Ramblings by Rick

The stupidity of some businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:07:00 +0000

I received a gift card to Barnes and Nobel book stores for Christmas. This was great, I had a book in mind that I wanted so I went online to BN.com to see if they had it. Sure enough it was on their site for a mere $27.50. I was in fat city since my gift card was for about $30, I had this one covered. I looked a little further and found that they had it at a couple of the local stores, so I called the one closest to my house and ask. Yes, they had it and yes, they would set it aside for me.

An hour or so later I was at the store ready to pick up my book. When I got to the check-out and the gal rang it up, the total was…$44.95. What I asked, the web site had it for $27.50. Won’t you meet that price? It’s your company web site after all. No, company policy was to sell for much less on-line then in the store.

Now I understand handling and paying for brick and mortar but come on, this is the last copy of the book in the store and the new edition will come out in May. No, sorry that is the policy. Now I should mention here that Best Buy and several other stores WILL meet their online price. But B & N? NOOOOOOO.

So I went to the customer service desk to recheck my pricing. The gal at the desk looked it up on line and again explained that I could buy it cheaper online then I could in the store. At this point I was convinced and ready to go back home and order the book online. Now this is where it gets really stupid. The clerk at the customer service desk said; “I can order that for you here and you can pay the online price at the counter. The book will be shipped to your house and should be there in about 3 days.”

Excuse me, you would rather mail me the book for which you are going to pay the shipping, charge me $17.00 less and still have to inventory the old version of the book on your shelf? How stupid is that?

So I had the clerk place the order, I paid with my gift card, got 56 cents back in change, they paid the freight and are stuck with a book that I’m guessing is not going to sell anytime soon.

And don’t even ask me about the nasty counter clerk I had to deal with initially, Man just don’t get me started.

The Ride

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:48:00 +0000

I had asked Judy to marry me some weeks before. She had said yes but her heart wasn't in it, As we continued to talk about our future plans I could see she really wasn't ready for marriage. I had finally come to that realization Saturday night. By Sunday morning I needed to get away to clear my head and to decide how to beak it off.

I decided a ride out to the lake would be what I needed. The back road was a fairly new two lane black top road. Had some nice curves and some long straight-aways. A guy could get some good riding in on that road.

The day was warm, the sun was bright, October in Mississippi was still fairly pleasant. The bike was running great, the thump of the engine was comforting as I road and thought about Judy. I had "borrowed" a tank full of high test Aviation gas from the full truck last Friday night. The bike practically jumped as I screwed the throttle down going up the hill.

I could see the south end of the lake off to my left as I crested the hill. Down below a car was approaching from the north. Big Car, Chrysler New Yorker it looked like. The turn signal was on, they were planning to turn left. I down shifted, fourth gear to third. Right foot on the rear brake, left hand on the clutch, right hand on the front break. A little front break, some more rear break, Clutch, now third gear to second. They're stopping I'm good to go. Clutch, into third gear, more gas from my right hand. Almost to the car.

Oh GOD they aren't stopping. I stab at the rear brake, and grab the clutch, right hand on the front brake. too late I'm going to hit. I hear the crash. Something wet is in my face, I can't see, something in my eyes. The toe of my boot catches the windshield. Now I see the sky, now the trees on the left. Time has stop I'm floating, now the road. I hit sitting. I can taste the gas in my mouth, I think I'm going to vomit.

Now rolling, weeds, rocks, dirt, the taste of gas, I feel something fall away, the side on my head is cold, my helmet has broken away. I hear more tires squeal, the throaty sound of a Harley, now two more. Suddenly I see someone leaning over me, I have to get up. Where's my bike, now two more people are over me. Why won't they let me up, I'm thirsty, where's my bike, let me up. More hands hold me down.

"Lay still, don't move", I hear the voice say. " lay still the ambulance is coming, your hurt don't move." Suddenly I'm very thirsty, someone brings me some water from a nearby house. I'm in shock but I need to was the gas out of my mouth. I still think I'm going to vomit.

I feel the ambulance crew hoist me to the gurney, God the pain! I'm still spitting gas. They remove what's left of my helmet and start taking my vital. I hear the siren come on, and the attendant calling my information back to the hospital. Why am I wet? I hear myself asking if anyone in the car was hurt. Somewhere a voice say "No, now take it easy . We're almost there."

I feel myself being wheeled into the emergency room. "God the pain, make it stop."

"Not till we get some x-rays, we need to know what is broke," I hear the nurse say. My pants are in shreds but she doesn't want to cut them off, she's afraid she'll ruin them. " Cut them off" I growl between clenched teeth. Anything just make the pain go away. I feel a wet sponge on my skin, their washing my chest, my groin, my legs. I hear someone say "3rd degree chemical burn". Now a strange sickly smell from some cream being applied to me.

I hear a new voice in the room and see the Patrolman. He's asking my name? Where do I live? What squadron am I with? They wheel me out to X-ray. I must have passed out from the pain as they moved me from the gurney to the table. I'm back in a treatment room.

"Please do something about the pain."

I feel the needle enter my hip. suddenly I'm warm all over, a gray fog seems to enter the room the pain is subsiding, the morphine is starting to take effect. I sleep.

When I wake up, the day is gray, it seems to be raining. Mr. Foreman, my landlord, is sitting in the chair by the bed.

"What time," I rasp.

" About noon," he says.

Can't be noon it was after noon when I left. "Day," I ask?

"Tuesday," was his reply. " They kept you pretty drugged up, they didn't want you to thrash around. Did you ...um lose anything when you hit the gas tank?" he asked?

I knew what he meant, my groin was the size of a couple of softballs. I could see the tube coming from under the sheet and into the bag on the side of the bed. It was filling with very dark urine and a lot of blood. Thrashing wasn't an option. My left hand was strapped to a board which was strapped to the side of the bed. I had an IV and a blood transfusion needle in that arm. My right arm was free but I was in no hurry to move it about.

"No," I rasped. My throat was dry and scratchy from the gas I'd guess.

"Do you want me to call to mom and dad?" he asked.

That's the last thing I needed, have a stranger call mom and tell her her kid was dang near killed in a motorcycle accident.

"No, I'd better." I replied.

About then the nurse came in with a syringe of morphine, in a few minutes I had drifted off into my drugged sleep again.

The next time I came to, I had a visit from Larry, Judy's older cousin. Nobody had told her yet, about the accident. She had gone back to Hattiesburg that Sunday and hadn't heard about it . He asked if I wanted him to call her or if I would do it. I explained the situation to him, that I didn't think she really wanted to get married but that she didn't know how to stop it. I asked if he would talk to her and then try to take the rings back to the jeweler. I was surprised when he said that he and his wife had that same feeling and that she would handle the details. I never saw or heard from Judy again after that day.

Hank, my roommate from the barracks came by on Thursday. As he walked into the room he looked up at the bag of plasma hanging over my head slowly draining into my arm. He managed to get " what's that" out before he passed out. I range for the nurse.

She responded with a curt "It's too soon for more pain killer."

"No," I said, "It's Hank , I think he passed out."

Two male orderlies appeared at my door with some smelling salts. They revived Hank and set him in a chair at the foot of my bed. He spent the remainder of the visit with his back to me. He never came back to visit again.

On Friday, I was awake when the doctor came by on his rounds. He explained that I had second and third degree burns on my lower torso and upper thighs. My pelvis was broken in five places and I probably had a slight concussion from my helmet breaking. He explained that I had a long painful recovery ahead of me and that the only thing they could do was to let me lay there till my pelvis was healed enough to move me.

I called home on Saturday. By the grace of God, dad answered the phone. I told him to act natural, and then told him where I was and why. I took the cowards way out and left it to him to explain it to mom. I told him I would try to call back on Sunday and would talk to mom then. I was tiered and the morphine was starting to take me away again.

The doctor decided to take me off of the morphine on Sunday and put me on something less addicting. It was also less effective. On Sunday the fever began to develop. The blood that had drained into my right leg along with the burns had become infected.

Between the morphine withdrawals, the chills brought on by the fever, and the pain from the broken bones and burns, death seemed like a better option. Sometime during the next few day I had a visit from a young lady I dated before I met Judy. I vaguely recall the visit. I am told I said some very hurtful and mean things to her. I honestly don't know if I did or not but I see no reason why someone would lie about something like that. I was in pretty sorry shape.

During this time the lady who was driving the Chrysler stopped by to visit. She was very sorry and tried to make it up to me by bring me some motorcycle magazines and some pajamas. Unfortunately, there was no way I was going to be able to put them on. Apparently she knew Mrs. Foreman, The Foremans had a beauty school in back of the apartment house and it seemed everybody knew Mrs. foreman.

By the end of the week it was apparent that the damaged area of my leg would have to be removed. I was scheduled for surgery for the next week. The Chrysler lady bought mom a plane ticket to Meridian so she could be there while I had the surgery. Mr. Foreman picked mom up at the airport and she stayed in their guest room. Mrs. F. didn't want her to stay in a strange apartment under the circumstances.

Out of surgery, I was now missing a chunk of my right leg. In its place were six stainless steel stitches and tube that was connected to a vacuum pump to remove any remaining blood. The fever was gone, and I was starting to feel some better. Then they started me on solid food. The stomach cramps were almost as bad as the chills from the fever.

Mom went back home and I began a routine of dressing changes, whirlpool baths in warm water and betadine and stomach cramps. By now the Navy was getting pretty anxious to have me transferred to the hospital in Pensacola. When my leg was sufficiently heeled, the doctor removed the stitches and I was sent to Florida.

Three hours in the back of an ambulance with only a sheet for covering and no heat is not a pleasant trip. When I got to the hospital, the doctors were concerned that I had lost the circulation in my lower extremities. That is until I explained that there was no heat in the ambulance. They spent the next several hours warming me back up.

For the next two weeks it was, change my dressing, and learn to walk. First with crutches, then a walker, on to two canes and finally with a single cane. At the end of two weeks, I was told I would either have to return to my squadron and take a light duty assignment or if I stayed in the hospital any longer I would be reassigned to a different squadron. Possibly a seagoing group. I check out of the hospital.

Armed with a clean uniform, a bus ticket back to meridian and a new cane, I returned to the base. My incision was still not completely healed so I had to have the dressing changed a couple of time a day. and I couldn't lift anything heavier than a pencil. I took some leave when I got back to the base and went home to heal, recuperate and...forget.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon in October, and I decided to take a ride.

How I ended up with two lap steel guitars or be careful how you bid on eBay.

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:11:00 +0000

Back in my much younger days, like forty years ago, I took steel guitar lessons.I took lessons for about three years maybe more I don't remember exactly. Now this was in the time when playing a non-pedal steel guitar wasn't cool. Not a lot of Rock 'N Roll had steel guitars in them or at least none that I could tell. So eventually I convinced my mom that I should give it up.

Fast forward forty years, I am older, the kids are grown, the grand kids are still pretty young and I have time and disposable income. So I decided I would purchase a cheap steel guitar and try to relearn what I had known back in the day.

I started watching a couple of sales on eBay. as the end date came closer, I watched a little more intently but by know I had placed a couple of bids and not being sure would win the bid on the original offer, I placed a bid on a second sale while still watching the first. I happened to look at the original offer only seconds before it closed and just managed to get a bid in under the wire. I had won. However, the second offer I had bid on was just about to close also and apparently nobody saw this sale since mine was the only bid on it. As luck would have it nobody else bid even through my high bid was relatively low for this type of guitar. I won again.

So now I have two lap steel guitars, one single neck and one double neck. Both are six string and both made by the same company in China. Granted neither of these guitars are Fender or Rickenbacker quality but for what I want to do, they'll suffice.

Finding Purpose Beyond the Pain

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Title: Finding Purpose Beyond the Pain : Uncover the hidden potential in life's most common struggles
Author: Paul Meier, MD & David L. Henderson, MD
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Nashville, TN
Copyright 2009
281 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-7852-2922-3
Drs. Meier and Henderson address seven types of pain we all encounter throughout our lives. That is:
· Injustice
· Rejection
· Loneliness
· Loss
· Discipline
· Failure
· Death
With each type of pain, they delve into what causes the pain and why we feel the way we do. Then they address a means of dealing with it through self examination and scripture. It is refreshing to read a "self-Help" book that actually refers to scripture to guide us through the pain.
Each of the seven sections are divided into about four chapters. At the end of each section they provide a summary of steps you can take to address the specific type of pain as well as a work section that guides you through evaluating how you deal with the pain and steps you can take to adjust how you manage the issue. This book is not intended to be read cover to cover, if all you need is help with an issue of rejection, the authors advise you to read just that section.
Dr. Meier holds degrees in the fields of medicine, psychiatry and theology. Dr. Henderson Is a board certified psychiatrist and adjunct professor of biblical counseling at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Doable Evangerlism

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:06:00 +0000

So last weekend I took the wife's car out to get it gassed up. As I was driving I happened to be listening to KUER's "This American Life". The segment was about how people use bait and switch methods to evangelize. One of the people thaywere being interviewed was Jim Henderson who write for the Blog Doable Evangelism. During the interview, Mr. Henderson made several comments that made a lot of sense to me.

One was his view of how we should evangelize, he said over several years of trying to reach people, for the most part people liked Jesus, they just didn't like Jesus's people. Ouch! He says, we shouldn't look at evangelizing people as a project but rather we should see people as peoplre. Mr Henderson has a three step process for evalgelizing in a Doable way:

Watch people, go to the mall or shopping center and just watch people, Ask yourself; "What is that person worried about today?"
Pray for them behind their backs. Sounds kinda wrong really but think about it, they don't know you are praying for them, It doesn't hurt them or you, and in the long run it may help them.
Listen. When you ask someone how they are, really listen to them. Don't start thinking about how you are going to answer them, or how you are feeling but listen to what they are saying. This is a tough one for me because for all the times I have been told this I still want to start to prepare my answer the minute I have asked the question.

Kinda give a whole different perspective on evangelizing but makes a lot of sense to me. You can hear the entire Bait and Switch session here.

The search for GOD and Guiness - A book review.

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:44:00 +0000

"The Search for GOD and Guinness" by Stephen Mansfield.
I was impressed with Mr. Mansfield's coverage of the history of the Guinness brewery and the Guinness clan. From its start in the 1700's until its merger with Grand metropolitan in 1997, Guinness was a leader in corporate life and culture.

The first Arthur Guinness started the Guinness brewery in 1759 by leasing property in Dublin at the ST. James Gate. From the very start Guinness did things differently, this lease of the ST. James gate property was written for nine thousand years. As his wealth increased, Arthur Guinness started the first Sunday Schools in Ireland, fought against dueling and chaired the board of a hospital for the poor. In 1800 Guinness was the largest brewery in the world. The head of the Guinness company was the richest man in England. During this time, the Guinness employees were the best paid workers in the country. The Guinness brewery had a staff of nurses and a doctor that regularly made visits to employees home to insure that the living conditions were such that illness was reduced.

In the 1920s, the Guinness employee enjoyed full medical and dental coverage, a reading room in the plant, a massage service, meal service, company funded pension, educational benefits and a guarantee of two pints of Guinness a day. During World War I, any employee who served in uniform was guaranteed that their job would be waiting for them when they returned and in addition, Guinness continued to pay half their regular salary so that their families could live while the men folk were away at war. During World War II Guinness guaranteed that each English solder would receive a pint of stout to drink with his Christmas meal.Throughout the Guinness history, one in ten decedents of Arthur Guinness would become a preacher or missionary of some sort.

The Guinness way of corporate management was founded on five principals:
1. Discern the Ways of God for life and business.
2. Think in terms of generations yet to come.
3. Whatever you do, do at least one thing very well.
4. Master the facts before you act.
5. Invest in those you would have invest in you.

If only companies and boards would read this book and take away the same ideals. This book should be required reading in every business school in the country. I am amazed at the effort the Guinness family put into the treatment of their employees. During a time in history when the under class was being taken advantage of, the Guinness family went out of their way to treat their people well and to know their employees by name.

Stephen Mansfield does a wonderful job of detailing the history of brewing. His detail of the Guinness family including those who choose to leave the brewery trade. Along with the story of thew Guinness families, he also details how Guinness enables his employees to serve their fellow man and their country.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown - A review

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:11:00 +0000

Title: The Lost Symbol

Author: Dan Brown

Publisher: Doubleday Publishing

Number of Pages: 509

Price: $29.95

ISBN: 978-0-385-50422-5

The entire book takes place in the span of about 24 hours in downtown Washington DC. Robert Langdon is a Harvard symbology professor who thinks he is coming to Washington at the request of his friend Peter Solomon. Langdon thinks he is there to give a last minute lecture in the capital building. He quickly realizes that his friend has been kidnapped and the only way he can save him is to decipher the symbols of the Freemasons. Along the way the story takes numerous twists and turns and in fact at one point I almost gave up reading the book due to one particular disappointing turn. Mr. Brown however manages to work his way out of that particular plot twist and continue the story along.

You may remember Robert Langdon from the books The Davinci Code and Angels and Demons.This is the first of Dan Brown's books I have read but after reading this one, I am inclined to locate and read the other two.

At the very beginning of this book the author states; " All organization in this novel exist, including the Freemasons, the Invisible Collage, the Office of Security, the SMSC, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences." He goes on the say; " All rituals, science, artwork and monuments in this novel are real." This book makes me want to do some research to see if in fact all the places, organizations and rituals do in exist.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley - A book review.

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:17:00 +0000

ISBN: 978-0-385-34230-8

Pages: 373

I heard about this book on NPR the other day as I was driving into work. I've heard about a lot of different books on NPR and I always say "I'm going to get that one and read it." Well this time I actually did. In fact I read the entire book in about two days.

The book takes place in 1950. The main character is an 11 year old chemistry wiz named Flavia de Luce. Flavia takes after one of her great uncles who was also a chemistry wiz The difference being her main interest is in poisons. The Buckshaw estate were Favia, her two older sisters and father live has seen better days. Then thing get real exciting when a dead bird is found on the back steps with a stamp pinned to its beak. Flavia's father is somewhat of a recluse but he loves to collect stamps. This bird and stamp seems to be some sort of a warning. Early the next morning, Flavia discovers a man dying in the back garden and as she watches, he takes his last breathe.

The police think her father is the murderer and soon he is arrested for the crime. At this point, Flavia decides that she will prove he is innocent and with the help of her chemestry, some sluething and a lot of good luck she sets out to do just that. Along the way she laces her sister's lipstick with an extract from the poision ivy plant because her sister was teasing her.

This is Alan Bradley's first novel and with it he has won the Dagger Award. I enjoyed reading this book. With the exception of a little kidnapping and the murder in the garden, there is none of the graphic violence that is currently on TV. Once into it, it held my attention and captured my imagination. I like a book that will take me away from the daily grind. One that will let me use my imagination to see the setting and the characters. Finally, I found this book very easy to read. There were not a lot of big words, or sentence structures that were confusing. I would have no qualms about giving this book to a teen or preteen reader.

More Ipod Trials

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:22:00 +0000

So I ordered the battery and even paid the extra for priority shipping. When the battery arrived, I thought it looked a little large for my Ipod but I tore the Ipod apart. anyway. Bottom line is, there is no way this new battery is going to work with this Ipod. I called the company and they said I could send it back and pay the extra to get the correct battery. At this point, I'm not so sure it's worth the hassle.

I purchased an RCA MP3 player at Wally Smart. Paid $30 for it. Guess I got what I paid for, it uses an AAA battery and goes through it in about a day. Of course it doesn't recharge from the USB port so I have to carry extra batteries with me all the time. At this point, I think I'll just bite the bullet and get an Ipod and be done with it.

Ipod troubles

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:55:00 +0000

First off, I gotta be more diligent about posting to this blog! I mean really, only one post in and entire month you'd think I was in a comma or something here. Well here goes. This is a story about my troubles with an Ipod.

I got this Ipod as a drawing gift at a company picnic about three years ago maybe four. I gave it to my wife thinking she would like to use it since I had an MP3 player already. She didn't use it and it sat on her desk for the past three or four years without being plugged in or charging. My MP3 player hasn't been used in about three or four month either so when I plugged it in to charge, it wouldn't hold a charge and since it's a DELL DJ that is no longer supported, I thought I 'd just switch and use her Ipod. No such luck.

The Ipod seems to charge but once removed from the cable it wont turn on so it seems the battery is dead in this one too. BUT, since it is an IPOD and there is an apple store just three block from my office, I decided I's take it down there and see what they could do for me.

First off, never go to an apple store during the lunch hour, this place was packed. Finally a concierge approached me and ask if I needed assistance. I told her what me problem was and she said,"that's fine we can help you with that. Would you like to make an appointment to see our genius group?" "We have an opening tomorrow 1."

"An appointment to see your genius group? hell their right there just let me ask my question and I'll get outta your way". I walked away and said I'd make an appointment later. that evening I tried to make an appointment on line. the earliest available was for Saturday, three days from now, at 2:00pm. Geez in just three hour they booked up three days. How much trouble are these apple products anyway?

I finally called the store thinking that the web site might be a little wonky. The gal I talked to gave me the same three days lead time. I told her I just need to confirm my suspicions about the battery. At this point she said that maybe she could help me, so I explained that the Ipod has been left uncharged for several months if not years, she agreed that it was very possible the battery was bad and that the genius group could replace that for me if I'd like to make an appointment to bring it. By now I'm guessing we were out at about Christmas of 2015.

So I asked the next most obvious question; What is this going to cost? "$129", she said. Now I'm no dummy, I did take the time while I was in the store to look at new Ipods, a new 8GB ipod sells for $149. When I pointed this out to the young lady she said, " well if you'd like to do that we'll give you a 10% discount on a new one". Great I'm still at $129. Plus Tax!

I went home and got on eBay, I can get a new Ipod for less the $100 there or if I'm really smart, I'll buy the battery and tool kit from eparts.com for $14.95 plus shipping.

I think I'll buy the new battery.

Let's try this again

noreply@blogger.com (Rick) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:54:00 +0000

I keep thinking I want to be a writer, so I start a blog. I'll bet I've started a dozen blogs. I usually write to them for about a week maybe two then lose interest in them. Or I run out of things to write about.

So what's different this time? Nothing really just that this time I am really going to try and keep this blog up to date. This blog is, as the name implies, my ramblings, I intend to write about anything that crosses my mind; my trip to South Dakota, Miami, my ride into work or even my weekend activities.

Right now, I am suffering from a case of bronchitis, not fun. I can't breathe and I am coughing a lot, I am sure my co-workers think I have H1N1 flu or something because thay all give me a very wide berth when we pass. Which is a good thing because it keeps them out of my office and I can get some things done. Ah this too will pass I'm afraid.

I have a lot of projects to work on at home, I am trying to put together a "How-To" video on changing out a ceiling fan. I will need to re-shoot a couple of scenes this weekend and then try to put together the audio portion. More on that on Monday.