I hope they don’t tear down this ad because of the easily offended weenies among us…  The crazy thing is the ad was created and is running in Singapore, a country with permanent anal retention status.  Click to see the new BK “Super 7 Incher”…

Today Gavin Hawk was sentenced to 19 to 23 months in jail for (in all probability) driving home drunk from a Carolina Hurricanes game and hitting and killing Spyk Quick on I-440.  Most people think the sentence is light.  Legally Gavin did the smart thing even though what he did was morally reprehensible.

You see if Gavin had stayed at the scene drunk after hitting Spyk he would have been charged with murder or manslaughter.  Because he ran and hid for a few days while Raleigh detectives searched for him, Gavin will serve less than two years.   Prosecutors could not prove he was driving drunk even though he admits being on his way home from a Hurricanes game he conveniently attended with only his father.  And what do you know, from what I understand Dad says Gavin wasn’t drinking.  Ain’t that a shock.

I played at the Zebulon Country Club this week.  Overall it’s a very good course as far as conditions go.  Among local courses I would rank the fairways and greens slightly above Lochmere and Wil-Mar.  It’s definitely way better than nearby Wendell Country Club (which is barely a golf course anymore). We were told the greens may be a mix of bent grass and Bermuda.  They were almost as good as the bent grass greens at Carolina Country Club.

It’s not a long course and has some easy to par 470 yard holes.  It’s got a couple of easy to birdie par 4’s if you’re even slightly better than me.   All-in-all it’s a course worth going back to many times, again based on the conditions.  But it does have one really bad problem on weekdays: lots of grumpy old men.  I mean, these old timers are straight evil and angry that anyone under 55 years old dare, yes dare, come on their course.  They play with no golf etiquette, none, zero.  They don’t finish out their putts from five or ten feet and then proclaim “ya, I scored a 74 today”.   Right, minus any putting at all.

Since they don’t putt out once they hit the green they’ll pick up their ball and tee off immediately while the group in front of them is still on the fairway.   One thing is for sure, these old coots won’t slow you down.  They’ll spray the ball to bejesus, usually on to another fairway, and then without warning or any dialog drive their carts straight onto a fairway someone else is playing to hit their shots.   We were playing fast (pars and bogeys) but one group behind us was so bad we let them play through since no etiquette, hurry up golf was their thing.  Only to have another Geritol gang come up behind us and almost hit us with a ball (literally) as we  finished putting.  I said something the the effect of “You need to slow down and chill”.  To which one old man replied “No, you need to move boy!”.   So I replied “No. I do not and will not”.  I know what they’re trying to do because I’ve seen it before.  It’s an ego trip for these old guys to be able to say they can play 18 holes in 2 1/2 hours or less, score be damned.  It happened a lot at Winton Country Club in Virginia where the average member age is probably 62.  Nothing makes them prouder than to have the “youngun’s” let them play through.  Somehow in their minds this equates to better golf.  Never mind taking the time to make shots that score low.

I’ve decided to try this course another day at a time later in the afternoon to see if the “Geritol Thugs” might be less of a distraction.   The first time I went to check the location and prices a really nice manager was offering some attractive membership rates.  Even with the wonderful turf this course has, if you’ve got to sacrifice playing a complete game to let angry old people who don’t really care about quality golf have their way, it’s not worth it.  The attitude of regular patrons can make or break a golf course.  I’ve played many, and these regulars are the absolute worst I have ever seen despite the sign coming into Zebulon that says “Home of Friendly People”.  Ya right, friendly people that think they own a golf course because it’s the only one they play four times a week.  I hope my next experience is better so I don’t have to leave these great turf conditions to the cranky old coots.

I may have just gotten my first side job using my newly acquired Fluke Optiview Series III Integrated Network Analyzer.  Running cable is nasty work but hey, it’s money.  This Fluke meter can test and certify Category 5e/6 and 6a (Gigabit) ethernet drops and LC, SC and MT-RJ fiber connections.   I have no intention of running fiber drops any time soon unless I come across someone willing to pay for the cost of materials.

The only up side is the extra money.  The down side is the time.  I already work 10 hours a day on occasion plus commute time.  I really love my kids and would like to get a chance to see them.  I don’t know that I’m doing this out of necessity but it sure won’t hurt.

The potential for side jobs to grow out of control always worries me because if I do ever start getting bigger jobs I’m going to have to go through the whole process of  getting a Federal Tax ID, filing quarterlies with the IRS, the major accounting stuff - oh joy.  I remember all this from the PC-Pickles days of the 90’s.  I also remember working 60 hours a week plus the accountability and liability that comes from being a small business owner.  I question if I ever want to go that far and quit my day job again.

For now I will settle for jobs of 48 copper drops or less at $59 each plus materials.  I can handle that overhead out of the gate working with one other person at about $15 to $20 an hour.   I’m starting small and might stay small.  We’ll see what happens.

It’s about damn time.  If you want to go to a site where Obama is considered Jesus because Ron Paul has already secured the role of God then Digg is your site.  If you praise homosexuality and won’t dare mention what it really is (two men, in bed, having sex) then Digg has an account for you.  If you think the Toyota Prius is the future of transportation and all trucks and SUV’s should be impounded and crushed then Digg will make you smile.  And if you think that Microsoft completely sucks at everything and should be shut down by the government to make room for Apple and Ubuntu then you will receive great honors from the “Digg Community”.  Ya, they even went so far as to recognize themselves as a commune.

But be warned: should you digress from the completely liberal opinions on the site you may be “reported as offensive”.  You see, there is no room for your own thought outside of the liberal confines of the Digg moderators.  Don’t tell the truth.  Just throw out some witty frat-boy banter to make the college kids giggle to see them reply “OMGROFLOL!!!”.  But don’t be too witty.  It will come off as disingenuous and you will be marked for a frat boy rebuttal.  Speak too much truth and you’ll definitely be labeled a “troll”.

So remember, there’s no such thing as an “illegal immigrant”, green is always good, conservatives are always wrong and enjoy yourself on Digg.  And don’t forget to bring your latest Playstation 3, Xbox or Wii game review.  I’m not sure if they’ll let you in without something that important.

Hey retailers, want to alienate and really piss off your suppliers?  Chose an “EDI Outsourcing Specialist”, like SPS Commerce, to handle your electronic document transactions.  SPS Commerce will work diligently with you to strong arm your vendors into paying their “set up” fees, charges for “testing” and additional charges for “testing penalties”.  Then there are the document fees, monthly fees and other expenses almost guaranteed to make it cost more to sell products to you at a reasonable margin.  In fact the list of fees and charges incurred by your suppliers, payable to SPS Commerce, could make it a hard decision for them to continue doing business with you.

But wait, you are the retailer.  The suppliers and manufacturers need you, right?  They’ll pay whatever necessary to continue having you buy their wholesale products for placement on your shelf, correct?  WRONG.

I can’t name specific accounts but I can tell you that the company I work for has specifically decided to stop selling to customers who have contracted SPS Commerce to handle their EDI implementation.  You see, first you select SPS to handle your EDI interconnects and then SPS goes to work enforcing your EDI requirements for their fees.  It’s complete extortion and a aggravating business model.   There’s a cure for VAN’s.  It’s called AS2 direct.

Most major retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot etc., have decided to move to AS2 direct because it reduces and practically eliminates the cost of EDI transactions on both sides.  For the one time price of software, such as Gentran or Biztalk and Lexicom, IT departments can trade security certificates and transmit EDI documents to and from each other with little or no cost beyond simple administration.This reduces the cost of doing business for the suppliers.  Instead of paying extortion fees to a company like SPS Commerce, for the wonderful privilege of testing through them, suppliers can return the savings to the customer (reseller).

AS2 is a win-win.  SPS Commerce is a failure in both supplier and customer relations.  I’m sure they sell themselves as a cost saving, economical solution for the retailer but just remember the moment you selected SPS as your “EDI Outsourcing Specialist” the next time your suppliers and manufacturers raise their product prices.

Oh and as far as SPS testing AS2, they do.  For an additional $500 fee.

Reuters reported this morning “Obama has invited several large trade groups, including the American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the American Hospital Association, to discuss wringing savings from the health system”.

And do you know what every one of these groups is discussing on their way to this meeting?   They’re each deriving ways they can come away from Washington and maintain or increase their profit levels.  All they care about is making sure that revenue stays the same or increases.  The AMA wants the health insurers to pay more, they will no doubt fall to the malpractice insurance argument.  The health insurers will argue that the hospital associations need to reduce operating expenses and the hospitals will want to pay less to Doctors and increase the payouts by insurers to cover their “operating expenses” (that’s code for shareholder return).

Capitalist, Socialist… whatever you want to call yourself, know this: As long as taking care of shareholders is the primary focus of these organizations the one thing that will not come up in the conversation as a point of concern is care for the sick, injured and dying.  Patient care and patient monetary expense is an afterthought in the Wall Street bureaucracy that is the American health care system.

So despite Obama’s nice little gesture only the most naive of the hopeful among us could possibly believe any meeting involving these organizations will evolve into less expensive or better care.  Wishful thinking without the guts to stand up to corporatism is nothing more than pandering to the whims of big business.  That’s what Obama is doing.  When it comes to health care in America you either stand on the side of corporate revenue or patient care.  There is no in between.  Patient care lost a long time ago.  You are a number in a process.  Stay healthy.   But even that concept once promoted by a few health insurers (wellness programs) were cut when they realized it costs money to promote wellness.  Some highly paid think tank ran the math and figured out it was cheaper to let people get sick and deny the claims.

All of the golf carts at the Wendell Country Club (my weekend stomping ground) burned to ashes early this morning.  I am grief strucken beyond my ability to put into words and may need to seek professional help.  These carts were young, only a couple of years old.  Lightening is to blame so perhaps God is trying to tell me something about how I should spend the weekend (I will be working).  Why oh why was there no mercy for these poor, innocent golf carts?

The last 72 hours have been a particularly hard, emotional roller coaster on my very dear friend Desiree Wynder and her family.  As reported in the local news this week Desiree’s brother, Ian Quick, known to everyone locally as Spyk, was killed by a hit and run driver while riding his street legal scooter (not a moped) on I-40 near Gorman Street.  I first met Spyk when he first moved to Raleigh which was about two years ago despite media reports that he was in the area “about a year”.

When the story was initially reported in the news on Monday the driver of the Yellow Xterra that hit Spyk had not been identified.  The police told Desiree and her mother, Heidi, that there was a 72 hour window before most of the leads could dry up and the trail could go cold.  The detectives were up against the clock.  Desiree worked diligently with law enforcement and the media to keep Spyk’s story in the headlines so people would be on the lookout for the Xterra.

Spyk was a cook at The Raleigh Times Bar where he was adored by his co-workers and the patrons.  The management at the Times agreed to pay for all of the funeral expenses and then organized a memorial, which was held last night, not only to honor Spyk but also to provide more media coverage to find the hit and run driver.  It may have worked faster than anyone expected.

As the memorial got underway I was talking with Desiree at the bar.  She went to talk to her grandfather and returned just moments later and told me “they found him”.  Just as she was telling me this her phone rang.  It was the lead detective on the case letting her know the information she had was correct.  I asked her twice “what’s his name”?  “Gavin Hawk” she repeated as the officer told her.  The timing was uncanny. The 48 hour mark, the window of time in which most cases are solved, was quickly approaching.

Twenty eight year-old Gavin Clifford Hawk was previously convicted on January 28, 2008 of a Class H Felony for “speeding to elude arrest” according to the NC Dept. of Corrections Offenders web site.  Gavin obviously has a history of driving irresponsibly and then racing away from the scene.  So it’s time for the book to be thrown.  The cowardly son of a bitch also tried to slit his wrists before his arrest.  I wish he’d succeeded and save the courts time and money.

Watching Heidi’s tears turn from anger and sorrow to joy, if only for a moment, was a life event I will never forget.  We drank to Spyk and we drank to Gavin Hawks arrest.  Spyk can rest knowing that his killer has been apprehended.  My faith in our local judicial system is weak but I hope that for once, in this instance, Gavin Hawk grows old in prison.  His life should be over for the selfish crime he committed against a man who is one thousand times the person he is.  You shouldn’t have run Gavin.  You will pay a heavy price for your continuous, cowardly acts.  Although I considered including Gavin’s picture in this post, I will not do him the honor.  The goal moving forward is to remember Spyk and forget the coward who killed him as he rots in the NC prison system.