fugeelama

A few things I learned about driving while I was on vacation in Puerto Rico:

• Under no circumstances should you leave a safe distance between you and the car in front of you, or the space will be filled in by somebody else putting you in an even more dangerous situation.

• Crossing two or more lanes in a single lane-change is considered “going with the flow.”
• Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right (even if it’s only a paved shoulder). This particularly applies while it’s raining.
• Being in the left-most turn lane does not obligate you to making a turn; changing your mind half-way through the intersection and continuing straight forward is both allowed and encouraged in the San Juan metro area.

It’s been 14 years since the last time a shark attacked someone in the waters off the San Diego coast. “14 years and 10 million waves later” as one local remarked. But early this morning some poor guy went out for a swim with his buddies and didn’t make it back to shore. And the shark that still swims out there?

Carcharodon carcharias. A Great White.

Yeah…

The water’s still a little too cool to swim in but I think I may stick to the shallow beaches of Coronado for the rest of the year.

A few months ago I had posted a link to a website dedicated to the ingenious ways people modify IKEA furniture to better suit their needs. Rachel and I were inspired by the site to do a little “hacking” of our own and used our new power tools to turn two upright DVD storage units into horizontal shelving that fit perfectly underneath the lip of our kitchen island.

I sent pictures of our project to the IKEA Hacker website and they’ve finally put them on the site. It’s not the prettiest piece of furniture in the world but it cost us nothing to make (other than a few hours of hammering) and meets our needs perfectly.

“This job would be great if it wasn’t for the fucking customers.” – Randal, Clerks

I’ve performed menial labor as a slave in a retail store. I’ve toiled away for years in call centers where the goal of making customers happy superseded all logic and reason. Thankfully I now work someplace where my boss feels the same as the title of this post: the customers is not always right. But all too many companies blindly adhere to the mantra in an attempt to persuade their clientele to stick with them. Most companies would rather side with someone they’ve known 10 minutes over someone they’ve known 10 years.

Read the article. Give it to your boss if you think you won’t get fired for it. Post it in your cubicle if you can get away with it. Just read it and be happy knowing you’re not alone: there are others out there who feel your pain. There are companies that care about their employees.