The site for ranting and reporting by John Masters
Stories related to the economy and economic conditions.
I seem to be doing lots of upgrading lately. I’ve been having an issue for some time now with my Outlook crashing several times each day, and often taking multiple attempts to restart it. In some cases, it will even break the connection to the pst file, and I’ll have to restart the computer. I’ve tried everything without success, so I’m now considering an upgrade to Office 2007.
Read moreYou won’t usually find references to work on here (other than comments about work related travel or the workload), but last week we trained a new salesperson here in Florida, so everyone came into Tampa. One of our guys here owns a sailboat, so we all went out the evening between the two days. Here’s the video.
Read moreThis is a great video. If you don’t understand how the rules work with your insurance company, just watch this video and learn. I am sure glad someone figured out how all this works.
Read moreI generally find those automated out of office emails a bit annoying, but I guess they have their place. Ron Crumbaker at myITforum.com has a list of favorite auto reply messages.
Read moreI have prepared a resolution on social justice to be introduced at the next meeting of the Administrative Board of Palma Ceia United Methodist Church here in Tampa. It will create an inclusive statement of non-discrimination. However, it goes a bit further. In an on-line conversation I had with a new acquaintance, he made a statement that caught my interest. He said, “People don’t have to pay a price for discrimination against gay people.” I believe this is a true statement. You can’t really change how people feel, but you can change how they behave in public through laws and through action. People who make racists statements pay a price. If they are business owner, they may be boycotted by people who don’t beleive in racism. At work, they may be ostricized, and it can affect their potential opportunities. But for the most part, people don’t pay a price for discriminating against homosexuals. My resolution requires the church to put its money where its mouth is.
Read moreWhile traveling to Dallas this week, I visited the Admiral’s Club in Terminal A at the DFW airport. It has to be probably the nicest airline club I’ve ever been in. Of course, given that American Airlines is headquartered in Dallas, I would expect their Admiral’s Club there to be above average, but this place was incredible. It was plush, quite, well appointed, and thoughtfully laid out. At one end was a small restaurant where one could order light food.
Read moreThis week I traveled to Dallas for business, and used DFW Airport. This is a huge airport (yes, I know, everything’s bigger in Texas), but the main problem is that it is sprawling, and seems disorganized.
Read moreI’ve been in Minneapolis since Wednesday afternoon. I flew in to for a work related conference, and gave one of the presentations. I got great reviews from the people that attended the sessions, all saying it was better than the other “snoozers” they attended yesterday afternoon.
Read moreReuters has a report from The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Economic Policy Institute showing that, “Since the late 1990’s average incomes have declined 2.5 percent for families on the bottom fifth of the country’s economic ladder, while incomes have increased 9.1 percent for families on the top fifth.” That got brought home to me tonight when I went to grab a bite to eat, and saw a couple have to forego eating so the kids could. More on that later in this story. One of the Deep Thoughts on this site is a quote from Charles Darwin, who said, “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” It doesn’t take much to help people, but the current crooks and liars running this government are hell bent and determined to not only forego providing that help, but in enriching their wealthy friends at the expense of those who can least afford it. One of the Deep Thoughts on this site is a quote from Charles Darwin, who said, “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” It doesn’t take much to help people, but the current crooks and liars running this government are hell bent and determined to not only forego providing that help, but in enriching their wealthy friends at the expense of those who can least afford it.
Read moreWell, it appears Vista has become the Windows 95/Windows ME disaster of this decade. It seems that most people who have tried it, especially on laptops, have found it to be a useless resource hog, with cool graphics, but not much else ot offer. Count me amongst that crowd.
Read moreWe’ve got a brief recap of some of the idiotic news from the week ending, March 7, 2008. A man swimming with gators for a second time, and a guy having his friend shoot him so he can get some time off work.
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