Opinions

I realized a while ago at work that when you ask someone to do something you have to include a few key elements if you actually want it to get done. This is particularly relevant in a work environment.

1. Give it a due date. Most people prioritize by due dates and if the due date is "whenever" then your thing will never get done.
2. Give the motivation for the task. "Do X" is not nearly as useful as "I want to achieve Y. Please help by doing X."
3. Give the information necessary for the job. Is there documentation on how X should be done? Is there a set of articles related to X that people should know? Send those along with the request.
4. Ensure the person actually has the time/clearance. At work this means "get permission from their manager" but in the every day world this means "make sure they aren't already overloaded."

If you skip some or all of these there's a huge chance that the task will not be done or will not be done well.

"Managing up"

On the flip side, if someone says to you "Do X" without doing these 4 steps it's totally reasonable to say "Sure, when do you need it? What's our overall goal? Do you have any documentation on this? And I'll need to talk to my manager to get permission but should be able to do it."

Let's say that you live in Denver and you have an old bike that you're getting rid of. Or, let's say that you don't really like our petroleum-economy. Or, both! The solution is, frankly, quite simple: Derailer Bicycle Collective.

As you can read from their own website, the organization is based on the idea that

because bicycles are the most affordable, sustainable, efficient, healthy, environmentally friendly, FUN, and liberating form of transportation and recreation, the Derailer Bicycle Collective aims to teach and share knowledge about bikes and bike maintenance to anyone and everyone

Good enough for me!

What I couldn't believe was the feeling at the place. It felt like I was in the middle of the revolution. Working poor who need bikes to live their lives, bicycle aficionados, and a handful of folks in between all getting together to build a better world one spoke at a time. Literally. Before the doors even opened there were at least 30 people chatting about what they were going to do that day to get themselves rolling on a bike or help someone else build a life rolling on a bike.

I've disliked PayPal for quite some time now, but today they really bit it. Extra hard.

Withdraw Money from PayPal - Don't Mess Up!

The other day I closed an account of mine that was the default account in PayPal. Then I went to withdraw some money. It, of course, went to my default account which doesn't exist anymore. I sent in a support request about trying to cancel the transfer which got the great response "withdrawals cannot be canceled". So, now what? Does my money just disappear? No response from PayPal.

Send money with PayPal - Just Kidding!

I got this email the other day and wanted to share it with y'all. The original author informed me that she was asking for a refund and was planning to cancel payment via her credit card company if Angies List didn't give her a refund.

Edit for clarity:They sent this to Angie's List customer support first and then sent a copy to me

While he looks too young to drink, you must watch out for this man and never ever play beer pong against him:

Well, I didn't have any idea two months ago when I first wrote about www.angieslist.com that it would have quite such a strong reaction. There have been about 50 comments on the post and it has been growing daily. Yikes.

Boulder is a hippy town. They seem to have a fleet of cars for some of their city employees like for driving somewhere to do maintenance or look at something.

What kinds of cars are they? Governments need to get a good value for their money, and they need to buy cars consistent with the values of their constituents. For Boulder this means:

Toyota Prius Gen1: 1
Ford Focus 4door: 1
Chevy Suburban: 1
Dodge Dakota: 2
Jeep Liberty: 3
Jeep cherokee: 6
Chevy Silverado: 1
Ford Windstar: 2
Dodge Intrepid: 1
Ford Taurus: 1
Toyota Prius Gen2: 1
Chevy Corsica: 2
Ford Ranger: 1
Ford Explorer: 3

To me that shows: a heavier focus on American cars and on "SUVs" than the general American parkinglot population. It also seems somewhat silly to have Prius in the mix when they also seem to have many cars that use relatively large amounts of gas compared to their carrying capacity. For example, if they had more Ford Focuses instead of the other sedans then the initial purchase would be less, the gas use would be less, just overall it would be cheaper and better for the environment. With such a diverse set of cars in the lot I can only guess that they allow the person who is going to use the car to weigh in on the process. Or that it's done with a dart board.