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January 25, 2007
January 24, 2007
Easy Money
While I continue on the Survey path I have found out that its not that easy. Well maybe it is easy, but it sure is boring as heck. I constantly have to fill out the exact same forms over and over again due to my nature to visit the same stores over and over again.
The newest form I got to fill out was for the SC Education Lottery. Last week when I was in Rock Hill I decided to buy a few lottery tickets. With that purchase I got another form to fill out for a second chance winnings. Well come to find out that I won $20 off of that first purchase. I took that money and reinvested it back into the lottery (hey its up to 240 Million) and got another one of those second chance ticket forms. Next thing I know my company and a few other people went in $10 a piece and bought $100 worth of tickets. That gave me 10 more second chance forms. (I don't consider this to be a part of the lottery pull due to the fact that I personally had to fill them all out and mail them back in each in their own envelope. So sorry folks if I actually do win on the second chance thing. I did all the work where as everybody else would have thrown them away. People paid to be a part of buying lottery tickets to win the 240 Million noting else!)
I haven't noticed any increase in junk mail in either my email account (I may have made a mistake in setting it up threw gooogle because they have great spam filters) or snail mail.
I did receive my first perk from filling out a rebate form. Heidi and I received two free tickets to Night At The Museum (ok film) thanks to us spending $100 on gift cards at Lowes.
January 22, 2007
BBQ: To Be Judged By In South Carolina
SCBA
www.scbarbeque.com
CLASS 1/20/07
Taught by the president of the SCBA
Background as a wine judge.
Judging Class AM
About SCBA PM
Sauce Class & Cooking Class This Summer
"The BBQ Culture In South Carolina"
The Unrecognized Capital
Invented Here In SC In The 1500's
4 Different Kinds Of BBQ - Light Or Heavy Tomato Base, Mustard Base, Vinegar Base
Marketing, Promotion & Advertising To Get SC On The Map
"It's all about the BBQ!!!!!"
3 Rules To Spread The Gospel
"Toot Your Own Horn"
"Turn Out The Best Judges"
"Carolina Q-Cup: Education Public on all four types of BBQ"
JUDGING
Reason To Have Judging Structure
Make a uniform structure in order to level the playing field
What Is Looked For In A Judge
Fairness - Just be fair
Objectivity - Try to eliminate bias. Preserve The Order. Eliminate inappropriate remarks, body language etc.
Consistency - In the individual Judge. Consistency in the judges table.
Criteria In Judging
Appearance - "Do you want to take a bite?" "Is it swimming?" "Do you see fat chunks?"
Aroma - Know the difference between types of sauces and use it to your advantage. ie. See Interesting Facts
Tenderness - Watch for the difference between tender and "mushy."
Taste - Use personal taste but be aware of the four types and what is in the genetic make-up of each type.
Overall - Should recap your other scores in the the other areas. Don't let it contradict your other scores.
Scoring System:
SCBA works on a build system and weighted system.
Work with decimals. Just like working with a 100 point scale.
SCBA does not do "on-site" judging, only blind judging.
Novice judges (AKA Myself) are hypercritical.
Pace Yourself. You have a lot to eat!
Assume nothing.
Reevaluate your scores.
The Rules
(As per how I heard them. These were not stated as rules per say, but is my interpretation. No actual handout was giving.)
* Palette has to be clean before judging. No soda, tea, beer etc. before judging.
* SCBA keeps all judges scores for all of the test.
* Can't talk about the BBQ with the other judges while judging.
* Judging is on a 1-17 scale. The average score is 13.7. Use this as your scale. 13.7 is average. You would possible go back to eat more of. Anything lower you wouldn't go eat again.
* Table captain can change your score.
* Normally don't ever taste and judge over 8 spots of BBQ. Max is 10.
* Scores tend to go lower over time.
* Temperature affects taste. Don't let it influence your judging too much.
* Be generous. If you are going to error the error on then high side.
* Run with the pack. Don't be too high or too low.
* Three off rule. If you are three off of the general consensus score then it is normally you with the with the problem.
* Normally need to judge about 1/2 cup of BBQ.
* In case of a tie in judging, you go back to the sheets and recalculate the taste column only. If for some reason there is still a tie you then calculate the tenderness.
Lessons Learned And To Be Learned By
"My BBQ Is The Best"
To truly be number 1, you go threw the MBA BBQ Circuit in SC.
Don't fall into the trap of this "BBQ is number 1."
"It can all be good!"
Good BBQ is good, no matter what type of BBQ it is.
Separate personal taste from favorite type of BBQ.
Be judgmental not bashing.
Know the difference between quality and personal biases.
Do not pre-judge.
Don't have prejudice.
"Be judgmental"
You are here to judge not be entertained.
Lay it all out there, be fair and critical.
"Don't screw the cooker."
Mountain Effect -
Due to the nature of hunger your first bite tends to be one of the best. But this is a basis judgment. It tends to be the middle one that you try will get the highest score and then goes down the mountain after that. Be flexible with your tasting. Understand your personal flaws. Make sure the cooker gets his/her fair stake no matter what spot you judge them.
Be consistent with your judging. But continue to learn about BBQ.
"Decent Judges But Terrible Scorer"
Understands the judging process but not the scoring process.
Most of the time judges rate in the same order but tend to have overall lower scores than the rest of the judges.
Interesting Facts Or Comments Overheard:
2 Out Of 3 Cookers In SC Use Gas
Normally pulled meat wins, over all others in SC.
In KC sliced never wins.
Tomato Kills Odor / Mustard does not
NC BBQ is sponsored by Department of Agriculture
Things To Check Out:
National BBQ News
Kansas City Has A Certification as well - Largest Operation In Country
Kansas City Royal BBQ Competition
Memphis In May
January 16, 2007
Comic Book Pez
I came across this ad the other day in an old comic. I thought it was pretty cool. Upon further investigation I think that the ads in older comic books have a very peculiar design since to them that I really enjoy. If you ever get a chance I suggest you look threw a few ads in old comics - you will find tons of cool toys and gadgets that you have forgot all about - its just as good as reading the comics themselves!
January 15, 2007
Lee, Flash & Fishburn
What do Spike Lee, Grandmaster Flash and at the time "Larry" Fishburn have in common?
Check out this video for a quick recap on the Life and Times Of EPMD. (So much for me claiming I used to be a Hip Hop kid. I didn't know any of this or the fact that EPMD stand for Eric and Parish Making Dollars!)
January 12, 2007
Put You're Hands Up
Here goes a quick little insight to something I am working on. Can you name where each one comes from.
January 08, 2007
Water Water Everywhere
After two weeks of constant rain with no end in sight I decided to go ahead and put up the roof on my little pitch located on the back of my garage.
Now Sat. would have been the perfect day to have done it. It was bright and sunny. Not too hot or too cold. But I got caught up playing Sammy Pope Jr. at the final Pope Estate settlement. Since my dad found out about it on late notice there was no way he could make it down for the event. So I was there in his absence.
Now I am not that personable when it comes to family. My Dad has 8 brothers and sisters with each one of them (except one) having kids and most having grandkids and some having great grandkids. Needless to say there was a lot of people there some of which I hardly have anything in common with other than the bloodline. The problem with family is you can't really say "go to hell" or any other youthisims if they treat you like an inferior. So I was worried from the start. I had to act like an adult, play Sammy Pope Jr., and not really say anything cause I was just a grandkid; let me tell you it was not fun.
With an estate settlement it could have been very nerve racking dealing with all of these individuals at once, but my Uncle Joe did a great job explaining everything and it was very civil. I knew I had a few task at hand that my father told me I need to take care of for him. I had to remove the rest of my fathers stuff from inside the house and a few things from outside. Little did I know that since I "had a truck" (I guess that is all the qualifications it takes -- or maybe it was the fact I was a grandkid and could be told what to do?) that I got to take things off to the dump, drop stuff off at other peoples houses and elected to come back at a later date to remove other unwanted items. Luckily it wasn't that bad thanks to my cousin Robby and two other cousins from Argentina.
But needless to say it ended up consuming my entire day.
So Sunday it was for putting up the little roof.
But in small town American nothing really opens till noon on Sundays and by that time it had begun to sprinkle. I knew I had to get it done cause the rain was to continue the entire week. So I picked up a few shingles and preceded home. By the time I actually started working it was pouring down rain. I am not sure if any of you have tried putting up shingles in the rain but let me tell you it is not that much fun.
Since I am no carpenter my little pitch wasn't that sturdy which meant no possible way to actually climb on it. This wasn't that big of a problem due to the small size of the area to be covered by shingles. I reached most of the area by standing on a ladder with the other part I had planned on laying on the garage roof and nailing backwards. The first part went pretty well in the rain. Other than me getting a little wet I had no major hiccups. That was until I got on the roof to nail up the shingles backwards. I got a little disoriented b doing it upside down and one row of shingles about half way down got a little skewed. I also found out I could hammer with my left hand better than I originally thought. I got really scrapped up from laying on the shingles. My knees and elbows have strawberries on them. Ohh yea and did I mention by this time is was really pouring? But any-who I got it done and looks good enough. It will keep rain off the back wall and give me a little more storage space for my junk.
Later that night Heidi and I got to eat dinner with our friends Glenn & Valerie and got to hear about there extended family problems. I guess its good to know that most everybody has a pretty messed up families.
Map Quest For Mass Transit
The other mourning I got up and had a new idea. I wasn't sure if this idea has been done before but I thought it was a pretty good idea.
I hate it when I go to a new city and I don't know how to find my way around. My only means of transportation is what ever the public transportation provides so I have to find out how to navigate using the bus and rail systems. My thought was to have a map quest system for public transportation. Since most public transit centers around time tables and important places it could help you with what time to be at what bus stop or train stop. It would tell you where to make transfers and what matter of transportation you would have to take next. If would even tell you if you had to walk or not. You could download the directions to your phone or pda and be good to go.
Upon further investigation the only thing close I discovered was on the Washington Metropolitan Area Website. They have a pretty sweet system. You can limit your transfers and say you only want to walk a min amount. It also gives you help and tips not to mention how much the combined fair will be. Much props to Washington D.C. It's no wonder they got picked No 1 by Wired for Top Geek City's.
I think they could market this technology to all other major cities. A useful tool to any traveler.
Walls Of Fire
Over the holiday break I got a chance to do a little work on the VW. This time it was taking out the old rusty fire wall in the 71 and replacing it with a brand new one that I got from Clip 1.
At first Paul and I talked about it and decided the best thing to do was to wait till I got the replacement pan it to make sure I knew what to cut out and what to leave. So that I did. Once I got the new part in hand I decided to take it nice and slow. Only cut out sections at a time. So with my sawzaw in hand I began to cut away sections.
Form time to time I would admire the job I was doing and look over at the new part. I began to see just how the old one was put it and compared it to exactly the specification of the new new fire wall. I figured out that the entire old piece was spot welded into place.
With this new found knowledge I got out my new air chisel and began to knock off all of the spot welds. What I was left with was a perfect fitting. The old one out, the new one placed in.
The next step is to prep the surface for welding!
January 03, 2007
A New Set
Pez That Is
Day 1
So its officially started. Today I filled out three surveys. Each one on different sites containing a lot of the same questions. The three surveys took on average about 5-6 min. to complete with each one having an incentive to fill out the forms.
The breakdown is as follows:
1) Food Lion Survey: Win $1000.00 Cash Weekly
(However the website said $250.00. Due to not actually reading survey rules there could be some grey area in there. Maybe I should update my set of rules to include this, what do you think?)
2) Home Depot Survey: $5000 Home Depot Gift Card
3) Qdoba Mexican Grill Survey: $10,000
Survey Experiment
One of my new year's resolutions is to quit being an old man. Many different things go into this resolution which I will not go into here. For the most part however it means to quit being lazy. I want to be more creative, learn new things and tap into the side of me that has been dormant for so long.
One such idea I had was to do an experiment. A year long experiment documenting myself filling out survey forms, monitoring the amount of junk mail (both email and snail mail) associated with filling out such forms and keeping track of time spent verses possible reward.
In preparation I have came up with a few rules, set up a email account for survey use only (Nakia's Idea) and set a time frame.
The rules are as follows:
1) Must fill out any survey that is brought to my attention.
--This could be a cashier telling me about one, me noticing one on my receipt, friends telling me about such surveys (I am not soliciting any though), or any promotional deal going on at any of the stores I visit.
2) Web surveys and phone surveys both apply.
3) Surveys have to filled out promptly and completely.
4) Fill out any additional surveys generated from original survey.
5) Product questions and comments count.
-- I fell as if this fits into the survey category due to the nature of what a survey is normally conducted for. There are two main areas in which I will use this for:
A) To complain about a product that does not live up to its expectations.
B) To give praise to a product that exceeds expectation.
I will only do this if the products packing explicitly states "Any comments or suggestions..."
(I am looking for feedback to my rules. Any suggestions, potential flaws or new ideas?)
I will post some of my findings on www.andrepope.com in the section Survey Says from time to time but will mostly keep the experiment to myself. I have a feeling that it will be quite boring to read about (or watch about). However by keeping track of all the surveys I fill out and document any winnings there is a small chance that the idea could foster into a small little film.
So wish me luck and prey my phone, mailbox and email filters are large enough. Who knows maybe I will actually win something along the way.
Welcome Back Carter
So its a new year and I haven't posted anything in a little while. For that I am sorry. Its been quite busy at work lately. With the departure of Paul, end of the year close-out, and new year set-up I have been quite busy. So I think a quick recap is in order.
1) Christmas was great.
a) paid off two Credit Cards
b) Heidi is over having a new puppy
c) Got a new grill
d) My Brother and his wife are safe
e) Got a new computer set up for work!
2) New Magazine is in People's hands
3) New Years was fun!!
a) Played board games at my brothers house
b) Built a small addition to my shed. (Photos to come)
c) Made some New Year's Resolutions
4) 803 Bills are paid
a) New Invoices are sent off
b) Deposits from Dec are made
Thats all I can think of for now.
