Musings

Why the Chevy HHR is a POS

Sunday, 08 August 2010 13:49 Jan

Yes, the Chevy HHR is an utter POS.  Then why do we even have one you ask?  It's a rental.  We are currently without a truck or a car.  The GTi has about 160k miles on it and is having some random issues dying while we are driving.  After doing a quick online search, we found a few other people with the same issue who have spent a few thousand dollars at dealerships trying to diagnose the issue and never posted the outcome.  Since we're not exactly able to cough up a few thousand dollars at the moment, we figured we would give it a go to troubleshoot it ourselves.  So we're renting a vehicle at the moment.

 

Monte brought this thing home on Friday while I was working.  I happened to be telecommuting that week, so I had the privilege of getting to ride in it on the way to lunch that day.  I can say this much, it's red.    If you know me, you know how much I like red. 

 

On to initial impressions:  I promise, I didn't have any preconceived notions of this ride in the least.  I had never ridden in one before, and other than not really being fond of Chevrolet due to their lack of a quality interior, I've had no real issues with their vehicles.  They build a rock solid drive train, that's for certain.  I opened the door to this thing and the first thought I had was that Chevrolet must have stock in Rubbermaid.  The entire front section of the car is the same texture.  It all looks like the lid to a Rubbermaid container, possibly even a trash can lid.

 IMAG0022

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Last Updated on Monday, 09 August 2010 15:27
 

Cameron Herold: Let's Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs

Sunday, 20 June 2010 21:11 Jan

   

 

Watching this video the other day, I couldn't help but be struck by the theme that seems to be consistant throughout just about every video that strikes me with these Ted Talks.  Our culture seems to be stiffiling the potential of our children. 

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Last Updated on Monday, 09 August 2010 15:51
 

Health Care Crisis

Thursday, 27 May 2010 02:31 Jan

Recently I was involved in a discussion about the health care situation in this country. I don't claim to be a well versed individual when it comes to this stuff. Not even by a long shot. It's far too complex and convoluted for me to even pretend that I'm 'up to speed' on the different aspects of the bills that have recently been passed by our lovely bureaucracy. However, this doesn't change the fact that I believe that there is a root cause to our health care crisis. If you've read my previous article: The State of Our Food, you probably already have a pretty good idea of where I'm headed with this.

 

Rather than putting band aids on the problems, why don't we fix the problems at their roots? The health care issue crisis in this country can be traced back to poor understanding of basic human health needs.

 

Just yesterday at work, our managers brought in yet ANOTHER batch of sugar in the form of an ice cream cake to 'thank' us for our hard work. This in a long, long line of nutrition deprived foods that they have been bringing us to 'thank us' for our efforts. Upon declining a slice of cake for the billionth time, my boss asked me why I never partake. My response was that I choose to eat in such a way that I can help to ensure that my future will be healthy. At this point, another coworker responded with: "at this rate, we'll all have type two diabetes in the next two years." My boss' response? "You have to eat like this every single day to get type two diabetes."

 

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Last Updated on Monday, 09 August 2010 15:44
 

Schools Kill Creativity

Friday, 21 May 2010 02:28 Jan

         

I watched this Ted talk a few weeks ago.  Since then I've been able to walk around with my head held high.  I've always felt like I didn't belong in school.  I've always felt like the way I was taught in school just didn't work for me. Since moving on in my life, I've found the things that I love and I've grasped them with all of my ability and I've embraced them.  While in school, I was that kid. I was that kid that would sit in the back and draw.  I would draw anything and everything I could think of.  My drawings were never any good, but they enabled me to escape into my own little world.  I never did exceptionally well in school.  I was always told I was bright and that if I would just put my mind to it, to something, then I would be able to be successful at it.  That something was supposed to be my academics - the maths, sciences, literature, etc.  Oh, how I hated literature.

I never did very well with the teachers that everyone else loved.  Rather, I excelled with the teachers that everyone else hated.  I'm not quite sure why that was, but it's the way it always worked out.  Mrs. Hodge in 4th grade was the teacher that made parents pull their kids from public school and put them into private school.  I received an 'E' for excellence in behavior.  No one liked our 7th grade Art teacher, they hated her in fact.  I took two semesters of Art from her because we got along so well. 

Thinking back about these teachers, I think I got along with these teachers so well because they got me.  They understood that I needed to be me.  They understood that the system was broken and that all they could do in the mean time was to help those students that came through their classrooms.

Last Updated on Monday, 09 August 2010 16:06
 

Ideas Worth Spreading

Thursday, 20 May 2010 16:23 Jan

I'm a big fan of Ted Talks.  If you've never watched any of them, I highly recommend them.  They'll get your mind spinning in all kinds of different directions.  Who knows, you might just realize that all of those 'crazy' thoughts you've been having aren't really crazy after all.  There's other people out there who feel just like you do!  Oh, and by the way, they're highly regarded in their fields to boot!

This is one Ted talk that I watched about a week ago that I've just simply not been able to get out of my head.  It's grabbed a hold of me and it just won't let go.  I really feel like this is at the root of corporate America's issues - compensation structures.  I'm going to ruffle some feathers here, I'm sure of it.  However, when have I ever been known to really tone things back when it's something I believe strongly in?  Tisk Tisk.

On the heels of another post I've just made, only this one not nearly as scathing, I felt I should explain why this struck me so.  However, I don't think I'll be able to convey it successfully.  Not by any stretch of the imagination.

I think about the compensation structures I've been a part of in the past.  I'm not talking about the bi-weekly compensation structures here, I'm referring to the bonus plans.  In all reality, I don't think I've ever once had one that's really made an impact on my work performance.  They've always been paid out on a yearly basis and have always been so minuscule in the grand scheme of things that I've only really appreciated them when they came...and then they left and I didn't think anything of them to be honest.  We're talking about a bonus structure that really only equates to an extra paycheck, or even two if it was a really good one.  In all reality, would this make you work any harder over the span of an entire year?

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Last Updated on Monday, 09 August 2010 17:24
 
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