Prepping to Build a Train Set

In the coming weeks and  months, I am going to build my HO-scale train set.  The theme will be inner-city or downtown.  No inner-city would be complete without the police.  One of the first things I have purchased for this project is a fleet (4) Dodge Charger police cars.  I am going to put strobe lights on one of them.   The cars are 1:87 scale.

Fan Mail From Lee

Lee writes:

I’m attending Kaplan University for my MBA. I’ve read that you got your BS degree from there. I want to know how good this school is. Is it hard to graduate from here?  Is it very well-known by most employers?  If I got my MBA degree from here, do you think I can get a good job in the east coast somewhere?  I hope they’re not ‘diploma-mill’ like some people have posted online!

All of these are good concerns.  First of all, if you are attending Kaplan for your MBA, I would change schools immediately before you spend more money and time.  This is NOT a knock on Kaplan, but their MBA program is not accredited by one of the two primary agencies that oversee this type of program.  Those agencies are the AACSB and ACBSP.  I have posted extensively about these agencies.

What employers will generally look for is the school you attend for your MBA, but it does matter if they’ve heard of the school or not.  There are tons of colleges of all different sizes that people have not heard of.  What they are looking for is their accreditation status.  Unless the program is accredited by one of the aforementioned agencies, the employer might not look too highly on your efforts.

Finding a good job is relevant.  There are a lot of factors.  Is the job you are training for in high demand?  Is the economy good?  Are you willing to relocate to find a good job?  This is a question that I can’t answer directly because of those factors.

Finally, Kaplan is not a diploma mill.  Their undergraduate programs are accredited by a recognized regional agency.  I have no problem recommending Kaplan to anyone looking for an accredited undergrad degree.  For a graduate degree (especially the MBA) I would suggest that you find a school that is accredited.  Perhaps Kaplan will achieve this milestone in the future.  But my opinion is that you could be spinning your wheels by going to a school that is not accredited by AACSB or ACBSP.

Houston Museum of Natural Science

I paid a visit to the Houston Museum of Natural Science today.  The Museum’s exhibit halls are host to a rich and diverse array of natural treasures and technological marvels. The world’s finest collection of display-quality gems and minerals and an awesome array of dinosaur skeletons are only a few of the many first-class exhibitions at HMNS.

Below are some of the pictures you will see in the main gallery.  Some of them are from The Americas exhibit.  Others include photos from the da Vinci exhibit.

Bird in the Tree

This bird was located in NW Houston in a nice tree-lined neighborhood.

LBJ State Park

I drove by LBJ State Park last weekend on the way to Fredericksburg. Nothing at the park caught my eye, but I got a couple of shots none the less.

Breaking Bread With Birds

It’s feeding time. A wide variety of birds show up when you put food out. In some cases, battles will ensue between species.

My First Attempt At Miniatures

This is my first attempt at photographing miniatures. This is a 1/72 scale of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier at the National Museum of the Pacific War.  It’s obvious I have some work to do in order to sharpen my skills in this interesting craft.  The entire gallery is here.

National Museum of the Pacific War

I am beginning to dislike museums because it’s so difficult to get good shots in the dim lighting.  Another futile effort was made yesterday at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredricksburg, Texas.  [Wikipedia Article].  The shots I did get are pretty good.  There were many that are not worthy of posting.  The entire gallery can be found here.  Posted below are some of the better ones.

Search Groups on LinkedIn

It was announced a few days ago that beginning today people would be able to search for groups on LinkedIn.  This has been one of the most important features that has been lacking (until today).  Up until now, a person could suggest a group (school alumni, employer groups, etc.) and the people at LinkedIn would approve or disapprove of it.  As a member of several groups, I know they do serve a useful purpose by keeping everyone together.

By implementing search for groups, LinkedIn has exposed that they evidently didn’t search for duplicate groups during the approval process.  What this has done (as I noticed as soon as I did a search) was to allow people to establish multiple groups for the exact same purpose.  I did a search for “Norwich” to see if my school had any alumni groups.  I found three or four (in addition to the one I had previously established).

By not doing any QA on the approval/submission process, LinkedIn has essentially caused a divide among people who want to join a group.  Unless the leaders of these groups get together to consolidate the lists, I believe that the usefulness of LinkedIn has just been diminished.   I can’t see how anyone would want to be a member of three different groups with the same purpose.  As a result, I deleted my group and will spend some time deciding which one to join.

I think LinkedIn now has to work to consolidate some of these groups in order to restore utility and functionality to the whole purpose and goal of having groups in the first place.  If they don’t, the divide created by the unearthing of multiple groups will cause the whole “group concept” to lose its appeal and functionality.

The ball is in your court, LinkedIn.

Starbucks DoubleShot a Scarce Commodity

What market conditions would dictate that a person has to go to five (5) different retail outlets in order to find a Starbucks Doubleshot?  Are deliveries not being made on time?  Have a ton of people recently realized that crack in a can tastes pretty good? Perhaps ~$2.50 a can is a small price to pay to get high?

I had to drive to five locations to find a DoubleShot today.  First it was Walgreens.  Next it was the first of two Exxon stations.  Then it was an independently owned gas statiion.  Exxon again.  Finally, I was able to locate the prize at the second Walgreens.

Keep in mind that all the other Starbucks products and other energy drinks were WELL stocked in all locations.  So I can’t blame this on a delivery problem.

Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

We went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum today. The museum is in downtown Austin, Texas and tells the “Story of Texas” with three floors of interactive exhibits, the special effects show, The Star of Destiny, in the Texas Spirit Theater, and Austin’s only IMAX Theatre, featuring the signature large-format film, Texas: The Big Picture.

A 35-foot-tall bronze Lone Star sculpture greets visitors in front of the Museum, and a colorful terrazzo floor in the Museum’s rotunda features a campfire scene with enduring themes from Texas’ past.

The museum was great, but we were highly disappointed that no photography is allowed in the museum.  The only shots I could get were from the outside and from the rotunda inside.  Here are some of the better ones.