Auto parts

Yesterday I was catching up with a colleague; the topic of auto repairs came up and I told him about my turbocrash. (I did get the car back late Monday, thanks be to God.) Turns out he had some woes of his own last week.

Thursday afternoon he was driving home when the check engine light started flashing and the motor ran really rough. He limped the two blocks home and did what pretty much anyone would do these days: he consulted Google to diagnose the problem. Evidently it was a bad lead from one of the spark plugs, which could be replaced fairly easily; just follow the YouTube video.

“The part only costs $50,” he said. “So I called around. No one had it in stock.”

I started laughing. “Well, sure. If they had it in stock, it would cost $300.”

He grimaced and went on with his narrative.

He called an Acura dealer, who said they had one, and he asked them to hold it; he’d stop by Saturday morning to pick it up. Fine; they could do that. Saturday morning he showed up for the whatever-the-part-was.

Turns out I was off by $70. The Acura dealer price was $230.

(He got it and installed it. And he ordered another one for extra, over the Internet. For $75.)

Visualizing...

Lest you think that only no-name amateur-hour numbskulls engage in cold-calling come-on spam (like the one I reported on last week), I assure you that actual employees of legitimate companies do it, too.

For example, here’s one I got from Tableau Software, clearly courtesy of LinkedIn:

Now, in fact, my company does deploy Tableau’s data visualization application, but I have no need for it. Moreover, I’m not in IT, nor does my LinkedIn profile in any way imply that I do. So for the life of me I cannot imagine what Adam w/Tableau thought his email would accomplish. From his LinkedIn profile (with a lot of sales jobs), it appears he sent this a month or two after he moved to Tableau. Maybe he sent the same, sadly incoherent email to lots of my colleagues in hopes of upping the number of user licenses.

I dunno, but this kind of thing is not a good look for a company that’s supposed to be a leader in business intelligence.

Gratitude Monday: #StandWithBennett

We live in strange times; indeed we do. And I confess that I’m struggling today to find anything in my life or the world in general to truly appreciate.

But it’s the day the United States has assigned to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., which reminds me of the mission of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU)—institutions that educated the sons and daughters (and their sons and daughters, down to this day) of men and women brought to this country as slaves. For generations, they’ve enriched our nation by providing that education that would otherwise have been denied citizens on account of the color of their skin.

A couple of weeks ago I learned that one of these schools—one of only two serving black women—is in danger of losing accreditation because of finances. Bennett College, a small liberal arts college in Greensboro, S.C., was founded in 1873, and became single-sex in 1926. Its students are known as Bennett Belles, and (from what I’ve read) display extraordinary sisterhood. They have until 1 February to raise $5M.

I heard the story on NPR, found the page on their website where you can donate and whipped out my AMEX numbers. I’m an alumna of another women’s college; I felt I owed it to them. My contribution is small, but I’m hoping that others have given as well, that they’ll reach their goal and that they’ll find a way to continue their mission into the next century.

So this is what I’m grateful for today—that I was able to play a small part in helping keep Bennett College going. If you’re able, I hope you’ll do the same.

Turbo not

So, this happened: yesterday on the drive home from Metro, the check engine light came on, the engine ran really rough and white smoke billowed out of the exhaust.

This kind of thing is never A Good Sign.

I had it towed to my mechanic, and it seems the turbo charger has died. And it’ll cost $2500 to replace it. Plus new spark plugs.

And, if I’m lucky, they can get the part from New Jersey on Monday and install it.

Which means I’m stuck in the People’s Republic over the weekend without a car.

Yay. /s

Birds and berries

Heyheyhey! I was sitting in the livingroom yesterday afternoon when I noticed a large-ish bird in my holly bush. Large and kind of reddish.

Then another, and then about 20 others.

At first I thought Bird One was a juvenile cardinal, because they’re regulars at the feeders. But I realized that it was bigger than the cardinals, and not quite the right configuration.

Robins!

Now, you may wonder at my excitement, but—while I have seen robins out and about, even in the front of the house—this is only the second time I’ve seen them in the back. And—just like yesterday—they were here with all their buddies, absolutely denuding the holly of its berries. They flew up, snatching the berries on the hover, then dashed off to one of the conifers to eat. They pretty much picked the bush clean, except for a cluster right next to the dining room window, where I was trying to photograph them.

(Here’s a kind of crappy video—they were not cooperating, and it was late afternoon.)

The one other time was about two years ago, when I was on the horn with Comcast because their X1 was malfunctioning (again). It was around dusk and as I was talking with the tech, I looked out and saw a whole gang of them milling around the patio. Comcast Guy probably notated my account with something like Crazy Lady, because I stopped mid-sentence and screeched, “Robins! There are about fifteen robins right outside!”

The roving band did not stick around either time; they were here a maximum of 20 minutes. I guess they have places to go and berries to eat. (They certainly look well-fed.) But I’m just fascinated by their social organization. I wonder if they have scouts that scope out the feeding grounds and signal the flock where the next course of their progressive dinner is to be found?

Entrepreneurship

I’ve marveled here many times at the completely ham-handed gambits sales/business development people deploy in an attempt to make a sale. It’s the business world equivalent of robo-calling: flinging vast amounts of emails chockers with faux bonhomie and presumptuous expectations that you’ll set up a call to buy their products or services.

Many of them are funneled through LinkedIn—the predators do keyword searches, see one they like and, without bothering to read further, they fling off an email. I don’t have my email account in my profile, but it’s not terrifically difficult to suss out possible addressing protocols and take a flyer. The results are risible, particularly when the perps are trying to be subtle.

Viz:

There’s nothing like a segue from an intro from someone claiming to be a “research analyst” for a bogus company (who can't even be arsed to drop my name into the salutation) exploring “entrepreneurship opportunities” via a “market survey” to who buys office supplies in what quantities to make me want to “take a quick call”. By replying to a Gmail account.

Pedal politics

It’s a time-honored American custom to wear your political opinions on your vehicle. Usually that means bumper stickers on your car or truck.

However, here’s something a tad out of the ordinary, spotted outside Eastern Market Metro last week:

Gratitude Monday: work ethic

We here in the District They Call Columbia got more than a dusting of snow through Sunday. I don’t know what the official tally was, but in the People’s Republic, it felt like I was shoveling about a foot of the stuff off my front walks.

But in the course of that activity I found my Washington Post, right where it normally is on a Sunday morning. The cluster parking lot hadn’t been plowed and I certainly had no intention of trying to drive anywhere, but the guy who delivers the newspaper had done his job.

And I thought about all the people not getting big bucks who do their jobs come day, go day, and keep things humming for the rest of us, even when the rest of us don’t venture beyond the mailbox. The ones who stock the supermarket shelves, repair the power lines, run the cash register at the pharmacy and, yes, deliver your papers. In this day of elected officials pulling down six-figure salaries (plus whatever they snarfle up at the lobbying trough) who can’t be arsed to perform their actual Constitutional duties, I am grateful for these folks who show up and do what they’re paid for, no matter how little the amount.

Put it on my bill

I confess that I was somewhat disappointed that (as of yesterday afternoon) no one thought to post any #showustheduck offerings from PBS. Specifically, I was looking for this:

I like my culture accessible.

What the duck!

We totally need this story, considering the week we’ve been having—and with Friday still to come.

Because last week the Museum of English Rural Life in the UK quacked out a query to its fellow cultural institutions around the, er, web, soliciting, uh, duck pix. Just for ducks, I presume.

The whole thread is here, but I’ll start ruffling feathers by giving you a few of the responses to the call.

There was quite a GIF war between the National Railway Museum and the National Army Museum; you’ll have to go to the thread to see it, all I’ve got are these.

Also, this entry from the Getty sparked a discussion that you really need to follow. (Hint, a turducken made an appearance.)

Someone tried to sneak in a slow lorris being groomed with a toothbrush. Man, there’s always one in every flock.

We’ve got a science duck (remember the study of ocean currents done via a shipload of yellow ducks?):

And a sporting duck from South America:

Musée d’Orsay chimed in:

And so did the Louvre down the street:

I expect other museums will pile on, to defend local honor. And, as far as I’m concerned this thread has got 2019 off to a quacking good start.