Black friday shopping

Can you disclose which office you were elected into?

This all sounds good. I never understand why people went so far away from home-cooked meals, did their daily coffeeshop run where they pay $3 for a cup that would have cost 30c if they had made it at home, etc.

That also comes with "consequential savings". Believe it or not but I have whittled my yearly mileage down to under 3000 and this includes business related driving. We do not drive to Sacramento anymore if we want to go out once in a while but use local places. Sort of a contribution to CO2 reduction, to echo the theme of another thread :-)

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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[snip]

Probably HOA. Jon has the egomania for it ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Agreed. There are more than a few fundamentals about the US that are going the wrong way for us, though. So solving this is multi-faceted. And I don't see any of the right actions being seriously engaged, yet.

Jon

Sure. The least of the least. But it "sounds good" to just say I've been elected!

I'm a precinct committee person (PCP.) This means we walk the territory and talk with neighbors, attend 'central committee meetings', and get to vote in those rare cases where someone in the legislature leaves office early or a vacancy appears for some other reason. I got to do that a few days back, in fact!!

It's market pressure, peer pressure, etc. Gradually, behaviors change as young people age and become adults and bring with them slight behavior changes that eventually turn into more pronounced ones. Humans are very adaptable. They will adopt behaviors and are remarkably willing to accept circumstances imposed upon them, as well, and eventually forget old ways.

My own family's driving (both cars) is now limited to approximately

2300-2700 miles per year, combined. So I _know_ exactly what you mean when you say 3000 miles! That is VERY GOOD even if it is just for you and not your entire family! I'm very much impressed.

But on the other side, it means you are a family man. Which is as it should be. I quit working for Tektronix when my first child was born because I felt that an 8-5 job would make me an "absentee father" at home. I had no job prospects, no idea if we'd make it. But I knew that it was important to me to be present at home. I got lucky and was able to make a career out of that choice. And I've worked out of the home, now, for 25 years and more. It's because of that choice and some others that I've been able to keep mileage down. I probably would be doing much, much worse had it been the case that I was still working an 8-5. So I haven't dropped the mileage because I was focused on that... it dropped because I was instead focused on being an integral part of my childrens' lives. (My wife and I have been together now since 1978 and I knew her as a friend growing up, as well. So pretty much my entire life. She's my first and only and I couldn't have had a better friend through everything.)

Jon

Don't say that! I have a great time buying stuff from Ebay and Dealextreme.

-- Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply indicates you are not using the right tools... "If it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer!"

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The look on my mother's face when we gave her a microwave oven was priceless. She even uses it every now and then.

Well, my kids are playing with my Lego. My youngest son just build a car around a wind-up motor that IIRC is one of the first Lego kits I got >30 years ago. Its still working! So that is great value for price.

--
Failure does not prove something is impossible, failure simply
indicates you are not using the right tools...
                     "If it doesn\'t fit, use a bigger hammer!"
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The last generation or so was so over-scheduled playing soccer, learning karate, and being involved in band and sports that their parents never had time to teach them how to cook very well?

One of the engineers at work was a member of a fraternity or somesuch in college (this would have been in the '70s) -- they set up a deal with the sorority next door that they'd buy all the groceries (for themselves and the women) if the women would prepare the meals. Purportedly worked out quite well... although the guy never did learn how to cook that well, apparently, as his wife leaves him a bunch of frozen meals if she's going to be gone for a week. :-)

I do find the $3 coffee thing a bit surprising. If I'm going to occasionally camp out at a coffee shop and read the paper for half-an-hour or whatever, sure, I'm effectively renting space, I suppose... but spending $3 on a daily basis at a drive-through just isn't good thinking.

Then again, management at our company is pretty particular about their coffee, and we have one of those $500+ machines to make it...

---Joel

You know Jon, I respect your decision here, but I don't think all that many wives would "allow" their husbands to quit their jobs (if they were the sole breadwinners) just to insure they didn't become an absentee father! :-)

That's great; congratulations!

---Joel

My son taught himself after he left home. Now that he's married, he still does most of the cooking.

As does mine, with leftovers. She mostly leaves frozen pot pies. I don't like most of the other meals and the contents are really gross.

Yep. We buy good coffee via the Internet and take a large togo mug to work.

They make coffee where I work too, but it's crap and caffinated. I'm not supposed to have caffeine, so I recently brought my own maker and bring some good coffee. Still the yucky granulated "lightener", though.

Well, you guys can now buy your European cars over here and get them for half :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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I think the lower ranks of elected folks is where the real work happens. Because of the very reason you gave, the direct contact with the population.

Luckily I've never ever given in to peer pressure.

I haven't tallied up this year yet since it's still November. But it looks like we will have a combined number under 3000 miles. My wife drives a lot less than I do, maybe 800miles/year or so. Her car gets

35mpg, mine 25mpg. My dream car would be a Chevy Suburban and I could easily go out there right now and buy one. But I don't, because I don't need its cargo capacity and it would not be reasonable to drive it around.

Smog cert on my wife's car was funny last time. The guy looked at the print-out, shook his head, walked back to the car and read the odometer. Came back, still shaking his head. "Are you sure that mileage is right?" ... "Yep" ... "Really?"

That's cool. I met my wife much later, at the beginning of my career and at work. She was in, , Marketing.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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Lots and lots of people do it.

Good managers. You've got to have a good coffee maker. Ours is from Switzerland and cost around $100. Not exactly the $19.99 Walmart deal but you can taste the difference. Considering that it'll probably last

1000-1500 brew processes it's still just pennies per cup for the amortization of the machine.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

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I once worked briefly with a guy at a client, in final assembly, to figure out a recurring problem. He was heading towards 80. "Why do you still work?" ... "Well, I was retired for a couple months and we don't need the income but by then my wife put it this way: Either you go back to work or we get a divorce!"

[...]

--
Regards, Joerg

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as

coffee,

For a reasonable size office, I favor the commercial stainless-steel Bloomfield/Bunn ones that are directly piped into the water supply. It's mostly the quality of the beans that makes the coffee. Engineers' time is expensive and I think nobody enjoys filling the machine with water. Of course some folks will turn up their noses at using (even our excellent) tap water to make coffee...

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Yeah. I got real lucky.

I was the sole bread winner. Except for starting just this last year, Becky hadn't worked in most of those years gone by. We just were able to be lucky. That's all.

I really hope I didn't come across differently here. I didn't mean to suggest that everyone should be the same way ... or else. I just exposed my logic back then. If things had gone differently, I'd not have been able to stick it out and would be in a worse mess or would have had to change my mind about it. It was pure luck that got me by.

And I know it, too.

Thanks. But don't imagine for a second that a relationship that lasts for a lifetime is some kind of greased slide. We've been through everything anyone else goes through in a long life and probably a lot more than most living in the US. It's that she is someone I deeply respect and am glad each day she decides staying around me is worth its trouble. So far, I've kept ahead of that eight-ball. ;)

Jon

I solved the gift problem decades ago. I told all my family members, "Please don't buy me anything. Take the money you'd have spent on some crap, and buy yourself something you actually like, and consider that my gift to you." Or words to that effect.

It's been working ever since. :-)

Cheers! Rich

Does it drive a generator that powers the TV? ;-)

Cheers! Rich

I wish I still had the Erector Set "number 6 1/2" that we got about 50 years ago. :-)

Cheers! Rich

I never want anything; drives SWMBO crazy. If I want something I'll buy it and it needn't be in December. I'd rather my son not buy me anything either but that gets dicey (I suggest a gift for his mother). He can use the money far more than I. I do trade gifts with my brother, usually some nice food items, teas, coffee, or such. Last year we gave them a waffle iron because we were visiting them so much (our mother was living with them). ;-)

Giving is more for the children. Christmas was a lot of fun when the kid was young.