The Blog Less Traveled

Let’s end the month of February on a high note. There’s a gentleman named Bob Moore who owns a business in Milwaukie, Oregon called Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods. He started the business with his wife, Charlee, in 1978. It’s grown steadily over the years and is a multi-million dollar operation with over 200 employees. This month he celebrated his 81st birthday. Normally, the person celebrating their birthday gets all the presents. However, in this case, the tables were turned – and in a big way. Bob unveiled an Employee Stock Ownership Plan that effectively gave the ownership of the company to his employees. Any employee who has been working there for at least three years is a fully vested owner. How about that for showing employee appreciation?

Here’s another good example of why you still have to have hope in the human spirit when most of what you hear on the news is about corruption and human failings. We definitely need to hear more about the Bob Moores out there.

To read more on this story in The Oregonian newspaper, click here.

Two months from today is the Boston Marathon. I’ve been running twice a week – one short-length run and one medium-length run. Considering the cold weather and snow this winter, it’s been going pretty well. I was going to increase my training to three times a week for the last two months. Unfortunately, I threw out my back big-time on Tuesday. I’ve been taking muscle relaxers and Ibuprofen to deal with the pain and muscle spasms. I went to a chiropractor the last two days to help reduce the pain. Hopefully, if I take it easy the next week or two, I’ll be able to get back into training mode. If it takes much longer than that to recuperate, I think I’ll have to give up my chance of being ready for the marathon. That would be a real bummer.

Although it’s not the same thing, I can totally relate to the current athletes that are competing in the Winter Olympics. Those that were injured just before the games or those that got injured during their practice runs must be utterly disappointed. Some of them have put years and years of training into it. To have come that far and then lose the opportunity to compete must be absolutely heartbreaking. In my case, even though it would only be 4-6 months of training, it would still be a very big disappointment. I am really looking forward to this marathon. Hopefully, I’ll recover quickly enough and get the opportunity to compete.

The Penis Asks for a Raise

I, the Penis, hereby request a raise in salary for the following reasons:

• I do physical labor.
• I work at great depths.
• I plunge headfirst into everything I do.
• I do not get weekends or public holidays off.
• I work in a damp environment.
• I work in a dark workplace that has poor ventilation.
• I work in high temperatures.
• My work exposes me to contagious diseases.

Sincerely,

P. Niss

The Response

Dear Penis:
After reviewing your request, and considering the arguments you have raised, the administration rejects your request for the following reasons:

• You do not work 8 hours straight.
• You fall asleep after brief work periods.
• You do not always follow the orders of the management team. You do not stay in your designated area and are often seen visiting other locations.
• You do not take initiative – you need to be pressured and stimulated in order to start working.
• You leave the workplace rather messy at the end of your shift.
• You don’t always observe necessary safety regulations, such as wearing the correct protective clothing.
• You will retire well before you are 65.
• You are unable to work double shifts.
• You sometimes leave your designated work area before you have completed the assigned task.
• And if that were not all, you have been seen constantly entering and exiting the workplace carrying two suspicious-looking bags.

Sincerely,

V. Gina

Yeah, I know. A lame transformation of René Descartes’ original saying. Sacre bleu! Anyhow, the other day I was loading up my iPod that I use when I go for a run and I realized that I have a ton of Apple stuff. The picture on the left is my current iPod collection. I started buying Apple products about 3 years ago. I took a quick inventory, and here’s what I have so far:

• Apple MacBook Pro 15”
• Apple MacBook Pro 13”
• Apple MacBook 13”
• Apple iPod Shuffle
• Apple iPod nano
• Apple iPod Touch
• Apple TV
• Apple 24” Cinema Display
• Apple Airport Base Extreme
• Apple Airport Express
• Apple Wireless Mouse
• Apple Keyboard

I guess I’ve made the transition from Windows to Apple! I gave away my last Windows laptop a couple of weeks ago and my last Windows desktop about a year ago. We are officially a 100% Apple household. It’s not that hard to make the transition. There is a bit of a learning curve to get used to the Mac OS X system, but it’s not too bad. Most of the software you tend to use on a day-to-day basis is already included in the basic system. Unless you’re doing Windows software development, pretty much any type of software is available for the Apple. Even then, if you really need to run a Windows program, you can run it on your Apple in a virtual machine or using the included Boot Camp software that comes with every Apple. There’s even software that will let you make an exact copy of your current PC and import it and run it on your Apple in a virtual machine environment. It’s really pretty slick.

So, when are you going to take the plunge?