Rocket Surgery Podcast – Episode 2

Chris Stephens and I discuss the following topics this week:

1. What are the factors leading to the decline of the PC?
2. What is your preferred RSS reader? Do you read feeds on PC or mobile or both?
3. Does anyone care who takes 3rd place in smartphones?
4. Would you rather watch professional or college sports?

8 Miles

“Watch out for the turtles and rabbits”, I tell my son who is pedaling his bike a few yard behind me.

The sun has set but that’s no consolation.

I still think I’m in Seattle where mid-afternoon temperatures in the 80’s can easily dip into the 50’s by nightfall. But that’s not how it works in the desert where an afternoon hovering over 100 barely retreats to the mid 90’s by the time we fill our water bottles and take to the road.

Lincoln is in on the joke and gives a quick laugh to prove he’s listening. Of course we’ve failed to spot a single turtle or rabbit on our regular rides up against the Red Mountain.

We continue to pedal and, if I’m patient, I can get Lincoln talking between breaths, and by talking I mean asking a lot of detailed questions.

“When can we add more memory to my computer?”

“How many miles have we traveled?”

“When can I tour my new school?”

Unlike a couple of my children, Lincoln does not handle vague answers well. When I reply, “Maybe next week” to his last question he comes back with, “OK, but what day?”

And if I toss out a day, he’ll want the time and you can see how his plays out.

It can be draining at times, but I can also appreciate his direct manner.  It just takes me a few minutes to shift into that gear.

We finished our 8-mile ride up past the Tuachan Amphitheather where Starlight Express was being performed. As we put our bikes away Lincoln said, “I always feel good after we ride even if I didn’t really want to start.”

“That’s how it is with a lot of things in life.” I replied.

I closed the door to the garage, locked it and handed the key to Lincoln to hang up just inside the sliding door that leads to chilled air.

“Sort of like church and scouts, huh, dad?”

Brill Razorcut 38 Reel Mower

We ended up leaving our gas-powered John Deere mower in Washington. I sulked over that decision for a few weeks before borrowing my father-in-law’s gas mower.

But our backyard is made of clay and a basketball court and our front lawn is very small. It’s maybe a 10-minute job with the gas-mower at most, and that includes moving the mower out of the garage and checking the gas and oil levels. It’s really that small.

So I began researching various mower options online. I looked at electric and smaller gas options first before I began reading reviews on the Scotts 20-inch classic push reel mower which were overwhelmingly positive. They carry Scotts at Home Depot which is close to my home so I stopped by to check it out. Home Depot had a wall of them in stock, all boxed up and ready to go, and it took some time to locate an assembled model on the floor.

I pushed the Scotts mower up and down the aisle a few times and was surprised how loud it was and how difficult it was to push. I wonder now if the demo model wasn’t assembled correctly, but it was enough to keep me searching for the right model.

That night I began researching other reel mowers, and one name popped up over and over: Brill. I watched a number of reviews on YouTube as well as read as much as I could about the Brill Razorcut 38. One feature stood out over the Scotts model: the blades are designed to work like scissors, barely missing the cutter bar by less than a millimeter which makes for a smooth and nearly silent cut. It also means the blade can go years without being sharpened.

I decided to order the Brill from Clean Air Gardening because I liked their video and customer reviews. Plus their prices were lower than Amazon on nearly every model I researched. I did call around to see if I could find the Brill from a local shop, but it was either not offered or a special order.

My Brill arrived a few days later and I’ve had a chance to use it twice on my own lawn and once on my in-law’s grass. It took less than 10 minutes to assemble and attach the handle. If you’re used to pushing around heavy gas mowers the super-light 17 lb. Brill is a gift to your back.

I began mowing my lawn and could not believe how quiet it is. I can barely hear it slicing through the grass. The Brill isn’t a good choice if you’re used to going weeks between trimmings as it handles shorter grass much better than long grass or weeds. If you like to fire up your mower and shred everything in its path including weeds, patches of leaves and small branches then the Brill isn’t for you either.

But if your lawn is fairly flat, your lawn is clear of debris and you don’t mind mowing your grass at least once a week then the Brill is a wonderfully designed mower. I watched my 10-year old son zigzag around the yard today with a smile on his face even though our lawn is thick enough to work up a sweat on his brow. Yes, it takes twice as long and you may work up a sweat but it’s a worthwhile change compared to the loud, gas-sucking, fume exhausting model we owned before.

I’d recommend the Brill even if our yard was 3x as large. It’s been that enjoyable.

Rocket Surgery Podcast – Episode 1

Chris Stephens and I made our first podcast and discussed the following:

1. Chris wonders why we still need game consoles like the Xbox One.
2. Apple builds the Mac Pro for their fans.
3. Windows 8.1 anticipation or meh.
4. Brett tries to convince Chris his new Brill push power is the real deal.
5. What will kill off Facebook?
6. What sports star would disappoint you the most to hear he/she took PEDs?

My First Visit to Chick-fil-A

Last weekend I visited a Chick-fil-A with my family. The place was packed, but we ordered and found a corner booth with enough room for seven.

Before we could begin our meal a man approached our table and asked if he could help us. Before I could answer he said, “I see you have a few ketchup packets but I’ll get you the good stuff for your sandwiches.”

He returned a 30 seconds later with Chick-fil-A sauce. Since this was our first visit to a Chick-fil-A we had no idea such sauce existed. And yes, it was good. The kids dipped their chicken and waffle fries in the sauce and skipped the ketchup.

A few minutes later the same man asked if he could refill our drinks. He also brought over a stack of napkins and was friendly without being annoying. I expect this level of service at an upscale restaurant, but not a fast food joint where I can feed the family for under 35 bucks.

As we got up to leave, my son accidentally dumped his extra fries in the trash bin. This same man offered to replace them at no charge. When he saw me approach the exit with a car-seat over my shoulder, he stepped ahead of me and opened the door.

Is this just the norm for Chick-fil-A? I don’t know, but I was so impressed I stepped back into the lobby while Kim gathered the kids. I wanted to find out what this man’s job title is.

“I’m very impressed with the service here,” I told him. “What’s your job title?” I asked.

“My job is to make sure customers leave happy,” he replied before heading off to assist someone else. 

I never did find out what his official job title is, but I guess that doesn’t matter.

The fact is he made our visit a lot more comfortable and even, I dare say, memorable. With five young children, we’ve been on the flip side of this experience where our patronage wasn’t appreciated because our kids were acting like kids. Don’t you love that stare some servers give you when your child can’t decide between the fries, fruit cup, or carrot sticks? Oh how I love that!

Anyway, this experience reset my expectations of what a fast food experience can be.

Do you have someone at your company whose job it is to make sure customers leave happy? If not, should you?

You can really set your business and products apart from the competition especially if you’re in a market where the bar for service has been set low.

Ray Allen on Preparation

From the Miami Herald:

"Believe it or not, I work on it quite often," said Allen, who finished Miami’s 103-100 Game 6 Houdini act victory against San Antonio with 9 points, including two critical free throws in overtime. "I try to put my body in precarious situations coming from different parts of the floor, different angles to try to get my momentum going forward.”

"When it went in, I was ecstatic," he added. "But at the same time I was expecting to make it."

Until Proven Otherwise

“I’d have a better chance of finding a boyfriend in church than a bar, but we both know that’s not happening.”

“Well, then, good luck!”

As I stood in line at the grocery story tonight I caught the tail end of a conversation between the checker and the young man bagging my groceries. I finished setting  the last 2-liter of Diet Coke on the counter and pushed my card through the check stand.

When I told the checker I did not have a rewards card she asked if I was from out-of-town. When mentioned I’d recently moved from the Seattle area she began nodding her head and pulled two more tellers into the conversation.

“I’ll bet nobody in Seattle cares about religion, right? I mean, isn’t that how it should be?”

All I could do was smile, collect my receipt, and head for the door as everyone within a 15 foot radius was chiming in with their opinions on the difficulty of finding love in Utah as a non-Mormon.

Although I spent the first 26 years of my life in Utah, I’d forgotten how much Mormon influence is woven into the fabric of everyday life here. When I met my daughter’s middle school counselor for the first time, he asked, “So your daughter must be a beehive?”  And less than two minutes into my haircut, my barber asked, “What ward are you in?”

“What ward are you in?” in Utah is the same as “How are you doing?” anywhere else.

You’re a Mormon until proven otherwise.

Kim and I both understood this well before we decided to move to St. George. Our children made many friends in Seattle, and few of them were Mormon, yet we seldom thought much about it. Sure, there was the occasional birthday party on Sunday that would bring our beliefs to the forefront when our kids explained to their friends that Sundays were time to spend at church and with family.

As Luca would say, “That’s not fair.”

One of our reasons for returning to Utah was to be closer to friends and family. Our children are able to spend a lot of their days with cousins and grandparents and friends who have similar beliefs. I doubt we’ll have to decline many birthday parties or youth sports because they were scheduled on Sunday.

The kids have already made friends who belong to other religions and we’ll continue to encourage them to that end. I don’t know how it will all turn out. The diversity of Seattle was a major reason we decided to stay there for 16 years. It almost feels like the polar opposite of Utah in terms of religious influence on the culture.

Maybe next time I’m at the grocery store I’ll seek out the same checker I had tonight and tell her about the college wards.

Then again, that might guarantee she remains single or flees the state.