Thank goodness the Republican’s care enough about our family of five to dream up the crackpot idea of a $100 rebate to help “ease the burden” on my family due to high gasoline prices.

We have been saving to take a vacation to Jackson Hole or, if we are really crazy, St. George, Utah this summer. This $100 rebate may help us get as far as Portland before we have to turn around. I propose the oil companies, who have been raking in record profits, kick in $1000 per family. That might get me all the way to Utah this summer.

The good news is the following oil company CEOs will be able to afford a vacation anywhere they chose. The number for Exxon below is not a typo.

Chevron’s CEO: $37 million
Conoco Phillips’ CEO: $17 million
Exxon’s CEO: $400 million

Half the jobs are computer related and take 5 of the top 6 positions. Here’s the run down. No link up yet on Business 2.0 website. The future looks very bright if you’re in the computer or medical industry.

1. Network analyst
2. Physician’s assistant
3. Software engineer (applications)
4. Software engineer (systems)
5. Network admin
6. Database admin
7. Physical therapist
8. Medical assistant
9. Occupational therapist
10. College instructor

Note: Fastest-growing occupations for college-educated workers
Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics

On the way to church this morning, I drove off Lea Hill and down a two lane road that is lined with trees full of tiny pink blossoms. The trees looked like big globs of cotton candy just waiting for a child to sink her teeth into. The wind was gently blowing and the pink blossoms, by the thousands, would fly across the road. It looked like tiny pink bows were dancing in the street, happy as the rest of us to see the sun. The sky was so blue, not a cloud in the sky. I slowed down so I could enjoy the scene a little longer.

The whole experience reminded me of the scene in American Beauty where Ricky shows Jane a video he took of a plastic bag dancing in the wind. I’m sure there are many beautiful items “dancing” around us in this world if we’ll just take the time to slow down and appreciate them.

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Thurrott pulls no punches in his article. The three areas in which he says Microsoft Vista has failed are:

1. User Account Protection – “The bad news, then, is that UAP is a sad, sad joke. It’s the most annoying feature that Microsoft has ever added to any software product, and yes, that includes that ridiculous Clippy character from older Office versions”
2. Glass Windows – “Anyway, the reality of glass windows is that they stink. The windows themselves are translucent, meaning you can see through them partially. But the visual difference between the topmost window is subtle at best. More to the point, you can’t tell topmost windows from other windows at all. And don’t pretend you can”
3. Media Center – “Microsoft has broken Media Center. It’s a horrid update to a wonderful bit of software, an ugly stepchild of beautiful parents. It’s so bad, I don’t even know where to start”
   

According to a USA Today article, how you treat a waiter says a lot about your character.

“Watch out for people who have a situational value system, who can turn the charm on and off depending on the status of the person they are interacting with,” “Be especially wary of those who are rude to people perceived to be in subordinate roles.”
Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson

This makes me want to start 3rees.com. This one made me laugh:

Five things I currently have no intention of doing:

Well, not yet, but if this technology is widely implemented my TV is heading to the curb. Any broadcasting company would do this to its customers would have to be as stupid as the RIAA and MPAA.

Fortune Magazine interviews software guru, Ray Ozzie, creator of Groove.

Shopping with young children should be avoided at all costs. Yet sometimes there’s no choice but to bring them along. We took our 5, 3, and 2 year old to Macy’s for a little easter shopping today. As usual they kids ran wild a few times but overall, they were pretty well-behaved.

I noticed two things that Macy’s does to make shopping a little easier: They have LCD screens showing Nickelodeon near the changing rooms, and they provide “price check” kiosks throughout the store. The LCD screens are great for dad and the kids while mom tries on clothes. And the price check kiosks are a big time saver when you locate an item you’d like to buy, but the tag is missing or you’re unsure of the sale price.

We also managed to get out of the store without our kids breaking or stealing anything which is a nice change of pace.