Kudos from MS

Todd expresses the character traits of Responsibility and Accountability as he works to help make it easier for me in doing my billing review each week with the work he put in on the Power Bi report for CSO! He helps me keep the billing accurate, but also allows me to review at a quick glance the documentation that has taken place to make sure it is appropriate and accurate. He has been willing to make multiple changes to it to make sure the information I needed was included, and always with a positive "can do" attitude!

New or Used or New Used Car Shopping

It is all that annoying and confusing at the same time.  New or used?  Used certified is relatively good as new.

Currently exploring, in no particular order, each have their own cost benefits (and fans), new or within the last couple of years.  Subarus give up gas mileage to get to the same equipment level of the Compass.  Subs are AWD, while the Jeep is 4WD.  All are automatic.

Subaru Crosstrek

Subaru Outback

Jeep Compass Trailhawk 

In-Person Powers

One co-worker just does not get it, constantly sends emails when all she has to do is talk to folks in person.  I believe that you could be sitting right next to her, and she would rather send an email than talk to you.  Making matters even worse, she feels as though she has some sort of power to issue commandments to people.

Thankfully, I am not too close to this person.  I am just upstairs though, and our organization is not that big.  There are probably 50 people in our building.

I keep thinking that it is easier to simply ignore her emails and respond to her in person, hoping (apparently, against hope) that she will someday get it.  Unfortunately, she just sends another email asking the very question that was just answered.

It is probably not entirely her fault, more so her career upbringing in an over bloated corporate environment where nobody really talks to each other.

Interviewing this person, I suspected she would have a difficult time working in a small business environment.  I even communicated that to the one hiring her.  

She didn't seem to care.  Now she has about 50 people that do not care for this person.

Some folks really need training in appropriate channels for interpersonal communication.

Here are a couple of relevant stories.

Cisco: The Power of In-Person Meetings

13 Times In-Person Communication Is Better Than Electronic Exchanges

My Pro Tip:  Get out from behind your technology and actually talk to people.  You will be surprised at the results and speed at which you get a response.

Storms from West Kansas

Another addition to the 500px collection shows off storms rolling in across the west Kansas prairie around harvest time.

Rabbitbrush Excerpt

One of the latest additions to the collection over on 500px, Rabbitbrush Swirl.  Testing out a different sort of macro lens on a typical shot.

Kudos from VB

Todd helped out with this year's Employee Awards. He took photos of the event and photos of award recipients. Thank you so much Todd for helping to make this year's event a success!

Kudos from AA

This is a long overdue thank you for volunteering for HOTM 2024! Thanks so much, Todd! It truly means a lot that you took time out from your packed schedule to represent <the firm> to our guests and help make the event successful by taking awesome candid photos.

Google Finance Fail

Google Finance has joined the ranks of other applications they have produced, which used to work perfectly fine and now are a completely useless mess.

Checking up on the value of some stocks lately, I noticed that some were losing as much as 60%.

I almost fell out of my chair.

It seems that Google no longer makes adjustments for things like stock splits.

That was the case in this instance, at least.

Shares of SCHD originally purchased on 1/24/2023 @ 76.30 were showing a share price of $29 today.

SCHD had split 3 for 1 back on 10/10/2024.

In the past, Google Finance made the necessary adjustments for calculations to appear accurately.

Some update of theirs in this past year has ruined all that.

This used to work just fine, like many of their other applications.

It has joined the ranks of worthless now.

Every time they make an "improvement," they invariably damage core functionality.

Arkansas Intermission

A super short weekend in Arkansas found them ready for the Christmas season.  The Stone County courthouse lawn stood fully decked out in an array of lights all around on the one and only night out and about.

The journey south was fraught with delays.  Multiple accidents in multiple locations necessitated multiple detours.  Some were more equipped to handle these scenarios, but they were not the type of situation I wanted to be involved with, given recent circumstances.  Add to that, steady rain south of Harrison, and the anticipated 7-hour trip took 9 hours.

Rain persisted throughout much of the following day.  Forecasters insisted it would stop by around 1:00 PM.  It did not and just about the time I hit the trail, it picked up again.  According to others, the downpour proved significant.  The remains of the canopy above Mossy Bluff Trail offered decent protection from a complete drenching though.  

It was actually quite a bit more peaceful than usual.  Water rushed all around, cascading down the streams intersecting the area, falling steadily over the the small falls that usually display little more more than a dribble, hushing all other sound invasions. Temperatures lingered near 18 °C a good portion of the day too, so it was not too uncomfortable. 

The return trip stood in stark contrast with the rest of the weekend.  Clear blue skies and 20 °C welcomed the ride homeward.  While our radar was tuned in to finding any potential oddity, nothing of significance appeared.  All houses seemed in good order, propped up against potential threats, with goat chicken defenses in place.

Pausing to reflect for a moment at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area found the place overrun with tourists.  The parking lot appeared full and it proved nearly impossible to get a moment alone with your own thoughts on the trail.  We ultimately abandoned the effort, content to continue the journey under the sun with windows down, until northern breezes forced us to abandon that cause as well.

A Cause of the Trump Win

A lot of folks are already asking themselves why President Trump won, when they were so certain of a Kamala Harris win.

This map and election maps before tell the story of a rural versus urban divide, but it goes only a little deeper than that.  A candidate cannot continually talk down to voters, disparaging their support of the other candidate, without some sort of backlash.

President Trump rarely, if ever, talked badly about those supporting Democratic candidates. He only talked about the DNC and their candidates.

When Senator Clinton lost the election to Donald Trump, she had continually characterized his supporters as "deplorable" and "uneducated."  Her followers did the same.

When President Biden won the election in 2020, he did not stoop so low as to talk negatively about those supporting President Trump.  He instead tried his best to win them over.

Vice President Harris followed the example set by Senator Clinton, continually talking about those supporting President Trump as if they were ignorant.  Additionally, the entire Democratic political machine followed suit, as well as all of her followers.   This is, of course, aside from the fact that she never really discussed any issues and constantly blamed President Trump for everything.

This is how you turn off a voter.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Watch it happen again and again in every election.

1977 Chevrolet Scottsdale for Sale

1977 Chevrolet Scottsdale - 350 4-barrel - 54,000 miles (odometer may have rolled over, but not certain) - runs perfectly well, driven about 5 miles a week.  Truck is a victim of a few break-ins by imbeciles. Broken leaf on driver side, passenger door window missing and associated internal mechanics of the door need repair or full replacement.  There are no cabin air controls.  gas tank replaced recently.  Gas gauge not working.  

Serious offers only ... leave a comment and I will get back to you.

If you are seeing this page.  The truck is still available.