Although I’m not a germ-a-phobe or a neat-nik by any stretch of the imagination, I’m often repulsed by the cleanliness of some local area restaurants. Being the one who is responsible for the health certificate for my EAA chapters annual Fly-in and Pancake Breakfast, I know how challenging it is to pass health inspections (Warren County Ohio does a good job) … so it has me wondering just how do some restaurants pass their inspections? We ate at Steak n Shake this weekend … you make the call, but this doesn’t look as if it has been cleaned for a while?
I regularly email customers and friends with something that needs a follow-up from them, but I often forget to check back IF I don’t hear from them. Simple things like setting up a meeting or gettin gan ok on a proof often go unanswered … easy to do. I’ve tried adding it to my calendar (which often gets passed over), scribbling it on my hand written to-do lists (which get ignored) and am now giving the very simple to use followupthen.com a try – you might like it too?
It is super easy to use and require only the addition of a CC or BCC “dated” email when contacting someone. There isn’t a registration and currently there isn’t a cost or any bothersome advertising (yet). Here’s how it works:
Write your contact an email as usual and add a “dated” email address like 7days@followupthen.com or 7hours@followupthen.com to the CC or BCC address line. (CC if you want all including yourself to be reminded in xx days/hours and BCC if only a reminder to yourself.)
Send the email.
At the appropriate time/date, a follow up email will be sent to both or just yourself and a copy of your previous email message will be included.
So far the service has work flawlessly although I’m not sure I would want to include all that much personal or confidential information.
For those who watch the Fox NewsGlenn Beck television program, you’ll recall one of Glenn’s props is a “Red Phone” which supposedly has a private number that has been given to the Whitehouse — so that they can correct any misinformation. In the year or so it has been installed it never been used except for test calls or the regular “call me” program prop. According to a segment of audio on Beck’s radio show today, the phone rang sending his staff scrambling to remember how to get the signal into the control booth and recorded. The segment of audio from Glenn Beck was posted on his website(or below) and isn’t exactly what was expected.
During a commercial break, the Red Phone rang. It does get tested from time to time to make sure it’s still working, BUT this time it was no one from the control room. Turns out as Glenn picked up the Red Phone on TV, the number on the bottom of the phone was visible and a fan called in as a good Samaritan. Mediaite reported on the story and Glenn tells what happened on radio today.
What do dogs, kites, and beer have in common? West Chester holds festivals celebrating all three.
It has an active town center called The Square where activities from a summer concert series to a weekly farmers market take place.
The town has a prime location 20 minutes outside Cincinnati and a bit more than a half-hour from Dayton. And there are many corporate employers right here.
This should be a bigger story (editting with Poster for WordPress on the Palm Pre) …
“The Ohio EPA said Thursday, July 22, that the latest lab tests for toxins produced by the cyanobacteria at Grand Lake St. Marys show readings still too high to recommend resuming contact with the water.”
“The latest microcycstin levels are lower than the previous sampling round, but some samples remain higher than the 20 (parts per billion) considered by the World Health Organization to be safe,” said spokeswoman Heather Lauer.
“In addition, anatoxin-a levels are at their highest since testing began,” she added.
Anatoxin-a is a neurotoxin, which effectively is a nerve poison.
Because of high levels of anatoxin-a, Ohio EPA, Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources and Ohio Dept. of Health are maintaining the advisory level at the lake to ensure public health, she added.”
I liked this blackboard image from Glenn Beck, a controversial radio and television host who has spent the last year right-teaching American history to the millions that tune in or DVR his 5PM FoxNews program. Although I don’t watch all that many of his broadcasts, I have enjoyed his Founders Fridays broadcasts which focuses on those who dedicated their lives to our nation’s independence and structuring our democracy; it has been very educational.
Who doesn’t appreciated the magnificent and mostly gentle giants of the oceans we think of as whales. The appreciation has created an entire industry around whale watching and has been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands around the world. One such “watcher” relayed their story from South Africa after a close call capture in photos … a way too close a call in my opinion.
(CBS) It’s the time of year for whale watching off the coast of South Africa. Ralph Mothes thought there could be no better way to witness nature’s majesty than from the deck of his own boat. "It’s such a loud sound, when you hear those whales flapping their tails," says Mothes. "We were attracted by the sound."
And, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips, it turns out that one whale was attracted to Mothes’ boat — a bit too attracted.
Sailors on a neighboring boat managed to snap some stunning images of the huge sea mammal shooting out of the water, practically on top of the yacht. The next pictures show the destroyed mast of Mothes’ yacht, which the whale snapped like a matchstick as it fell through the air.
"I just saw this huge thing come out of the water, and the mast crashed … I ducked, I think Paloma ducked," the pleasure boater told CBS News, "the mast missed me by a few inches."
The boat was a mess, but still floating.
Ralph and his wife Paloma quickly checked to make sure their vessel wasn’t taking on water, and then they cranked up the engines and left, quickly.
I met my daughter at the Barnes and Noble bookstore tonight and had a chance to play with her electronic Nook reader again, but this time in the store. I have to admit for reading, the screen is excellent and reading text easy even for my presbyopia. Reading from the eReader has me re-thinking that there is a better way than hauling around hardback and paperback books. Still, I’m in the printing business and feel a little guilty giving up on paper, although my best friend just bought a Kindle!
Another consideration is that my computer bag is starting to bulge beyond what should be asked from it … especially stuffed with a recent book from Karl and Clayton’s Summer Book Club, Daniel Walker Howe’s What Hath God Wrought – even in paperback it tips the scales at 928 pages! What to do, what to do?
Politicians in Washington DC seem to spend more time looking to gain political points on the back of those who are jobless than fixing the problem … part of which they, big government, creates. The Republicans in attempting to turn the focus on fiscal responsibility want to see and extension of unemployment benefits ‘paid for’ – meaning cuts in other spending – while Democrats seem to have no problem borrowing more money and painting Republicans as heartless. Wasn’t it just last year the President Obama stressed that any unemployment benefit extension must be paid for?
I actually struggle to rationalizing extending benefits a total of an additional 53 weeks — the basic 26 weeks are known as Unemployment Insurance (UI). One of the interesting twists in the current legislation is that in addition, the bill will make benefits retroactive – meaning eligible unemployed people who have not received benefits since June 2 will now get what they would have received if the program had continued uninterrupted – a total of 99 weeks of unemployment if extended to November 2nd. (depending on the state)
At what point does borrowing to fund unemployment slow our recovery or force us into a second recession? Maybe it’s a personal issue with me since my income has been severely impacted by near zero new sales and deep cuts in existing sales (I get paid only when jobs are sold at a profit). There isn’t a life-ring waiting to rescue me or much of a fallback position other than going deeper into personal debt, selling assets to pay bills or finding part-time work. Personally speaking, that means having to adjust and put a plan together … even if it means doing day labor for low wages. I’m not convinced that just extending unemployment benefits until November at a cost of $34 billion is going to change one’s work prospects … and having the government borrow more just slows the economy.
But I’m in the minority since today the Senate having little problem spending money they don’t have. They voted 60-40 to overcome a Republican filibuster, setting up a final vote for late this afternoon. If passed, the bill will return to the House and most likely will receive approval in that chamber. The roughly $34 billion cost of the plan will be paid for by additional borrowing and add to our growing debt. What would have been so wrong with realizing our federal spending is out of control and finding a way to prioritized things in the existing budget if the highest priority is to extend the unemployment benefits another
Below is a discussion between Karl Rove and Bill O’Reilly Monday night on this subject.
The stock OEM Goodyear Integrity tires on my Honda Pilot have giving me a good 109,000 miles of wear and I replaced them today since an ugly split started to show up. They have always driven well on everything but wet roads, especially heavy rain. Their flaw is that they seem to be unable to shed water fast enough to prevent hydroplaning; in my opinion they were not the safest rain tire at Interstate speed. That said, snow was not a problem and as far as a quiet highway tire and a solid 109,000 miles of driving, they were great.
There were two reasons I opted for the doughboyish tire: 1) Michelin had a $70 rebate, saving me a few dollars, and 2) the dealer who has always provided ‘appreciation’ service told me they were too busy this past weekend to replace the valve stem in my Kubota. It would have taken them all of 3 minutes to replace the valve stem allowing me to finish cutting the grass, but even after asking a second time politely they turned me away. It was a mistake on their part and it cost them the sale of four new tires ($800) since it necessitated my stopping at another tire dealer just 1/4 mile to the west. Although the TireDiscounter location looked equally as busy, they replaced my tire stem at no charge without even a hesitation. While waiting the entire three minutes for the tire stem, they priced a couple option for my SUV and it was enough detail to customer service that convinced me to schedule my appointment. Kudos to TireDiscounter on Tylersville Road in West Chester Ohio.
