At least it should be, in my opinion. It’s invasion of privacy using the telephone.

I am seriously looking at getting rid of my home telephone and going to a CC. Most of my meaningful conversations are either email or Facebook based now anyway. The problem with the telephone is that it could be something important and some bozo is trying to sell you something that you just aren’t going to buy that way.

If you need something, you go to the store or you check it out on the Internet and then you might call them. Telemarketing has become so ineffective that I wonder why companies still bother with it. I think it tells you something about the people running the company if they insist on bothering people in the middle of their dinner or while they are relaxing in the early evening hours.

Some even think you will listen to a taped message of their pitch and respond by clicking the appropriate button. So somebody must be responding or otherwise I have to believe they will eventually give up because it’s an incredible waste of time and money.

So to those people who are responding to telemarketers, I have one thing to say.

Stop It!!!

You should be charged with aiding and abetting a criminal. And I am being very close to being serious here. Your courteous and caring response is perpetuating one of the most annoying creations of this era.

I guess I’m just going to have to stop answering the telephone and let voice mail kick in. It is so impolite but there isn’t much choice. Maybe break down and get call display. The blocking thing is only good if you know who the bozo is that is bothering you.

I get tired of saying “No thank you. I’m not interested” and hanging up, once I figure out who they are and what they are trying to sell. Why is their phone quality and phone manner so poor? The bozo that runs the company? That would make sense.

I can’t figure out why Thursday seems to be their busy day. Must have something to do again with the bozo running the company and that quota stuff, no quota junk.

Stuff is useful. Junk is just junk. Telemarketing is really bad junk.

TK has made her decision on a new car and is standing firm despite her friends “giving her the gears” regarding the car of her choice.

Aussies and Canucks have one thing in common. We are verbally polite. You have to read between the lines to figure out what we are really saying. It’s TK’s decision and you know where you can put yours. Hint: It’s kinda’ dark in there. I don’t leave as much space between my lines as other Canadians do.

So I haven’t kept up on all the latest stuff in new cars because I’m still driving the new car I bought in 2002. It works just fine and Alfonso fixes the minor stuff and the wear and tear stuff that the car gets in the light use I put it through.

But why did TK pick a Mazda 2. Truth is, I was wondering if she actually read gonna update my car and the answer is maybe. Looks to me that she has chosen a very functional and basic car and will most likely add a few personal touches to it in the final negotiations. Get them to throw in the better stereo for free or it’s no deal.

So I google Mazda Australia and Mazda Canada and Mazda USA. We don’t have a Mazda 2 in North America. The closest car I can see is going to be the 2010 Mazda 3 Sport which isn’t available yet. It’s really a 2009 but the car market here thinks we’re stupid or something so they think it makes the car “newer” if they lie about its age.

The Mazda has a very fuel efficient 1.5L engine and doesn’t have too many options—extra stuff. The Mazda 3 Sport will come with a 2.0L engine standard and then a whole list of options or extra junk (junk is just useless stuff)—Bluetooth, a military-like display for your dash, a 10 speaker stereo (where do you sit with all those speakers in the car), remote starter, remote keyless entry, bigger wheels, heated seats (I won’t tell you how I heat my seat), etc. etc.

So the 2010 Mazda 3 is going to cost us a whole lot more than what TK is going to pay for her Mazda 2. With today’s state of the world economy, we need Mazda 2’s. Not just in cars, but everything. That doesn’t mean that the higher priced models with more options aren’t still relevant. We just need to have the choice and we, the customer, will decide which one is right for us today.

The Mazda 2 idea is something I remember in my friends’ first cars. I didn’t get a car or license until my mid 20’s because I didn’t need one. Public transportation, friends and the fact that I was the youngest of 3 boys in a one-car family made that decision very easy. My friends had Volkswagen Beetles, Minis, Honda Civics, 6-cylinder Camaro’s with bench seats. Air conditioning meant you rolled down the windows by hand (if the handle worked) and drove quicker. The only real option you dealt with at the dealership was the colour.

So, for the North American car manufacturers, if you want to see your business improve give us Mazda 2’s and 3’s and 4’s, but let us decide what an entry level car should be and not you. And call a 2009 a 2009. Otherwise, when I get my next car in 2025, I’m going to ask for 2 stereos or it’s no deal.

It was for this guy.

And if you don’t know who Dale Earnhardt Sr. was, you should get out of your cave more often. Yes I am joking, but he is perhaps the most famous race car driver that ever lived and sadly, he died doing what he loved to do, race stock cars.

In the field of auto racing the number 3 is Senior’s for eternity. No one wants to use it in the upper ranks of the sport because it would be considered a sign of disrespect to a fallen comrade. The only acceptable person to take this number might be his son Dale Earnhardt, Jr. but I don’t think he would accept it willingly. I think Junior would prefer to be number 8 but, due to contractual agreements, he has to settle on 88. It is more important to him that he be part of a motivated and forward thinking team than to just stay someplace where he could keep the number 8.

When I think of 3 in other contexts, here’s some of the things that came to mind.

• 3 Coins In A Fountain
• 3 Men & A Baby
• Three Dog Night
• The Three Musketeers

So I looked up the number 3 in a numerology related website—starlightnumerology. A lot of the things they said were true of my personality, but so were 4 and 8 and 11. I think that is part of getting older. You become more well-rounded in your personality because you have experienced more and you learn how to apply the new stuff you learned.

It’s Ernie the accountant at work again. He’s never satisfied if he can’t put something in a box—left column, right column, black, white, 6, nationality, etc. etc. It’s very much the same in psychology where they try to place you into only 4 boxes—thinker, relater, socializer, director. Thank goodness people aren’t that simple!

And only 3 coins means it’s a really new fountain, and 7 dogs would make it a much colder night than 3 and I’d feel a whole lot better going into battle with 4,302 Musketeers. The book and movie would be a lot longer, of course.

The significance of the number 3 in the lead of this story is not the number. It is the man that sat in the seat that drove that car on many Sundays in racetracks throughout the world. My only wish is that he wasn’t so stuck in his ways and wore his restraint system properly. He might have been able to share another magical moment with his son like he did when Junior won his first big race. Junior might one day become a father too and Grandpa won’t be there to spoil the dickens out of the little beater.

So a number is a number. You use it to measure something relative to something else. Human beings are what counts.

The other day I visited my bank representative to talk about how to allocate my small program that was recently transferred from another institution because they didn’t show that they cared. I couldn’t monitor its current status because they don’t give you a way to do that. They send you a report once a year and figure that’s good enough. Meanwhile, they use your money to make money.

And that was the line that was part of my helpful reps comment. We were talking about something regarding something else about the world economy or buying more Ferraris or parenting or Arthritis or precious metals or CEO’s or the weather, but not about my “portfolio” yet. I just felt that this other stuff was more interesting.

I made the comment that “You spend money to make money” and before the ink was dry on that one she said, “You spend money to make money, but banks only like to make money”.

Oh now I remember, we were talking about different email providers and how the bank still used Outlook and how outdated it was for the business world. The bank was too cheap to upgrade one of their primary communication tools. She was just frustrated that she could do her job better and provide better customer service if the bank wasn’t so cheap.

In fact, most of our communications are by email primarily to set-up the cup of coffee like sessions that we have. And the next time, I’d like to go to the coffee shop next door and have our session there. I’ll sign the paperwork in the office after we get the important stuff covered first. I don’t think they can bring a cup of coffee into their office or provide one for the customer.

I’m even thinking of ditching the home telephone. No more telemarketers. In the spring I will probably do that and get a CC to take care of stuff while working on the golf course. Then I won’t have to go ask somebody to borrow their watch again. It isn’t much different cost wise either so I have found out.

I’m finding, that between Facebook and email, more than 95% of my meaningful communications are handled effectively there and with no long distance charges to boot.

Just got to figure out if I want one of those CC’s with the tiny little keyboard or not.

If god had intended you to use one of those keyboards he would have given you a needle …

It’s so obvious that sometimes you wonder why you even have to start a story. I mean guys, how many of you actually enjoy wearing a necktie. We only wear it because it makes us fit in. Someone gave it to you as a gift. Sadly it’s a requirement for many places of employment.

It’s reminiscent of the days when slaves had chains that were locked at the neck with a padlock and everyone was tied together to join in some group work effort. Sounds like every office I ever worked in.

In some places of work they are considered a hazard and must be contained inside clothing. I actually had a supervisor in an automotive parts plant tell me that I must remove my tie. It was a safety hazard. That wasn’t really the reason because we had just left the front end of the building where we had a very cordial discussion with the manager that was responsible for plant safety.

She was just flexing the union muscle because I symbolized management with the tie. I was just there to assist an associate in his quest to supply forklift equipment. I was along for advice only. There to make sure the customer was getting what they needed for the job. Mind you none of the equipment was in motion. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything going on in that GM plant.

In the forklift company that I worked for, the boss used to wear those $75+ versions with the gold tie clip. He was constantly adjusting that clip or dunking the tie into whatever meal we had when we lunched as a group. It was the off site management meeting really.

You can never get a tie cleaned in such a way that it returns to its original form. He tried every way to avoid this frustration but it was liked the ties had a soup magnet or something. He’d always steal your napkins trying in vain to minimize the damage. His wife just bought that one for him. Ah, another symbol of slavery.

And what’s the first thing we do when we get home. The tie is removed in a fashion that is most definitely the same breath of freedom that that slave would feel when the chain is unlocked. They both rub their neck in relief with their new found freedom.

Only buy someone a tie for a gift if you really hate them. Why must you insist on punishing a friend or a loved one.

I think we should institute a new dress code everywhere. No neckties allowed. Turtlenecks only. Failure to do so will result in the tie being cut with scissors. I’ve seen people do it. They just wanted to set you free and that is all they wanted to do. They meant you no harm. They could already see you were in pain.

I tried to come up with something practical that we could do with all the neckties that are hanging on those twirly things in the closet.

Sometimes it’s just better to admit defeat.