Do you ever notice how so many products today are challenging to use because of their packaging? Some have improved, like Band-Aids. Many of you remember the old system with the red string that you had to pull to open the package, which almost always yanked out. Other products could use improvements as well — like plastic gallon milk jugs. Sure, the cap is easy to screw off, but that seal with the tiny tab on the protective film that rips off in my hand is more than irritating. 

Garbage sacks are another challenge. It’s like those things are ironed together. I carefully attempt to open them, only to realize that I am working from the wrong end. You may have similar problems with the bags in the produce aisle at the grocery store. Uggh. 

How about starting a new roll of cellophane or packing tape? Worse yet, when the roll rips off, and you try to restart it? I struggle to get under the tape, and when I do it inevitably tears off sideways to the edge, and I have to start all over again. 

If you take any over-the-counter medications wrapped in foil packages, you likely know the effort it takes to get those tiny pills out. And if you are not careful, you get a foil cut on your fingertips. Ouch.

Hot dog packaging drives me crazy, too. I am not fond of hot dogs to begin with, but trying to open a package without a knife or scissors results in hot dogs on the kitchen floor, packaging water on my shirt, and an empty wrapper in my hands. 

When our kids were young, they were fans of juice boxes. If I was fortunate enough to find a box with a straw attached to it, I then had the task of inserting the straw into the tiny hole without cracking it and making it unusable. I was glad when the kids learned to do this on their own.   

I continue to struggle with anything that deals with plastic wrap used in the kitchen. I can’t seem to get it to stick to the bowl, but it most certainly sticks to my hands and to itself, leaving me with numerous rolled balls of plastic to dispose of. 

Unwrapping items sealed in hard plastic takes the cake. Of course, a sturdy scissors is required, but one must then carefully avoid the newly created sharp plastic edges that are sure to draw blood — and require some of those handy Band-Aids. 

How about you? What products have packages that leave you in fits? Send me a note and let me know.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

There are good ideas, and there are bad ideas. And sometimes a good idea becomes a bad idea, and vice versa. 

Last year, we decided to launch a text notification and link to the Times Vedette. It was a simple message sent out via text each Tuesday and each Friday with a link that would take subscribers to the website with the latest version. I used it, and I loved it. And so did 24 other people… but that was it. 

I thought we would have hundreds of people sign up for the texting option, rationalizing that the segment of people who don’t use email regularly but do check their text messages quite often would prefer it. We were not able to garner many, and that’s OK. I just couldn’t justify the cost of that service for only two dozen subscribers. Hence, a bad idea.

On a positive note, our email versions continue to grow. We now have 1,075 digital subscribers who have signed up to receive this Times Vedette email version. We also have 665 Lake Panorama Times digital subscribers, 525 Guthrie Center Times digital subscribers and 511 Panora Times digital subscribers. Add them all up, and the total number of digital version email subscribers is 2,776. Hence, a good idea.

Of course, our print versions continue to be our bread and butter with more than 7,260 copies being printed and distributed, generating nearly 9,000 readers. Hence, another good idea. 

If you were one of the 24 text subscribers, we encourage you to convert to the email version. You can do so at https://gctimesnews.com/join-our-email-list/.

So, we swing and miss once in a while in our efforts to keep hitting home runs. That’s all part of the game, and we are honored to be able to play. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

A few decades ago, I participated in a continuous quality improvement training class, an in-depth study of the statistical control principles promoted by W. Edwards Deming. One of the many lessons I learned in these training sessions was the definition of “quality.” Our instructor, Bob Gelina, said this one word can be defined in just two words: low variation. 

In the world of process improvement, this is certainly true. The more we can do to avoid the spikes of change, the more consistent and predictable our output will be. Makes sense.

On the consumer end, quality may have a different definition, and it varies by each person’s expectation. 

My first luggage was an inexpensive set that was quickly trashed after a few visits to the airport. When Jolene and I were married, we received a high-end set as a gift. It was also quickly trashed after a few visits to the airport. As a result, I now only buy inexpensive sets of luggage and plan on replacing them as needed. Quality doesn’t seem to matter much with luggage, at least in my air travel experiences.

Shoes are another story. A few decades ago, I worked with Jeff Watts, the owner of a Des Moines clothing store called Bond’s of Beaverdale. As a young man in the business world, I needed to dress more professionally, and Jeff was a great help with suits, shirts and ties, which were standard wear of the time. The store also had a selection of high-end dress shoes that I wasn’t ready to step up to, despite Jeff’s encouragement. As my income increased, and Jeff’s sales pitch continued, I finally decided to ante up and buy a pair of shoes that cost three times as much as I had ever spent prior. “It’s an investment you won’t regret,” Jeff told me. And he was right. I had those shoes re-soled twice, and they lasted for more than a decade. I eventually tossed them only after a piece of sharp metal cut through the top of one. Quality, in this case, did prove to matter. 

Our throw-away society is troublesome, and I am certainly part of the problem. In our efforts to pay the least amount we can, we often settle for lower quality. Sometimes that makes sense, but more often it results in rapidly expanding landfills full of broken stuff. 

Unfortunately, the mass production of these throw-away items has become standard. The variation is low, and the outcome is predictable. With that in mind, the process may be quality, but the products created typically are not. We live and learn, hopefully. Meanwhile, this dilemma may be defined best in six words: You get what you pay for. 

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

You may have read recently that the cost to produce a penny is now nearly 4 cents. With that in mind, pennies no longer make much sense. I sorted through a bunch the other day and contemplated what to do with them. A handful of pennies won’t even buy a Tootsie Roll today. For the most part, pennies are a useless coin. But, if you are looking for cheap entertainment — and a bit of nostalgia — read on. 

I clearly remember learning alongside my elementary school classmates about the art of “coin snatching” in the 1970s. We were inspired by a 1977 episode of “Happy Days,” the must-see TV sitcom of the generation, seen every Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. central on ABC. Most all of us tuned in to learn what Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph, Potsie Weber and the Fonz were up to. In season four, we were introduced to Fonzie’s cousin, Angelo Fonzarelli. Angie, as he was called, had an incredible skill to catch coins stacked on his elbow with his hand. 

After this episode aired, kids across America were practicing “coin snatching” in an effort to see if they could break the world record. For those of you not familiar with how this works, here is a quick description: Coins are placed on the elbow, the hand of the same arm is placed on the arm’s shoulder, and the hand is swung forward to catch the coins. Easy enough, right? Check out the YouTube clip and see how Angie fared.

Well, like most things in life, the devil is in the details. While the Fonz’s cousin was attempting the world record of 40 coins on TV, those in the real world learned to do many more. 

Chris Redford snatched 39 coins in 1973, only to be out-snatched by Dennis Cole with 60 in 1976, and then Andrew Gleed with 62 in 1978. Then it got complicated. Dean Gould set the world record of 328 coins in 1993 in accordance with British rules specifying that the coins must be 10 grams or heavier, that they can be arranged in multiple stacks, and that the catcher is allowed to drop some of the coins, counting only those remaining in the hand.

Well, that’s cheating. In my third-grade class, we used pennies, as none of us had that many quarters. We also required that the coins be placed in one stack on the elbow. The contestant also had to catch them all for it to count. My pal Johnny set our record at 26. But those were our rules. The official rules for coin snatching — and the world records — can be found here for those of you who wish to explore this further. In the meantime, hang on to those pennies and give it a try. Just be ready to pick up some coins. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

Can you tell when someone is lying to you? If not, would you like to learn how? I would. And that’s why I continue to read the works of Vanessa Van Edwards.

Van Edwards is a behavioral investigator, author and body language trainer. She runs Science of People, a human behavior research lab where she studies charisma, influence and power body language. Basically, she is an expert on lying and says we should all pay close attention to the body language of liars. She suggests the following steps:

Step 1: Determine a person’s baseline, which Van Edwards says is how he or she acts when under normal, non-threatening conditions. She says to take note when talking casually to people about topics they would have no reason to lie about. Once you gain an understanding of their cues, she says you can then focus on when they tend to use those gestures. When you see sudden differences in the baseline, she says it might be a sign they are lying.

Step 2: Look for red flags like lip pursing, question inflections, a lack of contractions, a lack of personal pronouns, sudden distancing, or the presence of microexpressions. She explains all in further detail, and, thank goodness, as I didn’t know what lip pursing or microexpressions were. Back to Step 1 for a moment. Van Edwards says to remember these signs are only red flags if they differ from a person’s baseline.

Step 3: Find a cluster of three and don’t take a single red flag as a sure sign of lying. Van Edwards claims most liars leak more than one lying cue in a matter of minutes — or even seconds. Yikes.

I once worked for a guy who said he would always tell me the truth because he wasn’t capable of keeping a bunch of lies straight. I was good with that. Van Edwards says it’s better to assume the truth from people, but you should protect yourself from liars by taking note of the baselines of the people you engage with. Any deviations from this behavior can be a warning. 

I had a business partner many years ago who, in a quite convincing way, would look me in the eyes and nod while he was lying to me. I would find myself nodding back and accepting his stories, at least until I caught on to his tactics.

I have a good friend who can spot liars in seconds, and he says some of them simply can’t see to help themselves. “She would like when the truth would fit better,” he would say. 

How about you? What signs tell you someone is lying? Send me a note and share. Meanwhile, whether you are attempting to call out a liar or, heaven forbid, cover up some lies of your own, use these three steps as a guide. Just don’t purse your lips. 

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707

Rush! Hurry! Urgent! And a couple hundred other words to tell us to get moving. The dictionary is full of them, and so are each one of us. But why do we seem to be in such a hurry? 

When I was a young man at my first out-of-college job at The Des Moines Register, I would debate whether to take I-235 or Grand Avenue to work each morning from my apartment in West Des Moines to downtown. That was like debating between a punch in the kidney or a kick in the face. Neither was appealing. And neither was predictable. But what was predicable was that I would wait till the last minute to leave for work and then drive in a panic to avoid being late. It wasn’t a nice way to start the day. I eventually learned that if I left for work 30 minutes earlier, I could avoid the traffic, get to work with a smile on my face, and actually get a head start on my tasks. What a concept! 

I remember having the same debate — and stress — on the way home from work. Cranking out a Red Hot Chili Peppers CD on my car stereo likely didn’t lessen my stress levels. As a young, single guy in an apartment in the early 1990s, what was I in a hurry for? To play a game of darts with my roommates? To get to 7 Flags for a workout? To join friends at Clive After Five?

Many years later, when I first became acquainted with my friend and CITYVIEW columnist Joe Weeg, we met at our office in Des Moines. I joined him in the conference room with my yellow pad and a pen. He immediately started laughing. “I remember rushing from one meeting to another, taking notes on those yellow pads,” he told me. The retired Polk County prosecutor then said, “Now all I rush for is another cup of coffee.”

Retirement certainly helps many people to avoid being in a hurry — but not everyone. I am convinced that some people simply choose to be in hurry. Always.

A Georgian proverb says, “He who is in a hurry always arrives late.” There is a simple truth in that Georgian message. There is also a simple solution that I learned the hard way: start earlier. 

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707