Move Along, Move Along

Nothing to see here. This is a low-content sort of day.

I got up early this morning and went into the office. I didn't want to, but I had a file that I needed to upload to our customer's mainframe, and due to the inexplicable way that the customer's vendor has configured their firewall, I could not FTP to the mainframe from home -- I have to be physically connected to the LAN at work. Now, okay, LANS and firewalls are still a bit mysterious to me -- I remember when my company first started using LANS, and one of the groups named their LAN 'NeverNever' (which I thought and still think was kind of cool) -- but I cannot believe that this is topologically necessary. I think they just backed themselves into a corner and it would take too long to undo it. Besides, it affects us, their subcontractors, not them directly, so who cares?

So I got to go in, upload my file, do some minor tweaks to it, and then come home again. At least on the way home I got to stop at a place called Panera and pick up some bagels. The fine folks at Panera apparently wish that you would not come to their store, as they're always slow and somewhat disorganized. With three people in the whole store this morning, the clerk asked me 'Is that all?' in an abrupt manner, leaving me thinking 'How tough would it be for you to smile, or to suggest something else to go along with that order?' Granted, its always easier from my side of the counter to see these flaws.

Speaking of flaws, I read an article in Fortune Small Business the other day about the abrupt death of the Ground Round restaurant chain, which shut down right before the dinner hour on a Friday night, causing some of the stores to literally eject customers with take-home boxes of partially consumed meals. The article makes the bankruptcy sound like a train wreck, with the employees and customers the absolute last to know. Apparently, some stores have reopened -- mostly, ones owned independently, not by the company -- and are doing all right, though not great. Its an interesting article.

There was also an article about a company called Minute Clinic, which offers basic medical services in fifteen minutes, and is located in Target stores. I like the idea. I read a comment in a doctor's blog the other day to the effect that 'everyone wants to prescribe drugs, and you really need to be a doctor to understand that'. I wonder about that. Physicans Assistants and Certified Nurse Practicioners do it (though under some degree of supervision by a doctor), and that seems to work fine. I think the the medical industry is being pretty stodgy on the concept, but it could be my basic bias against doctors coming out there, as I have only known two doctors in my adult life who I liked, and one of them, I've only physically met once -- a very bright woman who lives out in California. Similarly, of the CRNPs I've met, I've only met one I trusted -- and it isn't the one I'm seeing now.

AM meter readings have been mostly good.

I might make truffles today. I have wanted to do this for quite some time. I am not a great baker -- I am barely a baker -- but the effect of seeing all of these chocolate-oriented comments in various locations has been to resurface that thought. Its mostly a 'gee, I wonder if I can do this' sort of thing. No one is going to mistake me for Emeril -- whose show I finally saw for the first time, the other day. I see why people like him, though I do not understand a roomful of people ooh and aahing over poured chocolate, which is what happened there. I don't think anyone will be doing that here. The timing is a little suspicious, I admit, for someone who is not a proponent of Valentines Day (or any other orchestrated sentiment delivery day). I have been known to say Lets celebrate Valentines Day by shooting people with real arrows! Or lining people up in a garage and killing them! My recommendations usually go unheeded -- which, depending on how the truffles go, may be their fate, too.

But speaking of chocolate, I found a nifty company called Cowgirl Chocolates, which makes some nice and unique stuff. What happened was that I was buying some Goldwaters Salsa from a company called Sam McGees (the salsa was originally a gift from a friend in Arizona, and you can't get it around here). McGee's offered a 3 piece sampler of CC's stuff, and we really liked it. You can't eat a lot of it at once -- well, I can't -- because it's got pepper and spices in it, but thats part of what makes it a unique taste.

Other uniqueness: my daughter had her first orthodontist's visit. It was a quick in and out, putting spacers on some teeth, and although it was not terrible, it wasn't great, either, as the assistant had difficulty getting one spacer on, to the point that my daughter's mouth hurt when it was done. I can hardly wait to see how she feels when the heavy lifting starts. We've already been advised to give her Tylenol or Motrin a half hour before any dentistry - - imagine what message that is giving her. The people working there are very efficient in terms of scheduling and making sure they get paid, and the dentist that my daughter will have is a pretty nice guy -- though apparently most of the actual work will be done by the aforementioned assistants. I have a feeling we're going to have to keep an eye on these folks, just to be sure we don't get trampled by the steamroller.

I wish I could talk myself into spending two thousand bucks for a laptop. My wife has a Dell from her job that I really like -- way superior to this Thinkpad. And I wish it came without all of the junk that laptops come with -- pitches to Buy This, 'free' software that expires, 'Dell recommends Windows XP', all of that crap. And what the hell, I wish it were delivered by a Rockette in an amorous mood.

That's enough vapid comments for right now, I think.