We now have a spell checker on the blog.  Or, at least, it appears that we have a spell checker on the blog.  Ok, ok, I’ll admit it; I have no idea how we got a spell checker on the blog.  But, apparently, sometime this week, the blog started spell checking.  Now, every time I make a spelling mistake, a squiggly red line appears under the word.  Isn’t technology wonderful!

When I first set up the blog, I noted that a spell checker would be nice, not only for me but also for others who post on the blog.  So, I went out to the Word Press (free blog program) web site to look for a spell checker.  The Word Press people did not have a spell checker but they did list several sites that offered free spell checkers for Word Press.

Following the Word Press directions, I down loaded the program to my PC.  From there I uploaded the program to the Word Press plug-in folder.  I then went to the plug-in tab on my blog so that I could activate the program.  But, when I opened the plug-in tab on my blog, the spell check plug-in was not there.  Hum.

I rechecked the directions and made sure that it was in the right folder, but the spell checker still didn’t work.  Noting that life is too short and that I can always paste to the blog from my PC which has a spell checker, I declared the spell checker to be an issue for a cold Saturday this winter.  But, now the spell checker works!

I know I should be happy but I am not.  Am I a chronic malcontent?  Perhaps.  But more to the point, there is a new version of Word Press that has just been released.  However, in order to upgrade, you have to disable all of your active plug-ins, including spell checker.  But since I never figured out how to enable spell checker in the first place, I certainly don’t have the slightest idea as to how to disable it so that I can upgrade.  Bah!

One of the things that state government does really well is make org charts.  And if my department is indicative of the rest of the state, I would say that there are those in state government who have dedicated half of their careers to creating org charts.

A new official org chart came out the other day and like all of the previous official org charts, the staff looked over the org chart and tried to determine what was different from the old org chart.  Official org charts tend to be more of an exercise in Power Point than an actual useful document.  Just because the official org chart shows you reporting to someone, that doesn’t mean that you actually report to that person.

For example, on the official org chart, I report directly to the Director.  In reality, I report to one of the managers who reports to the Director.  And the manager, on occasion, assigns me to a subordinate.  In short, the official org chart does not represent reality.

So, you might ask, “Why not put out an org chart that represents reality?”  Well, we also have an org chart that represents reality.  It is called the unofficial org chart.  The official org chart is what we present to Civil Service.  The unofficial org chart is how we operate.

The main problem is with Civil Service.  Civil Service has their own rules and regulations for job classifications and organizational structures.  According to Civil Service, my job classification is at too high of a level to report to a manager.  Therefore, I  report to the Director.  However, the Director does not know what I do and doesn’t really want to know what I do.  So, on the official org chart I report to him and on the unofficial org chart I report to a manager.

On the official org chart, a subordinate may report to his manager.  On the unofficial org chart, the manager may report to his subordinate.  If all of this has you confused, try working here.

So what good are org charts?  I will tell you.  I few months back I read an article which claimed that you should never eat lunch on your office desk because it is full of germs.   Well, since I spend my lunch hour blogging, I need to eat lunch on my desk.  So, in order to combat germs, I have found that org charts make dandy placemats.  😉

On the corner of a busy intersection in Lansing, stands a small white cross. The cross itself has a name inscribed on it in small black letters. And on the ground around the cross are several bouquets of artificial flowers. Every day, I pass this spot on my way to work in the morning. And I was there right after it happened.

A minivan had entered the intersection on a green light but got broadsided on the drivers side by someone running a red light. The impact was so forceful that it rolled the minivan over onto the very spot where the cross resides. The driver was dead at the scene.

People in Lansing have the habit of running red lights. Instead of coming to a stop when the light turns yellow, they floor it in a effort to get to the other side. Sometimes they make it through on the yellow, sometimes they make it through on the red but sometimes the light turns red before they even enter the intersection. And they are further encouraged by the fact that most signals now days have a two second delayed green, giving them a little extra time to get through the intersection.

Now, these light runners are hedging on the fact that even if the light turns red, they will still have enough time to get through the intersection. Why? Because the cross traffic is at a dead stop and it will take it a few seconds to get started; at least long enough for the light runners to clear the intersection. But in order for this to work, all cross traffic has to be at a dead stop. Unfortunately, on that day, that was not the case.

Two of the three lanes were full of stopped traffic that morning. They were all going to proceed through the intersection and make left turns in the two left turn lanes of the next intersection. The third lane was empty. The light runner had anticipated that all cross traffic would be stopped, allowing him that extra few seconds to clear the intersection. This was not the case.

The empty third lane was great for the minivan driver as he was headed for the gas station just beyond the second intersection. As he approached the intersection, the light turned green and he proceeded thought without having to slow down. A moment later, he was dead.

Thirty years ago, a friend of mine was killed in Lansing under similar circumstances. He was only 19.

When you drive in Lansing, do not assume that you have the right of way just because the light is green. You have to look before proceeding because people in Lansing regularly run red lights.

As I have said in the past, I have a love/hate relationship with Meijer’s ( regional grocery chain). I love their selection and the fact that they are close, about 3 miles away. But, I really hate the fact that there is no consistency in their inventory. Just because they have an item on the shelf today doesn’t mean that they won’t be out of stock next week. So in short, you can’t depend on them to have what you need when you need it.

Their slogan is “a single store, a million reasons.” I think that they should change it to “a single store, a million excuses.” Or perhaps they should change their “just in time” delivery system to “better late than never”.

But I do have to give our local Meijer’s store credit, they have never run out of fresh artichokes. Asparagus, green beans and even romaine disappear from time to time but I can always count on finding fresh artichokes.

Of course, I do wonder just how many artichokes they sell particularly here in Lowell. Lowell is just not the type of community to eat a lot of artichokes. I have purchase artichokes from time to time hoping that a new recipe that I found might yield a tasty artichoke. So far, no.

But even the checkout people are not that familiar with artichokes. Invariably they will grab them like they are grabbing a potato only to discover that those leaves have sharp barbs.

I think that artichokes and eggplant fall into the same category; if you put enough other stuff with them, they are quite tasty.

Kathy and I had been looking at replacing our refrigerator. The old one was having problems and it was not large enough to meet our needs. We had looked around for several months and had pretty much decided on a particular brand and model of side by side with the water and ice dispenser in the door.

One day, I was in Best Buys when I spotted the very frig that we had in mind on sale for 20 % off. Excited about this, I asked the clerk about the frig. He told me that there was only one for sale at that price. When I asked why, he said that it was an out of box. He went on to explain that the frig had been delivered, un-boxed and then returned, probably because it didn’t fit.

I knew that it would fit in out spot because I had already measured for that size frig. So I called Kathy and asked for her opinion on the purchase. She gave me the green light and I said yes to the sales person.

We processed all of the paper work and I handed the clerk my Discover card. He proceeded to run in through the machine. A moment later, he announced that the card was invalid. How could that be? I never carry a balance on Discover because of the high interest rates but I do enjoy getting those cash back awards. Disappointed, I handed him my Visa card.

When I returned home, there was a message on the answering machine from Discover Security asking me to call an 800 number right away. When I called, they first asked me for my card number and I gave it to them. They then told me that the card had been rejected for security reason when I tried to use it at Best Buys. Then they asked for my SS# and my address for further verification and I also gave that to them. They then told me that they were going to issue me a new card with a different account number and that I should be receiving it in the mail in the next three days.

Well, this whole thing made me very uncomfortable. Were it not for the fact that they knew my telephone number and where I was shopping, I would have put the whole thing in the category of phishing.

I can appreciate Discovers concern for making sure I am who I am, but how do I know that I am really talking to Discover? After all, I had to give them my card number, my address and my SS#. But what did they give me? Only an 800 number, my phone number and the knowledge of my last purchase attempt.

I did receive a new card in three days, as promised, but I still wonder if the whole thing was really on the up and up. It has been a couple of years and I haven’t had any problems yet so we’ll see.

I was listening to the radio this morning and noted a couple of ads that were in conflict with each other. The first was from the Michigan Department of Community Health. It warned of the dangers of gambling. The second ad was from the Lottery Commission. It was encouraging the public to buy lottery tickets. This struck me as a conflict in interest so I had to wonder.

Maybe the state considers the lottery to be OK since it is the state that is receiving the money. Maybe the state considers the lottery to be a fun way to raise money. With the lottery you have a chance to winning. Not so with taxes.

Perhaps the state doesn’t consider the lottery to be gambling. After all, every gas station and convenience store sells lottery tickets where as real gambling is only found at licensed casinos. And I guess, while not impossible, it would be very hard to blow your life savings on $1.00 lottery tickets unless of course your life saving consists on only $1.00. But I think this is more to the point. The people who play the lottery the most are the ones who can least afford to loose the money.

Occasionally, I grab breakfast from the cafeteria and eat it in my office while doing email. And a long with my breakfast, I enjoy a nice container of skim milk. And over the years I have noticed a trend. On certain days, there is no milk. No milk in the cafeteria, no milk in the snack bars, no milk any where on the campus. Simple, no milk.

I am not sure what the problem is. It appears that the milk man only stocks the shelves once every two weeks. Is there not enough room on the shelves for extra milk? Is there a conspiracy with the soft drink vendors to limit the choices of healthy beverages? Is this a case of poor management on the part of the food vendors?

Maybe they are concerned that if they stock too much milk, they will have to throw out whatever doesn’t sell. But I doubt that they have ever had to throw out much milk because they consistently run out of milk, every two weeks, you can count on it. And it is not just one day that they are out of milk; they are out of milk for about 3 days before they get restocked. What a way to run a business.

So, for 3 days, if I want milk with my breakfast, I have to bring it from home which can be a real pain. If not, I have to resign my self to drinking water. Bah!

I saw a Roush Mustang today in Lowell. This surprised me. For those of you who are not familiar with Roush, they turn regular Fords into high performance Fords. In the case of the Roush Mustang, they take a standard Mustang and add $15,000.00 worth of performance parts to it.

Now, Lowell is pretty much a pickup truck town. While Mustangs are not unusual, they are not that common. But a Roush Mustang is a rarity, even for Grand Rapids. What is of more interest is the money associated with a Roush Mustang.

Roush Mustangs are not stock, they are custom. This means that there is no Blue Book price, which means that financial institutions will only finance the price of the stock Mustang not the Rousch Mustang. So, the owner financed the Roush package on their own. Likewise, if they decide to sell the car, the financial institution will only cover the price of a stock Mustang.  Who ever buys the car will have to finance the performance package on their own.

And the same goes for insurance. Most insurance companies will only insure the car for the price of the stock Mustang and not the Roush upgrade unless there is a provision for a special rider. But then again, if someone can afford the price of the Roush upgrade, money is probably no object.

Come to think of it, this was sitting outside of Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) so it may have been someone from Corporate.

I was in Meijer’s ( regional grocery chain) today. I need some whole chicken breast for Chicken Marsalas, one of our favorites. I prefer whole chicken breast because they are half the price of boneless, skinless. With a good sharp boning knife it only takes me about 30 seconds to bone out a chicken breast

When I got to the meat case, whole chicken breast were on sale for $1.00 per pound. This is 60% off the regular price. “Yes!!” I assume that they were looking to move chicken breast due to high inventory. Maybe they expected to sell more over the holidays but didn’t. I doubt that the bottom is dropping out of the chicken market. Doesn’t matter, at that price, I’ll buy a bunch and put them in the freezer.

I didn’t want to be greedy so I only bought 27 lbs even though I could easily have purchased 40 lbs. The breast are packaged 4lbs per container which is a convenient size for most recipes. When I got home, I threw 6 packages in the freezer and kept out one for supper. Between Chicken Marsalas and Kung Pao chicken, we should have about a 6 month supply.

I know, “get a life!”

I was in Meijer’s (regional grocery chain) the other day looking to buy some Paul Mitchell hair conditioner. While Meijer’s usually carries this product, they happened to be out of stock. I find this to be very annoying and is one of the reasons that I have a love/hate relationship with Meijer’s.

As I was leaving the store, I noticed that the hair salon in the store had a big rack of Paul Mitchell products, including my conditioner. Since the hair salon is an independent business that rents space from Meijer’s, their product inventory is also independent. They had the product, Meijer’s didn’t. So, I went into the salon.

I picked up the conditioner and in doing so, commented to the woman that it was nice that they at least had the product since the store didn’t. She said that Paul Mitchell products are only sold in salons. If I see it any place else, including the store, it is a black market product.

Fred, (Meijer) say it ain’t so! Black market hair care products! Hendrick (Meijer) is turning over in his grave. What next? Is that asparagus really from Peru or is it Fremont (Michigan) asparagus with a bogus label? And how about that peanut butter that Hendrick picked up in Saginaw because he got such a good deal? (Famous Meijer’s ad.) What’s the real story behind that? Was it smuggled in from Canada?

Well, anyway, the store and the salon sell the products for the same price so I guess I don’t really care where I buy it. But, I am concerned that the next time I am in the personal care section of the store that some one is going to come up behind me and say “Pssst. I’ve got some deodorant in the back room and I can get you a really good deal on it.”

Added note: Despite what it may appear, this blog is not dedicated to Meijer’s. It is just that Meijer’s provides a wealth of opportunity for topics.