Today is the national Day of Thanksgiving in the US.  I wrote an article for my other blog, Church of God Perspective, that starts like this:

“Happy Turkey Day!”

The first time I heard it, I was somewhat amused.  Unfortunately, the American “Thanksgiving” has in reality become mostly that.  It is a day to eat turkey, stuff yourself with mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, perhaps have a couple of brews and watch football.  And not much else.

It isn’t that there is really anything wrong with feasting and enjoying yourself.  Certainly, overdoing any of these things to your detriment is a problem and cause worse problems, but that isn’t the point.

The point is that these things are not supposed to be what the day is about.

Click here to read the rest of “‘T’ Is for ‘Thanks’”.

I will refrain from saying “Happy Memorial Day”. It is NOT a happy day. It is a day instead of reflect upon the sacrifice of “U.S. men and women who died while in the military service” (Wikipedia). If you are free, then it is in part due to the sacrifice of someone else. So much of human history has instead been about oppression of one another.

Thank your Creator for your freedom, and then thank a vet.

What to write about?  Will anyone read it?  The sun is shining.  Most people are either busy at work right now, or they are outside.  Even if they are at work, they are probably thinking about going outside.

Yeah, well, work is necessary, but it isn’t your life.  Technology is important, but it isn’t your life.  The web can be fun, educational, enlightening and a way to connect with others, but life is so much more than that.

Make sure you enjoy some sunshine today, if at all available where you are.

OK, this is a little off-topic, but I’ve rewired the fluorescent light above my workbench.  It makes working on small screws in laptops so much easier when you can see!

It’s an older lamp, made mostly out of metal, and is it ever heavy!  It came with the house, and I immediately took it over to the sink to clean off.  It actually smelled, it was so dirty.  I almost regretted not just buying a new one right away.

At any rate, I wasn’t interested in rewiring the inside, but the outside power cable was so old that the insulation was cracking.  I wanted to get it fixed before I electrocuted myself.  Then, the plug didn’t fit the adapter, so I didn’t finish up until today.

It obviously had been worked on before.  The wiring inside was a bit of a mess.  One set was half-soldered, and I do mean half.  4 wires were connected, and 2 of them were soldered together.  Unfortunately, one of them was the one I was replacing.

One of the starters is quite loose in it, so I don’t know that I won’t have to either replace that yet or not.

However, even with all of the complications, it only took slightly longer than I had estimated.

Video – The Brain Cannot Multi-task

Posted using ShareThis

Well, we made it!  Wishing you and yours a blessed new year.

Let’s do the time warp again!

OK, this isn’t exactly a technology post, but it is about an organization that touches all of our lives in the US every workday.  Messing up someone’s mail can cripple a small business or individual who is waiting on that one thing that will make or break them.

Really, I feel like I’ve gone back to the days in which the US Postal Service was totally a government entity endowed with an inefficiency only rivaled by the telephone company.  I remember a time when the only thing worse than sending a package through USPS was to send it through UPS.  It seems that growing up in rural Ohio meant you were guaranteed to get it broken if sent USPS and sometimes not at all if sent UPS.

FedEx gets credit in my mind for changing the landscape of snail mail.  Efficiency finally meant you would get your letter or package to its destination “absolutely positively overnight”.  Frankly, most of the time I sent things via FedEx just because I wanted to make sure it got there – period.  Sometimes it was just worth the extra cost.

Then, something amazing happened.  Competition forced the other 2 to get better.  USPS started improving their service.  Eventually, USPS was spun off as a quasi-governmental company, which meant it now had to look at profits, thus driving up efficiency.   UPS started delivering packages on time as well.  Both seemed to lower the amount of damage to packages as well.

OK, you still had to wait in line for simple things.  So, USPS started supplying kiosks to buy postage.  What was really nice is that now you could not only buy postage, but you could actually weigh your package to see how much to get, even when the post office was closed.  It seemed that not only had better service arrived, but now they were offering convenience as well.

So, what is going on?  I assume that the economy might mean cutbacks for them as well as anyone else.  However, even before the economy tanked, it seemed that certain pieces of mail wouldn’t arrive.  A couple of years ago, I had some checks that never arrived.  Not a good thing.

Well, lately I tried to use the kiosk one day to send a letter certified with return receipt.  You pay extra for the certified, and you pay even more for the return receipt.  I never did get that receipt.  Fluke?  Did I do something wrong?  I don’t know.

One day, I wanted to send another letter certified.  The line at the post office was long, but I didn’t want to chance the kiosk again, seeing as that did not work out.  Well, they asked if anyone was paying by credit card.  OK, I was.  Well, she took me to the kiosk!  OK, no big deal, right?  Well, evidently, I knew how to run the kiosk better than she did.  So, we get all of the requisite paper lined up and paid for.  So, this USPS postal worker is now trying to attach the certified label to the letter.  She cannot figure out how to expose the gummy surface of the label to attach it to the letter.

About halfway through it, I was wishing I had just waited for the window.

Not that going to the window actually makes anything fare better.  I also got some memory that didn’t work.  So, I decided to send it back – certified of course.  This one I took to the window.  Well, a week and a half goes by, and the status on the USPS Tracking & Confirm site shows no change in status!  They evidently lost the package, which means I won’t get my money back!

Oh, and it gets better.  Want good customer service?  Don’t try their “automated” system, then.  You have to punch in the tracking number.  Then, they get slick.  They only give you 2 options, neither of which is to speak to a customer service representative.  They only state that option after a significant pause.  I actually had to start over and punch in the number again (I tried saying “customer service” at the main prompt, and it gets conveniently ignored).  Obviously, they place a very high priority on getting you to a customer service rep [/sarcasm].  Oh, and the “automated” system?  What good is it if I have to give the customer rep the number again?  And, then, when transferred to tracking, I have to give the number again?  That’s 3 times I had to give the number per call!!!!  I mean, we are talking about 20 digits here!  Is that great technology or what?

Oh, and it gets better.  I was told there was a menu shortcut.  The option I was given does not exist.

Oh, and it gets better.  I was given a case number and told someone would call back.  They did not.

Oh, and it gets better.  I finally am given a “local” number to call.  I don’t understand how it is local, as I don’t even know where area code 909 is.  So, I call the number.  No answer.  I try again.  No answer.  Did I mention that getting you talking to a rep must be a very high priority with them?

It seems that it is costing more in time than the #!&^#$ memory was worth in the first place.  OK, so I learned an expensive lesson: If you really want it to get there, do not use USPS.

If you’ve read any of my blogs for any time, you know I stress a balance in life.  When life gets out of balance, that is when you risk losing what you do have.

Thanksgiving is not just another holiday to me.  It’s not just the day before Black Friday.  It is a special time to reflect on what I have been blessed with.  It isn’t that we shouldn’t be thankful throughout the year, but Thanksgiving is a time we can spend with friends and family and be thankful together.  It is a time we can come together as a nation and be thankful together.

So, a special “Happy Thanksgiving” to all US readers.  Enjoy the turkey, but don’t forget the spiritual aspects.  Don’t forget about relationships.

Please take some time out today to remember the sacrifice of those willing to die for a cause.  Honor their commitment and remember that the blessings of this country come from above.