The Lost Symbol

I just finished reading Dan Brown's new book, The Lost Symbol. The main character of this book is again Robert Langdon and the setting is Washington DC. The story really held my attention like The da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. Some of the plot of this story was more predictable than the previous two books.

I would give the book high marks overall. It weaves mystery, suspense, history and symbology seamlessly and there is a very surprising twist near the end that I could not even imagine would happen up to that point. The plot twist just comes out of nowhere, but it is a very important part of the story.

This was a good book, but my favorite of the three was Angels and Demons. This book does make me want to go back to Washington DC and visit all of the locations that are mentioned. I didn't really get that urge after reading the other two books.

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The Prius Attracts Attention

I pulled into the parking lot to pick Meg up from her after school program yesterday. Most days when I pull in there are at least 2 Prius' in the parking lot and yesterday was no exception. One day last week there were a total of 5 or 6 Prius' in the parking lot. I don't know if there really are more on the road or if I am just more aware of them since I really started looking at buying one.

As I was walking up to the front of the school, a teacher rushed out of the office and asked me how I liked my Prius. I told her I have only owned it since Saturday, but so far I was really impressed with it. She pointed out that she owned the first generation Prius and that she has been very happy with it. She told me that I will love it.

She asked me if Toyota was offering any incentives on them yet. I told her they were not and that I was told it was because inventories of Prius' are too low to offer any incentives. She was dissappointed and told me that she has been waiting for about three months to buy the new 2010 3rd generation Prius. She asked me to let her know if I heard of any incentives.

Yesterday was the first day I drove the car in my daily routine and it already got attention. I was talking to Tina last night about celbrities who drive them and I told her that they drive them because they are hybrids and because they are so recognizable. When people see the celebrity in them they know that they care about what we are doing to the environment. I am the same way. I could have bought a hybrid Accord, Camry or even Malibu but I wanted people to know how I feel about the environment. And my Prius has been a wonderful car so far.

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Obligations

Why do we feel like we are obligated to do certain things? Do people make us feel this way? Is it an emotion that takes control of us and makes us feel this way? Is it a feeling we get from someone that makes us feel this way?

Feeling like you are obligated really limits your choices and can force you to make a decision that you may regret in the future. There really is no reason to make people feel like they are obligated to do something for you. I genuinely try to avoid making people feel this way, but I often sense that other people feel like I am obligated to do something. I really dislike that and most of the time I just make my own decision anyway.

It really is wrong to make people feel this way and I think it is rooted in jealousy to a certain extent. The worst thing is when you know someone feels like you are obligated to them, but they insist that there really is no obligation. Are they just unaware that they are making you feel this way or are they just trying to use psycology on you and make you think that you are not obligated? Either way, it is wrong.

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New Addition to the Family

We picked up our new baby this morning after Meg's soccer game. We opted for a mixed race bundle of joy, a 2010 Toyota Prius. We ended up getting the Barcelona Red one and the reason is because it makes me laugh. I just find it very funny to have a little hybrid car that is race car red.

This car is made for tech geeks. Their are so many little gadgets in the car that there is more than one owner's manual and even a DVD. So far, I have just read up on the features I will need immediately, like the bluetooth handsfree calling and the navigation system.

I will be reading a lot in the near future

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When Did Life Become No Fun?

I was listening to a radio show on my drive to work this morning. They were discussing a paradoy song that they wrote about a song that their station plays a lot. They were not happy that their station management cannot make a decision on their bits and that anything that is prerecorded has to go to the corporate lawyers for approval.

The show I was listening to was Kevin and Bean. If you know anything about their show, part of the humor is that they offend people. They routinely complain that anything they send to the lawyers gets rejected because they are so careful to not offend anyone. This flies in the face of what they show is all about. Why would their company continue to air their show if they don't want to offend anyone?

This brought to mind the fact that life itself is becoming boring. We are always told that we cannot say things because they will offend people. While I am very respectful of people's feelings, I think we have gone too far.

I see a parallel in my daughter's life. AYSO has removed goal keepers from the field until you move beyond the under eight level. Goal keepers are an integral part of the game. I don't know the exact reson for this decision, but it seems to be rooted in the feelings of the players. Goal keepers often get blamed for a goal that is scored. When I coached my oldest daughter's team, I did not allow that to happen. I was always telling the players that it is not the goal keeper's fault. After all, the team made it though all the rest of them before getting the shot on goal.

I see the same things happening in our schools. Teachers now must embrace positive discipline. In most instances this does work, but when you are dealing with a child who knows you cannot make them do anything the system begins to break down. If a kid knows that their is no punishment, or "easy" punishment, for their actions then why would they change their behavior? It is a tough situation for our teachers and administrators to be put in.

Life is not always going to be easy. People will offend you and hurt your feelings. Everyone who puts themself out on a line and pushes their limits will fail sometime, and their feelings will be hurt. I think our society is failing to teach people the skills to deal with these situations. This just makes it hurt worse when it does happen.

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How Hard is it to Buy Something?

I sure cannot believe that we are still in a recession if I have to judge by the response I am getting to purchasing two items. I am currently starting to shop for a new car and am also exploring my options for a swimming pool. I am really having trouble getting people to respond to my requests.

I used the Toyota website to build my Prius and then searched for a dealer in my area. Once I selected the dealer, my information was sent to them. I have been contacted by them via email, which I prefer, and have responded with questions. My email replies have only been responded to one time, but they keep sending me other emails asking how their service has been. I guess I really need to reply and let them know that it has been two weeks since this started and they actually have the car I am interested in sitting on their lot.

I tried to contact a pool builder that I saw at a home show last year. I could never catch a live person, so I thought maybe they were out of business. I made contact with three other builders with no problems at all. I continued to call the first builder and began leaving messages for them to call me back. I finally received a return call. I got all four builders to come to my house and start the work for estimates. One of them got back to within a few days, one got back to me within a week and one set a follow-up appointment for me at the original appointment, though it was almost two weeks later. The fourth, however, did not get back to me after almost two weeks. I finally called them and they got back to me the next day.

Two builders still owe me drawings. One of them told me they would email me the drawing on Monday and I still have not seen it yet. I am meeting with the fourth builder, who is my leader at this point, tomorrow. They are installing a pool down the street from me, which is how I found them in the first place. I am concerned that they did not get back to me until after I called them back though.

All I can think from these experiences is that either the recession is not as bad as everyone thinks and the car business and pool business are just slammed with customers or they are just two very flaky industries. I am inclined to believe the later at this point, until proven otherwise. I wonder if I would have the same luck trying to give away my money if I just stood on the corner with a sign that read, "I will give you all my money, just ask for it?"

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Insane Killer Recaptured

The title of this blog was a small headline in our local paper today. The small story that accompanied the headline raised several questions in my mind.

The killer was in a mental institution in Washington state after being declared insane. "He was committed after he was diagnosed as schizophrenic and acquitted by reason of insanity in the slaying of an elderly woman in Sunnyside in 1987. He soaked her body in gasoline to throw off search dogs." Click here for the story.

I question the sanity of anyone who murders another person. I think it is obvious that if you decide to end another persons life, you are mentally unstable. So how then do we decide that some people should be sent to prison and some should be sent to mental institutions?

The larger question however is why are we taking people in mental institutions on field trips? Especially if they are there for committing any crime. This makes no sense to me at all. And why would the chosen field trip be to a county fair where there are many children, often not watched very closely by their parents? The tax dollars of Washington state citizens are being used to pay for field trips for murderers. In this economy, I can't believe that tax dollars would be spent so frivously, expecially for those who have committed crimes.

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Good Food, Good Drinks & Good Conversation

We decided to have dinner at Henry Salazar's last night. I ordered a michelada and because we sat near the bar, I could here our waiter, the bartender and one of the owners of the restaurant discussing how to make the drink. I heard one of them say something about Clamato, so I got up to tell them I did not want Clamato in the drink. They gave me the option of a "bloody beer" or a beer with lime in it. I decided on the "bloody beer."

After our waiter brought me the drink, the owner came to our table and asked me if that was what I was looking for. I told him it was. I told him that in different parts of Mexico they have different recipes for the drink and that in Mexico City it was a beer with lime and ice in it and in Guadalajara it was made with tomato juice and spices. We started talking about Mexico and he asked me when was the last time I was in Mexico City and what I thought about it. I told him that after my first visit I was very disappointed, but on my second visit I actually got to take a tour and really got to see the good side of the city.

He said that he was scared to go from everything he had heard. He asked me where to go and what hotel I stayed in. I told him to stay in Polanco and that I stayed in the Camino Real next to Chapultapec Park. I told him it was a great place to stay.

A little later, we overheard him telling someone else about our conversation. He and the other gentleman came over to our table. He introduced us to his partner, Henry Salazar. We started talking about Mexico again. We talked about Michoacan and Mexico City. We talked about the art, Dia de los Muertos and many other topics. They told us that they buy most of their decor from a store named Polanco in San Francisco. We told them about Del Sol, where we have bought pottery in Visalia. It was a great conversation. We definitely will not wait so long to go back.

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Complete Game

Meg had one of her best soccer games ever today. She simply dominated the game. In the end she had two goals and one assist in a 3-0 victory. And she did it all in front of her family. My mom and Tina's sister's family were in attendance.

The game was very slow to develop as the opposing team consistently kept three defenders back near the goal. We had a couple of shots on goal early, but nothing was going in due to the number of defenders they kept back. A little later in the first quarter, Meg took a shot from pretty far out and threaded it between the defenders and into the goal. She normally does not take shots from far out, so this one was a new option for her.

At halftime, we were up 1-0. In the third quarter, Meg just took over the game. She was using her left foot as much as her right. She was sliding and hooking the ball to keep it in down the line. She was running her fastest to catch the other team's players when they had the ball. She also scored another goal to give her team a 2-0 lead.

The fourth quarter was more of the same. Meg just continued to make great plays. Her passing in this game was fantastic, as usual. On one possession, she saw a team mate running down the middle of the field and made a great pass with two defenders between her and the goal. Her team mate took the shot and scored the third and final goal of the game. After the game I told her that the assist was her best play of the game. She was very happy with her performance and said that she will eat Apple Jacks before all of her games from this point forward because of the great day she had.

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Tulare County Fair

Well, I was two for three on my prediction. It was dirty and crowded, but it was not hot. And now that I think about it, it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be considering it was kid's day and they received free entrance.

It ended up being me, my wife, my youngest daughter and my nephew. We started the evening by looking for the art submitted by my wife's class and my daughter's class. We found the art from my wife's class fairly quickly, but really had to search for the art from Meg's class. After circling the room three times, we finally found it up really high. They were too high to read the poems, but we could see the paintings.

After that we headed over to the midway, purchased some tickets and got the kids on some rides. I have never been to this part of the fair before. On previous trips, we stayed in the area that contains the kid's rides so this was a new experience. It was a mix of teeny boppers and carnies. You may think this a strange mix, but it worked well and I was busy people watching. That never gets old for me.

At about eight o'clock, the kids finally ran out of tickets so we left the midway and started looking for pizza for the kids. We bought them pizza, found a table to sit at and then I went to buy Tina and myself corn dogs. You just can't go to a fair and not eat a corn dog. We shared some garlic fries that weren't very good.

After eating, we stopped by the "musical instrument petting zoo." That was pretty cool. Meg likes to play instruments, so she had a blast. They had several drum kits, keyboards, electric guitars and acoustic guitars. There were even some tambourines. I walked over to look at the photography exhibits with Eric while Meg and Tina continued to play the instruments. When we returned, Meg got her chance to play the drums. She rocked it!

We decided to leave at about nine o'clock, but not before the kids convinced us to buy them some light sabers. The kids fell asleep in the car on the ride home.

I must say that I really had a fun time at the fair. When we got home, Tina mentioned something about the Fresno Fair so I guess we will be going there next.

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Going to the County Fair

My wife's family has always gone to the two local fairs in our area, The Big Fresno Fair and the Tulare County Fair. She looks forward to this time of year. We decided to go to the Tulare Fair tonight, which is opening night. Hopefully it will be a night filled with food and fun.

I have mixed feelings about fairs in general and the Tulare County Fair in particular. To me it seems like a fairly low budget event, not in ticket price but in quality. I don't look forward to it as much as my wife. It is crowded, dirty and hot. It is a great place to see people "acting" like something they are not.

I will go into this with an open mind this year and try to have fun. I will post about the experience tomorrow.

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I (heart) Politics

Joe Wilson yells "you lie" to Obama. Apologizes under pressure from Republican party. Obama accepts apology. House votes to admonish Wilson for his outburst. Blah, blah, blah...

After the Democrats spoke about civility and decorum, Wilson said, "it is clear to the American people that there are far more important issues facing this nation than what we're addressing right now." I agree that there are currently more important issues facing the nation. I also agree that Wilson's behavior was embarrassing to this country. So where do we draw the line?

The Democrats set the Republicans up with the perfect opportunity to point out that they are wasting time. The only problem is that both parties waste a lot of precious time. It is just a matter of who is better at pointing out the wasted time. Every year their are resolutions presented for honoring college and pro teams from representatives states. There are many other time wasting items that are slipped into bills and prolong votes. I don't even know all of the time wasting that happens, but I do know that it does happen.

I think it is time for the two parties to start working together so that they can accomplish something that will help this country. It seems that since Obama took office, the Republican party has refused to "play nice in the sand box." I, for one, am sick and tired of this. How much longer do the American people need to put up with ridiculous politicians from both parties?

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Life Expectancy

I have often joked with friends and family that I will not live to see a ripe old age. It has just been a joke and I never really thought much about it, until last Sunday. That is the day that my wife's family came together to celebrate her grandmother's 90th birthday. At one point before the party started, age came up and Megan made a comment about me living a lot longer, "at least until I was 91 years old." Everyone had a laugh, but it made me think.

I always assumed that I did not want to live to an age where I had to make sacrifices with my lifestyle. I thought I did not want to live long enough to have to use a walker or a wheelchair. I guess that was just the cockiness of youth. As I have gotten older, I have already had to make sacrifices to my life style. I have stiff knees when I bend over. I have ankle pain most days. Some of this has motivated me to lose weight and get healthier, but the pain still persists.

Since I have already made some life style sacrifices, why not make a few more in order to see my grandchildren and great grandchildren? I think I can endure a few more changes in order to have a great life. I see how my parents and my wife's parents enjoy their granchildren and how much more they can enjoy life now that they have some financial freedom and I am looking forward to doing the same. Although, I would like to have that freedom at an earlier age.

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From Death Springs Life

As they say, "everyone remembers where they were on September 11, 2001." I am no different. I was commuting back and forth from Visalia to Madera at that point and my wife was pregnant with our youngest daughter. I don't remember what I was listening to on the radio, but I know I did not hear anything about the planes until I got to work. It was the buzz around the office as soon as people started getting there. We gathered in the conference room for a while and then the President of the company sent everyone home to be with their families. He thought that it was the start of something bigger.

As I sit and think about this, I also must think about what it was like for my Grandma and Grandpa back in 1941. They were in a similar situation in that my Grandma was pregnant with my Dad at the time of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese attack was a total surprise to everyone, even though a war was happening at the time. The attack prompted the US to declare war and enter World War II.

The deaths that occurred due to both of these events were a tragedy, but for my family their really was a silver lining. Less than a month after Pearl Harbor my father was born. The month after the September 11 attack, my daughter was born. I don't know if there is a connection here, or even what that connection might be. If there could be one though, I would hope that my daughter would inherit the work ethic and success of my dad.

For his entire life, he has been the type of person who cannot sit still. He has always had an independent streak, or stubbornness, that has allowed him to own his own business for most of his life. He has also been successful at whatever he has done. Even brain tumors have not been able to make him quit. They have slowed him down, but he is still very active.

So just maybe since they were both born the month after horrible terrorist attacks on US soil, they share some traits that will make my daughter as successful as my dad.

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Obama's Back to School Speech

I read the transcript of the speech that Obama gave to our school children. It took me a while to get to it, but I must say that there is no mention of politics in it. It is strictly a speech about what our children must due to become successful and help our country be successful. You can read the transcript of the speech here.

Before the speech the Republicans and right wing media used fear again as a tactic to get parents to keep their children out of school and accuse Obama of trying to indoctrinate their children with his socialist message using taxpayer money. That is such load of b.s. For one thing, I don't believe that Obama is a socialist and I think they use that term loosely to instill fear in people. For another thing, they were way off base with the message they believed that he was going to be giving our children.

Fear tactics are usually only a last resort when you are debating a subject. Fear is the tool that you use when you have nothing else, including facts to back up your arguement. It seems like the Republican Party and their right wing media hacks are trying to bring the United States down to the level of a thrid world or war-torn country. They want to encite violence against the politicians across the aisle. They want to have their constituents riot in town hall meetings. They want all of this so that they can blame Obama for bringing our country to this point and then hopefully sweep in and save the day in the next election. That is bodacus!

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Obama's Speech to Our Children

Many GOP leaders and the right wing media said they were appalled that taxpayer dollars were being spent to spread Obama’s "socialist ideology." Glenn Beck even urged parents to keep their kids home from school yesterday.

A waste of taxpayer dollars. Keep the kids home from school. What kind of wacko talk is this. Obama is not the first President to make a speech to our school children. Both Republicans and Democrats have done this in the past. And don't these "intelligent" people know that when you keep your kids home, the school loses tax money for that day. So by keeping your kids home from school you are hurting education funding for your school. That is not very smart now, is it?

I am planning to at least read Obama's speech today and may even try to catch a video of it, so I will be able to write intelligently about it in another post. Stay tuned.

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I have joined the Twitter party!

I don't want to be thought of as a staunchy old man or as someone who technology has passed by, so I started a Twitter page or feed or post or whatever the correct terminology is. I have this blog set up to feed directly to Twitter so you can follow me here or on Twitter and you will not miss any of my tasty nuggets of truth.

Since I am new to the whole Twitter thing you will probably see many changes. Don't get frustrated as I am still learning.

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Can you do this?

Senator Al Franken can draw a map of the United States from memory. I don't even know if I could remember all 50 states, let alone remember where they are on the map and what shape they are. I think this is great! Click here to see him do it.

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Is Technology Passing me by?

I was having a conversation in the office with some of my coworkers today about technology. It started off innocently enough as a work related conversation about robots. It slowly evolved into a critique of current and near future technology that is mostly being developed for the military. We started talking about that advancements in drones, the electronic jamming systems that can disable them and sonic canons.

After the conversation was over, I turned to the newest member of our team who is a recent college graduate and asked him if I sounded like an old man who is afraid of technology. He was nice enough about it and said no, but I sure felt old. I wondered aloud if this is how people felt when computers or cell phones started getting popular.

This afternoon I received an email from someone who does some work for me and noticed that he had links to company Facebook and Twitter pages. I clicked on the Twitter link and was annoyed that it is very difficult to follow the posts when people start replying to them. I see it as a tool with some potential, but it just seems to be lacking ease of use. Maybe I just need to play with it some more to see if I am the one making it more difficult.

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Football Season has Begun!

Today was the official start of the football season with the first game for USC. It was a beautiful day at home, but I really wish I would have been at the game. I need to get to at least two games this season because it has been so long since I last attended one.

I really thought it was going to be difficult for USC to cover the spread. I don't even remember what the spread was, but with a true freshman starting at quarterback it really did seam unreasonable. The game started and after the first quarter I thought it was going to be a long day.

USC got off to a really bad start with some sloppy play. San Jose State seemed to be doing a lot more right than USC. I thought at that point that it would be impossible to cover the spread. In the second quarter USC really started to hit their stride and began to simply dominate every aspect of the game. The running game was on fire and it did not matter which tailback was in the game. After the half, even Stanley Havili who is a fullback took some reps at tailback and had a lot of success. Stanley was a tailback in high school and that experience really showed.

In the end, USC covered the spread easily and looked much better than next weeks opponent, Ohio State. I really hope we keep things going and just embarrass Ohio state next week in the horse shoe. I think Pryor is overrated and I hope we expose him for the fraud he is.

On a side note, both Cal and Oregon State look to be legit this year. I hope we keep things together and can make a run for the national championship. The game is played at the Rose Bowl this year, so it would be nice to have a home game for all the marbles.

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Famous for what?

I think that we are living in a unique age where reality TV and tabloids are making people famous for no reason at all. People like Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, John and Kate, Spiedi (Spencer and Heidi), Sarah Palin, the reality show millionaire who killed his wife and even Levi Johnston. These people may not be interesting at all, but we make them famous and someone like Palin can ride it all the way to a career so lucrative she doesn't need to be governor anymore.

What is so special about these "stars" that makes people want to read about them or see them in magazines or on TV? I can't explain it and for the most part I have no interest in them at all. Spencer is always saying outlandish things and the media plays right into his hands and gives him the attention he is seeking. His most recent stunt is that he is talking about changing his name to King Spencer Pratt.

Now, I have done exactly what the media has done and given them the attention they are seeking. My mistake!

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Change is Difficult

The Marketing Department has taken over follow-up on customer communication. Our Service Department has not done a good job of staying in contact, so we needed to take control. Leading up to this point, I have attempted to help our Service Department but they did not embrace change.

So far, we are off to a good start and the reason is twofold. Firstly, my department really buys into customer service. I have enough people who believe that we need to provide the best service in the industry or we will fail as a company. Secondly, we all embrace change better than any other department in the company. It is not an easy task to keep everyone open to change, but it is necessary.

We are prepared to completely take over all customer communication, including management of service calls. We will do whatever it takes to ensure the future of the company.

I think people fear change because they feel like they are losing control. Let's face it, people like to be in control. So how do you help them embrace change? You need to constantly show them how change will benefit them and the company. It also helps if you you have the right people in your company.

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