Kaizen (改善): David Beroff's Journey

3:02am: Posted using TxtLJ
T-2. Reports of full lots & ppl camping outside other stores. Police here. Many smaller lines here. My line has 8 ppl for 66 TV's.

1:03am: Posted using TxtLJ
T-4h. Parking lot & store already filling rapidly.

8:01pm: I've been up pretty much since 8am yesterday, with work, friends, and family. Need to get a few hours sleep before my 1am Wal-Mart shift. Speaking of which:

Retailers aim for profitable, safe Black Friday

9:56pm: Posted using TxtLJ
4 MEGAgrams!? no wonder it took 2 trucks!

8:58am: I couldn't find any story on yesterday's bear sighting, but this popped up in my search instead: 'Gummy Bear' Implants Would Offer More Natural Breast Shape Than Current Options

11:22pm: The fourth bear report I've heard since I moved here
I was pretty happy that I was able to see a five mile backup on my run to Jonestown today, and then completely avoid it on the way back, using a parallel country road.

This evening's traffic report included a baby bear that was blocking traffic on Route 22 at the Cemetery Curve in Easton. You don't hear that that often!

I'll be working at Wal-Mart for just one day starting midnight on Black Friday. They (indirectly) hired a bunch of temporary workers to help with crowd management, in direct response to last year's deadly Black Friday. Spent three hours in (video) training today, run by some world-class crowd management experts, who mostly consult with sports and entertainment venues. The presentation covered a rather neat combination of mob psychology and fluid dynamics, and included videos of actual events ranging from well-behaved crowds to drunks to a venue that caught on fire. (Oddly, that video never mentioned the deaths cited on that link.) It looks like a ton of behind-the-scenes work is being done in an attempt to try to prevent a repeat of last year's disaster, but everyone was quite aware that nothing can be completely anticipated or prevented.

10:42pm: Pump-and-dump spammer Alan Ralsky sentenced to four years

8:33am: Yes, you CAN be too clean
I've been saying this for a while: We need exposure to germs to keep our immune system in check

8:28am: How do you steal a million bees?

7:05am: Reviewing my E-ZPass auto-debits... three this week alone. Good heavens, am I really spending $100/wk just on tolls? (Granted, it included both a round trip to Pittsburgh as well as a few to JFK.)

Anyway, just back from two runs, after sleeping something like 11 to 3. Gonna try going back to bed.

10:38pm: I don't often point people to the Christian Science Monitor, but...
Let a child lose a game and learn to cope with failure

8:20pm: Has Gmail fallen behind in recent hours?

11:55pm:

9:31pm: My back's like 95% better, so, that's good.

Spent some time with Nate, continuing to train him on stick-shift. He's improving considerably, though there's of course the usual learning curve with typical stalls. Especially frustrating, as my CRX has an issue with not being able to restart when the engine's warm. (And the problem gets worse each time it occurs during a drive.) At one point, that meant we were stuck in the left lane of 309; not a comfortable position to be in.

He's working two days a week, now, as part of his schooling. We got and then deposited his paycheck, and then he wanted to go to Lee's near Quakertown for a meal. The roads were far more challenging (and varied) for him (on stick) than I had originally planned, but Nate was happy. (I was originally planning on having him drive the Turnpike to the Blue Route to 95 and then loop around at the airport.)

So, a bit of mild irony: Today's my 21st wedding anniversary. After a two month wait, and a call to her attorney this morning, I was finally served with the divorce suit papers.

4:34am: "No, no, no... I said, 'CASH'!"
http://CatsForGold.com

3:10am: Plants Have a Social Life, Too

Russian Cosmonaut’s Blog Much Funnier Than NASA

2:08am: Back from a particularly difficult run. Drove from ABE to Clarks Summit, north of Scranton. Dark, pouring rain, truckers pushing speed limits, and curvy, mountain roads. More stress than I'd've preferred, but I don't run into it that often, so, eh.

8:09pm: Yesterday morning, I woke up with my lower back in all sorts of pain. Confusing, as I felt fine the prior night, and hadn't twisted or injured it, etc. Driving and getting in and out of the car, and moving in general have been pretty tough the last two days. It's starting to feel a little bit better, and I think I figured out a probable cause: It gets pretty cold in here, (40°'s? 50°'s?), and I am probably sleeping with various muscles tensed much more tightly than usual, in an effort to try to retain body heat as I sleep.

Somewhat ironic, given the project that I've been working on with Kelley: http://ItReallyHurts.com . I really should buy the ingredients and mix this stuff up for myself to see how it works first-hand. I fully admit that said effort has been a bit of a roadblock for me, and most probably for others, as well. It'd seem so much easier to just push a button and have it show up in my mail a few days later.

7:43pm: Is it me, or are there just too many single points of failure in our air travel system? This article mentions one prior incident, but I know there have been others recently. A memory of one seems to be a power outage in a telephone network, if I recall right. My point is that, sure, there will be problems, but the system should be robust enough that any one problem shouldn't bring down a significant part of the network.

Source: FAA glitch causes widespread US air travel delays

2:31pm: UN: Fight climate change with free condoms

10:23pm: Fiber Optics Not Real

1:37pm: Dear Google,
I just observed a potential breach of privacy with your Google Search. Luckily, I keep my History turned on, so this should be trivial for you to investigate.

I agree with your policy that it's reasonable to inform a website about the search that a person used to reach a given page. Unfortunately, it seems that your system has (accidentally or otherwise) passed more than this.

I had searched for "hypermiling" today, and found several pages, including, http://gogreentravelgreen.com/green-transportation/the-extreme-hypermiling-guide-450-tips-to-increase-your-miles-per-gallon-and-save-gas/ . That page then reported to me, 'You searched for "natural arthritis cure".', which was a search I had done on the 8th.

Now, in this particular case, the search "spillover" was somewhat innocuous, and likely irrelevant. But I'm sure you can see the potential for far more damage if one site was given access to a person's earlier searches.

Please let me know what you find. Thank you.

1:11pm: Shades of Orwell's "1984"
The New Oxford American Dictionary has named "unfriend" - which means deleting a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook - as its 2009 Word of the Year. (Source)

12:58pm: Gotta love a site which pops up,

"Monitor Resolution

To optimally view this site, set screen resolution to 1280 px. (Learn How)"

7:51am: Five Things the U.S. Can Learn from China