Debbie and I went to see a presentation by Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple and the technical genius who created their very first products. It was held at a Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) campus not far from my house. The speech was a retelling of his story, how he was drawn to this new technology, and the forces that came together to create Apple.
After the speech, he sat at a table to sign autographs. He was willing to sign anything and most had their tickets or their programs signed. He was robo-signing without looking up – not to be rude but just to move the line along.
I had on one of my vests from ScotteVest. The company name “SCOTTEVEST” is a contraction of “SCOTT’s Electronics VEST,” and the product line is used by world travelers, adventurers, undercover law enforcement, celebrities, and gadget lovers as loyal fans and customers. The company’s founder, Scott Jordan, is a friend of the Woz. The Woz did some cute YouTube ads for the company.
Now back to the robo-signing. As the Woz was signing my ticket I mentioned I was wearing my ScotteVest. He looked up with a big smile and said he meant to wear a ScotteVest shirt that day but forgot. I said I enjoyed the YouTube videos he did for the company. The Woz said he didn’t think they were that great but that he did them as a favor for his friend. I got to go behind the table to get a picture with the Woz.
Thanks for the great experience Woz!
Student loans have become a hot political issue. That is too bad because the true solution to the issue will be delayed. There are a few simple principles in play here.
- First Issue: Supply and Demand. With the massive government subsidization of higher education, it is no wonder that college tuition is out of control. This subsidy has created an increasing demand curve against a relatively fixed supply so of course the cost of tuition has outstripped inflation for many years.
- Second Issue: Return on Investment. The conventional “wisdom” that “everyone should be able to get a college degree” has left us with millions of new graduates with thousands in debt because their schools misled them into thinking that getting a job with a unique degree would be an easy path to success.
- Third Issue: Caveat Emptor. Parents are not teaching their children fiscal responsibility! Their children are targeted by predatory financial institutions for credit cards and assume debts for material things before starting a career. Without a strong sense of reality and good math skills, these children become indentured servants to these institutions for their entire life. Sadly, most parents are incapable of teaching their children about fiscal responsibility as too many families are living paycheck to paycheck and have little or no net worth.
I believe a classic market correction is in the works. Increasing competition from on-line learning venues will lower the cost of getting a higher education soon (over the next ten years). Costs will plummet as the “bricks and mortar” college experience is replaced by a predominately on-line experience. Think of it as disintermediation of the “bricks and mortar” experience. Then the predatory financial institutions (and the alcohol cartel) will need to find new ways to exploit our children.
Here is a great “rant’ by Dave Ramsey the creator of Financial Peace University on this issue. He nails it. http://www.daveramsey.com/radio/home/loadclip/studentloans-20120426?ictid=text
Debbie and I had a long delayed getaway weekend starting the day after Thanksgiving. We went to Minneapolis and stayed at a nice hotel across the street from the Mall of America (MOA). A recent story in the news reminded me that I wanted to share our MOA experiences. Here is the excerpt from the news item: “Authorities arrested at least nine people after a “series of fights” at the nation’s biggest shopping mall sent chairs flying and caused after-Christmas shoppers to flee, officials in Minnesota said Tuesday….Witnesses described a chaotic scene.” Reports stated that up to 200 were involved in the fighting.
(…Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs / Of every head he’s had the pleasure to have known …)
I was digging through some files stored on a file server at home. After writing that last sentence it occurs to me that not everybody has an 8 terabyte Network Attached Server (NAS) at home. Today that seems like a lot of storage, in a few years not so much, and of course, the preferred storage method will be in the cloud.
(…And all the people that come and go / Stop and say hello..)
Anyway, I found bit and pieces of blog posts from 2005-2008. I cleaned up the formatting as well as I could and posted them by year. I did not try to fix any hyperlinks. Most of the links were to pictures on the old site that no longer exists. The lack of links does not materially affect the context of the blogs – at least it did not for me.
(…On the corner is a banker with a motorcar / The little children laugh at him behind his back / And the banker never wears a mac in the pouring rain / Very strange…)
Jackson Paul Lane holding Hunter Dean Johnson
And what a busy time in my family’s life! Concerts from Herman’s Hermits (Peter Noone liked my Beatles tie and said he would mention it to Sir Paul), Paul Revere, Rockapella, Tom Petty, John Prine, Billy Joel, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Garrison Keillor, Lucinda Williams, and Sir Paul McCartney, visits and visitors, trips to dozens of states and a few countries, a birth (Hunter), deaths (Jean, Louise, Norbert, and Toni’s mother), numerous graduations, my flying lessons and the varied but glorious trials and tribulations of everyday life. I hope we pass the test!
(…Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes / Wet beneath the blue suburban skies / I sit and meanwhile back in…)
I will post more oldies as I find them.
My mother, Merge Conroy, died October 20, 2011 in Phoenix, AZ. It was not an unexpected death and she had been preparing for it for several years. Merge transcended the sometimes stoic, and often painful, process of dying with a peaceful acceptance of the inevitable. Her powerful proof of personal courage was a final lesson and gracious gift to her children. Thanks Mom!
Her passing was made easier for me by the company of my sister Deb and her husband (and my brother from another mother) Ray, my brother Dan and baby brother Bill. Deb and Ray spent many months in Arizona caring for Merge while we all were together most of the last five weeks. It was a special time that will always be fondly remembered and appreciated by us all. Dan, Bill and I also appreciate that our spouses, Bonnie, Toni and Debbie kept the home fires burning and a couple of businesses efficiently humming while we were away.
Here is the obituary that was published in her hometown newspaper, The Daily Jeffersonian of Cambridge, OH.:
