Paul Merrill
Some of you may remember that in a previous life, I was a graphic designer. (I still do some design – but that’s less than half of how I spend my working days.)
So a few weeks ago, I got another email newsletter – this one from MyFonts, featuring a typeface called Lady Rene. I saw their little slideshow and just wanted to create. That’s pretty rare.
Did I? Well – I’m producing this blog post. Actually creating something with Lady Rene would cost me $59. But I could emulate her.
Maybe later.
Two receipts were given to me after I bought a few pieces of flagstone for a Saturday afternoon project. One was nicely generated by the cash register – complete with a little marketing message at the bottom (“On August 28th, the first 40 customers receive a free reusable bag!”). And then there was the no-technology carbon-copy of a hand-written receipt, showing the weight of the flagstones I purchased.
Santa Fe Sand & Gravel could save themselves time and money by integrating their systems – so that all the info is on the computer-assisted receipt.
Takeaway: Simplify. What are some ways you can simpilfy your business – or life – by eliminating redundant systems?
I’ve been reading a book: The Unlikely Disciple, by Kevin Roose. It’s the account of a non-evangelical who spent a semester at Liberty University, to attempt to understand the Christian sub-culture. Since I am part of that sub-culture in many ways – and am an “evangelical” Christian, I thought it would be valuable to hear an outsider’s perspective.
It’s fascinating.
Anyhow, that is not the point of my post.
Jerry Falwell, the man who started the university, had a lot of good intentions. I like some of what he did, in spite of all the bad press he received. (And I also admit he did a fair amount of harm, prior to his death in May 2007.)
But the thing that offended me most about him from the book is that he insisted on being called “Dr. Falwell” – even though the highest degree he earned through studying was a bachelor’s degree. He had three honorary doctorates. Those can be cool – but if you insist on being called “Dr.” – make sure you earned it the real way.
Disclaimer: if you pick up the book and are an evangelical, there may be parts that will offend you. And I’d rate it R; some parts are just not appropriate for the under-18 set (with a few possible exceptions). Mostly there’s just a lot of stuff that teenagers shouldn’t have to think about yet. But it could prepare them for life in college. I guess I’m not prepared to have those discussions yet. Maybe next year.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia and used under Wikimedia Commons.
Yes, I love this car. I’m selling it because we already have two cars. And it’s not our car. (I’m selling it for a family who left the country to live in Southeast Asia.)
Here’s my description in the Craigslist ad: 2.4 liter 5-cylinder. EXCELLENT condition!! Loaded with leather, sunroof, & 3rd-row seat. 178k but VERY well-maintained, many service records, recently new tires, timing belt changed at 108k. Recent work: replaced front struts & bushings, replaced front CV boots, upper engine mount, right front ball joint, new windshield, front brake rotors turned & new pads.
I’m asking $5,400. The only one I could find listed out there in internet-land is one from Washington state with 118k miles – at $8,950!
Update: A family bought it. They love the car. It was a pleasure to see their joy.
Not long from now, you’ll be seeing a Mini SUV on the road. As in, Mini Cooper.
It’s just wrong.
Focus… stick to what your core strength is. My guess is that they will sell about twenty. (I am joking – but I do not think that this will be their most popular model.)
It gets as little as 20 mpg. It’s 16″ longer and 6″ taller. If you will remember back to when the Mini was reintroduced (2001), the idea was to have a sporting car that got decent fuel economy. No more.
My take? Buy a used Mini and a used Toyota RAV instead. Then you will have your SUV – and what God intended – a fun, sporty car. All for less than the $29,000 starting price of a new Mini Cooper Countryman AWD.
Photo courtesy of Road & Track magazine.
Yes, it’s true – I think Starbucks just made a mistake.
I get their weekly emails, and last week’s featured their new flavored coffees: “Natural Fusions“.
I’m showing my bias here – I don’t like flavored coffees to start with. (Those Frappuccinos and such – well, that’s a different matter. I like those. But they aren’t really coffee.) But my take is that those who like flavored coffee (or flavoured, if you are in the English-speaking part of the world) should add syrup to their freshly-brewed cup. Just like your neighborhood coffee bar would.
I love hot sauce. I normally have at least three different kinds of Tabasco waiting to use when needed. But I like variety.
A recent Sunday newspaper provided me with a 50c coupon for use on a bottle of Frank’s. So when I was out grabbing something else at our nearby supermarket, I thought I’d pick up a bottle. Alas, Frank’s bottle was priced roughly double what Texas Pete’s was – even after the coupon. So Pete won out.
And I had to point out to you that Texas Pete is not from Texas. He’s brewed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Flavor? Pete’s is milder than Tabasco. I like it enough to recommend that you add it to your hot sauce arsenal. (Apologies that I haven’t yet tried Frank’s.)
This post is inspired by my blogging friend James Taylor. He said, “I literally put Tabasco sauce on everything…”
Finally, apologies to my overseas readers – I’m guessing Texas Pete has not taken his sauce outside these borders.
“Wananchi” is the Swahili word for “people”. We lived in Kenya for five years. I heard “wananchi” a lot. (Generally, in African cultures, the whole is more important than the individual – the opposite of in Europe and America. Again – generally speaking.)
So whenever I see “Wanchai”, my brain converts it to “wananchi”. Our time in Kenya forever changed us, and this is just a small example.
I’m not fond of the idea of Christian merchandise that costs twice what regular stuff costs.
I have long been a silent critic of stores that sell candles with Bible verses on them – costing five times what they might cost at Target without the verses.
A secondary thing… I am not willing to put a symbol on the back of my car telling the world of my faith in God. The simple reason is this – I am not a perfect driver. One day I might accidentally cut off another driver – and make her angry. She will then see that symbol and lump all Christians in the “bad driver” bucket. Furthermore, I doubt that anyone will change their course toward God through seeing a symbol on my car.
Heather is amazing.
She and a couple of other American ladies are involved with some refugee women from Nepal. They usually get together on Tuesday nights to study the Bible. She had wanted to show their teenage daughters a slice of Americana – and what our lives are like. So after the meeting one week, she piled them into our minivan and brought them out to spend the night at our suburban home. (One of the ladies’ young son happened to tag along.)
I, of course, was overwhelmed – but Heather took it all in stride. She went for a walk in our neighborhood, our sons played ping pong with them, and a good time was had by (almost) all.
I’m glad that people are different. It’s great to be married to Heather.
