Spring....

Well, May is right around the corner. It's actually beginning to look and feel like spring here in Madison, and it's about time it did.

The rules....

I like rules, for the most part. They're supposed to help keep everyone safe and happy. Oh sure, there are some that don't make any sense, and are downright stupid, and these should be questioned. But for the most part, rules are a good thing.

One of the rules we have here at work is to try to limit the number of people on break at any one time to six. It's a good number, especially in a call center, and most of the time it works well. If you look here, though, you'll see eleven. Yes, that's right, eleven. Nearly twice as many as "allowed." Granted, many of those people had just come from a meeting that had let out early, people who would have been off the phones anyway if the meeting had been longer. I don't think that allows them to break the rules, though. The first six were OK. It were the others that bother me.

You're probably thinking, "Terry, why should this bother you? Maybe you can pad your numbers a bit." But what if everyone ignored the rules, and went on breaks when they felt like it? Who'd be left to answer the phone? I'd be left, and the few who bothered to follow the rules.

You're right, life isn't fair. But behavior like this makes it worse, not better.

Bad driver alert....

Watch out for this asshole driver at American Family Insurance: a Mazda 626, license 754-AHR.

Voicing their opinion....

Here's some more news from Carroll College.

Lacking confidence....

Here is some news on the stink at Carroll College. Thanks to Amy for bringing this to my attention.

Finally....

We got another call from Kayser last night: the truck was done (again). So Maryanne and I drove to Stoughton to pick it up. We took it for a test drive first, before surrendering the keys for the loaner. All was well with the truck. Apparently a cylinder had been misfiring due to a bad spark plug. Things are much better now.

Still broken....

Yesterday I received a message from Kayser stating the work on my truck was done.

Very nice.

Maryanne and I went to Stoughton to pick it up. There was, of course, no one there from the service department, but the night cashier could handle everything.

The body work was done. It looked good. We climbed in, and set off for Madison. That's when the truck started vibrating, obviously some kind of engine problem, and the check engine light quickly came on. We decided to head back to the dealership. On the way back, at a stop light, the truck stalled. It was a disappointing end to an already frustrating day for Maryanne. Steve, the sales manager, suggested we talk to Greg, the service manager, in the morning. I called him up and explained the problem. We'll see where this goes. Hopefully it won't take them three weeks to get it fixed like it did for the body work.

Money-grubbers....

I found this article today. Yes, the RIAA is a bunch of evil whack-jobs.

Where's spring?

Light snow, my ass. It's coming down pretty good. When's it gonna look like spring?

The white stuff....

We're getting snow today, up to six inches of it. Film at 11.

Bad driver alert....

If you work at American Family Insurance, watch for this asshole of a driver: a man driving a black Toyota Tundra, license "TUNDRA." Also, the female driver of a turquoise Chevy Malibu, license unknown.

Let's vote on it....

Here's an update on the brouhaha at Carroll College. Power to the people!

Something to think about....

Food for thought, courtesy of Maryanne, by Joe Galloway, author of We Were Soldiers.

Is there anyone else out there who's sick and tired of all the polls being taken in foreign countries as to whether or not they "like" us? The last time I looked, the word "like" had nothing to do with foreign policy. I prefer "respect" or "'fear." They worked for Rome, which civilized and kept the peace in the known world a hell of a lot longer than our puny two centuries-plus.

I see a left-wing German got elected to office recently by campaigning against the foreign policy of the United States. Yeah, that's what I want, to be lectured about war and being a "good neighbor" by a German. Their head honcho said they wouldn't take part in a war against Iraq. Kind of nice to see them taking a pass on a war once in while. Perhaps we needed to have the word "World" in front of War. I think it's time to bring our boys home from Germany. Outside of the money we'd save, we'd make the Germans "like" us a lot more, after they started paying the bills for their own defense.

Last time I checked, France isn't too fond of us either. They sort of liked us back on June 6th, 1944, though, didn't they? If you don't think so, see how nicely they take care of the enormous American cemeteries up above the Normandy beaches. For those of you who've studied history, we also have a few cemeteries in places like Belleau Woods and Chateau Thierry also. For those of you who haven't studied it, that was from World War One, the first time Europe screwed up, and we bailed out the French. That's where the US Marines got the title 'Devil Dogs' or, if you still care about what the Germans think, "Teufelhunde." I hope I spelled that right; sure wouldn't want to offend anyone, least of all a German.

Come to think of it, when Europe couldn't take care of their Bosnian problem recently, guess who had to help out there also. Last time I checked, our kids are still there. I sort of remember they said they would be out in a year. Gee, how time flies when you're having fun.

Now we hear that the South Koreans aren't too happy with us either. They "liked" us a lot better, of course, in June 1950. It took more than 50,000 Americans killed in Korea to help give them the lifestyle they currently enjoy, but then who's counting? I think it's also time to bring the boys home from there. There are about 37,000 young Americans on the DMZ separating the South Koreans from their "brothers" up north. Maybe if we leave, they can begin to participate in the
"good life" that North Korea currently enjoys. Uh huh. Sure.

I also understand that a good portion of the Arab/Moslem world now doesn't "like" us either. Did anyone ever sit down and determine what we would have to do to get them to like us? Ask them what they would like us to do? Die? Commit ritual suicide? Bend over? Maybe we should follow the advice of our dimwitted, dullest knife in the drawer, Senator Patty Murray, and build more roads, hospitals, day care centers, and orphanages like Osama bin Laden does. What with all the orphans Osama has created, the least he can do is build some places to put them. Senator Stupid says if we would only "emulate" Osama, the Arab world would love us. Sorry Patty, in addition to the fact that we already do all of those things around the world and have been doing them for over sixty years, I don't take public transportation, and I certainly wouldn't take it with a bomb strapped to the guy next to me.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not in favor of going to war. Been there, done that. Several times in fact. But I think we ought to have some polls in this country about other countries, and see if we "like" THEM. Problem is, if you listed the countries, not only wouldn't the average American know if he liked them or not, he wouldn't be able to find them. If we're supposed to worry about them, how about them worrying about us? We were nice to the North Koreans in 1994, as we followed the policies of Neville Clinton. And it seemed to work; they didn't restart nuclear weapons program for a whole year or so. In the meantime, we fed them when they were starving, and put oil in their stoves when they were freezing.

In a recent visit to Norway, I engaged in a really fun debate with my cousin's son, a student at a Norwegian University. I was lectured to by this thankless squirt about the American "Empire," and scolded about dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese. I reminded him that empires usually keep the stuff they take; we don't, and back in 1945 most Norwegians thought dropping ANY kind of bomb on Germany or Japan was a good idea. I also reminded him that my uncle, his grandfather, and others in our family spent a significant time in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, courtesy of the Germans, and they didn't all survive. I further reminded him that if it weren't for the "American Empire" he would probably be speaking German or Russian.

Sorry about the rambling, but I just took an unofficial poll here at our house, and it appears we don't like anyone.