As a free-market proponent and a libertarian, I find I very much want people to understand the basic rules of capitalism. Here they are:
Hope that was helpful.
- Trevor
2008-04-08
Limon, CO
I know the pictures don't show these plates very well, but I did the best I could while staying safe. 
This plate is PECK. Really.
This license plate was: ILIAD.
I thought, "Hmm... Must be an English teacher or something." Then I thought, "Hey, that plate would be funny on a Honda Odyssey," I looked back over, and Bingo! That's what that is!
That's a nice plate.
This plate is: WHLSUP
I was thinking: That's not right, you don't want your wheels up while driving, you're supposed to keep them down. Hmm... maybe the guy's a pilot.
So I looked back, and again - it's a Honda Pilot! Honda has too many funny license plate cars.
- Trevor.
2008-04-07
Rawlins, WY
Loyal readers will no doubt be aware that I lost two days of last week to a winter storm closing the roads. Wyoming is famous for not doing much to take care of the roads, they simply let them get bad, then close them. Compare that to Iowa, where you see snowplows out ahead of the storm, laying a coating on the road that helps to keep it from icing.
This picture, if you look closely, shows the parade of trucks leaving the Petro and Pilot once the road opened again - by my count it took three hours to empty the truck stops of westbound traffic - and the police were not only directing traffic to speed things up, but they were turning cars around and sending them to another interchange about a mile away.
For this particular storm, however, the two days I lost were nothing compared to what some people lost. When we finally got rolling on Tuesday afternoon, I saw four miles of debris about a hundred miles or so down the road. There was freight, tracks from all manner of vehicles, parts of vehicles, clothes and personal belongings, and a lot of stuff I couldn't identify. There was also this truck, one picture taken coming up to it, and one reasonably lucky shot over my shoulder as I passed at about 65 mph:
I couldn't even guess at what kind of trailer that used to be. If I had a way to insert a moment of silence into my blog, this would be where.
There was another crash that Tuesday afternoon, and the drivers coming eastbound were saying it was about a six mile backup, so I stopped and tried to take a nap, hoping to wake up in the middle of the night and drive on to Salt Lake City. I did get a short nap, eventually, and then drove to about the forty mile-marker on I-80, figuring I could sleep 8 hours and then drive in to SLC (excuse me, officer, that's a typo, of course I meant I could sleep for ten hours - really, look at my log book). When I woke up the next morning, the road was a skating rink. I saw two zambonis and a couple of Red Wing Jerseys in the first mile! I finally decided to give up when I saw this:
So I stopped at that T/A you can see in the background of the picture. Luckily, the sun came out and dried up the road around ten or so, and I made my deliveries in the Salt Lake area that Wednesday afternoon. The trip to Washington was pretty uneventful. I'm now back in Wyoming, not all that far from where I was stuck last week, and this time my truck is in the shop with a transmission problem. I should find out in the morning, but right now we're optimistic that it simply needs an adjustment, and I can get back to work.
This hasn't been the best west-coast turn I've ever had, but if I get rolling early tomorrow with a small or reasonable-sized repair bill, it won't be the worst. And either way, while I might not be in a very good situation right now, I'm a lot better off than the people who spent Monday night on that four-mile stretch of Wyoming highway.
- Trevor
2008-04-07
Rawlins, WY. Quality Inn Room 165. Using Taco John's wifi Internet access from next door because the hotel's doesn't seem to be powerful enough to work in room 165. (I ate at Taco Johns - it only seemed fair. Pretty Yummy, too.)
I told Austin about these forklifts when I picked them up, and had Mama look up a picture of one online by using the model number. I don't think I ever showed him this picture of the three of them actually on my truck, so I hope he checks the blog.
Below are some pictures of that trip from Salt Lake City to Houston, from the day after I loaded the forklifts. Sorry I don't have any pictures from when it got really bad out there - I was kinda busy keeping it 'Shiny Side Up and Rubber Side Down'
I know you can't see it very well (if you want to, try clicking on the image for a bigger image), but there's a semi-truck that slid off the road in the fifth picture. I couldn't help him because to get out of the way of traffic behind me I would have gotten stuck too, but I asked him on the radio if he needed help, and when he asked me to send a him a tow I called 911 (didn't have a phone book handy) and they were very helpful. Hopefully they followed through (I bet they did.)
As a truck driver, we're often forced to make choices between two bad options, like when we're not supposed to be driving because we've used up our log hours but there's no place to legally park. Stop or go, either way you're breaking the law. They're not usually as blatant about it as at this particular intersection (I think it was in Cleveland, but I could be way off). If you look closely in the upper left hand corner you'll see a red light, which as a traffic control device means 'stop'. If you look closely at the right side, you'll see a sign that says "NO STOPPING ANY TIME". I chose to stop anyway.
- Trevor
2008-04-07
Rawlins, WY. Quality Inn, Room 165. Truck Broken.
I just realized today that I have three assets that, taken together, have everything a man needs to make himself and his family very happy: Laziness, good disability insurance, and a high tolerance for pain.
Hmm... On second thought, I really only have the first of those three. I'll work on the other two and get back to you.
- Trevor.
2008-04-03
Vader, WA
I just received one of those helpful emails that Amazon.com sends out with recommendations. I like these emails, because they usually recommend to me books and other products that I am especially interested in. Of course, I often visit the library to read those recommendations, but I buy from Amazon often enough that I don't feel bad about taking their recommendations elsewhere. :-)
This email had something strange in it, and if any of you could explain the connection, I would be most grateful. Here's the bit that seemed strange to me:
We recommend: Ratatouille
DVD ~ Ian Holm
...Recommended because you purchased or rated:
* NETGEAR FS105 ProSafe 5-Port 10/100 Desktop Switch
- Trevor.
2008-04-03
Vader, WA
Kesia came with me in the truck for a while last summer. She said a couple of funny things, and I thought I'd tell you about them.
One day I was teaching her about the meaning of the lines on the road. Specifically I was pointing out to her that if the yellow line is solid in the lane you're in, that's a no passing zone, and you can't cross over to the other lane. We started down a mountain grade a short time later, and I pulled out to pass a slow truck (he was heavy, I was light). Traffic coming the other way was not allowed to pass, so the line was solid yellow on their side. When we got fully into that lane, Kesia, said, "Oh No! Now we can't go back over there!"
I guess I should try to be a little more clear. ;-)
Later in the same day, we stopped for fuel. We were "Running With" another truck, and when I pulled away from the fuel island they (a father/son team) were not yet ready to go, so I stopped along the exit drive out of the way of other trucks. As I came to a stop we passed a "No Parking" sign, and Kesia just had time to read the "No." So she asked, "What did that sign say 'No' about?" When I told her that it said 'no parking', she said, "Dad, you're breaking the law!"
I asked her if she thought I'd get arrested, and she thought for a minute before replying, "No, I guess no one will be able to see the sign until you move."
- Trevor
2008-04-01
Laramie, WY
Well, my plan was to park somewhere in far western Wyoming on Sunday night. Or maybe even in Utah. I had to be fairly close to Salt Lake City, because I needed to be there at 8 am and I don't much like getting up early - the closer I parked the later I could get up and still make it on time.
I stopped at the Flying J in Cheyenne, WY to squeeze in as much fuel as I could, since it costs a bit less there than farther west, and I never even went in the building. I hopped right back on the highway, the entire stop probably took me less than fifteen minutes from the time I exited - and that might be some kind of record.
I knew I was going to run into a little bit of snow, partly because I'd looked up the weather report online and saw some pockets of snow here and there, but mostly because a lot of trucks coming from the other direction were covered with ice and muck - I think I even saw a little yuck on a few of them.
As I got close to Laramie the CB started making noises like this:
'Well, is 30 open? 30 would take us right around.'
'Where did you say it was closed?'
'What about 287? doesn't that go around the mountain?'
Those are the kind of noises that usually mean one thing: Your plans are about to change.
So, it's Tuesday afternoon, and I'm sitting parked on a residential street in Laramie, WY, waiting for the road to open.
Why on a residential street? Well, Sunday, when the signs kicked us off the highway, I was able to snag one of the last few spots at the Petro, and it turned out my Flying J Wifi Internet Access even worked off and on. That was lucky! Then on Monday morning they opened the road. Knowing how things tend to happen right after they open the road, I waited a couple hours before leaving. But of course, They closed the road just as I left the Petro. Luckily, I was able to turn around at the truck stop exit and even get my old spot back!
I figured they'd clean up whatever happened and open the road again later that evening, so I went to get something to eat. I overheard a driver tell another that he had been about 60 miles down the road when they made them turn around - due to a pretty horrific crash, apparently - and he decided to come all the way back. I did the math and realized that in order to make that turn around in sloppy weather in a company truck, it's pretty likely he was one of the first drivers to leave when they opened the road. Since he still didn't get through, I had definitely made the right decision by waiting.
But they never did open the road that night. They put a recording on the 511 line that said it would be closed until sometime in the morning on April first - that turned out to be true, by the way, it was closed until every point of this morning, and still is. But - I had been watching the Internet road information, and at 10:07 this morning Wyoming's web site said the road had opened... but still no one was leaving the truck stop! This seemed like a perfect opportunity to get out ahead of the rush, and therefore avoid the dangers of driving in the big pack. This turned out to be a mistake.
First, there was a huge line of trucks and other traffic waiting on the shoulder of the road for when it opens - and they all would have been either in front of me or right with me. Second, the road was still closed! Yep, it said it was open on Wyoming's own web site - still does, as a matter of fact - but the signs, barriers, and state vehicles parked in the way of the ramp are pretty strong evidence that it's not true. What does that mean to me? Well, it means I gave up my cozy little spot with Internet access, proximity to food, and most importantly, proximity to a bathroom. I doubt anyone else had taken my spot, but it was very difficult to get out of in the first place because of the overflow of trucks, and it would be nearly impossible to get back in it.
So here I sit on this residential street, typing this using Windows Live Writer and knowing that I'll get to post it - eventually. I know the Wyoming web site still says the road is open because Lisa checked for me - but the 511 phone message now says "will be closed until sometime today" instead of "until sometime this morning".
The hold up has already cost me any chance at getting paid this week (this'll be two in a row due to Easter) - and if I don't get to go deliver pretty soon it will actually lower the amount by a week's worth of expenses, because I'll get paid a week later but not have any more loads finished that I can turn in.
But, after all that, the only thing that really gets me down at all, is that if I weren't going to be working anyway, it sure would have been nice to spend this time with Lisa and the kids. I'm very glad I got to see them (and Mom!) last week, or this would be unbearable.
- Trevor
2008-04-01
Laramie, WY
Recently I saw the words "Peace Now!" spray painted on an overpass near Springfield, MO. While I agree with this sentiment completely, I also had to wonder at the abilities of this anonymous genius wordsmith: in just two words, this artist's views on both war and vandalism were made crystal clear.
In contrast, it took me seventy-six words (counting 'West Memphis' as one, both times) just to tell you about it.
- Trevor.
2008-03-27
West Memphis, AR
P.S. I would have said something about trombones leading a parade, but it wouldn't have made sense if I had to count those words. The postscript doesn't count because it didn't mention "Peace Now!"
P.P.S. I heard a great quote today, unfortunately can't remember who it was attributed to. From a Gresham College lecture by Michael Mainelli, it was: "I don't forecast, and I never will."
To understand this post, you need to first view "Money as Debt" (the link is to Google video), a 47 minute animated feature by Paul Grignon. You can find out more about this video at http://www.moneyasdebt.net/
It is an excellent, nearly perfect primer on how money is created, and what our money actually is, even though it misses a bit in the explanation.
It skips the details of how money is created, the issuance of government bonds and bills. That part of the story is not terribly important since they later point out the ridiculousness of the government borrowing its own fiat currency. So they do point out the big picture part of that point, and I suppose an animated short is not the place for a detailed examination of exactly how we're being ripped off, but I think it might make it more clear to a viewer, and thus easier to accept as truth.
The author either ignores or misses the idea that for money to be useful, it has to represent something that is useful to a consumer - goods or services. I see this as the main reason that people allow this debt creation to go on in the first place. Debt would likely not be so easily incurred if people equated each restaurant dinner, for example, to exactly how many hours of work, after taxes, it will require to pay back principle and interest.
The important point to understand when trying to make sense of these concepts is that money is not strictly necessary for a society to function. People can trade without money, money is just a tool that makes it easier. For a large, modern society to function with a high level of creature comforts, such as ours, money must exist. But separating the idea of money from the idea of products is why when this movie starts to talk about solutions, the viewer feels like they have still missed something.
They have missed something: when the bankers create that money, and receive the interest payments, it is not the money that we miss. We don't care if our money says 1, 5, 20, 100, or 100 million on the front of it, as long as the products we create, represented by our income, can buy us the products we want. What we miss is the spending power, or more specifically: food, clothing, shelter, entertainment, and the capital goods to make these things.
The point to be made here, and it wasn't entirely skipped even in this film, is that the bankers, and the government, are stealing those things from us.
It becomes clear why they omitted this point when they start to propose a solution. A solution that by their own arguments is worse than the problem.
The crux of the problem this movie describes is that a small number of people are able to make the decisions about where and how capital is spent, to take a portion of the produce for themselves, and thus to keep people under their control, for the benefit of the small group.
The movie then says the correct solution would be to make that group smaller, allowing only the more powerful part of that group (the government) to make all of the decisions, and that if we do that, the group will suddenly decide that they don't really need very much of what we create, they will be happy to let us keep most of it, and if they don't we will rise up and stop them. There are so many problems with this idea it's hard to know where to start, but I'll try.
If we would rise up when the government started to steal from us again, why have we not done so now? Is it simply that the masses are ignorant? I think not, but if so, how would having a smaller group in charge make them more knowledgeable? I can see how it would change the target of their ire, but the government is clearly responsible enough now (as mentioned in this film), and rising up against it would have as much chance of success now as then. A great man once said:
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
If they do not rise up now, when things are facing crisis, what motivation will they have to rise up then? And even if we grant that they would rise up, their chance of success against such a power is no greater than the chance such an uprising would have today.
Leaving only the government in charge of the money supply doesn't fix any of the problems, it just changes the faces of the people in control, and even that is very limited because the people who are currently in control have the resources necessary not just to fight the government, but to become the government. To get elected all you need is money, and that is not something top international bankers lack.
The current system, as is accurately described by the beginning of this movie, has one major advantage that would not be present in the proposed solution: capital investment decisions are still made by investors who must repay loans or face dire consequences. Thus, business decisions currently are made by people who successfully forecast what consumers want, and supply it. Those who don't make the right decisions are drummed out of business by the bankers, thus preventing more capital from being spent where it is not wanted. In a system that has the government making those decisions, we've simply let the people who are currently cheating us have more power over us. Decisions will be made based on political concerns rather than for economic, social, or personal reasons.
We would have beautiful bridges to places no one wanted to go, parks with beautiful statues of the people who make the decisions, large well-lit grocery stores with shelves full of things no one wants, libraries with more beautiful statues but very few books, and certainly none that say anything bad about the people who bought them for us.
Unfortunately, I'm not a very good writer. I never worked on it because I never thought I'd have anything important to say. I have something to say now, but the fundamental principles are so clear to me that I have trouble seeing the problem from the other side, the side many readers are on. I don't know your objections, or where I'm not making myself clear. Please leave comments telling me how horrible I am so I can address issues I've neglected.
I can't find words to communicate how disappointed I was with this film. I have never found anything so close to mainstream that explained the problem so well. I was so excited. Then the proposed 'solution' came, and it's so much more horrifying than what we have now. Granted, what we have now can't last, but how is making the system worse going to make the symptoms better?
I do have a solution to offer, and from the way the film mentioned legal tender laws over and over I thought for certain they were going to suggest the same solution I had in mind. I'm flabbergasted at how wrong I was. This film correctly points out over and over again that if it weren't for legal tender laws, we would not accept this worthless currency, and the system would not be able to victimize us any longer. Apparently, the problem is in that tiny misunderstanding: the writer seems to fail to recognize that money represents real wealth, but is not, in fact, the wealth itself.
Wealth can, and does, exist without money. The transition away from the fiat currency will be very painful no matter how it happens. Some people will lose everything. But wealth is created everyday, and it can be created everyday going forward from that point. People will need an easy way to facilitate trade, and they will use what seems best to them, and just as it happened before, money will be re-invented. Gold has inherent problems, but they are nothing compared to the problems of letting small groups make the decisions for everyone. The best part of a free market in money is that no one is forced to use money they don't trust, and systems can be easily put into practice that allow people who don't know each other, wouldn't like each other, and don't trust each other, or each other's money, to easily trade with each other.
It only takes one very simple piece of legislation, maybe one of the shortest ever, to make this possible. It has the added benefit of making the transition away from fiat currency as painless as possible. It has yet another benefit that is almost hard to believe, and that is that it has already been introduced into congress. It is simply a repeal of the legal tender laws. You may use fiat money, or you may use something else: shoes, wheat, gold, snowshoes, candy bars, or even the infamous widget.
The movie does make one telling point against this idea: it won't last forever. Someday, people will forget how bad fiat money is. They will forget how much of their earnings are stolen from them by governments and bankers when they're allowed to control the money. They will forget what we went through to give them sound money. They, like us and our forebears, will not even notice as evil groups again gain control of the people through control of the money. True. But it's not a reason to give those evil people complete control today. Let them wait.
- Trevor.
2008-03-26
Jackson, GA
P.S. For more information, please visit:
DownsizeDC.org A non-profit organization devoted to reducing government harm through relentless pressure where the ballot box always fails.
The Ludwig Von Mises Institute. Advancing the scholarship of liberty in the tradition of the Austrian school.
A book: Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. This link will take you to Amazon, if you're interested in the book but don't want to support my blog, please simply type the title into Amazon, as if you buy using this link I will receive a few pennies (fiat pennies).
Congressman Ron Paul's web site
I wrote this post yesterday, Saturday, March 8th. While I was writing it Blogspot's servers had some sort of problem. You can probably read all about that elsewhere in the blogosphere. Anyway, I tried to post this 5 or 6 times yesterday, and luckily, it didn't work all of those times. If you're reading this, it worked this time. I will finish this post, but I have no idea when. I now use Windows Live Writer, so I can write blog posts while offline and upload them when I get a connection, but for this particular post I need a connection just to write it. I'm in Oak Grove, KY right now, delivering in Clemson, SC in the morning, then picking up in Jackson, GA going to somewhere in Wyoming. No idea if I'll have time. Stay tuned ... or don't, whichever works best for you.
I wouldn't post any of this until it's done, but the previous post promised this one. This one actually spawned that one. And while I think it's funny to have a post entitled 'One Post Leads to Another' and have only the other and not the one, it does look kinda weird.
Speaking of spell check, this spell checker says that 'kinda' is not a word. I know that, but I kinda like it anyway. :-)
- Trevor.
Oak Grove, KY
2008-03-09.
This post is unfinished due to circumstances beyond my control. Please do not read it. Pretty please?
Since I added FeedBurner email subscriptions to my blog, I've had hundreds of requests from readers asking how they can add subscriptions to their own blogs. The first thing I'll say to them is that exaggeration is very important on blogs when you're trying to build up a reader base. For example, if your sister asks you how to add FeedBurner email subscriptions to her blog, you should say something like, "I've had hundreds of requests from readers ..."
The next thing I'll say to them is how to do it, to answer those dozens of requests I've had.
To accomplish this I'm going to add FeedBurner email subscriptions to another blog of mine, OnlyIdiots.tv, and write about it as I do.
This means that you may have to set up a FeedBurner account on your own (Google has acquired FeedBurner, so maybe you can sign in with your Google account by the time you're reading this). But once you've done that, the steps should be the same for you as they are for me... so come along ...
So, I hope that (eventually) answers the person (alright, it really was just the one, ok?!?)
- Trevor.
Springfield, MO
2008-03-08
While writing the FeedBurner post (to follow soon, I promise), I spelled FeedBurner correctly in the title, but forgot to capitalize the 'B' in the first line. The Windows Live Writer spell check caught both words, because 'FeedBurner' was a new word to it (my previous post about FeedBurner had been composed directly at Blogger). Unfortunately, I clicked on the misspelled word and clicked 'Add to Dictionary'. This set me on a quest that took almost an hour. I finally found a blog post that gave me the answer I needed: Changing Windows Live Writer Dictionaries at Grand Stream Dreams.
The Windows Live Writer dictionary files are stored in: C:\program files\windows live writer\dictionaries which makes perfect sense. However, the user customized dictionary file(s) is stored elsewhere. It's actually stored in a decent location, just not one that I guessed!
Once you know to look here: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Windows Live Writer\Dictionaries\userdic.tlx fixing your dictionary is as easy as running a text editor.
On my Vista system, I just right click on the file and click "FastEdit." You probably can't do that on your system unless you download this wonderful little (3 kb) app by Nicola Viganò, called, of all things, Fast Edit. It's worked beautifully for me since Windows 95, through 98 and XP, and now on Vista. You just right click on any file, and FastEdit will be an option. Click it and it simply opens the file in Notepad. Depending on the file you selected you won't always be able to read the data, but you'll see it represented on your screen. :-)
- Trevor.
Springfield, MO
2008-03-08
A long time ago, I learned that it was possible to record sound in digital format by hooking a microphone to a computer. I thought it would be nice to have some recordings of my children to listen to later. Boy was I wrong!
Click on the video below to see what I mean:
Thanks, Danielle, it was a wonderful and beautiful song, and I think Brian Regan stole this song to make his bit about the businessmen who make too big of a deal about their computers when flying. He probably wasn't even funny until he heard this song, and now he's the funniest man in the world (probably, I haven't met everyone), and the 'Best Christmas Present Ever'. How he heard the recording, which until now existed only on my computer and some old backup discs, is a mystery to which we may never find an answer.
- Trevor.
Springfield, MO
2008-03-08
Another embarrassing story:
Years ago I pulled a reefer trailer for a few months. One place I delivered was a potato chip factory in Kansas City, KS. It was actually kind of cool in the end because to unload the potatoes they had me drop my trailer on a platform, open the doors, and watch while they tilted the platform way up into the sky to dump all the potatoes out the back. Too bad I didn't have a digital camera back then (somewhere around 1998 or so).
But when I first got there, I couldn't find anybody I could talk to. Everybody spoke Spanish only, and maybe sign language, but not any signs that I understood. So I kept wandering around getting more and more confused, and finally I decided that I was going to try to remember some Spanish. Two or three years of Spanish classes in high school and a month spent in Spain should help me out of this tight spot, right?
So I decided I was going to tell the next person I met, in Spanish, that I didn't speak much Spanish, but could they help me? So after a minute a guy, who looked Mexican, drove up to me on a lift truck, and like everyone else had that day, just kind of looked at me. I said, "No hablo Inglés."
He said, "You don't speak English?!?"
And I've never tried to use my Spanish in public since. :-)
- Trevor.
Branch, MI.
2008-03-06
P.S. I am learning Spanish again, through the wonderful new(ish) technology of podcasting, and an excellent program called Coffee Break Spanish. Check it out if you're interested. Maybe someday soon I'll work up the courage to say something stupid in public in Spanish, instead of the normal routine of just saying stupid things in English all day.
I said a long time ago that I was going to put some trucker talk in this blog. Well, here's some:
Skateboard: n. A flatbed trailer, or a truck with a flatbed trailer. "Come on over skateboard, you missed me."
Here's a license plate spotted in Denver, Colorado:
Here's the truck it was on:
- Trevor.
2008-03-06
Branch, MI
P.S. I'm working with Windows Live Writer, which allows you to compose wysiwyg posts offline to be posted whenever, and so far I'm liking it. If my posts seem to be formatted slightly differently, that's why.
A couple weeks ago while talking to Lisa and Austin on the webcam, Lisa and I were involved in a conversation about bills or money or some other stupid thing like that. Austin kept saying, "Dad... Dad... Dad... Dad..." until I said, "Austin, your Mom and I are talking right now, and you're interrupting. You need to wait until we're finished and then we'll ask you what you wanted to say." He said ok, but he didn't sound happy. We soon finished up whatever it was we were talking about and I said, "Austin, it's your turn now, what did you want to say?"
He said, "Dad... I love... Mom."
Cute kid.
- Trevor.
2008-03-05
Branch, MI
I know that one of the most pressing problems in your life has been worry over whether The Next Thing has been updated and you've gone and missed it. I can't help you with your other little problems, but if you click on the link over to the right, that says "Subscribe to The Next Thing by email", I can make sure you never miss another post.
Well, as long as you don't change your email address.
And as long as you remember to check your email.
And as long as nothing goes wrong with any of the zillion (ok, 3) servers involved.
One email each day I post something new. If I don't post, no email. If I post a hundred new articles, 1 email. Enjoy.
- Trevor.
2008-02-17
Richfield, UT
This is like a placeholder post so you'll know I'm not gone.
I'm still trying to get PlanPlus for Outlook version 5.0 to work on my new (Vista) computer. It takes up all of my free time because I depend on that program so much. I don't have much free time, a couple hours a week. After I get it working and have my task list back, I am going to work hard to find an alternative, as the last few versions of Franklin Covey's productivity software have been horrible, and getting worse. Even some of the tech support pages admit to allowing data to be created (like a to-do task) that will not be retrievable because of how it was created. They apologize, and say they can't do anything about it because of the way Outlook is programmed. It's true that they can't make it retrievable, but it doesn't seem like it would take much to keep it from being created that way in the first place. There are other programming problems with it that allow data to easily get lost - not much of a feature in a program you're counting on to help you remember things.
As I write this I'm letting PlanPlus try to open - it took about two hours to load my task list after I got it to work right, then I re-booted and tried again to see if it would still work. It looks like it might be working, and it's only been 45 minutes! :-|.
This was originally meant to be just a placeholder post, but I guess it turned into a review of Franklin Covey's productivity software. On any scale from 1 to anything I give it a 1. On the thumb scale it would be two down. Because I have Google Ad-Sense on the site, there may even be an ad for this software on this page. PLEASE do not think I did that on purpose. I would recommend Franklin Covey's books, and their paper planners. But NEVER would I recommend their software. Any efficiency gains are more than made up for in installation and tech-support hassles - and don't forget the cavalier attitude about data integrity.
- Trevor.
Whitestown, IN
2008-02-09 (Happy Birthday to me...)
My computer recently developed a physical problem. Being bounced around in a truck will do that to a person - apparently computers, too :-). So, because I'm never home long enough to get it fixed somewhere, and I can't live without it for the time it takes to send it in, I bought a new one. I won't have to do that again because now I'll get the broken one fixed, and if/when I need to fix the new one I'll use that in the meantime.
Anyway, a couple of the programs I rely heavily on - Outlook and PlanPlus for Outlook, are not migrating well to the new computer. They work just fine on either one, but are being extremely stubborn about accepting my data. Last night I thought I had it working, so I rebooted and opened it again, just to check. Opening my 'Master Task List' took a very long time (around 10 minutes - I have hundreds of tasks I intend to get to someday)... and once it was done loading each task it proceeded to delete each task. Calmly and methodically, as I watched in horror.
It's been two full days of System Restore, resetting to factory settings, thinking things are working and downloading new email, then finding out it's not working so I have data all over the place, with no full copy anywhere, old system or new. It's some of the most frustrating work I've ever done, and when I finally get it all to work, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that I am in the same position I was in a couple weeks ago before my old computer broke, minus about two weeks wages. Nice.
But through this all has been a bright shining spot: Siber Systems RoboForm. I've re-installed it many times in the last few days, every time it has found its data if it's anywhere on the system, and if it wasn't on the system it has been easy to import. This program not only remembers all of my passwords, and information for filling out web forms, but will enter the password information into a login page with one click. It won't enter that information into a phishing site, and it keeps all of that data encrypted, only opening it with a master password of your choice.
I just re-installed it again, and even though I bought the program years ago for about $10, I go to the site's web site and enter my name and email address and they remember me... and happily activate my new installation without any hassles, complaints, or demands for more money. And this is not the old, clunky version I originally bought, this is their newest, sleekest, coolest version. Again, they did this for *no* extra money.
The program that I can't get to work yet, PlanPLus, charged me $50 for the priveledge of upgrading to a release with fewer features, because the one I purchased won't run on my new Vista OS. (more on Vista later, early returns are surprisingly good).
So even though I'm not yet calling up Siber Systems and trying to get them to take a little more money, I just wanted my friend(s) to know that there is one software company that knows how to take care of its customers. If you need any of the software they offer, go buy it now.
- Trevor.
Perrysburg, OH
2008-01-31
I find it worth noting that in my life, I have not had one credible death threat.
- Trevor.
2008-01-20
Resaca, GA
