Usually, when someone of my nature receives a package from New Egg, it's like Christmas. The box is usually ripped open, packing foam strewn across the floor, and exclamations of joy are audible in the next county.
I have such a package (a rather large one at that) sitting on my bed. It remains in its sealed condition from the New Egg shipping house. I have no desire to open it, and the best I can do is attribute it to my laziness.
I typically don't like to use the "embed" feature of sites like Google Video, YouTube, and iFilm, but this is worth doing so:
100% Computer-Generated Liquid
You know how Kim Jong Il was so proud and arrogant of North Korea's accomplishments with nuclear weapons advancement? Here's the deal: He's backing down now, saying he made a mistake.
Something isn't entirely right about it. I mean, if after several talks with the opposing countries, they backed down, it would be understandable. However, North Korea really hasn't talked with anyone, and they were quite belligerent about moving forward with a second test.
There's just too many possibilities of what caused them to back down, but none of them are certain. The one that really stands out, though, is that maybe someone offered North Korea a crapload of money, and Kim Jong Il decided it was worth stopping the nuclear program for. Or, perhaps, he's just a lying little kid, and the research and testing will continue...
Have you noticed that the news has pretty much been silent about North Korea and Iran? Last I saw, Iran got a bunch more centrifuges and was enriching more uranium.
Unique Visitors: 1474 (-724) Page Hits: 13078 (+219) Bandwidth Consumed: 328.95MB (-1032.97MB)
The drop in visitors isn't really surprising, but the bandwidth conservation is. All I really did was I took SkuddBlog v2 offline, and redirected all the traffic here.
I borrowed my friend's telescope this evening and for the first time saw something that is hard to describe. The pictures linked above don't even do it any justice: Seeing the moon through the optics of a telescope, rather than seeing in photographs, is a sensation that words can't describe. It's just such a rich and serene view.
I hope to be able to see other heavenly objects with this thing. I'm even strongly considering purchasing my own telescope!
I just found a new, fun car.
1996 Mazda RX-7 Type RZ.
I've modded the heck out of it, of course, and now have 540HP under the hood of that thing. I did a 1000 meter run in 19.187 seconds, topping out at like 175mph. :D
I don't know if you remember back to this entry, but I pointed out that the US was in process of deploying an interceptor missile system in Japan.
Check out what CNN is saying today:
The U.S. is considering deploying its advanced Patriot missile defense system near Tokyo after North Korea's recent missile and nuclear tests, a newspaper reported Sunday. CNN: U.S. may put Patriots near Tokyo
Who's the crazy one, again?
Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect (usually after a formal declaration) when a military authority takes control of the normal administration of justice. Wikipedia
"In a stealth maneuver, President Bush has signed into law a provision which, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually encourage the President to declare federal martial law. It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that limits the President's ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions." Slashdot
How. Friggin'. Lovely.
In my boredom yesterday, I searched around on Google Video and YouTube (both should be the same, IMO), for "quick lube" and "jiffy lube" videos.
I found some rather disturbing content about Jiffy Lube on both sites.
Google Video: Lube Me & Screw Me by Ronnie Larsen YouTube: Jiffy Lube Scam Caught on Tape!
I would like to point out that where I work, it is shop policy to show everything to the customer. The customer needs to see what is going on, they need to be allowed to ask questions, and they need to be granted the opportunity to see the progression of things.
For example, in the first video, the customer was told he needed a new air filter each time he went to Jiffy Lube, even though they had replaced it for him the first time he went in. Visiting the store again and again, short time spans later, they even told him, "Your air filter is really dirty," when it looked like brand new yet.
We don't do that where I work. If I catch anyone doing that, it's grounds for an immediate write-up. I don't care if the Boss Dude himself does it, it's entirely unacceptable. Now, it is quite different if the customer says, "I don't care if it looks brand new; replace it." The customer has to be allowed to make the judgment and say, "No, I don't want to replace it," or, "Yes, please. Replace my air filter."
And in the second video, you'll notice they made a huge deal about their "T-Tech" machines, but never actually used them. Guess what... We LOVE to use ours! It's to the point at the shop that we pretty much fight over who gets to do the transmission flush service and who doesn't. But here again, we show everything to the customer. Once we connect the machine to the car, we show the customer the difference between the old and new transmission fluid, and explain the process of how it works.
So there you have it. These California-based Jiffy Lubes are pretty shady. If I EVER catch any of my guys doing this kind of thing, I assure you, it will not go over.
Believe it or not, I want to go to work. I'm bored out of my mind and I really need the money.
At any rate, if you're seeing this on Facebook, you're probably wondering where it's coming from. Never fear, here's a URL!
My work here is done.
Apparently it's working now.
W00!
I'm going to try some more markup, just to be sure:
- Apples
- Oranges
- Blueberries
- Squid
If anyone is curious, my absolute FAVORITE is #3.
I can't help but picture that episode of "The Simpsons" where Bart lines up several megaphones and yells "Testing!" in front of them...
Anyhow, I'm trying to fix the RSS feed here. It's been pretty messed up since the day it was born, and I aim to fix it while I've got a couple minutes to spare.
I'm feeling quite a bit better today, save for my throat. I'm coughing a fair amount yet, and my voice hasn't returned 100%, but all in all I feel fine.
I'm going to get myself around for work, and I'm going to head in at 10:00AM. Hopefully I'll be able to make it the full day, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Edit - 9:23AM Boss' orders: I'm staying home until noon, and possibly even later.
You read in the newspaper that a young adult has used his parents' car as a weapon, killing a seemingly innocent person who was just walking down the streets in the next town over. The death was caused by a hit-and-run, and alcohol was involved.
Who is at fault?
- The manufacturer of the car
- The automobile dealer where the car was purchased
- The gas station, where the car was filled up that evening
- The alcoholic beverage maker
- The package store where the alcoholic beverage was purchased
- The pedestrian
- The parents
- The young adult motorist (who is of legal drinking age)
Feel free to share your answers. I'll respond in a couple of days to prove a point.
One of the guys from work sent me a link to a video today. It's a scenario that everyone working in a quick lube fears: A car falling in the pit.
Please note that the above linked site contains ads that may be inappropriate for work.
Also note that the kid in the video, directing the car in the bay, was not using very good hand signals. One of the first things we train at the shop is that hand signals need to be clearly visible, and if necessary, followed up with voice commands.
And one final note, the driver of that car apparently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal, which has happened at our shop a couple times.