"Here ya go" is not a replacement for "Thank You"

One recent Saturday my wife and I were running errands. Our mission was to pick up a few necessities and a few luxury items along the way. The first stop was a frustrating 1 for 3 event at Sears where the lawn department staff had nothing to offer close to my "line trimmer" specs, and the sporting goods staffer went into excruciating, patronizing detail to tell us how to break down the online drawings to find the part number.

These stops were frustrating because I've used a weed eater for decades and know how to use them. I know what I need, and it's really not the tiller attachment or high-priced quick-change line spools. Frustrating also because the first thing we presented to the sporting goods clerk was the exact part number he spent 4 or 5 minutes showing us how to find.

Seriously, listen to your customer first then find an accurate solution. It's a weed eater not rocket science, and we had already done the part number research for you!

And then while paying way too much for a refrigerator water filter the guy I gave my hard earned money to handed me the receipt and said "here ya go."

Not the normal "Thank you" or "We appreciate your business", or even "Please come back soon"

"Here ya go."

Strange.

Anyway, we scooted down the road to the camera shop to check out a graduated neutral density filter. After a few minutes being introduced to a new model, I made the purchase and the guy handed me the receipt and credit card with today's key phrase "Here ya go".

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, it was Deja vu all over again.

Sure, that's why I shop there, so you can personally hand me the receipt. "Here ya go".

Knock, knock, it's 2010. The real unemployment rate is over 20%. Stores are going out of business literally all the time. And rather than thanking me for delivering them the means to stay in business and remain employed, two consecutive salesman handed me the receipt and said "Here ya go".

And since both purchases were entirely optional, non-emergency and really no more than commodities, next time I'll save the gasoline and not be swayed by the easy instant gratification, and I'll just order them online. Seriously, if you can't distinguish yourself from true commodity service with the slightest awareness of your customers, then what is the value you add to the transaction relationship?

"Here ya go" right back at ya!

How it's worded, versus how it's received

"My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government." Barack Hussein Obama, the next former President quoted at breitart.com

I understand now.

He was talking about an unprecedented LOW level of openness.

Yes, we all assumed the best, so it really is our fault for interpreting it the wrong way.

This is the problem of modern politics, a speaker delivers a carefully worded statement, say from a teleprompter, and each member of the audience interprets the words through his or her own filtering mechanism. In the example above, most listeners probably assumed he meant that the openness would improve from our perspective, causing a better view of what happens within government. Only the most cynical would have predicted the change to an almost totally "behind closed doors" mode so publicly despised by the current practitioners.

The same people said we would have a minimum of 5 days to review legislation before it was signed (although that's far too late for any kind of change), but none of the major bills have had anywhere near that time. Most recently we only had 36 hours for the health care reform bill.

According to dictionary.com, reform really only means change, the direction of change has not yet been defined. Apparently to those in favor of owning "health care reform", reform means they get to own it, the quality of service is irrelevant.

Likewise, health insurance is not the same as health care, even when some choose to use the words interchangeably.

Matthew 7:15-20 tells us to pay attention, more words to live by.

Peeling the Onion of the Deceit

Another glimpse into their mindset arrived last week as San Fran Nan was begging for support. Her excuse for her behavior paints her as totally out of touch with her constituents: "We have to pass this so you can see what's in it!".

Isn't it a major component of our representative form of government for the elected (that's Pelosi and company) to represent the electorate (that's us)?

So how in the world does she expect us (the electorate) to tell the elected (Pelosi and company) how to represent us if we can't provide feedback? And how can we provide feedback if we don't know what they're doing until they're finished?

Surely they aren't so simple that they think they can do anything they want after their election, are they?

Her remark is right in line with Obama's (now-voided) promise to let us review all major legislation before he signs it. By the time it gets to the President's desk it's too late for the people to have any influence on it.

Was this campaign promise merely a distraction to pacify his unthinking supporters?

Or do they really believe that the people should not be able to influence the work of our representatives?

Presidential Address - Timing is Everything!

I had just finished my second helping of the wife's soup at about 6:45 PM this evening and somehow the satellite receiver's remote control found its way into my hand. To be honest, that's where it normally resides, but tonight was notable due to the copious humor found on the programming guide.

The President's address started at 7 PM local time, and the program immediately following was "The Biggest Loser". Being a proud American, I naturally detected an obvious disrespect for the office. I then laughed out loud when I realized the show was probably placed there by some disgruntled Charlie Brown fan whose favorite show was displaced for another presidential event.

There were several other well-timed programming selections:

• Extreme Terror Rides
• Scare Tactics
• Aftermath: Population Zero
• Ultimate Knockouts
• True Lies ( I saw this movie entry just as the President was telling the West Point Cadets that there had been no delay in making his decision to send more troops! No kidding, I couldn't make this stuff up! )
• Don't Cry Now ( obviously a shout-out to the very French-looking John Kerry or some other anti-victory, former Obama fans )
• Parallel Universe ( also scheduled for 7 PM, spooky )
• So You Think You Can Dance ( see the comment for "True Lies"... )

Texas State Parks Geocache Challenge

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department kicked off a challenge to the state's geocachers on November 1. They placed caches in 12 locations to stimulate interest in the parks and historical sites. The goal was to get people exploring the nature and history of this great state and from our perspective it was a booming success.

We finished it in a weekend(*).

My wife and I visited all 12 cache sites on the weekend of November 14th and 15th. We were able to log 11 of the 12 caches, the 12th had been lost or stolen a few days before our roadtrip. TPWD's log entry said that if we had been to the site while it was missing we could include it in our count but I could not tolerate an asterisk by my name in the permanent record. So we scampered back to the Guadalupe River State Park on the 21st to punch, log and claim the final cache in the challenge.

A reasonable person is probably wondering "Why the rush to get them in a single weekend?". One little line in the challenge web page reads "The first 100 returned passports receive a commemorative Texas Geocache Challenge coin" and that's enough to motivate some people (including my better half) to git 'er done, right now. We would have eventually visited all 12 locations but without that incentive it would have taken months, if not a year or two.

Economic Stimulus

This is a simple program from TPWD that has probably had a significant economic benefit on the parks and surrounding facilities. Including the second trip to Guadalupe, we drove close to a thousand miles to complete the challenge and even in the Hybrid that's close to 30 gallons of gasoline. We spent a night in Conroe and another in San Antonio, had nice meals at Mamacita's and Chili's, and all of those expenses were above and beyond normal weekend expectations. Yes, that means outside the budget, but I'll cover the Steve Diggs / Dave Ramsey issues in a later blog. We didn't go overboard, but we did contribute to the local economies in Brenham, Conroe, Luling, LaGrange, San Antonio and Lockhart.

We also helped TPWD directly with the purchase of a State Parks Pass. It paid for itself on Saturday alone, but we will certainly come out way ahead on that purchase before it expires. We're already pretty regular visitors at the state parks, but the challenge led us to some of the jewels of the system like Washington On The Brazos State Historical Site and the Government Canyon State Natural Area. We plan to visit those more thoroughly in the very near future.

Kudos to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for this program. I look forward to what you do next!

Fort Hood

My prayers for comfort, understanding, and forgiveness go out to everyone affected by the tragedy in Fort Hood yesterday.

And should it be determined that he is a traitor to his oath and found guilty of murdering 14 innocent human beings, he should be nursed back to physical and mental health to make sure he absolutely understands why he is being put to death for his crimes.

How many warning signs should it take before a person is removed from a leadership role in an organization representing and defending this nation? Especially one in which his deeply held beliefs are diametrically opposed to his sworn mission?

And finally, as expected, people representing the "religion of peace" are voicing their paranoid expectation of backlash (aren't they racist in doing so?) instead of condemning the perp's actions and sending helping hands to the scene of the incident like legitimate religious organizations.

It's another in a long series of Thursdays

Let's see, the Yankees won their 27th World Series, and the MVP of the world championship of "America's Game" went to a Japanese man. What a great country! Who dares to claim this is no longer the land of opportunity?

In the first Post-Racism^TM election, two significant governorships made dramatic switches from Democrat to Republican but the Speaker of some of the House claims the Democrat Party won because a DIABLO (democrat in all but label only) in New York's 23^rd house district highlighted the difference between conservatives and Republicans and kept votes for the party instead of the party's values. Don't feel too bad Nancy, many in the Republican leadership missed that call just as badly. The only difference between you and the Republicans is that they now know there's a significant direction problem and will make the necessary mid-course changes. The best thing for the country is for you to just keep doing what you're doing.

The White House press secretary claims the President wasn't watching the returns Tuesday night. Ignoring the obvious mis-direction, we all know he was kept up to date while watching the Bulls, so why even make such a silly claim? Do you want everyone to think he's in full Nero-mode, happily enjoying television while his party implodes? That doesn't seem terribly, I don't know, Presidential?

Are you sure you want to tell the people for whom he campaigns that their efforts / future / successes / failures aren't worth any more of his time?

No, maybe you're right, that's exactly what your party members need to hear. You, Harry and Nancy just keep doing what you're doing. That will make this country a better place, eventually, once you've all been rejected.