Nope, I Still Don't Like It

Things that are an irritation to me.

• Expensive social reform programs that accomplish no reform at all.
• Flat Pillows.
  
• 12 year old girls having babies.
• Women who wear next to nothing and get mad when you stare. You give up your rights to be mad when you wear a skirt that shows your underwear and tops that barely cover your raisins.
• Water in my basement.
  
• Not allowing drug testing for welfare recipients. A portion of my check goes to welfare and I have to get drug tested (not really, just making a point).
• Having to push "1" for English.
• Wood ticks and mosquitoes
  
• Never had a job, never plans to work, 4 kids, on welfare and pregnant.
• Cars with stereos that shake my windows when they drive by.
  
• A war waged supposedly for the oil but gas prices continue to climb?
• Slow computers.
  
• Misbehaved or spoiled rotten kids
• How it's accepted to promote and encourage "alternate lifestyles" but not allow "religious" discussions in the same circle. Free speech is free speech regardless of your beliefs.
• Compact cars that only get 30 MPG.
  
• People who don't vote but loudly complain about the current state of affairs.
  
• Compulsive text messaging.
• Bartenders who use their position to push their propaganda.
  
• Chunks of stuff sticking to the bottom of my feet.
• A sticky table or bar top.
  

I cut the list short so as not to appear too mental.

What are yours?

 

Back In The Saddle

OK I am back. You were probably saying to yourself, "Hey, what happened to Big Pappa?" Either that or you really don't care. I like to believe that you really did miss me.

I was up in the great Northwoods of Wisconsin for the last several days. While I was up there, tornadoes were tearing up the area around my home town. Fortunately I didn't come home to a destroyed home. Some however weren't so lucky.

Here are some pictures of the town of Parkersburg, Iowa and the destruction that was left behind.

Tornadoes are a funny thing. They will completely destroy one house and the house right next door will be untouched. Residents of Dunkerton, Iowa and several other surrounding communities emerged from their basements to find their homes, cars, farms, and towns in ruin. A massive clean-up effort has begun with the help of volunteers from all over. The large amount of people turning out to help those in need is a testament to the character of the people here in the Midwest.

I have noticed one thing in this time of tragedy that is different from some "recent" disasters you heard about. The people here in Iowa aren't blaming the government for anything. Most of the people that are now homeless are relying on family, friends and volunteers to pick up the pieces. They aren't standing with their hands out bellyaching about how the government isn't there to help. This was a true tragedy for HUNDREDS of people. Schools were destroyed, farms, and businesses. It was truly amazing to see how many people turned out to help just hours after the destruction.

Here are some additional pictures from Dunkerton, Iowa.











Again as a measure of the quality of people here in the area, there have been so many volunteers that new offers to volunteer are being turned down. Here at The Big Bald Blog, our prayers and thoughts go out to everyone who has lost property and loved ones in last weekend's storms.

 

Wonderful News About U.S. Broadband

As if it wasn't bad enough, the U.S. has now slipped to 15th in total broadband access. YES!

Twenty-six countries have advertised DSL speeds, putting the US just ahead of Mexico, Turkey, and Poland. Now, in addition to the billions of dollars in money that we give illegals, they can now experience a faster and less expensive Internet experience. Viva la telco!

Most of us remember the $200 million telco green weenie. Even now, as technology is getting cheaper, we are still engaged in a backslide.

"The fastest advertised download speed in the US was 50 Mbps, half of what is available in Finland, France, South Korea and Sweden, and dwarfed by 1Gbps available in Japan." - Via Jason Lee Miller

I am sorry if I continue to beat this dead horse. I am just tired of the lack of Internet options and the abysmal speeds that I have to put up with. It is only going to get worse until the US embraces a fundamental thinking shift and is willing to embrace a national technology policy and a large scope broadband integration policy. Until then, we will continue to fall short in our technology offerings and will continue to loose our advantage and our ability to compete in the global market.

OK, I am done ranting now. I am off to the woods for the weekend and I'll be back on Tuesday! I do have a post planned for tomorrow with a great ad from 1965 so make sure you check back. Have a good Memorial Day Weekend everyone!

 

Children With Cell Phones

What is with 10 year olds kids with cellphones?

I have to admit this has been a very irritating concept to me. Especially when most of the time the kids don't even talk on their cell phone, they just send text messages. Can someone tell me why a 10 year old kid needs a cell phone?

I know a lady that bought her 12 year old girl a mobile phone for her birthday and evidently didn't understand the plan she paid for. To make a long story short, the daughter ran up a $1200 bill due to the massive amount of text messages sent. She couldn't pay the bill and had to go to another provider. I don't think that a 12 year old can really comprehend a $1200 cell phone bill for one month.

Up until now, I have been in the "no cell phone for kids" camp. BUT then I got to thinking after talking to several people. Here are some of their opinions on the subject.

• "A cell phone is the greatest leash I can have on my child. If I am calling they better answer and if they don't, it gets taken away."
• "In this day and age, I feel good that my child has a cell phone and can get in touch with me if they are in trouble."
• "My son is involved in a lot of school activities, he can call me when they are ready to come home or let me know what they are doing at any time."

Ok, fine. I can see where they are coming from. I guess I was stuck in the old school mindset that a cell phone was for conducting business. I just needed to shift my thinking and to look at cell phones as toys or objects of entertainment. I asked myself how a cell phone was different from walkie-talkies when I was a kid. Ahhhh, a monthly service fee you say. Ok, do we not subscribe to other monthly services for our kids? How about XBOX Live? That is another piece of technology or "toy" that we pony up big bucks for. I guess you can say that I am now seeing the light. See, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

However, the one thing that I still can't get past is kids having the phones in school. I have a couple of friends that are teachers. They say that it is pretty disruptive AND some industrious individuals have been caught texting the answers to tests. According the people that I have spoke with, most schools have rules regarding cell phone use on school property, yet it continues to be a problem. The last thing that our kids need are more distractions in school. Educators have a tough enough job teaching our children and we need to do everything in our power to help them with their jobs. This includes backing up the school when they enforce policy and take away cell phones.

So what's your thoughts on kids with cellphones? Do your kids have phones? What age do you think it is appropriate for children to venture into wonderful world of mobile madness?

 

The Glory of Fast Food

Do you prefer McDonald's or Burger King? For me, it has been a toss up based strictly on service and convenience. Several months ago I wrote a post about how McDonald's had to close because the computers went down. Since then I've discovered how excellent Burger King's coffee was so I decided to wear a path to BK instead. Seriously, it has got to be some of the best coffee around. After all, McD's coffee beat out Starbucks, it would be logical that another fast food giant would have good coffee too right? Trust me it is awesome!

I have been frequenting BK for nothing more than coffee for several months now. A couple of weeks ago I started buying the $1 sausage biscuits. That buttery little cholesterol dose tastes reaalllly good and goes great with their coffee. The biscuit costs $1 and a large coffee is just under $2. For 2 biscuits and a large coffee it comes to $4.17 with tax (local tax here is 7%).

Now stay with me here.

About 2 weeks ago I thought to myself, "You like cheese a lot. Could it be possible that cheese on your biscuit would make it better?" Indeed it did.

Last week I walked into my friendly neighborhood BK and stood at the counter awaiting what was sure to be a lovely grease laden treat. The cash register attendant greeted me with a smile. I said, "I will take 2 sausage biscuits with cheese and a large coffee."

BK Girl - "You don't want egg?"

Me - (re-playing my order to see if I ordered egg) "No, just sausage and cheese"

BK Girl - "You don't want egg?"

Me - "NO just a sausage biscuit and I want you to put a piece of cheese on it for me."

BK Girl - "No egg? hmmm." She stares at the keyboard for what seemed an eternity in "fast food time" and finally enters the information. "Your total is $6.73"

Remember the total from above? Now, I am not one to slow down the progress and expeditious delivery of the obesity causing fast food establishment but for some reason the price struck me as a little "off."

Me - "That doesn't sound right?"

BK Girl - "That's what it says" (referring to the cash register as if were speaking to her on some inaudible level)

Me - "OK, the sausage biscuit is $1 and the coffee is $1.89. That means you're charging me $1.20 per slice of cheese?"

BK Girl - Blank stare.

Me - Waiting for a response

BK Girl - Blank stare.

Me - "HOW MUCH WOULD YOU SELL ME A PIECE OF CHEESE FOR?"

BK Girl - Looking at the register, "It looks like 20 cents?"

Me - (as the people are getting grumpy behind me)"Bingo! Now sell me 2 biscuits and 2 pieces of cheese and a large coffee and I will be on my way"

BK Girl - "uhhh ok. uhhhhh hmmmm. Ok I think I got it. There we go"

Now, normally I pay attention to small purchases that I make and confirm that I am, in fact, paying the correct price. However, I am not the type of person that checks every item in my grocery cart to make sure I am not getting took. A buddy of mine told me that grocery store over charging is a HUGE problem and happens all the time. I just like to think that I have some sense of what something should cost and tend to pay attention a little bit.

As it turns out BK Girl was charging me for a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit and taking off the egg as a special order. This was the only way she knew how to ring it up. Anything outside the paradigm was completely unacceptable.

2 days later I went into the same BK and ordered the exact same thing but in a different manner. I asked for "2 sausage biscuits and after the order was complete, I said "oh, can you put cheese on them for me." They were able to figure it out and simply added 40 cents to my purchase price.

My fast food conclusions - You shouldn't eat it and the understanding of your order largely depends on your delivery.

 

This Is How I Feel.

Normally I am a "winter" lover, but for some reason this year it is really starting to get to me. It's not so much the cold or the snow, it's the ICE. Everywhere and under everything. I got stuck on a flat alley yesterday AND I have a 4 wheel drive truck. But like the cartoon says, at least we don't have hurricanes. So what's the point? The point is, I can't wait for summer.

AND, since I am such a slacker and I didn't post yesterday. Today is a 2 for 1 day. It's time for some more "customer love." Not too long ago we launched a new website for a Budweiser distributor in Waterloo, Iowa. They wanted a new look, some additional marketing functionality and the ability to control their own content. This is what they got!



Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Business Cards

Well, someone did it to me again. They gave me a perforated, print it yourself, designed on Microsoft word, ink jetted business card. Oh man I really can't stand that. I'm sorry, but this is one of my pet peeves. For a business owner to care that little about that initial impression, I find that sad.

If you are going out and asking people to buy from you, shouldn't it be OK to hand them a nice business card? Seriously even if your business card cost an expensive $.20 cents each, or $200.00 per 1000, isn't it worth it if you are asking someone to spend 3 or 4 thousand with you. There are all kinds of places out there that will let you can get really nice card for about $125.00 per 1000.

I keep collecting these home ink jetted cards as a matter of curiosity. To date, I have 2 of this type from attorneys, 1 from a travel agent and 1 from a professional organizer. All professionals who normally charge handsomely for their services.

As I was writing this, I went digging through my business card stash and found a couple that really stood out.


The scanner didn't do them justice. The first one pictured is a card that I received from a plastics company, and YES the card is on translucent plastic. Clean, simple yet creative. It just makes sense right?

The second one is a deputy sheriff's card. It embossed, gold and black foil stamped. I kind of had mixed emotions on this when I found out that the card cost $.50 cents each. But then I guess I would be hypocritical if I said that tax payer dollars shouldn't be spending that much on business cards for officers. My point is, they are 2 out of the ordinary cards that made me pay a little bit closer attention.

Out of all the business cards I had in my file, these were the only 2 that seemed to be a little more "special." In the interest in making my point, I set out on the Internet to see what kind of business card designs were out there. The creative I found, made my 2 examples look like photo copies on card stock. I ran across a site called Creative Bits that had all kinds of great concepts and design work in the form of business cards. The images below are just a few examples that are shown on the site.


Excellent use of a debossing die.


This happens to be one of the coolest cards I have seen. Someone emailed this to me several months ago. I would imagine that this is a pretty expensive card to make and the laser cutting or die stamping shop would require quite the run to tool up for it. I don't know too many locksmiths that would spring for this, but someone obviously did.


How about a scratch off business card. Very nice.


This one is pretty funny. I am not sure if this was a real card or if this was just a mock-up. Clever nonetheless.


This is probably the THE coolest business card I have seen. Slightly beating out the locksmith card. The concept is amazing. You have to stretch the card, as if you were working out, to see the full information.


Another great concept. Print your information on the little envelopes and put some grass seed in it. How appropriate for a lawn care company. (I put this one up there for you Allyn.)

Make sure you stop by Creative Bits and check out the other creative ways to get your information across in a business card format.

Because I love my readers so much, here's I am going to do to. If you have a great concept on a business card or your card is a bit out of the ordinary, send it to me and I will post what I receive on Fridays. Send your cards to TheBigBaldBlog AT impactmt dot com. What should we call that feature? "Show me your cards?"

Thanks again for stopping by and have a great weekend everyone!

 

Questions On My Mind

Why do we have to put up with garbage like this but children can't carry a bible or pray in schools?

If you loose an election and you don't spend all of your money does that money go back to the contributors or do you get to keep it?

When did the rights of a criminal become more important than that of the victim?

When did freedom of speech transition into the disturbance of memorials?

We have the technology. Why don't we have cars that get better gas mileage?

Many people have to take drug tests to keep their job and pay taxes. Why don't welfare recipients have to pass a drug test to get their check?

What say you?

Ok now that I have that off my chest, have a great weekend everyone.

 

U.S. Post Office Customer Service

Here I go again with another rant that you probably won't care about. It's about our fabulous Postal System. If you are a fan the U.S. Post Office or don't like really long posts, you might want to stop reading now.

Here's a little background. For years I have lived in a town where the mailboxes are out at the curb. The type where the hard working mail person doesn't have to leave her vehicle to deliver the mail. On more occasions than I can count, I have come home after it has been raining and a package is sitting on the post, completely soaked. I have complained about this and I usually get the standard response, "your mailbox needs to be of sufficient size to accommodate your mail." I'm not going to go into this side issue but sometimes I would need a 55 gallon drum to "accommodate my mail."

I have also had to put up with the mail being delivered anywhere from 11 AM to 5 PM. I believe my mail person fancies a good garage sale. Usually the mail arrives closer to 5 PM when there are a bunch of garage sales in the neighborhood. I always know when there is a substitute delivery person. My packages are sitting at my back door and the mail comes before noon. This is another thing that I have complained about with no resolution. You need to understand something before I go on. I am not one of those chronic complainers. I usually can put up with a lot before something gets mentioned.

Anyway, back the situation that thrust this rant onto The Big Bald Blog. My mailbox got hit last week and broke the post off. I propped it up with 2 steel posts until I could get around to fixing it. It seems that the post was leaning a little too much, and my mail person, being the pleasant person she is, notified me in a very nasty handwritten note that I had to fix the post or run the risk of my mail being held. It seems that she had lean a little bit and reach a few inches further to actually get the mail in the box. Apparently this was too much work.

The problem is, I share the post with 3 other mail boxes on the opposite side of the street. I wanted to find out if I could move my mailbox to my side of the road. The others that share the post with me also wanted to have their own post by their house.

On Sunday, I knew I would have some free time. I could run to the local Home Depot and grab the supplies needed for the repair. I begin my investigation on the proper height and placement of a mailbox. Of course I started my research with the U.S. Post Office's website. You would think that the information would be readily available on the their site. After about 20 minutes of searching, do you think that I could find anything on the subject? There were several blogs that had information about it, but the information was for another state. The U.S. Post Office's website indicated that I would need to check with my local post office for the regulations.

I called Sunday, assuming they would NOT be open, hoping that they would have some information available via recorded message. Nope - It just said leave a message and listed their retail hours. Oh Yes, I forgot about their retail hours. I must digress here. Normally the term retail hours conjures up a notion of extended hours to accommodate shoppers. Not the U.S. Postal Service. 9 to 11 and 12 to 5. The USPS has retail hours that are inaccessible to those who actually work for a living.

OK, back to the picture I am trying to paint. I leave a message and decide that I truly have no hope of anyone calling me back, so I decide to go down to the post office. I get down there and fill the postal worker in on my story. The person behind the counter says, "You will need to call regional office to get that information." I thought he was kidding me. I asked, "Can't you just give me the information?" After all he was the "local" post office. He writes the number down on a Post-It and sends me on my way. I get to the office, look at the number on the official government document (the Post-It) and have no choice but to give the number a call.

A very unpleasant person answers, "Post Office"

Me- "I have a question about the regulations on mail boxes."

Post Office - "What do you need" - Yes he actually said "What do you need."

Me - "My mailbox was hit and I need to replace it, can you give me the proper dimensions for the height?"

Post Office - "The bottom of the box has to be exactly 42 inches from the street and it can not protrude into the street."

Me - "Exactly 42 inches?" (I may have to hire a survey crew to ensure proper height)

Post office - "YES!"

Me - "OK, next question"

Post Office - sighs

Me - "I would like to move my...."

Post Office - (interrupts) "You can't move your mail box!"

Me - "Why"

Post Office - "That's just the way it is and it's been there for years, what else do you need?"

Me - "Uhhh nothing I guess. Thanks for your.....(click)"

At this point I want to call his manager's manager and lay into someone. But then I figure, what good will it do. After years of experiencing a "don't care, don't help" attitude from this great division of our Government, I figured it would be an exercise in futility.

Years ago I was in the back room of the main post office and there was a banner hanging on the wall. It said something to the effect, "UPS claims that the USPS would never be able to survive in a truly free and competitive environment. Let's prove them wrong!"

Wow, I couldn't agree more. Since we have no choice on who delivers our mail, we have to put up with poor attitudes and poor customer service. This, of course, is why I will choose FedEx or UPS any day of the week over the USPS when I am going to ship something significant. I WOULD like to see the U.S. Postal service try and compete with the other carriers in a true competitive situation. If business owners provided the same terrible customer service and ran their business like the USPS, they wouldn't be in business long.

Well, that's about all I needed to say. If you read this far without bailing, I am curious to see what your opinions are? Let me know your thoughts.