There Are More Ways Than One to Skin a Delivery

Amazon and some other companies that sell on on-line will not accept a PO Box as an address.  That has been a problem with us for some time because we don't have a mailbox.  

Our neighbor knocked down our mailbox four or five times so we decided it was not worth the hassle and got a PO Box instead.  The neighbor is dead now, but that is another story.

Amazon will not accept a PO Box as an address because they use UPS.   What they did not take into account sometimes UPS hands off to the USPS and visa-versa,   At times when they do the hand off we are back with the same problem.

I complained to someone on the phone at Amazon several times and the people I talked to are very understanding.  But,  always, the bottom line was Rules are rules.

I ran into an old acquaintance at a funeral  home's visitation the other night.  She is in postal management now.  I told her of my dilemma.

She told me it is a common practice for post office box holders address their address as the street number of the post office and your PO Box number above that, as an apartment or suite number.

Problem solved!

Walla!

Romney: Look at my Record - Wait, Don't!

Romney said we should vote for him because he knows how put our country in the financial black again.  Good for him!  He said just look at the companies that he took over and turned them into profit makers.  Double good for him!

Some people looked at his financial dealings, or tried to, and found out the information  is off limits.

However some people did do a little digging anyway and found out a lot of his money is outside the United States where there are high interest rates and low wages. 

Wait!  Now Romney says that he is not too sure how all his money was invested – someone else does his investing for him.  Maybe it is his business manager. 

Maybe Mitt should nominate his business manager to be President.

Business Statistics to Ponder

Here are two statistics to ponder:

1.  The Average American Worker admits to wasting 2 hours of work time on the Internet each day.
- Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Page-a-Day Calendar, June 26, 2012.

2.  In 2005, the average CEO earned more in 1 workday than the average worker earned all year.
-Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Page-a-Day Calendar, June 28, 2012.


If the average American Worker admits wasting 2 hours on the Internet what about the workers that didn't admit to anything?  And if that is the average, consider the thousands of American workers who did not have access to the Internet while they were on the clock, such as Postal Workers and retail sales clerks.  Average-wise, that would give the ones that did more than 2 hours on the Internet daily.

Then imagine if you could get all the workers to take a loyaty oath saying they would not get on the Internet, accept for official business, imagine how much production would go up;  At least 25%.

Another statistic is that the average worker's pay has been decreasing the same time the average CEO's pay has been increasing.  So, overall this means if the average worker gives up his Internet habit he can raise his CEO's pay about 25% and maybe the leap in profits the CEO can buy that 2nd jet, yatch, or island he has always wanted. 

And the worker can have the satisfaction of honestly giving his all to his job without cheating - he is  getting a satisfaction money can't buy and the CEO is getting a satisfaction money can buy, so everybody is happy!

On This Date in History, May 25:

1864:  the Battle of New Hope Church, about 25 miles west of here.   Our neice bought a house that the wooded New Hope Battle Park is right behind them.  She said you can hear gunshots from that direction a lot.  I hope the wonder if the noises are from reenactors or ghosts redoing the past?

1927:  Henry Ford stopped production on Model T's and began production on Model A's.  Efficient, no?

1937: The first airmail letter left New York, circled the globe and returned to New York (really).  I guess it was also the first airmail letter that was “returned to sender”.

Kennestone, the Growing Amoeba

(click on image to make it bigger - run from it to make it smaller)

The above is Google Earth’s eye view of the Kennestone-Wellstar Hospital complex. I count about 18 structures that are mostly buildings but there are some deck parking lots. This is all in about a four square block area. Some of the buildings have at least six floors and most of them are connected by bridges. If I zoomed out more I could have included more of the hospital holdings but they would not be in the cluster, they would be like little satellites scattered around.

Back to the cluster you see. If one had taken an aerial picture above of the original Kennestone Hospital when it first opened in the early 1950s, and then annually take a picture of the complex or compound looking down it would look something like a shapeless amoeba, closing in on nearby buildings when suddenly it is part of them and getting bigger and bigger.

That represents a lot of health insurance!

HAPPY PRESIDENTS' DAY SALES!!

On This Day in History, October the 17th

1781 Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown.
1919 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created.
1931 Al Capone convicted of tax evasion, sentenced to 11 years in prison
1933 Albert Einstein arrives in the US, a refugee from Nazi Germany.
1959 Queen Elizabeth is fined $140 for withdrawing her race horse.
1967 The play "Hair" is 1st performed.

Above is an old postcard of the Atlanta Penitentiary. Al Capone spent some of his time behind bars at that facility.

I had a relationship with the Atlanta Pen,but not nearly as serious. For three months I worked for a magazine distributor in Atlanta. The Federal Pen was on my route.

One morning my boss gave each of us route men hundreds of different kinds of books that didn't sell well. Our orders were to leave that at a customer on our route and leave them a bill for the publicatons. I think the bosses knew they would have to pick them up the next week and give issue credit. I think they probably did that to get out of paying taxes on inventory in the building.

I was stuck with 1000 coloring books to pawn off on some customers. I had no idea how to get rid of them. Then it hit me. The Pen! They didn't look at anything I delivered. I delivered them 1000 coloring books and the guard signed for them and ordered some prisoners to take the boxes in the warehouse. I was probably smirking when I drove away.

The next week when I went back I was expecting to see those boxes on the loading dock with the same guard patting his foot with his arms folded. Nope! As far as I know they kept them.

A Bear in the Woods

At the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport two airplane landings were delayed, in 2007, when the only certified air traffic controller had to go to the bathroom. They had to circle the airport for 18 minutes until, well, the controller worked things out. The bathroom break also delayed two outgoing flights, which one was carrying a set of lungs to be transplanted in New Jersey.

A spokesman for the FAA said, “These people are humans, they have to go to the bathroom”.*

I'm sure that was news to the Postal Service. A production clerk or mailhandler to go the the bathroom on company time was always frowned upon by management. It could delay the mail and make the production numbers look bad. And for the production figures look bad is very terrible. It means managers' bonuses may not be as fat. How horrible!


*UNCLE JOHN’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY BATHROOM READER, p61.

Sad Doesn't Sell

I don't know if there are any statistics to back me up but I bet happy clowns get hired quicker than sad depressed clowns.

Black or Green Friday?

Today, the Friday after Thanksgiving, has been named Black Friday because in many cases it is the day hoards of people go Christmas shopping and because of all the shopping frenzies it is the first day a lot of the merchants' books come in the black. Up until this day they have been operating in the red.

With the urgency of Christmas shopping in the minds of the public the merchants do what they can to entice shoppers to visit their stores instead of their competitors. Some open their doors at midnight and give prizes for the first 100 or 200 shoppers and some open their doors at 4:30. They all have some things on sale but I would think others are marked up to offset the sales ones they are losing money on. When they do all this, I think the greed factor is added to the recipe. Every merchant wants it all and all the customers want to beat their fellow shoppers to the best deals. I think I remember a couple of retail stores where people were bodily harmed during Black Friday... last year in the news one lady was crushed to death by the opening door stampede.

Maybe we should call today Black & Blue or Green Friday.....or Greed Day.

Peter Bagge & Devlin Thompson

This is HATE comicbook #15 by Peter Bagge. I don’t know why it is called HATE because it is not hateful at all. It is sort disgusted with the human race in general because they are so self-centered. You might say his Hate is his humanism.

The protagonist is a young man named Buddy. Buddy owns a used record shop and that is all he wants. He has a dysfunctional immediately family and friends that he seems to always be critical of. None of them sees things for what they really are. Buddy is a non-pretentious pothead who calls it like he sees it. Or maybe “pothead” is a little strong. But he is not above smoking a joint from time to time.

The comic has its funny serious moments… like the time his best friend and long-running character killed himself, shot himself in the head. Buddy and his friends, maybe his brother too, buried the best friend – they didn’t want to explain themselves to the cops.

For a year or so at the comic book racks I was afraid to pick up the comic, afraid it would be full of racial hate. But it wasn’t.

Now, break from Peter Bagge and Hate a moment and let me tell you about a comicbook store that was in Athens, Georgia, in 1994. It was above a boutique shop in the downtown area. The name of it was Bizzarro Wuxtry Comics and ran by Devlin Thompson. I haven't been to Athens in years, so I don't know if it is still there or not.

One time while visiting our son in Athens I went up the stairs to look over their comics and the little short bearded guy was fussing with himself for being irresponsible by not setting aside special comics as they came in because he has a number of walk-in subscribers to certain issues. Later I figured he had to be Devlin Thompson, as the cartoon below describe.

I walked around and selected a few comics to buy. Some of them were hardbound so the amount added up, By this time Devlin and his assistant had some kind of mini basket ball tossing it to each other.

He rung my purchases up and I pulled out a credit card. He told me that he didn’t have an account with credit card companies; I would have to pay for it downstairs in the boutique.

What relationship did he have with the boutique shop?

I carried the adding machine tape downstairs to the boutique and presented the register printout to a snobbish lady that looked like she was in charge. She took my credit card and apologized for the inconvenience and said “some people” are just not responsible enough to carry dealings with credit card companies. As she spoke you could hear the miniature basketball upstairs bounce. Just about two words before the end of the sentence you could hear the basket ball hit something then a shelving unit fall making a terrific bang.

She glanced up, only interrupted for a brief second, and continued her sentence.

Cartoonist Peter Bagge visited Devlin at his Comicbook store once that same year and they went out to eat.

Here is his report:

Labor Day

Remember the laborers that this holiday is about. You will probably have to celebrate Labor Day without the guests of honor. They will probably have to work.

Tire Business

I was to meet a bunch of friends Monday at 10am. Anna was to take her mother to the doctor shortly after that.

I was backing out in the truck when I noticed the Honda had a flat on the back right. It was about 9:30. I hurriedly told her about it and then pumped it up with an electric air pump.

I went on to the meeting with the Varner’s gang. Anna called AAA and they immediately came out and changed the bad tire for the spare donut tire. The AAA man told Anna that the tire had a big bolt in the tire. He also told her he loved his job.

Later that day we drove the Honda to a Discount Tire in nearby Kennesaw.

The person that we thought was the manager looked at the tire in the trunk and said if it was repairable they would fix it free, and hopefully, we would think of them when we were ready to buy new tires.

We sat down in the show room/waiting room and, well, waited. There was a lady sitting in a chair that gave us a big warm smile and spoke. We politely spoke back. Her face looked familiar… but I couldn’t quiet place it.

The manager told us she was buying Michelin Tires. I asked her if she like Michelin and she said yes. I think I told her we did too. If I am not mistaken, they came with the car when we bought it.

We watched the hyped-up we-think-is-manager guy do things to make the place look neat and impressible such as space the displace tires a certain distance apart, maybe straighten an advertising poster, and busily talking to customers when they wandered in.

In between customers and straightening things he told us some very positive things about his company and the sole owner, which he repeated his name several times. The owner lives in Arizona. Once or twice he quoted the owner directly, both complementary, to show the owner was a wise and decent man.

The lady I first noticed said something from time to time. She complemented the guy for putting things so neat, she added that she was a librarian and could appreciate that.

A guy from the car bay area came in and told her car was ready, she could go.

Then another guy came to us and told us the bolt went into the tire crookedly, therefore, could not be repaired.

However, he said, he just put a tire a customer traded in – and he pointed that was sitting with us and said, “There she goes now”. He went on to say they were nice tires and that would get us buy until we were ready to buy. So, again, “No charge – just remember us when you get ready to buy.” Which we will. We are thinking very positive towards Discount Tires.

As she drove away, it hit me where I have seen her. She lives around the corner from us.

I told Anna who I thought it was and she thought that lady that lived around the corner is a school teacher. Maybe a media specialist at a school? We left it at that. Not that it mattered anyway.

This morning in the rain before daylight Willow and I were on a walk when the lady in question, that lives around the corner was backing out of her driveway. I waved and motioned for her to roll down her window.

Now days, how do you motion someone to roll down their window – pantomime pushing a button?

Her windows went down and she pulled up beside me. I asked her was she at Discount Tires Monday getting new tires. She said yes. She has always has a very big toothy very gracious smile. She told me she recognized us when we went in. I told her I didn’t want to make a fool of myself asking her there – so I chose to make a fool of myself standing in the rain in the dark asking her.

I told her we were driving on one of her tires and told her that story, and we had a good laugh… with me and Willow getting soaking wet.

She also told me that day she found out her nephew had a seizure and was now in the hospital. I told her that same day I found out my first cousin had died. We told each other we were sorry.

Small world.

Be Careful of Who You Meet

Getting back to Craig’s List, and similar transactions: I think in just about every situation that a deal is made on the phone to sell something in cash it is for your best interest to well, lookout for your ass. There may be a secret agent nearby to grab the money or merchandise and run. So, naturally, you would want to make the transaction as much in the public as possible. Because believe it or not, not everybody are angels.

In 1995 The Atlanta Braves were in the World Series. I Googled this to make sure of the date. A then-co-worker’s son somehow came across a bunch of World Series tickets. I think the serve held back a couple for him and his dad and put the others up for sale, in the want-ads I suppose.

Some guy called him and they agreed on a price and where to meet for the exchange: On North Avenue in Atlanta at a BP Station across from the Varsity.

They met and before the money and tickets could swap hands the purchaser pulled out a very big knife and demanded the tickets without payment. My friend’s son anticipated something like that may happen and just as quick pulled out a gun.

The stood facing each other, each with their weapon of choice. I think the person running the BP Station probably called 911 and they arrived.

Needless to say, the deal was cancelled. I forgot the details. But I think the bad guy was arrested and the son was let go with his tickets, which he sold to somebody else.

As the roll-call Sergeant in Hill Street Blues used to say, “Be careful out there.”

Employees and Products

This is the Marietta Coca-Cola Bottling Company years ago before my time.
After it outgrew itself it moved to Roswell Road on a hill overlooking downtown Marietta. My uncle-in-law-to-be Bill Mc, after his Army hitch got a job at the Coca-Cola company.

One of the benefits of the job was that employees were welcome to drink Cokes all day long, free. It turned my uncle into a diabetic. He had to shoot himself with insulin the rest of his life.

He changed jobs to W.T. Anderson Chevrolet dealer in the parts department. There, if he chose to own a vehicle, it had to be a General Motors product.

That doesn’t seem right does it? – for your employer to have the right to dictate what you do with your money.

Which doesn’t not fit my image of W.T. Anderson, who I always thought was fair and just….. but it does fit the image a of a business man, which he was a very successful one.

I wonder if today’s auto-worker has to purchase a vehicle made by the company he worked for? If so, it might help, to bail one out from within… pull one’s feet up by their own bootstraps, so to speak.

When Cotton Was King

This picture of cotton in the Marietta Square is almost as well known among Cobb natives as the Old Court House.

Speaking of King there was a farmer named Mr, King who lived on what is West Oak Drive now. West Oak Drive runs parallel with Canton Highway, north of Marietta.

An older subdivision behind the area, near the West Oak Office Park has a road named King Road. That makes sense. It was a road named after the person that owned the land at one time. But I think the builder got carried away with the name – also in the subdivision if Prince Drive… which takes away from the meaning. But that doesn’t have anything to do with this story anyway.

I was told the below story as factual. Who knows?

Mr. King had a good cotton crop. But he knew all the other farmers in Marietta had a good cotton crop also.

Cotton is a commodity like any other commodity. The higher price can be demanded when the commodity is scarce.

Mr. King had some money saved. He decided to hold his cotton for a while until cotton was scarce again.

He held on. He and his family lived on his savings.

Then just as cotton was becoming scarce and he was going to carry his to the market his barns caught fire and destroyed all his cotton.

They found Mr. King hanging in a tree in the woods behind his house. He committed suicide.

Greed destroys and sometimes backfires.

Veteran Appreciation! 10% Discount!

above - my new toy. click to enlarge.

The other day I tried blowing my leaves and had a hard time getting my old blower to work, I had to replace all the rubber parts and it started and ran only for a brief time

Sunday we went to a Home Depot to shop for a new blower. We were undecided just what kind of blower I needed – I thought maybe one of those things that fitted on your back like a backpack would look nice. Yessiree! Get me a tool belt to fit low on my hips and the backpack blower, man!

The Home Depot we went to had an Echo that fitted on your back. It even had a rod sticking out on your left with the controls – you wouldn’t have to reach around your back. You could also pretend you are Rocketman!*

However, the price for the Echo back-packing blower was expensive. I tried it on. I think I would feel awkward in it and not sure I would be able to control the blower very well.

By the way the Echo back blower rated high with Consumer Reports. So did a certain electric Toro…. off hand, I forgot the model name – and it was much more cheaper.

Just about every box with an electric blower recommended that no longer than a 100 ft electric cord be used. We wondered why. We also had some more questions. We pressed a button for help. A computerized voice told us we would have help shortly.

After a while a guy with an orange apron walked up looking peeved that we disturbed him. We asked him why everybody recommend you not use an electric cord over 100 feet. He more or less, “Just because” and added that he also recommended that you not use over a 100 feet of cord. Again, we asked him why, and he, in a way, said, “Because I say so.”

He was snappy so we thanked him and he shot the hell away.

The electric Toro was also much lighter in weight. It also had a vacuum and leaf chewer We decided to get it.

At the cash register the cashier asked me was I a veteran.

Am I a veteran? I was tempted to tell her that I just about single handily won the Vietnam war. If it wasn’t for me the Domino Theory/Plan would have completely taken over the free world.

Am I a veteran? Ha! That was a good one.

I said, “Yes”.

She said, “Good! You get a ten percent discount for Veterans Day!”

As a shopper I greedily accepted the 10% discount… however, as a stockholder I felt the need to suggest to her to not give just anybody a Veteran’s Discount unless they could prove they were… “Make them show you their Form DD214.” I wanted to tell her – but I didn’t.

Today my Toro blower worked fine. I herded those leaves around my yard that a pro.

*If you are too young not to have known Saturday serials at the movies then the name Rocketman would make no sense to you, run a google.


Rocketman in the flesh, I mean in the tin.


Bottom Line:
Appreciate your Veterans Today - they are the reason you are free.

Anderson Chevrolet Dealership

Before Anderson Motor Company was on Roswell Street it was here, on the first block of Powder Springs Street from the Square.

The owner James T. Anderson was a sincere humble man who didn’t mind doing some dirty greasy work. If you dealt with Anderson Motors much you probably would see James in work coveralls with the Chevrolet emblem more than you would see him in a shirt and tie.

I don't know when Chief Williams was chief of the Marietta Police Force. I know it was before my father, who was chief in the late 40s and early 50s.

Noticed up the side of the building you see two levels. The bottom level would be in the future Atherton Drugstore. Atherton Drug Store had a gas leak and blew up killing and injuring a number of people Halloween night in 1964. Because of the explosion the second level is no longer there.

My father bought our first family car, a Chevrolet, at Anderson’s.

It did not have a radio. I don’t think Daddy ever had a car with a radio. To him, it was an unnecessary expense, a distraction, and pretentious.

Anderson Chevrolet has ran its course. With Marietta and Atlanta just minutes away with the new expressways dozens of Chevrolet dealers materialized and the small town car dealerships could not compete with the fast talking dealers making fools of themselves in TV commercials. Or, that is what I think, anyway.

Now, some of the big dealerships are crumbling. Bill Heard Chevrolet for instance – but I think that might had something to do with “creative financing” with GMA Finance Company holding the bag… or not holding the bag.

Rob Peter and Pay Paul

As far as word flow looks, I think it the title would look better if it was named:
“Rob Ralph and Pay Paul”.

I went to the credit union the other day to make what I thought would be a simple transaction.

The tax laws allow me until April the 15 to pay into my IRA for the previous year. That is what I did last year. About this time of the year, I paid the maximum in the IRA I have with the credit union with no problem.

This year I went to the credit union to repeat the same thing I did last year. My intention was to draw money out of my savings and pay the same amount into my IRA. No cash money is involved. It is just paper work, rob Peter to pay Paul.

On the little stand that you stand and fill out your forms, deposit slips, cash withdrawers, and transfers, I took the transfer form and withdrew filled out withdrawing from my savings and transferring it to my IRA account.

I got in line and a lady teller down at the end motioned for me. So I went on down to her window.

I took off my baseball cap and pulled out my driver’s license. They have a sign up to remove your hat and dark glasses before doing your transactions. They want to be able to see who they are dealing with, and so does the video camera.

I gave the form and my driver’s license to the teller. She looked it all over and got on her computer and said, “This is a new one.” Meaning she never did anything like this before.

She asked me to be patient until she look up instructions on how to handle such a transaction. She looked a while and then called the head teller over and they both looked and couldn’t find anything. Then they called the main office of the credit Union, which is in another town nearby and they put their heads together and decided what should be done.

The lady worked the computer very carefully. I appreciate it that she wanted to be sure she was doing it right. It was a lot of money I just handed over to her. By this time there were no customers there, except me. All four or five tellers got behind her and watched her. I could not see her monitor so I don’t know what she was dealing with, but the intent interested faces of the tellers behind her suggested she was playing one hell of a video game.

Another teller picked up the phone and called the main office and asked them something, then hung up, and I had to write them a “letter of intent”. Letter of intent? They gave me a blank sheet of paper and asked me to write a letter of intent and request they withdrawn the said amount of money out of savings and put it in my Roth IRA. Isn’t that what the transfer form was for that I filled out? I did as they told and gave them the sheet back. When I write, I scribble and all the words run together. Nobody can read it, not even me. She grabbed it and put it with the other paper work. They didn’t even look at it. It could have looked a note saying “This is a hold up! Give me all your money.” Or anything else and they wouldn’t have known.

One of the ladies said they should fax all the forms to the main office to make sure the forms are ok, which they did. Then one got on the phone and called the main office and said they just faxed over some forms, please check to see if they are ok. They kept them on the phone until they looked at the papers. They were good.

It would have been amusing if they did interpret my scribbling note as a hold-up note. When they faxed everything over to the main office, what would they have done? Fax back and say, “for God’s sakes! give him all your money and get down on the floor!”

During all this, with all the calls made to the main office one of the tellers would ask the one that called, “Who did you talk to?” And she would tell her and the would say something like, “I thought she worked in blabla?”
“No, she did, but now she works in blablabla”
“I thought xxx worked there – where did she go?”

My teller more than once thanked me for being patient. And I each time responded that appreciated them being careful with my money.

We also said that it was good they were learning what to do with IRAs for the last year, because before April the 15th they will probably have plenty more of the same type of transaction – now they know and be ready. So, this was a learning experience.

The teller thanked me for doing business for them. I said, “Wait! What about a receipt?”

“They will mail it to you.”

“I would like some kind of proof now I just signed away that money –what about a copy of all that paper work and my letter of intent?”

“Sure!” she said, and made copies and gave them to me.

Then I said, “Would you stamp those and initial them please?”

Which she did with a smile…. “Picky, picky, picky” she probably thought.

I spent about one hour there and shifted thousands of dollars around and got four to five tellers involved. After it is all said and done, I figure my net worth decreased about $3.06, which is the cost of the gallon of gas that took me there and back.

Postal Reminder

Remember, today is the last day you can use your 39 cents stamps to cover the fare of a first class letter.

If you have a bill or a letter you haven't mailed, today you will be saving 2 cents than if you wait until tomorrow.