Monthly Archives: July 2005

Jul 25

We have new neighbors..

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…and I haven’t met them.

Quite honestly, I’m fairly eager to meet them. I have no idea what they look like (if they’re even a “they”, and not simply a “he” or “she”). In fact, I only know one thing about them….and it’s enough for me to be curious.

They appear to be running a small-scale cookingware durability company from their home.

From what I can tell, they’ve spent the last two nights “evaluating” the response of various pots and pans when dropped/thrown to the floor from differing heights.

Usually, I couldn’t care less about people accidentally dropping things, or temporarily inconveniencing my Parliament Light moments. But this is getting out of control, and has led me to the aforementioned conclusions about their profession.

If you are my neighbor (and you know who you are), feel free to either let me in on your gold mine business opportunity, or stop dropping your blasted pots and pans.

Danke.

Jul 21

Running Government Like a Business

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I had to run over and pick up my suit this evening, and happened to have one of my favorite local talk stations on the radio. They were broadcasting this evening’s mayorial debate for the city of San Diego; the mayor office was recently opened by Dick Murphy‘s recent resignation.

There are a host of candidates, and I’ve only got strong opinions about two of them: Donna Frye, whom I despise, and Steve Francis, who at least has a head on his shoulders.

Regardless, there was a question asked this evening by one of the audience members. It went something like this: “I’ve heard some of you say that the city should be run like a business, but businesses go bankrupt all the time. I don’t think that’s the way to run government. Response?”

It was more elaborate than that, I recall…but I don’t recall well enough to belabor a relatively simple point.

…and in my mind, that’s an absolutely ridiculous question.

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Jul 19

Manufacturing Rant Blog

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I’ve been thinking (God forbid) quite a bit lately about the possibilities of a blog/discussion board dealing with the frustrations of manufacturing.

That sounds incredibly cliche, no doubt, but here’s my rationale:

Each day I come home from work, shaking my head. Truth be told, I shake my head an awful lot at work. But I’m shaking my head because I know there’s a better way to do things. Actually, I secretly suspect that most other companies are doing things that better way…but I can’t confirm this.

I see that my co-workers and I spend a substantial amount of time (including time away from work) chatting about how we could improve processes, cut cycle time, improve quality, reduce costs, maintain schedule, make a profit…and I’ll bet that other people, in other manufacturing environments, do the same.

So why not harness all that energy (that’s rapidly turning to cynicism) and collaborate for our collective betterment?

I don’t know; it’s idealistic. And the cyber universe may already be saturated with things like this…so far, my searches have resulted only in official organizations and groups whose focus is technical content.

Input appreciated…

Jul 17

Review: ESPY Awards (Verdict: Bravo)

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Congratulations, ESPN. You did one hell of a job on this year’s ESPY awards. Matthew Perry is hilarious (though cheesy), and the presentation was classy…Natalie actually thought it was a repeat of one of the other popular entertainment award shows.

It was all cool, though I was especially touched by the Arthur Ashe Courage Award sequence.

Bravo.