Its me....Mario!!!

Those smart kids have way too much time on their hands

Quiz Time

Study break time:

Bonus points if you can tell me what the differences are between the following:
- International Business Strategy
- Multidomestic Business Strategy
- Global Business Strategy
- Transnational Business Strategy

Early holiday in Toledo

What's wrong with this picture?

Ross and I plotting to destroy my mother's computer

Ross, Me, and Mom

Federated to consolidate May credit centers

Best of luck to those of you working at the Credit Center. Still no word on the fate of the Lorain Data Center...

AP Wire | 10/25/2005 | Federated to consolidate May credit centers: "Federated to consolidate May credit centers

Associated Press

CINCINNATI - Federated Department Stores Inc. said Tuesday it plans to consolidate credit centers acquired in its merger with May Department Stores Co. into its main credit services division in southwest Ohio.

Federated, which operates Macy's and Bloomingdale's, plans to close a Lorain division that employs 760 workers and a Parma center that employs 35. A center in Houston, which employs 380, also is slated to close.

Up to 300 jobs will be added at the main credit services center north of Cincinnati, which now employs about 2,000 workers.

The company said the change will help with its goal of saving $175 million next year and $450 million in 2007 as a result of the $11.9 billion merger, which was completed in August.

Executives working at the centers to be closed will be asked to express interest in relocating to facilities with positions available, the company said. Federated has promised it will not cut any May Co. jobs before March 1 next year.

May Co.'s Earth City credit center in St. Louis will remain open.

Federated sold its credit card business and May's credit arm to Citigroup earlier this year for after-tax proceeds of $4.9 billion, but the customer service functions, such as processing new accounts and handling customer questions, remain under Federated's control.

Federated, with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, now has 244,000 employees and stores in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Federated shares rose 38 cents to close at $61.63 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares have traded from $46.60 to $78.05 in the past 52 weeks."

McDonalds promo

I've been collecting the Best Buy Bucks from the McDonalds promotion and decided to read through the fine print to see just what the odds of winning some of the "big ticket" prizes are.

Bottom line appears to be that besides Best Buy Bucks and free McDonalds, you'd be better off playing the lottery.

I found one little gem of a statistic in the fine print that I think you'll find amusing:

The odds of collecting all 4 railroads (Reading Railroad #5023, Pennsylvania Railroad #5024, B&O Railroad #5025, Short Line #5026) in order to win the Dodge Viper, valued at $100,000, is a staggering 1 in 17,836,429,305!

Now, according to the US Census Bureau, the world population is only 6,473,841,545.

This is probably explained by the fact that they make sure that one rare piece is at a McDonalds in Guam and the other rare Railroad piece is located in Saskatchewan...but come on! 1 in 17 BILLION???? Geesh...the odds of winning the Mega Millions Lottery jackpot is only 1 in 175,711,536.

The Vibe GT has been laid to rest. Meet my new wheels.

gotta love the leaper

This guy had the worst job in the park. His job was to pull the "fat" people out of the line and subject them to the Test Seat before boarding the Millenium Force. Since I'm a wuss and don't ride rollercoasters, I was thoroughly entertained by watching this guy single out the obese amongst the Cedar Point patrons.

Mobile Post

374 mph...that'll wreak havoc on my average driving speeds

Mobile Post

I stopped for crazy expensive gas last night on my way home from work and got a laugh out of this. The person that used the pump before me decided that at the current prices, all that they could afford was 7/10 of a gallon.

NPR predicts the current

A 2002 NPR series predicting exacly what just happened to New Orleans. If only more people listened to NPR, maybe LA would have been better prepared for all of this.

This didn't help traffic...

This crazy accident is what snarled traffic and made my commute home today a mess.

It happened on the eastbound side of I-480 today. I was taking I-480 westbound so I got to see the accident without getting stuck in the 15+ miles of traffic jam that it created.

(Yes...that's a Corvette wedged underneath a semi)

WWFSMD?

In honor of a bumper sticker I saw the other day that read, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" I'm going to put up another politically motivated thread here amongst vacation pictures and Jimmy Buffett.

If you haven't read about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, check these sites out:

http://www.venganza.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

According to the creator of FSM, Bobby Henderson, if the Bush-ites in Kansas and the rest of the Bible Belt think that Creationism and other religious teachings should be required in American schools, than the teachings of this rediculous, hilarous religion should also be included in the text books of our nation's youth.

I think this "movement" is a great, light-hearted way to mock the convergance of religion and our government.

If only the Margelism creator had been so insightful to create a national movement around a certain pig...

Thanks Bob

Unfortunately the picture didn't come out very well, however, I thought you might enjoy this anway.

The sign reads "You are in our prayers". It is at a Bob Evans restaurant in Wickliffe, OH.

Why is Bob Evans praying for me? And why should the fact that he's praying for me make me want to stop in and have biscuits and gravy?

UFO

This contraption flew over our car as we drove back this evening. It looks like a pretty cool ultralight...kind of an airboat with a parachute. I can understand how the fan on the back could propel this thing forward, but what I want to know is how does thing take off? How can you achieve vertical lift w/ just a parachute and a fan? If you figure it out, let me know.

Sunset

Beautiful sunset tonight as we were driving back from the OBX. I was playing around w/ the effects on my digicam and I think this picture came out pretty cool.

another picture from the drive back

Result of an afternoon rainshower at the beach

Awesome PMB concert at Kelly's tonight.

Me and Pat

In honor of Pat McGee Band playing in Nags Head, NC while I'm going to be at the Outer Banks next week, here's an oldie for you.




Laurelie Wallace, Pat McGee, and Me after a Pat McGee Band concert on January 27, 1999 at The Stadium in Oxford, OH.

Couch picture

Thanks, Jakki, for sending this picture out. Who knows when all of the cousins will be in one room again.

From L to R: Ross, Eric, Evan, Eric, Jakki, Eric, Monica, Eric, Jessica, Eric, Lauren

Icing on the cake

It is never a good day when one must attend the funeral of a loved one. However, it makes for an even worse day when you get in an accident on your way to the service after the funeral.

As I was turning into the driveway, a Ford Taurus that was traveling behind me crashed into the left rear corner of my car. The impact caused the Vibe to spin around 180 degrees and did significant damage to the rear and side of my car.

My car had to be towed because the accident rendered it un-drivable while the Taurus was able to leave under its own power. Now the fun of dealing with an out-of-state accident begins...at least it wasn't my fault.


The immediate aftermath of the accident. Notice that even though I used to be traveling the same direction as the Taurus, the Vibe has been spun 180 degrees and is now facing South.


View of the driver's side rear section of the Vibe


You can see how badly the rear wheel was damaged in this picture


It is common for people to congregate and watch the aftermath of an accident. However, it is not usually your entire immediate family that is present to watch.


This is the extent of the damage to the Taurus. It was still drivable after the accident.

Mobile Post

Me and Ross in Grandpa's garage. You'd think I'd remove this picture since Ross has his eyes closed, wouldn't you?

Glad I got out

"Federated plans to eventually convert many May stores to Macy's as the department store operator accelerates its strategy of creating a nationwide brand that will allow it to expand marketing initiatives. That means May store nameplates such as Hecht's, Foley's and Kaufmann's could soon disappear."

Tom Cruise Stricken from my profile

In honor of Tom Cruise being officially insane, I have replaced my Top Gun image in my user profile.

Crazy sparkler action

These folks take sparklers to a whole new level

Keyhole is now free

Thanks Ross, for pointing out that Google Earth has left the Beta stage and is now a full release (and free).

I've demo'd Keyhole (and Google Earth Beta) for many people, including family, co-workers, and Lindsay's classroom.

Everyone who's seen Keyhole has been quite impressed but did not want to pay the $20 registration fee to unlock the trial version.

Since Google likes to give away great software, the full release of Google Earth is now free for everyone to download.

Just head on over to Google Earth and grab your own copy.

Save our country

A little light reading for you while you watch the Republicans dismantle our Constitution.

Palm w/ 4GB HD? Sweet!

Looks like the first of the hard drive based PDAs have arrived.

These new devices will most likely reinvigorate the PDA market and start to make laptops less appealing to some people. Should be interesting to keep an eye on as the prices fall and capacity increases.

Palm Store - palmOne™ LifeDrive™ mobile manager

Star sighting

Congrats to Monica and the rest of the Roanoke Stars for the @ss whooping that they handed down to all of their competition in this weekend's basketball tournament in Cincinnati.

Good luck at Nationals!

Mo Boat showing the other team how it's done

Cleveland made Daypop...for an alligator

Why have a guard dog when you can have a guard alligator??

Gator found guarding suspected drug house

So much for the Hwy Patrol

Tonight, on my drive home from work along I-90, a pickup truck in front of me began swerving erratically all over his lane. At first, I thought they must just be talking on their cell phone, changing cds, or maybe they were simply a woman driver. However, this erratic behavior did not stop; they swerved left onto the rumble strips, then they would swerve back to the right and encroach on the neighboring lane. They would also randomly hit their brakes while travelling in the left-most lane with nobody in front of them.

I decided that the driver was either drunk or dying, so I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the number for the Ohio Hwy Patrol (1-877-7-PATROL).

When a dispatcher answered, I explained the situation to her. She then asked me if I was in Ashtabula county. I told her I was nowhere near Ashtabula county, that I was currently in Elyria, just east of Rt-57. The dispatcher told me to wait while she transferred me.

The Elyria police dispatcher then came on the line and I again repeated the situation
with the truck in front of me. By this time, I was just approaching Rt-611 which is almost to Avon. The Elyria dispatcher told me that since I was almost in Avon, she was going to transfer me to the Avon police department.

When the Avon police dispatcher came on the line, she was so quiet that I could barely hear her over the noise of traffic (even with my cell phone volume turned up to full volume). Even though I could barely understand what she was saying, I explained the situation with the dangerous pickup truck for a third time, and gave the woman a description of the vehicle and the license plate number.

I think that the woman said that she would have somebody look into the situation, but I can't be certain. By this time, however, the truck was just approaching the Crocker Rd exit which marks the beginning of Westlake, and Cuyahoga County.

Unless the Avon (Lorain Cty) police put out an APB into Cuyahoga Cty, I have a feeling this guy was never going to be stopped.

I got off the highway at this point though, so I guess we'll never know.

My point of this story is this: In an era of increased homeland security concern, how can still be stuck in a situation where our police departments have no way to track somebody as they cross from city to city on an expressway?

When I spoke to the Ohio Highway Patrol dispatcher, why did they care if I was in Ashtabula county??? Shouldn't the Ohio Hwy Patrol cover all of the highway's in OHIO???

What kind of America is this???

So the White House has some master black-list of Democratic supporters and they're using that list to prevent members of industry from participating in international forums.

Damn all those red states...

Weekend in Oxford

Between the shooting on I-71 (causing an 8-hour drive from Cleveland to Oxford),the fire that killed 3 people 2 blocks from my hotel, and my 25-year old friend getting an open container violation it was definately an eventful weekend.

The Forbidden Couch

Lest some people get the wrong idea about Lauren's "Forbidden Couch" comment below, here's a picture.



Eric, Grandma, Lauren, Me, and Ross on the couch-that-nobody-ever-sits-on...aka. the Forbidden Couch.

(you can click the thumbnail image for a slightly larger, although still low resolution, copy)

15 Passenger SUV???

Gotta love Cleveland...we have SUVs driving around stuffed with illegal immigrants. How the heck did they manage to get FIFTEEN people in a Ford Expedition? I know those gas-guzzlers are huge...but come on!

Silly Shareholder, Lawsuits are pointless

Interesting, but I'm sure futile, effort by a shareholder to prevent the May / Federated merger. It raises some interesting points, but I doubt it will amount to much.

Monday my manager informed us that we will be filling out a "resume-like form" within the next few days outlining our responsibilities and expertise within the company. She claims that we're doing this so that we can try to "sell Federated on why they should keep us on as a data center." My first thought was, "Yea, right. This is just the sheet that The Bobs will use when they decide whether or not to fire us."

Then yesterday we got a memo stating that they will be doing a routine "update to the employee photo database" and that we will need to dress nicely for the picture taking. They've NEVER updated the employee photo database. Obviously it's just another componant of our Bobs interview.

I wonder what else they'll lie to us about before the axe falls.



Which one am I? The skinny white programmer or the one with the last name nobody can pronounce? Hmmm....

Gotta get me one of those...

Too bad I don't have a Golden Parachute like some of these guys

still employed

As you may or may not have heard, May has agreed to be purchased by Federated Department Stores. May is currently in the process of holding meetings with all employees to discuss what severance package options will be presented if and when the time comes for a job to be eliminated. Because of the sheer size of the combined corporation, they will definately need to take on many of May's employees. So at this point all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and keep my resume updated. Wish me luck ;-)

My new toys

Chances are pretty good that if you've given me any birthday / Hanukkah / Christmas money over the past few months, it's gone towards these two new purchases. So I figured I'd post pictures so that you can all see what you bought me. Thanks :-)

Pic 1
Pic 2

On the left is the HP dv1040us, on the right is the Dell 1905FP

Not looking good

From this morning's NYTimes.

Edit: Not really sure why the above link is going to Microsoft.com...weird. Try this article if you're interested in my lack of job security.

Edit 2: Thanks Ross, link fixed.

My blanket could have killed me...

Note to self: Don't accept hand-me down electric blankets that are as old as I am.

When my electric blanket stopped working a few days ago, I checked to make sure it was plugged in and found this:



The wiring burned through the casing and scorched the blanket. Luckily the fabric wasn't flammable...

By the way...May and Federated are back in merger talks...so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Good for job security, bad for my company stock

According to this news report it looks like the chances of a May buyout have been drastically reduced. (This was reported in the WSJ, but you have to be a subscriber to read their online news)

And according the some analyst, May needs to find a new CEO who "“needs to be someone who can fight alligators and drain the swamp at the same time."

Where the heck did they come up with that analogy???

Free iTunes songs...again

Today was the first day that my local Topps store was stocking the new promotional iTunes Pepsi bottles. After "finding" tons of winning bottles last year, we'll see how many I accumulate this year.

Once again, the tilt method worked perfectly...netting me a free song that I really don't need. If anyone hasn't yet realized it, you can just tilt the bottle and see whether the cap is a winner or not.



While it's still nice to get a free legal song...it seems a little silly compared to the terabytes of free "illegal" songs readily available. Nonetheless, while there are still yellow Pepsi caps available, I'll abandon my Diet Coke loyalty and rack up the free iTunes songs...I guess their marketing ploy worked.

Is this thing on?

After having margelefsky.com content-less for a couple years now, I figured I'd point it to a blog where I can post stuff.

What sort of stuff will be posted? Who knows.
Why would anyone read it? Who knows.

But it'll be there.