This is an area for me to post rants, random (sometimes meaningless) thoughts, and things I find funny and/or cool.
Quick things about me:
Q: Republican
or Democrat?
A: Neither...American
Q: Favorite
things in the world?
A: My family first & foremost. Second is my country. The list goes on from
there.
Q: How do you
fix things?
A: Get to the root of the problem. Treat the cause, not the symptoms. It is
pretty easy to identify problems. It is noble to identify solutions.
Recent Thoughts
Politics - Accountability
Here are some more thoughts on politics, our elected officials and recent events. Any American who can functionally communicate at some level has no doubt become aware of the world economy. Each organization from groups of nations to your local municipality must take action to help correct this "quagmire." There must be well thought out, rapid and methodical actions to counter this problem.
So here's the rub. The only requirement for this to work is our policy makers have to be 100% right. They have to be right the first time. Think of your friendly neighborhood brain surgeon. That doctor has to be 100% right 100% of the time. If not, someone dies. "But my elected officials are not brain surgeons!" Right, but we should hold them to the same standards as we would hold a brain surgeon. Only the most intelligent, uncorruptable leaders should be elected. The problem with that, in my not-so-humble opinion is the most intelligent and uncorruptable people are too smart to run for office (some exceptions thankfully apply).
It shouldn't
be too much of a surprise to figure out my position on party politics,
"earmarks/pork," or "business as usual." That said, we ALL need to contact our
elected officials and remind them of not only our concerns, but our
expectations. The wars are not over. The economy is not fixed. Health is not a
given. Money to build a bridge stuffed into a bill that is supposed to fund
research a cure for a childhood disease is unacceptable. Last November, we made
some hiring decisions. It is time for our first review. Let's not forget
accountability. I urge you to contact your elected officials and voice your
concerns.
Data Mining - What they know about you
I have been looking at some packet captures of web traffic, examining
web cookies, and doing a lot of on-line shopping (no lines at the checkout). I
was reminded of how much data is mined about everything we do online. I expanded
that "tracking" concept to the pseudo off-line world as well. I use the prefix
pseudo because everything we take for granted in this wired and wireless world
has the potential to be recorded or tracked. This isn't intended to be a
conspiracy/paranoia piece, just an observation. I will initially look at some of
the basic things we take for granted everyday. Subsequent postings may include
focused subject exploration.
I drive a car, use credit and debit cards, (ab)use my cell phone, surf the net, use GPS on my cell phone, shop at large retail stores, watch cable TV on a digital converter, and pay at the pump. So, doesn't everybody? Most of you do. The very fact that you are reading this shows you use the internet (where and how is another point). Let's look at the most obvious, credit/debit card usage. Anywhere you use your credit card, a lot of data is generated. How and where it is used (versus what is permissible) may surprise us all. For example, let's look at a trip to buy gas, stuff from a grocery store, and the drive home. I leave my house with my cell phone (internet and GPS enabled). A quick survey of my GPS allows me to find where the cheapest gas is. I select the station closest to the grocery store and have the GPS on my phone guide me there. I sometimes use the Google Maps mobile application to do this. To save time, I whip out my credit card to pay at the pump. Smiling at the fact it now takes less than $35 to fill my SUV (fuel is currently $1.49/USgallon), I grab my receipt from the pump and look it over. Everything is pretty standard: gallons purchased, price/gallon, total cost, time (with seconds) and date of the purchase, the last four numbers of my credit card, a transaction ID number and the approval code. Smirking at the wadded up receipts from previous patrons in the trash can, I pocket my receipt. I then drive the mile and a half to the grocery store, but spend what seems too long as the lead car at a major intersection stop light. I always seem to be a red light magnet. Waiting for the light to turn green, I notice the cameras atop each of the traffic lights. I finally make it to the parking lot of the grocery store and find a good parking spot near the door. Ahh, Karma repaid from the long light. I walk in with the intention of making this a quick trip. I need soda (coke, pop, whatever your neck of the woods calls it), coffee, and milk. On the way to the dairy section I pass the seasonal area. I see a name brand propane heater "on sale" for $49.99. I pull out my trusty cell phone and hit Amazon to see if it is cheaper. I look it up by brand and model with no luck. I then hit a shopping site and find it by typing my zip code and the UPC. It looks like it is available elsewhere for $38 within five miles. I get my items I mentioned earlier and pass the magazine rack. I see a new magazine and buy it. It cost $5.99. A quick visit to the magazine's web site using my trusty phone and I discover a subscription is only $12 for a year. I pay using my debit card by swiping it on the point of sale terminal at the self check out line. I find it interesting how this whole trip has yet to require me to say a single word to any human. I don't even need to make eye contact with anyone (though I do). I bag my groceries and out the door I go. I walk to my car and see a huge scratch on the driver's door facing the store's entry. Since I have the first parking spot, I noticed a few of the store's parking lot cameras have a clear shot of my car. I walk back into the store and ask the customer service booth person (yes, my first human contact) what I needed to do to find out who scratched my car door. I make reference to my parking spot and the great viewing angle the cameras have. Store security was able to show that the wind simply blew a shopping cart into my door. a few minutes later, an employee grabs the cart (apparently not seeing the damage to my car) and adds it to his train of collected carts. The store offers its condolences, but can't be responsible. Instead, the manager takes my name, address and phone number. He said he would have his corporate office mail me a shopping card with $20 store credit. That's better than nothing I think to myself. I drive back in a hurry (this time running a few yellow lights) so my milk stays cold. a few yellow lights) so my milk stays cold.ve to pay. When I do, I will add to my credit history on any of three credit reporting agencies. By the way, do you opt-out of all three credit reporting agencies' marketing functions? Did you know the opt-out has a limited life before you have to opt-out again? If you don't specifically opt-out, you are opted-in by default. The grocery store chain now has another record of my transactions (do you have a shopper's club card with your grocery store?), what I purchased, and how I paid to compare to previous purchases. Since I am a member of their shopper's club, I routinely get coupons and special offers in the mail. It seems I always (except this time) have a coupon for my brand of soda sent to me every week. They even let me know of new flavors introduced of my brand and I get coupons for that as well. Hmmm, it's like they know....
I dropped a whole lot of other data into the story above too. I will examine that later. Now, with just the grocery store, it seems they know a great deal about me and my shopping habits. Am I okay with that? It does benefit me by saving me a few dollars on soda. I even have a new favorite flavor of my brand of soda. There is a great deal more information that is available to be mined in the story above. What happens if I am not okay with the data trail I am leaving? What can I do to limit or eliminate the data trail? Is it worth it or even feasible? Is it impossible? Think about it.
Previous thoughts are about quality and excellence, versus "good enough" and "low-water marks."
Remember that every four years we have the privilege to choose our nation's leadership. As Americans, we have the responsibility to exercise this privilege.
Regardless of your party affiliation (if you feel the need to have one), please be informed of the issues, policies, and promises (and if they can and will be kept). Once you are informed, then make the best decision come this Faithful and historic Tuesday. Seek the Truth, not just the rhetoric. Have the Courage to vote YOUR convictions based on what is best, not what a party may tell you is the correct way. Restore the Power that our nation and our people once had.
Know. Think. Vote.
In my business, I see many projects that have established goals. You may think of this as minimum functionality acceptable to accomplish a goal or solve a particular problem. In other circles, you can think of the "lowest bidder." The latter is big in government contracts for example. I am sure you have heard some GI exclaim that, "Before you go into combat, put your life and the life of your friends in harm's way, rest in the comfort that your equipment was made by the lowest bidder." Therein is my worry. When is it safe or advisable or responsible to take the cheapest way out? I would argue that there are many times where it is, but not always. In many circumstances one can make an argument on something called "total cost of ownership" or "return on investment."
My favorite example is, sadly, toilet tissue. Take the two extremes of the cheapest tissue (the kind your grandmother may buy or the stuff at the local gas station restroom [ouch!]) and the stuff that everyone looks at on the counter and thinks, "Wow, can it really cost that much?!?" That said, suffice to say I buy the good stuff and sit very comfortably, thank you! To get clean using the single-ply tissue, you may need six or more squares per wipe. This is, of course softness aside. With the expensive stuff, you can get the job done with no more than three squares. Already there is a two to one cost savings. So if you buy one cheap roll for a dollar and the good stuff for two dollars, you have so far saved nothing. Now, enter the "John Wayne" factor inherent in the "more affordable" stuff. If you do not know what that is, it is rough and tough, and won't take crap off anybody. I will let you draw your own value conclusions from that as it is very subjective.
Now, back to the rant. It seems that people are all about doing the minimum. What is "good enough?" How many pieces of flair is too much? The answer is another question: What do you expect to accomplish? Another anecdote from my real world experiences: I have a customer with a need for a product. It needs to stop a nuisance occurrence. He has contacted me and two other vendors in this space. There is a technical evaluation of each product, company stability is researched, and product support is evaluated. at the end of the period, two of the four products are within the required parameters of controlling this nuisance. One of the products costs more (about 20-30%) but can do quite a bit more. This would include solving a problem the customer knows he has, but not within the scope of the issue at hand. What does one do?
Given the scenario above, there are a few things that can happen. The seller should build value to ALL the stakeholders involved in the decision process. The problem is the seller may not have access for one reason or another to them all. What I have found is there is a recommendation for two products and their prices. Sometimes there are notes about preferences and additional functionality. When it gets to the budget master though, they see two problem solving products and two numbers. The lowest bidder wins.
I also see this spilling into everyone's personal lives. You have no doubt ran into books, speakers, and even personal thought on Excellence. This includes over-delivery, near-zero defects, 6-Sigma (or five nines, etc), or even just doing the BEST you can. I fall guilty to less than optimum effort myself sometimes. My most common offense is mowing the lawn. I'll break out the push mower and even trim with my Weed Eater. Now I have all these grass trimmings. Do I break out the blower and/or rake and remove everything I can or do I just declare it as organic mulch and let it decompose, thus feeding my lawn. :-) If the former, I also have a disposal problem for lawn waste. I can make a compost pile in some out-of-sight area of my yard (after spending a few minutes on the web learning how to make one). The alternative is buying "lawn waste bags" which are basically green colored trash bags from my trash collector for about $5 a bag (see value proposition diatribe above). Needless to say, my lawn is well mulched.
The point to this very frustrating rant is we can all use a little, if not a lot more Excellence in our lives. My challenge to whomever is actually reading this (even this far down) is to pick things in your life to go the extra mile on. Over deliver on a promise or a gift or some work you are doing. Use a lock washer on that bolt. Make your bed even though no one is due to visit your home today. Leave an extra dollar tip to your wait staff if they do a good job. Wash your car (we need the rain anyway) AND dry it too. Get the most value for your money, even if it means spending a few extra bucks. Buy better toilet tissue.
Thank you to all of our military members for your commitment to defending the Constitution, and the freedoms it guarantees. Your sacrifices are of the highest honor and held in the highest regard. You are true patriots.
Here is another thought for you. Freedom and Liberty are not negotiable. Remember the Bill of Rights.
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