It's getting close enough to the race now that pretty much my entire weekends are consumed with training. Spent eight hours training Saturday swimming two miles, riding 100, and running a couple. Finish it off Sunday with a long run, and it makes for a tired body on Monday…
I'll be happy when this Ironman is over so I can go back to just regular triathlon training...
wait a minute. The statement hasn't rung as true as this week. We are expecting a high of 71 degrees today and we are expecting snow flurries by Wednesday. The high might not get above freezing.
This should make things interesting for the drive up to Boise. I suspect that if we're seeing this kind of weather all the way down here, we might be seeing similarly shitty weather in Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho…
We might try to push a little farther north tomorrow instead of stopping for the night in Oklahoma City. I figure that if the weather is bad, we might be better off getting further north before things get deep. That might put us somewhere in Kansas tomorrow night.
We are just about set to hit the road for Idaho. We have all the repairs made to the Mustang and it seems road-ready. We also added keyless entry and got it detailed, so it is looking pretty sharp. Hopefully, we won't get it too terribly dirty on the drive up and we can hose off the big chunks when we get to Boise.
We bought a good road almanac and a couple books on tape. When combined with the MP3 player, that ought to keep us somewhat occupied and we will just need to grab a couple lumbar pillows to keep us from becoming completely paralyzed. We are also taking the digital camera just in case we see anything interesting on the drive.
If Darlene doesn't kill me out of boredom and annoyance, we ought to be alright...
Completed 62 hours of CPE in just two days. Pretty damn efficient! It's a good feeling to be done with it for another year...
Expert: Dell had one of 2004's biggest branding goofs
Dell Inc. committed one of the top 10 branding blunders of 2004, a branding expert says.
For its foray into digital music, Round Rock-based Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) ranked No. 9 on the blunder list released by Kelly O'Keefe, chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based brand consulting firm Emergence Inc.
O'Keefe says Dell had designs on competing with Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod when it introduced its DJ. The Dell DJ's late introduction hurt holiday sales last year, even though Dell priced the product to undercut the wildly popular iPod, he says.
This year has seen little marketing of the Dell DJ, while Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has increased its dominance in hard drive-based music players by 10 percent and now controls more than 90 percent of that market, according to O'Keefe.
"What's the point in trying to go head-to-head with the market leader if you're not certain you really want to?" O'Keefe says. "Belief is crucial to the brand, and Dell has shown little signs that it believes in this offering. So why should anyone else?"
Dell spokesman Venancio Figueroa says: "Since the introduction of the Dell DJ and Pocket DJ products, we have been pleased with our customers' response to the offerings. They are enjoying the style, storage and battery capacity, and value that we offer. In addition, Dell's music products are based on open standards, which allow customers to legally download music from a variety of music stores."
At the top of the blunder list is Mattel Inc.'s questionable marketing of its iconic Barbie doll, including the decision to have her dump longtime boyfriend Ken. Third-quarter sales for Barbie were off 13 percent, according to O'Keefe.
Clients of O'Keefe's firm include high-end retailer Bloomingdale's Inc., home improvement chain The Home Depot Inc. and athletic apparel maker Russell Corp.
© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.
Ship Endures
Troubled Waters
In Mexico
Saga of the Mary Nour, a Vessel Carrying
Cement, Illustrates Barriers to Competition
By JOHN LYONS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 14, 2004; Page A12
TAMPICO, Mexico -- In the five months since Captain Steinar Dahl steered his 34,000-ton vessel, the Mary Nour, into Mexican waters, he has received a rude welcome. His ship was denied entry into one port only to have its load impounded at a second.
The ruddy Norwegian has endured five onboard inspections, a blood test and a police interrogation amid accusations he may be smuggling guns, drugs or illegal immigrants.
The former head of Mexico's powerful spy agency has even interceded. Jorge Tello, who is now a senior executive at the world's third-largest cement maker, Cemex SA, alternated between pleading and making what a port official called "veiled threats" to keep the ship out of the port during a May 25 meeting, according to the port official's written summary of the meeting. Cemex confirms a meeting took place, but calls the summary "an inaccurate and imprecise account by one person."
Now, the ship and its cargo sit in a restricted berth in the Gulf Coast port of Altamira, immobilized by Mexican customs. What's especially striking about Captain Dahl's continuing nightmare is the mundane nature of his cargo: 26,000 tons of cement.
Cement, however, is serious business in Mexico. Two giants, Cemex SA and Holcim Apasco, the local unit of Zurich-based Holcim Ltd., dominate the market, where a metric ton of bagged cement often sells for more than in the U.S., and twice the price in China. As the saga of the Mary Nour shows, Mexico doesn't exactly roll out the red carpet when a rival steps on the turf of one of its most powerful firms.
Over the years, Monterrey-based Cemex has benefited from high prices at home to help fund an acquisition spree that turned a provincial producer into the biggest single cement maker in the U.S. Cemex recently agreed to pay $4.1 billion to buy the world's biggest concrete maker, Britain's RMC PLC.
Cemex is also aggressively seeking to export abroad. In the U.S., Cemex must pay steep "dumping" charges because domestic producers have persuaded the U.S. government that Cemex sells at below-market prices.
For Capt. Dahl, the Mary Nour's journey has provided a painful lesson about Latin America's biggest economy. Despite Mexico's many free-trade agreements, a chaotic legal system and weak institutions pose informal barriers to competition in key industries. Take telecommunications: Despite six years of deregulation, Mexico's Telefonos de Mexico SA still controls 95% of domestic phone lines and charges more per call than counterparts in the U.S. and Brazil. Two Mexican brewers control 98% of the domestic beer market.
"On a ship, you have rules and people follow them," says Capt. Dahl, 61, who for three decades has piloted cement in ships more than two football fields long. "In Mexico, it seems like they have the rules, but the rules can be bent so much that they have lost their meaning."
Cement-industry officials say they are within their rights to use legal means to protect their industry from what they consider to be unlawful competitors. They deny using any means other than legal to protect their business.
"I have to use all the legal means available to defend our rights," Cemex Chief Executive Lorenzo Zambrano said in a telephone interview.
The Mary Nour's troubled voyage began after CTI Group, a cement-trading company based in Amman, Jordan, paired up with former Cemex employees in Spain and Mexico to buy cheap cement and sell it in Mexico.
From the beginning, the group ran into trouble. The Mary Nour spent the first weeks of May meandering in the South China Sea as Indonesian and Taiwanese cement suppliers pulled out of deals to sell cement. Then, the Swiss cement broker that CTI had contracted to supply the ship with cement backed out, complaining of Cemex influence.
"We have been clearly advised" that the root cause for the refusal of suppliers in Indonesia and Taiwan to load the ship is "the intervention of Cemex," Transclear SA, the broker, informed CTI in a May 19 memo. Transclear officials confirmed the authenticity of the memo but declined to comment further. Cemex denies exerting influence to block the sales.
Capt. Dahl then set sail for a Russian cement plant on the Black Sea, after ordering radio silence on board the Mary Nour. He wanted to keep the new destination a secret amid a flurry of calls and e-mails from people claiming to be cement traders interested in buying the cement or chartering the vessel, and inquiring about his new course.
Meanwhile CTI's Mexican partners encountered roadblocks at home. In February, the Mexican cement producers' association -- dominated by Cemex and Holcim-Apasco -- refused to endorse their application for a cement importation license. So the group paid $90,000 to buy a small trucking company in northern Mexico that had such a license.
In late May, Mr. Tello, who is responsible for gathering information on international markets at Cemex, interrupted a routine meeting with Tampico port director Rafael Meseguer. He told the port director that his "personal prestige" would be damaged if the cement cargo discharged in Mexico, according to a summary of the meeting that Mr. Meseguer prepared the next day. Mr. Tello also suggested that Cemex's efforts to improve the traffic at the port would be curtailed if port officials allowed the boat to unload, according to the summary, which was prepared as a routine matter and addressed to senior Mexican maritime officials.
Mr. Meseguer said in an interview that he insisted that he couldn't legally impede the arrival of the cement ship. He was later fired, a move he blames on Cemex. Port officials say Mr. Meseguer was fired because of poor operating results in Tampico.
Shortly after that meeting, in early June, an anonymous call was made to authorities in Tampico, accusing CTI's Mexican partners of being a front for illegal narcotics, arms and immigrant traffickers. Tampico police arrested two of the investors. They were released after filing sworn affidavits that they aren't smugglers. No charges were filed.
In July as the Mary Nour sailed toward Mexico flush with Russian cement, Cemex obtained an injunction barring it from the port of Tampico. The judge granted the injunction even as senior port officials, including Mr. Meseguer, said the Cemex claims that the ship would block other ships at the port or cause an environmental hazard were unfounded. Months later, a higher court overturned the Cemex injunction, but by then the Mary Nour was long gone and battling a new wave of new legal attacks.
The day after Cemex filed for the injunction, an obscure local protest group began a letter and placard campaign to block the ship. Among their assertions: the ship's hull hides heavy industrial equipment that will superheat the surrounding river, killing fish.
Denied a berth in Tampico, Capt. Dahl invoked a 1920s international maritime treaty granting ships the right to enter ports to replenish fresh food and water. Harbormaster Marco Antonio Vinaza denied that request. Mr. Vinaza didn't respond to interview requests.
Stranded outside Tampico and short of water, the crew stopped showering and washing their clothes. Finally, port officials down the coast in Altamira offered the Mary Nour a berthing on July 25, the ship's log shows.
The cement association reacted by filing a complaint charging that the cement was being illegally imported. The ship's owners are awaiting a hearing date in the matter, which could be as soon as January. Mexican customs officials in Altamira, meantime, have immobilized the Mary Nour, preventing it from selling its cargo, charging that the ship improperly entered a port that isn't authorized to unload cement.
As the ship has waited for nearly five months, Capt. Dahl has complained that the delivery of water, food and services to the ship have been delayed. The crew has been able to secure only three-day shore passes, not the usual monthlong passes he says other crews receive. At one point, the ship's mainly Philippine sailors were required to undergo blood tests to prove they didn't have SARS, or special acute respiratory syndrome, a disease that swept parts of Asia last year. In September several crew members were robbed by six uniformed Altamira police officers while on shore leave, according to a criminal complaint filed with local authorities. No charges have been filed in the case.
The ship's owners say the lawsuits and harassment are part of a larger strategy to create a long-enough delay that the cement will begin to decay, losing the binding properties that make it a valuable building material and rendering the cargo worthless. The head of customs at Altamira port says that there are no obstacles which would impede the delivery of supplies to the ship, and that the customs department is simply upholding the law.
The clock is ticking for the owners of the Mary Nour. The binding properties of the ship's cement cargo start to decay after about six months. They say they are in too deep to turn back, and are fighting it out.
Write to John Lyons at john.lyons@wsj.com
Blockbuster Makes Resolution
For 2005: No More Late Fees
Associated Press
December 14, 2004 9:05 a.m.
DALLAS -- Blockbuster Inc., the nation's biggest movie-rental company, plans to eliminate late fees on games and movies as of Jan. 1.
Blockbuster announced Tuesday it will continue to set due dates, with one week for games and two days or one week for movies. But the company will give customers a one-week grace period at no additional charge, starting on New Year's Day.
Renters who want to keep movies or games longer can buy the products, less the rental fee. Or, Blockbuster says customers can return products within 30 days for credit to their accounts, with a restocking fee.
"Doing away with late fees is the biggest and most important customer benefit we've ever offered in our company's history," John Antioco, Blockbuster chairman and chief executive, said in a prepared statement. "So as of the first of the year, if our customers need an extra day or two with their movies and games, they can take it."
Officials of the Dallas-based company also said Tuesday they expect continued softness in the rental industry and flat operating income in 2005 compared with this year before the estimated $50 million costs of marketing and implementing the late-fee elimination policy.
Blockbuster said it has tested the new program in some markets and found increased rental transactions and retail sales offset the decline in revenue resulting from eliminating late fees.
For the full year 2005, the Company projects that late fees would have contributed approximately $250 million to $300 million to operating income. But it said that is expected to be offset by growth in revenues due to increased store traffic, less promotional and marketing activity and an increased focus on operating expense management.
Blockbuster has more than 4,500 company-operated and participating franchised stores in the U.S.
Copyright © 2004 Associated Press
Government Says Terrorists
Could Use Lasers to Blind Pilots
Associated Press
December 10, 2004 8:15 a.m.
WASHINGTON – Terrorists may seek to down aircraft by shining powerful lasers into cockpits to blind pilots during landing approaches, federal officials are warning in a bulletin distributed nationwide.
The memo sent by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Homeland Security Department says there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons, though there is no specific intelligence indicating al Qaeda or other groups might use lasers in the U.S.
"Although lasers are not proven methods of attack like improvised explosive devices and hijackings, terrorist groups overseas have expressed interest in using these devices against human sight," the memo said.
"In certain circumstances, if laser weapons adversely affect the eyesight of both pilot and co-pilot during a non-instrument approach, there is a risk of airliner crash," the agencies said.
In September, a pilot for Delta Air Lines reported an eye injury from a laser beam shone into the cockpit during a landing approach in Salt Lake City. The incident occurred about five miles from the airport. The plane landed safely. FBI and other federal officials are investigating. It isn't clear if a crime was committed or if the laser was directed into the cockpit by accident.
Steve Luckey, a retired airline pilot who is chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's national security committee, said pilots are concerned about a recent increase in laser incidents, but don't know what to make of them. He said he has learned of two or three cases in the past 90 days.
"The most recent incidents appear to be aimed at pilots in the vicinity of airports," Mr. Luckey said. "A few seem to be intentional, and we're wondering why and what's going on." Lasers can cause temporary blindness and severely damage the eye by burning the retina. The bulletin notes they are "relatively inexpensive, portable, easy to conceal and readily available on the open market."
Lasers are commonly used in a number of industries and are featured in outdoor light shows. A variety of more powerful military-grade lasers are produced around the world, but there is no evidence that terrorist groups have managed to obtain one, according to federal officials.
The bulletin was sent late last month to law enforcement officials and key government agencies and industries. A copy was obtained Thursday by the Associated Press.
Copyright (c) 2004 The Associated Press
I think this augurs him riding the Tour again if he's going to leave that decision until May. I don't think this means he intends to do the Giro, as that starts in late May. I really doubt he would try for the Vuelta. Looks like it's on for number seven. I don't think he has the stuff for the Classics...
Armstrong to decide in May on Tour de France
December 8, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Lance Armstrong will decide in May whether he will race in this summer's Tour de France, which he has won the last six years.
He said in Wednesday's Austin American-Statesman he will ride for another two years, but he's still unsure where to focus his 2005 schedule -- the European spring classics or Tour de France.
Armstrong's representatives did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press on Wednesday.
After winning his record sixth title in July, the Texan has said he plans to race in the Tour de France again, but he didn't commit to next year or 2006.
On Tuesday, Armstrong and his team finished a weeklong training camp riding in the Austin area.
``I've got a clear head. I'm chilled out. I'm relaxed,'' Armstrong said. ``I feel better than I have at other December camps.''
The team also plans a two-week camp in Solvang, Calif., starting Jan. 11. The squad, which has been sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service the past nine years, will become Team Discovery on Jan. 1. After the January camp, Armstrong and team manager Johan Bruyneel will decide on which spring classics to enter.
Armstrong will leave his Austin home in mid-March and spend six weeks in Europe racing. When he returns home in May, he'll decide on the Tour de France.
Armstrong has been criticized for bypassing other popular races to concentrate on cycling's biggest event. The races he did ride were picked specifically to help him train for France.
http://www.ironmanarizona.com/course.html
With only 500 vertical feet gain (per lap) on the bike and 300 vertical feet in the marathon, this ought to be one really fast course! I really don't have an excuse for not finishing the bike in less than five hours. Time to break out all the go-fast gear!
Good news is that I can train for this with a minimum of hill work, and the knee might therefore hold up.
We made the dangerous mistake of going out to "look" at pool tables because we had intended to purchase one early next year. We wanted to get a few ideas. Anyway, we purchased an 8' Brunswick Metro with navy felt. The felt is neat because it is treated with Teflon. The salesperson poured water on it and you could push it around like mercury. Pretty exciting. The only problem is that it won't be delivered and installed until the 30th. Now I have to pine away for it until then...
http://www.brunswick-billiards.com/brunswick_collection/tables/contemporary/metro_room.html
Lycos Pulls Anti-Spam 'Vigilante' Campaign
| Fri Dec 3,10:57 AM ET |
Ryan Naraine - eWEEK
Just days after Lycos Europe's launch of an anti-spam DDoS tool raised eyebrows in the security space, the company appears to have scrapped the campaign.
Earlier this week, the company released a downloadable screensaver programmed to launch distributed denial-of-service attacks against known spam sites, but the move sparked a shooting war with spammers and attracted condemnation from security researchers.
On Friday, Lycos Europe gave up the ghost, posting a "Stay Tuned" note on the MakeLoveNotSpam.com Web site it was using to distribute the screensaver. The Lycos Europe home page, which heavily promoted the screensaver all week, was also scrubbed clean of any references to the screensaver.
Company officials did not respond to requests for comment, but security experts were not mincing words.
"I find the anti-spam downloadable DDoS tool to be without a doubt irresponsible, possibly illegal, sets a really bad precedent, gives the wrong impression to users, and possibly the dumbest thing I have heard of this week," said Adrien de Beaupre, an incident handler with the SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC).
"I can summarize my thoughts into a single word. Dumb. With a capital 'D,'" de Beaupre told eWEEK.com.
Dan Goldberg, a senior security analyst with MADJiC Consulting Inc., described the Lycos Europe move as "vigilantism" and said the use of questionable tactics to deal with a security risk created more problems that it solved.
"In this case, it only causes traffic saturation. It's a noble gesture to fight back against spammers, but when you try to take down a spam site, a lot of innocent people get caught in the crossfire. As a big company, Lycos has to be more responsible than that," Goldberg said.
Evidence of a shooting war in cyberspace was uncovered by anti-virus vendor F-Secure. The company reported that one of the spam sites under attack by the Lycos screensaver simply added a Meta Refresh tag that redirected all incoming traffic back to Lycos.
"As an end result, depending on how the Lycos client works, the screen savers downloaded from MakeLoveNotSpam.com might be attacking the download site itself," F-Secure said in a notice.
Although the Lycos site is no longer offering the screensaver, MADJiC Consulting's Goldberg says it's likely the DDoS attacks against the spammers will continue for some time.
"The software is out there. People have downloaded it and shared it with their friends and family. It's being used and will continue to be used," he said.
How NOT to dress for work
By Maria Puente,
She was young and ambitious, and she wanted to make an impression on her first day as an administrative staffer at a
The guys at the firm noticed.
"It did seem sort of strange," says Anthony Poon, principal architect and founder of Poon Design Group, one of those hip firms where creativity and pizazz are admired.
But not too much pizazz.
"We have a bunch of creative people here, and they're not wearing navy suits and white shirts," Poon says. "But we do have clients we can't alienate. So there's a balance of expressing creative flair and also being professional."
Ah, yes, finding that balance. These days, scores of young workers are seeking answers to the age-old question: What do I wear to work? So many workers and workplaces are in such a muddle over this that a growing band of consultants has appeared to help them clean up.
"It has gotten so crazy, a major pharmaceutical company called up and said, 'Help! People are wearing spandex to work!' " says Gail Madison, a Philadelphia-area etiquette and protocol consultant who regularly advises students at prestigious colleges that it won't kill them to take out their nose rings before a job interview.
"They say, 'I'm not going to be someone I'm not,' "
It's fair to say it was ever thus: Cranky oldsters have always harrumphed about "those kids" who show up for work dressed like slobs or sluts. Yet these days it really does seem to many - young, old and not all cranky - that a lot of newcomers to the workforce are either completely unaware or outright defiant about what is appropriate attire for the office.
"There's a deep narcissism in this generation," says Kelly Lowe, an English and American Studies professor at
Meanwhile, the economic downturn is driving increased wardrobe conservatism, prompting workplaces to move away from the "business casual" dress codes instituted in the 1990s back to "business formal."
For men, that usually means a tie and at least a sport coat. For women, well, that can get tricky. As a result, businesses find themselves laboring (with their consultants) to write new or more explicit dress codes, spelling out exactly how many ear piercings are allowed and what does "dressy dress" mean, anyway?
Discussing what's appropriate
Then there's the even trickier business of enforcement. How does a middle-aged male manager tell a young, nubile employee that flouncing about with an exposed belly is just not OK - without embarrassment, misunderstandings or really bad legal trouble?
So, yes, there's lots of confusion out there, and not just among the young and inexperienced. Listen to some of the voices from workplaces around the
• "A woman, and not a young one, wore yoga-type pants, a baggy T-shirt and slippers to my office. And not those semi-trendy Chinese beaded slippers, but terrycloth-type scuff slippers," says Dana Marsh, 35, a software company employee outside
• "Our receptionist comes to work dressed for a night on the town, in tight pants, low-cut tops, short, short skirts," says Taresa Mikle, 29, a university business manager in Houston. "When I spoke to her, she flat-out said that since she had it, she was going to flaunt it. She said she couldn't help it if the older, 'fatter' co-workers couldn't deal with her body."
| | |
• A young woman arrived for her job interview "wearing a short, short sundress, looked completely sunburned and windblown, had on a raggedy backpack and Birkenstock sandals. For an interview. When I interviewed, I wore a suit and tie and I combed my hair," says Chris Massey, 24, who works at an advertising agency in
• "Oy vey! I know of a recent graduate who showed up for an interview at a doctor's office wearing club clothes," complete with fishnet stockings and stiletto-heel boots, says Jenny Skinner, 36, who works in finance in
"After this girl's interview, the doctor phoned the school to say he would no longer accept interviews from their new graduates."
Making the transition
Yikes. All of this leads to another age-old question: What were these people thinking?
Actually, experts say, the problem may be just that: They weren't thinking. Many have spent the previous four or five years in college happily dressing like slobs. Once they graduate, they don't have professional wardrobes, or the money to assemble one quickly, even if they know what to buy.
"Look at guys in college - they've got pierced ears, gel-spiked hair, goatees, urban, flashy clothes, baggy jeans, big boots, unironed shirts, lint, stains, nothing matches," says Jared Shapiro, co-author of Going Corporate: Moving Up Without Screwing Up, a survival manual for the young and clueless. "In the corporate world, you have to dress like your boss, or the people above your boss."
At Wingate (N.C.) University, a 1,500-student Christian school outside
"We have a lot of students who don't understand either business casual or business formal," says Stacey Harris, a university orientation official. "Even for a formal event on campus, they'll show up in a skirt but a really, really short skirt. It's ridiculous."
For some young people, it's not ridiculous, it's who they are. For their baby-boomer parents, "being themselves" probably meant wearing their hair long; for this generation, it might be shaved heads and lots of tattoos.
"There is this attitude of, 'This is how I am, take it or leave it,' " says Jennifer Bosk, director of alumni relations at the joint campus of
"I wish there was a college course on how getting ahead doesn't depend just on how smart or good you are - it's partly playing the game and looking the part. But it doesn't seem to matter to this group."
That attitude won't do in the current take-no-prisoners economy. "Today's world is very competitive. Getting and keeping a job is tough," says Kim Johnson Gross, co-author of several Dress Smart books. "It's not about you and your rights, it's about you representing a company and the brand culture of that company. It's about your clothes getting in the way of your message."
So cosmetics makers are responding with products such as heavy spray-on makeup to temporarily cover tattoos during the workday. And at Indiana-Purdue, the career counseling and alumni departments recently organized a sold-out dinner at a local restaurant to introduce graduating students to the niceties of business dress and dining.
"They see that this fork is for that, don't drink from the finger bowl, how to eat French onion soup," Bosk says. "We'll be throwing them a lot of curves so they can learn how to handle a real job interview if it's done over dinner."
Advice can come from a variety of sources. When the
When Tierney Communications, a downtown
Deciding what's offensive
At nearby Wharton, the
"They've spent years in an academic environment where success is predicated on how well they test, but now they're going to be judged on how they present themselves,"
Of course, no one wants to return to the silly old days when women could be chastised - or even banned from the U.S. Senate floor - for wearing a pantsuit. But many people say the pendulum has swung too far.
Mary Lou Andre, an image consultant and author (Ready to Wear: An Expert's Guide to Choosing and Using Your Wardrobe), helps her corporate clients understand the effect of wardrobes on their communications and their bottom line. "I always say: more skin, less power."
Once, she saw a young woman in a
Even businesses that prize a cool look, such as Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, a chain of 38 boutique hotels and eateries, agonize over these questions. Kimpton hired Andre to help them spell out to employees what is and is not appropriate.
"Twenty years ago, I used to get upset because the uniformed employee was wearing black pants and shoes with white socks, or the shoes weren't shined enough, and did they shave today," says Niki Leondakis, Kimpton chief operating officer. "Today, he might show up with a tongue piercing and exposed tattoos.
"At what point is that just part of the culture and people are used to seeing it, and at what point is that offensive to the consumer?"
Young people who treasure their Goth look are just going to have to suck it up and go unGoth - or work in a record store, because the rest of the American working world is, as the current saying goes, "just not that into you" anymore.
"Please. What's the big deal about putting on a tie? Or having only one piercing in each ear?" Gail Madison demands. "You can't go to
Last night I tried running on the road for the first time in about eight weeks. I've been steadily building mileage on the track so the knee could get used to the miles without aggravating the IT band by inducing hills. In Austin, about the only way you can get away from the hills is to run on the track. Having hit the six mile mark and growing weary of turning circles, I headed out on the neighborhood streets last night.
After a couple steep hills and six miles at an 8 minute pace, I returned home pain free! Not taking any chances, I've been popping Advil and icing after every run, but things are looking good. Next week I'll try running with the group again.
"It's time we gave the American people the chance to make some real money for retirement," Bush said, speaking from the new Office of Social Security and Pari-mutuel Wagering Building. "Some naysayers think the average citizen doesn't know how to handle his own money. When spring training starts next year, it's up to you to prove them wrong."
"It's your money," Bush added. "You earned it. You should be able to bet it on whatever team you want."
Under the new plan, participating citizens will be asked to list their favorite teams on their W-2 forms. At the start of each major sports season, program participants will visit their local Social Security booking offices to review point spreads and sample playoff trees. Citizens' team selections will be subject to approval by their employers, who contribute a percentage of wages to the employee Social Security Earned Benefits Fund, or "pot," under the new system.
"For too long, Social Security has been managed by an elite group of government accountants and economists," said U.S. Sen. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a longtime advocate of Social Security reform and athletics-based gambling. "Why let your retirement money sit around in an account when you could double or triple it in a single year? Under the new plan, anyone with access to a sports page can control his financial destiny."
Added Ryan: "Assuming, of course, that Favre keeps a lid on those turnovers next season."
Many in Congress praised the bipartisan Social Security Athletic Wagering Commission for "developing a system with favorable odds" for America's taxpayers.
"The risk is greater, but so are the potential payouts," said commission member U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), who has long argued that sporting organizations have higher standards of oversight, accountability, and strategic transparency than the federal government. "Why, a Boston-area resident who placed 2 percent of his lifetime earnings on the Patriots or the Red Sox this year would have tens of thousands of dollars in his retirement fund. That's a lot of squeeze, even after taxes."
Reid refused to comment on the potential financial losses of a Brooklyn mother of three who bet the Mets, Knicks, Jets, or Giants during the past 10 years.
"Not everyone likes pouring money into a long-term account month after month, motivated only by the promise of a solid future," newly appointed Social Security and Pari-mutuel Wagering chief Demitri "The Greek" Kannapolis said. "Now, citizens will be able to see their Social Security system working every time they flip through the sports pages. It'll make the games more fun, too, because there'll be more riding on them."
Several members of Congress have criticized the plan.
"While we do need to restructure our Social Security system, this isn't the way to do it," U.S. Rep. Bob Matsui (D-CA) said. "Statistics show that certain groups of people—women below the poverty line, for example—don't care about sports. I support an addition to the plan that will allow citizens who don't follow professional athletics to put a portion of their SSI payout into lottery tickets."
"Everyone deserves a chance at realizing the American dream, whether they like to follow the Rams or the PowerBall picks," Matsui added.
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) dismissed critics who contend that the plan will cause a $2 trillion shortfall in the current funds being paid out to seniors.
"People can nitpick all they want, but there's a lot of money to be made if you take the time to do a little research," Santorum said. "Just look at this football season. With the Steelers leading the AFC North and the Eagles leading the NFC East, people in my state might have benefited handsomely from an opportunity like this."
Added Santorum: "Sure, we're risking a couple trillion, but I got a feeling people are gonna double that money when baseball season comes around, no problem."
Moving to Arizona
May 30th: Just moved to Arizona. Now this is a state that knows how to live! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! It is beautiful. I've
found my home. I love it here.
June 14th: Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car, What a pleasure to see the sun
everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.
June 30th: Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawn for me. Another scorcher today but I love it here.
July 10th: The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least it is windy though. But getting used to the heat
is taking longer then I expected.
July 15th: Fell asleep by the community pool. Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson
though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.
July 20th: I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the
size of a shopping bag and stank up the upholstery. The car now smells like Kibbles and shits. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.
July 25th: The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer! And it's hot as hell! The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged me $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.
July 30th: Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now. $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Why did I ever come here?
Aug. 4th: It's 115 degrees. Finally got the AC fixed today. It cost me $500 and gets the temperature down to 85 degrees I hate this stupid state.
Aug. 8th: If another wise ass cracks "Hot enough for you today?" I am going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work the radiator is boiling over,
my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!
Aug. 9th: Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when I sat on the seats in the car I thought my ass was on fire. I lost 2 layers flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass and baked cat.
Aug. 10th: The weather report might as well be a recording. Hot and sunny, Hot and sunny, Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do shit for 2 damn months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn desert? Water rationing will be next. So my $11,700 worth of cactus will dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this damn heat.
Aug 14th: Welcome to Hell! Temperature got to 120 today Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix
it and said " Hot enough for you today?' My sister had to spend $1500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Arizona. What kind of sick demented idiot would want to live here? Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.
Landscape Architects:
Deer Are Designing
Future Look of Forests
Abundant Whitetails Munch
Through the Underbrush;
'Like the Serengeti Plain'
By JAMES P. STERBA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 1, 2004; Page A1
MILLERTON, N.Y. -- The deer rose out of a distant swamp before dawn to browse in a hay field on a recent day. Then, as the sun came up, they made their way into a hillside forest, looking for concealment.
But the forest offered few hiding places. It has lots of tall, mature conifers and hardwoods, some 100 years old. Under them, virtually nothing grows -- no seedlings, no saplings, no bushes, and only a few ferns. The floor of this forest, like others around the country, has been stripped clean by whitetail deer.
It's deer-hunting season across the land -- a time when Americans are reminded that bountiful whitetails have their costs. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said earlier this month that animal-vehicle crashes, mostly involving deer, killed more than 200 people last year and caused an estimated $1 billion-plus in property damage. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says deer cause more than $400 million in yearly crop damage, not including home gardens and ornamental shrubbery.
But below the radar of most people, whitetails have been eating their way toward a more lasting legacy: They are wreaking ecological havoc in forests across the nation. They have become de facto forest managers, determining today what many forests will look like 100 years from now, say forest experts.
"Deer have stopped the regeneration of our forests in many areas," says Peter Pinchot, a Yale-educated director of the 1,400-acre Milford Experimental Forest on the Poconos Plateau in Pennsylvania. That means little trees aren't growing up to eventually replace big trees.
Example: oaks. Deer love acorns. Surviving acorns sprout seedlings. Deer love them, too. Surviving seedlings become saplings. Deer strip them of leaves and bark. They die. Result: no young oaks. Deer also love hickory and white ash, and eschew black birch, American beech and black locust. If they get hungry enough, they'll eat almost anything, and their victims aren't just trees.
The ground-level vegetation of the forest "has been severely degraded by over-browsing in many regions, eradicating critical habitat for many plants and birds," Mr. Pinchot says.
Gary Alt, Pennsylvania's chief deer biologist, says that allowing deer to multiply beyond the point where forests can replenish themselves, "has been the biggest mistake in the history of wildlife management." He calls it "malpractice."
Ironically, it was Mr. Pinchot's grandfather, Gifford Pinchot, who helped bring back whitetail deer a century ago. As the first director of the U.S. Forest Service, he helped pioneer a conservation movement to save forests and restore species of birds and animals all but wiped out by commercial hunters. When he took over the job in 1898, the whitetail population was no more than 500,000 nationwide.
Pennsylvania had fewer than 600 deer. Restocking began in 1906 with deer brought in by rail from Wisconsin, Michigan and West Virginia. With hunting restrictions, the herd grew back quickly. By 1917, Pennsylvania was the too-many-deer poster boy. Hunters loved it. Foresters hated it. Today, Pennsylvania has an estimated 1.6 million whitetails.
"If Gifford Pinchot could see what deer have done to our forests, he'd roll over in his grave," says Bryon P. Shissler, a wildlife biologist in Pennsylvania who consults on deer issues.
Nationally, whitetail population estimates range from 20 million to 33 million -- more than when Columbus arrived five centuries ago, wildlife historians believe. That's way too many deer to allow forests to regain their health and diversity, says Peter Pinchot.
"You walk through the woods of central Wisconsin, where I live, look at the understory and there's nothing there," says Robert Wegner, a historian who has written a dozen books on deer and deer-hunting.
Not only is the deer population out of control, the management model of control "is broken," he says. "Deer density is increasing. Hunter density is decreasing. Hunters are aging -- we're losing 75,000 a year. Mentors [to recruit young hunters] are going. We're pretty much headed for a train wreck."
Animal-rights groups such as the Washington, D.C.-based Fund for Animals applaud hunting's decline. That group wants hunting outlawed, and advocates non-lethal methods, such as birth control, to decrease deer overpopulations. But birth control, so far, doesn't really work, say most wildlife managers.
A general rule of thumb among deer biologists is that hunters need to kill 35% to 45% of the females annually to stabilize the population. But in most places, they aren't killing even half that percentage, according to state tallies.
Who's to blame for the whitetail population boom? Hunters, mainly. But, increasingly, non-hunters and anti-hunters are sharing the blame.
For decades, says Mr. Alt, the Pennsylvania biologist, vocal hunters have pressured state wildlife managers to maximize deer populations. Many still do. State wildlife agencies, which collect income from the sale of hunting licenses, obliged by restricting hunting-season lengths and the number of deer a hunter could kill.
By the 1930s, most states had adopted rules banning the killing of does. Bucks are serial breeders, so more females mean more fawns and a bigger herd. These so-called buck laws became a part of the deer-hunter creed.
Now states are pushing doe killing to create smaller, healthier herds, but many older hunters are loath to kill females. When Pennsylvania put more than a million doe-killing permits up for sale this year, one group of hunters, the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, launched a "Stop the Slaughter" boycott. Doe killing, they argue, is causing deer shortages -- a notion the state disputes.
In recent years, states have lengthened hunting seasons, increased the number of deer each hunter can kill and made it easier to get "nuisance" permits, which allow farmers to kill deer causing damage anytime. Southern South Carolina's lengthened season, for example, opens on Aug. 15 and closes Jan. 1. Hunters can kill as many bucks as they want, and doe permits are easy to get. Still, by most accounts, the state's whitetail population is growing.
Several states make hunters "earn a buck" -- meaning they have to kill a doe before they are able to kill a buck. And they can essentially buy as many deer-killing permits as they want. But most hunters hunt for meat, says Mr. Wegner, and once the freezer's full, their incentive wanes. Selling wild game is illegal. Programs in which hunters donate deer to food pantries for the needy have expanded, but not enough, he says.
Many of those who live in the forested sprawl tend to be relative newcomers to the countryside, second or third-generation suburbanites who now own hobby farms, weekend homes, or houses in developments in once-rural areas. Some believe hunting is unsafe or inhumane, and post "No Hunting" signs on their property or push local governments to adopt anti-hunting regulations. This turns large patches of the landscape into deer sanctuaries. Deer love exurbs, where forest meets garden, with no predators and delicious ornamental shrubbery.
"They know where the safety zone is," says Mr. Pinchot. Some studies show that in deep forest, coyotes and bears kill half the fawns, he says. But man has long been the deer's chief predator. With exurban sprawl, a big threat now is likely to be the family SUV.
Depending on the landscape, deer densities of 10 to 15 per square mile can harm wildflowers and nesting birds, according to Audubon Pennsylvania, a conservation group. Tree regeneration may be possible at densities of 18 to 20 per square mile, it says. But in many parts of Pennsylvania, and across the nation, whitetail densities can exceed 70 per square mile.
Concerned about bird species being threatened because deer are eating their habitat, an Audubon center in Greenwich, Conn., invited in bow hunters last year. Worried about its forest damage, Illinois has opened 10 of its 319 nature preserves to deer hunting.
For 50 years, until 1991, the forest around Quabbin Reservoir in western Massachusetts was a 58,000-acre sanctuary: no hunting. Deer populations grew to 70 per square mile. Nothing much grew below the trees.
"It looked like the Serengeti Plain, with herds of deer running around like antelopes," says David Kittredge, a forester at the University of Massachusetts. The forest ecology around the reservoir was so degraded that the drinking water of 2.5 million residents was deemed to be at risk.
Hunters killed 575 deer around the reservoir in the initial 1991 hunt, and annual hunts since have brought the deer herd down to 10 to 12 per square mile. The forest understory made a comeback. Deer still eat some seedlings but not enough to thwart regeneration. Quabbin became a deer-management model adopted by many nature preserves.
Michael S. Scheibel, natural-resources manager at the 2,039-acre Mashomack Preserve, on Shelter Island in New York, is trying to protect one of the last oak-hickory and oak-beech forests on the Atlantic coast from deer. The preserve has been owned by the Nature Conservancy since 1980. Each January, hunters kill 100 to 150 whitetails. But after five years, he's seeing "very little, if any, forest regeneration."
One problem is that deer swim freely to Shelter Island from nearby Long Island, a giant suburb full of lush habitat, and anti-hunting zones. North Haven, an exclusive village on Long Island, declared a "deer emergency" in 1997, and since then residents have put up enough eight-foot-high wire-mesh fences to make some neighborhoods look like prison camps.
Mr. Scheibel, who manages the Mashomack Preserve, is thinking about other options: applying for nuisance permits to cull more deer, for starters. "I really feel that with traditional hunting we're not able to control the herd," he says.
Increasingly, professional hunting teams are hired to kill deer at taxpayer expense. This usually happens after battles between local factions for and against killing deer. "Market hunting is still taboo, but we talk about it," says Mr. Shissler, the wildlife biologist and consultant. Market hunting -- allowing commercial deer-killing and the sale of wild venison -- has been outlawed since early in the last century.
Dell sees 60 percent rise in Web site's holiday shoppers
Central Texas malls and retail stores aren't the only businesses thankful for increased consumer traffic during the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Round Rock-based Dell Inc. is also singing the praises of American consumers.
From Thursday, Nov. 25 through Sunday, Nov. 28, the computer giant's U.S. consumer business Web site got more than 3.3 million visits from shoppers -- more than a 60 percent increase over the same four-day period in 2003.
John Hamlin, senior vice president of Dell's U.S. Consumer business says the upswing can be attributed to three factors: the convenience of shopping from home, prices reductions on Dell's products and the addition of new consumer electronics like plasma televisions, photo printers and Dell Pocket DJ music players.
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) is one of Central Texas' fastest-growing companies, reporting a 2003 revenue of $41.4 billion. The company employs about 16,000 people in Central Texas.
© 2004 American City Business Journals Inc.
I looked at the routes to Boise today through a couple other driving directions sites today to compare southern routes. The suggested route from MapQuest had us heading due north until Kansas and then banking left through Denver, Salt Lake City, and on to Boise. This looked kinda like going around your ass to get to your elbow, as the route through Amarillo, Santa Fe, Denver, SLC seemed more direct when I looked at the map.
I looked on a couple other travel map sites and they all suggested the same route. The last one actually provided the eureka info we were looking for. The route makes sense because it is all on interstates, and it has the fewest number of mountain passes. I thought one of the more southern routes might be better, but it looks like those are pretty mountainous, and would be over less-maintained roads.
It looks like it is pretty flat until just before Denver and you only have to cross a couple mountain passes, one in Denver, and another in Salt Lake City. The odds of those interstates being plowed regularly are good, and we will probably have an easier time finding roadside services and cell phone coverage.
Darlene and I were talking about what would be involved in taking Sheila's new car to her. Darlene had planned on driving it up to Denver either next weekend or the weekend after, then flying back. It would be about 1100 miles to Denver and then a one-way plane ticket. I am not too keen about sending my cute, young, blonde wife on a two-day drive across a number of states by herself, so that got me into the frame. Quickly, this is looking like $1000 in plane tickets, and a weekend blown. That means no training during this time as well.
I formulated a new plan that we are kicking around. Instead of doing the weekend banzai run, why not just drive it up when we head there for Christmas, then use the back half of our already-purchased round trip tickets to get home. Sounds like a lot of driving...and it is! 1900 miles; 29 hours, according to MapQuest. Assuming the weather is good…
We will talk about it more, but we would probably try to break it up into two fourteen-hour days. We will need to come up with some car games and some books on tape...
There is a nifty feature on the heart rate monitor Darlene bought me recently called the OwnOptimizer. It adds a little more science to something I've been trying to track in a much less sophisticated manner using a stopwatch and how I feel. By measuring (with a stopwatch) my HR laying down, then standing up, and determining if the delta is larger than my baseline difference of 8 beats per minute.
Now, the OwnOptimizer test tells me whether I have recovered enough for my next training session, without me having to guess and interpret. The OwnOptimizer recovery test is an easy and reliable way to determine whether my training program is optimally developing my performance. Training too easy doesn't get you to the level of fitness you need if you want to compete, and overtraining is worse because you are more susceptible to injury and you're not getting any faster. In order to do it right, you need to stress your body and let it adapt through recovery. The balancing act is to overload your body enough to force physiological change, but not so much that you damage it beyond it's ability to recover, or spend so much time training that you don't allow it to recover.
Many athletes agonize over the right balance, but more importantly, identifying when they've overdone it. The dead giveaways are chronic fatigue, chronic illness, injury, depression, or elevated heart rate (per my primitive test first described). The problem with the unscientific test is that these symptoms become apparent over an extended period of time and require lots of recovery. This new test allows me to run it a couple time a week, and make immediate corrections.
It measures five different parameters during a six-minute test (still laying and standing). It keys on resting HR, standing HR at peak, standing HR at base, HR min and HR max, and the time it takes to vacillate between the extremes. It returns a 1-5 result signifying (1) well rested, (2) recovered from last session and ready to hit it again, (3) need to train easy today to allow for recovery, (4) you've been well rested for a while, so you need to pick it up some, or (5) you have been training too hard and need to take a couple days off entirely to recover.
Since I've been building a low-intensity base to start off my new training season, I have expected it to provide a baseline of 2 readings. To be expected because I haven't been hitting the workouts very hard, just going to a very long time. I have been racking up lots of 2s over the last three weeks. I figured the measurement this morning after yesterdays 90-mile ride would probably yield a 3, but I got the spur in the form of a 4.
"Hey you slacker, you need to do some training."
So, looks like I have a significant base built and can start to try to adapt some of those type IIb muscle fibers into type IIa through higher intensity workouts. Looking forward to injecting a little more pace...
Spitzer: Dell employees affected by improper insurance practices
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has sued a California consulting firm specializing in life, accident and disability insurance, alleging that the company steered business to insurers in exchange for payoffs -- a practice that may have raised premiums for individual employees.
The action against San Diego-based Universal Life Resources Inc. is part of Spitzer's ongoing investigation into fraud and anti-competitive practices in the insurance industry. The investigation has already led to a civil suit against Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., and the criminal pleas of three insurance company executives.
Universal Life Resources clients include: Round Rock-based Dell Inc.(Nasdaq: DELL), Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) and Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS).
Also Friday, the New York deparment of insurance issued citations against Universal Life for violations of state insurance law.
"Today's case demonstrates that the corrupt practices first laid bare in the Marsh suit are present in additional sectors of the industry," Spitzer said. "Secret payoffs and conflicts of interest that infected the market for property and casualty insurance have taken root in the employee benefits market as well. What is particularly egregious in this case is that the costs of (Universal Life Resources') concealed payments were ultimately borne by individual employees, who were in no position to know about or contest these illegal practices."
The civil complaint filed Nov. 12 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan alleges that Universal Life Resources had undisclosed agreements with some of the country's largest life insurance companies, including MetLife, Prudential and Unum Provident, under which millions of dollars were paid to Universal Life Resources in exchange for steering the business of its clients. Further, the complaint alleges that Universal Life Resources imposed secret fees for "communication services," such as printing of informational materials, which were far above market rate and which employees ultimately paid through higher premiums. These payments accounted for more than two-thirds of Universal Life Resources' revenue in 2003.
