is a tea house, trees from Japan, turtles that look like stone, branches that grow from old limbs, a giant Koi pond, and even a tree with a crutch.

Here are a few pictures I took that day.

Guest of the day

Last week I made it to my hotel and and was about to check in when I saw a sign on the front desk. It announced that I was the Guest of the Day.

It's kind of nice to see that sort of greeting. They offered me my choice of several freebies -- free internet, a free movie, a free appetizer, or a free bottle of wine. I opted for the wine (a Redwood Creek Merlot). Traveling business usually means traveling by my self so I got a couple days out of that bottle.

I guess I've been a pretty good customer for the Hilton near the Orange County Airport (SNA). At the same time, it's a little frightening that I've stayed there enough to justify being Guest of the Day.

Union Ad in Seattle Times

I saw this ad in the Seattle Times on 2008-11-09.

Recently, Boeing and its machinists union ended a strike that went on for more than 8 weeks. Boeing now faces a possible strike with it's engineering union.

This ad (click the image for a larger version), which purports to be from the union mechanics at a local Ford dealership, chastises the other unions in the Seattle area for not supporting one another. It call on member of the IAM,SPEEA, and other organizations to support all union workers by buying only from other unionized companies.

We support you in all your endeavors. But do we support each other? We think not. Is support between unions often nothing mor than lip service used to threaten management? Clearly, we don't begin to support each other nearly enough. We are aware of even our own union leaders purcahsing non-union-made automobiles and not having them serviced by union technicians. We can all make excuses. Or are you just hypocrites who won't put your money where your mouth is?

It goes on from there.

The point of the ad is to encourage union members to bring their vehicles to Sound Ford for service.

Printed in smaller- (but certainly not fine-) print at the end of the ad, it says, "Paid for by Sound Ford in support of its Union Service Technicians."

I am neither and big union supporter, nor a union hater. I'm not sure how I feel about this ad. On the one hand, calling on those with similar interests to bring their business to you makes sense. On the other hand, it seems like cheap shot some how.

Regardless, it's an interesting move.

Real penguin gets a stuffed penguin -- the cutest story I've seen all week

I found this story from the UK's Daily Mail through Fark.com. It's got things like tragedy,triumph, cute stuff, and a penguin.

Lonesome penguin cheered up by his new friend... a stuffed toy

A baby penguin which had to be separated from its family after a greedy sibling continually ate all its food has found companionship - with this stuffed toy.

The penguin - called Pingu - began to lose weight and appeared weak after its bigger relative regularly helped himself to all the fish on offer.

...More

GM bailout proposal -- 10 point plan

CNN Reports that GM is burning through cash at a mind-boggling rate.

But the most shocking news came in its statements about its cash position. GM said it had burned through $6.9 billion during the quarter and warned that it "will approach the minimum amount necessary to operate its business" during the current quarter.

In addition, the company said that in the first half of next year its "estimated liquidity will fall significantly short" of what it needs to continue operating. It said the only thing that would save it would be a significant improvement in economic and automotive industry conditions, help from the federal government, better access to capital markets or some combination of those options.

... More

The slowing economy, poor product decisions, and the Union/Management relationship have all contributed to this situation, but one of the biggest issues likely has to due with the short term credit markets that froze up after Lehman Brothers fell. Ultimately, this credit freeze is what the $700 billion bail out may help with.

Regardless, looks to be seeking $10 billion to $60 billion in federal loans.

Shelly Lombard, senior high yield analyst at Gimme Credit, an independent research firm, estimates that GM will need to get between $10 billion and $15 billion in federal assistance in order to avoid bankruptcy by 2010 and that the chance of bankruptcy without help is probably 80% to 90%.

...

Among the topics discussed were a $25 billion loan to fund union-controlled trust funds that would be set up in the coming year to cover the health care costs of retirees and their family members. Shifting about $100 billion of those costs from the automakers' balance sheet to the trust funds was a key concession the companies won from the UAW in the 2007 labor deals.

...

The automakers also renewed their pre-election request to double the $25 billion low-interest loan program approved by Congress to help automakers convert operations to make more fuel-efficient vehicles and meet the demands of car buyers and new federal rules.

But Wagoner said just doubling the money available under that program won't solve the immediate cash crisis facing the industry. And for the first time, he put a dollar amount on the cash that automakers are looking for from the federal government right now.

"In the meeting yesterday we talked near-term liquidity support for the industry in the range of $25 billion," he said. "No one said yes or no to that number."

...More

Should the get the loans?

Absolutely. GMs failure would have serious repercussions for the economy. The hundreds of thousands of people that would be out of work would cost the US a huge amount of money anyway.

But we shouldn't reward GMs failures easily.

Here are my proposed terms for a GM Bailout

1. Up to $75 billion loan to be given to GM over 5 years.
2. Interest rate will = 30 year Treasury Bond rate, plus 2%.
3. Repayment begins in 6 years, and must be complete thirty years after that.
4. Within 10 years, the GM fleet fuel efficiency must be 5 MPG higher.
5. Each year after, the GM fleet fuel efficiency rating must rise by 1 MPG more. Note: the target fuel efficiency will always be based on today's standard. In other words, by year 10, standards will be 5 MPG higher. In year 11, they will be 6 MPG higher. In year 12, 7 MPG higher than today. If in year 11, they are actually 8 MPG higher than today, in year 12, they still only need to be 7 MPG higher than today, removing the incentive to sand bag the number.
   
6. The government will receive 20% of the company in some form of preferred stock that can, at the government's discretion, be sold on the open market.
7. That stock will earn dividends at the same rate as other share holders.
8. After accepting the loan, the CEO, CFO, and 50% of the remaining executive staff will leave the company, with renegotiated severance.
9. At least 50% of the replacement executives must come from outside the auto industry and be from companies that have generated a profit for at least 5 of the last 7 years.
10. Replacement executives from within the auto industry must come from companies that have generated a profit for 5 of the past 5 years.

This is a first draft, and there may be plenty of things to adjust here. Given the challenges with pay, working hours, locations, etc., I am open to discussing changes to the UAW contracts. While I'm not one to say the whole problem with the US auto industry is the union, decisions by both management and the union got GM to where it is today. And like the stock holders, suppliers, and local communities, the unions will also suffer tremendously if GM goes bankrupt.

It's an expensive plan for GM, but it's also a risky investment of tax payer dollars.

This plan should help GM survive, ensure there are consequences for executive failure, bring in people with a track record of success, compensate US tax payers for their risks, minimize the chances that hundreds of thousands of autoworkers will lose their jobs, and provide increased environmental protection through greater fuel efficiency.

Another Vice Presidential candidate

While people around the world express their glee at the new President- and Vice President-Elect, it's important to take a moment and remember another Vice Presidential candidate who went on to his final reward over the weekend.

During the tumultuous years of the eighties a third party candidate made headlines and T-Shirts throughout the nation. With daily coverage in hundreds of newspapers, millions of Americans followed the unfolding story of his campaign. Despite running valiant campaigns in 1984 and 1988, the third party would not meet with success. Saddled with a small party structure, less charisma than Walter Mondale, controversy over the San Francisco convention, getting slapped with the Liberal label, allegations of an affair with Jean Kirkpatrick, and a presidential candidate who was mostly dead, the Meadow Party just couldn't pull in the votes.

The Vice Presidential candidate with Southern roots lived a full life. His early jobs included writing personal ads for the local newspaper before he began work as an assistant to the only lawyer in town. He toured with renounced heavy metal band Deathtongue, until the lead singer was caught up in a biblical scandal. He briefly married a sculptor, before the wedding was annulled over concern about children and noses. There were rumors of an affair with Diane Sawyer, but those rumors may have been started by the candidate himself. Always the Star Trek fan, he owned his own Spock uniform.

He valued diversity, and was close, personal friends with a fascinating group of people -- nerdy and cool, black and white, liberal and conservative, wheel-chair bound and runner, young and old, and in later years, gay and straight.

Throughout the years, he tried to bring out the best in human nature. But the one thing he sought for over twenty five years is the one thing he finally got -- a mother and a home.

Opus passed away this past weekend after several weeks in an animal shelter.

He ended up there after a run in with Homeland Security due to his immigration status. His last act was to surrender a chance at freedom to his cell mate who likely made it to Tahiti.

Opus passed on from the pages of the comic strips to the pages of Good Night Moon, where he will spend eternity cozy in the warmth of a loving family and story.



No matter what happens in the next four years, remember:

Don't blame me. I voted for Bill and Opus.


For more details about the final weeks of Opus's life, see this Wikipedia article.

Hotels and elections

The last time we got a new President, I watched the long drawn out coverage from my room at Cavanaugh's Riverside hotel in Spokane, WA. I remember staying up until 3:AM waiting for a final result in the election that would go on to bring a whole new level of derision to the state of Florida.

Tonight, at a hotel in Irvine, CA, I can go to be on time. We know who the new President is, after an extremely well executed campaign. If Obama governs the same way he ran the campaign, it sounds like things will go well.

McCain gave one of the best concession speeches I'm seen. In the past 4-5 days, we've gotten to see more of the real McCain -- the McCain that got people excited 8 years ago. If this is really who he is today, and if what we saw for the last several months was really just a creation of the party establishment, then his time in the Senate should be very interesting. Perhaps once he leaves the Senate, Obama can find an ambassadorship or administration position for him.



So is it time to start naming candidates for the 2012 election? For those of you who haven't thrown your machine through the window when I mention that thought, here are some folks I expect to announce in the next 2-3 years.

Republicans:

• Sarah Palin
• Rudy Giuliani
• Mitt Romney
• Mark Racicot
• Jeb Bush
• Christine Whitman
• Mike Huckabee
  

Democrats:

• Hilary Clinton
• Gary Locke
• Tim Kaine

I don't expect any of those Democratic candidates to seriously challenge Obama -- just to lay the ground work for 2016

Quick Election Day thought

You done good, big guy.

And after writing, rewriting, and deleting paragraphs about voting, the candidates, tonight's McCain/Palin SNL appearance, and the impending demise of the 2008 political ads, I'm just going to leave it at that, and encourage everyone to earn their free coffee on Tuesday.

Bond issues and the economy

In Seattle, as in most parts of the country, there are bond issues on Tuesday's ballot. In our case, they are for expanding the regional public transit/light rail system and for refurbishing Pike Place Market.

In other parts of the country, they may be for parks, roads, court houses, firehouses, bus routes, etc.

States and municipalities put these things on the ballot before the recent Wall Street melt down. Now, polls are showing less support among the electorate. There is a sense that with declining tax revenues and a weaker economy, the governments should not spend money on infrastructure. They should conserve funds as much as possible.

Nonsense.

Now is exactly the time cities and states should spend this money. If these projects made sense 6 or 12 months ago, they make even more sense now.

1. In a strong economy, building materials and labor costs go up. Everyone is building and competing for the same resources which drives prices higher. Municipalities that build now will find that costs are lower.
2. In a similar vein, building in a strong economy means that municipalities compete with private industry for limited resources. This drives up costs for both parties. In a really strong economy, that can mean industry can't do some projects because resources are absorbed by the municipalities.
3. Putting people to work in a down economy is a good thing -- especially when they are working on real projects and not just "make work" projects. It blunts the impacts of private industry layoffs.
4. Municipalities normally pay for these projects with long term bonds. In other words, much of the cost for these programs won't hit the citizens in the year they are built, but over the course of several years -- in weak and strong economies.
   
5. Putting off projects until the economy is stronger will make them more expensive. Besides the fact that they will be competing with industry, those costs will also be higher due to regular inflation.

If the projects makes sense in a strong economy, they makes even more sense now. They are cheaper to build in a down economy and have the added benefit of putting people to work. And putting people to work -- real work -- is a key ingredient in bringing an area out of a recession.

McCain on SNL

I just caught McCain's appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Sure, it had the mark of candidate that had nothing to lose, but it was quite well done. McCain didn't take himself too seriously, seemed relaxed, played well off Tina Fey's Sarah Palin, and he still got his message across.

The McCain Pork Knives were a nice touch. And I got a kick out of the McCain Fine Gold.

The Palin in 2012 bit was good aside, too.

All in all, well done, John. It was a nice way to show a lighter side, with some self deprication, and still maintain your dignity.

You can see the McCain SNL video here.

Hotels and fresh towels

In every hotel I stay at there is a flyer on the bed. Or on the clock. Or hanging on the towel rack. Or stapled to the forehead of the desk clerk.

With lush green leaves and glittering waterfalls, it explains that hotels use the equivalent of the Pacific Ocean everyday to wash towels and sheets. They dump the equivalent mass of the moon into the environment in the form of laundry detergent -- just so your sheet will be clean every day.

Won't you please think of the environment and the health of the planet and pretty please reuse your towel for just one more day? By doing so, you will personally save half the Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. If you do it again tomorrow, you will save all of the pandas in China.

And all you have to do is put this flyer on your pillow. Or take it off your pillow. Or hang up your towel. Or turn around the door hanger. Or put a check mark on the desk clerk.

I can never keep the instructions straight. So I don't really make any particular effort. If I have the same towels and sheets for the stay, that's fine. I don't really care if they change them every day. And I'm usually too tired at night to pay attention to the instructions and in too much of a rush in the morning to deal with it. I'm fairly clean. Unless I have another Chicago Incident, I comfortable with the sheets I used the night before.

But how do the number turn out?

Scientific American just reported on tactics to encourage people to reuse the their towels.

They looked at what happens when they used two different messages. In one set of rooms, they implored guest to protect the environment. In another, they said that most other guests reused the towels.

In rooms with the latter message, guests reused the towels 25% more often.

It seem peer pressure trumped altruism.

When they took it a step further and said that previous guests in that particular room often reused their towels, the numbers went even higher.

The discuss various reason for this, including various social science discussions of human behavior.

They also discussed the cynicism guests have about the environmental message. This may come as a shock to you, but I actually share that same cynicism. It the belief that the hotel doesn't care about the environment, but just wants to lower their own energy and water costs.

Regardless, there are some interesting lessons in that short article.