Saturday, September 13, 2008

TURNIP TRUCK MUST HAVE PICKED UP TWO WOMEN FROM PEKIN

Journal Star
Posted Sep 11, 2008 @ 08:22 PM
PEORIA —
Two Pekin women dropped off in South Peoria early Thursday said they were jumped by a group of women near Harrison Home after they followed a man they didn't know there.
A police officer parked in the 4000 block of Southwest Adams Street about 1:15 a.m. saw the two women run wildly across Adams toward traffic. He pulled his squad car next to the pair, who yelled they had just been beaten up.
Sometime Wednesday night, the women were given a ride to an unknown house on Stanley Street where a woman named "Mama" lives, the report stated. While there, a man asked them to walk him home to Harrison Homes, and they agreed.

Need we say more....

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

You ever Feel like Bob Newhart?

In the Bob Newhart show he ran an Inn in the Northeast. He could see through the smoke and mirrors of the towns problem with deadly accuracy. In reading the news about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae I wondered how BOB would see this piece of news.

The stock Market saw it in a positive manner and today it took all that back and more. The talking heads said it was a great deal, the economy is turning around.

Why do I feel the slogan to go with this is from Ross Perot "A Giant Sucking Sound" as more taxes will be sucked out of our wallets.

Even the candidates are talking tax cuts and economic stimulus plans. That last one worked really well. How about another!

The costs keep getting bigger, and who is going to pay for this, you know I do not have to say it!

The Inn in Vermont may never change, unfortunately the Economy has.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Service, it was once a cornerstone of business, where has it gone?

In the current economy, one would think that Service in the Service industry should be at an all time high.

If you look around and see businesses closing, friends and neighbors losing work or hours of employment. One would think that this would raise the willingness of people to perform their job.

Today, It was beautiful and I decided to take one of the dogs to the park. Since I had not had breakfast I stopped and picked up my usual fast food breakfast. And to quote one of Joe Pesci's favorite slogan's "they @#%&@# in the drive thru". Well they truly did. I got my order and the drink was wrong. It was a sugary drink and I did not have the proper exchanges to have that kind of drink. I did not discover this until we had made it to the park. after our refreshing walk in the park and finishing my breakfast sandwich. I returned to the establishment and asked for a refund. I was lucky enough to have the manager on duty waiting on me at the counter. Immediately, she thrust her hand in her pocket and brought out a coupon for a free "Value Meal", which I declined since my exchanges would rarely allow a value meal. I just asked for my refund for the beverage. The smile was now gone. (The refund, must cause some sort of issue response to the home office) She rang it up, I filled out the paperwork and I got my refund.

She was apologetic when I departed. Normally, I would have not bothered. But there is more an issue at hand. The service to customers has eroded. I hear people chatting about it all the time at work and at other businesses.

What has caused that customer service to erode. What happened to taking pride in your work. In tough economic times, the people that perform should be rewarded.

When you do get great customer service let the establishment know the value of that employee.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Data Integrity will be a big issue in the upcoming election

What does Junior Football League game have in common with Data integrity and the upcoming election?

Today, I attended JFL games at Peoria Manual. As the games went on it was hard to believe the number of cell phones that were either ringing or involved in conversation. That did not include all the texting. These were both in use by adults and kids. That being said.

What portion of the adult group do not have a conventional land line and are linked to the world by Cellphone. These adults are voters as they vote for themselves and their family. What about Data integrity?

If you look at the poll data it is collected by phone. Cellphones are not used in polling data since the phones are usually not listed in any reference and the phones would be registered to an adult and most families have numerous numbers for all the family members.

With this string one would have to think that the cellphone group may be attracted to one candidate grouping. This would make that group come up short in conventional polling detail.

Would you consider polling data to data integrity issues.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Is it Fall, it feels like it, it is definitely Festival Season

There was a chill in the air today after a 90 degree yesterday. Looking at the calendar it is time for the favorite festivals of the fall. The Marigold Festival is going on in Pekin. Next week will be the Morton Pumpkin Festival.

These festivals are quite a neat happening for the fall season. Gives you a chance to say good buy to summer . End the summer with a walk around the park seeing crafts and getting some of that gulty concious food from the local venors and organizations.

Missed the Popcorn Festival in Manito as well as Hog days in Kewanee. They have been great events in the past and they probably did not disapoint this year as well.

The Pekin Marigold festival is probably the largest event for seeing crafts in the area this fall. Vendors flock to Pekin from miles around. It is interesting to see what new items are out for sale. The do have some interesting events like the skate park and a bags tournament. It is a nice walk and a pleasant way to spend part of the day.

Next week is the Pumpkin Festival, a large parade and all things pumpkin. It is quite the nice place to attend. To get Pumpkin Chilli or Pumkin Ice Cream and not to forget Pumpin Pie. It does have a great crowd.

Both these will not disappoint you if you want to get out of the house for a nice day.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Got the Delta Airline Blues.........

I was booking flights today for a couple of upcoming trips. I had a multistop I was working on and searched for my flight back to Peoria from Atlanta on Delta. One flight came up. ONE FLIGHT??? I kept searching, and ONE FLIGHT CAME UP!!!!

You can fly in from Atlanta to Peoria and arrive about 10:00 P.M. or you can fly out on Delta at 06:00 A.M. What was once 4 daily flights, then 3 daily flights, and now there is one. What a shame but I guess it is a business decision. Delta, I think that business decision is a terrible choice.

Did I miss the news that Delta was cutting out two flight to Peoria. Being a semi savvy internet user, I checked the Bloomington Airport and they had a full schedule of flights.

I fly out of Peoria several times a month and the Delta planes were always full. I feel for Ken Spirito the Airport Director as well as my fellow travelers. Do not like the idea of one flight. If you miss it with a bad connection you are staying over night in Atlanta. Then you have to hope there is an available seat on the next flight.

The staff at the Delta Peoria location has always been a great group. Hope they end up with a new position in another location or on with another carrier.

Maybe we can get bus service from the Peoria Airport to the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, so we can have more than once a day service to Atlanta.

Being a skeptic I went out to the airport to see if there was anything wrong with my search only to be told that indeed there is only one flight out and one flight back from Atlanta.

Will we have additional flight cuts by other carriers? Only time will tell.

So Long PIA Hello to my new destination Bloomington Normal Airport for my trips to the East Coast.