Moments of Clarity

I feel like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom is happening here in my yard

You know watching Marlin Perkins calmly talk me through the lion ripping the flesh from a gazelle carcass was no big deal.  But now I have dogs (I now casually call them "The Murderers") executing everything from new born bunnies to hours old squirrels.  Well today, one dog plucked a bird from a low flying trajectory...snapping its neck and that sent the entire bird family in my backyard into a tweeting frenzy that's STILL going on as I type.  That bird family is having a VERY bad day now.

It's cool to watch on TV but cleaning up the aftermath of fresh kills is no pleasure in Clive, Iowa.  Please doggies, I give you kibble...so don't make my Clive backyard a killing field.

My new answer to "How's it going?"

I feel like a circus clown riding a unicycle
Juggling a chainsaw, a hatchet, and a bowling ball.

Gateway Market - Opening in West Des Moines after others FAIL

I wrote about my struggles with The Marketplace at Jordan Creek when it was still in business some time ago.
Now the thriving Gateway Market (Woodland/MLK) is opening a West Des Moines location sometime in June down near Art Dinkin in the Village at Ponderosa development.  So when it opens, go experience great customer service, the right sized selection, and then stop by and say hi to Art.

My Current Top 10 Why's?

I've been saving up a few why's lately.  I can't hold them any longer.

1. Why do the Dem Presidential contenders get a free pass effectively on the question, "If we go ahead and pull the soldiers out of Iraq like you want to...then what's next?  What's your "post withdrawal plan?" It makes no sense that an effectively disengaged 3rd party who's rhetoric is geared toward winning an election...and not actually solving the problem is not scrutinized heavily.  They can't answer that question because they aren't confronting the day to day operations there per Gen. Petraeus.  "Everything in Iraq is hard" but the Dem contenders want him to give "easy answers".  It's a crappy position to be in but and regardless of the cause/reasons...we're there. 
2. Why do we hear things like, "If we don't stop doing A or B, Muqtada Al Sadr will "lift his cease fire order" or what have you?  Huh?  I know we have some pretty precise and some not so precise weapons that could pretty much turn he and his troupe into pink spray.  I have trouble grasping how "War" can be fought from a seemingly neutered position.
3. Why would a smoking ban for the public good...exclude casinos? 
4. Why don't we get a boatload of free oil or dramatically reduced price oil from Iraq...who's collective a$$ we've liberated?  Free or cheap oil certainly would disrupt the profit steam of oil companies and our Arab OPEC buddies right?  This junk makes me believe that our government/President are so in bed with the Arab nations that we literally are willing to sacrifice ourselves to maintain loyalty to whatever promises/arrangements keep the power base stable. 
5. Why do we continue to IGNORE the fact that our educational system is failing?  I think we believe that "that's not my kid or my school's problem"?  It is our problem.  I heard somewhere that the average H1B visa recipient's salary is something like $140k/year.  Do we really lack the technical smarts here to fill jobs like this with our own labor force?  I don't get it.
6. Why won't a Presidential candidate resolve the "Social Security Dilemma" by saying, "Look, here's my plan, starting in 2050, there's no more social security.  Some of you will have to keep paying and you're screwed...but that's it.  The safety net program that has become a welfare program is gone.  Fixed. 
7. Why does Clive has such a screwed up recycling program?  We have a little green bin but we're told to actually "separate" the items, don't include colored glass, etc.  Then, a guy comes around and HAND SORTS it into a truck.  So odd.
8. Why do I have to reboot my windows machine once daily to get back to crawl speed? 
9. Why don't companies respond to EVERY customer service inquiry or suggestion?  If you feel your opinion doesn't matter...you'll go somewhere else right?  Is this not basic knowledge?
10. Why do we really believe that Google has our best interest at heart by hosting our life's data?

"Umm, I'd like a large pepperoni and a box of hollow points please."

Recently, a pizza delivery driver was confronted by a man as he was making a delivery.  (full story in DSM Register)  The man put a handgun to the delivery driver's head and demanded money, etc. 

The delivery guy simultaneously grabbed the perp's gun, withdrew his own, and shot the alleged assailant multiple times. 

The alleged assailant was arrested later after calling for medical help.  The pizza delivery guy is a legal holder of a CCW permit (concealed weapons permit).  However, it's Pizza Hut's policy that no driver can carry a weapon.  Thus, he's been suspended until the matter is investigated.

A spokesperson for Pizza Hut said the following:

"We have policy against carrying weapons," said Vonnie Walbert, vice president of human resources at Pizza Hut's corporate offices in Dallas. "We prohibit employees from carrying guns because we believe that that is the safest for everybody."

I just have a few points I'd like to make and welcome your commentary.

1. What Pizza Hut probably believes is that a policy of no weapons means less liability for incidents like this. 
2. I understand why businesses want to limit their liability and this pushes the true question of "right to carry" to the forefront of the conversation. 
3. Questions about whether or not this was a valid use of lethal force are nil if the story is accurate.  No matter how it's parsed, when someone puts a gun to your head, you can shot them dead where they stand. 
4. We cannot make excuses about the alleged assailant's "intent".  Whether or not he was going to pull the trigger or not, he had a gun to the other man's head.  He picked the wrong man to rob that day. Apparently the woman that ordered the pizza was allegedly in on the deal...and has been charged with conspiracy.  Yikes...an ambush armed robbery attempt it seems.
5. There are specific things one must do to obtain a CCW permit in Iowa (currently regulated by county sheriffs).  These include background checks and completion of a training course in which laws, situations, rules, and qualification are executed.  In other words, the current system weeds out law breaking wackos and winnows the pool of authorized carriers down to a focus group of qualified people.

I invite you to add your opinions and thoughts here.  No one is happy that anyone got shot and many out there suggest that "you better shoot them dead because if you don't, you'll be paying the rest of your life in lawsuits regardless of your innocence".  At the end of the day it appears that the constitution of the US and "the system" worked here.  But this guy will probably be fired and you KNOW that Pizza Hut will ultimately be settling out of court for millions with this felon or his family.

Argh.

 

RAGBRAI 2008 - The Quest For An RV Begins

As we look forward to RAGBRAI 2008, I can say with certainty that my good friends from California based Luke Manohans Cycle Tours are coming out for their 3rd (can you believe it) ride across our beautiful state.

This year however, we'd like to travel in a bit more style so we're looking for an RV to accommodate 6-8 people (floor sleeping is OK).  I'm sure I can find some outfit somewhere that will rent one to me, but I'm calling on my Central Iowans first to see if someone has a sweet old Winnebago sitting around gathering dust they'd like to offer up in some kind of barter deal???

Of course, if you want to provide the diesel pusher tour bus that's fine too.  The bottom line is that we'd fill the thing with 6-8 responsible 30 somethings (including an doctor and our spouses) and your shiny machine will come back looking better than ever. 

Let me know ASAP if we can figure something out y'all.  Can you imagine how big the party in Ames will be this time around?  Yikes!

Will Las Vegas dry up and wither away?

Researchers have now indicated that Lake Mead, fed by the mighty Colorado and water source to millions (and all of Las Vegas, Nevada), will possibly run dry by 2021.  The lake is down dramatically and hydroelectric plants are already operating well below capacity due to reduced flow.

But here's the rub.  They say,

That water is not being replenished, they noted, and human demand, evaporation and human-induced climate change are fueling the growing deficit.

The system is already at half capacity because of eight years of drought.

"When expected changes due to global warming are included as well, currently scheduled depletions are simply not sustainable," Barnett and Pierce write in the study.

The two analyzed federal records of past water demand as well as calculations of scheduled water allocations and climate conditions.

They've neatly tucked human demand and human-induced climate change into the model.  Of course it's human demand...since the animal kingdom is short on opposable thumbs and still doesn't shower. 

What exactly did they measure to find out how much humans have induced the climate change.  Isn't it odd that in the same article we read,

This view of Lake Mead was taken last July 26, during the seventh straight year of drought that had caused the lake to drop more than 100 feet to its lowest level since the late 1960s.

Wow.  So it did reach this level in the 60's huh? I guess Al Gore was only a kid then and hadn't yet invented the Internet, the Lock Box, and the farcical global warming panic we see just about daily in the news.  I guess back then we called it "drought" and "!@#$% it's HOT this year".

Please.  I think that Las Vegas has undertaken irresponsible development  with regard to water resources and may be stressing the natural biorhythm of the ecosystem.  But articles that support the notion that the blame for 8 years of drought can heaved onto the back of humanity make me ill.  It's a bloomin' desert man!

When the lake reaches historic highs in 9 years...we'll just have to give give credit where credit is due...to President Obama's climate initiatives. 

Article on MSNBC.com

 

The Middle Class Squeeze Myth

I've been an offender...I must admit.  I've said, "The Middle Class is Disappearing" and getting "Squeezed".  Intuitively, it made sense to parrot the pundits with all of the doom and gloom in the news.

Take a look however at this little video put together by the Wall Street Journal.  It stars Drew Carey and it's a fun and economically sound examination of what the Middle Class is really going through today...and how it can afford so much stuff.

This video will at least challenge your ideas about how bad off the Middle Class really is.  What is the definition of middle class anyway now? 

What seems more plausible is that the expectations of the middle class have risen so much during the last 10 years.  Not too long ago, an "average TV" for the house, maybe 27" or 32" if you were really doing well sold for $300-$600.  Now the minimum entry point is 42"inch plasma...and those have just come down to about $1k.  Regular TV? No way.  The entry point of the HD plans on any service is now about $60/month.  "But I've got the HDTV...I deserve to see the programs at their best right?

I could go on ad nauseum but think about your parents for a moment.  Mine are 57.  My family was archetypal middle class.  The first new car they bought was in 1984 (age 34).  Dad was a union butcher.  Mom stayed home.  We took a vacation every other year after about the age of 12 that usually involved driving immense distances and sleeping at rest stops.  My mom mostly cooked and eating out was a treat.

Today, it's a very different picture.  Is the Middle Class really being squeezed or is it that some just don't have more credit available to them to keep up with the Joneses?

Forclosure - The Financially Prudent Option?

Peter Viles, a blogger/journalist contributing to the LA TIMES blogs, posted a great piece today on an emerging kind of middle income homeowner.  This kind of homeowner is choosing foreclosure because it's a smarter business decision than sticking it out.  Here's a chilling quote:

Wachovia, in a conference call yesterday, warned  investors that increasing numbers of homeowners are walking away from their homes by choice: "... people that have otherwise had the capacity to pay, but have basically just decided not to because they feel like they've lost equity, value in their properties..."

Calculated Risk notes this is "one of the greatest fears for lenders ... that it will become socially acceptable for upside down middle class Americans to walk away from their homes."

I think that this attitude won't make up a large percentage of foreclosures...but enough to add fuel to the housing downturn. 

Is this the ultimate lack of personal responsibility here?  There's nothing in the rule book that says, you MUST pay if you can pay...right?  A foreclosure apparently will buy you XX months of time living "free" in the house before you're removed.

If a couple purchased the home for $600k, it's now worth $380k, and their mortgage is $600k (believe me it's far more common than you think), and all economic news is gloom and disaster, it would be more tempting to consider this option.

Our Iowa market is still very stable.  Heck it really never boomed like the coasts.  It appears that I got out of SoCal (Corona, CA) at the peak of the market in the summer of 2005 when I executed my Geographic Arbitrage.  I got lucky and wasn't greedy. 

I know plenty of people who are just like you and me that owe far more on their homes than they could get by selling.  It's only a matter of time before the home equity lines and platinum cards run out.  There will likely be a glut of white suburbans, personal watercraft, and ATV's for sale shortly.

Recovery...day 5

I am in my 5th day of post surgical recovery.  Through my "rampant athleticism" I encountered an inguinal hernia. Yes I know. 

Apparently, hernias are pretty much pre-determined throughout your body...much like aneurysms.  Whether you do something to expose them/rupture them/etc...is the question.

Well.  After tons of lower ab work, swimming 3k meters after biking for 45 minutes, and having a few colds with coughs that shook the earth...I "exposed mine".  Lowest abdominal wall muscle...almost where your leg and abs meet.  Honestly if I rested and didn't do anything w/the lower abs it went back to normal.   However, there's nothing normal about triathlon training so I opted to have it fixed now while the temps are frigid. 

You don't appreciate how much you use your abs in EVERYTHING YOU DO until you've had them cut/stitched/wire meshed/etc and sewn back together. 

Of course every woman who's had a c-section continues to put me down and claim that "you don't know what pain is until they've pulled a 9lb kid out of you" (say it while putting on the 2 snaps up...um um um no you DIT-UNT ) voice and be sure to do the hand motion and you'll get the felling.  Oh well.  I'll silently toil with my bottle of meds and go watch Junior.