As a person puts on new garments, giving up the old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones. Bhagavad Gita As It Is, Text 22, p. 89
As mentioned in an earlier post the Oracle of Ottawa has been involved in a little side project about thinking. Taking the advice of Peter Drucker, who by the way I was quite surprised to learn did a stint as a philosophy prof early in his life, that you should ponder all the activities in your life and decide what is working and what is not. It sounds really stupid at first glance but try it. I have discovered that it is the things that you hardly even acknowledge, that are going all gang busters. But the old ambitions is what takes up all your time. The key to success is stop doing the things that are not going well and give more time to the things that are going really well.
You will soon discover that it is the thinking that makes the real money, not the "working", which is totally of course the absolute inverse to the way most of us in the Western world were raised. The Oracle of Ottawa is nearly totally convinced that ignoring this process can take years off your life or your life itself! It was in the Grundrisse that Karl Marx said something about a man cannot become a child again as he will only become childish. For this humble blogger this is one of the greatest quotes of Karl Marx.
If one lives long enough and gets in the habit of regular and dangerous reflection, you soon have to face the fact that life is all pretty Hegelian all in and after all. The actual process of the now is the result and cause of change. It is the Classical Dialectic in reverse. And it all grinds on with infinite torque. The key is to understand the process...
Real personal catastrophe consists in corruption of the soul. Bryan Magee, The Story of Philosophy, p. 22
Well, The Oracle of Ottawa knew that it would happen someday. I would push the start button on my Kenmore Portable 4 Season Home Comfort Unit, Model 461-35358 and it would not answer the call. It lasted sixteen summers! That is over three times its warrantied life! The Oracle of Ottawa loves good gear! Even in its demise it tried, all the lights came on the fan whirled, but the cool ghost of the machine had departed. There was that ominous sound of bearings that were whirling in no particular direction. It was all over. I remembered in panic that the parts were no longer available, it went off Sears support, I was told over five years ago. A little bitty tear rolled down my cheek...
Doomed By China and Incompetence?
I had the vivid memory of the day the wife and I decided to make the purchase at Sears, St. Laurent in Ottawa, Ontario. These units were brand new, and very expensive. At a thousand dollars I had to be sure. I checked all over and could find no "Made in China" written or printed anywhere, so we bought in total confidence. The cord was long enough, the exhaust hose seemed to go on for ever. The design was brilliant! You could control the airflow, not only left - right, but up and down! And it was built to last! The freaking thing weighed over a one hundred pounds easy! It had industrial design presence! And it served well! Damn! More than a decade and a half of pleasant cool! Never a balk or anything frightening! Many happy memories of a wise and prudent purchase!
But today is today. It is August in Ottawa and it can get as hot as Dubai! I had to "source" a replacement and immediately, if not sooner! Although a comparable unit cost around only half as much, and weighed a third less, the Oracle of Ottawa was nervous. All the product descriptions claimed bucket free and double condensor technology, never dump that bucket again! Well, truth be told, the Oracle of Ottawa loved dumping his bucket! You can't bullshit the cooling power of a full bucket on a hot day!
Founder, Richard Warren Sears - Spinning in His Grave?
After the progress lecture from the wife and my promise to be on my best behavior, off we went to the Sears Home Center on Innes Road, the major furniture and appliance outlet of Sears Canada. Hoping to meet one of those famous Sears big ticket salesmen of the past, many of whom grossed over 100,000 bucks a year back when I was a teenager...But I was awoken from the daydream by a fat jacky punk that had "minimum wage" written all over him. He informed us that he had what he had. He didn't know his product. After some pointed questions he also proved that he didn't pass Ontario high school physics! When he realized that I viewed in the light of a brain dead moron he started his "don't be aggressive routine" ! It never even crossed his mind to "sell" me. He was just a desperate order taker... Time to go...
We ended up at Sears St. Laurent way before lunch. They still had the Kenmore Elite A100E model that I had selected and the rep told me that they had 1,000 units in stock, in the box. So barring my silly doubts we purchased. Down at the loading bay the box would not fit in the car. Back upstairs to book delivery. No more "Gold" delivery. Don't expect Sears to help you dispose of your old unit. That is so yesterday you loser! The nearest delivery date we were told was Wednesday next. This was Thursday morning! In front of a long weekend! Then the SL*T brings up the operating system on her old Hercules monitor and looks the wife straight in the eye and says " For an extra ten dollars we can get "expedited" delivery from the DOS (Disk Operating System) shipping company for Saturday coming!" (Between 8 a.m.- 6 p.m.) I just about lost it! But I promised the wife...and bit my tongue...
Avoid at all costs!! Wait for the coming Target openings....
A nice young lad from Sears (really, no doubt a poor screwed contractor...) delivered the Kenmore Elite A100E interior air conditioner to my door Saturday morning, a perfect job. (Poor bastard...) I had it all hooked up in less than five minutes. And as I feared, the exhaust hose was way too short! But I kept the old long one and it was luckily the same size...The power cord was way too short also, but I covered this buy buying a UL/CSA approved power bar that made up for the Sears cut corners. And I had the unit going and left the wife in cooling (?) relief at about 1:30 p.m.
Returned at 5:00 p.m. to find that the unit was still going but the humidity had only dropped 8.00%. Not very impressive! The air coming out numbed your hand quickly, meaning that, as I feared, that the moisture in the air was simply being recirculated as I suspected and feared! I smiled through... I promised the wife... Later in the evening I turned on the "Smart Mode" and in about three minutes the power bar kicked out! (A 15 amp Power Bar with a 9.00 amp load!) This is not good. Perhaps I did something wrong. Reset the power bar and employed the "Auto Fan Mode" Five minutes later the power bar shuts the unit down again! Reset the power bar and turned on the fan as it was cool enough to shut down the unit...
Sunday night, after a day out, turned on the unit and as the compressor kicks in the power bar shuts it all down! This happened in every mode! Called the phone number in the manual to clear up something that no doubt I had done and ended up talking to a nice young lady in the Phillipines! (No doubt her other job was "cam girl") Who was marketing me from a script that covered everything but my immediate concern! Another attempt got half way around the world in just the other direction! Same script, but this guy was a lifer of Indian call centers! Trying to talk in the same idiom as a natural born Canadian! I had him in less than 15 seconds! It is great that Sears is taking care of the customers....
I truly think that Mr. Ron White has the right idea. More of us have to start thinking about Sears like this!!
The fault is in the system and not in the men. Peter Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, Part 1, Chapter 12, p.140
Great revelations occur to a man that manages to live for over half a century. Especially if he has half a brain and is willing to think for himself. One of the most important lessons that you learn from dangerous periods and binges of self reflection is that all the real money comes not from "working" but from thinking! And the Oracle of Ottawa has learned this early and often and hence is now free to write this blog for many years to come without having to worry about lunch.
How philosophy gets done...
With all the goings on and daily revelations of stupidity and incompetence mixed with out and out corruption it will be amazing if this staggering fuck-pile of a planet will survive this year, let alone 2012! But how did it all come to this? How is that the largest media empire on earth is imploding in reverse to its minor and constituent parts in a mere blink of an eye? How is it that the greatest nation states are collapsing not from attack without, but yet, rot and indifference borne from ignorance from within? How can we allow this to happen to Western Civilization? Hell, and that is only just yesterdays news....
Management is simply applied philosophy! And don't say the Oracle of Ottawa never gave you anything! How well funded was the faculty of philosophy at the school you went to? Are you practising a profession and have never taken even one philosophy course? Or even read one book on why philosophy is important? Are you wondering why your life and career is a mess? Or worse case scenario, are you fearing and otherwise pondering public exposure and legal indictment? Maybe the liberal arts aren't such a joke after all!
When the Oracle of Ottawa watch's his television and reads the news in its various formats, he ponders to himself, did this joker (insert story title here...) ever read Peter Drucker? Or, has this character and / or actor ever read his copy of Druckers Management? It floors the mind to the limit at all the half cocked disaster missiles that are presently in flight and "away" in terminal lock on mode to a disaster of oblivion. Although it makes for great television, especially the "perp walks", all that wreckage that has to be cleaned up really stops us brilliant people from achieving their tasks and agendas.
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Hunter S. Thompson, "Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl" (Rolling Stone #155, February 28, 1974)
Dear Gentleman Jim:
Let me be the last to congratulate you on your last decisive electoral victory. And to also thank you on the behalf of all Ottawans for not embarrassing the city so far... I would think that your staff has got to all the back rooms and have found all the stuff under the corners of the carpets. You sure are a pro Jim. You ain't showing or they haven't told you yet. In short man you got serious problems, whole gaping black sinkholes of future liability.
But lets be positive. There are several things you can do right away that will send strong signals to the stakeholders and the unionized employees.
(1) Rip out the voice mail tree on 311. All calls to be answered by live operators only. Just copy the system in Mississauga. Call up Hurricane Hazel McCallion. (Better yet, put your credit card and your expense account to good use and get a case of the finest single malt and pay homage to a great mayor! ) The 311 line is not a marketing tool or a public relations tool, it is a liability prevention tool! for every dollar you put in you will save ten.. (2) If you haven't noticed yet; you have at least three different city vehicle livery styles on the road. Geez guy, amalgamation was over ten years ago! Clean fleet Good Employer. It appears right now that no one is minding the store. Shabby fleet Crappy Employer.
(3) Pick a management school or style. I strongly recommend Ottawa becomes a Drucker City. You might want to pick another style. But the Cartoon U fraternity style and the my brother-in-law school of management is not recommended and is presently strong and should be quickly terminated with extreme prejudice.
The next stage will be more "difficult" but much more important. The following areas need management tear down and rebuilds. (1) OC Transpo (2) Legal Department (3) Human Resources Department (4) Tax and Water (4th floor...)
The commissions you have started are long overdue. Continue with a Human Resources Commission.
With the brilliant idea of garbage pick up every two weeks I have heard a persistent rumor that the redundant truck drivers are going to be made By-Law Officers to be set loose in Barr Haven and Beacon Heights the day before garbage pickup! Brilliant....
Think of that big water main break on Woodroffe Ave. as a demonstration of Divine Metaphoric Intervention. The roiling sinkhole of cess is the current state of the City. That brand new GM HD2500 crew cab truck with the long box that was engulfed three feet over the roof was the City of Ottawa...The big Japanese back-ho that lifted that ruined $70,000 vehicle could be you Gentleman Jim or it could be federal or provincial trustee-ship.... Whats it gonna be?
In closing here is something to keep you occupied until Mrs. Watson comes along....
