That is the Right Question!

The internet is a fantastic tool, if used wisely and carefully. Where else can you have access to thousands if not millions of sources for millions of topics? Type any question on Google and you're right there with responses from all around the world for whatever question you might have. For example, I typed "question mark" in Google and it came back with 90 million responses to that simple question, "question mark". I've used Google and the internet faithfully now for years. It seems like every day I'm on Google looking up information on car wash topics, camping, trucks, cars, auctions, mechanical solutions, religious topics, you name it. Every single day. What a tremendous, and free, source for our daily lives.

I do, at times, run in to a problem. With the internet, as with most situations, I don't know the right question to ask for a particular problem. You remember the movie IRobot? Remember in one of those scenes where the head actor, don't know the name, maybe I ought to Google it, asks the dead scientist some questions through some sort of hologram thingy? The dead scientist talks back but then the head actor asks another question and the response from the dead guy is something like "that's not the right question", or something like that. In other words, he wasn't asking the right question for the problems that they were facing. Later on in the movie the dead scientist responds to another question with "that is the right question".

That problem of asking Google the right question seems to flare up with me at times when I'm trying to find those answers. For example, just today I was wondering about a certain noise that a truck was making while stopped at a stop light. It seems that this truck makes this noise some times when I stop and then start again. It's kind of a clunky, thumpy, rumpy noise and the feel is about the same. So how do you ask Google that question? Do you type "hey, I was sitting at the light the other day and when I started up again...? That's a tough question and how do you describe it in five or ten words and get the responses you want? It would take some time to sort through 90 million reponses to get to the meat of the matter.

Well, after putting in some combination of words into Google I finally came up with what I was looking for. What were the words? Well I typed "duramax, thump, stopped, start". With those words came back several reponses that explained the problem. Come to find out Chevrolet has a recal on that truck because of that particular thumping noise coming from the drive line. Google gave me forums and reponses and answers where all they talked about was people describing exactly what I was facing with my truck. The answers were right there and the solution really is quite simple.

I had to ask the right question. And coming up with that question is what took the time.

We don't want to get dirty

We just don't want to get dirty. That, as many believe, is the problem with what the economy is, or isn't, doing right now. We all want to be clean, work at clean jobs, sit in the office, wear our clean white shirts. And because of that we don't make anything anymore here in the United States. We've run those industries out of our country and we've changed into a service industry. The problem with a service industry is that all we are doing is passing the money around. We aren't making money rather just passing it around. And because we don't want to get dirty anymore we don't want to do the work required to come up with better and more efficient ways of making things. Since we don't make things we aren't using raw materials. Raw materials is really where the wealth of manufacturing comes from. We take raw materials, like ore from the ground, and change that into real wealth. Then we sell that finished product and, as a percentage, that payment mostly goes into profits. China right now is making things out of raw, dirty materials. And, in most cases, is taking the worlds wealth and putting it into their pockets. We, on the other hand, simply are passing the money around but then we are sending the money over to countries like China. Why? They don't mind getting dirty.

We've lost our porch!

A few weeks ago we were talking around the dinner table about how much we know about each other. This all started with an assignment that the girls received from their Young Women's class at church. We all made guesses about each other like our favorite colors, favorite foods, pastimes, hobbies, sports teams and the like. Kathy made the comment that her favorite thing to do as a family was simply sitting out in the driveway on summer evenings and talking. I was somewhat surprised by her response. With all the things that kids, and adults, have at their disposal these days I found it interesting that simply talking was her favorite.

We as a family don't really have a front porch. Well, I guess we do but its not really that big and it would be somewhat crowded with more than just a couple of people sitting about and talking. Our place on summer evenings is the driveway right out in front of the garage door. I can't tell you how many times we have sat out there as the sun goes down and simply talked about things that are going on in our lives, our family, friends, neighbors, school, work, girls, boys, whatever. Its a great time and apparently a very popular thing that we do. There have been many times over the years that I've spent some time there alone in a chair in the cool of the evening and watched the world go by. I have to admit as well that there have been some times when I have wished that others shared my love of sitting and talking but...

But sitting and simply visiting with neighbors and friends is a lost art. When was the last time that you saw someone on their front porch, rocking away the evening, visiting with others and enjoying one another's company? It just doesn't happen any more. We've substituted emails, text messaging, satellite television, the telephone, cell phones, and other advances in technology for the front porch. And in that process, I believe, we've lost the art of simply talking and visiting.

I've never been a fan of sprinklers systems. Every spring its the same routine of repair, repair, repair. I've got two of them to worry about; the one here at the wash and the other at home. Neither makes it through the winter without damage. The sprinkler system at home always has some broken heads, heads that don't pop up, heads that just aren't there anymore. This is especially true for the heads that are along the driveway. There ought to be a law against my wife and kids backing down the driveway and on to the lawn. Why can't they keep on the concrete? Can't they use the mirrors or, heaven forbid, look over their shoulder to make sure they don't drive over my sprinkler heads? Whats so hard about keeping on the driveway?

I believe that the car wash was built on an ancient Indian burial ground of some sort. Spirits that haunt this place destroy the sprinkler system during the long, cold, winter months, sneaking around under the snow through the maze of PVC pipes. How can a sprinkler head work perfectly during the summer right up to the day that I turn it off and go about my winter chores and then mysteriously disappear, get clogged with muck, break, spew water in a million different directions? All this during the winter when there isn't any water going down the pipes and the system is dormant. I tell you its the Indian spirits coming back to haunt me.

Speed? Do the math.

I've never understood the need to race around in a car. I've been commuting between Provo and Murray now for over twenty years, many times six or seven times a week. Of this commute, round trip, I'm on the freeway system for 44 miles each day, 22 miles each way. For those twenty odd years I've put the cruise control on 63 MPH and plugged along in the slow lane. As I drive along people race past, switching lanes, slamming on the brakes, accelerating to make the pass only to be slowed up again.

But lets do some math.

Its 22 miles of freeway driving to get from Provo to Murray where I exit the freeway. If I travel at 63 MPH it takes me 21 minutes of driving on the freeway. If I speed up to 75 MPH it takes me 18 minutes. In other words, if I race up there, weaving in and out of traffic, hitting the brakes, accelerating, getting mad at slow pokes, etc. If I do 75 MPH I get to work a whole 3 minutes sooner than if I enjoy my cruise control, books on tape, big gulp, and the far right slow lane at 63 MPH. And don't forget that the energy required to move an object is a function of the square of the velocity. That's another topic for another day.

Do the math.

So, I'm getting glasses. I have been told, don't know if it's true or not, but that you can tell a man's age by the prescription of the glasses he has. My eye doctor said that if a man is over forty and doesn't wear glasses at least to read he is fooling himself. I've been wearing reading glasses for years but have always prided myself on my ability to see things far away. I believe that I'm farsighted? No, maybe I'm just dumb. The reason this whole thing started was, yes, the pterygium (tri-g-um) had a lot to do with it but also my daughter, Cindy, came home the other day with a new pair of glasses with a new prescription. We were all admiring them and trying them on. When I put them on it was like a whole new world out there. There were leaves on those trees and there wasn't a haze at all on those mountains. My doc said that really I wouldn't pass the State of Utah eye exam for driving with my current set of eyes. I guess you sometimes don't realize what you don't have until you see what others do have.

The Eye Doctor

Went to the eye doctor today for my six month checkup. Its not that I'm a freak when it comes to my eyes but I've got a growth on my right eye that has been creeping across for several years and there is a need to keep and "eye" on it. Its call a pterygium. Don't really know how to pronounce the thing other than it doesn't sound much like its spelled. They don't know really what causes these little things. Some speculate that UV light can act as fertilizer for the growth while others think there is some defect in the gene pool that might be the root cause. Great, another gene defect. Someday I'm going to want to talk to the ancestors about what it was they they did to mess things up for the rest of us. Regardless, these pterygiums make the eye look unsightly from the outside, kind of like Sammy Davis Jr's fake eye, and can eventually impair vision from the inside. The removal process doesn't sound that appealing either. They give you a general relaxant then stick the eye ball itself with some kind of stuff that makes it go numb and prevents it from looking around at whats going on. Then with some kind of precision instrument they scrape (they used that word which really doesn't seem like a good word to go along with "eye") the thing off, flap over some other part of the eye, add some growth hormone jell and then give you a pirate patch to wear for a couple weeks.

Gratefully only one pterygium for two eyes, if all else fails I'll have a backup.

The place is falling apart....so it seems

Falling down around us...

There are times when one has to wonder about what it is all about. You ever have times when you think that everything is falling apart around you and there is nothing that can be done about it? There just isn't enough time in a day to take care of business.

Here on the right, or maybe a little above, is a picture of our ACW or automatic car wash. This is the pedistal where customers come in and pay and then enter into the car wash bay. Kind of a "pay at the pump" kind of deal. That machine on the right with the Visa sign is the credit card acceptor. Kind of a new technology for car washes. We were one of the first ones in the state that accepted credit cards at a self serve car wash. Hadn't really been done before. It was kind of a gamble on our part. Very expensive to purchase the equipment with no promise that the return would come. You never know about a self serve customer and their attitudes.


However, now comes to the point of this whole entry. Here on the left is a picture of what is left of our very expensive credit card reader. I guess someone needed it more than we did. Took the whole system out of the box. Don't know what they are going to do with it as it's only going to work at our Murray wash. It was custom made for that system. I wonder if someone thought that if they stole the readers they could get card information out of them? No luck. You swipe a card now days in a credit card reader and the numbers and your card information is immediately sent to visa and is not retained on the property.

Anyway, there are times when it seems the whole place is falling down around us.

So, what does a guy working at a car wash really do with his time? I've been asked countless times over the years with something like "you know, I've been thinking about getting into the car wash business". My response is always the same; "you're nuts".

I have no idea what started this whole idea of washing cars for a living. Going to college and getting my degree in engineering really wasn't a pre-qualifier for getting into the car wash business. But then again, we've all got to do something in this world. Do I use the things that I learned in college for washing cars? Probably every day. Here is what I do (or don't do sometimes): mechanic, electrician, accountant, tax man, chemist, public relations, police negotiations, advertising executive, employee relations, computer programmer, quarter counter, token seller, vacuum fixer, parking lot sweeper... well, you get the idea. I'm it. There really isn't anyone else there to lend a hand. We don't have staff meetings in the conference room and no specialty training. I'm pretty much all there is and perhaps that is the reason that there are times when things go very wrong. I remember the time when water was coming from under the front door when I pulled into the parking lot that one morning...

So, this is it

Don't really know what this blogging is all about. But, with the help of others, namely my sister Linda, I've been encouraged to get going with this type of thing. First and foremost I really must admit that I'm not much into writing and sharing. Coming from a more conservative, closed-feeling part of the world one would, at times, become uncomfortable with sharing ones thoughts, ideas, activities and such with the world. But as times have changed it seems that we've all become somewhat more open in our experiences and I believe that we've gained from sharing our feelings, fears and observations as times have changed. There are those that, I believe, suffer with the false beliefs that they are alone in this world and must struggle with the daily challenges that they face. Its a shame, obviously, that they feel that they are alone. I believe that we are never alone but simply unaware of the concern and merits of having relationships with loving friends and family around us. So, we're off.