This said, I can only – if I’m extremely lucky - contemplate 7 other such birthdays between today and the end of my life, but to accomplish this, I’ll need to be very durable and extremely fortunate !
Saturday, February 29, 2020
A very special day…
Today is the 19th time in my life I will be living through a February 29.
Put it another way, if my birthday had fallen on the last day of February of a leap year, I would only be 19 years old ! What a concept, isn’t it !
This said, I can only – if I’m extremely lucky - contemplate 7 other such birthdays between today and the end of my life, but to accomplish this, I’ll need to be very durable and extremely fortunate !
This said, I can only – if I’m extremely lucky - contemplate 7 other such birthdays between today and the end of my life, but to accomplish this, I’ll need to be very durable and extremely fortunate !
Friday, February 28, 2020
Bad and good stock market news
The Corona virus will be the catalyst that ended a long bull market and brought down a huge correction over the financial markets.
That situation hurts everyone who has some money in the stock market and will take some time to expunge itself. That is the bad news.
The good news is that an abysmal stock market drop will not help Trump’s re-election as it won’t go in the direction of his self-appropriated fabulous economic records, even though he said the crisis is another “hoax” concocted against him by the Democratic party.
This correction too, will take some time to expunge itself and let’s hope it lasts well into November 2020.
The good news is that an abysmal stock market drop will not help Trump’s re-election as it won’t go in the direction of his self-appropriated fabulous economic records, even though he said the crisis is another “hoax” concocted against him by the Democratic party.
This correction too, will take some time to expunge itself and let’s hope it lasts well into November 2020.
Thursday, February 27, 2020
Dem’s demolition derby
In spite of that, we still thought Mike Bloomberg was the only adult in the room and while he sure isn’t Mr. Congeniality, he’s still the only one who can beat Donald Trump by gaining the support of independents and moderate Republicans.
He’ll just need advertising and practicing his debate skills at the same time. While we thought that Biden, Bloomberg and Sanders are far too old for that contest, we’ll have to work with what we’re served.
We thought the attacks by Warren against Bloomberg were uncalled for and she hurt herself by being so brazen. Buttigieg did okay, Biden survived, Klobuchar had moments of brilliance and might make a good running mate for Bloomberg’s only term...
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
The challenge of making decisions…
While decision making is known as the mental process that allow us to select an action among several options, it’s never an easy task.
Every decision making process produces a final choice that can involve an action or just an opinion.
Yet, decision making is often surrounded by fear, uncertainty and impossibility to see clearly into the future, which makes the process stressful, murky and can often lead to regrets and disappointments.
One of the rule of engagement is to honestly learn from their consequences but not become obsessed when they turn out to be bad. Good decision making is either the product of intuition and / or reasoning; it also requires sufficient information, but not too much either.
The more people are involved in the process, the more complex and time-consuming it becomes. Finally, emotions play a huge role in making a good decision and it’s difficult to always keep a clear head.
From experience, it also seems to me that the more decisions one makes, the better they tend to be and the more their process is likely to become quick and instinctive. Granted, they aren’t all guaranteed to succeed, but on the whole, more will be good than bad.
Every decision making process produces a final choice that can involve an action or just an opinion.
Yet, decision making is often surrounded by fear, uncertainty and impossibility to see clearly into the future, which makes the process stressful, murky and can often lead to regrets and disappointments.
The more people are involved in the process, the more complex and time-consuming it becomes. Finally, emotions play a huge role in making a good decision and it’s difficult to always keep a clear head.
From experience, it also seems to me that the more decisions one makes, the better they tend to be and the more their process is likely to become quick and instinctive. Granted, they aren’t all guaranteed to succeed, but on the whole, more will be good than bad.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Skiing and lateral vision
Unlike when driving or cycling, skiing is an activity carried out without the help or safety of a rear-view mirror.
The only movement a skier can do when a visual check back is needed to see if a group of friends, a companion, a kid or a student are following, is by briefly turning the neck around while skiing. It can also be a nice safety precaution when a skier wants to check if a fast, uphill skier is closing in.
Practically, turning back the head is the only way to safely conduct that visual check. Adding an upper body rotation would put pressure on the hip bones and affect the direction of the skis.
Having a healthy range of motion in the neck is therefore very important while skiing, not to mention the fact that insulating apparel, helmet and goggles can sometime restrict the available range of vision and make any motion even harder.
Again, we’re talking about neck rotation, i.e. turning the head to the right and to the left. Normally, an individual should be able to turn far enough so that the chin is almost in line with either shoulders.
The accepted range of motion for this kind of rotation is 80 to 90 degrees. People that are over 70 years old have significantly less motion, which translates into a 25% reduction in rotation.
A way to enhance that viewing angle is to check near the end of a turn, but that moment is brief and hard to capture visually…
So if you’re no longer in your 60s, start doing some regular exercise to keep your makeshift “rear-view mirror” at the right angle!
The only movement a skier can do when a visual check back is needed to see if a group of friends, a companion, a kid or a student are following, is by briefly turning the neck around while skiing. It can also be a nice safety precaution when a skier wants to check if a fast, uphill skier is closing in.
Practically, turning back the head is the only way to safely conduct that visual check. Adding an upper body rotation would put pressure on the hip bones and affect the direction of the skis.
Having a healthy range of motion in the neck is therefore very important while skiing, not to mention the fact that insulating apparel, helmet and goggles can sometime restrict the available range of vision and make any motion even harder.
Again, we’re talking about neck rotation, i.e. turning the head to the right and to the left. Normally, an individual should be able to turn far enough so that the chin is almost in line with either shoulders.
A way to enhance that viewing angle is to check near the end of a turn, but that moment is brief and hard to capture visually…
So if you’re no longer in your 60s, start doing some regular exercise to keep your makeshift “rear-view mirror” at the right angle!
Monday, February 24, 2020
The components of ski experience
Subjective elements are extremely hard to quantify, and often, in any discussion, an arbitrary approach can be quite helpful to get the debate started.
Alpine skiing is a complex sport that involves a difficult technique, a minimum fitness level, but that is affected by external conditions like snow, terrain, equipment and quite importantly, visibility.
The question is therefore, how do you weigh these multiple parameters in trying to figure out a total quality of experience?
I think that technique is very important, but not the most important. I gave it a 27.5% influence.
Like in any sport, Fitness plays a major role, but let’s not forget that alpine ski is a sport of gravity, with a lift doing most of the hard work, so giving it just 17.5% seems fair to me.
Finally, I would have a tendency to favor external conditions, like snow quality, terrain conditions (irrespective of specific difficulties), slope preparation, exterior temperature, equipment quality (ski performance, boots, gloves and apparel comfort) and visibility, as extremely important as a whole, attributing them a whopping 55%.
For sake of clarity (no pun intended!) I have separated visibility from the rest giving each group 28% for external conditions and 26.5% for visibility.
Now, it’s your turn, let me know what you think and if that’s the case, how your ranking might differ...
Alpine skiing is a complex sport that involves a difficult technique, a minimum fitness level, but that is affected by external conditions like snow, terrain, equipment and quite importantly, visibility.
The question is therefore, how do you weigh these multiple parameters in trying to figure out a total quality of experience?
I think that technique is very important, but not the most important. I gave it a 27.5% influence.
Like in any sport, Fitness plays a major role, but let’s not forget that alpine ski is a sport of gravity, with a lift doing most of the hard work, so giving it just 17.5% seems fair to me.
Finally, I would have a tendency to favor external conditions, like snow quality, terrain conditions (irrespective of specific difficulties), slope preparation, exterior temperature, equipment quality (ski performance, boots, gloves and apparel comfort) and visibility, as extremely important as a whole, attributing them a whopping 55%.
Now, it’s your turn, let me know what you think and if that’s the case, how your ranking might differ...
Sunday, February 23, 2020
The danger of pre-jumps
In America, the "optrekken" is called pre-jump. Back in the 60’s in France, skiers were talking about optrekken or op traken, when they were watching Alpine downhill races.
Optrekken is a Dutch word, which means to rise up, to pull against. Known in French as “op traken”, it’s defined as a ski motion that is an anticipated way to minimize and absorb the consequences of a bump or slope-change that would send the downhill skier too far or too high up.
Yesterday, I was given to witness the move, albeit messed up, but so spectacular by a skier who over corrected, planted its tip on landing in the snow and executed a perfect cartwheel, luckily with no harm to him...
Optrekken is a Dutch word, which means to rise up, to pull against. Known in French as “op traken”, it’s defined as a ski motion that is an anticipated way to minimize and absorb the consequences of a bump or slope-change that would send the downhill skier too far or too high up.
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Yes, I could ski better!
Even when I flatter myself by thinking I’m good on skis, I always see people, and go through moments, when I humbly realize that I still have plenty of room for sizeable improvements.
This may sound paradoxical when I precisely am embarked on a clear and steady physical decline, but getting the stinging signal that I could do much better is always a good stimulus that I cherish, and I hope it will pursue me for as long as I breathe…
Friday, February 21, 2020
Ninth debate: Here comes Bloomberg
Expectations were high for Mike Bloomberg to shine, but he failed to impress. Looking a bit like a fish out of water, he got pelted with attacks, reacted the best he could, but failed to produce a miracle.
I must say that this debate from NBC channel was very poorly moderated and was a free for all for both Klobuchar and Warren.
The latter jumped on the opportunity to be super-aggressive, while Buttigieg defended himself pretty well, Sanders doubled up on his American Socialism, Klobuchar, the smart Alec, lost some of her effectiveness and credibility, while Joe Biden continued his deadly slide, barely able to sell his past experience.
Once more, the Democratic Party is trying to cook an award-winning meal with poor ingredients. Either not ripe or far too wilted. Can Bloomberg walk the talk of his ads at the next debate?
This remains to be seen. In the meantime, we better get ready for a long, painful and uncertain battle that will last well thru the mid-July convention.
The latter jumped on the opportunity to be super-aggressive, while Buttigieg defended himself pretty well, Sanders doubled up on his American Socialism, Klobuchar, the smart Alec, lost some of her effectiveness and credibility, while Joe Biden continued his deadly slide, barely able to sell his past experience.
Once more, the Democratic Party is trying to cook an award-winning meal with poor ingredients. Either not ripe or far too wilted. Can Bloomberg walk the talk of his ads at the next debate?
This remains to be seen. In the meantime, we better get ready for a long, painful and uncertain battle that will last well thru the mid-July convention.
Thursday, February 20, 2020
My theory about dreams
A few nights ago, I was watching a show about interpreting dreams and was told that dreams were blueprints into the future.
In fact, no one really know why we dream, so that field is wide open to the weirdest speculations.
Ever since Freud and Jung looked into dreams, the latter have become charged with meaning according to many.
While Jung Jung saw dreams as the psyche's attempt to communicate important things to the individual, there has always been a lot of discussion and dispute as to what their real meaning was.
Since I’m old and my sleep no longer is as heavy as it used to be, I’m awaken each night by my dreams and as while I try very hard to see any meaning into them, I simply can’t.
They are a collection of random ideas and situations that come out of my current and past experiences, are mostly turned towards the past, can be emotionally quite disturbing or elating, but remain utterly meaningless to me.
Both bothering and meaningless, my dreams are a pure waste of my precious sleeping time!
In fact, no one really know why we dream, so that field is wide open to the weirdest speculations.
Ever since Freud and Jung looked into dreams, the latter have become charged with meaning according to many.
Since I’m old and my sleep no longer is as heavy as it used to be, I’m awaken each night by my dreams and as while I try very hard to see any meaning into them, I simply can’t.
They are a collection of random ideas and situations that come out of my current and past experiences, are mostly turned towards the past, can be emotionally quite disturbing or elating, but remain utterly meaningless to me.
Both bothering and meaningless, my dreams are a pure waste of my precious sleeping time!
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Meditative experience
For almost one month, I’ve been training myself to meditate daily and I must say that this practice has been rather successful and satisfactory.
Have I reached nirvana? Not quite, but I can control my (absence of) thoughts, totally relax my entire body and mind, eliminate all negative thoughts without even trying, and feel completely unified in my body and mind.
If and when I reach a new level or observe events worth sharing with you all, I will!
If and when I reach a new level or observe events worth sharing with you all, I will!
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
Yes, I’m LDS!
As a joke, when asked why I came to Utah, I answer “Because of the religion...”
If you don’t know it, the State’s dominant Mormon religion is also called LDS, which means “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”.
While my religion is also LDS, the meaning of its acronym is slightly different, since it stands for “Later Day Skier”.
That’s right, I don’t start early, since I mostly ski in the afternoon, when I can park my car close to the lifts and don’t have to deal with the early morning chaos.
My LDS Church is fun, accepting and requires a lot of twists and turns, which is fine by me...
If you don’t know it, the State’s dominant Mormon religion is also called LDS, which means “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”.
That’s right, I don’t start early, since I mostly ski in the afternoon, when I can park my car close to the lifts and don’t have to deal with the early morning chaos.
My LDS Church is fun, accepting and requires a lot of twists and turns, which is fine by me...
Monday, February 17, 2020
Ten years later…
On Saturday I skied my heart out at The Canyons.
I managed to ski 25 laps, uninterrupted on my favorite ski lift Ninety-Nine-Ninety. I did that at the highest rate of speed ever, clocking each lap well under 10 minutes.
On that lift alone, I skied 39,075 vertical feet in about 3 hours and 55 minutes. I matched my similar record of 10 years ago when I was 62 years young.
Even is muscular strength is going down, it has to be compensated by experience and technique. Seems like just with love, spring is eternal!
On that lift alone, I skied 39,075 vertical feet in about 3 hours and 55 minutes. I matched my similar record of 10 years ago when I was 62 years young.
Even is muscular strength is going down, it has to be compensated by experience and technique. Seems like just with love, spring is eternal!
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Why skiers get hooked to their instructor…
Skiing at Park City, and particularly in its Canyons area can get quite complicated if you don’t know your way around well, and this is why my wife loves skiing behind me and not having to worry about where to go and turn.
She can focus on the bright side of her skiing experience and not have to worry about which run to take and turn to make. This is the exact same reason why some people can’t ski without their instructor.
This is particularly true in the Alps, less in America, because ski school don’t know how to price and sell the services of their ski instructor.
The reasons for this are many. Most instructor are too much into technique and not enough into guiding or hosting. Further, too many are also not skiing to a level that would be acceptable for that kind of work.
To make things worse, ski school hourly rates are excessive and the clientele hasn’t been prepped for that kind of service. Call it a lost business opportunities for American ski areas that are a bit too greedy to developed lifetime habits with their clients...
She can focus on the bright side of her skiing experience and not have to worry about which run to take and turn to make. This is the exact same reason why some people can’t ski without their instructor.
The reasons for this are many. Most instructor are too much into technique and not enough into guiding or hosting. Further, too many are also not skiing to a level that would be acceptable for that kind of work.
To make things worse, ski school hourly rates are excessive and the clientele hasn’t been prepped for that kind of service. Call it a lost business opportunities for American ski areas that are a bit too greedy to developed lifetime habits with their clients...
Saturday, February 15, 2020
So glad we don’t live in Vail!
Last week, as I was riding the chairlift, a visitor from Vail told that his place had received 17” of new snow and that the lines were unbelievable.
This is when I thought Park City lines were outrageous because the skiers from four neighboring resorts in Utah converged to our town as their usual resorts were shut down.
This was nothing in comparison when I discovered that video showing the ginormous lines in Vail that day.
Back in the early 2000, I spent five years in the Vail Valley because of my job, and was familiar with the legendary ski lines at Vail when 20 to 25,000 skiers showed up on weekends.
At that time, I was under pressure from my bosses to give up my rental apartment and buy a home there. After some considerations, my wife and I came to the conclusion that we simply didn’t like the Vail Valley and we decided to stay put in Park City.
With a tiny bit of insight, we were so right, and today when I watched that video, I realized that we were smarter than we ever thought…
This is when I thought Park City lines were outrageous because the skiers from four neighboring resorts in Utah converged to our town as their usual resorts were shut down.
This was nothing in comparison when I discovered that video showing the ginormous lines in Vail that day.
Back in the early 2000, I spent five years in the Vail Valley because of my job, and was familiar with the legendary ski lines at Vail when 20 to 25,000 skiers showed up on weekends.
At that time, I was under pressure from my bosses to give up my rental apartment and buy a home there. After some considerations, my wife and I came to the conclusion that we simply didn’t like the Vail Valley and we decided to stay put in Park City.
With a tiny bit of insight, we were so right, and today when I watched that video, I realized that we were smarter than we ever thought…
Friday, February 14, 2020
Taking any skier, anywhere
If you’re a skier, on this Valentine day, and if you happen to ski better than your significant other, think of the many times you’ve taken that skier in difficult situation and turned what should have been a great experience into a little nightmare.
Why did that happen? Because you probably misjudged that person’s ability on the basis of your close relationship. “He can do this, so he can also do that!”
The three missing ingredients in that hapless adventure revolve around three points: Lack of patience, poor terrain choice, absence of pertinent advice.
The three missing ingredients in that hapless adventure revolve around three points: Lack of patience, poor terrain choice, absence of pertinent advice.
- Patience is key. Slow down, take all your time and a long, big breath. It’s gonna take some long moments!
- Terrain choice is what will make it possible. Put yourself 100% in the other person’s ski boots and see everything from behind their own goggles!
- Pertinent advice requires good technical ski knowledge, clear communication and strong pedagogical approach. Don’t yell “You can do this!”, instead, speak in terms that are simple, meaningful and eventually effective.
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Twelve years without much skiing
Many folks who know me, including my family members, think I’m obsessed by skiing.
Granted, this attraction was something that instantly got ingrained into me as soon as I set foot on the boards, but many years of deprivation at different stages of my life, acted as an amplifier of sort and exacerbated that passion.
This happened in 1967 and 1968 when I missed two complete ski seasons during my military service and from 1975 through 1985 when I worked for Look bindings and Lange boots.
Even though, I was deep into the ski business during that decade, my places of residence and my extensive travels didn’t gave me much opportunity at all to hit the slopes.
We say absence, make the heart grow fonder, and nothing was more true for me than this twelves seasons of “skiing withdrawal!”
Granted, this attraction was something that instantly got ingrained into me as soon as I set foot on the boards, but many years of deprivation at different stages of my life, acted as an amplifier of sort and exacerbated that passion.
This happened in 1967 and 1968 when I missed two complete ski seasons during my military service and from 1975 through 1985 when I worked for Look bindings and Lange boots.
We say absence, make the heart grow fonder, and nothing was more true for me than this twelves seasons of “skiing withdrawal!”
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
Carving is only a small part of skiing
These days, there are skiers who are totally raptured by carving and that’s all they do or are obsessed with.
Now try to ski moguls or ski crud by carving. This will be both hard and tricky right?
Carving is only one, but limited facets of skiing, ranging from skidded turns, multiple forms of side-slipping, wedge, stem-christies, shusses and many more.
Even GS, which under Ted Ligety’s supreme reign was a true carve fest has changed its mind as most of the tough turns now begin with some more than generous skidding.
So here you have it, don’t get obsessed with carving. It’s only one lowly single blade in your skiing Swiss Army knife!
Now try to ski moguls or ski crud by carving. This will be both hard and tricky right?
Carving is only one, but limited facets of skiing, ranging from skidded turns, multiple forms of side-slipping, wedge, stem-christies, shusses and many more.
Even GS, which under Ted Ligety’s supreme reign was a true carve fest has changed its mind as most of the tough turns now begin with some more than generous skidding.So here you have it, don’t get obsessed with carving. It’s only one lowly single blade in your skiing Swiss Army knife!
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Another American stereotype…
While talking with me on the chairlift, they spot my accent and ask me: “Where do you come from?”
I answer: “France”.
They continue: “You must be a Chef?”
I respond: “Yes, a ‘niche’ Chef.”
They go: “What do you mean?”
I reveal: “I only do Fondue and Raclette.”
They look puzzled and I giggle.
Monday, February 10, 2020
Ski-mageddon
What’s ski-magedoon? Sounds like Armageddon, right?
Just in case, Armageddon, /ˌärməˈɡedn/, in the New Testament, is the last battle between good and evil before Judgment Day.
Pretty crazy stuff, right? This is exactly what happened in Park City this past weekend. It all started on Friday.
The weather was bad, snow, strong wind, lots of chairlifts were on wind-hold, and with it, surprisingly, tons of people, lines like I had never seen before and no good reasons for it.
On Saturday, as we went out on our morning walk, the effervescence was palpable. Enormous traffic, swarms of skiers waiting for public transportation like we’d never seen before. In spite of that, we went out to ski at 12:30 pm.
The traffic was horrendous. At the resort, we had a hard time finding a parking spot and the number of skiers was just overwhelming. I thought to myself, this is the end of Park City! We’ve been invaded and still no reason for it, at least that what it appeared.
We picked a quiet spot on the mountain and some difficult runs where no one usually gets to, and in spite of that, it was quite busy.
As we were riding the lift, we found out that Big and Little Cottonwood had been closed for the past two days and that all these extra skiers were normally skiing in Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude.
These four resorts represent about 38% of Utah’s entire lift capacity (Park City Mountain and Deer Valley represent another 44%). So we probably got 12 to 15,000 extra skiers that weekend.
When I heard that it spelled relief to me and I realized that the end of the world and not quite arrived yet!
Pretty crazy stuff, right? This is exactly what happened in Park City this past weekend. It all started on Friday.
The weather was bad, snow, strong wind, lots of chairlifts were on wind-hold, and with it, surprisingly, tons of people, lines like I had never seen before and no good reasons for it.
On Saturday, as we went out on our morning walk, the effervescence was palpable. Enormous traffic, swarms of skiers waiting for public transportation like we’d never seen before. In spite of that, we went out to ski at 12:30 pm.
The traffic was horrendous. At the resort, we had a hard time finding a parking spot and the number of skiers was just overwhelming. I thought to myself, this is the end of Park City! We’ve been invaded and still no reason for it, at least that what it appeared.
We picked a quiet spot on the mountain and some difficult runs where no one usually gets to, and in spite of that, it was quite busy.
These four resorts represent about 38% of Utah’s entire lift capacity (Park City Mountain and Deer Valley represent another 44%). So we probably got 12 to 15,000 extra skiers that weekend.
When I heard that it spelled relief to me and I realized that the end of the world and not quite arrived yet!
Sunday, February 9, 2020
The eighth Democratic Debate
- Sanders exhibited the best performance. That was easy, he’s been on the same message since 2016. The problems with him are his stubbornness and “socialist” label that won’t get him enough votes to beat Trump.
- Klobuchar did a much better job than usual, particularly during her closing statement. This might be to little to late, though, and no, I don’t believe she can beat Trump.
- Buttigieg was clearly under siege and showed many “holes” in his responses to the various attacks he had to sustain. Can’t beat Trump either.
- Both Biden and Warren failed to deliver the turnaround performance expected of them and are only likely to lose ground over time.
- As for Yang and Steyer they occupied spots they never should have, thus wasting precious debate time among the five more viable candidates.
None of the seven candidates we saw show any superiority over Trump in terms of meanness, sheer energy, credibility and ability to bullshit.
Only Bloomberg has a chance to effectively close the President’s foul mouth.
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Democratic options
Following the (almost) final Iowa results of the first Democratic primary caucus, we have two left-leaning candidates with 44% of the votes up against the rest of the field, that are mostly centrists or moderates, with the remaining 56%.
This suggests that either Biden or Buttigieg should get that block’s support and win the nomination. The problem with that hypothesis is that both don’t have what it takes to stand to Trump.
In addition, Biden is fading fast and Buttigieg is gay, too young and lack a solid experience. Klobuchar, I believe, doesn’t have the persona to steal the show from these two men.
This leaves a huge opening for Bloomberg who is the best equipped to crush Trump and bring the required amount of credibility needed to galvanize the centrist Republicans and most of the Independents.
Sure, the die-hard Sanders supporters might not the show up at the polls, nor would some African-Americans supporting Biden, but the anti-Trump from the right and the independent would largely make up for these lost votes.
In addition, Biden is fading fast and Buttigieg is gay, too young and lack a solid experience. Klobuchar, I believe, doesn’t have the persona to steal the show from these two men.
This leaves a huge opening for Bloomberg who is the best equipped to crush Trump and bring the required amount of credibility needed to galvanize the centrist Republicans and most of the Independents.
Sure, the die-hard Sanders supporters might not the show up at the polls, nor would some African-Americans supporting Biden, but the anti-Trump from the right and the independent would largely make up for these lost votes.
Friday, February 7, 2020
Selling cars the old fashion way
As I took my Subaru for service and while I was waiting, I took a look at the 2020 version of my current car.
I asked the guy who sold it to me to show me what was available. It was very cold out. He took me to the lot and tried to decipher which specific version each car was, we returned inside and he had a hard time telling me the difference in gas-mileage between the regular and the turbo models.
After laboriously searching his laptop he came up with the answer. I asked him “What kind of car do you drive?” He answered “A truck.”
I had heard enough. A no point, during our conversation, did he try to offer me to test-drive the new model or show much interest in my needs and calendar. Some things never change.
It almost breaks my heart, but my next car won’t be a Subaru.
I asked the guy who sold it to me to show me what was available. It was very cold out. He took me to the lot and tried to decipher which specific version each car was, we returned inside and he had a hard time telling me the difference in gas-mileage between the regular and the turbo models.
I had heard enough. A no point, during our conversation, did he try to offer me to test-drive the new model or show much interest in my needs and calendar. Some things never change.
It almost breaks my heart, but my next car won’t be a Subaru.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
How to lose clients
While I suspected that the 68 year old “Professional” would quit soon, he never told me or let me know that he had sold his practice .
A letter was sent to me by the new owner that I didn’t received because his administrative assistant used my 5 year old mailing address and pretended that it had been transferred on the “cloud” and it was the reason for messing up! Just randomly, on the eve of tax season I discovered that my accountant was gone.
His assigned successors managed to botch up the transition, which is hard to accept from folks that are in the accounting business where trust is the number one ingredient.
A real dumb way to lose a long-time client.
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
Theater (not State) of the Union
Last night, Donald Trump showered himself with kudos, was more partisan than ever before and showed that was a true demagogue, namely by seeking support through appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational arguments.
This works with gullible people and sadly enough, a majority of Americans are just that. Kudos to Nancy Pelosi for tearing up her copy of Trump’s speech on live TV.
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Iowa primaries
Today, I had planned to comment on the Iowa primaries and see how our Democratic candidates had done, but unfortunately, the results weren’t know this morning, because of a major software snafu with an app used to tabulate caucus results.
It seems that the app was not even seriously tested and created a major embarrassment for the Iowa Democratic Party in charge of the event. These guys had four years to prepare for this, test the app and train their people, but they managed to mess it all up.
While the format of the Iowa caucuses, the racial make up of the state left a lot to be desired, this deals a blow to relying too much on meaningless data.
The preliminary results are a mixed bag that looks disastrous for Biden and promising for Bloomberg who is now convinced that none of the candidate have the mettle to beat Trump...
It seems that the app was not even seriously tested and created a major embarrassment for the Iowa Democratic Party in charge of the event. These guys had four years to prepare for this, test the app and train their people, but they managed to mess it all up.
The preliminary results are a mixed bag that looks disastrous for Biden and promising for Bloomberg who is now convinced that none of the candidate have the mettle to beat Trump...
Monday, February 3, 2020
Balancing fearlessness and prudence
As we age, prudence seems to be taking over and, kept unchecked, it could lead to total paralysis and de facto death.
This is why, in my opinion, we should make sure that we still keep a healthy dose of audacity inside the recipe of good life.
Even though I deny being as fearless as I used to be (to keep my spouse happy, I guess), I can’t resist its pull and end up inviting it in more instances than none.
When audacity “leaks-in”, it thrills me and keeps me happy. If prudence should be our constant friend during our golden years, fear has no right to seep in, invade our lives and poison our fun.
Keep a fierce eye for it and push it back whenever it rears its head!
This is why, in my opinion, we should make sure that we still keep a healthy dose of audacity inside the recipe of good life.
When audacity “leaks-in”, it thrills me and keeps me happy. If prudence should be our constant friend during our golden years, fear has no right to seep in, invade our lives and poison our fun.
Keep a fierce eye for it and push it back whenever it rears its head!
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Felix Neureuther: Do as I say?
The charismatic and retired German alpine ski racer Felix Neureuther currently stated during the Munich ISPO ski trade show that, now that he’s become a dad and sees things differently, skiers should no longer train on glaciers in the summer in order to protect them along with the planet.
Unless the former champion is vegan, will never travel by plane, owns just one electric car and lives in a small, zero net carbon home, this would sounds hypocritical.
After training and competing his entire a life and flying all over the world, he now has the nerves suggest that it’s time to put a stop to all that nonsense.
It strikes me as developed countries telling India or Nigeria: “Stop driving gasoline powered cars!”
This statement is sadly symptomatic of our Western attitude towards global destruction, that is to admonish others to watch out for their waste while conveniently forgetting that we’ve been the number one polluters all along.
Unless we drastically cut our nefarious consumption and do something about overpopulation, we are securing our disappearance from this planet.
The later will finally breathe a sight o relief to see all of us out!
After training and competing his entire a life and flying all over the world, he now has the nerves suggest that it’s time to put a stop to all that nonsense.
It strikes me as developed countries telling India or Nigeria: “Stop driving gasoline powered cars!”
This statement is sadly symptomatic of our Western attitude towards global destruction, that is to admonish others to watch out for their waste while conveniently forgetting that we’ve been the number one polluters all along.
Unless we drastically cut our nefarious consumption and do something about overpopulation, we are securing our disappearance from this planet.
The later will finally breathe a sight o relief to see all of us out!
Saturday, February 1, 2020
United Kingdom’s beginning of the end?
Following Prince Harry and his wife Megan’s made-for-TV issues, Brexit has finally taken place and might invite a Scottish and Northern-Irish divorce from the Union in a not-so-distant future, which would be disastrous for England.
The U.K. had never shown much enthusiasm for its marriage with Europe and constantly required special treatment, not to mention its refusal to embrace the Euro as a common currency.
With a 43% of UK trade being with the EU, the island-nation has much more to lose than its European neighbors and this is likely to be felt harshly during the upcoming trade negotiations.
All this to say that in spite of a few crocodile tears being shed these days, the continental ex-partners of Great Britain are now probably thinking “good riddance!”
With a 43% of UK trade being with the EU, the island-nation has much more to lose than its European neighbors and this is likely to be felt harshly during the upcoming trade negotiations.
All this to say that in spite of a few crocodile tears being shed these days, the continental ex-partners of Great Britain are now probably thinking “good riddance!”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
