Values Clarification

Okay, it’s the day of the first Presidential debate, and one hopes that by 10 o’clock tonight, the much-coveted Undecideds (estimated at 20%) will close Bush’s current 6% lead over Kerry.

That being said, I’m taking a few minutes to thank the folks at Midas Muffler in Falmouth, who once again, have kept my 214,000+ mile Subaru on the road without soaking me for unnecessary repairs.

A couple of days ago, I started hearing a rotating noise on right turns. It sounded like about a $300 job, maybe a bad wheel bearing, CV joint or boots.

Midas couldn’t find anything wrong with those and suggested a minor adjustment in another part, inviting me to come back if the noise was still there.

It’d been about 31,000 miles since I had the front brakes done, so I asked them to worked on the brakes instead. Again, I was expecting a $300+ job, figuring the rotors needed replacing.

The bill came to only around $200, though, because the mechanic was able to resurface the rotors.

This is the second time that Midas has saved me significant coin by using their ingenuity – the first was to repair a muffler assembly that another shop told me was completely shot.

To be sure, on a day when major world events are going to be debated, it may seem trivial to praise honest dealing by competent people who make careful recommendations based on facts and experience.

Frankly, I don’t care if the folks at Midas go windsurfing on weekends, or if their spouses are African-born heiresses. I don’t care if they ride their bikes on a private ranch somewhere or pretend to use a chainsaw.
I don’t care what mechanic some older relative swears by, or what the waiting room looks like, or whether the staff at Midas prance around in strategically padded flight suits, or what Rush Limbaugh says about them.

I just care that their expertise provides me with reliable, safe, relatively inexpensive daily transportation. In other words, I care that they know how to do their jobs well.

So, I ask myself, it really too much of a stretch to expect American voters to use similar criteria in electing a public servant? Really?

Riddle Me This

A lot of Bush’s support comes from the Christian Right.
A lot of Bush’s support comes from people who he and his cronies have terrified with their terrorist boogeyman stories.
So, riddle me this: if someone is a “Christian” right-winger, don’t they KNOW where they are going when they die?
No wonder they are so terrified: imagine what G*d Almighty has in store for them as payback for their anti-woman/jihadist/racist/anti-intellectual and generally hateful ways.
And I don’t think it’s a covey of virgin brides, either.

Got IQ?

Recently at work, we rehashed our options regarding a piece of source code which my company bought largely on trust, without understanding what exactly differentiates its workings from an earlier version that we (meaning I) have been slicing and dicing for the last couple of months.

Continue reading Got IQ?