Yesterday, John and I were talking about car payments, obligations, that sort of thing, and he mentioned that the Danes were the happiest people on the planet. It seems that the Danes have a lower expectation of how life should be than do other people (we in the USAmerica ranked 34th) and they have far more support that they can count in in the way of education, opportunity, public health, retirement and public services.

And, their tax rate is about 60% of their gross income, all things considered.

Rather than bitching about how they are overtaxed, they have an expectation that the government will do a good job of providing transit, health care, retirement, elder care, disability, public health and cleanliness. In their world, the common defense doesn't have aircraft carriers; it has clean streets and bathrooms.

It is very clear that the cause for unhappiness is the disparity between expectation and reality.

In our country, we focus on having unreasonable expectations, and then beating ourselves up to satisfy them.

I think, frequently, that people get their panties in a twist about things that don't really affect their lives to distract them from their dissatisfaction with their own lives.

For instance, I had this email today:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land
is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear
down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being
treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports
of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people
like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind
of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas
of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and
stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get
down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to
uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They
made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and
some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children
a new life and did everything in their power to help their children
assimilate into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor
laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they
had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their
children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along
side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy ,
France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any
thought about what country their parents had come from. They were
Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were
defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated
France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or
the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only
Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one
of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another
country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have
been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here.
These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred
the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the
same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a
different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a
guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not
what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who
landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for
all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to
create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a
better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an
example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty ,
it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration
bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just
yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

P. S. Pass this on to everyone you know!!!

KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING!!

So, this isn't exactly how I wish to spend my morning - reading this sort of bombast, so I replied to the sender:

Please do not send me such spam in the future. Thanks!

Apparently, that wasn't the patriotic thing to do, as I got this as a reply:

Acknowledged. I'm sorry you don't seem to care.

Now, wasn't it nice of me NOT to rip her a new one? I merely replied:

I do care, I just don't agree with your position. Please respect that there are other ways to interpret things in the world. Just because I've already reviewed and considered this issue, or any issue, and choose not to review non-factually based communications that are designed only to inflame and not inform does not make me an uncaring person.

She merely replied: Acknowledged.

I really don't understand people getting their panties in a knot about immigration.

I really don't.

Today, I have to accomplish a damned miracle. A big one. And, it will happen, somehow.

"You can hear a pin drop"

"You can hear a pin drop"

Mostly because you're no longer on the phone.

So, I spent my entire drive home talking on the phone to Sprint. Disconnected once. Routed back to the main customer service queue once by an advanced tech support person.

So far today, I've spent two hours with them on the phone (which I will NEVER get back,) been disconnected thrice, been promised that they'd fix my problem repeatedly (promises as empty as those of the current administration) aggressively worked to refrain from screaming or cursing, cried twice, and accomplished probably squat. I'm to go to the Sprint store tomorrow morning, to ask for service.

They are going to a.) offer to replace my phone if I pay the $50 shipping fee, whence I will receive yet another remanufactured Treo 650, which won't work, b.) treat me as being worth lower than dirt ('cause that's how Sprint is in their retail stores,) and c.) accomplish nothing.

You see, the most demeaning and de-humanzing retail experience that there is on the planet is to have to go to a Sprint store (at least one in Houston, although I have experience at Sprint stores in Fort Myers and Dallas, and they were no better, only less heavily trafficked.)

You go into a Sprint store, and some heavily coiffed and gelled person is standing at a podium near the door. They insist that you must sign in. The make a great show of signing you in, and the person who walked in right behind you.

Then, the coiffed person has to run and talk to someone - usually another co-worker. Maybe a necessary break is required. Perhaps a donut. At which point, the podium is untended. For five minutes, maybe ten.

During this time, twenty-two new people come in the door. Unimpeded by the sign-in process, they blaze past your patient waiting self and approach a representative directly, frequently interrupting said representative who's mid-client.

Your wait time, if you allow yourself to be wrangled by the podium hair gel, is increased by at least a half hour.

Then, you wait for the person who's pulled up your name in the podium queue on the in-store computer network (which they don't pay attention to when a blazer is knocking on their terminal.) You have 2.9 seconds to arise from your patient seating position and RUN like your ass was on fire over there before they cancel you out and call the next name.

If your device requires service, then you're given a repair tag and invited to come back "in about 90 minutes," which means next Thursday, week.

They won't explain service plans to you in any meaningful way, and the published materials reveal nothing of the restrictions or requirements.

They can't explain anything to you, only look at their Windows 2000 environment, bitch to the other representatives that all the computer terminals are again locked out, and they can tell you to please wait while they try to figure out what to do. Then, they tell you to call customer service.

When you call customer service, you wait. You wait until your eyes dry out. Each representative you speak to requires that you explain the entire problem to them again, and then, even if there is a history of concerns expressed, you are required to patiently wait while they go through the identical traps that the other six representatives before them (whom you would have had a complete conversation with had Sprint's shitty network not dropped the call, ending your association with the representative you've just invested some 20 minutes cultivating.)

Then, they'll "transfer" you to someone else, who requires that you go through the whole story again. Or, who just transfers you back to the begining of the customer service queue.

Which will then disconnect you.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Greenetic Fury

So, scientists have discovered a new chemical substance in Serbia that has the same formulation as does Kryptonite. It's not radioactive, though, and it's not green.

I'm trying to think green(ly) though. Especially since I spent $50 on gas yesterday, $40 on gas Sunday morning, $45 on Friday last, and $43 on the Monday before that. Holy crap, Batman! (wrong super hero, I know, but ..)

So, how to get back and forth to the things I do without having to burn through $3.00 gas to do it? Aside from the occasional jaunt to the store or the dry cleaner, I generally only drive down to church and back and forth to the office. I read an auto blog today (why is everything a blog? It used to be an article) that suggested we'd have $4.00 gas (which for me here in Houston means $3.50 gas) by mid-summer.

Obviously, there are few choices available when thinking about getting back and forth to the church. It's 43 miles each way, and three bucks in tolls each way - no way around it.

However, to work - there are buses. And, it turns out, the 53 bus picks up on the corner by my house and runs straight over to Louisiana, a block from the office. For a dollar.

Which (round trip) is exactly one half of what I'm paying in tolls to get to and from the office, saving the gas. A net benefit of about $10/day. Call it $40/week, and $160/month by taking the bus instead of driving.

That would offset the cable bill, for instance.

And, it would reduce my carbon footprint by .. 72 gallons of gas a month.

I have been working away today; didn't get my website edits started, and I really need to do that. I also need to work on my flyer presentations for the several real estate projects that we're trying to support. And, work on my website. And find some business to work on that will actually pay money.

I suppose I'd be well served by going through what I learned this weekend and seeing if I can apply it somehow.

Phaeton Phantasy

I lifted this from a new post on the VWVortex forum... so, it's not mine. I just like it a lot.

I know this may be a little indulgent, but there are so many fantastic little nuggets of trivia associated with the Phaeton I was wondering whether we could put as many of them together as possible (so as to keep passengers entertained for... ooooh... at least 100 miles )

Just add any bits that haven't already been mentioned!

1) Has a chassis so stiff (35,000nm/degree) that you could, in theory, bolt a Golf GTi on to a 3m long metal pole, bolt the pole on the Phaeton and the body would flex by one degree.

2) Was designed to cruise at 186mph with an outside temperature of 50 degrees centrigrade whilst keeping the interior at 22 degrees centrigrade. (W12)

3) The German Chancellor, the Pope and Kim Jong Il are all driven aroung in Phaetons.

4) 100 patents were filed during its design.

5) The air conditioning tracks the position and intensity of the sun.

6) Provides the underpinnings of the Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur (just with extra cow and tree)

7) The air conditioning was specifically designed not to upset Dr Piech's asthma.

8) Was the first car in the world with 4-zone air conditioning.

9) It's the only car in its market segment that is hand-built.