Own me
Take all that I am,
And heal me!
With the blood of the lamb.
Mold me with your gracious hand;
Break me till I’m only yours-
Own me!

You call me daughter,
And take my blame;
You run to meet me,
As I cry out your name,
So I fall before you in all of my shame,
Lord, I am ready to be changed.

Own me
Take all that I am,
And heal me!
With the blood of the lamb.
Mold me with your gracious hand;
Break me till I’m only yours-
Own me!

Own Me is a post from: Charles Stricklin's Personal Blog

For example, I’d like to have a ‘Personal’ category accessible to Sharon, David and Jeff, but a ‘Family’ category accessible only to Sharon. Any posts in categories other than the ones I have restrictions on should be open to everyone, even those not logged in.

Does anyone know of a good plugin that accomplishes this?

Privatizing Select WordPress Categories is a post from: Charles Stricklin's Personal Blog

I grumbled out a reply, and then set about to choosing my DVDs for that evening. The conversation between the three employees I could not help but hear and it drew my attention. I found myself listening intently as one (assumedly more senior) employee detailed a recent encounter with a customer where the woman wished to rent some DVDs, only to be told she had an outstanding late charge.

Albeit, I’m hearing the woman’s side of the story second-hand through this employee who, in her defense was simply acting out Blockbuster company policy to the best of her ability, but I gathered that the woman objected to being forced to pay the late charges on the grounds that the address shown on her customer card was inaccurate. Presumably, either she was claiming Blockbuster was making a case of mistaken identity or that she’d never received any notification by mail of her outstanding late fees prior to that day. She even spoke to an employee at the store where the previous DVDs had been rented, to be told (yet again) the news she disputed. Either way, she was clearly liable for the charges and the employee was just doing her job, refusing to authorize the new rental prior to the payment of the prior rental’s late fees.

The employee, exasperation evident in her voice, told how the woman chose to leave the store, failing to pay the charges and vowing never to rent at Blockbuster again.

I say: Bad move.

Two things are wrong with this situation. First, employees should not be openly discussing disputes with customers/showing disrespect for anyone where customers (like me) might overhear. It’s just bad form and makes customers think employees are judging them. Of course they are, we all know that, but it makes no sense to show disrespect, directly or indirectly, toward people who buy your products and services, and therefore pay your paycheck.

The other misstep is not the fault of the employee, but rather that of Blockbuster Video. Gone are the days when Blockbuster could afford to alienate and lose customers because of their market share. There’s a Redbox at nearly every Walmart and grocery store where this now-disgruntled customer shops. Also, more and more people have broadband Internet in their homes and choose to rent movies through iTunes, and Netflix offers both DVDs through the mail as well as online. In addition, Netflix offers rentals by subscription and, consequently, there are no late fees!

So, because of late fees (probably amounting to less than $20) an employee being paid $6.55 an hour spent 20 minutes ($2.19) publicly, but politely, arguing with a customer, drawing attention to her obstinacy and likely embarrassing her somewhat, ultimately leading to a loss of not only the late fees (which will now never be paid) and any future rentals that woman and her immediate family would ever make in the future. Never mind the bad word-of-mouth marketing this woman will likely cost Blockbuster in the future.

It just doesn’t make business sense!

“But, Charles, the customer was clearly in the wrong!” you might object.

Yes, she was (most likely), but how much better would it have been had that employee been given the latitude to say something like, “Yes ma’am, we’ll just go ahead and make a note of the change in your address and waive the late fees this time. You’ll receive a new card in the mail in the next few days, and until then, you owe $8.00 for your 2 DVDs and they’re both due back on Wednesday before midnight.”?

That would have allowed the customer to save face, Blockbuster to keep a customer, and saved the employee’s time to deal with other customers. Total cost? Under $20.

How else might Blockbuster revamp its business model? Although video-on-demand like iTunes and automated machines like Redbox are clearly cutting into Blockbuster’s market, will it lead to the chain’s ultimate disappearance? It doesn’t have to.

We now have ATMs all over the planet. There’s likely one or more less than 1 mile from wherever you find yourself reading this right now. People can now receive, send and transfer money online using their local bank or PayPal using their computer, even their phone! Yet we still have banks on nearly every corner. They’re not going away any time soon.

So, here are just a few suggestions on how Blockbuster (or any video store) might complete with the iTunes, NetFlixes and Redboxes of this world:

1. Give the employees (or at least the local managers) more latitude  – The average video store transaction is likely to be under about $40. I doubt they sell TVs there, right? Why not give employees a free hand in dealing with problem customers? Why not allow them to comp entire rentals to smooth over hard feelings?
2. Charge by the day – Redbox charges $1/day for every DVD rented. You keep a DVD for 6 days? You pay $6 for the use of that DVD. There is a minor problem with this method for Blockbuster in that, unlike Redbox, Blockbuster does not have your credit card information and as such you could rent a DVD, walk away, never return it and never be charged. That’s called, “Theft.” Blockbuster does, however, have their customer’s phone number and address, and they can send reminders by either method to return the DVD or take legal action, if necessary. I’d also cap the charges at the cost to purchase the DVD outright.
3. Move to a subscription model only – Blockbuster already offers a Netflix-like subscription method, and it could always make that the only method, doing away with the individual transaction.
4. Give customers a reason to come into a local store – They might consider giving away copies of DVDs once they’ve been retired from rental to customers on a random basis, or better yet, send out letters saying, for example, “We noticed you rented ‘The Lord of the Rings’ from this store in June, would you like to purchase a previously-used copy for only $1?”

One thing is for sure: The old way of doing business is starting to fail for Blockbuster. Time to reinvent it.

Can Blockbuster video change enough to stay in business? is a post from: Charles Stricklin's Personal Blog

Currently, I’m prescribed Atenolol/Chlorthalidone in two 50-25MG tablets each morning, meaning I require 100MG of Atenolol and 50MG of Chlorthalidoneto keep my blood pressure within normal limits. Each of these tablets, being consider “generics” cost $0.13 each.

One thing this medication does is dramatically cause the levels of potassium in my blood to plummet. Potassium is needed to keep up energy, something I’m in dire need of these days, so my doctor has also prescribed I take 40MEQ (or 4 capsules) of potassium supplements each day to replace the potassium Atenolol/Chlorthalidone robs from my bloodstream.

Each of these 10MEQ capsules cost $1.00. So, each day costs me $4.25 just to keep my blood vessals from bursting and preventing a stroke.

Put another way: $0.26/day to make my heart behave, $4.00/day (or over 15 times more) to replace the naturally occurring element in my blood that the $0.26/day drug steals from it!

Put another way: The medicine I need to keep me alive costs me $8/month, the supplement the medicine I need to keep my alive requires costs me $120/month!

This upsets me.

My gripe about potassium supplements is a post from: Charles Stricklin's Personal Blog