Author Archives: jdtharp

Citibank Visa (Sucks)

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I’ve carried a Visa card from Citibank since I was 19 years old. In the last twelve years, it’s gone everywhere from Europe, to Hawaii, to the Caribbean and it’s been well used on those trips and has always been in good standing. That’s why I was a little surprised when I opened the mail this afternoon to find that Citibank was planning on increasing my regular interest rate to 21.99% on December 20th. Now lord knows I don’t have a problem giving my cards a workout, but at 22% they can keep their money. Seriously, who borrows money at a rate like that?

Of course, the fine folks at Citibank were quick to point out that I could get a lower 15.99% rate and all I’d have to do would be transfer a $5000 balance from a different card and that 16% rate would be mine for the next 18 months… and then go up to 22%. Is that a great deal or what? Customer service was plenty sympathetic, but insisted that my only option was accepting the new rate or closing the account (and taking the hit on my credit score in the process). Those aren’t the only options of course and it seems that it’s time for me to say farewell Citibank. As I type this, a balance transfer authorization is enroute from Discover (with a 13.5% rate locked in) to the home office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

So, Citibank, I’m not going to pay your ridiculous “standard” rate and I’m certainly not going to wreck my credit score by closing the account. I’m just going to let it sit there being something you have to update and keep track of and send statements about until I decided what to do with you. In the meantime, I’m going to do my bit to spread the word about how ate up your company is and directing as much business as possible to your competitors.

Watching the world wake up…

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Tell most people younger than me that there were once two Germanys and two Berlins and they’ll look at you like you’ve suddenly sprouted a third arm in the center of your chest. They don’t remember a world where a great city was divided by concrete barricades and when all of Europe was divided by an iron curtain; or when two superpowers stood toe-to-toe and tried to spend one another into oblivion through proxy wars and an arms race. And then we watched that world that we had all grown up with dissolve before our eyes on cable television.

If a man is extraordinarily lucky, he gets to live through that kind of change once in his lifetime. In twenty years there’s been nothing to compare those days against. A hundred years from now when the first relatively objective histories of the last half of the 20th century are being written, they will tell the story of leaders like Walesa, Thatcher, Reagan, John Paul II and Gorbachev. They’ll tell stories of round the clock airlifts to ensure the freedom of a city cut off from the rest of the world. They’ll tell stories of every day heroics by those who sought freedom on both sides of the wall. And finally they’ll tell stories about the day that wall was torn down.

Twenty years ago today, all the world watched and wondered as the unthinkable happened, as history suddenly shifted on its axis, as the rising tide of freedom washed over the concrete battlements of an empire in retreat. I can’t imagine when I’d rather be than right here, right now.

Getting healthy…

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It’s hard to imagine that the trillion dollar healthcare plan passed by the House last night will do much of anything good for the vast majority of Americans. I’ll admit that I haven’t been following the issue as closely as others, but a cursory look seems to indicate that the federal government will be getting into head-to-head competition with private insurers. As a rule, I tend to believe competition in the marketplace is a good thing for consumers as it encourages development of new and innovative solutions and helps to control costs or dive them down. In order to do this, though, competition must take place on a level playing field. Private sector companies must look to their bottom line and compete using limited resources. The federal government recognizes no such resource limitations, making head-to-head competition with the private sector an inherently unfair proposition.

I don’t think Met Life or Blue Cross Blue Shield will go out of business tomorrow, but I do think the direct competition between the federal government and the private sector as defined by the House is going to be bad for all of us… Or at least all of us who are happy with our current insurance plan. Until someone can tell me how this program can be sustained over time without contributing to an increasingly unsustainable operating deficit or dramatically higher taxes, I remain opposed.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Doc-in-a-Box…

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One of the trials and tribulations of getting older is that we don’t bounce back quite as quickly from obnoxious little illnesses as we did when Thursdays were for dime drafts. I was over the worst of the cold I caught about a week ago, but the sinus pressure hadn’t really let up and I kept a nagging cough that I could never quite convince to go away. So, after a week of hoping for the best and wheezing and snorting my way around west Tennessee, I figured it was probably time to consult a professional. Although I do have a “regular” doctor who keeps a very nice office downtown, I’ve found the more convenient option to be going to the doc-in-a-box in one of the nearby shopping centers. I was literally in and out in 30 minutes with a diagnosis of my regular post cold sinus infection and bronchitis, two handfuls of samples, three prescriptions, and $75 worth of coupons. A quick trip to Kroger and I was loaded down with nasal spray, super-powered antibiotics, and codeine-enriched cough pills… and a bill of $6.37. All of that is a long way of saying how much I love this clinic. If going to the doctor were always that easy, I’d be there three times a month. Seriously, they’re that friggin awesome. So, my friends, if you ever find yourself in Memphis and in need of large doses of powerful medications, the Methodist Minor Medical family of clinics should be able to fill the bill nicely. They’ve got my personal seal of approval.

Can’t let go…

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I know I should be putting the whole sordid experience behind me now, but I just can’t quite seem to let the last four weeks go that easily. I’ve given up being disturbed by the structure of the class itself and its mind-numbingly repetitive combination of research and briefings. Currently, my greatest concern is that looking back at it in retrospect there were a disturbing number of what I can only assume are reasonably intelligent people who didn’t seem to be at all troubled by the issues that were driving me all but over the edge. I suppose there’s always the possibility that they’re right and I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s the case. I’ve never thought of myself as a free thinker or a radical, but in the context of people who work for the Army, perhaps that’s what I’m becoming by degree. The idea that we’re doing something just because someone with the title coach or colonel says it’s the way makes less sense to me as time goes on. Prove to me that what you’re saying makes sense or that it’s a better way to do business, but my days of blind faith are long gone. I guess as I look back on it, I grow more frustrated that so few “leaders” recognized the waste for what it was and that virtually none were willing to call it out when they saw it.

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the lesson that I was supposed to take away from the experience, but there it is. The real question, then, is whether I’m willing to keep calling the spades when I see them and dealing with the fallout or whether I’ll give it up and go along to get along.

Good enough for government work…

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At least by one assertion the phrase “good enough for government work,” was coined at an ammunition plant and signified that the product met or exceeded all technical specifications and was suitable for delivery to the federal government for issue to the Army. Then again, that was the 40s and at the time government set standards were generally in excess of those commonly in use by industry. Now, of course, Good Enough defines the Dilbert-esq incompetence and indifference that the federal government labors under.

For the record, being Good Enough defines my entire goal for the rest of this week. On Friday morning, Good Enough gets the certificate as the honor graduate. So, here’s the deal: I’ll sit here quietly and not cause too many problems and you’ll give me that piece of paper at the end of the week… Then we’re going to go our separate ways and pretend that none of this actually happened. Good enough?

False start…

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I’ve started three different posts in the last two days and haven’t had the motivation to finish any of them. It’s a sad state of affairs when the thing I want to complain about most is the thing that saps my enthusiasm write it down. One of these false starts looks promising, though, so it may go up some time over the weekend if I can work the kinks out and find a reserve of give-a-damn.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

The morning’s lesson ran two hours over and all I got out of it was this lousy post…

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I’m not necessarily an expert in educational theory, but I picked up enough of it getting my undergrad to know that following the same research, brief, research brief, research format for three weeks tends to become less effective over time. “Inquiry Based Learning” is a fine idea and probably works well enough most of the time, but in swinging the pendulum away from the traditional training model, it doesn’t account for those actually learn from listening to Subject Matter Experts or simply by reading the text and discussing the issues. Effectively, it simply changes the type of learner that will most benefit within the training environment. Sure, you’ve picked up some of the outliers on one side of the spectrum, but you’ve lost those on the other side.

I guess what I’m saying is that mostly I just want you to tell me what information you need me to read, process, and discuss and then bugger off while I do that. I don’t need a team, or a group, or a gaggle or flock to make that happen. Really, all those extra people are going to do is slow me down. I’ve become an extremely effective army of one and I promise when I need additional help, I’ll ask for it. Until then, I’d be much happier if you would just stay the hell out of my way. You’re not going to change my mind about what style I personally find more effective so you can stop giving me the hard sell. I’m not buying.

It’s a relief to know that unless my career trajectory takes a radical departure from its current course, this is effectively my last long course I’ll need to take. The rest I can pick up in week-long chunks or online and all I’ll need to focus on is keeping my certifications current. Ultimately, the brain will only retain what the ass can endure… and at the moment, my ass is just plain worn out. The only thing that matters now is punching that ticket, checking one more box, and then clearing the hell out.

P.S. It’s interesting that one of the “coaches” commented on the need for better time management this morning, but that the morning’s instructor led session ran two hours over schedule. Go figure.

Only week three? Seriously? Uggg.

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Today starts week three in the hotel and it’s not so much that I really miss Memphis or anything about it, but I really am starting to miss having all my crap in one place. Even with the volume of clothes, electronics, and sundry other goods I take on the road with me, there doesn’t seem to be a day that I don’t need to go somewhere to pick up something I either forgot or didn’t realize I needed until it wasn’t here. I use to be pretty good at living out of suitcases, but more and more it’s become just another of life’s annoyances. Add that the colossal waste of time that this class has turned out to be and the disturbing array of alleged leaders I’ve been dealing with and it’s remarkable that no one has barred the doors and set the building aflame. Seriously. It would be a welcome change of pace from listening to this bunch flounder about all day.

So, it looks like I’m going to be in a progressively more antagonistic mode for each of the next 12 days. I’m actually a bit curious to find how far I can push some of these people before they finally snap. After skipping out on today’s session, I’m pretty sure I can expect a warm welcome in the morning. A tweak here, a nudge there, and maybe I can get someone to explode. That would be entertaining for a few minutes and it would certainly break up the day. I mean, after all, what’s the point of being part of a team if you can’t deal with conflict, right?

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Forming, Storming… and that’s about as far as we’re going to get…

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OK, “Team” Four, I’m going to be perfectly honest with you here. We’re not a team. We’re barely even a group. Maybe the most generous description is that we are a bunch of people sitting in the same room chatting from time to time and occasionally tinkering with a few PowerPoint slides.

Realistically, I’m not at all sure that giving a few sentences of explanation, four hours, and a group completely unwilling to trust the actual technical expert in their midst is the best way to ensure that we develop a well researched, articulate, fully-justified, and detailed analysis of an issue. Of course deciding to change direction completely at 4:30 on Friday afternoon is not necessarily a constructive use of time, either.

With that said, I want to let you know that I’m done with the unpaid overtime racking up while we sit with our thumbs up our collective 4th points of contact. So in general, I need you to stop being jerkoffs and get your expectations a little more aligned with reality. Otherwise, I’m pretty much finished with the lot of you.