For the business owners out there, do you ever feel like your inventory is controlling you? Then it’s time to retake that power and use it to slim your inventory down. Using the Kaban software, you can find ways to optimize your inventory and go through what-if scenarios to analyze your business. This software will help make your business a lean manufacturing system that helps you save money and during economic times like these, cutting fat is where it’s at.
Archive for March, 2008
Reducing Inventory Properly
Monday, March 31st, 2008Race On
Monday, March 31st, 2008Saturday was the big day. That’s right, my son was in the Pinewood Derby. He started out strong, winning his first 2 heats but then things went downhill (full on pun intended). Apparently the suspense was too much for my youngest and I had to take her for a VERY long walk. By the time we got back, it was pretty much over with the boy taking 4th place and advancing to District on April 19th.
I’ll let you know how that goes.
Police Gear Website
Sunday, March 30th, 2008As winter slowly changes into spring and summer is fast approaching, especially here in Arizona, many law enforcement organizations are looking at the end of the fiscal year. If your department has some extra money to spend this year or you’re starting to organize for next year’s budget, look into outfitting your officers with all of the equipment that they’ll need. Whether that be tactical boots, flashlights, holsters, gloves, tools, or weapon cases, you’ll find it all here.
Drumming Robot
Sunday, March 30th, 2008In the category of “cute robots” and just in time for the upcoming Pixar movie “Wall-E”, comes a drumming robot called Yellow Drum Machine. The thing can drive around, look at its environment, find something solid to drum on, and then start thumping away a cool little tune. It seems to have two arms to hit whatever it runs into, a thumper that can knock on the ground, and a little speaker to help with other sounds and beats.
Get a few of these things together and linked up on a network and you could make your own, real-life version of Animusic.
Light Up My Life with a Chandelier
Friday, March 28th, 2008I remember as a kid being uncommonly impressed by chandeliers. My mom would talk about how they had gotten rid of the one that adorned their dining room and all I could think was, “My life would be so much prettier if they had just kept the chandelier.” I’ll only admit to being a tiny bit melodramatic back then.
Still, I really like them and like to think of where in my house I can one day put one. My first choice is the entry way. We have nothing there right now and it gets dark but has a relatively high ceiling so it would be a perfect spot. If I can ever convince my husband to do it, I’d also put one in the dining room.
More Bandages
Friday, March 28th, 2008It’s official – my kids are klutzes. I assume it has something to do with the fact that their bodies are growing and they don’t realize how much space they take up. My younger son has been terribly afflicted by this problem. This week alone he got a huge scrape on his arm when he fell and hit a wall, fell backwards off a swing cutting the back of his head, cut his knee when he tripped and (this is my favorite) gave himself a black eye when he bent over to pick something up. On the way down he hit his face on a shelf on the entertainment center. He also likes to tell people about how he fell getting out of the shower but there’s only anecdotal evidence of this.
He’s not alone, though. My youngest split her lip yesterday; my oldest fell at school and scraped up his arm (he blamed it on the fact that I wouldn’t let him wear a winter coat that day even though it was 85 degrees); and my oldest daughter just ran in crying…..
I’ve spoken to her and apparently she’s not hurt, but her brother DID just touched her. Let me through out a hasty ‘Keep your hands to yourself”……
Should I admit to being nervous about taking them out in public lest someone think I am the reason for these problems? At least some of them can talk and tell them otherwise.
Bring Home Some Venison
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008If you’re interested in hunting, you know that having the proper equipment is essential to having a successful hunt. Finding quality equipment is also essential. That’s why the Hunting and Recreation Business Mall only sells the most modern tools for your use. Whether you need a game feeder or a wildlife blind, you can visit their website to find the one for your next outing.
Pass it along
Monday, March 24th, 2008Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been noticing a very strange trend with my brother and his friends. I’ve managed to get him hooked on a couple of things over the years. Back in junior high I introduced him to the Dragonlance series. He enjoyed it and passed it along to a couple of friends who liked it too.
A few months ago I finally convinced him to read “A Game of Thrones” by George R. R. Martin. It’s just an amazing series that completely engages the reader in a fully realized world that is strange and familiar at the same time. Yesterday I finally convinced him to watch a few episodes of “Dexter” online. He went through five of them.
So now he’s passing these things along to his friends. He has three now reading Martin’s books and two others watching “Dexter.”
Somehow I think my brother is like Mikey from the old Life commercials. Mikey doesn’t like anything. Give it to Mikey, if he likes it, it must be good.
Ode to Oysters
Friday, March 21st, 2008If you’re curious about how oysters can be made safe for even at risk groups like those with diabetes, cancer or liver disease, check out BeOysterAware.com. They have information on how Gulf oysters can be processed to be virtually free of the bacteria vibrio vulnificus which is the main culprit behind illnesses in at-risk people who have consumed raw oysters.
Not Your Typical Playdate
Friday, March 21st, 2008A friend of mine just came up with a brilliant idea. For a long time we’ve been having playdates where our children get together and we talk while they play. Nice for socializing the kids. Often my oldest isn’t there because he goes to school so there are 5 kids and 2 adults.
She mentioned today that we might add another playdate during the week but with a twist. One of the adults would leave. I think this is sometimes called babysitting but babysitting and babysitters are hard to come by nowadays so we’re calling it a playdate. With my oldest at school I would end up handling only one more child overall (5 instead of 4) but I think I’ll feel a little guilty dumping 3 extra kids on her since she will go from 2 to 5.
That doesn’t mean I won’t do it (evil laugh here).
An Oyster for Your Thoughts
Friday, March 21st, 2008Oysters produce pearls when they get irritated. Wouldn’t it be great if they produced other, perhaps more useful items? What if you could put a piece of dirt in an oyster, wait a couple months and then open it to find a car? Or your anniversary is coming up, you put a piece of dirt in your pet oyster and on your anniversary open it up to find flowers, chocolates and a romantic sunset? I suppose in this case finding a pearl would work out just as well but it would be more amazing if she’s expecting a pearl and gets the other stuff instead.
But then what are you supposed to do with the Gulf oysters that produced the romantic sunset? You could get a recipe from BeOysterAware.com site and not have to worry that you might wreck the night by mispreparing this delicacy. You can make oyster cakes, oyster pizza or oyster alfredo and win your sweet over for at least one night. I will go ahead and caution you to save the recipes that contain garlic for another occasion.
Here’s my idea of how a sunset would look if an oyster could actually pull it off.
Tell Me What You Want Me to Feel
Friday, March 21st, 2008CNN is interesting. They’ve had three different takes on what is ruffly the same story today. First the news that Obama’s passport info had been breached – just a regular story but the one that gets the biggest picture on the home page. Later they put n their red stripe across the top that there is BREAKING NEWS – Clinton’s passport info has been breached. Now they have decided the story isn’t all that important but not quite as unimportant as it originally was so we have a yellow stripe DEVELOPING STORY – all three presidential candidates’ passport files have been breached.
Now I’m not one to form my own opinions, I need someone to do that for me and CNN is the source I have chosen. Exactly how am I supposed to feel about this? Is this just another day at the beach, horrifying or something I might want to be concerned about later? I hope they figure out how I’m supposed to feel about this soon, because all I’ve got to go on right now is anxiety.
Education with a Side of Experience
Friday, March 21st, 2008When I was student teaching, my mentor teacher told me that when she was working on her undergraduate Mathematics degree in Canada, they had an interesting program where the school would place her in an internship for 3 months and then she would take classes for 3 months. It alternated this way for her entire time there, giving her experience as she earned her degree. Everyone who has ever applied for a job knows that unless you have some experience, you’re going to start at the absolute bottom or more likely not be qualified for the job at all. You can’t get a job without having experience but there seems to be no way to get that experience so the program she was in helped her overcome that hiccup in life.
Up until this point, I thought that was a Canadian thing and not possible here in the US, but now I’ve heard about Kettering and their engineering co-op programs that are very similar. Kettering is only one of 14 universities in the entire country to offer this so it’s no wonder I hadn’t heard about it before. Students are placed with companies starting their freshman year.
Whether you’re interested in industrial engineering, biochemistry of computer science, Kettering can be the place for you since they are ranked #11 overall on the US News & World Report ‘America’s Best Colleges 2008′ list (#1 in the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering category). Apparently, their innovative approach to education works.
Tips Time
Friday, March 21st, 2008I just read an article about Starbucks not paying tips out properly and it made me think about the nature of tips in general. everyone knows you are supposed to tip your waitress – they don’t even make minimum wage. Some say 15%, some say 20% or more; some say don’t tip if service is bad and others say that you tip no matter what.
The debate continues with who you tip other than waitresses. There’s the pizza guy but do you tip per pizza or do they also get a percentage? I know at least one person who does it the percentage way but the idea was completely alien to me because I can’t quite figure out what that could be for. A waitress works for as long as you are sitting at her table but the pizza guy just finds your address.
I tipped a masseuse once. Even though I paid through the nose for the massage, I was told it’s proper to tip. I was happy to because it was a really good massage, but exactly where does the fee I paid go?
My parents used to give tips to the paperboy but there aren’t any paperboys anymore so we don’t have to worry about that one. We do have to worry about the barista, the hairdresser and the ice cream store scooper.
I’ve seen tip jars at the cookie store and just about any food service counter you walk up to. These people make minimum wage (which ain’t much) but I don’t interact with them for more than a few seconds.
Vacation Memories
Thursday, March 20th, 2008I actually got to visit alot of places while on vacation with my family when I was young. For several years, we had a big family vacation each summer. Once we went to Colorado, once to Michigan, once to New Mexico and once to Florida (that was actually for a funeral but we went to Disney World so we could call it a vacation). By far, the place I visited most was California. Usually I would go to Disneyland but, once upon a time, the family car packed with 9 people went to San Francisco.
We’ve all heard Bill Cosby talk about San Francisco (if you haven’t, you MUST) and he does not exaggerate when he talks about the hills. Of all the things to do in San Francisco, my dad decided we would go down the curviest street in the world and so we proceeded to Lombard Street. The curves are tiny and they plant flowers along the sides to mark where your grave will be when you die there. At least that’s how we felt as we slowly snaked our boat of a station wagon HAULING A TRAILER down the street. Even if my dad had not chosen to ignore the sign that says trailers aren’t allowed, we couldn’t have turned back since everybody else who went on vacation that summer also decided to go down this street. We were all white knuckling it but we finally made it to the bottom without running down the flowers.
Now if you actually want something fun to do, go to the San Diego zoo. What I remember most about that place was the fact that it was beautiful. I’m perpetually exposed to ‘beautiful mountain vistas’ (read: dead hills) and ‘gorgeous sunsets’ (read: smog filled air) of Arizona so I know ugly when I see it. I saw no ugly at this place. It was the perfect temperature (I suspect they ran air conditioning out there) and all the animals were out (which they won’t do during an AZ summer). For the first time, I actually saw the animals my local zoo claims to have but which I had never seen.
Summer is coming up so if you need family vacation ideas, now is the time to start looking. Trusted Tours and Attractions can be one of the resources you use. You can sign up for their newsletter and have them think up ideas for you. If you sign up soon, you’ll be entered in a drawing for an iPod nano. The offer ends March 31, 2008.
‘Bank Job’ Review
Thursday, March 20th, 2008As it is with all the movie reviews I do, this will contain spoilers.
I haven’t seen many dramas lately. I really don’t like tention so I’ve been heavily padding my movie diet with romantic comedies of which there seems to be an endless supply. So seeing ‘The Bank Job’ was a bit of a departure for me and it was about as good as the last chick flick I saw. I didn’t much like that one and I don’t much like this one.
I’ve been quietly living my PG life for a while so the copious amounts of female nudity were a slap in the face. Exactly when is the equal rights movement going to gain hold in Hollywood and we get to see some decent male nudity? Just kidding. But if you’re going to have the main character have an affair so far off screen that I didn’t even know it happened, why do you need to parade around topless extras? I think they were aiming for the R rating, but I can’t figure why since those tend to make less money (having excluded a certain portion of the potential audience). Perhaps they were trying to give acting credit to as many new actresses as possible – kinda doing a favor for them, you know?
The whole thing is apparently based on the true story of a bank robbery in London during the 70s. I think it is meant to highlight the ineptitude of police in London and the corruption on the force during that time. The good guys are really bad guys and the bad guys are really good guys.
My favorite part was when the main character finally gives up trying to think his way out of the situation and just starts pounding people, taking on 3 or 4 armed men at once. I don’t really believe you can incapacitate a person by hitting them with your head while not hurting yourself, but it’s a movie.
Save your money, no need to see this one.
New Contest Each Week
Thursday, March 20th, 2008You’re smart, right? You like a challenge, right? Don’t you wish you could get onto “Who wants to be a millionaire?” so you can clean up on the show?
Did you know you don’t have to try out to audition to play trivia games for money? Actually when you go to BreaktheVault.com, you’ll be entering yourself in online contests where you could win a couple hundred bucks with each contest you win. Right now, they’re running a “Who am I?” contest. Everyone has as many chances as they want to answer the question (until someone gets it right) and you’ll receive clues along the way – a new one each day.
It’s free to register so join now. If you’re like me, you’ll then spend 20 minutes trying to figure out the answer and they decide after 20 guesses you’ll need to wait for the next clue.
Spammers Are Geniuses
Thursday, March 20th, 2008I don’t know how they did it but I’m starting to get spam comments again and we haven’t done anything to fix the comment problem yet. I tried to post a comment without being logged in and it still gave me the crazy error.
I might be forced to post the spam comments just to give myself a giggle. I’m sure everyone will benefit from reading the inscrutable comment, “Ncaa gambling…” as if it is letting us in on a secret. Though maybe it’s a game like Jeopardy. The answer is ‘Ncaa gambling’ and the questions is, ‘What lead to ASU being shut out of the tournament?’ (the question and the answer don’t necessarily have to have anything to do with each other).
Or maybe it’s like Password. You say ‘Ncaa gambling…’ and I say ‘Betting’ (No, I’m not good at that game.)
Anyway, I am duly impressed that they have figure out what I was not able figure out even after a good two or three minutes of fiddling with the way I entered my information and not looking at the code at all.
I’m easily impressed.
Where Have All the Stars Gone?
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Should the house ever sell, we will be moving to a more rural area and I’ve made my counterpart promise we will use some of the profit (assuming there is one) to buy a nice telescope. I’ve noticed lately that I can barely see the stars at night and it’s very disappointing to not be able to pick Cassiopeia out of the sky anymore. She was always dim, but I could find her when I was young and now I can’t and I’d like to be able to show at least the major constellations to my kids.
If you also miss the stars and are in the Florida area on April 5th, you can attend the Dark Sky Festival at the Town Square of Harmony, Florida. They will be promoting the idea of having nights free of excessive artificial lighting and, to that end, will have speakers to talk about responsible lighting and ways to reduce light pollution, telescopes for people to use and a free concert by Rare Earth.
The area has a Class 4 rating on the Bortle Light Pollution Scale (which I had to look up the meaning of). This means that those constellations I can’t see here in my urban center, you’ll be able to see when you go to the festival.
Money Update
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Another 3/4 of a point drop made by the Feds to the prime rate and for once, it helped the dollar. Because the drop wasn’t as big as people thought it would be, the dollar recovered a little from it’s free fall against the Euro.
Since we still have no one to buy the house, the only way these rate drops are helping me is by lowering the variable rate on my credit card. I’m a little ticked off that the interest rate on my savings account is now probably down below the rate of inflation but it’s still one of the highest interest rates on a savings account out there so I’m not losing money as fast as other people.
The stock market shoots up, the stock market plummets down. I’m beginning to waver in my resolve not to check my portfolio until things settle. Still, I don’t have much in there so there isn’t much to lose.