"If you do not know how to ask the right question you discover nothing." - W. Edwards Deming

Another in a series taken from student papers.

That quote up there is the second in about a week from Deming. If you don't know about him you should. The Wiki article is a good place to start but one of the many books on his life would be better. He tried to get various industries in the U.S. to listen to him and they all thought he was crazy. The govt. sent him to Japan to help them rebuild after WWII and they listened. Twenty years later our auto industry was getting their butts kicked by Japanese cars and their products were showing up all over our country. Then companies here got wise, paid him BIG bucks to come back to the States and teach them how to do business.

"Just in time manufacturing" and quality control are just two of the now universally accepted business principles that Deming was the first to promote. I don't remember when or how I first stumbled on his life and work but his principles apply to everyone from automakers in Detroit to goat farmers on Baker Rd.

Today I drove on the iconic Long Island Expressway. That's one of those life experiences that rates up there with being on the Santa Monica Freeway or the Dan Ryan. I was on the LIE to get to the nearest Wells Fargo which is 30 minutes away in the town of Lake Ronkonoma, a name that requires 15 minutes of coaching to pronounce.
The hoody is the official attire of NY. Old skinny guys from Oregon are not allowed to wear hoodies here. We wear jackets that make us look like we just came in from the woods.

I think it is always windy here. That's not surprising because we're on an island out in the Atlantic Ocean. I figure any wind under 10 mph qualifies as a calm day here. When I left for my run it was 47 degrees, but the 12 mph wind made it feel like 40. Brrr.

Here's a couple of pics I took of a house I run by. This is a little larger than I would choose but it's the style I really like. Don't know what to call it but they're pretty common here, often sitting right between two McMansions.

This one is probably about 22'x20', or maybe just a bit bigger. I don't know what the shakes on the side are but they seem to hold up pretty well and I love the aged look.

The two chimneys indicate a fireplace and the oil burner in the basement. I'm told most houses here have oil heat.

That attic space might be big enough for a sleeping room but it must be cozy.

And here's a pic of a small part of the cemetery behind the church. This one seems to be all members of the Tuttle family and they apparently go WAY back on this part of Long Island. The oldest of these headstones have dates in the early and mid-1800s. Nathan, the guy who has been my contact person for this trip is a Tuttle. The church-owned house I'm staying in is on Tuttle Ave.

This separate fenced Tuttle area is next to a much larger cemetery that I walked through after my run. Headstones are mostly from the late 1800s but some are quite recent. It's still an "active" cemetery. (How's that for an oxymoron?)
And isn't there something almost poetic about a cemetery behind a church. Should serve as a reminder that "all flesh is like the mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."