The PSP program is Wal-Mart's Personal Sustainability Project, and I have to say one of the things I've found myself the proudest of in my time with the company. For all the press Wal-Mart gets about using bullying tactics to lower costs and the many other PR fiascoramas that have occured PSP seems to me to be a win win for everyone.
The idea behind PSP is that each individual can make a small change, a personal sustainability practice, and find themselves a happier, healthier individual for it, while improving their community as well. Some examples of this are exercising, recycling, biking to work instead of driving (or carpooling), quitting smoking, etc.. The kicker here being that the 1.9 million associates at Wal-Mart each making one small change equals a pretty large change in itself.
I've decided to take a personal interest in helping my store get more out of the program. I think it will make me feel a little better about the way I do things as well. Recycling, Exercising, Eating Right, these can't be all bad can they? I've already Quit Smoking, but I consider that sort of cheating since I did it 8 years ago now. Rachel and I have discussed getting recycling bins which I can bring into work with me once they are full (Wal-Mart will recycle them), and I know I certainly need to start eating better and exercising.
The point of this post, more than anything else, was to express a sort of merriment that I've found another thing I really do enjoy about my job, in a place that I pretty much thought I was doomed to hate for as long as I was there. It also serves as a nice intro to the PSP tag, which will show up on any of my posts that involve my own improvement or my projects at work.
]]>I've already been ragged about not buying an iphone, but to be honest I can't use the thing, I don't like the keyboard a lot and I'm a little unenthusiastic of the no insurance, no battery, no memory thing. So Tilt it was.
It's a nice little phone! I use the word little in jest somewhat, it's actually heavy enough to use in self defense, but I like the heft. I also like the fact that there seem to be a ton of customizations right out of the box. Add on programs to change the home screen, reorganize my contacts, etc...
More on this as I use it more!
]]>I've been campaigning amongst my friends and family for Hillary for a number of years, but honestly I had hoped for more from her than a dogfight with another Dem. In all seriousness isn't the presidency of G.W. and the specter of Huckabee enough to frighten any good Dem into a vote without bashing a fellow party member and obvious bright star?
]]>At any rate, it turned into good humor fodder at the class today, as a host of self inflicted mourning jokes had the room in good humor, and apparently I'm already considered the class clown.
It seems to be a great group of people though, it's almost a shame I'm not staying at the hotel to get to know some of them, but honestly the time is FAR better spent at home with Rachel.
]]>The store I'm going to is a really old one, but seems well managed, it's clean and open. I'm told that it will be moving across the street sometime soon and turned into a supercenter rather than the basic it is now. This will likely also put my workload higher, but it will mean at this point next year I'll be looking at working in a brand new store.
This also means that Rachel and I have to look long and hard at moving out there. I can't see myself driving an hour and a half each day to work, then another hour and a half back. The bad news for that would be that should Rachel not want to make an equal sized trip she is going to have to transfer within her company as well.
]]>Was it a house fire? No
Was it an injured senior? No
Was it an emergency of any sort? Even a cat in a tree? No
It was some sort of Rogue Santa, the kind of Santa that doesn't mind busting by your house making all kinds of racket in the middle of the night.
]]>I had bought a power supply (600 Watt Cooler Master) from Comp USA a short time ago, needing a new supply for my old box to try to salvage a decent media center machine out of it. The problem being that when I got it home it didn't work.
Rachel was kind enough to bring it back today, something normally I would have done, save for being sick as a dog and not wanting to move far. When she got up to Comp USA however they were unwilling to accept it back, as it had been on sale when I bought it. She was given the option to either pay an additional $25 or return it for cash, regardless of the fact that the unit was completely non-functional and the in stock units were the same.
She also let me know that the entire time she was dealing with the person at Comp USA they were on the phone bitching about how they were going to need to find a new job.
This is a shining example of WHY she is going to need a new job. Comp USA is a customer relations nightmare, always have been. Any time you need to return something they gave you nothing but problems, and basically seem to do everything in their power to make you regret spending your money there. Now as an end result they have been sold and are being liquidated at the end of the year from all reports.
The most entertaining thing in all this for me was that when they turned her away after saying they couldn't give her our money back because I wasn't present with my credit card, they offered her store credit... Store credit for a store that will be lucky to not be boarded up in another month. I've also noticed they are still selling gift cards on their website. Way to stick it to customers on your way out.
I've never been one for retribution, but I find myself almost thankful that this chain is closing its doors. I feel bad for the staff being layed off, but in all truth they are the same folks who joyfully stuck it to us every chance they got. I wish the employees luck in finding new employment, and I hope the people who decided the policies and procedures for this brand are losing it out the ass on this deal.
Random Good News: Rachel brought home jumbo potatoes and sour cream. Baked goodness!
]]>I guess I'll have to RMA that along with the memory for the new computer, and the old computers motherboard.
Random Good News: I rented Day Watch.
]]>The power supply on it was apparently shady, and I was continuously losing hardware pieces one at a time. A few weeks ago my video card went out, then directly after the real disaster struck.
My media drive went bad. This drive holds all my mp3 files, movies, and such. Considering my mp3 collection had grown to somewhere in the 20k range this is quite a loss, but that's not what pisses me off. What really sets me off is it's also where I had my personal photos and such, not only of me, but of all my friends for the past few years.
So Rachel and I decided that enough is enough and went ahead and ordered me a new computer. Here I present you with the specs:
CPU :: Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 (Zalman 9700 CPU Cooler)
Mobo :: Asus Striker Extreme
Video :: XFX 8800GT 512MB DDR3
Memory :: [x4] 1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
HDD :: [x2] WD7500AAKS 750GB HDD
PCU :: Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W
Sound :: Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty
This, needless to say, is a considerable upgrade on my previous computer. In fact, it takes my old computer, bends it over, and has its way with it.
I've got it set up now, I took some pictures and will put them up on flickr soon. It runs Crysis and UT3 on Very High settings in 1650x1080 with no noticeable framerate dips. All in all I'm quite happy. Now to work out a good backup solution for the future.
Random Good News: The Patriots are 12-0. Go Pats!
]]>Unreal.
I had an early start this morning, and my first thought was on my newly adopted LSU Tigers spot in the BCS rankings. After the freaky Saturday I knew anything was possible and that the Tigers may well be playing for a national championship this year.
That was the first time I used it. They slid up to #2 in the standings and have secured a spot to play Ohio State for the National Championship this year. What college team gets three shots at being the best team in college ball?
The most recent time, of course, was tonight watching my Patriots play a game that had me pacing in front of the television like some freak of nature, much to the amusement of Rachel. It was an insane game that pretty much went down to the VERY end with Baltimore giving us all we could handle. The final play being a hail mary pass by Baltimore for the win that came so close to hitting the end zone I almost had to check my pants.
Unreal right? The Pats are 12-0 now, and the damn undefeated talk will continue for another week.
The interesting thing about todays unreal rampage? I went ahead and picked it up at Best Buy... Unreal Tournament 3 that is. The game looks absolutely fantastic, and is every bit the crazy twitch fest I remember, this time with beautiful cut scenes for the campaign.
What a day!
]]>*Scratches line from To-Do List*
]]>Rachel says I always find something positive in bad things so I guess...
Maybe Brian Urlacher will rip off Payton Mannings head during the Super Bowl.
]]>I only mention this because tonight we decided to have a nice romantic candle lit bath together. The scented hot water, very relaxing. Great aroma from the burning candle, and me pushing the door closed to stop the breeze from coming in to the bathroom.
I mentioned you can't open it from the inside, no?
Nothing more romantic than your naked boyfriend having to use your tweezers to jimmy a door handle to get the two of you out of the now sauna like bathroom.
I have no idea how I'll top this on Valentines.
]]>The road won't exactly be easy though, with the Patriots having to beat the Colts and the Saints having to make their way past the really tough Chicago Bears.
There is hope though!
I happened to be in Indy yesterday when Rachel and I decided to make a quick stop at the RCA Dome (the Colts home field and where the game will be played next week) to make a personal message of hope for the Pats.
I've never been good at inspirational messages.
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