Anachostic

Welcome To The Jungle Gym

Posted by anachostic on February 18, 2015 No comments

I’ve had a very strong feeling that 2015 is going to be a good year. And the proof just keeps mounting. One of the things you have to always manage is a sense of gratitude for what you have. You have to stay realistic and remember that not everyone is successful – for a multitude of reasons.

The reason for this post is that my girlfriend recently entered the white-collar world for the first time. She got the job for two reasons, both of which are very important for seekers. First, she made it a priority to know more than anyone else in her desired profession. I encouraged professional certifications instead of a generic college degree. Second, she networked heavily. She volunteered when she could and offered assistance for whatever event she was available. To tweak an oft-used bemoaning, it is both what you know and who you know.

I went through the same stuff many years ago, but at the time, I didn’t have the same perspective that I have now. I am able to look at my girlfriend’s situation and see how crazy it is when you become a professional. I mean, everything changes. One day you’re wondering what days you’ll be working next week and then, bam, you have a solid work schedule. You used to share a break room with all your co-workers, now, here’s your office. You used to pore over offerings from ObamaCare trying to find one that was good enough for what you could afford, now, here’s your company health plan. And here’s membership to a credit union, and here’s your vehicle you’ll use during work, and here’s enough money to live on.

It’s probably overwhelming for anyone that’s in that transition, and for an outside observer, it can be shocking to a degree as well. What got me was that it was almost like winning a lottery. Don’t get me wrong, there was no luck involved here. It was earned through a lot of study and honest self-promotion. My background thought was for all the others that haven’t gotten there yet. Maybe they don’t know enough yet, maybe they don’t know or haven’t impressed the right people to fight on their behalf. You just can’t show up and say, “I’ll take that job.”

So to everyone that is searching, know what you want, know it inside and out, and find the people who can get you there.

Coming Back

Posted by anachostic on February 9, 2015 No comments

Recently, I’ve had a slight uptick in my interest in reincarnation. Reincarnation is something I’ve believed in for some time now. If you’re curious about it, you can read a few books like Many Lives, Many Masters and Elementary Theosophy, or read case studies of verified reincarnates at http://www.iisis.net.

The Internet is making rediscovery of past lives all the easier, and I was wondering if there should be created a website where a person could voluntarily submit their information to be discovered when researching past lives.

Some of the data points that could be recorded would be:

Facial photos at different ages
Birthmarks or significant scars
Phobias
Date of birth (and death if submitted by estate executor)
Natural talents or skills

I could see that someone could set up their own profile and set a “publish date”, so their personal information wouldn’t be searchable until after an expected death. It seems like most people reincarnate between 50-100 years after death, so you could set a publish date far into the future.

One of the issues is, what will the website be in 50-100 years? Will it be around and if so, it will be run on whatever the current technology is for the era. Fascinating to think of that possibility.

The larger issue is, what would anyone get out of this? It seems that reincarnates don’t really care about their past lives. It’s probably a nice curiosity, and may be beneficial in working through irrational fears, but for the most part, your lives are not a continuance of a single life.

I think the broader message that needs to be made is that reincarnation is a real thing. And by realizing and accepting this, racism, classism, sexism, and hatred should subside. After all, you have no guarantee of what body you are going to come back into. What if Nazis knew their next life could be that of a Jew? What if Boko Haram or any other Islam extremists knew that they could come back on the other side of the fight?

Maker Shack

Posted by anachostic on February 4, 2015 No comments

Radio Shack has been on the decline for a very long time and now is bankrupt. The sad thing is that Radio Shack is missed out on a new and upcoming market. I’m not the brightest and most visionary person out there, so I’m amazed that no one else has really considered this.

I think most people agree that Radio Shack lost its way when it started focusing on cheap consumer electronics because its sales of raw electronic parts was declining. Then it got into mobile phones, like every other electronic retailer. And then it lost whatever it was that made it different.

My proposal would be for Radio Shack to return to its roots as a hobbyist store. Yes, it’s entirely likely that being in that market space means a number of stores will have to close. But, if you want to be successful, you need to stand out.

The stores should stock all manner of hobbyist, DIY, build/maker gear. There’s no shortage of it now. You have Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Makey Makey, LittleBits, and more. Plus, 3d printers are talked about a lot, but no one really talks about where to buy them. Have an advertising blitz that establishes Radio Shack as a source of 3d printers and DIY kits and you have brand recognition. 3d printing=Radio Shack. The old logic was that if you wanted to build something electronic, you go to Radio Shack. That thought can be brought back.

Of course, you can keep the electronic parts around. Actually, there needs to be another competitor in the PC parts arena. Best Buy is everywhere and their prices suck. Tiger Direct is much better, but has far fewer stores. In fact, Tiger Direct has exited the retail space.

The next thing that needs to be done is something that I’ve been hearing about with stores like Macy’s. Turn the retail stores into warehouses and distribution centers. Ship online orders to customers and replenish nearby stores from other stores. Stock levels can immediately be determined, so why not? It will keep your staff busy, too.

There needs to be an easy way for a customer to find something, whether it is in the store, a nearby store, or further away. Then the customer can choose to go to the other store to buy it, or have it shipped.

And although this isn’t really part of the plan, why aren’t companies, especially tech companies, doing something with youth to promote build/make? Home Depot has children workshops, why can’t Radio Shack? Why can’t a representative visit schools and give a talk or presentation involving building and creating your own things?

But, aside from the company now essentially out of business, I recently read an article (and article comments) that indicated Radio Shack had a toxic corporate culture that would not be easily fixed. So I doubt my idea would work right out of the gate. There would have to be massive house-cleaning, then the rebuilding of employee trust.

The One Minute Manager Synopsis

Posted by anachostic on February 2, 2015 No comments

After reading the book, which was an extremely quick read, maybe half an hour, I figured I ‘d make a few quick notes to keep the ideas in my head.

The three main things the technique tries to instill are: 1-minute goal settings, 1-minute praisings, and 1-minute reprimands. Obviously, the one minute thing isn’t literal, but it is all meant to be quick and not dragged out.

Some of the details of the story stuck with me, and some raised further questions. For example, there is a lot of stress on the idea that a worker has clear goals and it is their job to do them. If that worker doesn’t know how to accomplish a task, who do they turn to? I thought it would be the manager, because the manager should know everything that is going on in the department. But the manager doesn’t want to be doing the job of his workers, that is a drain on his efficiency. There is the weekly meeting where everyone describes their current progress and roadblocks. That may be where issues get raised and assignments made to resolve them.

Some things don’t sit all that well with me. It doesn’t seem very useful for a “working” manager – one who has things of their own to do in addition to managing people below them. The book never talks about that. The manager is always available, never has clutter, never seems to be doing anything. But maybe that’s the trick, to delegate everything. If one of your goals is to create a report of how successful your department is, do you assign that task to another person to do?

One part of me says that this is correct. A manager should do nothing but manage the people and tasks and make sure the work gets done. Another part of me says that it’s not enough and wouldn’t be very fulfilling.

The book also doesn’t discuss how much time a manager must spend in meetings. The story always has the manager fully available, except for one team meeting. Surely this manager must have superiors and peers at his level. What about that time?

Can’t Get No… Satisfaction

Posted by anachostic on January 28, 2015 No comments

I’ve been what I would call a professional for quite some time. One of the benefits of being a professional is that my income is pretty good. I have read – and I agree – that once your income covers all your basic needs, more money doesn’t really make your life better. Sure, you drive a nicer car, you eat at better restaurants, maybe you stay at nicer hotels. The old problems of “I wish I could afford to…” kind of go away. Then it becomes more of, “Should I…”

But something else changes. You start looking for ways to make yourself happy by seeing other people happy. You start spending your excess money on other people, because, well, you’re taken care of already. This manifests itself in many ways. For my part, I’ve gotten involved in activities that required investments and purchases for the benefit of everyone in the activity. And that was fine for me, because everyone had a good time.

But, there comes a time when it doesn’t seem as fun, when your effort and contributions don’t seem to make as much as a difference. And more importantly, you are not inspiring others to step up their involvement. And then it’s not just about the money, but the money is what seems to matter the most.

2015 has been named the year of no-involvement. It is a year of rebuilding for me, both financially and socially. For the last couple of years, I’ve tried to get involved with projects, with the hope that they would take off and be something great. A lot of times, I provided a lot of financial support to boost the timeline or the project’s presence for it to succeed. But it just seemed in the end that the people involved or the people benefitting just wanted to go along for the ride.

You want to be inspiring and set a good example. A totally made-up scenario would be like having a group that enjoyed beaches and boating and such, so I would rent a boat for the group and we would all have a great time. I would hope that it would inspire them that if they could all put in a little more into the group, then we could do this all the time. But, sadly, that’s not how it would turn out. There was never a “That was awesome, what do I need to do to help make that happen again?” moment.

In some ways, it’s like I want to be a venture capitalist, providing startup money for something that would take off. But I don’t exactly need to see a return on my investment, I just want to see things succeed and see people happy about it. It hasn’t happened yet. So I guess I need to improve my business sense and invest more wisely in the future. 2015 is going to be a great year. 2016 will be my chance to try again.

A Bottle Sling Design

Posted by anachostic on January 27, 2015 No comments

Many years ago, I was at Disney’s Epcot and I purchased a bottle holder lanyard. I was fascinated by its simple design. It’s just a string and a plastic sliding lock to hold the bottle in place. I searched for a similar lanyard and I was surprised you couldn’t get this design anywhere else. So I figured I would search for the parts and make some myself and maybe sell them. Then I found out you couldn’t buy the plastic lock anywhere. So I put it out of my mind for a while.

Every once in a while, I would look for bottle holders and was always dissatisfied with what I found. One day I was out on a hike, with my Epcot bottle holder over my shoulder and the idea came to me. It was such a simple design, I have no idea why I never thought of it before.

I got home from the hike and started prototyping it. The holder worked very well. I could make one or two for myself and be happy. But at the moment, the bigger challenge to me was, can I make them quickly and consistently? Like if I wanted to really sell them? So that led me to thinking about automation and harnesses. The first step would be to make a manual harness for assembly.

Of course, the next day, I decided to search online for my idea and there’s plenty of comparable designs out there. Not exact, but similar in design and functionality. So I’m not going to bother with any selling of these. I may use them as giveaways in geocaches or something.

So, if anyone wants to manufacture these items in quantity, here’s the plans for my harness and instructions on assembly.

To make the harness, you need a block of wood at least 8 inches long, two small headless nails, two small binder clips, and a large paper clip. Drive the first nail 7.5” from the edge and the other nail 2.5” from the edge. That leaves 5” between the nails. The harness is done. The other pieces are assembly tools. Bend the paperclip into a J hook. Use the smaller hook for the J.

To make the slings, you need: a length of paracord, a spool of polyester button/carpet thread, a strong needle (curved if you can get it), and a length of .25” shrink tubing.

To assemble a bottle sling:

Cut a length of paracord to 7.5”. This length is from the edge of the harness to the far nail. This is the benefit of a properly-designed assembly harness, it’s also your ruler. Melt the ends of the cord to prevent unraveling.

Wrap the cord around the nails leaving an equal amount of cord on each end. Hold the cord in place on the nails using the binder clips.

Stitch the cord together, creating loops at the ends. You shouldn’t need more than 3-4 stitches to have a durable sling. Keep the stitches close to the end of the cord to allow a large loop.

Cut two small pieces of shrink tubing – about .75”. Make a mark in your harness for consistency.

Feed a piece of shrink tubing over the J-hook paperclip tool.

Hook one end of the sling and using the paperclip as a guide, slide the shrink tubing over the sling’s loop. The shrink tubing should cover the stitching and the end of the cord.

Shrink the tubing over the stitching and repeat for the other end.

Loop the sling around the neck of the bottle and tuck one loop through the other.

Clip carabineer through end loop to secure sling and attach to anything.

2014 In Spam

Posted by anachostic on January 27, 2015 No comments

It was in April of 2013 that I made a change to the way I use my email. Unlike most people, I don’t just have an email address, I have an email domain. And I use that entire domain namespace by creating a specific email address for every business I deal with.

My email server processes the emails against a blacklist instead of a whitelist. That means that I can create any email address I want, and it will get delivered to me unless I put it on a list to be blocked. That reduces the amount of administrative headache I have.

The purpose of this is so that I can tell where my emails are being lost, stolen, or sold. The instances of this in 2014 were pretty low. Someone got my paypal email from someone I did business with, some political spammer used a public records request to get my electric company email, and one website’s user database got hacked (and they won’t admit to it).

What I was a little fearful of when creating this wildcard email account was that some automated script would hit my mail server and try a whole slew of predictable emails, like admin@, webmaster@, accounting@, president@, etc. My wildcard account would catch these and I’d get inundated with mail. However, this hasn’t happened yet. I did get some spam by someone who guessed an email address using the firstname.lastname@ structure, so that email was then blocked.

My blacklist only has 6 entries, which I think is pretty good. And to not have any spam is plenty wonderful. I just did some checking and it seems my mail server software is rather old. I think an upgrade will be in order sometime this year.

Quotes Considered

Posted by anachostic on January 26, 2015 No comments

“If you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best.”

That would be pretty damn unfair if the deal ended up as 90% worst and 10% best. I think maybe the counteroffer should be: “I deserve a partner whose mean demeanor is at least 75% of the theoretical positive maximum.”

“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”

Anything is an answer to something, and everyone has at least one question. So it’s not so much a matter of knowing some questions or some or all of the answers, but the mapping between the two.

“The way to write American music is simple. All you have to do is be an American and then write any kind of music you wish.”

I think Americans do this with just about everything. Look at American Apparel, American Express, and American Eagle Outfitters. Do something and put “American” in front of it and you have patriotic profits!

“Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.”

There are a shitload of shitty chess players now. They’ve created their own rules and defined the pieces differently, so they are incompatible with modern, proper, intelligent chess players.

“All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.”

Clearly coined by a non-programmer who doesn’t understand garbage-in, garbage-out. However, I will give props to the analogy since the term “series reboot” in film has become fairly mainstream. Maybe all playwrights are programmers and all audiences are lousy computers.

“Even with the best of maps and instruments, we can never fully chart our journeys.”

No duh. You need to have a destination in mind before you start a journey.

“Shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

Space is huge and empty. There is no “landing” if you miss the moon. You will be adrift forever in an empty void. If you are shooting for the moon, you need to be insanely precise.

Ask No Questions, Get No Answers

Posted by anachostic on December 30, 2014 No comments

I performed a brief social experiment today that gave me some surprising, and yet unsurprising, results.

At work, our break room has a TV. And during break time, invariably, someone wants the TV to be going. Sometimes, it’s HGTV, or sometimes sports, and one time, it was Jerry Springer. Since I’m not a fan of TV in general, I’m annoyed.

Today, with no one around, I changed the TV to a dead channel. I thought that would annoy other people. I speculated that someone would immediately grab the remote and change the channel. Instead, people just assumed the cable was out and didn’t even try to change it. Some people were mocking the cable company, some people speculated that it was the weather. No one ever looked to see if any other channels worked.

I like this and may do it often in the future.

No Budgeting Changes, 2015

Posted by anachostic on December 29, 2014 No comments

A blogger that I follow and enjoy for his personal product reviews recently did a review of a financial product called You Need A Budget. This product isn’t new to me; it’s been around for a while. In the post, he invoked the names of Mint, MS Money, and Quicken, so of course I was intrigued.

Also in the post, he gave a rundown of his former money management process and I was startled that it was exactly like my current process. So I read the rest of the entry with great interest and then went to the YNAB site to read more.

The result? I’m sticking with the way I’ve always done it with MS Money. And you know why? There’s one feature in Money that sucks in Quicken and doesn’t even exist in Mint: Cash Flow Forecast. And that feature is how I handle my money.

Although my management technique mirrored the blog author’s, after I calmed down, I realized even though I do all that, I do something more. The three key actions I do are:

Put every recurring and non-recurring expense in the Bills Summary feature
Put every source of income, recurring and non-recurring in the Bills Summary feature (including tiny things like manufacturer rebate checks)
Check the Cash Flow Forecast regularly and make sure the balance is rising

That’s pretty much it. Cash Flow tells you if your income exceeds your expenses. If you take on a recurring bill that makes the cash flow become neutral or negative, something needs to give. The forecast can tell you when you will have the funds to take on a large expense or how long it will take to recover from an unexpected hit.

For me, I have 14 recurring expenses in my list. They range in frequency from monthly, to quarterly, to yearly. By keeping an eye on the forecast, nothing is ever surprising. Since I am of the philosophy to charge everything and pay it off monthly, I just have a catch-all bill for credit card.

That is what YNAB seems to be trying to eliminate is the feeling of “where did the money go?” at the end of the month when the CC bill exceeds what is budgeted. I can sympathize with that a lot. Money does have a report, “Spending by Category”, but that is historical (unless you run it for the current month). To make up for that, I just log my receipts more frequently and I can see where the money is going. That’s something I’ve said before: keep your numbers in your face as much as possible. Whether using YNAB, The Envelope Method, or Money, that’s the key: awareness.

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