Some People...

Saturday I decide to mow the yard. I'm one of those weird people who actually like to mow the yard (esp. on my John Deere "garden tractor"). Nothing runs like a Deere, right? Well, unless the deere just dies on you for no apparent reason 10 minutes into the mow. I pull my little pick-up over to the deere and jump start it. No problem. Until 30 minutes later when the deere dies again and now, the sucker won't even try to crank. Pushed the deere over to a place where I could pull the pick up over for one more try. No luck this time. So, I do what all people who were raised in the city by two women and marry into a farming family do... I call my father-in-law who is on the REAL tractor planting cotton.

We (and I use this plural pronoun "we" loosely) couldn't figure out what the problem might be. I decide to try a new battery. The deere is used and is a 1999 model there was a little corrosion on the positive side of the battery so I thought might as well get a new one. The battery that was on there was a DieHard 27135 Golden Garden Tractor battery. Yeah, I know meaningless to me, too. But, I did know that "DieHard" meant Sears because of the commercials. So I head over to Sears thinking it would probably be best to get the same battery than risk me making a huge mistake and purchase the wrong one.

I took a picture of the battery with my trusty iPhone so I could have the model number and started looking on the racks that displayed "Golden Garden Tractor" batteries. I can't find the model number and notice two workers discussing inventory one giving orders and the other taking them. So I approach them and ask if they carried a 27135. The one giving orders immediately looks away from me and starts working (he's obviously in charge) and the one taking orders just looks confused. He walks over to the rack and looks around (just as I had been doing for the last 3 minutes) and says, no we don't carry those. I offer a suggestion, "Maybe the model numbers changed. Do you think there is one here that replaced this model?" This guy hem-haws around a minute and says, I don't know. The guy in charge is obviously irritated with business being conducted in his store and bothering him from getting work done, sighs really big and says, "which one are you looking for? I used to work in lawn and garden." I tell him the model number and before I can finish (with a look on his face that can only be interpreted, "you stupid man, why don't you know these things" directed at me and not his employee) says, "They changed those model numbers you are either going to need a 27185 or a 27195."

I see both of these models on the rack. So I ask him what seems to be the next logical question. "How do I know which one I need?" Barely looking up the guy says, "I just told you." Hmmm, silly me. Not wanting to bother the guy any further, I explain that I have the old battery in the truck, so why don't I go get it and see if I can figure it out. He says nothing and "Little Johnny Order Taker" is standing there nodding his head that this is a good idea.

I bring in the battery and match the size, unit number, and one other number with the 27185. When I get to the counter 15 feet behind me, the manager guy and Little Johnny are no where to be found. There is no buzzer "ring bell for service" so I wait a little bit thinking foolishly that Sears would make taking my money easy. I walk around the corner and ask another worker in hardware if I could get some help in automotive. Walking back around the corner with Hardware Guy, Little Johnny appears and offers to go get manager guy. Manager guy comes out of a room behind off behind the counter where I am convinced manager guy has been sitting watching me from a security camera hoping I would just go away and let him get back to stocking batteries.

As he is getting the register ready to scan and take my money, I thought foolishly I would try to make small talk, so I explained how I came up with the 27185. Manager guy looks doesn't miss a beat and says, "yeah, just like I said." At this point I'm getting a little irritated so I thought a minor correction was in order. So I explain, "Well, I thought you said I needed either 27185 or 195." Manager guy says, "yeah, that's right."

I give up.

I take my DieHard 27185 Golden Garden Tractor battery home and install it on the deere. It still doesn't work. YES, I did match positive to positive and negative to negative.

Nothing runs like a Deere!

Good Book, Bad Movie, Better Understanding

There are some good books that have been made into some pretty lousy movies. For example: "The Firm" = good book, bad movie; "Running with Scissors" = great book, lame movie; "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" = very interesting book, terrible movie I turned off 45 minutes into it; "The Kite Runner" = phenomenal book!, haven't seen the movie but CAN'T be as good as the book. The list could go on, and on, and on. To the people who have never read the books, the movies might be great, but there is little disagreement if you are a reader, that the book is nearly always better.

Why is that?

There are several reasons people can give including trying to narrow down a 500 page book into a 2 hr. (these days 1.5 hrs at twice the cost - but lets not go there!) movie, and the beauty of imagination versus interpretation on screen. As I reflected on my own reason for disappointment with movies over books, I realized that one of the aspects of books that establishes intimacy and meaning between the characters and the readers is the insight the author gives to character motivations -- Understanding why they did what they did. The movie watchers don't get that privilege and often are left somewhat confused just seeing the behaviors on screen without the benefit of knowing what lies underneath that behavior.

This is true with couples and families as well. Often we are left simply watching our spouse's (or children's) movies -- confused and often making incorrect assumptions that can lead to tense situations. Many arguments can be avoided simply by asking, "why" or "what were you thinking?". Even better, we should be able to offer to our partners some insight to our motivations and thoughts. Allowing others to "read our books" can lead to better understanding and deeper intimacy.