When I review companies I give my honest opinions and this will be a very long and brutal review. Let me set the overall tone. Kaiser Permanente is one of the worst companies that I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. They are bureaucratic beyond belief, their internal systems are a complete failure, their staff is poorly trained, and the management seems to be either clueless or incompetent. While this assessment may seem harsh this review will demonstrate that it is completely accurate. With Obamacare I am forced to purchase individual health care insurance. I live in Washington State and the policies of our state insurance commissioner caused…

The Sedona area is full of surprises and interesting places. Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, and Tuzigoot are three really interesting places are not far from Sedona. These are ancient ruins left by people who lived there between 1,000 and 1,400 AD. The hilltop community at Tuzigoot overlooks the entire valley. The Visitors Center contains models and artifacts from the community as well as details about the people who lived there. The ruins are a very short walk from the Visitors Center and it appears that they are in the process of restoring one of the rooms. The original pueblo was two stories high in places and contained 87 ground floor…

I used Vistaprint for almost 10 years to create Christmas calendars for family and friends. I spend a tremendous amount of time creating these calendars between selecting photos, editing those photos, putting them into collage formats, and then entering funny holidays and trivia on each day of the year. Working with the Vistaprint is always a challenge because I normally enter 2-3 events for each day of the year and each must be copied and pasted individually. They do not have an import function so this process normally takes about 6-8 hours. I then review each month to check for spelling and formatting errors. This is always a very labor…

The Yosemite Valley floor is like nature’s grand cathedral with walls of granite. When you on the valley floor you have towering cliffs all around you. The photos cannot capture the grandeur of this place. It must be experienced firsthand. From the floor you see El Capitan, Half Dome, Sentinel Dome, Glacier Point, Yosemite Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and many other places. Take time on the Valley Floor and enjoy the huge granite formations surrounding you. Ask rangers at the Visitor Centers for trail suggestions. Park by some of the ponds and streams and just enjoy the views. Pack a lunch and find a meadow or sit under the trees…

I like going to street fairs and seeing the interesting and creative things created by local businesses. I believe in local and family businesses and try to support when I can. Here is a list of random cool stuff that I have found from my various local travels. Cool Woods Serious cool, handcrafted, artisan wood items. Ian Beyer Metals Fun metal creations including critters, yard art, rusty things, etc. He also has a very simple and clean website. The Rusty Bolt Metal creations for home and yard including rusty things. Claire Cundiff Handcrafted stone art. Steel Bamboo Metal art for home and yard. They create both functional pieces and purely…

In Marysville (WA) our local cemetery always lines its roads with American flags on Memorial Day. Years ago I drove to the cemetery to take some photos of the flags. I drove to the cemetery early in the morning and was disappointed to not see any flags. As I turned onto the road in front of the cemetery I saw a group of people at the side entrance. I parked my car in the church across the street and wandered up to the group. I asked about the flags and was told that they were there to set up the flags. What a lucky accident! The volunteers included recent veterans,…