My car needs new tires

I checked Sears, Discount Tire, Costco, and the Tire Rack. Walmart.com (with free shipping to the store of your choice) came out the clear winner.

Five minute intervals

Brigham Young once said, "I do not recollect that I have seen five minutes since I was baptized that I have not been ready to preach a funeral sermon, lay hands on the sick, or to pray in private or public." And then he added, "I will tell you the secret of this. . . . If you commit an overt act, repent of that immediately, and call upon God to deliver you from evil and give you the light of His spirit" (JD 12:102–3)

I came across this quote several years ago and have thought of it often since that time. It came to mind again this morning when our scheduled EQ instructor called this morning with the news that he would be out sick today. You never know when you will be called, unexpectedly, to preach a sermon…

Gas Mileage & Car Shopping

Take this very short quiz (only one question):

http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/news/mpg/mpg.html

Zathura

Sam watched Zathura at my parent’s cabin about a week ago. Since then, his night time prayers have included the plea that we not be visited by Zorgons or Robots and that our house not drift off into space.

Signs of the Apocalypse

I live in the Phoenix metro area. It is one of the hottest metropolitan places on Earth (add Riyadh, Saudi Arabia & Baghdad, Iraq to get the top three).

On Monday, it was 105 degrees on my commute home. Yesterday, at the same time, it was 57 degrees.

Ladies and gentlemen, hell has frozen over.

Hypermiling

A guy drives from Chicago to NYC -- 800 miles -- on one tank of gas:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/19/earlyshow/main4107075.shtml?source=mostpop_story

Watch both videos at the bottom of the page.  The first one teaches you the basic techniques for hypermiling.

Follow Dad’s advice: “Drive as if your car didn’t have brakes.”

Seatbelts

68% of drivers and passengers between the ages of 16 and 20 who were killed in car crashes at night in 2006 were unbuckled.

During daytime, 57% percent of the young motorists and passengers who were killed were not wearing seat belts.

The locked cupboard

An email I wrote to my siblings yesterday…

 

Do you remember how we had a locking cupboard in our old, pre-fire kitchen?  Do you feel like having inaccessible Oreos in our house growing up affected you negatively in any way?

We have a problem in our house with kids spoiling their appetites by eating “special” food items, like granola bars, at unauthorized times (supposed to be for school lunches only).  Potato chips, chocolate chips, and marshmallows are also a problem.  Frankly, I have caught my kids eating regular sugar, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, and hot chocolate mix -- all straight out of the container with a spoon.

Becky is afraid that a locking cabinet might somehow mess up our kids psychologically.  I’m tired of walking into the pantry to find my children stuffing their faces with chocolate chips and then throwing their uneaten dinner in the trash every night.

What do you think?

An Open Letter to Shandon, Clint, & Jeff

When are we going to go on a crazy adventure that challenges both our physical endurance and our sanity?

Havasu Pei?

Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim?

The Narrows?

BTW – The Payson Spring triathlon is June 14^th.  Let’s do it!

Rainforest Cafe

Mediocre, overpriced food. 

Deafeningly load dining area.  Is it really necessary to blare hip-hop music over the already load jungle noises? 

Horrible service.  The place was not busy on a Wednesday night, but it took an inordinately long time to get our food.  The waiter never came back to check on us.  We had to go find our own condiments.  Our drinks were never refilled.  It took 25 minutes to get our check…after we told the waiter we were in a hurry to leave.

I don’t plan on ever going back.

Once || Swell Season

Went to see The Swell Season (Oscar award winners Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová from the movie Once) with Andrew, Reachel, Natalie, Patrick, and Becky last night at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Phoenix.

Calexico opened and The Frames served as support. It was a great show at a great venue...with delightful company to top it all off. We dined in style at Cibo beforehand.



If you haven't already seen it, rent Once. It's a good flick. One f-bomb that ClearPlay took care of.

Here is a link to a very similar live show recorded last year.

Recent Readings

I've been plowing through books recently. Here's what I've covered so far this year, in chronological order:

Joseph Smith’s Relationship with God -- Some interesting points. I liked it.

The 8th Habit -- Covey probably should have stopped at 7.

Made to Stick -- Very good. I will "reread" this one.

Great Speeches of the 20th Century -- Funny how the political speeches all pretty much sound like they could still be given today.

The Tipping Point -- My third time through this book. I'm a big Gladwell fan. He is a fascinating storyteller. See Blink below for more...

Principle Centered Leadership -- Very good stuff.

Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon -- Like chiasms, there are unknown gems in the text.

The Wisdom of Crowds -- My second read of this one. I recommend it.

Blink -- Probably my third time through this one. Very good. For a taste of the unusual author, watch this...

Words that Work -- Some will find the author's approach and background unsavory. He has some very good points, though.

25 Things to Say to the Interviewer to Get the Job You Want -- Pretty hoacky

Analyzing Financial Statements -- A snoozer

Freakonomics -- My second time through. I disagreed quite strongly with most of his conclusions the first time through. This time it was less offensive. I still think he is wrong on many topics. Despite having said that , I recommend it.

Rich Dad's Guide to Becoming Rich -- Robert Kiyosaki has become an industry unto himself, but he has some very good advice.

How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less -- Pretty weak. I lost interest about 1/3 of the way through it.

Super Crunchers -- Very closely related to Freakonomics & The Wisdom of Crowds. I recommend it.

The Birth of Plenty -- Similar academic tone as Collapse. I liked it. More on one particular finding of this book in a future post.

Woman in White -- Becky recently read this in her book club. She was so excited about it that I decided to read it as well. A good read. I recommend it.

A Perfect Mess -- A few good points. I think the authors wanted very badly to find evidence for a position they supported.

Crashes, Booms, & Panics + Government Regulations -- Decent info and history of the markets

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing -- My second listen to this book. Most of the examples seem quite anecdotal. I would like to see examples backed by stronger evidence.

Joseph Smith's Presidential Platform

The post is quite long, but check out Joseph Smith's 1844 presidential platform here. It will take you 10 or 15 minutes to read, but it contains some fascinating tidbits. Some of his complaints about partisan politics are still valid today.

Wal-Mart

Over the past week, I have had occasion to shop at both CVS and Walgreens. I was amazed/annoyed at how loooong the printed receipts were -- 12 to 18 inches -- even though I had only purchased one or two items. In both cases, this was due to the customer satisfaction surveys they both wanted me participate in.

I just got a receipt from the world’s most exasperating place to shop, Wal-Mart, and was pleasantly surprise by the fact that they have begun double-sided printing on their receipts. Despite numerous items purchases, the receipt was only 6 inches long.

Saves paper, reduces trash, and takes up less space in my wallet. Bravo.

Next on my wish list for Wal-Mart:

1. Turn off the accursed public announcement system (take note, most Wal-Marts are near deafeningly loud)

2. Staff more checkout lines (today’s Super Wal-Mart had two lanes staffed by humans open)

3. Hire employees with an IQ above 75

4. Offer an affordable dental insurance plan so your employees can fix their visibly rotting teeth

Buy Generic

I remember my undergraduate Marketing professor mentioning that the odds of a shopper buying a store brand drug (ex., Wal-Mart acetaminophen versus Tylenol acetaminophen) increased with education level.

I was reminded of that fact when I was at Costco over my lunch break today. I was just about to pick up a box of Claritin when I noticed a Kirkland brand equivalent right next to it (it wasn’t immediately obvious to me because the Claritin was in blue packaging and the Kirkland was in red).

As many store frequently do, Costco posted the “cost per 100” data for both products. The Claritin was $45 per 100. The Kirkland product was $3 per 100. That is a 15x difference! Unbelievable. I was expecting 2x to 3x…not 15x.

I wonder what percentage of shoppers walk away carrying the Claritin…

Falling Star

How did the phrase “meteorite rise” gain widespread acceptance?

From our perspective here on Earth, wouldn't "meteorite fall" be more accurate?

Long Lost Friends mega post

I was going through our iPhoto library and I found a bunch of "long lost friends" photos. So here is a mega post with some friends I have run into over the past couple of years. They are in chronological order of when I originally met the person (i.e., I met Jon Shill in elementary school):

Jon Shill is flying Predator drones in Iraq via remote control from his base in Las Vegas. That is the way to fight in a war. Picture take in Jon's boyhood home (now Shandon's home).

Russel Trapnell is a glutton for punshiment. After finishing his MBA he went to dental school. Now he is the fifth of five sons in his family to enter Orthodontic school. He'll exit with great teeth and a license to print money.

Mark Truman, Me, Nate Woolf, and Nigel Miller freshmen year at the Morris Center getting scones on a Saturday morning.

Twelve years later, Mark (dentist), Me, and Nigel (engineer) at Nate's long overdue wedding reception:

Aaron Desmond. My longest and favorite missionary companion. I think we lived and served together for a total of 10 months. After an illustrious career in the jewelry business, he now remodels temples around the world:


Stephenie Meyer (of Twilight fame). OK, I'm cheating here, Stephenie is really Becky's long lost friend. I'm friends with Stephanie's husband Pancho. I need to find and scan an old picture of when Stephenie took Becky out for her birthday and dressed her up like Cinderella.

Before moving to Charlotte, NC my old MBA racquetball nemesis, Jonathan Francom was a frequent visitor in our home:

MBA buddies, Jared Sorenson & Jeremiah Grant at my house.

Old Spice

Check out the commercials my brother Jason made with Will Ferrell for Old Spice.

Houston we have a toothbrush problem...

Observations on family life:

With a one-year-old toothpaste eater in the house, I thought it was time to revisit the dental hygiene issue in our home...

Seven people live in my house. Six of whom brush their teeth with some degree of regularity. I counted 12 tubes of toothpaste and over 30 toothbrushes.

Better than Botox

This amazing product not only makes 70-year-old woman look like they are in their 20's -- it also appears to cover up the affects of domestic violence:

Deceptive Packaging

I love Andes mints as much as the next guy, but I HATE wasteful, deceptive packaging:

The extra half inch of packaging on the top and bottom serve no justifiable reason that I can think of. When unopened, the wrapping surreptitiously conceals this dead space.

Here is a package of black licorice from Trader Joe's:

Notice how far my fingers go into the pointless pyramid at the bottom of the package.

Consumer Reports has a running feature (I think it's called "The Black Hole") on deceptive packaging like this.

Drives me crazy.

Motorhead Messiah

Becky's comment in the prior post is about this guy, Johnathan Goodwin:
He was the cover story in the November 2007 issue of Fastcompany and was also covered by NPR.

He converts large SUVs to hydrogen injected bio-desiels and other unconventional engines -- like a turbine powered hybrid -- giving them 2x the the horsepower and up to 6x the gas mileage.

Whenever I pull into a gas station with my Prius (two times a month, $20 a pop) I inevitably pull next to a guy driving something like this:

I figure they pay the logical consequence for their aerodynamic idiocy at the pump.

My co-worker tells me that between his regular F-150 and his wife's Tahoe they spend $300 a month on gas. That is in addition to their car payments.

Our next family car...

Becky is currently driving a very functional Honda Odyssey that has served us reliably for several years.

It is a seven passenger so we totally fill it up. It gets RIDICULOUS when we go on vacations.

I don’t know what to get her next. She thinks a Suburban is too big. I say heck with that -- we need to return to our roots: a Ford Econoline!

Happy Birthday Sam

Five fun-filled years with Sam

Automotive History

A time line of cars I have driven...

High School: Chevy Cavalier coupe. It was a four-banger, but was so light that it was still pretty spunky. The one I drove was tan with vinyl seats that would burn your skin in the summer.
Incidentally, if you are going to get a tattoo, don't get one of a Chevy Cavalier:
High School: For some reason dad sold the Cavalier and I started driving my mom's hand-me-down white Oldsmobile DIESEL that looked something like this. Needless to say, I didn't win any friends based on how cool my car was. Did I mention that it shook violently and stunk of diesel fuel?
Post-mission: Another babe magnet car. It is a wonder I ever got married. This was also a hand-me-down car from mom. I can't remember if I also briefly shared the Apex Megadominion Pearl Destroyer with Jason, but if not the car we did share looked a lot like the Pearl Destroyer.
Married life: 1995 Nissan Altima, shown here in our NJ driveway. This was the first car I had a direct hand in selecting (note the shift from GM products to Japanese cars).
The Altima served us well for 11 years until the engine died and it was deemed to be worth around $250. I figure it was fully amortized by that point.

2002 Honda Accord: A great car. V6, power everything. Regrettably it was black. Never buy a black car in AZ.
2002 Toyota Prius: This was one of my "Oops! I accidentally bought two cars on eBay" Priuses. I only owned it for about 6 weeks.
2005 Toyota Prius: More on this car in a future post. I love it!

P.S. Check out my friend Danny's post on the same subject. He is unrivaled in both quantity and diversity of cars!

Brown baggin' it

As part of my 2008 fiscal responsibilities goal…

I am proud to announce that I brought my lunch from home everyday in January!

Gordian Knot

I am currently reviewing a very complex EDI system between my company and a customer/supplier. A number of the steps in the process strike me as unnecessary. I went looking for a quote to share with the team to help us all focus on keeping it as simple as possible. I settled on the first one. I snagged the others for personal consumption:

I wouldn't give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity; I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction. ~ E. F. Schumacker

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. ~ Charles Mingus

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say let your affairs be as one, two, three and to a hundred or a thousand… We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~ Leonardo DaVinci

Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things. ~ Elise Boulding

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. ~William Morris

We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it. ~ Donald Horban

How many things are there which I do not want. ~ Socrates

Who is rich? He who rejoices in his portion. ~ The Talmud

Happy Birthday Becky

I hope you have a great day today...

Long Lost Friends

Ran into Bryce at the Golden Spoon. He and his wife are expecting twin boys!

We started last year's Turkey Trot together and only finished one minute apart. At the rate he is currently training he is going to smoke me in '08.

Game changing

It got a Blackberry through work last week...

Granted this is not the latest model off the assembly line but it is FANTASTIC to know instantly when a new message arrives.

My work is split 95/5 between email and phone calls. Since I support Asia and most of their workday occurs outside of my normal work hours, this makes a huge impact.

Heels

What are you supposed to do with bread heels? My family goes through almost a loaf of bread per day...yet no one seems to be interested in the heels. I frequently find three bread bags with only heels left in them.

Does anyone have an appealing use for them?

Matta's RIP

If you aren't from Mesa, you won't understand the earth-shaking magnitude of this statement: After 55 years in business, Matta's has closed its Main Street location.

Unbelievable. Shocking. Ridiculous.

Andrew, Ashley, Mom, Becky and I managed to get in for dinner on the final night (after a 2 hour wait). There were people there dressed in all black...mourning. The people at the table next to us drove from two hours away and then waited for two hours just for one final meal there.

It defies explanation. When 19 out of 20 new restaurants fail, why would anyone close down a successful one? Sell the dang thing don't close it!

Granted, I don't even like the food that much (Tia Rosa's has won my heart). It is just that this place has transgenerational significance. Growing up we only went to a "nice restaurant" (i.e., one with a waiter) a few times a year. It was almost always Matta's.

Here's my idea of what they should do...Rosa's (University & Mesa Dr.) should move into the Matta's location. It is a bigger facility and tens of thousands of people are already familiar with going there.

My extended family has been unofficially looking to the Mervyn's on Stapley & Main as the barometer of whether or not Mesa is going to make it as a viable city or descend into an irretrievable ghetto. Matta's closing completely blindsided us.

Home grown

Savanna -- Thanks for the delicious orange juice!

Study explains how protein keeps hunger at bay

Diets high in protein may be the best way to keep hunger in check, U.S. researchers said on Thursday in a study that offers insight into how diets work.

They found that protein does the best job at keeping a hunger hormone in check, while carbohydrates and fats may well deserve their current nasty reputation.

The study, which will appear in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, looked at the effectiveness of different nutrients at suppressing ghrelin, a hormone secreted by the stomach that stimulates appetite.

"Suppression of ghrelin is one of the ways that you lose your appetite as you begin to eat and become sated," said Dr. David Cummings of the University of Washington in Seattle, who worked on the study.

The researchers gave 16 people three different beverages, each with varying levels of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. They took blood samples before the first beverage, then every 20 minutes for six hours afterward, measuring ghrelin levels in each sample.

"The interesting findings were that fats suppress ghrelin quite poorly," Cummings said in a telephone interview. They fared the poorest overall.

"Proteins were the best suppressor of ghrelin in terms of the combination of the depth and duration of suppression," he said. "That is truly satisfying because high proteins are essentially common to almost all of the popular diets."

They also found that eating carbohydrates resulted in a strong ghrelin suppression at first, but ghrelin levels rebounded with a vengeance, rising to an even higher level.

Basically, the carbohydrates eventually made people even hungrier than before they had eaten.

Cummings said the findings may aid in future research on the effectiveness of different diets.

And the study likely means that nightly bowl of ice cream is out. "That is a bad idea no matter what," he said.

By Julie Steenhuysen; Thu Jan 17, 7:20 PM ET;  REUTERS

The Best of 2007

Favorite Movie: Stranger Than Fiction
Favorite Song: "Casimir Pulaski Day" by Sufjan Stevens
Favorite TV show: Planet Earth
Favorite event: Aspen Grove family reunion
Funniest read: 15 Minute Lunch
Funniest video clip: I feel great!
Best financial move: using a cash budget (aka, envelopes)
Best new gadget: iPod
Favorite audio podcast: Radio Lab
Favorite video podcast: TED talks or Pop Tech (many of the same presenters)
Best purchase: Prius on eBay
Favorite web discovery: Pandora
Favorite person: Becky

One step at a time...a measured year

I've made multiple references in past posts about the fact that I have been wearing a somewhat sophisticated pedometer for a little over 2 years now.

Here are my results for 2007:

Total Steps: 5,108,870
Ave Daily Steps: 13,997
Highest One Day Total: 33,246
Miles Walked: 2,022

Be amazing

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man."

--Benjamin Franklin