Cheers, The Billing Team

If you have any questions about this invoice, (some not toll free prefixed number) Toll-Free for help.

Just got an email from "the billing team" at a software company that I thought might not even exist anymore. I knew that I had NEVER purchased any of their products so it didn't take much examination to believe it was a dumb scam.

 

The first check I make is looking at the real "from" email address. I do this be clicking on the "from" email line. It is actually not hard to have your message show whatever you want on that "from" line. I played around with changing mine to Elvis.

 

Here's a selection from the spam email:

If you have any questions about this invoice, (Toll-Free) for help.
you have 24 hours to refund this charge from the transaction date without being charged.
It may take a few days for this transaction to appear in your account.
Please don't reply to this email.
Cheers,

The Billing Team 

Upon investigating the phone number I found the area code was for Hawaii (808). I'm guessing 808 looks like a toll free number. Of course many mobile plans today have unlimited free calling to any North American number so why bother?

 

Surf and Scam

 

At first I thought this scammer is living nicely in Hawaii. I later found I could even buy an Hawaiian area code number online (I didn't). The service is for businesses to appear local.

I didn't call "The Billing Team" number. I did forward the scam email to my internet provider Comcast.

          

next

          

The One-who-reads-fiction recently got David Sedaris's "Happy-Go-Lucky" book. I was flipping through it. It has an odd opening quote by Sigmond C. Monster. I googled it and found this interview of Sedaris on the daily beast. David tells a story about being at a book signing in London and asking the audience an odd request. 

I was talking about that onstage in London. And I said, "You know, when I sign your book, I’d love to know what you called a girl’s vagina in your house growing up." And every person had a different… not every person but, like, so many people had a different word, that was just a family word. I remember a neighbor of ours, growing up, said to her daughter: Suzie, get your hands away from your Suzie. I never heard anybody else call it a Suzie.

I laughed. Now I might never be able to meet a Suzie again without thinking of this.

Here's a song I discovered on youtube. It's different. It has no connection to anything else in the post. Enjoy.

I'm just Lisleman burning out his fuse up here alone

what genius ??

In the spirit of moving on (on from what you wonder? check this previous post) I have this for you to ponder today.

An interactive, internet connected, photo taking, music playing, gas pump. Oh it does deliver gas to your tank too. Did anyone EVER ask for this?

has a tablet attached for interaction

I saw a story about this in a Chicago Tribune newsletter recently. It’s a BP (someday no one will remember what the company’s initials stood for) trial. They placed one in a gas station nearby, so I drove over and gave it a try. I find gadgets both interesting and stupid. My initial take on this puts it into the stupid category. However, my track record of opinions on gadgets is not great. I remember saying more than a decade ago, “who needs a camera in a phone?”.

I bought some gas and listened to a little music. Of course this is outside at a gas station so others also listened to my music selection. You are asked to select a music genre. The prompts are all given in a recorded voice. It also offers a trivia game and photo taking. I declined both of those offers.

The music streaming service, Pandora (which I have used for years) is a partner in this. I assume they are the source of the songs played.

Only one pump was equipped with the gadget. I don’t think a gas station could have more than two since the different songs would compete with each other. I’m not sure why BP would want you to spend more time at the pump. During my visit the gas station was not busy. If it was I could imagine drivers waiting to get to the pump being annoyed by this distraction.

One other thought was the songs in their playlist. As I mentioned, you just pick a genre not an individual song.

“Fire” by Jimi Hendrix would be a good one for pumping gas. As his blazing guitar riffs away, he sang:

I have only one burning desire
Let me stand next to your fire

The best song match would be “Classical Gas”.



Do you agree? (oh one more thing - I seriously doubt anyone would care about this gadget pump on a freezing winter day)

early then late now

I believe I’ve gone from an early adopter to a late adopter. Setting up the latest fast speed dialup modem at home gave me feeling cutting edge decades ago. Now I’m late to the trendy party of cutting landline service. Not too far in the future and most people will not know or care what a landline is. Many have already.

I had to look up the number for the phone company's customer care number online since their billing went paperless years ago. After a series of automated questions I got the dreaded "all agents are currently laid off  assisting other customers...". I suspect they route you that way all the time since you are probably calling to cancel their service anyway.

a wall phone above my brother and me

Landlines were and still are slightly more dependable than mobile phones but of course not nearly as versatile. Some of you can remember spotty cellphone service and dropped calls. Now fewer and fewer people today even use their smartphones to talk.

Recently when dropping landlines became popular I was reluctant because of its dependability and the fact that the telephone industry provided me a great career. The telephone system provided me a living.

We have had our house power go out and called the power company over the still working landline. It wasn’t until cordless phones with batteries that you ever worried about phone power.

I recall the accomplishment of wiring the phone lines in our house as it was being built. I even planned ahead, putting in wiring that would support multiple phone lines in the future (that never happened).

Most young adults today will never have a landline. It was one of the first services to get when you moved out on your own. Even a rented apartment that included other utilities would not include phone service. I first talked on corded rotary dial phone that was attached to the kitchen wall. Later the cordless pushbutton ones seemed so “cutting edge” advanced when they came out. Today most young people don’t know jack about a telephone jack.

I started learning the engineering of the telephone system when I was in the Air Force. I was involved in a project to upgrade Air Force bases with new digital telephone switches. Then I worked at telecom equipment manufacturers. I worked on the phone in the airplane (Airfone).

Are you old enough to remember back when there was just one company offering phones and phone service? Ma Bell controlled the service and the devices that used the service. There were a few same independent companies and the GTE company. None of them competed in the same area. Your phone service choice was simple - the phone company. Of course that was when your device was wired to just one physical location.

The timing of the Ma Bell breakup in the 1980’s and my engineering career lined up. I found myself working for telecom manufacturer with strong growth fueled by feeding the new competitive telecom companies equipment.

if you recall this character you used a landline

I found this youtube clip very interesting and entertaining. It’s a longer one and I think the good part doesn’t start until about the 4 minute mark. After I watched this I was wondering if my smartphone could call 0. I tried it. I just tapped 0 and the call symbol. It rang a few times and then a pre-recorded message came on telling to call 911 for an emergency, 411 for information, etc.

non sequitur thoughts

(hey I don’t get to use Latin in my posts very often)

Yesterday my mind was in the gutter. I cleaned them. Messy smelly job getting the decaying leaves out of them. My neighbor noticed me strolling on the garage roof and offered his leave blower attachment for the gutter cleaning. The attachment is a good idea but this universal-fits-all one kept falling off the blower. Also, any disgusting water in gutter comes showering down on you.

No accidents, but that is what concerns me the most. I've never gotten very far up the ladders of my life.

a few steps up

If I could only train the squirrels to clean the gutter

Well let’s get out of the gutter.

How about breaking news about Hidden Valley Ranch dressing?

Ranch dressing case could end up in court

A regional grocer, Woodman's Food Market sued Clorox Co. last year for its decision to stop selling Woodman's large packages of Clorox products. One of the popular items was Hidden Valley Ranch dressing sold in twin packs of 40-ounce bottles. Clorox will not offer that packing to Woodman’s. Only the big-box stores have access to these large industrial size packages.

Yes, I was also shocked that Clorox owns the Hidden Valley dressing product line. Makes me wonder what is hidden in that dressing. The case has advanced now to the U.S. Appeals Court.

Do you think they will bring a good vegetable tray to the court as a supporting witness? (here’s a link to the story)

Now skipping along to other thoughts. Here's a possible parody floating in my head. Sing along:

What FACEBOOK needs now is love, sweet love
It's the only thing that there's just too little of
What FACEBOOK needs now is love, sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.
Lord, we don't need another debate,
There are debates and rantings, enough crime
There are conspiracies and attacks enough to read,
Enough to last till the end of time.

my my I need a 2015 post

Once upon a time, I worked in cubeland, forced to labor in the cubicle maze, the cube farm.  It's been a few years since I sat in one of those incomplete boxes (BTW, there is no good excuse for my failure to post a 2015 post yet)

Do you or someone you love spend days with their heads down wondering if working within less than three inch walls of cheap fiber is all there is to a corporate career?

There is hope. You can escape. I did.

But if you are confined during your working hours to a cubicle, please take notes. The cubicle stories make for great blog posts and even movies. 

It’s worst when you have experienced the better office life. Similar to flying a first class upgrade and having to return in economy just-keep-still-in-your-seat class. 

Having done time in a factory, the USAF and odd jobs, an office job appealed to me. My corporate world engineering job started with a shared office and then eventually my own small office. These offices came with a window and a door. I remember smoking in my office but fortunately I later dropped that awful habit completely. You don’t find cubicles with doors and a few of them masquerade with walls shorter than a track hurdle.  Back before the start of the new millennium I was sitting in a cubicle getting the creativity sucked from me daily.

Speaking of sucking - I once had a cube neighbor who would suck his soup during lunch. Oh, I like soup but hearing this guy slurp his soup was disgusting. 

Overhearing funny or interesting comments happen. But no one wants a gopher head to pop over the wall to offer you some advice regarding a topic you were just talking about on the phone. I suspect the popularity of texting and email is partly due to cubicle life.

My best engineering job came with a private office (real glass window, door). Even then, since the doors are almost always left open I could overhear Phil-the-Greek in the next office. He was fit for a role in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. He knew the movie well and would laugh when I brought up scenes. 

Phil's arguing and tenacity in seeking justice for any wrong he thought came his way would have won him the Nobel Prize for Pain-in-the-ass if such award existed. He once (no lie) called the postmaster of United States to complain about a damaged package or late delivery. I think he settled with a staff member's offer of a few sheets of stamps.

One afternoon I heard him arguing away and I decided to visit another co-worker or maybe harass an executive assistant. Anyway I popped in the break room on my return trip to find him there snacking leftovers from a conference meeting (once I thought of trying to live off of conference meeting leftovers). I asked about who he was arguing with earlier on the phone. He told me and then told me that he left the call on hold while he got a snack (the break room was down the hall and around a corner from his office). Seeing my dumbfounded look, he told me that the A--holes leave him on hold all the time so he was just getting even. I thought I should get him to call my home cable company for me next time. 

If you have been working on the cube farm, I would love to hear about it. 
Note: cubicle heads/figures are from The Cubes.

fluttery fragments floating free

Oh silly me getting stuck on the f sound again. It’s Friday (internationally speaking), the only day with a ‘f’ in it. Monday is the only day with a ‘m’. People are seldom in the mood for a Monday. I hope you are in the mood for my Friday Fragments post. Mrs. 4444 has been collecting these FF posts for years on her blog. She must have enough fragments for ??? I don’t know. Any ideas?

I'm not sharing nuts today

I’m still crazy after all these posts. What’s it all about? I can’t explain it. I don’t see it coming. It just happens. Still with me (thanks for hanging on here)? Often after reading a post somewhere, as I dance into the danger zone of a comment section, a strange idea will pop up. Since my brain is still connected to my typing fingers I leave a strange comment. (seriously I do blog sober but not somber) Maybe I have left one on your blog. Over on the blog, “Empty Nest”, I left the following strange comment:

Some days I think my key to happiness broke off in the lock.

In other Lisleman news - I got a letter in regular snail mail from one of those identification protection companies. They offered a free trial. I don’t get it. How would I know if someone tried to steal my identification during their trial period? Also, I’m worried that the protection company might steal my identification. You know, they would be experts at it. Maybe you could call them for me. Tell them its me and see if they can spot the difference. I promise if asked, I don’t know you.

this one is for Mrs. 4444

Just a minute. (behind the blog Lisleman reaches deep into his fragment bucket)

Oh yeah, almost forgot. Does your state have an unclaimed property program? Illinois does and I was surprised to receive a letter from them the other day telling me they might have something for me. Something like money. I quickly went online and filed a claim. I just cashed the check from them this week. Sweet. Not big bucks. Less than $100. My best guess would be that maybe a credit card I canceled once had a refund that I didn’t know about. Funny how unexpected amount of money can feel better than a larger amount that you did expect.

one of life's surprises

Joni Mitchell didn’t have blogs to read when she wrote “Both Sides Now”.

I've looked at blogs from both sides now,
from up and down, and still somehow
it's blog illusions I recall,
I really don't know blogs at all

For all you non-morning people - wishing you a late start to a good day. 
 

flippin Frappuccino

I learned that most of the product names the great star of bucks displays and then trains their customers to use are made up. However according to the wizard wikipedia site - not so with Frappuccino (not made up by them).

no waffle house nearby, I put Starbucks in my cup at home

From the wikipedia site -
Frappuccino is a portmanteau of frappé and cappuccino, an espresso coffee with frothed milk. The word was coined and trademarked in Boston, Massachusetts.  In the Boston area, a "frappe" is a term for a thick milkshake with ice cream, derived from the French word frappé. The original Frappuccino beverage was developed, named, trademarked and sold by George Howell's Eastern Massachusetts coffee shop chain, The Coffee Connection. When Starbucks purchased The Coffee Connection in 1994, they also gained the rights to use, make, market, and sell the Frappuccino beverage.

Boston? I would have never guessed.

I do enjoy Starbucks coffee but most often at home, poured out of my french press. I drink my hot coffee black. However, if the coffee is iced then the creme and sweetness of their coffee Frappuccino makes a great blend of taste.

Did you know it’s a better deal to drink the coffee at their coffee shop. Not only do you get the free wi-fi, you can get free refills on coffee (don’t think the fancy drinks are included in this).

After getting my engineering degree, I thought all college graduates would be coffee drinkers. Those crazy energy drinks didn’t exist when I was in school.

The mention of caffeine reminds of my caffeinated little gadget. (an excuse to show you a youtube clip I made years ago)





Please note this post was not sponsored by Starbucks. However, if the nice people there would like to pass a few gift cards my way that would be flippin Frappuccino!

unboxed thoughts

I’m sure most of you have heard the “think outside the box” suggestion. I ALWAYS do. Actually, I don’t know anyone who goes inside a box to think (what exactly is a think tank?). However, I often have some good thinking in the shower. Here’s thoughts based on “never-been-in-a-box-thinking”.

Over at McDonald’s Corporation recently thinking and a box came together. According to twitter reports (did you know we have twitter reports now?) the thinking about their happy meal box character was not well received. I would have voted for less teeth.

this box needed more thought

Just because the TV box has gone flat doesn’t make it a very good box for thinking.

The facebook goes on. Friends cry, “Hey friend do you got a like”. And the beat goes on. (on the subject of the beat going on - did you know Cher is still touring? She launched a 2014 tour.)

Many Americans will be having a Tuesday-Monday this week. Blog reading drops around holidays as it should. Even though I enjoy blogging, getting out into the sunshine of the real world has benefits. We need to just say no to social media at times. Check you on flip side.

  
 

Gypsies tramps and thieves and target

Do you think Target is run by a bunch of gypsies, tramps and thieves? 

I would NOT say that because gypsies and tramps never cause the volume of trouble that Target has. Associating them with Target would be degrading.

cher was a leader in revealing up to the limit

But we have now learned that Target and thieves do go together. The market for stolen credit cards is huge. This article at KrebsonSecurity was an eye opener about the stolen credit market. The online card shop for thieves is described as “remarkably efficient and customer-friendly”.

The biggest immediate problem for me is the hassle of updating the service providers/ utilities we have linked to our card account. Our bank proactively canceled and re-issued us a card. A scary possibility is future ID theft.

The long term problem is we all get to pay for this because the increase costs in security will be passed on the customers eventually.

Anyone out there who can remember when many stores did not take credit cards might remember that Cher sang about gypsies tramps and thieves. (I know of a great hot dog stand that STILLS only takes cash.) Enjoy a little Cher and Carol Burnett.

career ladders

Damn my career ladder just would not stay up.

The corporate games can make your career ladder climb precarious. Did you ever think you would be playing a corporate version of chutes and ladders?

(trivia bit - Chutes and Ladders was derived from an 16th century Indian game called Snakes and Ladders)

About 6 years ago the corporate ladder I was on was kicked over. I didn’t really expect my climbing to continue much more anyway but holding my place on the ladder a little longer would have been a benefit. I could have thrown a little more in my 401K bucket. I wrote about this on the “short background” page if you are interested.

You can't always get what you want. (The Rolling Stones)

It was not the first time outside events knocked the ladder from under me. The first time was back in the summer of 2001. The same loss of job issue but different companies and different situations produce very different results. I jumped onto another ladder quickly after the 2001 ladder failure. (don’t they require ladders to come with warning labels?)

The second ladder crash was a much easier fall. The company was much nicer in the whole process. Now don’t start thinking golden parachute because I never reached that type of level. A decent severance and a better personal situation than the first time made a big difference.

It's not having what you want. It's wanting what you've got (Sheryl Crow)

I picked up a couple of contract jobs since I was pushed into the exit chute. Knowing a contract job is of limited duration at the start has a planning benefit and eliminates surprises. The good ladders had been moved or just packed up.

Since my fall, I have reflected for many hours on the “wanting what you’ve got” idea. Personal reflection beats staring at the rear reflectors of cars in a commuter jam. I certainly saved on gas.

Luckily we (my wife was still on her ladder at the time) did have a modest savings. I attribute much of what we had to our modest lifestyle and probably a bit of luck in timing.

The reduced cash-flow (cash-drip might be more descriptive) forced us to simplify. Part of that was more stay at home time. Honestly, I find many benefits with my home investing vs. tedious cubical subjugation.

I focused on the retirement savings and started to learn more about the stock market. It’s always a learning experience. The account benefited from my attention. There is much more to it than buy low sell high. However that simple low/high idea is the underlying basis for it. Unlike the prices and balances the knowledge you gain doesn fluctuate and keeps growing.

I’ve entertained thoughts of writing up my stock trading adventures. One of the biggest lessons is patience and to think in percentages. The recent run-up in the stock market gets people's notice. The contrarian view is better. You should take notice when there is a downturn.

I just wanted to jot this down and share it. Reflection is funny thing at times.
 

After many drinks at the bar the other evening I pointed and said to my friend, 

“look that will be us in 10 years.” 

He laughed, “That’s a mirror you idiot!”

truth stranger than fiction

I considered using a title such as “outsmarting the man” or “taking advantage”.

(little background) 
This true story involves a high tech software job and networking. Being involved in these areas during my engineering career I could understand and relate to what had happened. One acronym that is key to the story is “VPN” which stands for a Virtual Private Network. I have used VPN’s and they are common tools for mobile workers. Using encryption techniques a VPN creates a private network over a public network (internet).

Ok, hopefully I didn’t scare any non-technical readers away.  Now on to the story.

A well paid software developer outsourced his own job to a contractor in China. The irony here is the employee not the employer initiated the outsourcing. I’ll summarize and leave the story link at the end.

The Verizon Business security services risk team was contacted by one of their customers to help them investigate an anomaly they discovered in their network equipment logs. The Verizon customer was seeing a daily VPN log-in from China. The log information tracked the VPN credentials to a certain software developer within the company who had been issued a VPN for occasional remote work. They noticed the Chinese log-in was active while the employee was not working remote but visibly at his desk.

The next step to investigate was analysing the employee’s computer memory. There they found a surprising smoking gun. The found hundreds of invoices from a Chinese contractor in the employee’s computer.

This developer was spending about $50,000 to have his assignments done for him in China while he made a good six-figure salary. They then checked his web activities and piece together a picture of his typical day. It included facebook, ebay and cat videos.

One additional kicker to the story - the developer had outstanding performance reviews and was considered the best developer in the building. I’m guessing he was also the go-to guy for good cat videos too.

At a basic level he was a highly paid dishonest cheat which is not unknown in executive circles. Do you view him as a shrewd operator that sought a good deal? Because he violated the security of the company’s private information entrusted to him, I consider him very close to a corporate spy.

Just speculating with my limited knowledge, I say his boss didn’t have a clue about the nature and details of work required of his subordinates. Outsmarting your boss can be too easy in many situations.

Here’s a link to the story on the Verizon Security Blog.

fragments - the week that was

The Friday Fragment posting has become a fun habit for me. I hope you enjoy my habit.

The blogger platform added a G+ connection feature. Now you can call out other G+ members in a post. Since I always mention the FF hostess, Mrs. 4444, I thought I would try this feature out with her G+ name.+Barbara Jean 

After I wrote the post title, I remembered a TV show with a similar name. A little quick internet search and I found the show was called “That Was The Week That Was”. It started as a satirical BBC show and there was an American version too.

My fragments tend to be random ideas/thoughts found lingering in corners of my brain. It’s hard to illustrate a thought but I imagine most of them like dust bunnies scattering away from a broom.

(found on the back of my toothpaste tube) The iconic nurdle is trademarked by GlaxoSmithKline. Another short internet search turned up a lawsuit over the nurdle. Maybe it’s just me but their nurdle is not that iconic to me. I think they have a few executives who have lost their nurdles. But they came to their senses and settled their nurdle dispute out of court.

I should trademark my iconic hair. It could be confused with a nurdle some mornings.

Oh look a another fragment.  Get the broom.

A question for my less fashion challenged (I’ve been labeled fashion challenged and have no good labels in my genes) readers. What would be a good retirement uniform? It should include slippers I think.

Don’t get me wrong. 

Don’t get me wrong. 

All I want to know.

All I want to know.

Does "Jesus Christ Superstar" qualify as a Christmas song?

Did you ever notice there is not much whistling in Christmas songs?  Sometimes I just want to listen to a little whistle.

back up the truck

I have a load of thoughts to unload. 

What? I have to sort these recyclable thoughts? 

Ok then just bring your little Radio Flyer wagon over here.

Once upon a time, I worked in cubeland, forced to labor in the cubicle maze, the cube farm. 

You or someone you love may spend days with their heads down wondering if these less than three inch walls of cheap fiber will be all there is to a corporate career. 

There is hope. You can escape. I did.

But if you are confined during your working hours to a cubicle, please take notes. The cubicle stories make for great blog posts and even movies. 

Today I read two posts that relate to the cube farm office. 
“When Interns Attack” by Pearl. 
“The Day of Three Burritos” by Dawn

It’s worst when you have experienced the better office life. Similar to flying a first class upgrade and having to return in economy just-keep-still-in-your-seat class. 

Having done time in a factory, the USAF and odd jobs, an office job appealed to me. My corporate world engineering job started with a shared office and then eventually my own small office. These offices came with a window and a door. I remember smoking in my office but fortunately I later dropped that awful habit completely. You don’t find cubicles with doors and a few of them masquerade with walls shorter than a track hurdle. But before the start of the new millennium I was sitting in a cubicle getting the creativity sucked from me daily.

Speaking of sucking - I once had a cube neighbor who would suck soup for lunch. Oh, I like soup but hearing this guy slurp his soup was disgusting. 

Overhearing funny or interesting comments happen. But no one wants a gopher head to pop over the wall to offer you some advice regarding a topic you were just talking about on the phone. I suspect the popularity of texting and email is partly due to cubicle life.

My best engineering job came with a private office (real window, door). Even then, since the doors are almost always left open I could overhear Phil-the-Greek in the next office. He was fit for a role in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. He would laugh when I brought up scenes from that movie. 

His arguing and tenacity in seeking justice for any wrong he thought came his way would have won him the Nobel Prize for Pain-in-the-ass if such award existed. He once (no lie) called the postmaster of United States to complain about a damaged package or late delivery. I think he settled with a staff person’s offer of sending him a few sheets of stamps.

One afternoon I heard him arguing away and I decided to visit another co-worker or maybe harass an executive assistant. Anyway I popped in the break room on my return trip to find him there snacking leftovers from a conference meeting. I asked about who he was arguing with on the phone. He told me and then told me that he left the call on hold while he got a snack (the break room was down the hall and around a corner from his office). Seeing my dumbfounded look, he told me that the A--holes leave him on hold all the time so he was just getting even. I thought I should get him to call my home cable company for me next time. 

If you have been working on the cube farm, I would love to hear about it. 
Note: cubicle heads/figures are from The Cubes.

Long tailed black swan tipping

I’m still waiting for this blog to reach a tipping point. 

Oh wait, that term doesn’t mean tips as in loose change?

I’m certain there is more bullshit in marketing and business consulting than any other industry. Their word coinage recipe calls for ego mixed with bullshit. I found a picture of a great venue for their next conference: 

Remember management by walking around? - I thought management by sleeping at your desk made more sense. What did Tom Peters know? I guess he knew how to write a best seller and make more money than me. That management style sounds dumb to me but it’s better than management by running and hiding which I’ve experienced.

The new definition of the word “space” is often heard on the business channel. I suspect a marketing person with extra space between their ears decided “space” sounded more hip than “market”. Here’s an example of this annoying usage: 

Pay Me Later and Often Loan Services today announced plans to move into the knee replacement space.

My opinion of few terms that should be dropped (please add your own in the comments)

• Right sizing - often more like a right screwing.
• Zeitgeist - connected to German philosopher Hegel so you sound very intellectual throwing it out at a meeting. Its usage should be restricted to the spirit world. 
• Groupthink - From my experience in deciding which place to go for lunch at work, I don’t believe it works well. 
• Crowdfunding - better than groupthink if the money is coming my way. Do we really a new word for this charity collection? 
• Dress for success - ZZ Top wrote a song about that. Their success goal wasn’t at the office.

 

 

flying fun

I received an fun email forwarded my way today. The subject was an airline taking a fun approach to flying.  Typically I find most “forwards” annoying but every once in a taco I get a laugh. 

I wish all companies had the sense of humor this South African airline shows in their plane painting. I might be a jambalaya joker but don’t you enjoy a little humor from the companies you are dealing with, especially when traveling or going out to eat?

Southwest Airlines has provided me some entertainment on a few of my flights. They also had fun painting their planes.  Maybe Kulula airline got the idea from them.   Have you ever seen the Sea World killer whale plane swim by your terminal gate? Southwest has 3 of them. Just seeing it out of the airport window brings me a smile. 

Back in 2009, Southwest painted a Sports IlLUSTrated cover girl on one of their planes. Sex appeal?

My favorite Kulula paint job would be the “This Side Up” place. The planes don’t work well in the opposite position.

In case anyone is curious about the parts of a typical airliner, they offer this educational version.

You can see all of the Kulula planes by going to their web site and clicking on “Meet our fleet” about half way down (that's where these pictures came from).

 

cheap pins, dried up pens

maybe a coffee cup with a corporate logo.

Unlike the motivational poster, these corporate tokens can be shoved out of sight just like your next raise. It’s just common sense that you don’t motivate anyone with a poster. 

Most of the tokens given for service awards don’t do much either except to become junk in a drawer. What motivated me to discuss (it will be a discussion if you add to the comment section) these lame forced expressions of fake appreciation was a blog post by Pearl. (see her link at the bottom)

I grabbed a quick collection of my corporate memorabilia and snapped this picture. I think the pins are the dumbest. Have you ever seen anyone wearing a gold colored service pin?

Back in the 80’s I was given a glass pitcher and tumbler set with the company’s logo engraved on the glass. At first I thought it might be useful for an evening of drinks on the deck. I don’t ever recall using it. A few years ago we were cleaning clutter out of the basement and came across the glassware set. Hmmm, maybe a e-bay auction would work I thought.

At that time, I happened to be working at that company again as a contractor and mentioned to the manager of the group that contracted me. To my surprise (BTW I think he was still single) I convinced him to buy it from me for $25.

This same company, a telecommunication manufacturer, did give me one of my best service awards. Back when they were a small growing public company, they gave out stock awards. I was granted a couple hundred dollars worth of their public traded shares. I still have a few of the shares which over the years split many times and rose and fell in value. Not only was the gift more valuable in the long run, it opened my eyes to the stock market. Much better than a glass pitcher with a logo across it.

My wife recently received a service award. It is a little nicer when they offer you a selection of gifts. Of course the selection had limited appeal to her. She picked a small off-brand video camera (like the flip camera but another brand) gadget. It works OK.


Don’t misunderstand my point here. It’s not just money that forms the big picture of the workplace for workers. Respect, working conditions, team relationships, type of assignments, openness to suggestions and many small daily things play a part in creating a desire to show up for work. Management gets it right once in awhile. I believe the bigger the group, the more removed management is from the daily tasks being requested.


Here’s the post from Pearl that motivated this post. This shows that other bloggers can movitate me. (Pearl a pen and clock set or maybe a t-shirt, baseball cap combo - no key-chains please.)

another circus 

pill to swallow

I like simple. Being blunt is good sometimes. I don’t like medicine. Too many of us are over-prescribed. Medicine should not be mass marketed.

According to this Wikipedia article only TWO countries - United States and New Zealand (New Zealand is mostly sheep so that’s ok if they watch) allow drugs to be advertised directly to consumers.

Now that I got that out of the way, let us move on.

I just sat through another dumb big bucks big pharma ad. I could help them shorten it and get the message across quicker.

I present to you my big pharma ad script:

[some soothing relaxed background like a blue sky with a couple of fluffy white clouds - drug name grows bigger on the screen - no music] 

vogenitavozy 

[some great sounding lady voice-over narrates - more people trust a woman’s voice for health advice]

Feeling beat to shit and wondering what truck hit you? 

[a version of the following picture on the screen] 

Vogenitavozy can help you. 

This shit can kill you and possibly make you want to die or become a blogger.

Please talk to your doctor and find out if we could sell you some.

In addition to possible death and increased pain, Vogenitavozy is known to empty the wallets of those that take it.

[return to title screen - end of ad] 

If more big bucks big pharma ads were like the following. It would be a better world.

another circus 

show me the money

Remember the movie “Jerry Maguire”?

This post is not about the movie but about money.

I might have done this post yesterday but I got circled and then I circled others and --- I need to post about google+ soon.

But the flow of money is like a circle.

Oh before I get too far, I need to give you a little background. My career was in engineering not economics. Now that you know I’m not an economist or banker, maybe you’ll read on. Oh, I’m not a lawyer either so maybe that’s a plus too.

It’s sorta sad that many professions get such a bad name. But once in awhile a banker gets caught robbing the bank or a lawyer breaks the law. Those stories destroy our trust.

Money is all about trust.

If you don’t think it’s about trust, go read up on “a run on the bank” which often happened before the FDIC was created in 1933. If you don’t like to read, watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” in which a bank run plays a big part in the plot.

I had a lucky introduction to money as a kid. My father had brought me a raffle ticket that won. Not that this thought ever crossed my mind at the time, but I could trust him to pay me the winnings. I would have never known that I won.

My dad enjoyed coming home with the news and handing me $200 in cash. I thought I was a millionaire. I stashed it away in my bedroom drawer. For many days, the first thing I would do after school was count out the money on my bed (maybe that a first sign of OCD?).

After awhile the money counting wore off and I bought a stereo.

Mrs. 4444 was please to let me use the following picture that shows her mom getting a gift of money for a trip. It reminds me of my raffle winning.

showing you the money - taken by Mrs. 4444

Cash - Today we don’t even use it as much. Any of you still get your pay in cash? Most of our money is just shown as numbers in an account. Money transactions are numbers moving between accounts. If you need an example, let me know and I will have you deposit some money in my paypal account.

I don’t own a smartphone but I keep hearing about the new technology to allow them to be used as cash. I think it is a dumb idea until these smartphones become tamper proof, but that’s just my opinion.

So take a $20 bill and look at it (hopefully you can get your hands on one).

What makes it different than a $1, $5 or $100? They are printed differently is all. Ok, $100 bill has the most security features because it is the mostly traded one internationally. My point is we collectively trust that this printed piece of quality paper is worth what is written on it. Not much different than a check you could write and send me.

The difference between your $20 check or a $20 bill (I’ll accept either) is who is backing or who is being trusted for its value.

Ok so now we have this currency that we agree to trust. How much will it be worth next week, next year? Now you need to start thinking about inflation, cost of living, interest rates, future value formula, and possibly other things (who is this lisleman I just sent money too?).

Have you traveled to another country? International experiences really open your eyes and minds. Have you exchanged dollars for pounds, euros, loonies or colones? Why does the exchange rate change? - international trust between banks and traders.

For now I’ll just end this with a few of lessons I’ve learned regarding money.

• You don’t really know what an item is worth until it is sold.
• You don’t really save money by buying something for a discounted price. You actually only spend less. Saving is holding on and keeping money.
• You do get what you pay for. Often it may take months to find out what you really got, other times you might find out after the first bite.
• A constant imbalance of more people taking your money than adding to your money exists throughout your life. Life and money are tricky.
  

Did you find this post interesting? I hope you didn’t expect me to tell you how to make money. I’m very skeptical of get-rich schemes. Most all of them are just trying to get rich by selling you on some program or book. Let me know what you think of the idea of posting about the stock market.