Interesting.
href="http://www.yarinareth.net/caveatlector/archive/week_2003_08_03.html#e002003"
>What Dorothea wrote is probably as perfect an explanation of the reasons
behind Rudder's budgeting strategy as any I'm ever likely to see. Also, he'd
rather save money for the perfect item than buy one sooner that's only good
enough, and use whatever he can to fill the purpose meanwhile -- like putting his
t-shirts in copier boxes until we bought a fancy cherry bedroom set. I'm more
inclined, myself, to try and come up with an intermediate solution until I'm ready
for the good stuff. He gets to his ultimate goal sooner by economizing, but I
think I'm happier in the meantime. Still, I do believe in saving for emergencies,
retirement, and big purchases or trips, so I understand Rudder and Dorothea well
enough on this subject.
That wasn't what I planned to write about. I
meant to discuss the scary parts of the day, and how ridiculous our infrastructure
is. Scary thing this morning: as I was on my way to work this morning after
rowing, the first time I've come in after rowing since my accident last week, and
on a nearby part of the road, a cop pulls up behind me in the left lane with
lights flashing and turned on his siren. Ohshitohshitohshit. I checked the speedo
but wasn't going unduly fast -- above the speed limit but at the speed of other
traffic. I did not want to get on that shoulder again, consider what
happened last time I was there, but I didn't know what he wanted and I've seen
them get annoyed if you don't pull over right away. So I gritted my teeth, pulled
v-e-r-y carefully onto the shoulder .... and he kept going. Lesson for police
officers: don't get people rattled if you don't have to. It's not a good way to
increase highway safety.
Then there was a moment at work that was
frightening in a different way. I was explaining to our intern what a Cause-and-
Effect Matrix is and how it compares to a QFD. (You haven't missed anything if you
don't know what either one is. It will suffice to know that they're tools our
methodology uses to prioritize alternatives based on your needs and their relative
importance.) I used the example of buying a car to replace Zippy to illustrate my
point. And right about then I realized .... um, I really should use a QFD
to make that decision, given that I'm still considering everything from a BMW Z4
to a Honda Civic. You know what this means, don't you? Right. I'm a hopeless
statistics / management geek. As Rudder likes to say, my hair will be sprouting
points any day now.
There is nothing like getting in an accident to
make you realize how our infrastructure is geared to the idea that people don't
work, at least not at jobs where they can't easily take off at any given time. In
the next few weeks, I have to go see a judge at 8AM on a weekday morning (just
because this particular one likes to talk to people before letting them take
Defensive Driving; apparently it's an individual judge's decision). Today I have
to go meet with my insurance company, who has appointments availble from 8 to
4:30. Granted, they're handing me money (car value was more than the lease payoff
-- yay!) but couldn't they also make it convenient? Next week I have to go back to
the doctor, who again is not open at any time when I'm normally on that side of
tow. Again, it's important (I *really* don't want to have damaged kidneys but if I
do I want to know about it) but it all points up how inconvenient our systems are.
Why do we all have to be at work during the same hours? If we staggered our work
hours more, wouldn't everything from shopping to healthcare to jury duty be
easier? The internet has made strides, with shops and classes, for example, that
can be accessed at any time of day, but there's still a long way to go. Don't get
me started on how many of these systems assume that one adult in evach household
is at home all day.
Oh, and by the way, thanks for all the attention to my
href="http://quizilla.com/users/dichroic/quizzes/What%20hero%20%5C%20heroine%20of%
20children's%20literature%20are%20you%3F">quiz. I was shocked to find that 408
people have taken it since I created it yesterday. I was planning to create
another one, "Which L.M. Montgomery heroine are you?" but someone has already done
a very good one
href="http://quizilla.com/users/cathkitten/quizzes/Which%20L.M.%20Montgomery%20Her
oine%20are%20You%3F">here. (I can tell it's good, partly because the questions
are appropriate to the people who might be taking the test as well as the LMM
heroines, but most because I got to be Valancy.)