The Pursuit of the Presidency…

As the race for the future Presidency heats up, the candidiates exchange blows almost every day playing it out in the press.  The main issue playing out now is the drilling of the Gulf Coast. Barak Obama seems to think it will be 6 to 9 years before we will see any oil from this expedition. In business you plan for the future, the present, and learn from your past.  So worst case scenerio 6 years to 9, at least it is a start. It will take a combination of things to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. There is no quick fix that resolve the constant flucuation in gas prices.

If I was given an advisory role in an campaign I would start with expanding solar panel program, reducing the electrical need from the power grid. Secondly, the U.S. has so many different fuel blends. Find who has the most enviromental friendly blend and make it the standard across all 50 states.  I would quit pushing on the ethanol so hard and hope it will suffice 10% of the fuel market at best.  Then expand hydrogen program, increase electrical cars, and hybrids.  If we expand these ideas and make a blend of avenues reduce our dependancy we will be better off.

My next step increase mass transportation in all metropoliton areas and develop roads the would reduce traffic. I live in Atlanta and we have Marta here but it doesn’t provide you access from city end to city end. If we develop rail systems from Woodstock to Kennesaw, Kennesaw to Marrietta. Meaning from suburb to suburd then run buses from there. This would reduce buses driving so much far and polluting our skies. Then from Atlanta to Nashville and Birmingham bullet trains that do the speeds like in Europe and Asia.  Then there is a program in Texas that was being researced where it was like a 25 lane highway which would provide tractor trailers there own higway since there gearing really slows down the main traffic ways.  This would provide bigger HOV lanes, rails going from city to city, and implementing recurrent driver training in each state.

I am sure there are other great ideas that can be added to this. It is just having the foresight to realize it isn’t once thing that will solve our issues. It will be a multitude of solutions that will free us from the bonds of foriegn oil.  If you vote in November, I ask you vote for the candidate that will not provide us with excuses, but will understand the choices even when they are hard; are the proper course of action.  Ignorance is bliss until you don’t understand why rights have been circumcised.

“It’s all Macs Fault”

I have been in and out of the apple world for at least 5 years. Now I remember my first computer class we had Apple IIe’s we learned to do basic programming.  So I know they have been around a very long time. I applaud their recent success and just hope as Dell did they won’t let it go to their head. They have always produced a quality product that is intuitive and useful.  After realizing this I just bought a Mac Mini Intel Duo Core.

   My First impression is that I made a great choice.  I have been in I.T. for ten years and as with anything I buy I want to make some upgrades. So I bought my memory from OWC to 2 GB.  I also upgraded the wireless card to a 802.11n card from PowerMax.  I also bought a second antenna just to make sure I got through put better than I was getting.  My next planned upgrade is a bigger hard drive.  I hate giving money to Bill Gates , but with all the documentation I do and send I had to buy Office 2008.

  My only issues I have had is since upgrading the wireless card I have been getting drop outs.  My wireless connection just drops off. I haven’t upgraded my router to an Apple one yet and still have my Netgear which has worked really well in the past until I upgraded this. I am still going to buy an Apple Extreme Base Station. I know everyone is all about the Time Capsule. I just have an issue with a single point of failure. I know I can probably crack it and swap out the hard drive. I would just rather have an external enclosure with a lot of space.  I might just go wired and alleviate the wireless all together with the Mac Mini.

   My future purchases will include the above mentioned Airport Extreme Base Station.  Then my next purchase will be a Mac Book Pro.  Apple knows what they are doing and as long as they continue with their focus on quality products, customer service, and innovation: They will own the computer market.  I hope you will give them a chance to show you what a computer should be.

 

Dear Network TV Presidents

Dear Network TV Presidents,

 I am sure you enjoy the power you have to capture the attention of the typical U.S. resident.  The programming your networks created this season has been definitely good. However, as we begin to change the format TV is in you are left the typical HD black bars I believe they are called. Which is fine in my 16:9 format TV, but the watermark or TV network station ID icon in the bottom right corner is annoying period! Then to make matters worse you advertise for other shows down there during a program which is currently on. If I had address this a problem I am not one to complain without providing a solution. Why not dropping you TV Network Icon into the black bar area. If you want to advertise do it down there.  Another solution get rid of it! In some shows you translate other languages like on spy shows and you can’t read it with these advertisements or logos!!!. I am sure I am not alone in this.

 If there is one thing I have learned in business, it has been keep your customers happy and you will have continued business. If you customer asks you for something you do your best to do it. I hope you will listen to not just me, but I am sure other individuals who feel the same. Good luck in the rest of your season.

Sincerely,

Garrison Smith

Where Has the Honor Gone?

I know in general people are not perfect. I know we all have our faults. I also know I tend to lean toward the republican side. However, as the road to the election lingers on, It would seem to me the honor of serving as President Of the United States honorable would be the first desired trait.  The democrats have been stacking questions they are prepared for in each debate. How are you going to react off of the cuff in any situation? Then plant loaded grenades in the crowd at the republican debate. How is that honorable?

Obama has some great plans. Hilliary’s appeal is she is a strong woman. However, Obama lacks the experience of any military experience and international diplomacy roles. Hilliary has a huge agenda that will tax us more and make sure the middle class pays for it. Health care for all! One way or another you will pay for it. There are so many people who don’t pay taxes. Abolishing the income tax and implementing the national sales tax would be smart. It is not biased. Leaving the healthcare system alone and reducing non-paying patients would reduce the high healthcare costs.

 Now Guliani and his views on immigration are hurting him. I understand 40 million immigrants one third being illegal are a large pool of voters. Implement a guest worker program. If they can make it 3 years to what ever is deemed appropriate, grant citizenship. Brake the law and you can’t. My issue isn’t the people it is the taxes it is costing me. If they are paid and taxed I am fine.  Romney, seems like a fair man. Smart business minded, and political savvy. I just don’t think he will get the nomination. Huckabee a smart , well balanced, and seems to have the pulse of the general population.

My words to abide by for the politicians. Handle the issue people want addressed.  Immigration, Social Security, taxes. Don’t raise taxes!! Heck abolish and do the fairtax.org proposal. Quit quibbling! State your platform, make your case, and show us why we should pick you. Don’t lie, don’t be two faced. Quit changing your position!!!! Good luck and be Honorable!!!

Apple’s “Gadget of the Year”

I finally did it. I sold my Blackberry Curve and made the upgrade to the Iphone. I have had it for about two weeks. I am impressed and yet see some room for improvement. The outer design is sleek and the epitome of apple’s elegance. The menu is straight forward. If I to credit to a principal, “keep it simple stupid”, applies here. The wireless is cool if you decide not to opt for a data plan. However, you can get a 16 GB touch which is the iphone without the phone. I know the one thing I miss from my blackberry is the passwords application. Now apple promotes all the web based apps for it’s iphone. The last thing I would want is to upload my accounts and passwords to a web based company were it can be hacked or copied by a disgruntled employee.  Hopefully they will add something we can use and password protect along with 3G support.

I bought the DLO leather pouches. One in black and one in brown and I love them. I had to get a new output cable for my car. The headphone jack is much smaller than you have with an Ipod. I have a really nice set of Bose OE headphones. I had to get an adapter for them.  I kept the apple headphones and picked up a send-station pouch to keep them in.  Just in case I don’t want to lug around my Bose.

Overall I am impressed. I like the phone. The blue-tooth with my headset is sporadic. I also get a lot of browser crashing in Safari and Ipod interface. Although other than that no other complaints. If you decide to wait the rumor is June 2008 for the new release of what comes next. In the meantime I suggest opening up the Phone so we can buy or acquire apps and truly implement it into our life’s to make it the digital necessity of the decade.