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All work and some play
My father Raymond passed away 15 years ago, but he still lives on in my brother and I. My brother chose a traditional set of life choices and succeeded handsomely...nice house, children and grandchildren, disposable income, all the things my father strove for (and all of which he achieved, sans the disposable income part - that slipped through his fingers based on a few bad choices). I was slightly less conventional...never planned, just took what came my way, liked to work but hated the politics required to climb the ladder, married late and had no kids. Very different from my brother and father, but happy and full nonetheless. But one thing we all share is an insanely unhealthy work ethic. It has brought me satisfaction, accomplishments, reasonably good income, and a not always healthy lifestyle.
Last week was another insanely busy week, because in addition to the usual flurry of sales and delivery related tasks that flow endlessly through my life as a Partner in a moderately small consulting firm, we had to produce a Proof-of-Concept script for the latest release of Microsoft's Project Server. With a Thursday morning departure to Fargo for the POC, I delivered the final version of the script to Kinko's for printing and binding at 4:15 am...another all-nighter that was sooooo much easier at 26 than 56. Anyway, it all went well, and after some additional meetings in Fargo on Friday, Dave (our Pres & CEO) and I headed to Brainerd.
A need for speed
Now Dawn, my wife, will claim that I collect speeding tickets at an alarming rate. And although I do drive fast, the vast majority of my tickets have been obtained out-of-state, a hazard of being a traveling consultant (5 hours or less and we drive to client sites) going through neighboring states in a BMW. That almost screams "Too busy to come back, they'll just pay the fine". Too true, and with the sharing of computer data between states it just leads to a less than pretty automotive "rap sheet". Anyway, we were headed to Brainerd for something not likely to get me ticketed - a Performance Driving School at Brainerd International Speedway sponsored by the Northstar Chapter of BMW CCA.
Totally, absolutely, unbelievably fun. We took Brandon and Dave's cars (an M3-346 and a 545), with Brandon & Dave sharing the M3 and Dave graciously letting me drive his 545. Amazing weekend top to bottom (except for being thrown out of the group bunk bed room to the "isolation chamber" of the king-size bed due to my deviated septum snurfling & snoring). The class was so-so, but the hands-on instruction was amazing. I hit the jackpot and was assigned to Duane Thompson, a long-time driver/instructor and past president of the club. We totally connected and his directions and coaching were phenomenal. I don't have a lot of fears around driving cars (another skill my father passed down to my brother and I), especially fast, so I started out pretty confident right out of the gate (though I was cognizant that I was driving my partner/friend/boss' car). Anyway, the speeds got higher, the lines got tighter and it just kept getting better and better.
Until my second run on Sunday....Bing...and the BMW display shone with an exclamation point in a triangle. Seeing as it's a bad idea to check your owner's manual at 130+ mph, I pulled into pit row and checked the car out. Everything looked great, and a guy from BMW Minnetonka checked the maintenance log and found it was just a maintenance notification. It seems that BMW has an algorithm built into the software that compresses the service interval if you're driving is aggressive. Apparently they consider 140 in the straightaway and 110 in the curves aggressive (Who knew?).
Anyway, we were cleared to go out for the next session and I was totally on my game. Duane said he'd just be quiet and tell me when I did something wrong and he barely made a peep (on my third lap I took Turn 4 a tiny bit early, but I told him I knew that before he could get it out of his mouth). So great to be having a blast, improving your skills and learning all at the same time. Unfortunately, Turn 5 on the next lap brought another Bing and a more alarming warning...Brake pads are below the minimum. No ifs on this one, so off the track again. A check by some of the instructors confirmed that the pad was thinner than the backing, so no more 545 on the track! Bummed but exhilirated by the weekend so far, I watched Dave drive in the last two sessions (he was seriously dominating out there) and got us packed for the inevitable end to the party. I should not have been surprised to go through the brakes I suppose, because Brandon had to go get a set of replacement pads by EOD Saturday. But the M3 was doing double duty (with Brandon running the B sets and Dave running the D sets), so I thought the 545 wouldn't wear them down so fast.
Where are we headed? That's what I'm chewing on at the moment.
My early morning starts with dog feeding, tea brewing, email and mental gymnastics. The USA Puzzle Page's "Don't Quote Me" revealed Erich Fromm's quote "The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots." It doesn't seem so far fetched when I look around me: people chasing dreams they've been programmed for by the media....the car, the house, the watch. Robots do what they are programmed to do. So do consumers, even if the programs come in 30 or 60 seconds imprints spaced strategically throughout electronic stimulation therapy.
But it's not just consumerism programming that's turning us all into robots. There's the political divisiveness programs designed to keep us at odds with each other, safely avoiding the ongoing abuse of power imbedded into our electoral system. Left-wing, Right-wing, each an epithet and smear all at once. Meant to divide, oppose, and distract. Keeping us from looking at the ongoing inequities around us. A Legislature with lifetime health benefits paid for by the general populace screaming that guaranteed health benefits is Socialism. They can't be that obtuse, so it must be intentional. And all part of the programming to ensure we remain lined up against one another, preoccupied as the power brokers skim the cream off of the top.
Even pop culture programs our behavior. When people spend endless time discussing who'll get voted off American Idol, but can't spend 5 minutes discussing how to improve our educational system without their eyes glazing over. Where Britney's mental health, or Anna Nicole's drug overdose, or Jesse's infidelities with tattoo-laden pinup girls are all more compelling and endlessly examined than discussions of term limits or the impact of lobbyists writing legislation. The programming continues.
Fromm's fear that men may become robots may already be a fear realized. The only difference between Neo's awakening to the realities of his world and what I see around me is the tools and trappings used. The Matrix fed off of our life force and calmed us with illusions, whereas in our world....hmmm, maybe I'll need a few days to see the difference.
Genesis of a Blog
Having blown past the milestone of my 20,000th day on this planet with no self-reflection or self-assessment, I figure it's about time to vent my curious thoughts publicly. Some light should be shed on the synaptic tap dance that passes for ideas in my head; hence this blog.
Some of these ideas are creative (or maybe they're only creative in the way ideas seemed creative in college after getting a good buzz on), some are political (surely there must be some way out of this ridiculously absurd state we are currently in), some are personal (reflections on the commonalities of life), and some are cultural (i.e. railing against the vapidity of reality TV, or the cost to our souls of the celebrity obsession that has infected the masses), and some are just personal grievances (like the one that gave me the impetus to start this blog - Why is it that more action is taken in response to pain than in pursuit of happiness or enlightenment?).
FTD.COM - The jokes our memories play on us, and a corporate world that exploits those memories
I grew up in the 50's, and the magical image of Mercury/Hermes delivering your flowers with god-like speed and dependability was reassuring. Now that FTD has moved to the web (where all things are better, faster and shinier, right?), they must be even better.
I ordered flowers a week in advance of Mother's Day for my 91 year old sweetheart of a Mother. I'm not always the most consistent rememberer of holidays and birthdays, but this year I nailed it...even got the card off so it arrived by Saturday.
Well, FTD.com's site happily reassured me that my order would be delivered this weekend - on Mother's Day or the day before.... but that never happened. They even sent an email mid-week (that, of course, ended up in my Junk Mail - how appropriate), that they were having trouble finding a florist to fill the order. That's odd, since Ocala has a population of well over 300,000 and tons of florists (many FTD-affiliated). Anyway, the email said the order would still be filled, but delivered by UPS or Fedex rather than a florist. All lies; or computer-generated fallaciousness, whichever you prefer. 2+ hours on the phone with customer service (including supervisors that promised to call back within an hour, but NEVER did, and being put on hold for 20+ minutes and then disconnected) got me nowhere and Mother's still sitting in Ocala with no flowers.
A little digging through their site (Investor Relations often has revealing info for the curious) and I find that FTD.com bears little if any resemblance to their original form. They are just another cog in the wheel of United Online, a web order-taker that handles FTD.com, Classmates, Juno, blah blah blah. In other words, they don't know crap about florists or flowers or anything else. They're a customer service organization that doesn't provide customer service, a perfect metaphor for 21st century business. My guess is that they've done what many companies have done, buy an image that people trust and than tarnish it until it's worthless. This is done regularly with brand names for appliances, clothing, etc. So next time you get the warm fuzzies over a brand name you haven't seen in years, dig a little deeper, or you're bound to have those sweet memories slimed by the realities of corporate practices.
BTW: The reviews on FTD.com at Yahoo's shopping site are horrendous: Yahoo Shopping FTD.com Feedback.
My bad for not checking them out first (and don't bother switching to Teleflora in hopes of a better, more modern service; they're run by the same clowns).
Next time I'll look directly for a local florist when I send flowers long-distance. And I'll make sure that they're not FTD related.
