HP Pavilion dv5-1235dx Notebook PC

June 21st, 2009

While out of town on business in March, somehow the screen on my Fujitsu N3511 Lifebook cracked.  While the screen could power on, the upper right quadrant of the screen was unreadable.    So I went online to find a Fujitsu replacement screen and found them for $350 or so.   Considering a brand new complete laptop was only about twice that, I decided to replace the machine itself.

Best Buy had a sale on the HP Pavilion dv5-1235dz Notebook, and it seemed to meet my needs.  Large hard drive (320 GB), 4 GB of memory, wide screen, fast processor, extended battery life, lightscribe CD drive, etc. so I bought one for $650.

Overall, I am pleased with it.  My wife playfully accused me of breaking the Fujitsu so I could get a new laptop, but that’s not true.   Of course, I can’t deny that I had been recently thinking about upgrading since the Fujistu’s battery life, memory, and hard drive were really lacking.

The dv5-1235dx has a big fat battery pack that gives it 6 hours or so of life.  It’s somewhat external, meaning you can slide a switch and quickly take it off.  (It’s not necessary to have the battery installed if you are running on a power outlet.)  While the size of the battery is necessary for the extended life, it’s also bulky.  The back end of the laptop is raised up in the air while its inserted.   Since I generally use the laptop in AC mode, the battery is usually tucked away in the case.  A store clerk told me it is best to not have the battery installed if you are running off AC power, unless you are recharging, and to run the battery all the way down when you are using it in that mode… and both of these tips will help to prolong the battery life.  So far that seems to be true.  It’s great to have a laptop whose battery does not die out in half the expected time.  

With regards to the battery, sometimes, it does not stay locked in place.   After it fell out one time when I was moving the laptop, I have been more careful about double and triple checking to ensure it is snugly in place.  Sometimes it’s not latched right, although it looks like it is, and I need to fidget with it a bit to ensure it will not fall out.   This is a design flaw that HP will need to fix.

The only other “problem” I have had is the color of the keys.  In a dimly lit room, it is difficult to read the keys.   Before I bought this notebook, I read where other people complained about this online.  And it does make things difficult.  In normal or brighter light, there is no issue.  But it is an annoyance when you are working with minimal available light.

It took awhile for me to get all of the files and what not transferred over from the Fujitsu to the HP and set up the programs I am now running.  but the experience has been worth it.   Although HP can make some improvements to it, I would recommend this notebook.

As a side note, about a week after I bought the HP, I found a place online that sells generic laptop replacement screens for $150.   They also provide detailed instructions online for changing out the screen.  So I ordered one, and installed it, and the Fujitsu lives on to be used by someone else in the household.

Mike Lee    www.BeedoSafety.com

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Oleanna

June 21st, 2009

My wife and I happened to be in the area on Friday night and had free tickets so we went to see the play “Oleanna” at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Before we went, I did a quick check online to see what it was about, and could not find much (because I spelled it “oleana” by mistake) except that it was a “test of wills” between a male professor (Bill Pullman) and a female student (Julia Stiles).

We were surprised to find two such well known movie actors in a play, and more surprised when we found out that they were the only actors in the play.  One simple setting (the professor’s office), and a few quick breaks (to advance time and allow for a change of clothing), but no intermission.  But what was more telling, as I looked through the program while waiting for the play to start, was that there was not a word of mention in the program as to what the play was about, but the list of credits included a “fight director”.    Clearly, a twist was going to develop.

The play starts off a bit slowly, which we later learn is simply setting the stage for what is to be revealed later.   Basically, the female student has her own unique perspective on the conversation and actions in the first set, totally in conflict with what the professor said, did and intended, and what the audience witnesses.  As we go through subsequent sets, her distorted interpretation of events heightens the conflict until she baits reality to coincide with her imaginative world.   And yeah, we see why there is a fight director.

The acting is terrific, and the development of the story line works pretty well, too.  My only complaint is that the dialogue for the student was probably inconsistent with her mental state.  She spoke too proper and sophistocated, even when angry.  But she frequently asked the professor to explain the words he used, and admonished him for speaking in upscale terms when simple words would do, a problem she actually seemed to have even more than he did.  And maybe that was Mamet’s point with regards to her character.   Still, it seemed unnatural to hear her yelling a line like “What is it that you wish of me?” rather than something like “What do you want me to do?”

As I watched the student “recall” earlier conversations during the middle part of the play, I flashed back to a situation that had occurred to me in the corporate world about 12 years ago.    And I emphasized with the professor’s exasperated frustration.   I had employee sue me, my boss and the company we worked for…for $10 million for sex and age discrimination and harassment, assault, and a laundry list of other things.  As I read through my employee’s complaint when we were served, I was dumbfounded as to where she was coming from and how she could have so misconstrued reality.    It was so far from the truth, it did not even deserve a response.  And in Oleanna, the professor finds himself in a similar position.

In my case, during the deposition, it was clear to all parties that the employee was nuts.  Her attorney quickly moved for a quick and nominal settlement (she’d worked for the company for about 25 years, and was willing to just go away with a basic severance package and a letter of recommendation).   She’d made a side living off of suing people, and had evidently decided to retire from the business world with a lawsuit against her employer.  Fortunately, the truth was stronger than her lies and it did not work out as she hoped.    But in Oleanna, it’s just the professor and the student, and he therefore does not have the benefit of others to recognize the obviousness of the truth.  And therefore fantasy escalated into reality.

My wife and I both enjoyed the play.  Of course, it’s always easier to enjoy something when it’s free.  But she didn’t fall asleep like she sometimes does at theatrical productions.  So it was definitely engrossing enough to keep her attention.

Mike Lee    www.Beedosafety.com

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Presenting Your 2010 NBA Champions

June 19th, 2009

The Lakers.

Phil Jackson will be back. Kobe will be back. Gasol will be back. And allowing for a trade here and there, every other key component in their arsenal will return, too. Yeah, they’ll re-sign both Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom. They’d be foolish not to. And those players would be foolish to look for green elsewhere when they have tasted championship glory here. They’ll be offered enough to stay, and they will. Everyone will.

Lamar Odom has often been referred to as a talented player who sometimes doesn’t play up to his ability when his mind is elsewhere. And the Lakers overall this past season, especially during the playoffs, were referred to in the same terms. So it is no surprise to hear so many people say that when Lamar plays well, the Lakers are unbeatable. He’s sort of a microcosm of the team itself. Immensely talented and unstoppable when running on all cylinders.

The Lakers have the offense, the rebounding, the intelligence, the athleticism and the quickness to repeat next year. They also have the defense when they decide to play defense. All of those ingredients carefully blended together in chemistry lab has molded a team that has to be favored to win again in 2010. Still a young team, they’ll be stronger and more experienced. And they’ll want their hunger satisfied again. At least one more time.

2010 is the year that old stars will continue to be super, and new stars for the Lakers will break out. Mark my words. They will surpass what any other team has done in NBA history. And they will have fun doing it, too.

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Payment Terms

June 19th, 2009

With the economy as it is, it’s more and more difficult / risky to extend credit terms to customers.   But we get prospective buyers contacting us every day, most of whom have never done any business with us before, from small and large entities asking us to ship them something for which they would mail us a payment later.    We just can’t afford to do that.

If you look at the ever-growing list of once strong companies which have filed for bankruptcy protection or closed their doors in the past 18 months, it’s easy to be nervous about a new customer who wants payment terms.   You no longer can look at a situation the way you might have done so in the past…big company or government entity = rubber stamp credit worthiness.  Both large organizations and small ones are having a tough time making ends meet.  Even state, county and city governments are financial stretched thin.  And with more people having lost their jobs, and thinking that going into business for themselves is the way to go, an increasing number of smaller businesses are speculative ventures doomed for failure.  Even banks won’t lend such folks start-up money, and any business that offers them payment terms is rolling the dice.  And in gambling, over time, the person rolling the dice usually ends up in the red.

We’re a small business, and we simply don’t build enough cushion into the profit margin to be able to extend free credit for extended periods of time to customers who pay their bills slowly, or to offset losses from failed accounts.  What’s sad about the situation is that often times, the buyer wants us to give payment terms on a $100 transaction.  They don’t have sufficient credit available on their Visa or Mastercard, or they don’t want to use it.    But they want us to come to the conclusion that they are good for the $100 even though we have no idea who they are, except that they cannot afford to pay $100 before we ship.  Needless to say, there’s not much profit in $100 sales.   And if we did go through a payment term/invoicing/follow-up process, most likely we would eat up all of the profits just in the time and paperwork to secure the payment. 

We’ve also found that in completing credit applications, more and more customers are selectively providing the trade references, offering only those to whom they pay on time or where a friend works who will say they do.   You can’t easily find out about all of the vendors that they are not paying on time.  You can’t easily find out that they are looking to buy from you because their prior suppliers cut them off.  In small business credit checking, you only hear what they want you to hear.  And that’s never a good thing when the person seeking credit is trying to stay afloat.

Certainly, requiring credit cards for purchases before we ship means that we are paying roughly 3% of our sales to the merchant services company that processes the transactions.  But getting 97% of something immediately is better than getting 0% after repeated attempts to receive payment on a past due invoice.  Moreover, if the buyer is in another state, recourse on unpaid invoices is difficult without civil litigation pursued by a collection agency who will take a fat cut of the  sale if you can get anything from the buyer.  It’s pretty simple math; it’s better to sit on inventory than to ship it out and get nothing for it in return. 

All of the inventory in our warehouse has already been paid for by us.  We don’t owe any vendors a penny.  And so when we ship something out, we need to have a reasonable expectation that the person who has ordered the merchandise will be paying for it promptly.  Every day of waiting for that payment is effectively a loan to the buyer, a loan for which we do not charge interest.  Since we are not in the business of charitable gifts of merchandise or credit, we have recently stopped setting up new credit accounts.  Of course, we hope that the economy will soon turn-around to bring things back to normal again.  But even when that does happen, we’ll still be looking at new credit accounts with a very scrutinzing eye.

Mike Lee    www.BeedoSafety.com

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The Volunteer

June 18th, 2009

It was the weekend of the Springfield High School 25th reunion.  The Friday-Saturday festivities were over, but a group of 10 once-close friends who hadn’t seen each other for years were winding down some casual conversation and libation in the hotel bar.   Most of the reunion’s attendees had already dispersed for the evening, but these ten old friends were extending the reunion a bit longer.

 

Finally, Tina announced she was going to call it a night as she had to catch a flight at 7 in the morning to fly back home.  Eric, George, and Abbie looked at their watches and echoed the sentiment that they had early flights to catch, too.  Everyone rose from their seats around the table, and exchanged final toasts, handshakes, kisses and hugs, with polite admonitions to one another to keep in touch. 

 

As they all moved out of the bar, five people in the group said good-bye and took off to the parking lot for their drives home.  However, Barry, who also still lived in the area, lingered behind.  He walked slowly across the lobby with the group staying in the hotel.

 

 “So, how are you guys going to get to the airport?” he asked. 

 

“Catch a cab,” responded George, with a shrug.

 

 “Me, too,” said Abbie, as the other out-of-town guests nodded

 

“A cab?  No, no,” said Barry.  “Let me take you.  No problem.”

 

“You don’t need to do that, Barry”, said Abbie with a smile.  “Too early.  Thanks but that’s way too much to ask of you.”

 

“My pleasure, “ insisted Barry.  “Some final moments together before another 25 years goes by…All of you can relax in the luxury accommodations of my new car.”

 

“Are you sure?  You’d need to pick us up at like 4:30 in the morning…”

 

“Absolutely,” said Barry with enthusiasm.  “Anything for the class of 83.”

 

So the plans were set.  Goodnights and see-you-laters were repeated, and the four hotel guests headed for the elevator, while Barry waved and headed home.

 

 

Barry arrived back at the hotel at 4:42 in the morning. There was a bit of toe-tapping and tenseness in that he was late, but the general feeling was that traffic should not be too bad on a Sunday morning.   He packed his four friends and their luggage into his brand new Ford Explorer SUV, and after about 10 minutes, they finally hit the road on the way to the airport. 

 

Immediately, Barry turned on his car stereo to a decibel level that rattled their bones.    Thumping, thumping, thumping.    “Uh, can you turn that down a bit?” Eric pleaded, his head painfully throbbing from the long night of alcohol.

 

Barry turned to Eric, scowling incredulously.  “What?  You don’t like my music?”  He shook his head, somewhat insulted.  “Rap Dog keeps me alert.”  Anyway, driver’s preference.  You should know that.”

 

Eric sighed, and dropped his face into left hand, stroking his forehead while he took a sip of coffee.

 

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed…” whispered Tina under her breath, but still loud enough that Barry heard it.

 

Abbie glanced forward at Eric, and then to Barry.  “Well, it is a bit loud.  Can’t we just talk a little instead?”

 

Barry’s jaw tightened, agitated.  Clearly irritated, he sat silent.  His face reddened.

 

“Barry…’  Abbie leaned forward and said softly.  “Please?”

 

Muttering an obscenity, Barry reached for the console and punched a button to shut the stereo off.   “Satisfied?” he said, gesturing with his hand as if to hold the sudden silence.

 

There was no conversation for the next several minutes.  And each second that passed by echoed the tension louder. Finally, George leaned forward from the back seat.  “So, how long do you think it will take to get to the airport?”

 

“Oh, so I’m not driving fast enough for you?” Barry asked sarcastically.

 

“Well, it’s just that we left about 20 minutes later than planned.”

 

Barry’s attitude became increasingly condescending.  “Hey, I have my own life, too, you know.  Anyway, you don’t really need to be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time; they just tell you that.  4.30, 4:45, 5:00, whatever.  It wouldn’t make a difference; you’ll all catch your flights.”

 

George sat back in his seat, shaking his head in frustration.   Barry watched George through the rear view mirror and his reaction didn’t please Barry at all.

 

His foot now pushed on the accelerator with reckless aggression.  Although there weren’t a lot of cars on the freeway at that time, there were enough that Barry began to weave back and forth between lanes every 15 seconds or so to move through traffic.  A dizzy, hectic pace.

 

“Too fast, Barry.  Slow down,” Tina intoned, nervously.

 

Barry’s clenched his teeth and began to drive even faster.

 

“Slow it down, Barry.”  George demanded. “I’d like to make it to the 30th reunion if I can.”

 

Barry swerved again, causing Eric to spill his coffee in the front seat beside him.

 

“God damn it,” Barry exclaimed.   “God damn you!”

 

Cutting off a car in the right lane, Barry jerked the wheel to the right, and pulled over to the side of the freeway.  Braking the car with a jolt, he drummed the steering wheel angrily several times, and then turned to the guests in his car.

 

“You high and mighty people leave Springfield and go off to seek your fortune elsewhere, and then come back, look down on me, and treat me like I am your servant or something.  You don’t thank me for getting up at an ungodly hour to take you to the airport.  You don’t show any appreciation or respect.  All you do it complain.”

 

“We didn’t ask you—“ Eric began before Barry cut him off.

 

“That’s right.  I volunteered to take you.  But since you people seem to have forgotten what friendship is and don’t appreciate my help at all, that’s it.  Get out.  Get out of the car now!  Find another way to the airport.  It is no longer my responsibility.”

 

“F—king jerk!” said George, his voice rising along with the veins in his neck.  “I don’t believe this!”

 

“Asshole ingrates!” responded Barry.  “Out!”

 

And with that, the four guests stormed out of the car and grabbed their luggage from the back.  Barry could see them talking to one another in hushed voices in an animated fashion as he watched them through the window.  He remained in his seat, both hands firmly clutching the steering wheel, until he heard the hatchback door close shut.  He then beeped his car horn and turned to the four, offering a quick wave good-bye.  Then, with a squeal of his wheels, he was gone.

 

“Volunteerism,” sighed Tina, reaching into her purse for a cell phone.  “Gotta love it.”

Mike Lee    www.BeedoSafety.com

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Be Seen

June 17th, 2009

On November 24, 2008, a federal law (Federal Highway Administration, 23 CFR Part 634) went into effect that now requires all people who work along Federal highways to wear ANSI 107-2004 certified Class 2 or Class 3 high visibility clothing.   Failure for states to enforce the legislation could lead to a cut-off of Federal highway funding.    Various municipalities and state highway patrol officers across the US have been cracking down on tow truck drivers and the like to don safety apparel.  Consequently, we’ve seen brisk sales this year in our high viz line.

There are 5 different classes of high visibility clothing.  Four of these fall under the ANSI 107-2004 guideline, and the fifth is the ANSI 207-2006 Standard for High Visibility Public Safety Vests.  We get emails and phone calls on a regular basis from folks who are confused with regards to what these standards entail and which is applicable for a given stituation.  Although the ANSI standards are copyrighted materials and so they can’t be reprinted here, this posting will attempt to provide some level of clarification.

With regards to ANSI 107-2004, the four classes are: 1, 2, 3 and E.  Class 1, 2, and 3 are for torso garments (shirts, jackets, vests, etc) and Class E is for pants.   Different work environments, OSHA guidelines, Federal regulations and local statutes dictate what level of visibility apparel is appropriate for a given job.  Class 2 provides a higher level of visibility than Class 1.  Class 3 provides a higher level of visibility than Class 2.  The manner in which the level of visibility is achieved has two primarty components:

  • Width of reflective stripes and coverage area.  Class 1 garments have narrower reflective stripes than Class 2 or 3 garments.    Class 3 garments are required to have sleeves with reflective stripes encircling the arms
  • Fluorescent  background material.   The amount of fluorescent material required for a garment increases as the Class increases from 1 to 2 to 3.  This means that open mesh vests (with holes larger than the fabric weaving) with cut-out sides will work ok for Class 1 garments.   But that type of material and overall design will generally not provide enough fabric coverage for Class 2 or 3 apparel.  Consequently, most Class 2 and 3 items are either full fabric or jersey mesh.  Jersey mesh is a type of breathable fabric with pores that take up less surface area than the fabric itself.

ANSI 207-2006 is for public safety vests only and falls in between the ANSI 107-2006 Class 1 and Class 2 standards.   Less fluorescent  fabric is required than for a An ANSI 107-2004 Class 2 vest.   It was created to enable the design of vests with a shorter length so that belt equipment (e.g., guns) could be easily accessed by public safety personnel.    With fluorescent fabric still makes up most of the vest, this standard also permits the use of colored “panels” on the vest to identify different types of public safety employees (e.g., police, fire, EMS, etc.).

High visibility apparel must either be fluorescent lime/yellow/green, orange or red (red is rare used), with the lime/yellow/green item providing the best level of visibility.  Most safety apparel is made from polyester because 100% cotton garments generally cannot retain the required level of fluorescence for 25 washings.   The reflective stripes can be silver, white, yellow or other high gloss colors, as long as the meet the required reflectivity standards.  The stripes can be affixed to the garments in a wide range of configurations, but they must basically encircle the torso and also extend over the shoulders.

Items can have zippered front closures, Velcro closures or both.  They can be designed with different sizes for different size people or with adjustable sides.  Some garments have no pockets, and some have lots of pockets. Some vests have a 5 point breakaway feature so in an emergency the  garment can pull off without taking the worker with it.

Which type of Class is applicable depends on: 1) environment visibility conditions (night, fog, etc), 2) speed of surrounding traffic, 3) proximity of worker to traffic, and 4) movement of worker and attentiveness to traffic.    Parking lot and warehouse workers generally wear Class 1 vests.  Roadway construction workers, tow truck operators, survery crews, landscape workers, utility workers usually wear Class 2 items, but may wear Class 3 garments along with Class E pants in extreme conditions.  Consult your local requirements and consider your job conditions in assessing the class of garment you should wear.  What’s key is to always make sure you can be easily seen from a distance wherever you are so that people with vehicles have time to react.

Mike Lee    www.BeedoSafety.com

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Temporary Workers

June 16th, 2009

We had a very large shipment of safety items come in this week so we hired some temps from a local agency to help with unloading the boxes and moving them about in our warehouse.   When the economy is down, there’s always an abundance of laborers available.  But that’s not always a good thing.

We brought in 3 temp workers this morning for a 8- noon shift.  They were punctual.  And polite.  And they could follow directions.  But if I were grading their focus and effort, I’d give one of them a 4, one a 7 and one a 9.

You had one of the guys working very hard, very diligently, possibly in hopes that he might be asked to work for us again or even on a permanent, full-time basis.    He was focused, kept to himself, and did as he was asked.

You had another temp working lethargically, his mind elsewhere, watching the clock for every 8 dollars an hour he was to be paid from the temp agency.  He was a chit chatter, too.  He wanted to know how he could get a forklift operator license.  He wanted to know if we could recommend any classes for him to take to become a welder.  While he hoped we’d extend the 4 hour shift to a 5 hour payday, out of the other side of his mouth, he let his co-temps know that this was not the kind of work that suited him.  (He didn’t suit us either.)     

And in the middle was a guy working hard enough, I guess.  He didn’t want to be too out-performed by the best worker.  But he also didn’t see the need to exert himself too much since the weak link was gong to be paid just as much as him.  So he was just there in the middle.  If the other two people were both performing at a level 9, I suspect he would have be an 8 or a 9, too.

You never know what you are going to get with temps.  And its’ not until they’ve been working for several minutes do you know whether they will cut it or not.  Of course, we can always ask them to leave and call the temp agency and let them know it’s a no-go for the given person.  But part of the deal is that temp agency gets to send a replacement, and we’d lose too much time unloading a truck to have to wait for the new person to arrive.

Over the years, we’ve used a lot of temps.  Always for single day or half-day jobs.  For the most part, it’s a different mix of faces each time.  Sometimes, there are repeats, but it’s accidental when it happens.   We no longer specifically request anyone in particular.   When we do come across an especially good worker, we take notice.  We used to ask for such workers with our next project, but they were always off to more permanent jobs and no longer available.   And it was easy to see why.

Many times, we’ve had workers in who appeared (one even admitted) to have drug or alcohol problems.  One was thief who we found stuffing merchandise in his pants when he was left alone for 15 minutes.  Several have had language problems.  One had a learning disability.  And a couple were antagonists who were probaby fired for insubordination.   These people are likely to always remain temps or find it difficult to keep a permanent job for long.

It used to be that you could always find an excellent pool of work talent through temporary labor agencies.  But the economy has changed that.  When companies layoff staff or go out of business, both good workers, average workers and poor workers enter the temporary labor market.   Generally, those who stay temps for extended periods of time are marginally and less performing individuals.    Or, they may be good wokers in one field, but there just aren’t job openings available to do what they want to do, and so they need to take anything that comes up in order to survive.  And often, that may not be a good fit for the business that needs the temp help.

Businesses these days are smart enough to want to retain and attract workers to help a company succeed and blend in well over the long haul.  And people who used to enjoy permanently working as a temporary worker now are more interested in the security of a regular job.  That does not mean you can’t find a good temp these days.  It just means that if you blink, they’ll soon be gone.

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Tie Your Shoes

June 16th, 2009

In the old days, one of the first things a kid learned how to do to demonstrate some level of independence (after going to the toilet alone) was tying his / her shoes. Boy, how things have changed.

I remember repeatedly watching my mom perform the act, explaining what she was doing along the way until one day it was my turn to give it a try. The first few attempts were not without fumbles. And in the early stages, sometimes a secure knot was formed rather than an easily collapsible loop. But I quickly got the hang of it, and could soon tie knots in my sneakers with the best of them.

As I got older, I began to take shortcuts with both the coming and going. I figured out how to tie the knot so that it would pull together the two sides of the shoe just tight enough to stay on without much wiggle room, but loose enough that I could remove my shoes without untying them. Easy off. Easy on. I would sometimes go weeks without having to retie the laces of my shoes.

And then things changed. I think it was around the time that they started making velcro closure for shoes. On many shoes, laces no longer existed. Young kids therefore no longer had to learn how to tie their laces. And apparently either the big shoe lace manufacturers went out of business, or someone lost the secret family recipe because the design of the laces changed. For the worse.

For whatever reason, laces no longer stay tied. Trust me when I say that my shoelacing skill is expert as ever. It’s the laces themselves which no longer feel the passion to stay in the rabbit ear loops for long. Sometimes, when I am moving about at work, my laces will come untied every 5 minutes or so. It doesn’t matter that I tie them extra tightly these days. Whether round or flat laces, it doesn’t matter, they just don’t stay tied very well.

Part of the design change, I think is that laces are now loose tubes. And they have a predisposition NOT to be tied. And part of the problem is that most of the laces you can find in the stores are too long, meaning the loops are large and flop all over the place as you walk, causing gravity to work against your best interests to untie them. In any event, I hate the current marketcrop of sneaker laces.

The kids of today’s generation demonstrate their early independence by learning how to start up various video/computer games or log onto the internet without any help. Tie their shoes? Hah.   Not a chance.

Anyway, excuse my rant. It’s time for me to go shopping for some velcro closure sneakers.  Dicks Sporting Goods has some on sale this week.

Mike Lee www.BeedoSafety.com

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Playing with Fire

June 15th, 2009

[The following entry was originally posted on in November 2007.]

Posted on 11/01/2007   The Signal.com/forum

38,000 acres.  21 homes destroyed.  15 homes damaged.  45 other structures destroyed or damaged.  1 ten year old boy.

The heated debate has already begun on what form of punishment, if any, is appropriate for the young Agua Dulce boy who accidentally started the raging “Buckwheat Fire” on October 21 while playing with matches on the property 30 feet behind the trailer where he lived with his parents.    By all accounts, he is not a problem child, and did nothing that many young boys don’t do at some time or another – experiment with fire.  His intent was not to set a huge blaze, and he admitted his wrongdoing to firefighters the next day, showing great remorse.   So we are not talking about a bad seed here.  But we are talking about a situation that imperiled the lives of tens of thousands of people, and destroyed many homes.  And thus the debate. 

Innocent, curious behavior, rimmed with some level of carelessness sparked a major disaster and devastated the lives of many families.  It will take some time for the impacted families to rebuild to get somewhat back to where they were before.  But they will never get all of the way back.  Fires that gut homes cause irreparable damage, both emotionally and through the special heirlooms and documents lost that can never be replaced.  How do you set the punishment for that?  Do you look more at the apparent accidental nature of the blaze, or at the repercussions of the reckless act?

Insurance companies and families impacted by the fires will likely sue.  But the family at the middle of the proverbial firestorm does not seem to have much in the way of assets.  They lived in a trailer on the backside of the Carousel Ranch property where the father worked as a caretaker.   Until now, theirs was a simple life.  And while they will likely remain simple in what they have, their daily routines and what they worry about will be weighed more heavily than most of us can imagine.  The financial attacks, complications and pressures they must now endure will live with them forever.  To what degree is it right to squeeze those who already have little as an act of punishment? 

Carousel Ranch is a non-profit organization that has established itself over the last 10 years by providing custom tailored, developmental therapeutic and recreational equestrian programs for disabled and disadvantaged kids.    The father of the young boy has been described as a “good guy” and the people as a “quiet family”.    Living on the ranch, everyday, the family witnesses first-hand the emotional struggles faced by families with various life-long afflictions.   And now, in a flash, a life-long burden has been thrust onto their shoulders.  The question is how heavy that burden should be.

Many argue that both the boy and his parents need to be punished to set an example, and the fact it was an accident and the fact that the family has limited financial resources should not get in the way of that.  They will argue that the boy also needs to be severely punished and imprisoned so he will not forget what he did, and so that others will think twice before they engage in activities in the future that might have similar consequences.  As for the accidental nature of the fire, they say that every situation will have its own share of extenuating circumstances, and continuously looking away and failing to establish some level of accountability will only breed more recklessness in society.   One report on the news stated that more than 50% of California fires are set by adolescents.  That is a huge number, and suggests that strong action is needed. 

But what strong action is right?   I think there are three facets of accountability to be addressed.  First is  for the boy who set the fire.  Should he be sent to a juvenile detention center, or be made a ward of the court and sent to a foster home?   Well, if the early indications of his character are true, both of these options would be counter-productive.  What you never want to do is to take a good kid and put him in a situation to “rehabilitate” him and turn him in to a bad kid.   You really need to take a close look at intent in this situation;  if there was no intent to cause harm, there is nothing to rehabilitate.   But that does not mean that the boy should not endure some level of punishment and be put in a situation to learn a lesson.

Perhaps, eight years of community service (until he turns 18), in an escalating number of hours per month each year, would serve notice on him and others.   Then, when he turns 18, make him speak at one school per month for another 10 years about fire safety and dangers, and apply some form of attachment to his wages for 10 years, with moneys going to a fire victims fund.   Of course, no amount of money you would collect from him would come close to the financial losses incurred by the fire, but it would make him make him think about what he did.  And it will put him in the right mindset to convince other young kids of the inherit dangers and consequences of playing with matches.

The parents also need to sustain some form of punishment, in part as a message to other parents.  But we should not try to bankrupt them.   Maybe, they should also be required to speak at schools, perhaps at PTA meetings, for several years about fire dangers.  And attach 10% of their wages for 8 years for the fire victims fund.       

Lastly, accountability goes to the education system.  Sending a message, in essence, is educating someone about the consequences of actions.   That message should be sent on a regular basis by every school system in the state of California.  Every year, October should be anointed Fire Safety Month.  And every school should be required to have a program to convey to all students the dangers of fire, as well as emergency procedures to be implemented in their homes, etc.  If we engrain in our children, on an ongoing basis, that playing with fire is literally playing with fire, the numbers of fires started by kids is bound to drop.  The truth is that even bad kids are not all bad, and rare is the time that the youthful “arsonist” intends a fire to explode in uncontrollable fury.  The more we can get all kids to realize this possibility, the more likely they are to think twice about playing with matches.   And at the end of the day, that is a result we should satisfy all of us.

Mike Lee   www.BeedoSafety.com

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Pineapple Slicer

June 14th, 2009

Over the Memorial Day weekend, my wife went out of town with her sister and a girlfriend to visit Yosemite.   I was left at home to paint, watch the NBA playoffs and do some work at home.  But it also gave me an opportunity to do some gadget shopping.

I am usually at the swap meet on Sunday morning, but since I was running solo, I stayed home  that weeknd.  During a break from painting, I turned on the tv, flipped through some channels and stopped on QVC.   I’d never purchased anything from them before, but before the day was over, I’d made a couple of gadget purchases.

The first thing I bought was a pineapple slicer.  QVC “introduced” a stainless steel kitchen tool that allows you to easily bore down into a pineapple, and after several twists, you pull the tool out along with a stack of pineapple slices out of the middle.   The hard core and the outer shell of the pineapple are left behind.  Very clever design, I thought.   And for $14, it looked to be a nice little gift for my wife.

Besides cherries, my wife’s favorite fruit is probably pineapple.  We’ve purchased several pineapples in the last couple of weeks, and the slicer has worked perfectly each time.  It makes slicing a pineapple quick and clean.    Dollar for dollar, even though it has but a single purpose, it is probably one of the best kitchen tools I’ve ever owned.

Mike Lee   www.BeedoSafety.com

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