Video: A Peak Inside Coolest Toys On Earth

With all the wind-spinners, it is hard to miss the store – but it is no wonder that people mistake it as ‘just’ a kite store. If they only knew …

So I have an interesting puzzle to solve: how do I get the ‘uninitiated’ to actually take the first step into the toy store that I work at? Almost everyone locally knows where it is. Thousands of people have driven by it. But most people think it is just a kite store. What if we tickled their curiosity with an epically fun peak inside? And what if those that have fallen in love with the store actually shared this video with all of their friends and family around Thanksgiving dinner? Watch below!

I believe once you walk through those doors, the rest will take care of itself.

One visit and either you will love it and be back for more or you’ll get all 

The McDonald’s Daily Double: Are You Fooled?

The McDonald’s sign that first attracted my attention to their “new menu item”

Ever since McDonald’s updated the design of their restaurant buildings from the crazy-clown red and yellow motif that seemed to eerily scream ‘come to me kids!’ to a more substantial and calming brick, glass, and yellow design with their built-in McCafe’s, I have frequented them much more often. Their image is heading in the right direction – different eating areas for kids, young folk, adults, seniors, etc. Muted tones. Fancier and more lifelike display of food on digital signage. It finally seemed like McDonald’s was going to re-image itself as a higher-end quick service type of restaurant. That was, until I got fooled by their Daily Double.

I had seen the sign driving by a local McDonald’s over the past few weeks suggesting I try a Daily Double. Finally last week, I decided to try this new ‘deal’. At first, I thought it

MiniPost: Not Giving God the Credit for the New Job

For some reason, this upside down mushroom captures my feelings today.

I feel like a doo-fidgit. What was I thinking? I realized last night that in my last post about my new job, I didn’t even give God any credit. That was not just an oversight, that was downright stupid. Very Herod and Acts 12 of me …

So I can set the record straight with all of you, the glory must go to God whose hand was quite obvious in my transition. The doors opened just right, with everything coming together at a really good time, and He even blessed me by giving me favor in the eyes of my current employer and in my future employer.

Let me give you one example: the timing was excellent because it allowed my good friend and co-worker Austin, who has been part-time for the past year and half, to transition to his new full-time job while I am still here. Austin graduated in May, and was blessed to be hired as full time starting at Eaton June 1st. That just happened to be the day I got the official notification that I was offered the job in Cincinnati. So many times, especially in large corporations, the hand-off of responsibilities is done with a gap in between to allow time for the processes like HR to take place. Having overlap where questions can be asked and coaching can be done is so valuable – but so often skipped. In this case, God took care of us.

Thanks God for good friends, good co-workers, and for teaching us that You are involved in our life.

What was GM thinking?

Solution: Blue Caulk on ‘Gutter’ and a Serving Tray

GM designed Buick Regal – 1999 model year – and every time it rains, it pours … INTO MY PASSENGER FLOOR BOARD.

It has driven me mad – in fact with recent crazy-storms one night, it poured so much that I literally had 2 inches of standing water when I opened my car the next morning – sitting there on the passenger floor board smiling up at me. Not good.

I finally did a search and found I was not alone – here, here, and most helpfully here. And you know what the cause of it was? Bad design.

Someone did not do a thorough job on their FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis … another one of those Industry Speak terms) or because of other factors counted it a risk worth taking. Directly under the windshield, GM placed an air vent and cabin filter which is directly above the blower motor that sits above the passenger side floor board. So, if the drain for the cowl (the area directly below the windshield wipers) gets plugged OR the small gutter seal gets moved around that ‘redirects water away from the air vent’ – water runs freely into the cabin of the car. It stinks … literally. Doing the FMEA, I would have scored it an 8 in Severity (Customer very dissatisfied), 3 in Occurrence (I guess .1%), and 7 in Detection (The problem is not tested for on the manufacturing floor and hard to test for since it involves time working the gutter loose) – which gives us a Risk Priority Number of 168. Anything over a hundred is generally considered ‘important to fix’. Oops.

But no worries GM, you have bigger fish to fry, and after getting a little creative, tried my ‘Appalachian Engineering’ to this puzzle that apparently applies to Buick Regal, Buick Century, and Pontiac Grand Am from ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’00, ’01, and ’02. I came up with the above solution – using none other than a throwaway plastic food serving tray and RTV gasket maker. The serving tray I cut up into an extra ‘shield’ to fit above the air filter.

See the video below for some more details on my personal experience. Better instructions on how to remove the cowl are here from an air filter manufacturer.

New Series About Electric Vehicles

It’s interesting how an industry I knew nothing about just a few years ago has now become my industry. And now … I want to help it.

There is a plethora of mis-information in the Electric Vehicle industry – not for the ones that live it day by day – but the managers, reporters, and enthusiasts that aren’t as well connected and plugged in as I have had the opportunity to be. I’m talking about the people that touch it often enough for it to be relevant, but not enough to be considered an expert. In the little part of the world where I romp – I would love change the world. I am that excited about using the knowledge, a good douse of experience and a passion for teaching to spur me on to help this industry to progress from the enthusiasts to the early adopters and over that big … scary … chasm.

The 'Acceptance Curve' for any new technology or trend - this one thanks to Tim Barcz talking about Flickr

As part of an exercise in video production, editing, story telling and teaching, I will be using my industry as a way to prepare for bigger projects. I model this exercise after the little experiments and sketches that Leonardo da Vinci would practice with when he was working on a larger project. For many of his works, he would have little ‘problems’ to work out – how to position the person, how to lay the hands, how the cloth would fold on the person – and he would go on tangents trying different approaches, researching, watching other people, etc.

This video series is exactly that – a tangent, albeit a worth while one that has mini-goals in and of itself, part of a preparation for a bigger goal that is still cooking in the ol’ noggin.

New projects are fun … so let’s go!