A question was raised to me recently that I have heard before often enough and it deserves a little time and attention to explore a few of its twists and turns:  Should we force all of our young to serve in the military?  Other countries do it, and some think that doing this would cause …

I recently visited a new Yogurt shop here in Eagle that sells frozen yogurt self-serve by the ounce.  Now let that sink in a moment and consider the pro’s and cons of this arrangement:  While you ponder, let me walk you through my own recent visit. The selection of flavors and toppings is quite generous, …

Perhaps at some point when they (the Occupy Movement) begin to make actual sense and can articulate something other than “Rich people, bad. Give me their money!” Someone might take notice for some reason other than to fill a slow news day.  So far, all I’ve seen during countless interviews is malcontents that have no …

My letter to the Mayor of Eagle, Idaho:   Dear Mr. Mayor, I am sincerely disturbed to learn that not a single day after being elected as the Mayor of the City of Eagle, you have already expressed publicly your ignorance of the community whom you serve. I am deeply saddened that you publicly regard …

A look at today’s job market from the inside: You’ve worked for one company for more than ten years and even in hard times it seems to continue growing.  The pay is good; extremely good, until one day your email stops working.  You call in to troubleshoot and find your account has been turned off and …

Yes, there are indeed far too many smart phones running amok these days, and I really do hate to be jumping up onto the Apple bandwagon (it’s a cart, really), but I have to say that Apple’s iPhone 4 is by far the best product out at the moment. I’ve tried a few of the …

Buy a home and you’re likely to be offered the safety of a home warranty to make you feel better about taking a chance on buying someone’s existing house. The chances are also good though, that the whole thing is worth less than you expect and becomes far more troublesome than simply having the work …

Someone asked today if I thought Obama’s Jobs Act would work.  That got me to thinking…  As I listened to his speech the other day I was impressed by how many things he said that sounded truly amazing.  I thought to myself; “Has he finally found that bold new direction that will turn this around?”  …

I follow many discussions in LinkedIn, and one popped up the other day that really got me to thinking.  With the economy taking top billing in the news every day and jobs nearly impossible to come by, How are businesses supposed to plan for the future?  What started this whole topic was this posted article …

I was approached one day by a huckster for long term care insurance and they dutifully pulled out their prize turkey for all to view:  “A common misconception about long-term care is that it is just for the elderly. However, anyone of any age or occupation may need long-term care at any time and for …

A workers view: In my experience, there are three things that provide the most motivation for an employee to produce at a higher level.  Two of these things can be provided by the employer, but one of them is something that the employee must already possess: Trust:  If they trust their coworkers and management to …

In today’s fractured job market, a new reality just might become more and more commonplace:   Former managers taking entry level jobs, and liking it. It could be that Web designer sitting next to you at work is an MIT Neuroscience graduate, or that lineman climbing the power pole in front of your house; fixing your …

At what point does your conscience take over? When do you reign in that desperate grab for cash before you alienate the very employees who keep your business running?

A dear friend of mine is in a rough spot.  He’s living in a plywood box with no running water and one outlet with just enough power to charge his shaver.  He has access to food, but water sometime runs out to the point of being life-threatening. Most nights he gets little more than a …

To serve, or not to serve?  That is the question.  Whether it is indeed noble to serve your country and sacrifice for the good of your nation, or has your government abandoned the core values with which it was formed and denigrated the founding principles of this great country and besmirched the honor of her …

Why get the government involved?   Why legislate the Internet with Net Neutrality? The impetus here was provided by a bit of tampering with the market by the ISP’s in order to undercut those like Vonage and Netflix (among others), who have been in that market all along because more people are consuming their services, causing …

Now, I know what you’re thinking, turn the page, this is another freak looking for aliens wearing a tinfoil hat.   Not even close.  Bear with me a moment, this goes in a completely different direction… Since this was never officially classified as far as I know, and in 30 years nobody has ever knocked on …