Coins vs. Bills

Should we follow Canada's lead and kill the bill? I prefer $1 coins and would be happy to see the $1 paper bill move on. Canada has finally made the leap, although for years they have had the loonie and tooney as sucessful $1 and $2 coins. Here in the US we were never able to make the sucessful jump to a $2 paper bill let alone a working coin. Maybe we can twice follow Canada's lead and get rid of the penny too. At least now I know my change from the store will eventually no longer have Canadian pennies. ;-)

Lie To Me

We all love to be told we're safe. These stickers are becoming a part of the gas station landscape everywhere. Think about the "safe" claim here. If someone steals your credit card and slides it into this machine, that person will need to have your home zip code or this "safety" feature will stop the transaction. How many people have their physical credit card stolen and don't lose some other piece of personal information (like your driver's license) in the theft which will easily give the thief access to your magic zip code. I think the safest part of this sticker is the profit being generated by some company while proclaiming it is making our lives better. I'll bet it's only a fraction of a penny per transaction, but think of the enormous profit potential for that company with all those fuel pump transactions.

Scooters Are Back

I saw this colorful batch while running an errand and waiting for a new window in the geo-ute. Scooter dealers must be able to set buying patterns on gas prices. They look like a lot of fun, but if they are then why do they seem to disappear as soon as the price of gas drops? As the owner of a miata, I'm not so sure I would be thrilled riding one of these things in a sea of overgrown pick-ups. Still riding one along the lake on a blue-sky day could be fun...

Out With The Droid... In With The New

The Droid is gone. It started to have charging issues. It would go from full charge to none in minutes and then re-charge in a few minutes. I couldn't miss a business call because my phone was acting goofy so I've left the world of Droid and joined the Apple collective. I never developed a warm, happy feeling for the Droid. I was thrilled to have it and a weather app with me when it started snowing on business trips, and I still needed to pass over Seven Mountains. I was dismayed whenever it sat on the passenger seat during those trips and began randomly calling contacts. I don't think any of those people really wanted to hear me singing. I never liked the way it handled messaging either.

So far, the Apple has been an improvement. It has yet to call someone while I am driving. Siri takes some getting used to and doesn't work as well as the tv ads. The touch screen is a lot easier for me to use than Droid's.

I'm one of the increasing few who still believe a smart phone is neither smart nor a phone, but I have hopes the iPhone will start to change my opinion. Now if I can just get it connected to my business e-mail. That would make my life better.