This week I am taking a break from the road and spending some quality time in Iowa attending to some business. I will be sure to update this post with any interesting or amusing events during the week, but I doubt there will be any interest in my professional responsibilities.
Public Policy: If the United States government wants to stimulate the economy, they don’t have to spend a penny – just go ahead and make valentine’s day a monthly occurrence. Instead of lending everyone’s money back to them until the next tax period (with the appropriate inflation adjustment and a couple points to cover the additional burden to the government in administering a wacky program), this will actually be more efficient. Instead of people spending money on things that were probably manufactured in another country (China perhaps?) they would be taking each other out to dinner and supporting singing valentines (today I heard a barbershop quartet) and other service industries.
New Car Feeling: Tuesday the condition of the beast had reached a tipping point – every time I walked by it, or tried to get things in or out of it, I was getting transfer dirt. Normally I’m just fine with some dirt between friends, but my work clothing was starting to suffer so I resigned myself to take him in for a bath. After the dismal performance of the deluxe wash in San Diego, I took the truck to one of those facilities with the large bays and a machine that swallows money and spits out soap, water, tire cleaner, spot free rinse, and seven other settings. I started washing with the high power sprayer and immediately started getting odd results – did I mention yet that it was the day’s high temperature of 9 degrees farenheit? After blasting the ice and most of the dirt off for about six bucks, I started driving toward dinner. When I got to 45 miles an hour, all the liquid on the car froze again, including the sheet of water on the windshield leaving it useless for seeing out; after it broke a seal of ice, I managed to roll down the driver’s side window and endured the freeze until I could pull over and let things thaw and dry. We also confirmed that horns on several cars in town are currently functional.
Public Policy: If the United States government wants to stimulate the economy, they don’t have to spend a penny – just go ahead and make valentine’s day a monthly occurrence. Instead of lending everyone’s money back to them until the next tax period (with the appropriate inflation adjustment and a couple points to cover the additional burden to the government in administering a wacky program), this will actually be more efficient. Instead of people spending money on things that were probably manufactured in another country (China perhaps?) they would be taking each other out to dinner and supporting singing valentines (today I heard a barbershop quartet) and other service industries.
New Car Feeling: Tuesday the condition of the beast had reached a tipping point – every time I walked by it, or tried to get things in or out of it, I was getting transfer dirt. Normally I’m just fine with some dirt between friends, but my work clothing was starting to suffer so I resigned myself to take him in for a bath. After the dismal performance of the deluxe wash in San Diego, I took the truck to one of those facilities with the large bays and a machine that swallows money and spits out soap, water, tire cleaner, spot free rinse, and seven other settings. I started washing with the high power sprayer and immediately started getting odd results – did I mention yet that it was the day’s high temperature of 9 degrees farenheit? After blasting the ice and most of the dirt off for about six bucks, I started driving toward dinner. When I got to 45 miles an hour, all the liquid on the car froze again, including the sheet of water on the windshield leaving it useless for seeing out; after it broke a seal of ice, I managed to roll down the driver’s side window and endured the freeze until I could pull over and let things thaw and dry. We also confirmed that horns on several cars in town are currently functional.
Laundry: Note to self RE: doing laundry in cold climates during the winter – get powder detergent. Who would have thunk that liquid detergent would be a complete solid after a couple days in the back of my truck?
Checks: I have seen (and waited for) more people writing checks in the past week than I have in months before. Not only at the grocery store, but also at restaurants and convenience stores. I commented on it with the bartender at Denny’s (not part of the chain) and she had never given it a thought. She said they take dozens of checks a day and have never had a problem with them bouncing.
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