Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Christmas can wait - We're still in Thanksgiving mode...

It's been a week to count our blessings. Lots of things happened but everything worked out well in the end. The weather got really cold in a hurry, but we had a ready-made solution right at hand - Brunswick Stew.

I even found time to empty out part of the crawlspace.

We visited family in North Carolina for a pre-Thanksgiving celebration and heard our talented grandchildren perform in two concerts in Raleigh.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving in Floyd with Gretchen's daughter Marjorie.

Gretchen has been getting commissions to paint portraits and I am seeing a resurgence in demand for custom framing projects.

Business has also been picking up at the art gallery in The Locust Street Station. That is something we are quite thankful for.

I had a cataract removed and now I have great vision in both eyes again. Doctor David Kinsler at the Vistar Eye center in Salem did the procedure and the results were fantastic. This is the second eye he has done for me and I am happy to recommend him to anyone who needs this procedure. We were in and out in less than two hours and I was back on the computer in the afternoon.

Gretchen had a minor accident on Sunday and we ended up in the Emergency Room at Montgomery General Hospital where we were taken care of by our old friend Dr Joe Baum!

Dr Joe is one of those people who make you feel better when he enters the room.  An xray and some Ace Bandages and we were on our way back home.

We are now preparing for "Dickens of a Night" in Floyd this Friday. Almost all of the businesses will be open, there will be street singers, street musicians and the regular Friday Night Jamboree. It will be a great opportunity to connect with old friends and to meet newcomers.

When things slow down a bit, I hope to start writing again. Fortunately, Doug Thompson, Fred First, and Colleen Redman keep blogging so there is no shortage of interesting things to read.

Climategate unfolds - scientific fraud is exposed for all to see

The temptation to attain fame and grant money through fraud was too great to resist for a number of "climate scientists" who are now exposed to public scrutiny through examination of their emails. These so-called scientists have discredited climate science as a legitimate profession. Instead they have created a modern day example of cargo cult science that stands as a historical landmark for political corruption.

From Wikipedia: Cargo cult science is a term used by Richard Feynman during a commencement address in 1974 to describe work that has the semblance of being scientific, but is missing "a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty".

The supporters of "global warming" are already marshaling arguments to defend their cause against scrutiny. They claim that these emails are being taken out of context. Perhaps they should take the time to read some of these emails. I have been browsing through the emails and they are quite illuminating.

Here are a few links that will let you decide for yourselves:

Three Things You Absolutely Must Know About Climategate

Email exchange between Graham F Haughton and Phil Jones

Climategate: Violating the Social Contract of Science

ICECAP compilation of recent articles

Global WarmingGate: What Does It Mean?

Climategate Computer Codes Are the Real Story

I expect to see an outpouring of support for these beleaguered "climate scammers" from NPR and other organizations who are in on the take or who have drunk the global warming Kool-Aid. The support will not contain real data or links to verifiable sources.

Global temperatures have been falling for eight years and yet we are spending tax money and crippling industrial development  to stop "global warming" during an economic depression.

Your conclusions may differ but I think the cat is finally out of the bag.

Climate Data-Fudging Exposed - ClimateGate is here

Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) has been exposed as the greatest hoax since the Piltdown Man.

In a caper reminiscent of the Pentagon Papers, a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet.

These emails, now available for all to read on the Internet, expose conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.

Google ClimateGate and AGW hoax for more data than you can read in one sitting.

Perhaps the Global Warmists will quietly fold their tents and leave the true environmentalists to saving wetlands and safeguarding water supplies.

I do not see a great future for Al Gore's carbon credit trading schemes.

Stellar One goes the extra distance

This is a drive-thru window at the Stellar One Bank in Floyd, Virginia. It has all of the characteristics you would expect in an up and coming bank that is trying to create an outstanding customer experience.

Take this window as an example: a friendly welcoming smile on the face of the young lady, clear signage that can be easily read under all lighting conditions, and a bowl of lollipops for the children who accompany their parents to the bank.

This is a standard action by businesses that treat customers as people rather than as anonymous sources of income.

The extra touch that makes this Stellar One branch stand out in my opinion is shown in this next image.

While you are banking, your dog gets a treat!

I have it on good authority that the dogs perk up immediately when their owner drives up to this window. With this thoughtful gesture the Stellar One branch in Floyd has turned a routine bank visit into a special event for the entire family.

This bank provides good service in all the ways that matter to us so providing treats for children and the family dog is is not the only reason to bank here. It is another example of choosing to provide extraordinary customer experiences.

Any business that recognizes the importance of children and pets in their customers lives is treating customers as whole individuals. Granting importance to all aspects of a customer's life practically guarantees good referrals and customer loyalty.

I don't know if all branches of Stellar One are this customer oriented, but if not it is something they should consider.

Starting the day with a good country breakfast

The Blue Ridge Restaurant in Floyd, Virginia, is the right place to begin a long day of hard work. This veggie omelet with home fries was just what I needed to bring peace and harmony into my day.

Tom King, who was sitting across the table, started his day with the Oatmeal breakfast.

Breakfasts like these and good conversation are what living in Floyd is all about. If you ever spend a night in Floyd and wake up ready for a country breakfast, check out the Blue Ridge Restaurant.

They offer friendly service and good food. What's not to like?