I read an interesting article in the November issue of The Harvard Business Review. It talked about the mentality of the various members of the armed services.

People from the Army and Marines tended to be more independent and function well on their own. With these branches, high command issues the orders as what needs to be accomplished and the lower ranks figure out how to do it. Since these missions usually involve ground troops, the troops involved in the mission are briefed on the plan. And, because combat situations can change suddenly, decisions are often made on the front line.

People from the Air Force and the Navy are more process oriented. Since these folks are working with high tech equipment, they do everything by the books. There is no room for independent thinking. High command issues the orders and the lower ranks carry out the orders exactly as they have been trained. They do not know what the plan is, they just do their job.

This is all fine and dandy but they do respond differently in the work place. The Army and Marine folks tend to have what I call a “cowboy” mentality. They are more interested in getting the job done and to hell with the rules and regulations. They work well in a small organization with little or no structure. But, they reek havoc in highly structured organizations.

The Navy and Air Force folks work well in highly structured organization. They rely on the structure to tell them what their job is and how to do it. They are, generally speaking, not independent thinkers and rely on upper management for their direction.

Over the years, we have had a number of retired military types assume leadership roles in our organization. And I have to say, the Army/Marine types do their own thing with little or no regard for the rest of the organization. And, unfortunately, most of the staff consider them to be reckless nuts.

Now, the Air Force/Navy guys are at the other extreme. They expect that there are rules and regulations for everything. And, while the state has a lot of rules and regulations, some times things come up that require independent judgment and decision making.

When they have to make a decision, these folks go nuts. They feel backed into a corner and afraid. What if they make the wrong decision? After all, they shouldn’t have to make that decision. Someone else should have made that decision for them.

Unfortunately, both of these folks damage the organization.  The army/marine folks do their own thing with no regard for the consequences while the navy/air force folks can’t make a decision.  Fortunately, they usually don’t last very long.

Sugar, fat and salt seem to be the three things that taste good.  So, when one is reduced, the others are increased in processed foods.

Take veggie dip for example.  In order to make the low fat dip taste good, they increase the sugar in it.  So, you get less fat but more sugar.  Like wise with salad dressings.  The no fat kind often have a high sugar content.  So, even though you are trying to eat healthy, you have to read the labels.

Think that you are eating healthy because you ordered a salad at your fast food restaurant?  Guess again.  They may have gotten rid of the calories but they have made up for it with salt.  And, that turkey bacon may be lean but it is loaded with salt.

So, if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, you have to decide on the lesser of the three evils.

Every years, Lowell puts up a huge Christmas tree along the river walk in down town.  And they did so again this year.

Only this year, instead of putting the lights around the tree, they decided to run them vertically from the bottom of the tree to the top and then back down.

Well, they got the lights on the tree all right, but when it is lit up, it looks like a cactus.  Oh well, I guess it is the thought that counts.

The other day, my wife sent me to the store to purchase some sweat pants for her.  And while I had never shopped for sweat pants before, I was fairly sure that they could be found in the clothing section and not the sporting goods isles.

After a little searching, I found them in the center of the clothing area right in between the men’s sections and the women’s section.  This made sense to me since sweat pants are sweat pants.  No flies, no zippers, just a waist band and draw strings.  At $7 a pair, I selected 5 pairs.  Great!

But, as I made my way to the check out, I noticed that there were also sweat pants in the women’s section as well.  So, I decided to check them out.

The women’s sweats were the same as the men’s except that the women’s had the draw sting in the out side instead of the inside.  But, they were the same fleecy pants made my the same manufacturer.  The only other difference that I could see was the price.  $15!!

I decided that at half the price, the men’s sweats would work just fine.

The other day in Lansing, I saw a car painted up with “shortdwarfs.com”. And, the license plate read “umidget”.

Well, OK, it got my attention. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would have their car painted up like that. So, I checked out their website.

As it turns out, shortdwarfs.com rents out dwarfs. And, right now, they are half off. Allrighty.

Now, I initially wondered why some one would want to rent a dwarf. But, after some thought, I decided that I didn’t really want to know!

My blood sugar test kit came with a $15 manufacturer rebate. Of course, I had to fill out the rebate form and submit the receipt with the amount circled. And then mail it all in.  So, that is what I did.

Now, I have not had much luck with mail in rebates. I fill out the forms and mail in the receipts but I seldom get the rebate.  I think that it is because the manufactures don’t actually handle the rebates.  They have an outside firm do it.

But, more to the point, why don’t they just discount the price in the first place?  Are they betting that you won’t fill out the rebate?  Or are they thinking that you will forget that you sent in your rebate?

Either way, my only risk with this one is the time spent filling out the form. The postage is free.  So, if I get it, I get it and if I don’t, I don’t.  Life goes on.

After I finished reading the manual in my blood sugar tester, I was ready to start the testing.

According to the manual, the first thing that I needed to do was to insert the code key from the box of test strips into the meter. I guess this tells the meter the batch number of the test strips. So, I inserted the key into the meter and turned it on. Yes!, the meter liked it.

Next, I needed check the time and date on the meter. They were correct.

Moving right along, I next needed to load the lancet gun. The lancet gun isn’t really a gun at all. It is more like a pen light. I call it a gun because holds a six shot carousel of lancets. So, with the gun loaded, I was ready to begin.

“Turn meter on.” Check. “Insert test strip.” Check. “Apply test solution.” Test solution?!! What test solution?

I had test strips, lancets, alcohol wipes and the meter, but I did not have any test solution. So, back to the store for some test solution.

As I searched the shelves at the store, I see lancets, test strips, meters and alcohol wipes but no test solution. When I asked at the counter, they told me that the solution is a special order and that they could have it the next day. Rats! I was headed out of town so the testing would have to wait until I got back.

Since the test solution is vital to the operation of the meter, you would think that they would tell you that on the outside of the box. After all, they told me that the battery was included. But, there was nothing about the test solution. I hope it is not expensive.

I haven’t been eating the way that I should lately, so, my blood sugar was a little high when the doctor checked it last week. As a result, my doctor declared me to be diabetic and wants me to test my blood sugar twice a day at home in an effort to get those levels back down. And to accomplish this, he wrote me a prescription for the complete blood sugar testing kit. Great!

When I took the prescription to Meijer’s (regional grocery chain), they said that everything was covered by my insurance except for the actual meter. Rats! I figured that those little meters would be rather expensive so I was delighted to find that they were only $20.

I wondered how they could afford to sell such a complicated and delicate piece of equipment for only $20. But then I saw the price of the test strips. At over a dollar a piece, they were going to make their money on their proprietary test strips and not on their proprietary meters. But, since the test strips are covered by insurance, I guess I don’t really care.

When I got the meter home and took it out of the box, I discovered that there was a 100 pages of instructions. Wow! The ads on TV show the guy just touching his finger to the test strip and the numbers pop up in seconds. Well, I guess it is more complicated than the ads show.

About 70 pages into the manual, I discover that the meter has an infrared unit for transferring data to your PC. And since the meter came with a CD, I figured that the software needed for the PC came on it. Not so. The CD shows you how the software would work if you had the software.

The software can be purchased from the company for $40. I guess, for $40 dollars, I can load the readings into my own spread sheet.

Well, I am sure that the blood testing will provide ample material for my blog.

With winter rapidly approaching, I decided that it was time to replace our old standalone humidifier with an in furnace unit. And while the standalone unit worked well, the prospect of hauling water all winter long no longer appealed to me. So, a whole house unit, with a water line connection, became my quest.

After reviewing several units on line, I found a model that met my needs. And, after reviewing the online installation manual, I determined that it was a straight forward project. In fact, the manual led me to believe that, with the exception of tools, every thing that I needed was included with the unit.

Well, when I got to Home Depot, I found out that every thing was included but only if you purchased the optional installation kit. No problem, the installation kit was right next to the humidifiers. And for $7.49, I thought it to be a worth while investment. But wait, it wasn’t $7.49, it was $74.95. Ouch!

Now, having to spend $75 to install a $140 humidifier really bothered me. So, I looked at what was included with the humidifier.

The humidifier unit, of course, was included but no mounting screws. No problem, I have sheet metal screws at home. Next, there was the hardware to connect to the cold water line but no plastic tubing to connect to the unit. No problem, I already had the tubing from the old furnace humidifier that I removed several years ago. A humidistat and power supply came with the unit but no wire. Well, I purchased 50 feet of wire for $10. And finally, I needed a piece of 6 inch flexible duct which I purchased for another $15.

So, for $25, I had everything that I needed to install the humidifier. Of course, the installation kit included an installation video, but I don’t think that it would be worth the additional $50.

Besides, those installation videos are a little on the hokey side. They usually show a husband and wife team with hard hats, goggles and perfect teeth. The perfect teeth, of course, goes with their perfect, problem free installation. I don’t know what planet they are from but it certainly isn’t the one that I know.

All and all, it took me about 3 hours to install the unit. According to the manufacturer, it should only take an hour so I think I came out OK. And, I only cut myself once so I guess I can’t complain. As soon as the weather turns cold, I will turn that baby on.

The news recently announced that Lowell would be getting 5 hybrid refueling stations. Four this year and one next year.

Well, my first response is that I didn’t know that Lowell had that many hybrids with no place to buy electricity. I just figured that if you had a hybrid, you had your own charging station. But, I guess, the charging stations are for travelers and not the locals.

So, the plan is to provide recharging station between Detroit and Grand Rapids.  And, this is fine.  But why Lowell and why 5?  And, since it takes 3 to 8 hours to recharge those batteries, what do the driver and passengers do while they wait?

In reality, I think that when the batteries start getting low, the driver will switch to gas.  But, at least Lowell can say that it has 5 hybrid refueling stations.  FWIW.