Congrats to Condoleezza Rice

I don’t know if you followed yesterday’s events, but I’d like to congratulate Condoleezza for being the first black US president, and the first female US president!
The Constitution clearly states that the outgoing President’s and Vice-President’s terms expire precisely at 12:00pm on January 20th. It also states that the newly elected President and Vice-President are not qualified to assume the duties of office until they have completed the Oath of office. Barrack Obama completed his oath at 12:04 pm. By the letter of the law, neither President Bush, nor President-elect Obama was acting president during those four minutes. Presidential succession goes next to Speaker of the House, but requires the Speaker to resign in order to take the Presidency. Since Pelosi did not resign her position, she was not considered to be President for those four minutes. Next is the Senate President Pro Tempore, but the requirements are the same as for the Speaker of the House. Since Byrd did not resign his position, he was not considered to be President. If you follow the Presidential succession, the next in line is the Secretary of State. However, a resignation is not required in order for the Secretary to be acting President. By default, by the letter of the law, that means Condoleezza Rice was the President of the United States for four minutes, prior to Barrack Obama completing his Oath of office. That makes President Obama the second black president, not the first.

Why is it that oil prices are still falling, now less than $33 a barrel, but gas prices are going up? Does that make sense to anyone? In case you are not aware of it, super tankers fully laden with oil are anchoring off shore, waiting for oil prices to rise before bringing their black gold into port. As a result, gas prices are rising based upon good old supply and demand principles. Isn’t that nice of them, to manipulate prices this way?

I mentioned recently that Tracy and I are very happy with our staff at Nemo’s right now. Well, Matt is interested in moving back to Hawaii, and gave his notice early this week. Tracy and I have been reviewing applications and have five interviews tonight. We have some really great applicants, but their availability does not line up with our needs. We have other great applicants as well, but our favorites from the bunch are not going to work. It has taken a couple of years to learn, but there are subtle hints in applications and resumes that help us to weed out potential candidates. One thing to look at is job history. If an application looks stellar, but their job history shows they do not remain in positions for more than 3-6 months that is a huge red flag. This means they are flighty and fickle with regard to their employment desires (which is not uncommon in teens and early twenty-somethings), or they are not good employees and get cut loose often. If we ask individuals why they left their last several positions, and they say they were treated poorly by ‘bad management’ at every single place they have ever worked, there might be a problem with their attitude, work ethic, attendance, etc… Sure, there is bad management out there, but it should not be the reason for leaving five jobs in a row, after two months at each place. A more subtle version of this is if people leave a job because they do not get enough hours. Well, we know as business owners that you give the bulk of your schedule hours to your best assets. Less valuable employees get fewer hours. People you want to get rid of get single digit hours until they decide to quit. Learning how to hire well is very important for your business success. Another trap to avoid is to hire and keep nice people who are not optimal employees. It is very hard to cut someone loose when they are very nice. Sometimes it is impossible to know what kind of employee they will be until you see them in action. It can damage your business, though, to keep an ineffective employee just because they are pleasant and nice people.

I’ve been out of my sling for nearly a week. I’m usually in a great deal of pain by the end of the day, but I can see improvements day by day of range of motion in my shoulder. I have tried hard not to favor my left arm/shoulder, which results in discomfort. Better to use it and feel the pain than to favor it forever. The doctor was concerned that it might break again without the sling, but so far so good. …three more weeks until my next date with the x-ray machine.

Gotta run…
Hope everyone is well. If you are on Facebook, look up Nemo’s Coffee. We would love to be your friend!

JD