Patrick’s Rants

This morning the story of the California man whose Prius accelerated out of control has been on the major networks. I saw the story and wondered what the hell the guy’s problem was. I’m not saying the car didn’t do what he says it did, accelerate up to over 90 mph. He called 911 and a Highway Patrol officer was able to intervene, talk him through several steps and finally stop the car. Now, the CNN story says the emergency dispatcher tried to talk the man through possible solutions but doesn’t state what those steps might have been.
If you are driving a car that accelerates beyond your control (especially on more or less flat terrain, not going down hill like a bat out of hell) immediately put the transmission into neutral and apply the brakes. Once you get your car pulled over, shut off the engine. I can only wonder what the 911 dispatcher actually told the runaway James Sikes but it should have been, “put the transmission in neutral and pull the car over”. And that should have been it.

It all makes me wonder, “did you get that memo? I’ll make sure you get a copy of that memo”.

Qwest is going to lose my business due to a $1.00 convenience fee. I pay my bill online normally scheduled on the due date. I usually pay using a credit card that I rotate from time to time so that the card remains active – I have one that shows a credit “profile” that I can view if I use it once every 60 days. Since I don’t have a balance on it, that’s how I keep it active. This month they implemented a $1.00 convenience fee unless I sign up for auto pay. No way am I setting up auto pay. I don’t trust them not to screw it up. I don’t trust that something else might not happen to the account that will cause the price jump through the roof one month and I don’t trust myself to not get lazy and let an auto bill start a cascade of overdrafts and fees. It’s happened before. How about the guy with the million dollar water bill or the couple with their tens of thousands of dollars in roaming fees on their iPhones because the iPhone checks your email even when it’s turned off? Or how about the over $14,000 my ex-wife ran up in long distance in one month? Auto pay, no mufugging way. The payment is processed the same whether I schedule the bill or they do so why to they want to charge me to schedule it when I want? It doesn’t matter. I’m going to be costing them much more than $1.00 per month. I’m going to be paying the bill by check. They have to open it and process it – that is when I don’t use the walk in service and take up more than a dollar of their time or when I call customer service to complain regularly about the fee. Then I set up my account to paper bill.

But the $1.00 convenience fee is the final straw. I haven’t upgraded my personal internet speed since I went to DSL – I’m still surfing at 256k. Any upgrade offers Qwest has had include making a deal with the devil company itself, Microsoft. To get a discount from Qwest one must use MSN as the ISP. The only thing worse would be getting my internet service from Enron or Haliburton. I am not sending a dime more than absolutely necessary to Microsoft. $1.00 has broken my inertia. I talked to the cable company about internet and phone service. I’m going to save about $5.00 per month. And my internet speed will go up to 6mbs. That’s about 24 times the current speed with a $60 annual savings. Qwest, this is the last straw. And it only took $1.00.

It’s got to be national news. Rumors are flying about how much snow we are supposed to get this week. El Nino weather patterns are supposed to hit Northern Arizona like it’s 1967. Three storms are lined up to completely dump on us. Monday it’s anywhere from 5 to 16 depending upon elevation, Tuesday is supposed to add another 5 to 10 inches of snow. And following that is another “stronger” storm that there is no prediction for yet coming in Thursday night. It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but it’s entirely possible that this web site, hosted the way it is, might go dark for a few days. I’m hoping not. It’s also entirely possible that school will be canceled for all of next week. With my Sonata, I’m not gonna leave the apartment if that’s the case.

Oh, and nobody tell Rush, because for him this is proof that there is no such thing as global warming. I mean, look what finding out the Obamas were vacationing in Hawaii at the same time he was did to him.

Anyone who has any number of servers that they manage will eventually see failures. It’s just natural, hardware gets old and dies. Or you run completely over the hardware’s ability to keep up with demand.
Both of those things happened this year.

First – and I have to say this, forgive me – Windows Server 2003 has served me well. But the hardware just would not keep up with three to five users who kept three to five programs open each. This is a machine that has dual PIII 1ghz chips and a whopping 1.5gb ram. Three full time users on Windows 2003 Server, even I’m a little impressed. But it was straining under the heavy load. And the load was heavy.

My partner ordered the new Dell to replace the VisionMan gray box server that served us so well for these last several years. The server itself – hardware – is still up and strong. I have had to replace CPU fans on one of our machines, but that happens sometimes.

The migration from Windows 2003 Server (using Terminal Services for Windows based software access) to Windows Server 2008 64bit (also with Terminal Services) has been a little bumpy.¹ I nearly fell out of my chair when the current year tax software installed without any major hitches. Our Windows Server is now online – all major software has been migrated and the Windows 2003 server has been powered off awaiting the day it is wiped clean.

1. Mostly chronicled in Geek News and Stuff

I guess I’m not the only person who thinks that CEOs are overpaid and that compensation needs to be fixed. Will Ashworth writes Executive Bonuses Must Go over on Investopedia.com and his arguments are compelling. Pay CEOs a decent rate of pay, say $4 million/yr and let them buy shares of the company with their own damn money if they want stock.

Over on Yahoo, Robert Kiyosaki writes,
The Biggest Scam Ever an article about 401(k)s. This in response to the Time article Why It’s Time to Retire The 401(k). He cites statistics on balances and averages.

I completely disagree with both arguments. Here’s the simple truth: the 401(k), Keogh, 403(b) and the multitude of IRAs are probably not going anywhere. When most people set up these plans at work, they meet for a few minutes with their HR person who doesn’t know anything about investing and just wants to get all the check marks done for the new hire. Retirement accounts are not a Ronco product – you cannot, cannot just “set it and forget it”. If that’s the way you plan your retirement fugetaboutit. You won’t retire, you’ll be like Robert Shivley in the Time article working on the golf course or greeting people at Walmart. The biggest problem with defined contribution plans like a 401(k) is there is no one to hold your hand, walk you through it and keep you on track. Sure there’s the HR weasel but their job is just to get you to fill out the paperwork. They don’t care if you should be more heavily allocated to stocks or bonds and by law they really can’t give you investment advice. And the investment firm that handles your 401(k) usually is not all that interested in sitting down with you to determine the right balance for your personal account. They usually get paid for the dollars contributed after that it’s a tiny commission amount on the total invested dollars.

It’s not the 401(k) or the IRA that need to be tossed, it’s the idea that you can Popeil your retirement. Wherever your money goes, if you have the opportunity and can allocate your own funds, sit down with a planner of some type. If your 401(k) is sitting at a local firm have a one hour review with your broker. If not and it’s one of those “follow the line” firms call them up. The people answering the phone at those firms want to keep your money and are paid salary to talk to you. There’s nothing in it for them(except keeping the account), it’s all about you. If it’s a local broker remember any decent broker will sit down with you and if they won’t fire them and move your money – assuming you can.

If you can’t move your money and your broker doesn’t have time for you – after complaining to your HR department about the lack of service – sit down with a fee based planner (as opposed to commission based planners). You can take all of your options to a fee based planner who charges you by the hour and has no vested interest in which investments you actually hold. The only vested interest an hourly planner has is to give you decent advice that makes you want to come by next year to pay them for another hour of their time – oh and the referrals of your co-workers who can’t get advice any other way helps.

While the statistics cited by Time are pretty scary not knowing what the statistics are based upon is even scarier. An average is just that, an average. More new accounts with lower balances, more older (presumable larger balance) accounts that have been rolled from 401(k)s out to IRAs, more people regularly withdrawing from their accounts all contribute to the average, just as much as a stock market downturn. Without the underlying numbers averages are just statistics. As has oft been quoted, “there are three types of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics”.

I don’t think the 401(k) needs to go away. I think people need to start planning more for their 20+ years in retirement than next summer’s vacation. They need to start looking at what they are invested in. Ron Popeil isn’t your retirement plan. He might be able to get a chicken done just right, but you have to set it and then reset when it comes to retirement planning. And just because Warren Buffett knows that a stock is a great value and will be worthwhile 40 years down the road doesn’t mean you can buy and hold forever. Even Warren sells once in a while. You still have to periodically look at your retirement plan. You have to take a vested interest in how much you have to retire on, no one else cares about your retirement – really.

My wife and I did the 4am Black Friday shopping trip one year. We decided never again. We were late to the stores and could not believe that even in the sleepy town of Queen Creek, AZ the shopping madness had taken over. People were in line for the Gameboy color (that’s how long ago it was ) and getting told there were no more Gameboys. The line was nearly out the door from the electronics section at the Walmart. Several different Black Friday special priced items were wrapped in shrink wrap on the pallets until the store officially opened. The crowds were as crazy as you see on the news clips. People had this crazed look in their eyes. My wife and I felt lucky to have survived our one and only Black Friday experience unscathed.
This year, I am looking to upgrade my monitor to an LCD. I checked out the Best Buy ad online and they have two 18.5″ to 20″ flat screens on sale for less than $100.00 on Black Friday. Try clicking on the ad to buy it today (yesterday) and the price is $139.00. Ugh. The fine print tells me that there are a maximum of 12 in stock for the one monitor and a minimum of 15 for the other per store. So. What are the odds I’m going to get either one of these at these prices? I’m not sure, but I think it’s kinda low. Our Best Buy serves a town of 70,000. They may not all be out shopping for monitors but that reduces the odds of squeezing into the store to get that price .
I may just end up like a lot of people, shopping online. TigerDirect has some pretty good Black Friday deals. Check them out at the Marketplace (OK, I know that was shameless self promotion, but you can shop from home without body armor)

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 is threatening to strike over a purported dispute with Fry’s Food and Drug. Fry’s is taking a defensive move by advertising for temporary Clerks at $9.50/hr in case the Union actually calls the strike. According to whnt.com, the main sticking points are raises and health care.

The workers typically make between $7.20 and $12.05 per hour and can expect to receive $100 per week in strike pay if they walk out.

$100.00 per week to walk the line. As Dr Phil might say, “how’s that working for ya?”

Again from whnt.com

“Some of our members haven’t had a raise in six years,” said Jim McLaughlin, United Food & Commercial Local 99 President.

In what world does every single person deserve a raise every year? Not this one. Just because you belong to a union shouldn’t guarantee a yearly raise. When I was in high school a couple of my classmates worked for a grocery store, Publix if I remember right, and they talked about scanned items per minute and things like that. They were proud of their scanning rates and competed with each other over it. The company wants your line to move quickly and smoothly and so do I when I’m standing there. There is a checker whose line I won’t go through at Safeway because he is tediously slow with no apparent mental or physical impediments. He proudly wears his union pin, but if I were the manager I would not be giving him the same raise as the checker who can process twice as many items without breaking the eggs or smashing the bread. I would be checking the “conscientious” box for our Fry’s checker on Saturday who opened the 18 pack of eggs to check for cracked eggs (something my wife does anyway). That checker cares and deserves a regular raise.

Now, if you can bring yourself to read this obnoxious black on lavender blog¹

(And if you block Myspace.com such as yours truly here is the Google cache from which I pulled my comments)

When I started Fry’s Food and Drug a while back, we were 6 months til our new contract was to be negotiated and to begin. Well, it’s a year almost to date and Fry’s hasn’t brought a dime to the table for they’re employees.

*FRY’S WILL ONLY GIVE A 25 CENT WAGE INCREASE TO EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE ALREADY TOPPED OUT ON THE PAY SCALE*

Really? Is that so bad? If these were bus drivers who were topped out they would have gotten somewhere around 1%-2%. Except not this year because they froze pay steps. Boohoo, only $0.25/hr when other employers are cutting employees and freezing pay. Period. End of story.

As of now, Fry’s is responsible for paying our Health Care Premiums which cost between $740 and $780.

*FRY’S WANTS ME TO PAY MY FAMILY’S PREMIUMS OUT OF MY POCKET WITH NO PAY RAISE*

Number one, that’s dirt cheap. Number two, most employers will not pay for your family. Not my (government) employer. If I wanted my family on my insurance plan I would end up with about half of my (not huge, but not minimum wage either) paycheck going to my family’s health insurance. So I’m not shedding any tears over you having to pay some of your insurance premiums. In fact, I’m on my employer’s policy, my wife is on her employer’s policy and our children are on a standalone policy that we bought that only covers catastrophic events. So full coverage for $780.00? That’s pretty damned good. Mouth, Gift Horse. You get the drift.

Ah, let’s see this little gem

Fry’s wants to give me and every other worker who has not topped out on our pay . . .

*20 HOURS A WEEK OF PAY WITH UP TO $780 TAKEN OUT OF MY PAYCHECK AND NO WAGE INCREASE UNTIL 2019.*

As George Costanza might say, “beep, beep, beep. Back up the truck.” Are you telling me that you are working part time and Fry’s pays for your insurance? And you are going to walk out on that benefit? Yes, I see that Fry’s wants to make you pay for your family’s health insurance. You are part time and good luck finding another employer with benefits that generous. Fry’s is coming back down to earth a little here.
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I went to the grocery store with my wife today and saw a brand of sugar grown and processed in Florida. On the front was the label “Certified Carbon Free”. According to WikiAnswers (and based on my memory of the chemical formula for sugar) without carbon you are pretty much left with water. Sugar is chemically C12H22O11 or C6H12O6. That “C” is carbon. I picked up the container to read they really mean that their carbon use/spewing is certified as being offset. Which is a good thing, cause as I wrote, sugar without carbon is really just water.

If you want more information about carbon offsets, check out the Carbon Fund

This blog, like many others, is what some might call a labor of love while others might hope that it goes away. I’ve started spending a bit of time getting a page built that has limited time offers from some of the affiliate programs that I belong to. It’s not the coolest page in the world, but there are some pretty good deals, like 1TB hard drives for under $100.00. I’m also tweaking the ad display code so that limited time offers can expire. Give the page a peek, let me know what you think. Heck you might even find something you can’t live without
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