How to turn homework in on time (hopefully)

I know we are not the first parents to struggle with this, nor are we the last.

God blessed us with a great son. I could spend a long time listing his great traits here, but I want you to make it to the end of this post. Let’s just say my wife and I are both pleased with how he’s turning out. One thing we struggle with is homework.

Several teachers have commented that he needs to get better at turning assignments in on time. Sometime he doesn’t write it down, other times he forgets his homework at school. Then there is the whole idea of actually doing it. Think that’s enough? He actually leaves completed work at home, thereby making it late.

We have a new policy: 8:30 bedtime. For each assignment he fails to turn in on time, bedtime gets moved up by five minutes. (Thanks for the idea, mom.) We’re still working out the system for earning back bedtime.

The Business Analyst in me decided to document the process of getting homework turned in on time. I printed a copy and hole-punched it. I think it’s in his binder. In the interest of making families a happier place to be, I share it with you. Feel free to suggest modifications to the process.

1. Write assignments down in Assignment Notebook

• Your notebook is your notebook. Feel free to use it as you want to. If you want to break Memory Work, Handwriting, or Spelling down by day, then do it.
• Write the assignments so they make sense.

2. Put all books/sheets/other things in backpack

• Bring things home that are due in the next two days, so you can work ahead if you need or want to.

3. Bring homework home

4. Do homework

• Do things neatly and correctly the first time.
• Take your time and show pride in your work (like you show pride in making a good throw to first).
• Have mom and/or dad check the homework to make sure everything is right.

5. Pack up all finished homework, books, workbooks, etc.

• Put things into the correct folder as each thing is done.
• Make sure bag is packed as soon as all homework is done.
• Leave everything where you put it; don’t take it out again.

6. Take homework to school

7. Turn in homework

The iPod Armband, or “Do you HAVE to be a complete and utter jerk to work here?”

I recently started weight training and was in need of an armband for my 5G Video iPod 80GB. In the past I’ve found the Apple Store to have the best selection. Off I went, and here is my story…

Walking into the back of the Apple Store where the cases are…

Searching for an armband for the Classic…

Still can’t find it. Is there an associate handy?

I’ll grab this guy when he’s done…

“Need something?” asks a tall Apple store associate with the hip orange shirt and WiFi bankcard machine in holster. (Cash registers are for suckers.)

“I’m looking for an armband for the iPod classic.”

“They should be right on the bottom.” OrangeShirt continued in a condescending tone. “Now the classic is basically a disk drive. It’s got moving parts, so I wouldn’t recommend jogging with it. It pops out and – BOOM – it’s ruined!”

“Actually, I need it for weight training. Nothing too heavy,” I retorted quickly.

OrangeShirt was quick with a volley back over the net. “Even still, it’s really not meant to be on the move.”

A few thoughts went through my mind in a split second as I began searching the wall for a case, including:

“It’s an iPod, not a Victrola.”

“How many times have I dropped my iPod in its case over the last two years?”

“If it couldn’t be moved, why make an armband for it?”

After finding a case, I turned to the next question. “I have the 80GB 5G – will it fit in this case? I know they’re similar.”

“On the back of the box there is a list with all of the models it’s compatible with.” It was said with a tone that seemed to imply that helping me select a case was a waste of his time.

I rephrased my question. “The box says iPod Classic 120GB and iPod Classic 80/160GB. The sizes aren’t that much different, are they?”

Once I heard him say “back of the box,” I could tell this was going nowhere. And fast.

I figured the easiest thing to do at this point would be to open the box and check out the design. As I did that, I put a small tear in the front of the box. I didn’t trash it, but it was enough to damage the pristine nature of the tagboard. Keep in mind we’re talking about a display box for a $30 iPod case.

OrangeShirt piped in before I could go further. “Be very careful sir we have a…” I was waiting for him to say that any further damage to the box would require that I purchase it.

He didn’t get that far. I closed the box up, and said “Let me look and see if there’s something else here.” He walked away.

I could have done any number of things at this point: asked for a manager, reopened the case and tried it out, bought the case and returned it if it didn’t fit my needs. None of those seemed worth the trouble. I decided to vote with my feet and wallet; I put back the case, walked out of the store, went to Best Buy across the street, and bought an armband. It was only $22.

For some reason, I can’t get over this dude at the Apple store. I know their products are cool and chic. I love the design of their Macs. I’m looking forward to getting an iPhone when the contract is up for renewal.

But this experience put a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t want to feel like I’m talking to Dieter from “Sprockets” every time I need an accessory or have a question about something. Maybe he had a rough day to that point. Maybe he works on commission and was worried about losing a sale on a MacBook Pro.

After sharing my experience with a colleague, he didn’t seem that shocked. So what’s your experience with the Apple store? Feel free to leave a comment.

Never mind, mom.

25 Random things

There’s this “25 Random Things” deal going around on Facebook, so I finally bit and took a crack at it. I thought I would publish it here for posterity’s sake. The one thing I didn’t mention was how much I love Milwaukee. Feel free to comment.

25 Random Things – This seems way too self-indulgent…

1. My wife rocks.
   
2. Now that I know what Liberal Arts means, I can safely say I became a liberal arts student at 10 and will remain one until the day I die. (I’m personally holding out hope of becoming omniscient in heaven – for the Kennedy Assassination alone.)
3. I have a great family and thank God for the blessing they are.
4. I am also blessed to have a great church family, some of whom are closer than my actual family.
5. Of all of the educational institutions I’ve attended, I am proudest to call myself a Milwaukee Lutheran Red Knight. I even bleed MLHS Red.
6. Of the many adults who shaped me in my formative years, I’d set these apart from the rest:
   1. Jerry Fangmann (Grade school teacher and coach)
   2. Wallace Wilde (Scoutmaster)
   3. Rozanne Schwarz (German teacher)
   4. Joan Moeller (English teacher)
   5. Pastor Harrmann (Religion teacher)
7. IT Consulting found me for a career, and I like it more than I am willing to admit. It’s cool to be on the cutting edge of stuff.
8. At the same time, I like doing things the old-school way: shaving with soap and brush, using a fountain pen, carrying handkerchiefs, mixing cocktails like they did a long time ago, and keeping a journal. I’d love a smoking jacket (I don’t smoke) and maybe even a straight razor with strop.
9. Much of #8 comes from watching way too many old movies. It doesn’t make sense for me to go hi-def until Turner Classic Movies does.
10. I am fascinated with Black Music: Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Soul, R&B, Funk and Hip-hop. Junior Wells, Louis Armstrong, and Missy Elliott (among others) make for interesting playlists.
11. One of my childhood idols was Paul Joseph. I was the 4^th Grade Weatherman at Northwest Lutheran.
12. Baseball: Babe Ruth, Basketball: Michael Jordan, Golf: Jack Nicklaus, Romance: Me. (Ask Nicole.)
13. Lest you think me arrogant, I make up for #12 by falling short in many other areas.
14. Moving about outdoors is regenerative. Camping, sports, and cycling back-country roads with a map and compass allow me to face civilization again.
15. Leaving Law School was one of the best things I ever did.
16. One (of many) reasons why #14 is true: I became free to read all of the plays, novels, and short stories I was supposed to read in high school and college but never did. I have since experienced many good books.
17. I accepted Jesus sometime in grade school, but until recently did not understand or experience God’s Grace on a personal/emotional level.
18. The Joshua Tree is and will always be my favorite album of all time. It changed the way I saw life and gave me the courage to be myself.
19. The only thing that would make coaching baseball more rewarding would be to have my (late) Grandma Paape in a lawn chair behind our dugout. I’d exchange smiles with her, watch her live and die with our fortunes, and maybe even ask her advice.
20. Baseball is wonderfully simple and complex at the same time. As if that weren’t enough, it is the sport that gives us the most perspective into our past. Wonder why I’m a baseball fan?
21. I am a jack of all trades and master of none.
22. One of the many ways I pay homage to my Grandparents’ generation is by having a liquor cabinet in my living room.
23. I am seemingly the only Eagle Scout alive who doesn’t also have his Order of the Arrow. The best news there is that one can earn OA as an adult.
24. Everyone in my immediate family is a Type “A” personality. It made for fun times!
25. There are more than a few statements I would have loved to put here, but they were way too inappropriate/irreverent for my Facebook page.

Then and Now

Yesterday was the 20^th Anniversary of the first date I had with this girl named Nicole, who became my wife. While not the event of an anniversary, this was definitely cause for celebration. We went to see Quantum of Solace, the latest installation in the 007 Series. Along the way we grabbed a quick meal and bought Nicole some sunglasses. (How 1980s of us to hang at the mall.) We almost toilet-papered our friends’ house (we got caught trying to TP his parents house on that fateful day) but decided against it. I thought a then/now was in order, so here goes:

	1988	2008
President	Ronald Reagan	George W. Bush
We drove in…	1979 Chevy Nova, manual transmission on the column, later changed to a 3-speed Hurst shifter. This car was two shades of brown (three including the rust).	Black 2001 Saturn LS200
Job	Student and carpet-store helper	IT Consultant
I wore…	Bugle boy jeans (tight-rolled, baby) Oversized polo Red Knight swim jacket, Sebago Campsides with no socks	Dress pants, shirt and coat.
US Enemies	Communism and the Eastern Bloc (We didn’t know the Cold War would end soon.)	Militant Radical Muslims
We went to…	Cocoon: the Return (The Naked Gun was sold out – I should have picked Rattle and Hum.) NEVER take a date to a sequel when she hasn’t seen the original installment.	Quantum of Solace
Cost of gasoline	$1.05	$1.79
Before the movie…	I was late. It takes a lot of time to shower and preen after swim practice.	Eyeglass shopping without the kids.
Height	5′ 10″	6′ 1″
After movie food/drink…	Dessert and coffee at The Coffee Trader (R.I.P.)	Leftover pumpkin pie and a Vesper
Weight	150 pounds	More
Curfew	Midnight (from my parents)	~10:00 (The sitter can’t stay forever.)
Hair	Blonde	Brown (OK, a little gray too!)
Written Communication	Notes passed between classes	E-mail, IM, texting
MLHS Freshman Religion Teacher	Mr. Pollock	Mr. Pollock
Theater Admission	$5.50	$9.50
Quick fact lookup	Milwaukee Public Library’s Ready Reference (people who took phone calls and found facts for you)	Google/The Internet
Brewer pitcher most likely to wind up on the DL	Teddy Higuera	Ben Sheets
Person I most wanted to go on a date with	Nicole Potosnyak	Nicole Strelow

Web Wednesday: Google

You just logged onto the Internet. You were curious about something. Maybe it was Sidecar recipes, maybe it was SharePoint prerequisites, or perhaps you wanted to read about the life of Townes Van Zandt. Only problem is, you don’t know where to start.

Enter Google. Google is the most-used search engine in America. Click on the address bar of your browser and enter www.google.com. Enter one of the searches above or pick something of you own. Voila! All of these links appear and you can explore. The internet makes sense again. And you won’t have to figure out how to publish an Access database in Citrix.

(In case you were wondering there is a great deal of sarcasm to this post. It’s amazing how many novice internet users don’t use Google or another search engine. My dad once called me in the middle of a meeting to ask for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s web address. All he had to do is search for it. How many more of you folks are out there? Feel free to reply.)

Microsoft OneNote Mobile Sync Error

My first PDA was a Palm III in 2000. I liked the way I could use it to keep my life (relatively) straight. One of the things I came to rely on was the Notes feature. I used it along with Outlook Notes to sync miscellaneous data back and forth. I kept a list of movies, books, CDs, and other information of varying importance. I stayed with the Palm platform until I started at my current company and got a Windows Mobile phone. One thing I quickly learned was that many Windows Mobile devices did not have the Notes application (including of course, my phone). I then discovered that OneNote Mobile allowed for the same functionality. I used it heavily, and grew to love it. The Palm notes app didn’t allow me to take a photo and add it to a note.

Then my OneNote bliss was shattered. In the middle of a meeting in March, I lost my OneNote Mobile notebook in the OneNote Windows Vista Application. I still had the old notes on the phone, but my ability to add and edit notes and transfer them to my phone was lost. This issue was the proverbial cobbler’s shoes. I worked on it when I had time, which has been little. Plus I never seemed to get any good information.

I have always hated the troubleshooting issues on mobile platforms because the solutions were always guessing. Delete partnerships, reset factory settings, basically starting from scratch. The proposed solutions here were no different. I finally fixed it, so I will share it with you. I’ll tell you the two errors and what I did.

I run Vista so ActiveSync is now Windows Mobile Device Center. I also run Windows Mobile 6 on a BlackJack. The two errors were found in Sync Manager.

The first was a “Sync Failed” message. Even if I took OneNote out of the equation, I was still getting this message.

Once I fixed error #1, error #2 appeared: “Microsoft Office OneNote: Attention Required”

First, I’ll tell you what I did that didn’t fix it:

• Deleted and recreated the partnership between Windows Mobile Device Center (WDMC) in vista and the phone
• Reset the phone to factory defaults
• Uninstall/reinstall OneNote on the mobile phone.
• Recreate the Windows Mobile OneNote notebook.

Now onto the solutions:

Error #1: “Sync Failed” in WMDC

Fix #1: Uninstall the phone in Device Manager and remove/reload the driver. (All apologies to whoever posted this solution – I’d link to you if I could find the post again.)

Error #2: “Microsoft Office OneNote: Attention Required”

    Fix #2: Run a repair of Office 2007 Enterprise. (If you have OneNote installed separately, repair OneNote.) When I ran this, the problem immediately was fixed. Based on this fix, I have to assume that some file in OneNote 2007 got corrupted when the OneNote Windows app hung. In recalling how I got to this broken state, it made sense. I suppose that’s the hazard of constantly fixing stuff. Sometimes your own problems get lost in the shuffle.

Five-star Friday: “With or Without You”

After an extended absence, the five-star song feature of my blog returns today. I moved it to Friday to take advantage of the alliteration.

It was a warm spring day. I was driving home from school with my Grandma Paape. (When I had my temps at 15, my grandma used to drive to school and move over to the passenger’s side before school let out. Then I would walk out of school, walk over to the car on Grantosa, and drive home. How cool was that?)

Back to my story: I was stopped at the traffic signal on Fond du Lac and Maxwell. A twenty-something guy pulled up next to me with his window down and “With or Without You” came on the radio. That was the first time I’d really heard the song in its entirety, and for some reason it resonated. (Those of you who grew up near the old Capitol Court know how long the light is.)

I bought The Joshua Tree in the fall of 1987. What I heard awoke something in me. Returning to school to share how awesome my new discovery was led to ridicule. My friends didn’t like U2 and I did. That was the beginning of the rest of my life.

I was in a theatre waiting for a movie to start, and the people behind me were talking about U2. When one person asked why so many people think U2 is so great, another answered: “Because so many people had a coming-of-age experience with U2 in the 80s and 90s.” My thoughts exactly.

(Formerly) on my Bookshelf: The Continental Op

I just finished Dashiell Hammett’s collection of short stories titled The Continental Op. They were published individually in pulp fiction magazines like Black Mask beginning in 1923. The central figure in the stories is The Continental Op, a middle-aged private investigator who works for The Continental Detective Agency. Unlike Sam Spade, the Op is under a more stringent policy and often enlists the aid of other Continental agents. These stories are matter-of-fact, emotionless, and gritty. I’ll end with this passage from “The Whosis Kid” that describes the Op’s thoughts while hanging out with a pretty woman waiting for inevitable trouble to make its way to her apartment.

“I didn’t kid myself that my beauty and personality were responsible for any of her warmth. I was a thick-armed male with big fists. She was in a jam. She spelled my name P-r-o-t-e-c-t-i-o-n. I was something to be put between her and trouble.”

“Another complication: I am neither young enough nor old enough to get feverish over every woman who doesn’t make me think that being blind isn’t so bad. I’m at that middle point around forty where a man put other feminine qualities-amiability, for one-above beauty on his list. This brown woman annoyed me. She was too sure of herself. Her work was rough. She was trying to handle me as if I was a farmer boy. But in spite of all of this, I’m constructed mostly of human ingredients. This woman got more than a stand-off when faces and bodies were dealt. I didn’t like her. I hoped to throw her in the can before I was through. But I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that she had me stirred up inside-between her cuddling against me, giving me the come-on, and the brandy I had drunk.”

Great stuff, hey?

Web Wednesday: Nuclearity.org

I listen to the FamilyLife Today podcast with great regularity. At the end of a few, there was this blurb about Nuclearity. Quoting from their “About Us” page:

Nuclearity^TM – Helping Families Find the True Center

Nuclearity^TM is a radio program operating out of these assumptions:

• When couples are inspired to love each other and love their children, God is glorified.  We aim to be a source of that inspiration.
  
• The world doesn’t need another radio program offering to solve problems “in three easy steps”; the world always needs more stories.
  
• We appreciate both public radio and Christian radio, but will probably be heard on neither.  Our programming may be too honest about Jesus for the one and too honest about life for the other.
  
• Language, voices and music are important parts of God’s good creation.  With his help, we aim to combine these into a lovely roller coaster of audio.
  
• Truth and beauty long to embrace each other.   We find it natural to approach topics with both reason and imagination.
  

I have all of their podcasts now downloaded, and after listening to a few, they are extremely refreshing. Rubbernecker realistically discusses men’s propensity to look at other women (with a funny anecdote involving Dolly Parton). Other episodes discuss Christian Environmentalism, and how churches can communicate with people with great impact. These are refreshing, and a great listen.

Breaking News: Major Networks, CNN, call Wisconsin for Obama

NBC has just joined CBS, ABC and CNN in calling the the State of Wisconsin for Barack Obama. Adding ten more electoral votes to his tally, the Illinois Democrat is sure to win the race for President, becoming the first African-American to occupy the Oval Office.

In case you are wondering, this is a parody of the MSM’s current droning about Obama’s big lead. It could be Time’s latest Obama-friendly cover, or the JSOnline article about Obama’s 17-point lead in my home state.

Keep in mind we don’t vote for three weeks, which in this day and age is a long time. All that counts in the end are the votes. Come November 4, please don’t stay home, unless you are registered as Yosemite Sam. On second thought; Yosemite Sam is one of those people who clings to his guns. Please show up Sam, we need you in Colorado…

Blatantly Obvious Observation of the Day: MPS Benefits are “uniquely generous”

Just in case you are wondering why the MPS is under a budget crisis, I direct you to the following article. The MPS School Board had to pay a consultant to tell them something that many a Milwaukee taxpayer already knows: MPS fringe benefits like health care are “uniquely generous” among employers.

Really… I pay roughly $4,500 a year in premiums for my health care. This entitles me to pay a $4,000 deductible. You mean little or no premiums with co-pays across the board is generous?

One of my favorite quotes was this:

“Dennis Oulahan, president of the teachers union, said a big part of the problem is the huge increase in health insurance costs, generally, in recent years. “I don’t think it’s fair for teachers to pay for that,” he said.”

Excuse me Dennis, but most other employees (like me and my colleagues) have to pay more out of pocket when premiums and costs rise. Why shouldn’t teachers pay their share as well?

Carbon Offset Indulgences

I wish I could take credit for this term, but I have to give credit to Charlie Sykes for linking today’s carbon-offset mania with the Reformation. Being a Lutheran, I was raised to know about the grounds for the reformation. I have to chuckle at the lengths we are willing to go to ease our guilt for living on this planet. I am in the process of replacing some windows so I save money and use less energy. I recycle more than the average person. I don’t think we should destroy the planet just for the heck of it. I believe we should take reasonable steps to keep the planet clean for future generations.

What is a Carbon Offset Indulgence? It’s hard to define, but I know one when I see it. Take the screenshot below. My dad needs a new PC, so I went to the Dell website to get some pricing. This screen allows one the choice to recycle their system for free. That’s environmentally responsible. I think PC makers have been slow to find ways to take back and reuse the materials from old PCs for new ones. It’s the bottom two choices that are interesting:

• Support reforestation: Plant a tree for me [add $6]
• Recycling Kit and Plant a Tree for Me [add $6]

So I am supposed to feel guilty for buying a PC and pay Dell an extra $6 to plant a tree? I didn’t know so many trees died to make my plastic computer. Before you tell me that the reforestation is supposed to offset the gases created by the electricity my PC will use, I’ll ask you how one $6 seedling will make a difference. My dad has 80 acres up north, and the forest plants seedlings all on its own. Maybe I should have my dad call Dell – they could give him a computer and pay him for planting all of those trees for them. I wonder how Dell feels about virtualization, which allows companies to be greener by using fewer physical servers.

Runner Interference

I was lucky enough to be at NLDS Games 3 and 4 in Milwaukee. I never made it to a postseason game in 1982, and it was nice to make both this time around.

The final score on Saturday was 4-1. It was 4-2 briefly but Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino (who looks similar to Steve Buscemi) was called for runner interference. You can read more and see the video here. Dale Sveum astutely called for the runners to go back to third and second, as the rule calls for.

I saw the replay at home, and immediately recalled Kent Hrbek’s slide into Jim Gantner that cleared the dugouts and resulted in a melee. It turns out there is a connection between the two. Tom Haudricourt reports in his blog that Yount assisted Sveum because he was guilty of runner interference in retaliation of Hrbek slide. MLB.com also reported the connection.

Does anybody out there have video of this game? I’d love to see it.

Sarah Palin, Gwen Ifill, debates, and witchcraft

I know many conservatives lament (some might describe it whining) about the bias of the Mainstream media. I myself have been hesitant to complain about this, as the MSM has been caught in this several times. Besides, who watches the 5:30 National Network News anyway? The Internet has opened the door to research and finding news and commentary from several different perspectives.

I found the news of Gwen Ifill’s book about Obama interesting, since she is the person in charge of asking questions for tonight’s debate. That seems like a conflict of interest to me, and I think people should be aware of the fact so they can judge for themselves. So I posted this on my Facebook Wall:

Allen wants you consider this fact: The moderator of tonight’s VP debate has a book about The Age of Obama scheduled for release on Inauguration Day.

I didn’t say it was a sham, I didn’t say it was a liberal conspiracy. I just stated a fact. I got this response from a high school classmate:

    ”I want to remind everyone that Pallin’s (sic) pastor drove a woman out of a village in Africa as a witch. Maybe instead of a debate we should chuck both of them in a pond and see who floats…”

Being the curious sort, I checked into this. The controversy surrounds Bishop Thomas Muthee of Kenya, who prayed over Governor Palin in 2005. He is not her pastor, rather a guest who was in their church. The Daily Mail (UK) story about Bishop Muthee is here, and here is a follow-up piece from the Boston Herald which states this as “all smoke and no fire”. Keep in mind that the Boston Herald is not some reactionary fringe publication. Ronald F. Maxwell suggests this silly diversion distracts us from issues that really matter (energy policy, the war on terror, the economy).

I attended a Promise Keepers event in 2006, and I had a man pray over me and speak in tongues. I never got his name, but if I ever ran for president, what bearing would that man’s independent actions have on my views and qualifications for president? It’s not like the Bishop made inflammatory comments in Palin’s presence in a span of years (Jeremiah Wright). Nor does Palin have any friends who unrepentantly committed terrorist acts in the past (William Ayers).

And here is another example of the polarizing effect of Governor Sarah Palin. Tell me if this is at all coherent to you. I changed names changed to protect the innocent(?).

Jane Smith is wishing Ron Paul was in the running for president. 7:24pm – September 19

4 Comments

Judy Jones at 7:38pm September 19

Amen, sista! I campaigned for my guy RP until the bitter end. We’ll live in a socialist country soon. : o

 

Jane Smith at 8:44pm September 19

I just got done watching Larry King w/ my husband….Sarah Palin is an embarrassment to ALL FEMALES!! OMG…..I think we will be moving to Finland soon….since they have more experience with socialism!

 

Missy Michaels at 5:39pm September 22

You’ll have to fill me in…I am so out of the loop!

 

Deena Doyle at 9:01pm September 26

ditto.

 

Why has politics become more like Packers-Vikings than a reasonable discussion of ideas? Why do we put so much stake in the person instead of their views? I’d love to know…

Web Wednesdays – OhGo.sh

I referenced a post on this website Monday. OhGo.sh is one great cocktail site. (For those of you techies who want to know a .sh extension denotes St. Helena. Here the webmaster uses the .sh to spell “Oh Gosh” the name of a cocktail.)

I’d have to say that this is the best site on cocktails and spirits I have found to date. This site includes recipes, reviews, and comparisons of different types/brands of spirits. Want to know which brands of Old Tom Gin are good? How about Campari? Check here and you will be the smart guy at the bar or cocktail party next time out. I envy the contents of this man’s bar. It looks like many ingredients are more available in the UK.

The Glass Key redux

I finished The Glass Key last night with a martini by my side. I checked out some articles on it and it turns out that Ned Beaumont was the inspiration for Gabriel Byrne’s character in Miller’s Crossing. For those of who have read (or conversely, never plan to read) the novel already, here is a great article by a lit professor at Case Western Reserve University.

A Wii bit of product maldistribution

I got a Nintendo Wii for Father’s Day, and I love it. It’s the first gaming console I owned since the Atari 5200 (which I still have), and I can think of no better system for our family. The girls can play Wii Sports: Golf or Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey. Jackson and I can play MLB 2K8 (and I can get livid watching him beat the tar out of me). The Wii Fit is challenging in parts, fun in others, and lame in a few spots (running in place = dumb). With the Wii, I became increasingly fascinated with the supply/demand curve heavily skewed towards the demand side.

When checking on Wii Fit availability, I learned that getting a Wii Console or Wii Fit was generally a product of luck or tenacity. I got our Wii Fit by keeping a spreadsheet of all GameStops in the Milwaukee area and calling when I was near one. The one I got was the only one they had and came in hours earlier. Days later, we walked into a Best Buy in Dubuque and saw three consoles and six Wii Fits on a table. Nobody was buying them, except us, who got one and sold it to an undisclosed third party.

I’ve heard several people attribute the lack of supply to some Nintendo conspiracy aimed at keeping demand artificially high. I chuckle at the thought, and usually ask the following question:

“If you were Nintendo, and all of these people wanted something of yours and you knew you could easily sell thousands or millions more, why on earth would you limit the supply?”

I then mention the only people profiting from the low supply are the resellers at places like eBay and Amazon. At that point, they usually get it. Don’t take my word for it – here’s a post that underscores and explains this phenomenon.

The bitters guru

I was looking to link to my earlier blog post on bitters, and on a whim I googled “orange bitters” half-expecting to find my post. Boy was I wrong. My favorite post by far was this one. Here’s a guy who spent the money, took the time, and gave himself the difficult job of sampling martinis with six different brands of orange bitters. He even made his martinis with Plymouth gin and Noilly Prat vermouth. His are wetter at 3:1 (gin : vermouth – mine are 4:1). I need to get me some Regan’s and Angostura Orange.

On my bookshelf: The Glass Key

As mentioned before, I don’t read fiction too much, as I am busy enough to stay in a book for extended periods of time. However, I do read fiction in spurts, and right now I am in a Dashiell Hammett mode. I read (and wrote a paper on) The Maltese Falcon in college, and I am currently listening to the audiobook version. We have a box set of the Thin Man series that the kids love. Anxious to read another of his novels, I got The Glass Key from the library. I am almost done with it, and I hope to finish it tonight. Since I would never divulge an ending, I am far enough into the book to give you a brief rundown.

Prohibition, one of the best things to ever happen to cocktails, is winding down. Ned Beaumont is the top “advisor” to Mayor Paul Madvig. I use the word advisor with quotes because Mayor Madvig reminds me very much of Boss Tweed from Tammany Hall. Madvig is up for reelection, and becomes embroiled in a murder scandal. Ned becomes an ad hoc detective and works to figure out what happened. I don’t know whodunit yet, but the writing is colorful, realistic, and gritty. Ned reminds me of Gabriel Byrne’s character in Miller’s Crossing. At just over two hundred pages, it’s a nice break from the media world of 2008.  For some reason I feel like wearing a smoking jacket and drinking a Manhattan when I read it.

The Cy Young of Youth Baseball

I came across this article today about the pitcher who is “too good” to play in a nine-year-old league. What cracks me up is that there were kids like this in our league too. I don’t know if this is a select league or not, but it makes for interesting reading. The displaced barber who runs the league is a nice touch.