Which Way Is Up?

Hey gang! Over on the cancer blog is an update on Becky's progress. Surgery on the 8th of March to remove what we suspect is simply a dead mass from her left breast. Well..... actually pretty much the entire left breast is going bye-bye which will save me one entire letter when I see her coming out of the shower from now on. After the 8th it will be "Nice tit!" I make light of the situation simply because it really doesn't matter to me if she's got one, two or none. Becky is what is important to me.

What's with the title this time around? Well.... in case you've been living under a rock lately.... the world isn't exactly all sunshine and lollipops right now. Unrest all over the middle east and parts of Europe..... some of which has spread to our country now. Superficially it appears to be a spontaneous uprising by the people..... who have finally figured out they aren't quite getting a good deal from their governments...... and that's how it's intended to look too. Inspect more closely and you'll find unions, communists and socialists in the background pushing things along. It all boils down to the same thing..... a very small group of elites think THEY know what is best for the rest of us.... and want ALL the power for themselves.

SO! What the heck does that have to do with me? Let me answer that question with another. How certain are you of *your* future? Sure you have plans..... but what happens if these lunatics get their way? Their agenda is a damn short one containing two letters repeated over and over again: Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! In even plainer English it's "What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine too!" So how do you plan for the future when some jerk weed is out to take it all from you if they gain control? Yeah..... kinda tough.

Around here our main focus (right after Becky, of course) is our house. While it's a pretty messy work in progress right now it's probably the last place we'll live too. It needs a lot of work yet.... which means a fairly large infusion of labor and money. So.... with the world and now the United States seeing all this unrest and violence spreading...... how exactly does one prioritize one's life and goals? Is it practical to invest 12 to 20 thousand dollars in remodeling a kitchen if you're uncertain if there will be a functioning infrastructure in another couple of years? (I'm assuming that if you're reading this you're comfortable with big words...... if, however, you're a first time reader.... or a product of the liberal state school system... that means what if there is no more gas for the stove or water coming our of the faucet or electricity to turn on the lights....... okay)

This is a problem but it's just like a coin and has two sides. Uber-Liberal states will likely suffer the most damage while the more conservative states will see less. This can be traced back to the ideological differences between those two factions. Liberal don't tend to be good at thinking and live highly emotional lives. They tend to not be very good at doing difficult things for themselves and prefer to turn control of their lives over to government so they don't have to worry about the details. Conservatives don't care for a lot of government in their lives and are not afraid of hard or dirty work. They tend to less emotionally driven and more thoughtful about things in general. Except for issues like national defense and making treaties with other nations.... conservatives are the "I'll handle it" bunch.

Thus while the east and left coast could have some serious issues in the near future I tend to be not all that worried about Texas as a whole. Yeah the big cities are places where liberals tend to take over and run things.... and usually do a half ass job of it too.... but taken as a whole Texas today is not unlike the Texas of old. We're a fiercely proud and very independent bunch who doesn't need big government getting in our way. In fact Texas is one of the few states which could get along just find on it's own.

So on the one hand it looks bad if you watch genuine news on TV..... but if you're in Texas things may not get too nasty. Even if there are small pockets of stupid liberals, socialists, communists and union thugs....... the message they will get is that there are a LOT more of US than there are of them. And we're not going to roll over and play dead while they take away our freedom, rights and liberty either!

When the weather warms up we'll probably start off the spring by completing a wood fence across the front of our property in line with the house. This is half for privacy and half for security. On the security side we care for half a dozen "stray" cats and they have a safe haven in our back yard. Certain city "officials" think that they have the "right" to trespass in order to capture these little joys so they can haul them off and kill them. The fence will ensure our little guests have safety. And a month or so ago Becky opened the back door to find a guy leaning on my smoker! She asked what he thought he was doing and he calmly replied that he was waiting for Dan. Becky said she was going back inside to get her gun so he had a minute to find somewhere else to wait for Dan..... and he left. She was bluffing as she didn't have a gun.... then. She does now though..... I made sure of that. The fence will stop events like that from happening again too.

Last week we ordered new front and back doors for the house. solid core steel doors. They will be here the first week in March. IF the weather is nice I'll tackle the rear door first for practice so when I take on the front door I'll have learned the little tricks to make it go more smoothly. I plan to tear out everything down to the concrete deck..... brick walls.... and 2x8 headers and go back with all new pressure treated lumber. These new doors serve the primary purpose of getting in and out of the house if you live here.... and also as strong secure barriers if you don't. I plan to install them in such a way that they cannot be breached without explosives. (That means you can't hit them or kick them or hit them with a battering ram and knock them open)

I suppose the bottom line is that while the world seems to be in meltdown mode right now.... one simply can't put their life totally on hold waiting for things to sort themselves out. You have to keep on living.... taking care of the important things and people in your life.... and proceeding in the hope of a fairly normal future. America was formed by a bunch of radicals who didn't care of all that regal power being lorded over them. The idea *was* a radical one too.... that people could actually govern themselves! This had never been done before so there wasn't a track record of success. But the people who came here were different in that they believed in that idea and in themselves too. But even the founders realized that a government was a necessary evil that had to be kept in check if true freedom were to exist. Today we have strayed too far from that concept and we need to reverse course and return to our true roots. Change will not be easy either..... but hey.... didn't our current President win office on that message alone? Change!

No Moral Compass

I normally used this space to report on the lack or any meaningful progress on the remodeling of our home. I guess I can go ahead and get that out of the way by saying I managed to get the beams in the living room covered last year..... but I still need to fill a few gaps with caulk and get them painted. There.... all done!

The title is about a problem of grave importance to the nation in general and the world as a whole. It is illustrated by tens of thousands of little things which all add up to one huge issue. This is not unlike the millions of individual pixels which make of a digital photograph. Each incident or pixel taken by itself is rather insignificant. However, taken as a whole, a larger picture becomes apparent.

By my rather unscientific estimation we have basically "lost" about 3 entire generations in America. By "lost" I mean that we, collectively, have failed to instill in them the ethics and values necessary to function in a contributory manner in society. In short we have created a group which lacks the moral compass necessary to keep it on the proper path. Oh.... my unscientific estimation is what we used to call a WAG back when I was doing Engineering work. That stands for Wild Ass Guess. While educated.... it's still more of an estimation than an accurate calculation.

This lack of a moral compass is causing generations of our younger citizens to behave in ways which are less than productive and contribute to tens of BILLIONS of dollars worth of waste each and every year. It is one of the more frustrating aspects of my daily dealings with the general public. Unfortunately.... I see no easy fix for this problem. Society, as a whole, either has to crack the whip and work hard at making the necessary corrections..... or we simply have to wait for all of them to die off and pray that the generations which follow are better equipped to comport themselves in a manner more in keeping with a civilized society. Permit me to offer some examples of what I mean.

I work in one of those "big box" stores. You know.... everything from soup to potting soil.... baby bottles to BBQ grills.... and the meat to toss on them! I am constantly hearing customers complain about how the prices just keep going up.... everything is getting SO expensive! Well.... certainly *some* of that can be blamed upon economic issues which are beyond all of our control. But discounting those factors the customers themselves are largely responsible and they are not even aware of how they contribute. This lack of awareness is yet another aspect of the same problem and it all stems from the same root. Liberalism and it's lack of morality and standards.

I was raised to have respect for both people and things. My father, whom I wish I had gotten to spend more time with and know better, lived his life guided by two simple rules. #1 is to simply treat everyone with respect.... the way you would want them to treat you.... or your mother. #2 was to always leave a place better than you found it. This rule applied to EVERY place you happened to visit as you went about your daily travels. Two very simple rules to live by but very powerful in the effect they could have on the world as a whole.

Now then..... let's take my average day and see where things have broken down in society and what, if anything, might be done to fix some of the problems. As I approach work there is a left turn to make. This turn has two turn lanes with an 8 inch wide white stripe separating them. In other words the lanes are CLEARLY marked!!! Signs indicate that there are TWO lanes people can turn from.... this isn't rocket science. YET..... every single day I make that turn more than 70% of the people shift to the left most turn lane then proceed to turn from the left lane.... across the solid white line and into the right lane. An illegal left turn. They even honk at me for being in their way as they make their illegal turn!

Because I need to be in the right lane to make my next turn..... I turn from the right lane and stay in the right lane. One of these days someone will make that illegal turn and drive right into the side of my truck..... and I'm going to be mightily pissed! They had better have lots of time on their hands because I'm going to INSIST on a full police report and a citation for the culprit. I want it all documented for not only my insurance company.... but also for the police..... who SHOULD be monitoring that intersection and writing tickets like there is no shortage of paper.

Next we arrive at work. I typically gather up the stray carts around where I park and push them up to the building. No big deal. The cart issue is one of my pet peeves. Do you know that the carts are for use INSIDE the store ONLY? I'd bet not. Yep! Legally the store is under NO obligation whatsoever to let you take a cart outside for any reason. Same applies to the little electric handicapped scooters. I was not clocked in yet during the last bout of bad weather here when I got inside the front doors. The parking lot had abandoned carts all over it so there were none inside. The couple behind me bitched that there were no carts for them and I popped off... "how many did you walk past to get to where you are standing now?" I might have well been asking them what the 43ed decimal in Pi was by the way their eyes glazed over. It never dawned on them to bring a cart IN to the store! Further... that wasn't even THEIR responsibility!

Okay.... now we're inside shopping. This is where customers can affect the cost of goods by how they behave. First of all understand. NO store is going to absorb the cost of waste and vandalize and theft. Sorry.... it's just not going to happen! Those expenses are rolled back into the cost of the new merchandise hitting the shelves. In plain English.... if you want higher prices tomorrow... waste stuff today.

Examples. A person grabs a cart..... does all their shopping.... then realizes that they left their wallet/purse at home. (It's a pisser and I've done it myself) SO! What do they do? Well over 90% simply walk away from the full shopping cart and leave the store. They may or may not come back latter.... and if they do they get another cart and go shopping again.

Here's what happens. Most folks will assume that the person pushing that abandoned cart has simply left it for a moment to go get something. Even employees will think that..... it's a normal event. However if an employee is assigned to that area it shouldn't take but perhaps 30 minutes before they realize there has been a walk off. At that point the non-perishable items will be restocked (which wastes employee time thus costing money) and the perishable items will be processed through a "claims" area so as to help account for the item since it was not sold but is also no longer FOR sale either. Those items might be a $2 tub of butter.... or a $35 pack of steaks. Either way they end up being thrown away at the end of the day..... wasted.... and the cost of that waste passed right back to you.

In another example of that same waste..... the person looks at that nice pack of steaks. Really nice prime cut beauties.... a good pound each..... and only $30 for 4 too! Somewhere over in domestics they decide that $30 is just a bit too much for the steaks.... so they tuck the package between some lovely bath towels and walk away. Same thing happens with motor oil from automotive ending up next to the puffed cereal...... or the baby shoes in the box of $5 CD movies.... or the "Hot Teen" magazine right there next to the frozen breakfast biscuits.

All the above are examples of laziness and demonstrate a failure of the parents to properly educate their children. In the case of older offenders (which most are) simply a complete and total disregard for anything or anyone but themselves. THEY are not obligated to behave in a manner which requires personal responsibility and respect for property. Let's take that example of the unwanted steaks and extrapolate that globally. The pack was 4 one pound steaks for $30. World wide there are just over 8400 stores as of the end of 2010. IF that only happened ONE time per day in each store..... that is 33,600 POUNDS of steak wasted at a cost of over $252,000 dollars!!!! Unfortunately it happens much more often than that but you are starting to see my point. That ONE example needless waste means that $252,000 is added back into the cost of the rest of the items in those stores. Still wondering why things are getting more expensive? Oh.... but there is more.... much more!

Willful destruction, vandalism and fraud cost much much more than that..... yet the vast majority of shoppers refuse to mention these activities to anyone. I have asthma. If you have it then you know why it is called a rescue inhaler. When you need one... you really need one! I bought an inhaler in our store because I was having an attack. I opened the box in front of another employee (who was concerned for my health) only to discover that the box contained a used and quite empty inhaler! Yep! Someone had bought it.... very carefully opened it.... took the good one out.... put their old one back inside... and re-glued the box closed. Next they returned the box to the store with their receipt.... turned it in at customer service and got their money back! Damn! They are SO smart!! Someone could have died because of their little scheme! But they got over on the store! Heck.... a company that big... they should be giving stuff away anyway.... they don't need the money.

Last week customer service also took back a box for a 42 inch flat screen TV. It was still taped shut so they didn't check serial numbers to see if what was inside matched what the box said was supposed to be inside. Since it appeared to be an unopened package it was put back into stock. That same box was sold several hours later to an elderly couple who had saved for some time to get a nice TV for their house..... something big enough that they could see more easily. Imagine their surprise when they got their treasure home only to discover that they had brought home a TV box FULL of rolled up newspapers!!! Yep! Not a damn thing electronic in the box at all.

But the couple with the TV were smart and they not only had the TV but all their money back too! These things don't make it to the evening news BUT there IS a paper record of people getting a full refund for a TV which they represented to be inside that box.... which was really stuffed full of papers.... and so the police get a call from our loss prevention department..... and we file both theft and fraud charges against those people... and prosecute the hell out of them! Perhaps it that was known... there would be far less of it.

Lastly we have the vandals. These idiots go through life figuring that they are not responsible to anyone for anything. What ever they want to do is just fine. These folks rip boxes open to see what is inside! (even though there are pictures on the box... and often the box is made of CLEAR plastic!) Opened boxes cannot be sold as new.... and therefore must be taken back to claims as damaged merchandise. Sometimes they cross the line by doing clever little things... like bringing in a burned out headlight for their car..... and leaving it inside the package for the new bulb which they took back out in their pocket. I've seen a $7 pack of spark plugs opened up.... the plugs are still inside.... but the 1 cent gaskets have been taken. Incomplete product.... has to go to claims. $23 dollar bottle of engine treatment....... and they thought it would be cute to just take the cap. Incomplete product.... has to go to claims.

They waste money in other ways too. Labor costs money.... so just picking up and straightening up after these slugs costs money in the form of lost productivity. Rather than useful work going on we're wasting time fixing all that they screw up. I've watch kids (who seem to thinks such stores are their personal playgrounds) go down the isles with their arms extended knocking dozens and dozens of items either out of line.... off the shelves... or both..... laughing all the time because it's just so damn much fun! Children ripping open boxes of toys right in front of their (alleged) parents...... and mom and dad don't correct this improper behavior and disrespect for the property of others!! They don't correct it because their parents didn't correct them either! And so it goes.

Perhaps you thought I was way out of line with my BILLIONS each year statement in the opening of this work. You saw how the steak example could easily cost over a quarter million dollars all by itself.... and in just one DAY! Rather than giving us all that extra money in the form of higher prices..... wouldn't you rather keep it in your pockets? Just remember... these are just examples from ONE store! This is happening in every single store you shop in! It's a world wide epidemic.... but there is a cure.

It's called education! It starts at home by teaching children respect for both people and property. That education is reinforced in the church each week. It should be reinforced at all levels of public education but it's not now..... and won't be until parents demand that their values and the values of the local community be advanced. I think we need educational spots on the in store TV system educating people on how to be good, courteous shoppers.

There is a day of reckoning coming in this country. We have had it good for far too long with the people on auto-pilot while our elected officials steered the nation on a course for ruin. Karma has a way of exacting it's due or paying it's rewards. The wasters will become the wanters and will have nothing. The vandals who laughed at their destruction with have what they possess destroyed. Those who stole either outright or through fraud will come home to empty houses... victims of theft themselves. The lazy will end up suffering because sloth and laziness do not generate income or keep things in good order and repair. It has always been thus.

Go ahead.... tap the side of the case..... is *your* moral compass in good working order??