Roger Waller's Blog

Wow, another version of the iPad.  Should I dump my ‘old’ iPad and get a new one?  Well, not so fast.  I’ve just returned from a trip where the ‘old’ iPad did all that I wanted and needed from my smallish computer.  I had my map to get me through L.A.  Yes, watching the traffic patterns on the L.A. highways can pay off.  The emails came in just fine and I even printed via my semi-mobile air-printer that I also took on the trip.

So for now I’m sticking with my ‘old’ iPad.  It seems to be performing well and now that I’m over the trauma of updating to the new software … I’m a happy iPad-der (for now).

A recent trip to Mexico included a visit to a brick and tile making facility. It is interesting to see the process that is used along with the hard working people who make the bricks. Members of our group that visited the facility included Canadians as well as U.S. citizens. Our tour guide took Cokes to the workers … a nice plug for a brand name. The weather was hot but the workers, who are paid by the brick, were willing to put up with our group wandering through their area. I’ve posted a 2 minute video at YouTube of the process. You might like to see how bricks are made at this website:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrDeltaRoger#p/a/u/0/zfdvfx9-nrs
What did I learn by the visit? Well, (1) it takes a lot of water and mud to make bricks; (2) the workers were focused on what they had to do and the piece work rate seemed to keep them motivated; (3) my Spanish is poor so I could not easily communicate with the workers. But, another member of our group from Fresno, CA knew Spanish and was able to talk with the workers. This reinforced my need to learn Spanish. Plus, it also points out the value of learning a foreign language when doing work in foreign countries. While our guide was good, he was our only source of information. He, certainly, filtered information to us. However, if I spoke the language I would have been able to learn more about the job and how the workers felt, did the job, etc. So, if you plan on doing business in a foreign country with a different language … I certainly encourage you to learn the language. I must work harder on my Rosetta Stone Spanish language tapes and I will, hopefully, be better prepared for my next trip.

Making bricks the old fashion way

A worker is shown preparing a tile for forming and then drying.

O.K., I’m a little behind in my readings … but the November 15, 2010 issue of Fortune magazine had a very interesting tidbit that you might have missed.  Did you know that your roll of toilet paper is shrinking?  According to Fortune, Scott 1000 in August was reduced in size to 4.1 by 3.7 inches.  Prior to the shrink, the toilet paper size was 4.5 by 3.7 inches.  So, be careful, .4 inches are missing on each toilet paper sheet.  Don’t feel that Scott is the only one doing this.  Quilted Northern (one of my favorites) shrank from 4.5 to 4.0 inches in September, 2010.  Plus, their roll went from 286 sheets to 242 sheets.  Yikes .. no wonder I keep running out.  Charmin’s Ultra Soft Big Roll has gone from 200 sheets to 176 sheets as of July 2010.  The savings gained is not only in paper but also in shipping costs.  Because the toilet paper rolls are smaller, more rolls can get shipped in one truck.  The Fortune article indicated that Georgia-Pacific expects that using fewer trucks to haul their Scott toilet paper will result in a savings of 345,000 gallons of fuel in a year.  At $3 a gallon (or more) for fuel, you can see why we are ’suffering’ in the bathroom as our toilet paper runs out more frequently.  Now that allergy season is happening (to me), I also think that my Kleenex tissue has gotten smaller as well.

More post information will happen after next week.  I’m off to MacWorld on Thursday to, hopefully, learn more about the new iPhone as well as the iPad, etc.  I’ll be reporting my findings very soon.

Well, I am still trying to figure out what I gained by upgrading to the new iPad system.  One thing appears to be that I can now print from my iPad.  Unfortunately, it also appears that I have to buy a specific type of HP Printer for me to complete that task.  So, I will have to wait until I purchase that new printer.  Another effort to spur on the economy by requiring additional hardware.  It’s great to see Apple helping not only themselves but other Silicon Valley companies (e.g. HP) by providing me with this new system.  Another ‘bonus’ I received was some ‘gaming’ app that allows me to … you guessed it … more easily purchase games for my iPad.  No games purchased yet … I’m working hard to resist.

So, the bottom line is … my iPad is still working well with the new system and I still have not made any purchases to ‘improve’ my life, the economy, and, I guess my iPad.  I’m sure I will soon weaken, but not yet.

Yesterday I made the major step of updating my ‘old’ iPad to the new iOS4 that Apple is now providing.  The Apple Store indicated that you just go to the iTunes store on your home computer and it will automatically update.  Well, I did this last night and after initially sitting there wondering what would happen, the system started to update my iPad.  I had to ask myself why did I have to go to another computer to do an update … but, then, I had to realize it is Apple.  My thinking is that Apple wants to make sure I have another computer before it allows any updating.  Well, in addition to updating the software it also did a backup on my ‘other’ computer of all of my iPad stuff.  I guess this is designed to ‘force’ me to get an additional drive to store all of my various stuff from different computers.   So, owning an iPad also includes the need to own another computer as well as other support materials … more investments in computer ’stuff.’  The scary part is that my iPad sat there after the update not doing anything.  I had to force quit the iPad twice before it finally opened … very scary.  So, I’m updated and I will not try to figure out how this new system will help me.  More blogs on that to follow.

Happy 2011!

With every new year comes some new resolutions on what I person will try to do.  Well, I guess one of my resolutions is to try to do a better job of posting on my blog.  You would think this should not be too hard … but, alas, time marches and some times it marches faster than I can.  This tends to mean I have failed to post as many of my thoughts to my blog as I would like.  Well, 2011 is another year to start .. here it is .. Day #1 of 2011 and my first comments of the year.  I take this as a good sign.

Here is wishing you a terrific 2011 and hoping that you will be seeing many more blog comments from me throughout the year.

I know people are always wondering about my various adventures. Here is a picture from one of my recent trips.

Pictured in front of the Roman Coliseum

The impression I was left with was … wow, what a building. Plus, it made me think about how the construction group was able to build such a lasting site. My house and its 30 year mortgage always worried me … but seeing the Coliseum makes me think my house might last a little longer.

More to come.

While on a recent Southwest Airlines flight I was reading the February, 2010 issue of Spirit magazine.  The article that got my attention was “Word It Like Warren” by Jay Heinrichs.    The author’s point was how good short phrases can stick in our minds.  The key is to get people to remember the phrase and this is done by arranging the words in some form that makes it easy for people to understand and retain.  It appears that Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and noted business sage, is a master of these short, memorable, and meaningful phrases.  In the article Mr. Heinrichs writes about a few of these memorable Buffett short phrases such as “I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them.  Because sooner or later, one will.”  (Buffett, 2008).  What a great phrase and I know all of us who have worked for some one else at some time realize the truth in that statement.  Another Buffett statement is “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”  Wow, if that doesn’t ring true in today’s market.  Mr. Heinrichs calls this a “criss-cross figure.”  Well, whatever it might be it is certainly memorable and meaningful.  The article got me curious about Mr. Buffett and what he might be writing about currently.  So, I went to the Berkshire Hathaway website and took a look at the 2009 Annual Report.  Sure enough, there was a letter from Warren Buffett to shareholders that did have some neatly worded sentences with a lot of meaning.  Here is one where Mr. Buffett is writing about measuring results and how Berkshire Hathaway believes “..in having a rational and unbending standard for measuring what we have — or have not — accomplished.  That keeps us from the temptation of seeing where the arrow of performance lands and then painting the bull’s eye around it.”  Unfortunately too many managers do look at results and try to indicate that ‘we hit our mark’ when they were clueless as to where they were going in the first place but were forced to measure results at the end of a period.  So, what’s the bottom line for this post … it is to realize the importance of phrasing what you would like others to remember.  You should also remember to review some of Warren Buffett’s thoughts every now and then … he’s very good at saying meaningful things in a well worded fashion.  So, stop drawing the bull’s eye around results and start planning to achieve your results and then evaluating and taking responsibility for what has happened.  Not quite a criss-cross but I’ll try to do better in the future.

That’s all for now …

Roger