Steal Underpants

Why is it so bad for companies to make money? I hear all of this "windfall profits tax" talk coming from the left side of the political spectrum and I just don't understand it.

How can you punish a company that is making profits? Doesn't that just mean that they're doing what a business is supposed to do? Provide a product or service that a consumer can purchase, and do so in a way that brings more revenue than cost.

If you punish a business for doing just that, what keeps them in business? I was taught at an early age that if I did something that warranted punishment, I should not do it again. I did not like punishment.

I guess in the future, all businesses should be run by masochists.

All of this thought was fueled by the news today stating that Exxon had recorded record profits for this quarter. In most articles, the fact that the profit margins were only 9.7% is barely mentioned, if at all. What's also missing is that many companies operate on margins that are much larger than this, including media/publishing, who often target 20%+ margins, and banks and financial institutions that are still operating on 20%+ margins despite the rocky US economy.

What a weekstart

The transmission, without warning, crapped out on my Regal this morning on my way to work. Luckily (or not?) I was still at a gas station having just filled up the tank. It was upon attempting to leave the gas station that the forward drive gears decided to do their best impression of neutral.

As crappy as the morning was, this still made it all better

Wow I can't believe I didn't break it

A month or so ago Hannah's DS Lite got dropped and cracked the case at the hinge. While we were waiting on the Gorilla Glue to dry, not knowing if it would work to glue it back together, we did some research on replacement shells. Lo and behold, not only are they available on Ebay, but you can get them in limited edition colors, including those never offered in the US markets. Hannah fell in love with the ice blue color only offered in Japan, so we ordered it.

It finally showed up on Friday, and last night I decided to dive into it after watching a few youtube videos demonstrating the disassembly process. By 4 AM (5 hours later) I called it quits, having made three attempts yet unable to get the top screen to display properly. Finally, I got it done today. Those uber-tiny ribbon cables are very difficult to connect with my stubby fat fingers. Next time, small tweezers or rheostat will be used. It turned out pretty sweet!

Sophie June

Here's a sweet video of my daughter, Sophie. She loves her Chuck E. Cheese balloon. Not only does she look like me, she is also distracted by shiny things.

Getting caught up

So it has been a while since my last post. Let's catch up:

1) My daughter, Sophie June, was born. She's perfect and healthy and all is well! You can find a lot of videos on my Flickr and Viddler site.
2) Bathroom remodeled. See Flickr.