P-90-X yourself

This past week seemed very long at work. With a manager out I logged one-hundred hours in nine days. That's not typical but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Several years ago I would have been exhausted. This week, not so much. And there's only one thing to which I would attribute that. Let's get physical!

I have maintained a relative healthy life-style and 'worked out' on a semi-regular basis for much of my life, at least staying active. Over the last couple of years some of that activity has lessened, some due to nagging joints or just overall fatigue from the daily grind.

A few months ago I was feeling rather sluggish and decided it was time to get back to it. I picked up my workout regimen but this time decided there would be virtually no day that some type of exercise was not performed. I have two lifting workouts and two cardio workouts. I detest running so the cardio work is either swimming or a running-in-place/boxing routine I do in the basement. All are usually less than thirty minutes in length. My Beloved and I own a pool,(no we're not rich, it costs the same as a decent automobile and can be paid off in the same amount of time). It is long enough to swim laps. In the past if I was feeling too tired I would skip the workout. I promised myself I would not do that. My eating habits haven't changed that much but I do try to watch what I eat a little more carefully, which means I order and eat a medium pizza instead of a large.

In the past two months I have lost eight pounds and have stuck to my new routine. I have a new energy I haven't felt in years. No matter how tired I feel I get the exercise in. I don't like morning workouts so I workout in the evening or at night depending on my work schedule, right before I go to bed. Five per week is the minimum. Sometimes you have to let the body rest.

Yesterday was the end of the line and today I have a day off. Even though tired I got my lifting workout in and decided to cool off in the pool before bed. The waters were placid with the light shimmering a soft blue below the surface. I waded gently in and watched the subtle waves made by my presence undulating across the surface. As waves do they bounced off the far end of the pool and returned between the crests of the waves going forward. That simple wave repeating itself over and over again made the water's surface milky from the reflected light. Waves are a form of energy transferred to the water. Then I let myself slide beneath the water to cool my salt-encrusted head.

I guess I was more tired than I thought.

Your Tax Dollars at Work

This little piece appeared online today at the website of our dear litle daily newspaper:

It costs more than twice as much as a traditional sound wall and, if all goes well, will look like a giant Chia Pet towering over the interstate.

But will it screen out the sound of cars whizzing by? No one knows for sure.

Still, the Ohio Department of Transportation is moving ahead with a proposal to install a 400-foot "green" sound wall along one side of I-70 near Pataskala this fall.

"It's a research project that we have initiated," said Scott Varner, spokesman for the state transportation agency. "There's still a lot of questions."

State transportation officials admit that the new sound wall -- made of dirt and plants as opposed to concrete, wood or Plexiglas -- is an untested concept in Ohio or anywhere else. Cold weather or salty runoff from the interstate could ruin the vegetation; excessive rain could cause the wall to erode into the road.

Then there's the cost.

The price tag for the 400-foot wall is estimated at $300,000, which comes to nearly $4 million per mile. A traditional concrete sound wall costs about $1.5 million per mile. The see-through acrylic walls that are popping up in parts of the state -- such as a stretch of I-71 in the Polaris area -- are priced at about $2.4 million per mile.

But the soil-and-plants wall, standing 12 feet high, could muffle road noise while also cleaning the air and looking more natural than a concrete barrier.

"Ohio is willing to treat this as a research opportunity to measure the sound reduction based on different types of vegetation," said Anna Schiessl, operations manager for British Columbia-based Deltalok, the company picked to build the wall. "They'll be using different types of vegetation every 100 feet."

Among the types of vegetation planned for the Ohio wall: wild bergamot, Indian grass, brown-eyed Susan, ryegrass and dotted St. John's wort.

Deltalok is building another "green" sound wall in its home city, Vancouver, later this summer. But the company can't point to any precedents for the Ohio project.

In the mid-1990s, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation built a sound wall out of plastic, soil and plants near Milwaukee that lasted about two years before weeds and erosion forced its removal.

Schiessl said the technology behind the Wisconsin experiment was "completely different" from Deltalok's planned sound walls in Vancouver and central Ohio. The new walls are designed to last at least 75 years, she said.

They also should be effective in absorbing road noise, said Joel M. Lerner, founder of Environmental Design, a landscape consulting firm in suburban Washington.

"A sound barrier has to be dense enough that there are no openings -- that's the key," Lerner said. "That's all it takes -- one little opening -- for the sound to just pour through."

Lerner called the concept "very innovative," saying he'd never heard of anything like it before. But as for whether the wall will survive Ohio's heavy rain and snow and other extremes of weather, he couldn't say.

Neither could Varner.

"It's more of a research project than a construction project," the state transportation spokesman said.

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I just love the way our various government entities throw money at anything anybody says "might " work without any actual proof of anyone trying this idea out privately. Why do we need to have, in this state and economy, an untried idea suddenly have a large amount of our money thrown at it without a shred of proof that it is anything more than a dubious waste.

All aboard

Our beloved behemouth newspaper recently ran a story concerning my nearby metropolis school district. Said school district has withdrawn payment to the local transit authority for letting students ride public transportation to school for football practice and other such events.

I was appalled. Since when is the school district a transportation company? The price for these rides was over a half-million dollars. I nearly fell off my chair. It is not the business of a school district to transport children to events or nearly any regular classes as far as I'm concerned, at least not in a major metropolitan city. This isn't Podunctville that needs bus service on long rural roads. Nor is it the seventies when busing was mandated for integration (gosh, where did that get us) and children didn't attend a nearby school. The vast majority of students live within a few miles of the school they now attend. Where are the parents? Isn't it their responsibility to get their children to school for virtually every function their child wants to participate in? The outcry was Johnny has to give up football now because he has no way there. Boo-hoo.

My family growing up was able to provide our own transportation to every event we ever needed to go to. Our parents drove us, we hitched a ride with a friend or we walked. The citizenry cry twice a year every time a new school levy goes on the ballet. Oh, we don't have enough money. We'll have to cut sports, they cry. Do you wonder where your money goes? This is a prime example of a school district trying to be everything to everyone who has a whim.

It's time for school districts to get back to their primary focus of educating the child, not being the butler, maid, chauffeur and parent to everyone who walks through the door. If you can't get your child to school you shouldn't have the child. It's part of being a parent. Get off your *ss and be a parent; take your child to school and get involved.

A long way to say "No!"

Today was a make-up session for those of us at work who managed to duck, er, miss the mandatory annual ethics training class.

Those of us who missed out on the original presentation got to watch a video of the presentation given a few weeks ago.

Riveting.

The presenter knows her stuff, and did a good job with it, but, having heard the same (basic) pitch for a number of years now, it does get dreadfully boring.

I have long believed there is a simple answer to ethics questions, and the 75-minute presentation could be much more narrowed and focused, and dispensed with quickly.

Presenter: "The answer is, 'No'!"
Questioner: "How about..."
Presenter: "No!"
Questioner: "What about..."
Presenter: "No!"
Questioner: "What if..."
Presenter: "No! Got it? Good! See you next year."

Or, as suggested to me today by a co-worker,:
Presenter: "Is that your signature from last year?"
Worker: "Yes."
Presenter: "Good. Sign here, date it, same ethics rules apply; see you next year."

We were fortunate that in the large room in which the video was shown, there was ample space for us to not have to sit too close together, especially after they turned off the lights. Which gave one co-worker the excuse to play with her cell phone; texting, I presume. Probably not very ethical on her part.

I would have complained if I had not had one earplug in listening to my ipod.

Everything needs maintenance

The Sunday morning shows are so full of helpful knowledge to help one work around your currant abode or to buy your next home. Although fairly schooled in the arts of home maintenance I can find snippets of things to occasionally help me in tasks. I am sure as well there are torrents of repair information for the less knowledgeable. Sometimes these shows can cause problems for the weekend warriors as projects and solutions are not shown step by step. That can cause a disaster for those fixing something they witnessed on a repair/remodel show.

Sunday morning as I shuttled about the family room a house hunting show was on. I wasn't paying particular attention until a phrase cause my ear and turned my head. The prospective homeowner mentioned passing up this house due to the maintenance of a hot tub. Really? Maintenance on a hot tub? I have owned tubs/spa for years and believe me, there is generally very little one needs to do to maintain one, add a few chemicals now and then and drain the water a few times a year. If that's what is stopping you from buying a house you better stick to renting.

The problem today is very few people know how to do anything for themselves. They can't paint, put up wallpaper, fix a leaky faucet or nail two boards together. Have we become such a pampered society we have to hire specialists to do everything for us? Does that need to include helping us walk our dog because we are too busy or can't be bothered? I live in a neighborhood with fairly nice homes, some well-kept, some downtrodden. I have never understood why someone would sink their hard earned money into a respectable home and let it to go pot. I have a neighbor whose lawn often resembles a field of wild flowers. Last week I was tempted to take a bottle of Round-Up and spray a message in his lawn. Fortunately, respect for others and a nasty look from My Beloved led to cooler heads.

Houses, cars, tools, spas, pools and nearly every mechanical device needs some sort of maintenance. If you haven't figured that one out, ditch the car and take a bus. That's why your engine blew up; you need to change the oil more than once every fifty thousand miles.

It doesn't take an MBA

In the nineties, I worked for an independent hardware store under the banner of ServiStar Hardware. The owner of the business was a hands off owner and let us run the business nearly as our own, as we had the better retail backgrounds. ServiStar was a co-op. For those who don't know, the owners of the independent stores actually own the co-op. That set up is in place today for names many know such as Ace and Do-It-Best. The actual co-op is run by a board and a CEO that make direct decisions for the betterment of the group. The value to members is clout. By combining their purchasing power they are able to negotiate for lower prices for all members.

Back 'in the day', Ace was the number one co-op followed by True Value and ServiStar. The latter two joined forces and formed the corporation of TruServ then usurping Ace's position as the top dog. That was in 1999 (I think). Each banner would be supported going forward with the benefits for all. That seemed great on the surface.

As the merger began to take place there were signs (at least to me) that things weren't going to happen even-handedly to both banners. There are operational issues that needed to be overcome such as skus. A sku is the 'stock keeping unit'. It is a number assigned to every item to track, order and sell it. TV used six digit numbers and ServiStar used five digit. It was decided that all member would use six digit skus. As these types of issued were overcome it appeared that the ServiStar owners always lost out to the TV owners. I had this discussion with my owner. She said it didn't matter and they were assured things were equitable. After six months of working through these issues I told her I gave it no more than five years and the name ServiStar would cease to exist and if she wanted to stay in business she should start saving for a new TV sign out front.

I worked for her for less than two more years before moving on, seeing the writing on the wall. The business closed after another two years after surviving twenty good years. That was not the only factor in the close but it was one.

I hadn't thought of it for some time and the other night I went on the internet and looked up the word TruServ. On the first Google page was a hit for the article that said on January 1, 2004 TruServ would officially change its name to True Value Corporation.

It doesn't take an MBA to see the writing on the wall. You just have to pull your head out of the sand.

The Begatting of a Superstar

LBJ has fallen from grace. No, not the former president. The King, L. James has left the building.

I wasn't going to comment on this as it has unfolded but it just doesn't want to leave the airways. I am not a viewer of pro basketball. As it is I haven't watched more than fifteen minutes of a pro game (combined) in the last decade. It does not interest me. I know the participants and the teams due to the fact that I am a regular listener of sports-talk radio. And, alas the former king is a resident of my home state.

I don't care that he has vacated his position as king and savior. He is in a business and as an employee should look out to better his position. As a rule I don't think that theory naturally applies to major superstars who will make more money for a partial season's work than I will see in my lifetime. Still, on the surface I don't deride him for changing teams as that is the common state of professional sports in our day and age. No longer do stars complete their careers with the teams they started with. Cleveland, get over it.

That's on the surface. As I have listened to the debate drone on, the one thing I haven't heard from anyone in the media is this: LeBron James built his entire status as the savior of the Cavs, the hometown hero, the man who would pull the city of Cleveland into New York status. He labored for seven years, not nearly an entire career then took his ball and went home. Well, actually he went to warm sandy beaches.

For that reason I don't blame the fans of Cleveland for wanting to burn his house to the ground. He created his status not only on the court but by his words to his fans and the city that they were the most important thing in his life and his career, then just up and left in a gregarious way. If he had not cultivated this savior status he would be no different than any other player. But he did. For that reason the fans of Cleveland sports have every right to be enraged at his actions.