Life of Steve

The Stimulus Bill is a pile of Wastful Spending and Welfare Payments

Sadly, the majority in Congress seems to think that tough economic times is a great opportunity to go on a spending spree of every pork program they ever wanted and lots of welfare payments (Obama calls them tax cuts) to people who don't pay taxes. In the stimulus bill are items such as: Birth Control Programs, New Cars for Government Employees, Dog Parks, etc.

850 Billion is such a large amount that it is difficult to put into context. This example might help. For each American Family it amounts to around 17K. Let me ask this: Which do you think the American People could use more: The Money? Or a place to walk you dog during the week from the homeless shelter since you don't have a job and you didn't have money to pay your mortgage or rent?

The government spending cannot replace the economic effect of consumer spending anyways. The reasons should be obvious. The government is not going to spend the money on the same things I would. They spend money on things like Auto Leases for the government workers. I need the money to spend on Baby Strollers. Those two items are sort of different. My family gets zero benefit from a government employee's free auto lease. My family gets a lot of benefit from having baby equipment for our children. The money I earned is of far far greater benefit to me when I spend it vs. having it appropriated from my paycheck via taxes and spent on something unrelated. This is also called "Transfer of Wealth" or "Class Warfare." This approach is fully supported by the current ruling political class in America today.

If they really cared about the people they would see that the people need as much of their hard earned dollars a lot more than we need the government to wastefully spend the money on things we don't need or wouldn't buy/build ourselves. Sadly, this is not the case.

I might have a little more support for the spending stimulus idea if we didn't have 100 years of economic history that proves it has never ever worked. Not during The Depression. Not during the 70
s. Not now. What do they call doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results again? Oh yes. That is the formal definition of insanity.

This is what needs to happen. Start over. Put together a bill that involves growth related tax cuts and appropriate spending investments in businesses that can promote private sector growth. Do not include any items that are merely on "wish lists" of state & local governments. Only growth related spending should be included. If there isn't enough spending opportunities that truely fall into that categories implement tax cuts on capital and corporate profits to allow growth of those industries with an incentive to create new jobs. Cut the crap pork spending. Promote economic growth. Simple.

Multiple Rants

Fascist State?

As if repealing free speech (Remember that pesky Right that is listed in the Bill of Rights) on campus wasn't enough. Now the colleges are giving us a lesson in how to be intolerant and fascist. I am not even a smoker and I despise smoking myself. I do enjoy having smoke free zones where I know it won't bother me. Here is where I draw the line: If I can have a smoke free area then the smokers should have a smoking area. If they want to smoke let them smoke. Who died and gave the almighty university complete power and responsibility over the lives of the students anyways?

37,000 dummies who were told to leave Galveston now expect to be rescued

When they tell you that you will die if you stay and you decide to stay in the middle of a MANDATORY evacuation you not only don't deserve to get rescued you deserve to be killed. Now I am not talking about the very very small number of people who might have a legit reason they couldn't get out (Quadruple amputees come to mind) but if you could leave and you didn't tough S&*t. Didn't you learn anything from Katrina? Hurricanes are sort of dangerous. It makes more sense not to be there when the 100+ MPH winds and 20+foot Waves run over your house. Then these morons will ask for free food, water, money, etc and whine for years that the government let them down. No! The government didn't let you down. YOU let Darwin down by managing to survive despite being supremely unfit or deserving of life by being that stupid and stubborn. Did you really think looters in canoes were doing to steal your stuff during a hurricane? Well I guess we will try to rescue you and maybe even get some supplies down there. However, we will question your judgment and sanity. It's the least we can do.

Pondering a Consumer Jihad aganist Dish Network

I currently have Dish Network as my Satellite TV Provider. We are signed up for the premium channels, High Definition, and also the premium maintenance services (we pay extra for this.) In the past years I have had very excellent service from Dish Network. However, more recently I have had lots of trouble with the service working at all and then getting support in a timely and effective manner when I have needed it.

About a month ago we lost our satellite signal. No TV at all. Nothing. So I went through my normal routine to call Dish and do some troubleshooting over the phone. After about an hour we still weren't any closer to fixing the problem so they recommended that they would need to schedule a tech to come out to my house to fix the problem. In addition, I would need to pay an additional fee. This didn't make me very happy since the it's their equipment that is not working and I also already pay an additional fee every month to cover exactly the type of issue I was dealing with. So I told them to go ahead and send a tech out ASAP. Then they told me that they couldn't get a tech out in the next 8 DAYS! In addition, they said that I might want to call someone else to fix the problem who didn't work for Dish Network directly who might be able to fix the problem sooner (passing the buck.) Of course if I did that I would have to pay even MORE MONEY to get the problem fixed since they wouldn't honor the Dish Network maint. plan I pay extra for every month. So I reminded them that I pay in the triple digits for this service every month and that I was very unhappy about paying for service that they don't have working.

8 Days later the tech comes out and replaces a cable which supposedly was worn out and then my one TV started to work again. Unfortunately since I was working in my home office at the time I didn't test the second TV we connected to Dish Network. A couple days later my wife notices that now the second TV doesn't appear to be connected. So I go back down the same path with Dish again. Hour on the phone. Send out a tech. Tech can't get out for over a week. Blah blah blah. So maybe I am near the end of this nightmare right? (I think you know the answer)

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon. My Dish tech is scheduled to arrive between 12-5PM. 3:10PM my phone rings and Dish tells me that the tech just finished up a job and would arrive in about 20 minutes. I say ok and go back to what I was doing. 3:30PM passes. 4:00PM passes. 4:30 passes. 5PM Passes. 5:01PM I call dish and ask what happened. They tell me that he just finished a job and would arrive in 20 minutes (I feel like I am being lied to by the airlines with delays every 20 minutes by this point) and I grumble ok since I need to cook dinner, cut the grass, pack for vacation, etc. My wife comes home, we cook dinner, eat dinner, clean up after dinner. The phone rings again, It's dish. By this point I decide to let my wife scream at them on the phone with all this terrible service, etc and she tells them to just reschedule this for after our vacation (week of Sep 15) since we have been waiting and we need to do other things. In addition, she tells them that we are moving in a couple months and are seriously considering dropping Dish Network due to the extremely poor service. Now I don't have to worry about this until after I get back from my vacation, Right? (I think you know the answer again)

7PM The dish network tech arrives (after we told them we didn't want him to come tonight.) I am in the backyard breaking my lawn tractor when my wife comes down and tells me the tech is here and she will explain later. It appears she told him that if he wanted to he could go home (since it was very late) but if he wanted to try to fix it that was ok too. So long story short, he found out that the wiring was screwed up off the dish to the second TV (as a result of the work of the first tech that I had to pay for) and he replaced some wiring stuff.Then the TV had to download some guide (which I assume completed eventually) and he left.

After such a series of sour experiences with Dish Network I seriously doubt that I want to have them as my provider after I move to my new house. I like having service and I very much dislike the hassle of the equipment failing but more importantly the unreasonably long time I have to wait for them to address a problem when one occurs. The amount I pay for TV has increased dramatically over the years while the service has seriously declined. Not the best way to treat your customers. If I wasn't moving soon I would cancel it today but it's just not worth changing this twice in 2 month. If you live in Western PA seriously consider using someone other than Dish Network.

More Silliness with Wedding Vendors

You would think that someone who does the same exact job for decades would actually know how to do the simple tasks involved in doing their job. This would be a bad assumption. Let me tell a few stories related to the wacky wedding vendors we have dealt with.

-When my friend Barry went and got measured for his tux the kid behind the desk didn't bother to actually place the order. This resulted in the following e-mail from me (Paraphrasing) "Barry, I know you said you got the tux taken care of and I believe you but...You could check up and confirm that it actually got done. It seems they have no record of you." When Barry followed up he discovered that the kid wrote it down but didn't place the order.

-It took us at least (I'm not exaggerating) 10 phone calls with the Florist before we were able to convince them to deliver the flowers to the reception. Ummmm. Aren't you in the FLOWER DELIVERY BUSINESS?? When we ordered flowers to be at the wedding we actually thought you would actually "take the flowers to the wedding!" I didn't realize it would be an optional thing. Or did you think our wedding flowers would look a lot prettier sitting in your shop than at our actual wedding celebration!

-The bakery called me up earlier this week and wanted me to call the Reception Hall to determine when the cake should be delivered and for me to call them back (2 phone calls.) Despite the fact that they already had the phone number of the hall they attempted to convince me that if I make two phone calls (and play the middleman) it would be easier than them calling the person at the hall directly and getting the information they needed. WHAT? I'm not your assistant. I'm the groom. Make the call and deliver the cake. Seriously, it's not exactly rocket science.

And yesterday I went to pick up my tux from the rental place. They had told me last week that the tux would definitely be ready by 1PM on Wed but it would probably be in the day before on Tues. I was in the neighborhood and decided to swing on by to see if it was ready. When I arrived (at 12:40PM) the lady was completely flustered even though she found my tux in a garment bag in about 2 seconds and handed it to me. She told me (at least 10 times) " Well, you know the tuxes usually aren't ready until 1PM." After about the 6th time she told me the exact same thing I was practically shaking from trying to resist the urge to mock her. I wanted to say " No really! You are worried it might not be ready? What did you have to do to PREPARE it other than PULLING IT OFF THE RACK AND HANDING IT TO ME?" Sorry I interrupted your nap time by showing up 20 minutes early Lady!

Just a few of the wacky business people I have been dealing with lately. 33 Hours till Wedding (and counting.)

Why do the Airlines Get a Pass on Everything? (What if I used the same excuses at my job?)

Hey Boss. I'm going to be 4 hours late today. Why? Well, it's the weather. I l know there isn't a cloud in the sky and it's 65 degrees but the weather is bad in Chicago and that is where my bus comes from. Even though I'll be 4 hours late I'll still be getting paid for the full day and also I won't receive a penalty.

Oh yeah also I lost the reports (luggage.) Dude! I don't know where they are! Quit bugging me! I'll get them to you eventually, well maybe I will anyways. Oh you needed them now. Well, that's life. Read the disclaimer. I really don't know if I will ever have them for you. Too bad.

What's that Boss? You tried to call me and couldn't talk to me. Well did you try sending me an e-mail? I don't like to talk to people. You can try my voice menu and see if you can get what you need yourself. You couldn't? Oh well. Answering the phone is work. I can't really be bothered to do that.

Hey Boss I won't be in at work at all today. Yeah it's a maintenance issue.  I'm canceling  all my trips today.  What's that? My car isn't your problem? Well it appears that my car (plane) is your problem slappy! I should  have reliable transportation to work? Yeah Right!! That's pretty funny.  I know  in the last 10 days  I have used  my crappy car as an excuse why I can't do my work 3X. So what?  You don't want me to die in a crash and have your reports burn up right? You'll just have to live with me not coming to work if my car is acting up. I'm not going to get another functional car (plane) in case this one is having a problem! That costs money and you just don't pay me enough!

I know I don't work (fly) and faster than I did 30 years ago. Why is that a problem? What? The rest of the world tends to improve and get cheaper, faster, more productive, and improved service. I'll be in the back room hiding and balancing the accounts with my slide rule and abacus. If you need me please try to forget your problem and go away.

Seriously. Does any other industry or business operate this way? It's pretty crazy. Could you be late every day to work and not have a problem at your job? It's also pretty funny to hear people say "If the airlines are so bad why don't you just not fly." Cmon! If you have to get somewhere 1300 miles away for a business trip (or God Forbid every week) it's not logistically feasible to drive or take a bus or train. They have us and there is nothing we can do. Air travel has become cheaper over time (as do computers and other items.) However, I think the loss of service and quality means we are actually getting less than we are paying for. What I am paying an airline for is to get me from point A to Point B by a specific time. 3-4 hours later does not meet my criteria. Therefore you didn't deliver on the contract (the time printed on my ticket.) There should be a penalty for when they don't deliver on the deal. Example. % Refund as the flight gets delayed. 2 Hours late and your flight is Free. (Like a restaurant would do.) If I go to a restaurant and order lunch I don't want to wait 4 hours to get the food. In that case you can walk out, not pay, and go to another place. Unfortunately, in the case of the airlines, you not only already paid them in advance but they are the only place that has (the) food (Planes.)

I don't know what will end up happening. Perhaps some new technology will come in (Very Light Jets?) and turn this industry on it's head (Like the Internet did to the Recording Industry.) If the bus service sucks I can reasonably buy a car and use it as an alternative. Maybe we will get a feasible private alternative to Commercial Air Travel. Maybe the lawmakers will get involved (Somehow I don't see that making things better.) All I do know is that right now they've got us, we have no other choice, and things will remain bad (or get worse) until something changes.

Stop Raising the Price of Stamps so Often

I just heard recently that the US Postal Service has decided to raise the price of stamps from 39 cents to 41 cents effective May 14th. Obviously 2 cents is not a lot of money per stamp but here is the part that bothers me. Why are they raising the price of stamps so often and by such a silly (seemingly arbitary) amount? I have almost 100 stamps of the 39 cent variety in my desk drawer and I am not going to be using them all prior to May 14th. So now I have to go out and get 100 2 cent stamps to send letters? Does anyone else think that is this stupid?

Here are a couple of alternative ideas:

-Raise the price of stamps only 1x every 5 years and raise it to a logical number. Example: Raise it in 2010 to 50 cents. Half a dollar. Good logical number. Adjust again in the next 5 years. Maybe to 75 cents or a dollar.

-Stop blaming technology for your problems and recognize the economic laws of supply and demand. Example: People start sending e-mails or faxes vs. letters. Therefore RAISE YOUR PRICES of stamps to give people less incentive to use your service. When even less people use your service Raise your prices AGAIN. HELLO! DEATH SPRIAL ANYONE????

The postal service does a good job with what they do but I think it's time for them to stop this "Death by 1000 cuts" stamp pricing policy and also to move into the modern era. Use technology to your advantage. Don't fight it. Focus on how best to serve your customers. It's called the Postal "Service" Right?

Is Valentines Day better for Singles?

I’m going to play devils advocate on this one. Valentines Day is widely known as being a big holiday for couples to celebrate. However, Is it really so great for people in a couple? Is it really so bad for Singles? Let’s challenge the conventional wisdom shall we?

When you are in a couple you have to worry about:

- Finding the perfect Flowers/Diamonds/Cars for your Sweetie this Valentines Day (as per all the advertisements on TV and in the stores.)

-Assuming you don’t find the correct gift you will have to endure the scorn of her girlfriends when they find out you got her an apron for Valentines Day.

-Hear the stories about how one of her girlfriends has a Husband/Boyfriend/Boy Toy who really got or did something “Over the Top” and will make the box of her favorite chocolates looks really crappy in comparison.

-Worry about breaking up with your girlfriend/boyfriend as a result of unmet expectations regarding the holiday. (I know some people would file this under “Urban Legend” but I can attest it is true. I personally know a couple who broke up one year as a result of him not meeting her V-day expectations.)

-Getting asked by friends/family/etc “What are you doing/getting with/for her this Valentines Day.”

-Reading silly articles/blogs/etc about what you should or should not get her for Valentines Day.

When you are Single on Valentines Day you think about:

- What Charlie Brown said “I know no one likes me. Why do they have to have a Valentines Day to emphasize it?”

-All my couple friends go AWOL for 2 weekends while they are off celebrating Valentines Day together.

And that’s it.

If you are single, other than knowing you don’t have to participate (do anything) for the holiday you have the added benefit of knowing “You don’t HAVE TO participate .” Last I checked not having to do anything is easier than having to do something. Just ask Congress.

Of course I do realize that I am writing this primarily from the male point of view. For the female point of view just add in that you get the presents instead of buying the presents and also remove all the pressure (Guys aren’t going to have a crying fit if you don’t buy them something incredible for V-day.)

I know that my single female readers will chime in on this one. So here it what I think they should do. Buy yourself a present. It won’t be a screwed up present like a guy would get you (Because us guys suck at that sort of thing anyways.) Yeah, I know you will have to spend your own money (wah) but you will get what you always wanted Right? You can’t have everything after all. Plus you can think that “If I had a husband/boyfriend/whatever he might not let me spend money on something as frivolous as this.”

Happy Valentines Day!

Why Air Travel Sucks

There isn’t really any point trying to convince people that Air Travel is becoming less fun than a trip to the dentist. Almost everyone already knows that. All I can do is share my thoughts and experiences to explain why. I travel for business a moderate amount and am going to start traveling a heavy amount over the next couple months. I didn’t get off to a good start in 2007.

On Sunday I started off with trying to Check-In Online. I always try to check in the day before online so I can

A) Already be checked in and go straight to the security line

B) Get an Emergency Row Seat if available

C) Get an actual seat

I managed to check in properly for the Pittsburgh to Cincinnati but the second leg to Tulsa did not show any available seats. It printed out “You need to get your boarding pass at the Departure Gate.” In other words, there is no seat for you but we are going to pretend there is but you just have to complete half your trip to get it. On Sunday I also checked the status of the flights. Both showed that they were at the Departure Gates and on time.

Monday Morning at 4:30AM prior to going to the airport I again checked to make sure my flights were still going and were on time. According to the Airline’s web site both were going and on time. (For example if one of the flights was cancelled this would have been the perfect time to let me know.)

Then I went to the Pittsburgh Airport went to my Gate and flew to Ohio. As soon as I get to the Departures Screen I find out that my flight is cancelled. Wait! You cancelled it when? The last 40 minutes? (My first flight was only 40 minutes long!) Yeah I don't think so. Why couldn't you have sent me a text message or called me when I was in Pittsburgh and I wouldn't have gotten on the flight to Ohio in the first place?

My next stop is at the Airline Customer Service Counter to find out what I can do with my cancelled flight. She tells me that the next flight (after my cancelled flight) has not been cancelled yet but is going to be cancelled.(I bet those passengers don't know that either! I'm not the only one it seems) After looking at her screen she starts to talk about flights on Wednesday (I started this trip on Monday!) She told me that the weather was really bad due to an ice storm in the Mid-West and that is why no flights are going in. Fine. I can understand that. However, if you know that, and you know my flight is going to be cancelled, couldn’t you inform me of that when I try to check in? Why did you wait until I flew 250 miles away to let me know something you probably knew three days ago? (The ice storm in OKLA started on Friday) Although they offered to put me in a hotel during the next couple days (What in the hell was I supposed to do in the Airport for the next couple days?) I decided it made more sense to have them fly me back home where I could get work done remotely from my home office (Which I know would be a lot more productive than trying to work at the noisy airport.)

I certainly understand that the weather can cause problems for the air travel system. Part of the problem is that the capacity has been reduced so much that any problem bottlenecks the system and takes a long time to resolve. If you only have one or two flights a day to a place and then you cancel that flight for a couple days you have a mess.

The part that bothers me is that if they know that the flight is not going to go they don’t cancel it early.They also don’t inform the people on the flight that it was cancelled. If they would then I wouldn’t have to fly half the trip only to have you put me in a hotel and have me clog the check in and security lines or just have to fly me back home again the same day. Other than that you could give us the ability to cancel any flight without penalty. Then I can look at the weather, figure that there is no way I will get to my destination, and not fear a financial penalty.

It just seems to me that a little customer consideration would go a long way in an increasingly annoying and painful flying process.

Someone at the Motley Fool Agrees with me. This article is a little old but very good.

Time to End Special Treatment for Notre Dame College Football

Actually the time is long long past. It never should have existed in the first place.

The Sugar Bowl Rout of Notre Dame by LSU this year made me think the following:

Hey BCS! How about making this school at least join a conference before they can play in a BCS Bowl Game? It’s getting a little silly. Notre Dame was ranked 11 this year. Consider this. They lost to Michigan and USC. If they were in the Big Ten they might have finished 3^rd or 4^th in the Conference (They would have lost to Ohio State, Michigan, and probably Wisconsin.) If they were in the Big East it is likely they would have lost to Rutgers or Louisville and would not have won that conference. We know they wouldn’t have won the PAC-10. Do I need to go on?

What has this special treatment of Notre Dame done for fans watching the Bowl Games? Not much. Since 1994 Notre Dame is on a 9 game losing streak in Bowl Appearances. Could it be that they are getting invited to Bowls they would never go to (and don’t deserve to) just because they are Notre Dame?

I think it might be time to stop inviting Notre Dame unless they actually earn their bowl bid. Just a thought. Then maybe we can see some fun and competitive football in the BCS Bowls.

Who are these people who forecast the Hurricane Seasons each year?

And why do we listen to them?

The predictions were made last year by almost all the Hurricane Forecasters that 2006 would absolutely be a above average season like the year before. Instead we had one of the lightest and least active Hurricane Seasons on record. They all got it wrong.

Now for next year (Didn’t we JUST FINISH this years Hurricane Season. You are Predicting this ALREADY?) they are predicting that it will be a bad year like 2005 (But not like 2006 where they predicted it would be bad and it wasn’t.)

Guys, don’t you think it is a bit early to start predicting the weather (specifically storms that are created by conditions that change all the time) now for a period months and months in advance? Is your prediction anything more than a WAG (Wild Ass Guess?) or is it something that is driven by Politics and not Science. (For example: Predict Bad Weather all the time and when it actually occurs blame it on Humans and Global Warming.) This also would seem to benefit the Insurance companies. They could raise premiums for policyholders and then collect large windfalls when the storm damage never occurs, Right? (Sound familar? That is exactly what happened this year. Read the annual reports!)

I don’t get it. If the 2005 Hurricane Season was caused by Global Warming and was really really bad what happened in 2006? Was the very mild Hurricane Season caused by Global Warming as well? Or perhaps determining the overall Climate changes and determining the correlation of factors should not be decided on the basis of a single event or year? Forgive my skeptism. I’m not very smart. That’s why I have to ask all these questions.

Here is my plan. I’ll listen to the guy on TV who tells me that his radar says it will snow tomorrow night (For example. Not that snow is in the actual Forecast) and see how he does. When the meteorologists start getting the next day forecast and extended weekly forecast consistently correct I will start paying attention to the “Next Year” (or next 20-30 Years) forecasts.