brilliant!

My mother shops at Aldi.

And, being her son, and respecting her opinion, I thought; OK, I should give it a try.

The first thing I noticed was I had to pay a quarter to use a shopping cart. I never thought my mom would pay to use a shopping cart.

The store is very unimpressive looking, but clean. And, the selection, well it wasn't great. It seemed to cover the basics, but not much more. No deli, no bakery, no food samples; this place is pretty spartan. Products are stacked on the floor in original cut out boxes. The prices are simply marked. I really don't recognize a lot of the brands.

What I do recognize are the prices. They are low. As I move through the aisles, I can find most of what I want, even a few luxury food items. I modify what is on my list to what they have. And, as I spend more time there, I start to "get" what they're doing.

Well, it's time to check out. I grab a bag. They charge me for it!! How could they do that? Aren't bags free? Apparently, at Aldi, they're not. So, I change my behavior, no bag. The checker goes through my stuff and I have money ready. I estimate what's there and wait for the total. $16. I've got a lot of stuff here. Are you sure, $16? Yes!

I pull my $.25 cart out the door and head to my car. I unload my stuff, reminding myself to put one of those fabric bags I have in the back seat next time. I return my cart to the cart area and put it back. I see someone link their cart to the one in front with this chain deal and get their quarter back. And then I look at the parking lot, no stray carts anywhere.

Efficiency, it's everywhere at Aldi. They put out less bags, less dents in cars, and reduce overhead. They stock their shelves in an efficient manner. There is no wasted energy. They make you a partner in saving money. This is a business model that makes sense.

Aldi is pretty smart, and so is my mother. Brilliant!!

where's my comb?

This is my high school graduation photo. I ran across it a few days ago. A lot of water has gone under the bridge, over the dam, cows have left the barn, and fat ladies have sung since that was taken. Apparently, I've also eaten a lot of meals.

Who is that guy? What's he thinking? Do I know him?

Recently, since I started writing this blog, I think I've gotten more acquainted with this guy. He had a lot of dreams and ambitions. He was brash and bold. Nothing could stop him. No mountain too high, no valley too low, no cliche too trite could keep him from his appointed task (had to throw in the mailman as well).

What happened in all of those years (I think 34 since this was taken)? In a word, life. Marriage, kids, homes, businesses, successes, failures, friendships, pets, hockey games, airports, births and deaths have all served to put their imprint on my face, my brain, my heart, my life.

This all makes me reflect on if I've delivered on all of the promise this photo indicates, make that promises. In retrospect, I've delivered on some, failed at others. But one thing this photo does is remind me to continue to strive to deliver. The 17 year-old in this picture is going to teach me a lot.

china doll

Over the past few years, I've had the privilege of traveling abroad for work. The bulk of that travel is to China.

And, over that time, I've also had the privilege to get to know some terrific people. Anny is one of those people.

The person in the picture attached to this post is Anny. I must admit, I've never seen her this way. Most of the time she's wearing jeans, t-shirt, tennis shoes and a backpack, ready to take on the world.

On a moment's notice, she'll get on a bus, take a train, stand on her head if needed to make sure she's done the right thing for our company. I never worry that she's got other motives than to do the right thing for us.

I've watched her evolve from a naive person starting a business to a tenacious business woman. And, I count her as my friend.

Over time, my opinions on whether we should put up trade barriers between us and other countries has evolved. At first, I felt it was important to keep Americans employed. I still do. But, I've also learned that all people should have work if they're willing. They deserve to build a life for themselves, no matter where they're from. Knowing Anny has somehow taken the lines off the map and allowed me to think that everyone deserves opportunity, not just people who look like me.

Nelson, Martin, Mahatma and Me

I was just reading the newspaper this morning and saw an ad for the circus coming to town. Used to be the circus was a big deal. Elephants, people being shot out of cannons, sword swallowers, clowns; it was and is great entertainment.

Over the past decade or so, the circus has become an also ran in entertainment value. For some reason, these things that used to intrigue us no longer hold the place in our hearts they once did.

I think I understand why. Just look at TV. The weird, stupid, crazy, unbelievable happens right before our eyes on 24 hour news stations. I googled "blago" and was able to come up with a bunch of stories and photos of impeached governor Rod Blagojovich. I didn't even have to know how to spell his name.

I guess, when a guy who tries to sell the old senate office of the new President of the United States to the highest bidder, eyebrows will be raised, even in Illinois. And, when the same guy imports drugs not approved by the FDA for its citizens, or holds up funding for a children's hospital until those campaign donations come in, one can think something must be up. And of course, when he compares himself to equally dubious characters like Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Ghandi, and Nelson Mandela, one must take notice. Governor Rod is the new Barnum and Bailey.

P.T. Blagojovich; isn't he the one who said "There's a sucker born every minute"? The old style circus doesn't have a chance when we have one this good.

I'm going to be rich!!!

Recently, I've decided I'm going to become rich, crazy, stupid, wealthy rich. And, all I have to do is buy a lottery ticket and bingo, I'm rich!

As a kid growing up, I was always taught that gambling is a bad thing. I was told that work, study and savings were the true way of becoming financially secure, and if I did really well, wealthy.

And then, a chink in the armor. I heard my church was offering bingo as a way of fund raising. Innocent enough, I thought. God will look the other way while the Church is raising the funds to spread His word.

And then, a raffle for a car. My goodness, someone I know is going to win a car, a brand new car. And for a chance, all I have to do is plunk down $5 and I'm in the game. Fantastic!! Should I pray for it? Hmmm.

Then, in 1988, the State of Wisconsin figured if it's good enough for God, why can't we get in the game? So began the Wisconsin Lottery. Why would the State get in the game? For education, of course. How could gambling be bad if it funds education? Hmmmm.

But, the State Legislature, in a lucid moment, thinking some might object, mandated that advertising for the lottery must be informative, not promotional. Well, that could make it more, well, moral, they thought.

So, as I watched the ads, I saw talking cows in the Moo-Lah game, very informative. And crazy rich people in limousines touting Megabucks. Interesting. I guess the informational part there is you will get rich if you play. And then, at the end of the ad, in print that only an electron microscope could decipher, the odds, the risks, the rules, all of those informational things the State mandated scrolled down the screen. Well, I guess they passed the informational test. Hmmmmm.

So, when I go to the convenience store and I see the car running outside, the kids in the back and mom playing scratch off games inside; is this what the State considered? What choices are being made to play the game. Is it milk or Moo-lah? Is it pancakes or Powerball? Granted, for most, it isn't, and this is a cliche scenario. But, how does something become cliche?, because it never happens??

I still have trouble walking through casinos without thinking that a good portion of the people there are losing money they can't afford to lose. They gamble because they have to, because they can't stop, because it's beyond an urge. Didn't the State consider this when they instituted these games?

Sometimes I just wonder.

this is a sofa....really!!

In the "about me" portion of this blog, I speak of making furniture that can ship via UPS. This is what I'm talking about.

A sofa, like anything else is comprised of a bunch of smaller parts. Usually, they are connected together with staples and screws to become a sofa.

What I try to do is figure out how to take all of these component parts and make them so they can be assembled to become a sofa at the consumer level.

There's a lot of stuff involved like structural integrity, style, comfort, packaging, reassembly and much more. Furthermore, since we are trying to be efficient, we try to load as many of these things as possible on a trailer or container to reduce the amount of fuel and cost used.

Why do this instead of shipping a standard sofa the standard way? Well, for our purposes, we can ship 138 sofas on a container vs. 39 built the standard way. From beginning to end, we can demonstrate a savings of over 10 gallons of diesel fuel in transit, plus reduce the warehousing space needed by 70%, plus being able to deliver this by UPS instead of a dedicated delivery truck with two people, plus the ability to strip the product down at the end of its days for recycling. I think those are pretty good reasons.

change......

Each week, I go over the numbers. How much did we sell? How many should we produce? What do I think will happen going forward?

Honest answer? I don't have a clue.

And, each week, I begin to understand how powerless I truly am with the events that are going on in the world. I watch the news with some of the most influential, intelligent, and insightful people bumbling and stumbling to come with solutions to our fiscal mess.

As a guy who likes to know what's going on, these times are very uncomfortable. These are the times my parents warned me about.

During the past presidential election, the theme of change was everywhere. I just didn't know it was this kind of change they were talking about. Save your pennies.