Archive for April, 2006

Problems with Florida

I think home is what you make of it. Just stay put and good things will happen to you. Build relationships, build your community. Don’t hate the outsiders that come and visit - or stay!

Products of Public School?

I’m not sure if I’m more a fan of homeschooling, or just very hateful toward public schools. Get back to me on that one.

I’ve been taking a few college courses lately (junior year) and in one particular course, I’ve received a stunning number of emails begging for help. Not study group requests, not even an “I’m stumped” email. But emails asking me (and hundreds of other students) for us to do their work for them. There’s always a heart-breaking reason. I thought I’d share them here for a laugh at the future of America. But, I wonder if it would be right to also share their names and email addresses, too. If I could find a compelling reason to do so, I think I would. I’m sure they are all public school graduates.

Traffic Log Can Help Save Money

Many businesses and organizations waste a lot of money staffing during non-productive hours. Worse, they almost always under staff during busy hours.

Download the attached Excel spreadsheet to start tracking the people coming into your place of business. I’m giving this away for free, but please don’t redistribute it under your own name. However, feel free to modify it for your own office’s use.

The log is ideal for determining office hours, staffing hours, etc. Generally, a front desk receptionist should be put in charge of the sheet. I recommend a minimum of two weeks of data before making any decisions based on the data. A two-month period is more ideal, however.

Big Truck Show

We like to go to big truck shows as often as possible. The two main ones around Brevard County each year are at Satellite Beach (sponsored by the city I believe) and at the DeGroodt Library in Palm Bay (sponsored by the library). On April 22, from 11am to 2pm, will be “Big Truck Day 2006″ at DeGroodt (at the corner of Minton and Malabar roads). Unfortunately, we might not be able to make it this year. They always have lots of cool trucks for children to climb into and pretend to drive. Here is a picture of the children at last year’s show.

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New Pages Added

For those who follow my site religiously, which includes about a half-dozen wacky friends, a few wayward internet surfers, and a guy named “Moses” (or is it a ‘bot’?), you may not have noticed, but I’ve started adding some more static content along the side. So far, these include such astounding lists as the talk show hosts that I like the most, my favorite freeware, and my controversial, yet oh-so-ever insightful list of the top 10 guitar gods of all time.

Only 40% of Brevard County has a Library Card?

Just read in Florida Today that only 214,715 Brevardians have public library cards. I’m guessing that the only other kind would be library cards for the universities (FIT, BCC, UCF, etc). I’m shocked that more of you don’t use the library.

We have one library card to use for our whole family to keep things simple, so even if other families do the same, maybe that number might get as high as 45 or 50%. And you really can’t count the college “library cards” anyway, since you are required to have one - it acts as your student ID on some campuses. Almost every student is dragged through some insipid class (usually Comm I) which “teaches” them how to use the library - how to find books, how to use your library card, how to use the cataloging system… ugh. When I was forced to go, there were a substantial number of students who were actually absorbing this “new” information. What were they doing for the 13 years of government subsidized education? Do I even want to know?

The $39 Experiment

Under the “Why didn’t I think of this?” category, I found about this guy, Tom Locke, who decided to use a roll of stamps and mail letters to 100 different companies asking them for free stuff. He has received all sorts of things back, but what I find typical of mis-managed companies is what some of the companies wrote back in their rejection of his request. Amazing. Tom includes all the text of his letters, each individually tailored to each company he wrote to. My favorite letters of Tom’s are the ones he wrote to Energizer (hysterical), Subway, and Industrial Tool & Die. While some cool companies sent him a few coupons or a free product sample, a special few sent him some big time stuff. Fellowes sent him 4 cans of compressed air! What? I pay through the nose for that stuff. It’s like crack to a techie.