Short Takes

As you may know, work has kept me quite busy last week.  However, at Best Buy they occasionally bring guests around for different promotions.  Last week, Best Buy was promoting the expansion of it's Wellness Center facilities.  These facilities include a nap room, health assessment center (body fat, weight, blood pressure), a work/fitness center (i.e. workstation on a treadmill), etc.  As part of the grand opening, Best Buy brought in Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Chad Greenway to take pictures with the employees.  So i dropped by for a quick chat and a picture.

The fitness center folks said that this was a great looking picture.  But I think it's just shows that both Mr. Greenway and I like to show off our dental work.

The only other news is that my supervisor comes back this week, so I may be down to helping replace some of the functions of two instead of three of my co-workers.

Other bits:

- Well, the Presidential debates are this week.  But frankly, I don't know if I've ever been so bored with a Presidential campaign.  I hear that we have two candidates, the President and Mitt Romney, that have distinctly different visions for the country.  However, while it's become quite clear what the President believes,  I don't know anything distinctive of what Mitt Romney beliefs.  I have not heard him distinctively talk about specific issues such as unemployment, the deficits, the Middle East, traditional values, etc. that would make him materially different than the President.  I have heard that he would "replace" Obamacare with "sensible reforms."  Well, if the man who signed government-run health care in Massachusetts talks about "sensible reforms," that sounds quite vague. So perhaps the debates will change the tenor of the campaign, but currently I've very bored with this election season.

- I went to my second wedding last weekend.  As I said, I don't go to many weddings, but I have to say it was once again a very nice occasion.  However, I don't see myself attending any other weddings anytime soon.  I guess this would be a good poll question though, hmm..

Head Slapper of the Week

Note: This is a pop culture alert!!! Please considered yourself warned

As a Minnesota Golden Gopher football season ticket holder, I'm as enthused as anyone for the team's fast 4-0 start.  One thing that has been lacking for this team is student attendance at the games.  As a former student, I can see two reasons for this.  One, the team wasn't too entertaining to watch (the team is just showing some respectability after the failed Tim Brewster coaching era).  Two, the tickets are expensive for students.  Season tickets were 90 bucks a piece, a tough pill for a poor undergrad to pay to watch a subpar football team.  

Well, the team is trying to gin up enthusiasm by putting up a short dance video.  All I can say is when I saw this on my local news the first thought in my head was "NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"

I think Max Shortell should stick staying in the pocket.  Three Head Slaps!!

A time with Authority and Revisiting Hayek

To say the least, I've been very busy recently.  At Best Buy, I'm currently not only covering requests for my everyday tasks, but also most of the tasks of a couple of co-workers who are out on leave.  These 10+ hour days even have my Director asking me questions on when I'm taking vacation.  It is what it is.

I have though, had a chance to meet Best Buy's new Chief Executive Officer, Hubert Joly.  The Frenchman spent a little time to introduce himself to others at the Richfield corporate office.  As you can see, I had a chance for a short conversation.

I have to say Mr. Joly did not have the firmest handshake.  He had a friendly demeanor to him though.

The conversation was simply me introducing myself and talking about how well Mr. Joly has been able to integrate himself into the company.  The man has led the turnaround of three companies.  He'll have his work cut out here though.

At the end of our conversation, Mr. Joly asked me to hold a "V for Victory" sign in our picture together.  I'm working to see that victory actually happens and I'm confident that they will not be a dull moment in the next few months pursuing it.

I'll just say that there's never a dull moment working at Best Buy.

---

As we enter the final stretch of this election year, I thought it would be interesting to take a contextual view of how this election fits into the evolution of our society.  Call me a pessimist, but I generally see us following the path that was dictated by Friedrich A. Hayek in his famous book, "The Road to Serfdom"

 I have a copy of this book which I first read as a sophomore at Carleton.  However, I will have to recollect facts of the book mainly by memory since I loaned the book out months ago.  Hopefully whoever has it is gaining some enlightenment from it (they know who they are).

Anyways, I'm quite concerned that the issues that Hayek talked about in the 1940s are quite relevant now.  Hayek wrote the the book to  "warn of the danger of tyranny that inevitably results from government control of economic decision-making through central planning,"^[1] 

^{Hayek discussed that back in post WWI Germany, the Nazi part was simply against individualism, capitalism, democracy and classical liberalism.  However, they used the} democratic system to gain power by convincing the electorate that socialism (economic control and guidance by the government) could be mixed with democracy and freedom would not be lost.  Well, we know how that story ended.

But way did it happen?  Let's think about what was happening about the time Hayek wrote the Road to Serfdom:

• Germany as wells as the world was recovering from a great economic crisis;
• A growing consensus that the solution of – trust in government to solve the problems of this crisis (Hitler was the ultimate Keynesian, pursuing a massive public works program to rebuild the economy, but also help his own ends);
• A growing acceptance to the concentration of power on part of the government through the message crisis (greater emphasis on nationalism)
• laws that are passed to legitimizes economic control over people lives
• loss of personal freedom (in Hitler's Germany, you know what that meant, I hope).

Does this sound familiar? Does the economic crisis in 2008, greater financial regulation, the increase of federal power in education, immigration, healthcare, etc. make you think about how much power has been centralized in our society today.   Personal freedoms lost to greater regulation and more invasive tracking techniques make you pause in thought of the devaluation of individualism that was seen for many years an integral facet of American Exceptionalism?

Going back to Hayek, another idea that he discussed in the Road to Serfdom is that the diversity of expectations in a democracy often leads to elected officials not being able to implement the policies they promised.  This generally leads to gridlock, which I'm generally a fan of due to my pessimistic view of the quality of any policies that are implemented these days.  However, the public at large over time can become disenchanted with government's inability to get things done (fiscal cliff, anyone?).

Hayek also talked about the the importance of economic freedom and economic security in relation to a more centralized state.  Hayek said that "Economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all our ends."  If one is expecting government intervention for mere subsistence, then a loss of economic freedom with inevitably result.  When one thinks that about 2 out of every 5 Americans are living under the poverty line and we hear folks expecting public assistance to pay their mortgage and/or their student loans, there's the potential for much loss of economic freedom and greater public disenchantment.

When the public becomes disenchanted, they can eventually unify behind one leader or group of leaders who promises to address their needs.  Over time that leader can gain greater centralized power the leads to the bullet points above.  That's pretty much what I recall from the book.  Does history repeat itself?  We'll see.

Head Slapper of the Week

For this week's Head Slapper, we head to the arena of politics.  Yes, I know I just turned off at least half the readership.  But bear with me for a few moments, okay?

In this year's Presidential elections, there has been many, me included, that have been very perplexed by the campaign of the GOP nominee, Mitt Romney.  Although I have in the past talked about my myopic opinions about Mitt, many of them perhaps vituperative, the main concerns regarding Mitt can be summed by the Economist:

We're less than two months from the election and most folks don't really know what the GOP candidate really believes about the big issues such as the economy, deficits, defense and foreign policy.  But don't worry, we now know what Mitt really believes on "some" issue:

So apparently we know Mitt is a fan of Snooki, Gene Hackman and Michelle Pieffer.  Since these are some of the few concrete areas we see what Mitt really believes, doesn't that increase one's confidence of his ability to be Commander-in Chief?  

Three and a Half Head Slaps

New Poll

Okay, it's time for a new poll question.   This one is a bit out of the box for some of you. This poll is in regards to an interest of mine, Christian hymns.  Not just the lyrics and music, but the history as well.  Here are the ones I want you to choose from as which hymn is your favorite.

1. Great is Thy Faithfulness:  This hymn was written by Thomas Chisholm.  Chisholm, a man who's health was much of his early adult life and had to struggle to make ends meet,  became a frequent poet.  He wrote over 1200 poems for religious periodicals such as the Sunday School Times and Moody's Monthly. In 1923 he sent several of his poems to WIlliam Runyan, who was affiliated with the Moody Bible Institute and Hope Publishing Company. Runyan set the poem to music, and it was published that same year by Hope Publishing Company and became popular among church groups.^[1] The Biblical lyrics reference Lamentations 3:22 (It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not).

I like this hymn because it exudes hope brought about through the Almighty's goodness and faithfulness.  Morning by morning, new mercies I see….

2. Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty:  I have this piece of hymn art hanging in my condo:

This hymn, written by German-Calvinist Joachim Neander, is just a great hymn of praise.  An energetic German hymn that keeps floating in my head for hours after I hear it.  All Ye who hear, now that His temple draws near….

3. Holy, Holy, Holy: This Reginald Heber hymn is perhaps the strongest emphasis of the Trinity outside of the Scriptures themselves.  Proclaiming the truth of three Persons, equal and eternal, is what this hymn is all about.  God in Three Persons, Blessed Trinity…

4. Fairest, Lord Jesus (Beautiful Savior): This is when the Lutheran background in me starts to come out.  Although little is known of this hymn, it's connects to me because it combines both adoration with proclamation.  I enjoy it so much so that I have these three pieces of hymn art hanging in my condo:

I'll give an 'A' grade for eyesight if you can read them all.

5. A Mighty Fortress is Our God:  I will admit this is my personal favorite.  Martin Luther's famous hymn combines the proclamation of Psalm 46 ("God is our refuge and strength") with church militancy (Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also…God's truth abideth still, His Kingdom is forever).  It's tune is famously know in the last movement of Felix Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony.   Yes, I have a piece of hymn art  of this hymn in my condo as well.

So vote folks.  If you have your own selection, please let me know.

Short Takes

It's been a busy couple weeks for me.  Last night I was at work at the Best Buy office until 8 pm working on some additional analysis for a meeting early next week.  I have to say with the news surrounding the company regarding a new CEO, a Frenchman, and the founder of the company trying to take the company private,  working at Best Buy never provides dull moments.  

- I recently learned that St. Olaf's faculty has endorse the opposition to the affirmation of  heterosexual marriage MN constitutional amendment on this fall's ballot.   St. Olaf faculty has joined the likes of General Mills and Augsburg College to oppose the amendment.  My myopic opinion even taking into account my conviction that marriage is between a man and a woman that I don't really understand why businesses or colleges would take any stand on these issues.  It demonstrates a focus of intellectual elitism to me in that it's trying to leverage their reputation into trying to communicate what is best for the rest of us.   Should a few dictate what's just morality or what public health policy should be for the rest of us?  Should the evidence of the deleterious effects of homosexuality in regards to pro-creation and public health not enter this discussion due to an elite few?  I would hope not. Just a myopic opinion.

- Talking about intellectual elitism, the polls have closed and the voters have decided that my personality best fits the Toyota Prius.  So according to my post introducing this poll, I'm both efficient and an intellectual elitist.  Frankly, in my myopic opinion, I don't think I'm either of those things.  Efficiency is something I continue to work on, generally when I do tasks I am quite methodical in completing them, which generally takes quite a bit of time.  Intellectually elite, that is up for debate.  Yes, I do have three post-graduate degrees, but I'm still a son of a cook who has to ask a lot of questions on simple house maintenance projects before completing them.  Okay, I know I drive a Prius, with great satisfaction I admit due to it's high reliability, 10,000 miles between oil changes and fuel efficiency.  But that doesn't necessarily means it's the best fit for my personality in my myopic opinion.

- I recently went to my first Gopher football game as a non-student season ticket holder. The Gophers beat New Hampshire 44-7.  I like attending Gopher football games since the games are outdoors, the atmosphere is generally cordial, the football entertaining and the mini-donuts are nearby.  I look forward to attending more games the rest of this season. I may be Pollyanna, but I am hopeful for this season.

So there we are, another busy, yet uneventful week in the life of Mellow Yellow.

Head Slapper of the Week

It's been a busy week, but I was able to find a head-slapper.  Since coming into the corporate world at Best Buy, I have been told about the company dress code, which rarely has anyone wearing ties.  I always wondered why this is the case.  Well, now I have an idea what that is the case.  There is a product out there called the "PillowTie."  Simply put, it's a tie that converts into an inflatable pillow.

Yes, men no longer need to fear that long court hearing or that business meeting will send them fighting narcolepsy.  If the urge comes, one needs only to activate the pillow tie's bladder:

It is what it is.  Three Head Slaps.

Head Slapper (of the Week?)

I know, I know.  I didn't promptly supply a Head Slapper last week.  It's been a busy week for me at work (Best Buy and the Golden Inn) and much travel between parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.  So I had to do a little research for this week's Head Slapper, which explains the analytical bent of it.

As an analyst with a consultant background (no, Mitt Romney has not called for my advice), I always found data factoids somewhat interesting.  However, I find some information from Nielsen Corp., a standard-bearer in media research, found that the average interviewer watches 114.1 hours  of video (TVs and computers are included) per month (or more than 5 hrs/day).   That's a lot of time stimulating one's mind with various forms of entertainment, much of it praising the worst of civil society in my myopic opinion.  That's five hours a day they could spend doing something either to help someone else or their own health in many cases.  The striking part of this stat is that the number of hours of video watch per month has actually decreased from 115.9 hours/month. 

I just can't fathom watching that much video, especially with my short attention span when it comes to media consumption.  Perhaps folks may just do this one day with all this video consumption if they haven't already:

It is what it is. A mind-numbing reality.  Three Head Slaps.