Adams Golf Club Driver

Posted on November 24, 2006
Filed Under Economy, Personal Finances | Leave a Comment

After finally conceding I’m never going to play enough golf to get as good as I’d like to be, I broke down and got an over-sized driver as a shortcut way to improve my game. Yes, late to the dance, but hey the driver I had was still serviceable and I’m frugal (okay, cheap). Anyway, it seemed a reasonable compromise to compensate for spotty accuracy which is the natural result of not playing that often.

After playing a couple rounds, the verdict was no real surprise. continue reading….

DHL Needs to Try Harder

Posted on April 8, 2006
Filed Under A to Z, Economy | Leave a Comment

So what’s a reasonable expectation from a courier service that’s doing it right? For me, it’s simple – get my package to my door fairly quick, and intact. After all, that’s what they advertise. Doing most everything online these days and trying to save time wherever possible, means I make substantial use of couriers.

Most of the time, it’s FedEx and UPS doing the incoming deliveries – obviously not due to my choice, but they seem to be the guys showing up most often. I’m actually somewhat ambivalent as to the carrier, but am appreciative when they get the job done. I’ve had little experience with DHL until the other day. continue reading….

Quality vs Cheaper & Disposable

Posted on March 27, 2006
Filed Under A to Z, Economy | Leave a Comment

Things don’t last like they used to. What seems odd is that we’re fairly relaxed about it, so much so, we no longer have very high expectations. It’s sort of like, “oh well, it’s broke, go get another one”. Annoyance is the height of our discomfort.

From lawn equipment to electronics and everything in-between, it’s all become mostly disposable. In the past, when something broke, we’d usually get it fixed, but not so much now, because it’s just not worth it.

Lack of time is a large factor. We can’t be bothered going to the effort to get something repaired. It’s a lot easier to throw money at the problem to make it go away. Then again, the repair cost is often more than half the cost of replacement – that is if you can even find some place offering the service needed. continue reading….

Dell Computer Support – Less Than Should Be

Posted on March 20, 2006
Filed Under Economy, Technology | Leave a Comment

Dell makes a big deal of their support offering, both the initial warranty and the fee-based extended support. From an outside look, it appears to be a sound and well implemented model. However, having recently again tried making use of it, they are still lacking in overall execution.

Since Dell apparently monitors the blogosphere for references to themselves, this critique should eventually get to the right people. Yes, I know about the feedback surveys, but have yet to see much change as a result of submitting them.

The first gripe is the length of time required to reach a human. Even if that ordeal is necessary to make initial contact with the right department, subsequent calls should not require the same approach. At least allow immediate voice or dial responses without having to wait to the end of each dialogue. Even my airline gate check system can do that. Also, routing all direct extensions to group voicemail boxes is sort of useless. continue reading….

Just-In-Time Life – Riding the Edge of Disaster

Posted on February 27, 2006
Filed Under Economy, Healthy Living, Lifestyle | Leave a Comment

Our modern age of convenience makes just about everything we need or want available with a click on the computer, a phone call, or at worst a drive to the neighborhood store. There isn’t much we can’t have delivered or have done for us, and very few of our affairs we can’t manage online. And quite frankly, it’s great.

The “Just-In-Time” inventory and manufacturing methods utilized throughout the overall supply chain, and in most business’s have been invaluable in terms of efficiency and reducing costs. But mindlessly relying on them for daily living can make us less resilient and ill-prepared should the unexpected happen. The downside is that as we become accustomed to having what we want, when we want it, we gradually build a lifestyle that grows to depend on a vast interconnected and interdependent supply chain that in reality has no backup, little redundancy, and is far from failsafe. The question we should ask ourselves, is “what happens when it breaks?” continue reading….

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