George Washington: As the first President, he faced circumstances no US president ever would. People forget that when Washington reluctantly took office, no American had ever known an elected leader (having always been under a King), and Washington had no precedents to follow in how he behaved, made decisions, and ran the office.
He had to justify his position to Americans and prove to the skeptical world that the US concept of self-government could work. In addition, this was done at a time of and without compromising the reputation and character of the new repbulic, and for this amazing achievement, Washington stands at the top of the list.
my favorite note of Washington: In 1799, six months before his death, some fellow Federalists urged him to come out of retirement and run for a third term, which he refused, saying that present conditions of politics int eh US made his candidacy irrelevant. In other words, individual character and influence no longer mattered as party politics took over, and a party could "set up a broomstick" and get it elected. This is a fascinating story, becasue it shows that the greatest leader the US has ever seen was already annoyed twenty years in with the political party system's ability to elect a figurehead instead of the best person for the job. Imagine what he would be saying today?
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
No wonder my lawn is so green
A TruGreen truck pulls up in front of my house about 8:10am this morning. I am on a phone conference for work, so I happened to be in my office, which is at the front of the house, and see the whole thing.
Since I get these TruGreen advertisements in my lawn every once in a while, my first reaction was to roll my eyes, as my lawn is green and weed-free, so anyone can look at it and see I am doing fine with what I am doing and don't need to pay for a lawn service.
He opens up a door on the side of his truck facing the house, and there are three rolls of yellows hoses. He pulls out one hose, and starts walking up the driveway, where I have a row of three rose bushes. This seems odd to me, so I am paying close attention.
He looks at the ends of the bushes, but doesn't spray anything. He then walks to the other side of the driveway, beyond my view. I wait for him to return, but after a few minutes, he doesn't, so I walk out there.
As I walk out the door, the man is standing right there.
"What are you doing?" I ask in a normal tone."Spraying the bushes," he said."Why?"
He mentioned that it was part of my treatment plan, or something to that affect, to which I told him that I am not on any plan, and that I have never paid for anything.
"This costs money, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, I have never paid for this."
"You didn't sign up?"
"No."
"Well I've been doing this property for some time."
I LOVE this response. People use this approach all the time to defend a mistake, as if the frequency and time period the fuck-up has taken place has any relevance on the legitimacy of the mistake.
Being on the phone, I didn't want to argue at that point, but I wanted to make clear I am not a customer of this service, so I said: "Okay, that's fine, but I am not paying for it," and walked inside.
The man then got in the truck and left, although it wasn't clear to me if he was done anyway or he left early because of the conversation. He did stop a few houses down from mine and work on someone else's lawn, so I don't think this was a case of my house being targeted for something suspicious or that he was unethical... my guess is that our builder had this service, and after we bought the house a year ago, no one told TruGreen in the office, and as people are mostly incompetent, the office never informed the man on the street.
Two other interesting points:
1. The guy never actually sprayed anything, so if I were paying for the service, I wasn't getting anything for it. The bushes are healthy and fine anyway.
2. He said he has been on this property for a long time, which surprised me that I have never seen him before. However, I assume he only comes in the summer (and we bought the house at the end of last summer, so this was the first full summer we've been in it, and I typically don't work at home in the summer because my wife is home with the kid (she is a teacher), so if he came once a month, it is possible we've missed him, especially if he is just looking at healthy bushes for thirty seconds before moving on.
Bizarre. I don't like strangers walking around my property, let alone spraying chemicals I am not aware of.
Since I get these TruGreen advertisements in my lawn every once in a while, my first reaction was to roll my eyes, as my lawn is green and weed-free, so anyone can look at it and see I am doing fine with what I am doing and don't need to pay for a lawn service.
He opens up a door on the side of his truck facing the house, and there are three rolls of yellows hoses. He pulls out one hose, and starts walking up the driveway, where I have a row of three rose bushes. This seems odd to me, so I am paying close attention.
He looks at the ends of the bushes, but doesn't spray anything. He then walks to the other side of the driveway, beyond my view. I wait for him to return, but after a few minutes, he doesn't, so I walk out there.
As I walk out the door, the man is standing right there.
"What are you doing?" I ask in a normal tone."Spraying the bushes," he said."Why?"
He mentioned that it was part of my treatment plan, or something to that affect, to which I told him that I am not on any plan, and that I have never paid for anything.
"This costs money, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, I have never paid for this."
"You didn't sign up?"
"No."
"Well I've been doing this property for some time."
I LOVE this response. People use this approach all the time to defend a mistake, as if the frequency and time period the fuck-up has taken place has any relevance on the legitimacy of the mistake.
Being on the phone, I didn't want to argue at that point, but I wanted to make clear I am not a customer of this service, so I said: "Okay, that's fine, but I am not paying for it," and walked inside.
The man then got in the truck and left, although it wasn't clear to me if he was done anyway or he left early because of the conversation. He did stop a few houses down from mine and work on someone else's lawn, so I don't think this was a case of my house being targeted for something suspicious or that he was unethical... my guess is that our builder had this service, and after we bought the house a year ago, no one told TruGreen in the office, and as people are mostly incompetent, the office never informed the man on the street.
Two other interesting points:
1. The guy never actually sprayed anything, so if I were paying for the service, I wasn't getting anything for it. The bushes are healthy and fine anyway.
2. He said he has been on this property for a long time, which surprised me that I have never seen him before. However, I assume he only comes in the summer (and we bought the house at the end of last summer, so this was the first full summer we've been in it, and I typically don't work at home in the summer because my wife is home with the kid (she is a teacher), so if he came once a month, it is possible we've missed him, especially if he is just looking at healthy bushes for thirty seconds before moving on.
Bizarre. I don't like strangers walking around my property, let alone spraying chemicals I am not aware of.
Monday, September 10, 2007
People are lazy (big surprise)
I had the following interaction with a woman in a Wal-Mart parking lot:
I was about to drive into an open spot near the store entrance when a woman pushing an empty shopping cart walked into the spot as I started to turn in (seemingly oblivious to the possibility that a slowly moving truck a few feet away might be going into that parking spot, but that is another story). I braked, perplexed, but then noticed that directly on the other side of the space I was about to use was the shopping cart bin (the area where you park the carts). I assumed, since this parking space was the only open area within 30 yards either way, she was using this open space to better navigation to the shopping cart bin without any risk to other parked cars.
I assumed wrong. Instead of continuing to the other side where the entrance to the bin was, she instead stopped pushing and left the cart right in the middle of the empty parking space I was going to use, literally a few feet from the designated space for shopping carts. She walked away from the cart and towards my vehicle, which was about ten feet away. At first I was in disbelief and slow to respond, but a second later I did a quick tap on the horn.
"Can you move the cart please?" I called out. It was doubtful she heard me through the car, as my windows were rolled up, but she did look up from the sound of the horn though, and I pointed at the cart. She looked back at it and kept walking. I honked again, and spoke louder as she approached me.
"Can you move the cart, please? It is in my way." She kept walking towards her car (which was 2-3 stalls down from mine). As she walked by my window, she turned and said: "Don't talk to me like that."
I turned the engine off (the truck is still in the middle of the parking lot lane), got out, walked to the back of my vehicle and called out to her (she was about 15 feet away putting something in the trunk of her red car): "Tell me: How is it bad to ask you to please move the cart?"
Woman: "That is not what you said."
Me: "I asked you to please move the cart. You left it right where I was parking."
Woman: "It isn't even my cart. I was putting it there."
Hmm. Good answer. You don't deny that you put it in the wrong spot; your defense for being in the wrong is the person before you was lazy, so it is okay for you as well. Pass the buck to someone else... a kind of "f*ck you" pay it forward game. Nice.
I put the cart in the correct stall (it took all of three seconds), noticed she was watching me, so I called out: "Good attitude lazy ass!" and got back in my truck and pulled forward. A few seconds later, I saw her drive by me and out of the parking lot, knowing without doubt that she voted for George W. Bush twice.
I was about to drive into an open spot near the store entrance when a woman pushing an empty shopping cart walked into the spot as I started to turn in (seemingly oblivious to the possibility that a slowly moving truck a few feet away might be going into that parking spot, but that is another story). I braked, perplexed, but then noticed that directly on the other side of the space I was about to use was the shopping cart bin (the area where you park the carts). I assumed, since this parking space was the only open area within 30 yards either way, she was using this open space to better navigation to the shopping cart bin without any risk to other parked cars.
I assumed wrong. Instead of continuing to the other side where the entrance to the bin was, she instead stopped pushing and left the cart right in the middle of the empty parking space I was going to use, literally a few feet from the designated space for shopping carts. She walked away from the cart and towards my vehicle, which was about ten feet away. At first I was in disbelief and slow to respond, but a second later I did a quick tap on the horn.
"Can you move the cart please?" I called out. It was doubtful she heard me through the car, as my windows were rolled up, but she did look up from the sound of the horn though, and I pointed at the cart. She looked back at it and kept walking. I honked again, and spoke louder as she approached me.
"Can you move the cart, please? It is in my way." She kept walking towards her car (which was 2-3 stalls down from mine). As she walked by my window, she turned and said: "Don't talk to me like that."
I turned the engine off (the truck is still in the middle of the parking lot lane), got out, walked to the back of my vehicle and called out to her (she was about 15 feet away putting something in the trunk of her red car): "Tell me: How is it bad to ask you to please move the cart?"
Woman: "That is not what you said."
Me: "I asked you to please move the cart. You left it right where I was parking."
Woman: "It isn't even my cart. I was putting it there."
Hmm. Good answer. You don't deny that you put it in the wrong spot; your defense for being in the wrong is the person before you was lazy, so it is okay for you as well. Pass the buck to someone else... a kind of "f*ck you" pay it forward game. Nice.
I put the cart in the correct stall (it took all of three seconds), noticed she was watching me, so I called out: "Good attitude lazy ass!" and got back in my truck and pulled forward. A few seconds later, I saw her drive by me and out of the parking lot, knowing without doubt that she voted for George W. Bush twice.
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