Skils that should be required before you're allowed to drive

I wrote recently about the driving test that someone I know had to pass before her dad would let her drive. While perhaps a bit extreme, there are some skills that I think should be required to be demonstrated before a license is issued:

1. How to check the air in your tires
2. How to figure out how much air should be in your tires
3. How to check the oil
4. How to add oil when needed
5. How to change a tire
6. How to jump start a car

None of these are difficult, but they could all come in very handy. If you have a person in your life getting ready to get his/her license, make sure this person knows how to do all these. If you already have your license and don't know how to do one or more of these things, have someone show you. You'll be a more prepared driver for it.

Boundaries: They are good thing

I looked up boundary on dictionary.com. Here's what is says:

"something that indicates bounds or limits; a limiting or bounding line."

The key to me is limits. This applies to much of life. We as a society seem to have forgotten that limits have their place. No one needs (or frankly cares) to know every single little thing about you. There are also some large things that people really don't need to know either.

I was reminded of this at work on Friday. I was talking to one of his vendors. He stated that his wife is 27 weeks pregnant and in the hospital due to contractions (they had gotten them stopped). I asked if this had happened with her previous pregnancies, and he said no. And then the boundary was breached: "She had a LEEP procedure done because she had HPV, and they think that might have caused it."

If you aren't familiar with HPV, here's some info on it from the CDC. Yes, he just told me his wife had an STD. That's just something you shouldn't be telling people from whom it isn't need to know, and I certainly didn't need, much less want, to know that. Of course, the thought then follows: well, did she get it from him? I didn't know what a LEEP procedure was until about 5 minutes ago. Here's the data. Again, didn't need or want to know that. I will say though, that after reading it, I'm pretty sure one of my friend had this procedure done. And no, I don't know why, and I'm not asking.

Boundaries: They are a good thing.

An investment of a different type

Today my coworker told me the latest in the saga of his ex-wife (they've been divorced for a couple of years). He knew I'd love it. The ex recently received $8000 from his 401(k) as part of their divorce settlement (yes, your 401(k) is also your spouse's unless your prenup says otherwise). Now, what is she doing with this? You might think she is rolling it into an IRA to save for her future and not have to pay penalty or tax on it. Perhaps it is worth paying the penalty and tax to apply it to a really high interest debt. Nope. It's even better than that. She's getting a boob job. Their 14 year old son informed my coworker of this last night. Even the son told the mom he thought there were better things she could spend it on.

Now you are perhaps pondering how this qualifies as an investment. I think she's trolling for a newer, more wealthy man than her current boyfriend. When one is fishing, one needs a good lure to enhance the odds of success right?

A real driving test

If you're like me, your driving test wasn't that big of a deal. In my state, if you passed a driver's ed class, there wasn't even a driving component. You just had to pass the written test. Recently someone told me about a real driving test her friend had to take.

The friend's dad took the friend out into a field. He then put her car in a ditch and removed one of the tires. He told her if she wanted to drive she would get the car out of the ditch herself. He wanted to know that if she ever got into a bad situation that she could handle it. Now that's a real driving test.

P.S. She passed.

P is for Planning

The construction at my company is finally drawing to a close, hopefully. We are having a big event on the 10th of next month, so everything is supposed to be wrapped up then. One of the things that has struck me in this process has been the lack of planning. This expansion had been talked about for over a decade, but the planning was compressed into a couple of months and not everyone was invited to participate. As you can imagine, this has led to issues.

Some examples:
1. Our janitorial storage space was cut in half. No one thought about what to do with all the items for which there was no longer any room until a couple weeks ago.
2. The room where we stored our drum label printer and associated supplies was removed. No one made a plan for where to put all this
3. My personal favorite: For nearly two months, there was ONE phone in our new 100,000+ sqaure foot building. Why? Our IT Manager, never known for his planning skills, didn't get that done. It's been 2.5 months now, and they still don't have all the phones installed in this area yet.

P is for planning (and also for phones).

Buyer's remorse

How often do you have buyer's remorse? You get something new, and soon after (but usually past the time you can return it) you discover you wish you hadn't purchased it. I wish I had all the money I've spent over the years on shoes and clothes that I wasn't that into. On the converse side, how often do you not buy something and wish you had? I can only think of one thing in my adult life that I really wish I'd purchased but didn't. When I bought my kitchen table, there was an optional bench seat you could procure that allowed you to seat 4 instead of 6. For reasons I can't recall, I elected not to purchase it. To this day, over 10 years later, I really wish I'd have bought it.

I guess the moral of the story is- when in doubt, don't buy. The odds are highly in your favor that this is the right choice.

Common denominator

One of our departments has had a real problem with turnover. In the last year, 3 people have left, none under the best of terms. The first was an employee of several years. The other two were gone within 6 months of their hire date. This department is 6 people when fully staffed. Yes, you are seeing a problem. As my dad used to say "What's the common denominator?" It's the management. If one employee or two had left, you'd think maybe it was coincidence, but not 3 in this short of time. The person is charge is either a bad manager, a bad selector of new employees, or both.

We recently extended an offer to someone to take over one of the vacant positions in this department. Someone asked me how long I thought the new person would stay. I said "not long if she's smart".

Free Museum Day

Museums across the country are participating in Free Museum Day on Saturday, September 29. This link allows you to select a museum from your area and print tickets. Enjoy!

Quite a conversation piece

When I went out to walk on Labor Day, I noticed that my rear passenger tire was on the rim. I thought maybe it was just really low and that I could air it up until I could take it in for service on Tuesday. When I put the tire gauge on it, it didn't even register. I know how to change a tire, but I also pay for AAA so I don't have to. Help quickly arrived, and the spare was put on. I saw what appeared to be a staple in the top of the tire, so I figured that was the problem.

When I took my car in yesterday after work, this is what they pulled out of the tire

Yes, a nearly THREE INCH piece of metal. As you may have guessed, I am now the owner of a new tire. Whatever this was that was in my tire, it's quite a conversation piece if I do say so myself.

More rainbows

In August of last year I wrote this post about the rainbow photos I took on my way home on Saturday when I just happened to have my camera in the car. Well, this Saturday evening I drove most of my way home seeing a rainbow. I ran in the house, got my camera, and captured these shots before it faded away.

I was struck by how these two occurrences were almost exactly a year apart.