No time on my hands

There seems to be a pattern developing. Young adults don't wear wrist watches anymore. Their excuse is that they have the time on their cell phone so they don't need a watch. Ironically, if my experience is any indication, they are also late for appointment and don't have a sense of time. Most of the time (pun intended) they don't look at their cell phone, or use the alarm feature on it.

I am going to speculate that their attitude will get them in trouble. While I realize you can get caught up in paying attention to the time, it is a measure of our society. Our work day is based on time, schools are based on time, our cars get repaired on time, etc. If time is not important to you, you will get left behind by those who do value it. While time is not something that you can change, you can to a certain point control it. Planning is an important part of life these days and by ignoring it you may be setting yourself up for failure.

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BTW - Religious connection - If religion is not something that you "wear on your wrist" and check every once in a while, you will find your life slowly getting out of control. Religion is not just something that you take out of your briefcase on Sunday (or Sabbath) but something that is a guide on how to live your life.

7 min

Just like a New Year's Resolution

My intention was to write a blog entry per day over the last month. Well, it worked out well until life caught up to me. Between shoveling snow (about 10 hours + last 30 days, Work with the Boy Scouts, and dealing with taxes and my son's college financial aid, I had neither the energy or enthusiasm to update my blog. Not that I didn't have much to write about, I just didn't care about sharing my thoughts. I did this blog as a learning experience and boy am I learning. Glad I am not being paid to do this......

5 min

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Leaf me alone

This has been so serious lately I thought I would inject a little levity.

I went to sweep out my garage the other day. Now you have t know we have had 6" of snice (snow and ice) on our lawns for a least 3 weeks. So what do you think I swept out of the garage? Dirt? Salt? Snow? No - Leaves! Where did they come from? There hasn't been a leaf on a tree for 5 months. I am beginning to think there is someone in the neighborhood who saved a bag of leaves and dumps them in front of my garage, where they blow in when it is opened. If you have a better explanation, let me know.

5 min

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What do you believe?

I was watching a Sunday religious show "Give Me and Answer". I enjoy Cliff's discussions and while there may be some points we don't agree on, to the 5 nines we agree. One thing he challenges people on is their beliefs. I said this blog was going to have a religious tint to it during Lent, so he is your homework. Take out a blank piece of paper and write down up to ten statements. These should be what you believe in order to live your life. Then ask yourself "Where did these come from or who did I learn them from". Then challenge yourself and ask "What if they are wrong?" No grading, just an exercise in thinking.

5 min

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Bumper Crop of Lies

Like the title? It is sweeps week so I am using a little journalistic license.

CBS News Story

I was going to blame this on Consumer Reports, however; it was done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Every year they drag out the contention that car makers are making cars that are not designed to withstand simple parking lot accidents. Now, was anything they said a lie? No, just a streching of the truth. For example,

>>The institute tested the bumpers of 17 mid size cars. The tests were done at 6 miles per hour on the front and rear bumpers and 3 miles per hour on the corners — about the speed of a toddler walking. <<

Now 6 miles per hour is like running a 10 minute mile - I doubt many toddlers can generate that speed. Also the test were done with what looked like a fixed bumper simulator. This would have the effect of doubling the speed.

So while they are not lying, they are also not telling the truth, which is a shame. There are problems with bumpers; cars are not designed to be repaired inexpensively after minor accidents. My problem is that the sensationalism over the problem is a 15 minute story; there is no attempt to propose how to change it.

The noise becomes so great that you cannot make a rational judgement. Ironically, on their own web site, there is a more practical analysis:

Q&A Bumpers

So I report - you decide (what to do)


10 minutes

Time is not fast enough

Entry for February 28, 2007

Time is the eternal enemy. It moves forward at a steady pace with a force that nothing on earth can slow it down. Yet there are some for whom time does not go fast enough.

We have to have things right now! There is not room for a flower to bloom or a project to take shape. If we don't have results right now we give up and move on to something else. We forget that most of the time it is the trip and not the destination we remember. That going though the motions - as negative saying as there is - has purpose. Think about "practice makes perfect" and "slow and steady wins the race". We will finally get to the point were we can do nothing, as we don't have the patience to even start?

8 min

See it through

For February 27

There are times that things just don't go the way you want them to. It is easy to quit. It is not easy to see it through. But you can't change the past, you can only affect the future. Rather than quitting, try taking a deep breath and change your mind to keep on going. You may be surprised about the experiences you will have on your travels.

5 min

Blog Etiquette

Originally for February 26, 2007

When I started this blog my goal was not to become famous, but to learn about blogs and how they work. I have just had a learning experience. It took a while but I finally got a comment (or two) to one of my posts. Then came the question, "Do I respond or not?" I did respond but then realized if I respond to all the comments, the responses will exponentially grow until I can never write another blog entry. So I am going to start my own set of blog rules and see how they work out.

First rule: - Never respond to comments, unless in a main blog entry.

Second rule: - I reserve the right to remove any comments which I feel are false or not in the spirit of my blog, which is intelligent, thoughtful discussion.

I will add others as I go along.

Below are some links to other blogs and sites for Blog Etiquette. I do not endorse them (I may take them off if I find better ones). They are there for reference only.
(I will clean up the links later)


http://www.cafemama.com/etiquette.html

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art1204.asp

http://www.practicaletiquette.com/blog-etiquette.html

http://www.dmwmedia.com/blog/rohit/introducing-the-golden-rules-of-blog-etiquette-writeboard

10 min

I am not obsolete

There is a great Twilight Zone episode called "The Obsolete Man". While this deals with each human beings worth as a person, the notion of being obsolete is interesting on how it relates to mechanical things also. I just had to upgrade because my computer was "obsolete". It was no longer to keep up with the new programs and services that I need to interface with the modern world. At the same time, programs that I have been using, that have been serving me very well, are not working. Files than have critical data are not able to be opened. Are they obsolete? Or in our quest to move forward are we forgetting what got us here?

On a more practical matter, when you upgrade a computer or operating system, make sure you upgrade everything at the same time. As long as you stay reasonably current with your programs and files you should be able to keep them. However; do not underestimate the effort involved to do this. The computer gives you power but at a price.

10 min

Something Old - Something New

I bought a new computer today. What a life changing episode. It takes a full day plus to introduce the new computer. First you have to move the old one out of the way and then hook the new one up. Once up and running you still need the old one to transfer all the files over. It is like you have a clean sheet of paper and you can control how all the things that went before are entered. Wouldn't it be nice if we could do the same thing with our life. That we could pick a date and start anew, what happened before happened, but it was not going to affect us going forward. We could look back on all the chaos and neatly reorganize it and proceed forward. However; life is not that clean and neither is the new computer. You find things that you forgot to transfer, some old programs don't work. Some things you can't bring with you and you are forced to leave them behind. Choices - we have to make them and move forward. Moving forward is better than standing still.

More on the computer tomorrow....

8 min

How much is enough?

How little in not enough? Jesus quoted the Old Testament when he said the "poor are with you always". Did he mean that people will always be poor? Can you really be poor if you have a house over your head,an (old) car in the driveway and your kids have the latest video game? Capitalism has always relied on "the poor" for labor. Currently this is supposedly the illegal aliens from Mexico and the like. What we need to look at is the economic justice in our society. Then decide if we can live with the status quo or keep trying to improve it.

5 min

The more we think we know

I studied the Bible in high school and have continued on and off most of my life. Yesterday I sat down and was reading Genesis, source of much talk, if you follow the evolutionary wars. As I read it, I found contradictions, great foresight, challenging questions, unexpected twists and in the end I realized I do not understand the first book of the Bible, much less some of the lesser known books. How does this relate to today's life? How many of us think we are experts on the topics of today, when in reality we have opinions, but not knowledge. I cringe when someone says they know everything about a subject. What I have found is that the more you know, the more you realize there is so much more to learn. So a little humility please, and keep up the quest.

5 min

How much won't power

The nex few weeks of this blog will take a definite religious turn. Since it is Lent and I am a Catholic, I will be looking at secular issues from a religious point of view.

Ash Wednesday - the beginning of Lent - for most Christians Lent is associated with giving up things - candy, cookies, dessert etc. Even though the rules have been relaxed, for most Catholics it also means fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and abstaining from meat on those days and also all other Fridays during Lent. As I am halfway through Ash Wednesday, my fasting is doing well, but my hunger isn't. Everytime I pass the candy jar, or think of cookies, the urge to cheat taps me on the shoulder. So far, my won't power (that is I won't give in) is holding up. But how is your won't power? Can you say no to that new video game, can you stop spoiling your grand kids with the latest toys, can you stop and help that person in need, instead of just walking by. In order to have won't power we have to stop and think what are the results of our decisions. In today's society we make decisions without thinking, either because we have jumped in the stream and let others steer our choices, or because we have too many choices to make quality decisions. So try slowing down and start using your won't power.

10 min

Who is running the car companies?

From the Ford Website (Re the 2008 Ford Focus):

>>>Solid, sporty and stylish exterior

You won’t be shy about giving Focus a good once over. (Shoot, this little number might even warrant a twice-over now and again.) That’s because the styling on the ’08 Focus is brand, spanking new. It’s no simple upgrade or update, it’s a complete personality change.

For starters, it’s stylish and sporty. Designers on this vehicle took cues from the super popular Ford Fusion and borrowed the prominent chrome bar grille design. (Which besides being cool is also quite helpful for those last minute “spinach-in-the-teeth” checks before meetings.) Other design cues taken from Focus older sister, Fusion, are the flared wheel lips and sweeping, crisp lines of the body.

Headlights, taillights and other distinct design cues

Now that Focus has a bunch of revamped styling, we should probably delve into the details for a second. Focus headlights have horizontal bars with a matte surface running through the reflection area—an instant visual connection to the line of the chrome-bar grille. The taillamps are no slouches either. Borrowing design sense from big brother, the ‘08 Ford Escape, these illuminati feature the stark contrast of a white arc cutting across the red lens, and an LED center high-mounted stop lamp. Other hot spots to note on Focus are: the front fender appliqué integrated just behind the front wheel well on the SEL model and the bold, italic badging on the deck lid scuff plates and instrument panel on both the SE and SEL.

Yep, stylish and small really does say it all.<<<

No - reliable and good gas mileage says it all and they must not have it. This is the same stuff that got Detroit in trouble in the 70's and it looks like they brought back the same guys.

Now I like Ford products for the most part, but they are going to get their clocks cleaned by Toyota and Honda with copy like this.

5 min.