Aug

17

Today for many of us this means getting far away from an interstate. We took a short weekend to go to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. What a gorgeous and largely unspoiled piece of real estate. Highway 106 and 101 provide drives that can take your breath away. The northeastern part of Washington state is also a beautiful area off the beaten path.

Superhighways are a fast means of travel, but there is so much more to America if you take the backroads.

Jul

23

I am on the road this week and thus far have been listening to Sirius radio. I just feel totally disconnected from the local environment. Maybe the world is changing and passing me by, but we live in a world where MySpace wins out over a face to face conversation, a text message instead of a phone conversation. It is not these technologies that I have a problem with. They all have there place in the world of communication. I have a problem with the way we are choosing to communicate with one another. Tomorrow I am tuning into FM … no static at all.

 

Jun

13

The flight from Seattle to Nashville, 3 hours and 50 minutes. The drive on day one from Murfreesboro to parking at the venue, 5 hours and 15 minutes. That is 30 miles. You can do the math.

We heard the traffic situation has actually improved in recent years. 

 

Jun

10

I am going to Bonnaroo this week and am really looking forward to seeing the Felice Brothers. They are edgy and relevant. Musically and lyrically they hit on all cylinders. Tonight At The Arizona is an incredible work with great tracks like “Hey Hey Revolver” and “Your Belly in My Arms”

Lyrics - Your Belly In My Arms 

we’d watch the shapes the rain would make
falling down the window of our bus
i said they reminded me of paper ponies blowing free
you said they reminded you of us

your belly in my arms
tomorrow we’ll be through these rains and gone

woke up with the driver cryin Birmingham
looked through the glass and found morning sky
i said that cloud was shaped like a burning man
you didn’t have the heart to tell me why

your belly in my arms
tomorrow we’ll be through them clouds and gone

i put my hand inside your skirt
nasty, the thought that our baby’s life would turn out this way
you said you wasn’t really sure
but really you’s too good to say it

your belly in my arms
tomorrow we’ll be through them rains and gone
your belly in my arms
tomorrow we’ll be through them games and gone

—

…Check them out…

http://www.myspace.com/thefelicebrothers

 

Jun

9

I saw a short segment on Good Morning America where is Credit Union leader in the midwest required woman to wear panthose. A private business in America does have the right to dictate dress code…but…

The men did not need to wear ties, and his rationale was “that was what woman wore to work” when he was younger. Not sure I get that one. People wore Fedora’s to work when my dad was young but no one made my generation do this. 

pleeeeease…

We are not talking about wearing a halter or low cut top top. Though, this does raise an interesting question for our culture. It is still not widely accepted in business that men can wear shorts or clothing that shows bare leg. Why not?  Another question we need to ask and answer is where do we draw the line?

…and… Can we all agree where the lines go?

One positive change I have seen is the relaxing of the dress code in the workplace. I spend far too many years in a tie and suit. Those days totally sucked as far as dress in the workplace went Some changes can be for the good.

 

May

31

This ain’t the late seventies.

Remember the seventies? Gas prices hit .90 cents a gallon in 1979. How about the oil embargo in 1973? The average price of gas in 1973 was .65 cents, up from .52 cents in 1972. Of course this change was not a linear .13 cent increase across the board. Rather, it was a few months in the year where there were huge gas lines, stations ran out of gas, and prices approached nearly $1.00 a gallon which was a chunk of change back then (still less than we pay now if adjusted for current times!!!) Add to all of this a flood of cheap foreign imports and American auto manufacturers nearly went into the abyss.

Why?

Foreign imports were cheaper to buy. They got mpg 2 to 2.5 times that of American gas guzzlers.

Detroit started making subcompacts and fuel efficient (for the times) cars. Remember the Citation, Chevette, Monza, Omni, Fiesta? Chevy even made a pickup truck (LUV) that got close to 40mpg (unloaded) city and close to 50mpg on the highway. Oh…how we forget.

So What happened?

Oil prices came back down and Detroit again started making gas guzzlers. Actually Detroit caused the foreign auto manufacturers to make bigger less fuel efficient cars to keep up. Fact is business is driven by consumer demand. With lower gas prices Americans could afford to trade in their cracker jack size Yugo for a roomier ride.

So?

This ain’t the late seventies. No, it is much worse (though we are a pretty clueless people these days). Less than a month ago they were predicting $3.00 a gallon gas prices and we are now over $4.00 in most parts of the country for regular. It is so pathetic that when I was filling up yesterday I began longing for the days of $3.00 a gallon gas. We can probably forget about seeing $3.00 a gallon oil ever again. And that prices did not last for very long (months). To put this in perspective, gas prices for the entire decade of the eighties ranged from a high of $1.03 (1980) to a high of $1.27 (1984).

Why?

First, there is a greater demand oil in the world than their was in the seventies. Second, do you really believe oil companies are going to reduce their prices, especially in the face of this demand?

What now?

But to make these type of cars their has to be sufficient demand for them. Trust me if gas stays at $4.00 a gallon or higher long term there will be suffient demand. The only way to deal with this is to make cars that get double the mpg of current vehicles. This way everything is relative.

What else?

The Chrysler $2.99 a gallon price rebate for three years is a good short term strategy for selling their gas guzzlers and reducing inventory. Others should follow suit. But, buyers had better be sure that they can afford the price of fuel after the three years as they will be unlikely to unload their vehicle and who know what the price of gas will be in three years.

Parting gifts…

We can quit whining too much. Most of Europe is currently paying between $8.00 and $10.00 for a gallon of gas.

As a barrel of oil is now selling for over $125.00 you will be amused to know that in 1959 oil sold for .18 cents a barrel.

May

9

We tip the person that waits on us, the cabbie, the skycap. Why not the person that cleans our room? They probably give us more of their time and attention than any of the others. Plus, they are also not well paid and in most case lack benefits (or decent benefits). For my typical 3-4 day business trips I started leaving a five and a thank you note. If we all did this they would have a much better income :-) .

May

8

I believe the past weeks have allowed Jeremiah Wright to show his true colors. He is an American and has the right to express his point of view. One does not need to agree with him. What we must all agree on is that he has the right to speak his point of view.

Truth is that if Obama was not associated with him he would not be news.

Feb

4

Super bowl is the time for advertisers to put their best work on the line. This year was not so good. I thought Coke did the best job and Budweiser had a couple clever ones. Other than those my wife and I thought most of them were just plain dumb.

It was almost as if the advertisers were trying too hard. Most were just over the top in a very unmemorable way.

Thank goodness the game was not!

Feb

4

Your second superbowl commercial was beyond innapropriate. Even in our too politically and socially correct environment what you did was appalling. Your portrayal of Asians was downright racist. I was actually waiting for a third commercial from you, maybe you could have put black shoe polish on a caucasian and sang mammy.

— keep looking »

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