Work, work, work. It has been over 3 weeks since I started this gig, and I had my first major touchpoint yesterday: I presented a powerpoint of my findings to date and initial recommendations to my boss and her boss. This is where my ability to "synthesize" multiple threads really came into play: The project is tracking 3 different technical threads across five different applications, with a core technology that people don't really understand.
To succeed in this presentation, I needed to teach about the underlying technology, THEN describe the 5 applications, THEN address each technical thread and how it crosses the five application areas. And more than that, I needed to describe why it's not working today, and how it SHOULD work. Heck, it's hard to write even generically. The core tech is the mark of the beast, the Barcode, of which I understand a great deal more today than I did 3 weeks ago. We're talking about how to scan patients and drugs to make sure the right drug is going to the right patient, then scanning the nurse to register WHO administered the dose.
This is good stuff: We want to get it right so that we can reduce medication errors and keep people healthy. But all of the interdependencies were breaking their brains, which is why I was brought in. So after 3 weeks of learning, listening, and synthesizing, I came up with my presentation.
It took 45 minutes, but by the end, everyone understood. The CIO actually said it was "the best presentation he'd seen" and was looking forward to re-reading it several times for further detail. That pretty much had me walking on air. And it was vitally important to establish that credibility, for today.
As I mentioned a post or two back, I've been dropped in to help a struggling colleague with his project. He's been working on his for over 8 weeks now, and frankly his scope was a lot more narrow than mine. His materials were almost incomprehensible - he had reams of information, but no structure. He couldn't talk to his findings, and he had to present to the same group I did yesterday.... today.
So I've been spending my evenings trying to whip his stuff into shape, and finally I was asked to lead the presentation as well, and let him offer details as needed. I did my best to assemble everything and make a coherent presentation, but I was worried - I felt like there was something very KEY missing from this, but couldn't figure out what.... and he wasn't able to help me figure it out either. Something just felt... wrong....
We did the presentation, and everyone was very polite.. but there were no followup questions whatsoever. And it hit me: We didn't answer the question they needed answered. We completely missed the point, and this guy had burned through tens of thousands of their dollars. As we walked out, the consultant patted me on the back, thanked me for helping, and said he thought it went very well. The pit in my stomach grew and I decided i needed to get some air. I visited the geese and turtles out back.
Long story short: The client was livid, the consultant will be done tomorrow, but didn't blame me. In fact, the only thing keeping them sane is that I agreed to parachute in, circle back and find the missing information. The next 4 weeks will be even BUSIER than before, but at least I bill hourly. The good thing is that I know what he missed, and I know I can get the info, and I already know all of the OTHER stuff he found out. I can pull this off.
But not tonight: I was at work until 7 recovering from this, had some dinner, and came "home" to watch a movie. Over the past 3 weeks I've got caught up on Joss Whedon's brilliant space-western Firefly, and tonight I watched Serenity, the "wrapup movie". I had seen Serenity a couple of years back without having watched Firefly and I thought it was only ok. But given the context of having watched all 14 episodes, the movie really was a capstone and a wonderful one at that.
Family: Started a new swim class with Isaac on Saturday - up to now, it has been me in the pool holding him for everything. This new level is to build independence, so they're to be more solo in the water (with the teacher). I'm still in the water, but they spend time on the steps, sitting on the edge, or floating without my help. It's a smaller class (3 kids), and the teacher actually thinks that by next week we might have the parents OUT of the water, encouraging from the sidelines. I'll have to get my wet Isaac cuddles some other way. Showers. Those are nice, and he loves for me to hold him for a cuddle in the shower.
We went to visit my dear nephew Magnus on Sunday, and I'm proud to say we brought THE CHAOS to Carrie's house: We brought Zinsser to meet Freddie the Boston Terrier and there was a lot of barking and chasing. Isaac loved "Baby Maggus" (can't quite get that "n" sound in there) and wanted to hold him a lot. Bella had a quiet fascination with the little man. And by the time we left, I could honestly say that Carrie and Scott felt that things were comparatively quiet... even with Magnus starting to squawk. Glad to help.
Oh, and one more surreal image: Last week, I was visiting the geese and turtles out back and saw what looked like a log sticking out of the water, around 15 feet out from the shore. Then a shell bobbed up - at least 2-3 feet in diameter ("big as a truck tire" said one other watcher). It was a HUGE snapping turtle with that sinister smirk they have, and he looked over at me. He stayed on the surface, and was bobbing up and down. I wasn't sure what was up with the bobbing, until a SECOND big head came out of the water from underneath. Yeah, I saw some hot hot giant snapping turtle love.
I'm telling you, South Jersey is bringing all KINDS of experiences.
More as it happens.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
The Tetris Effect
Week three on the new gig - can it almost be half over already? I'm back at the first hotel again, in a much better room, and actually like it this time around. Not that I'm here that much - there's a lot of work to be done. ;-> But I'm appreciating the better location, and the great healthclub too.... while also trying to eat a bit better so I don't go all Jabba the Hutt.
One casualty of the travel is my fitness instruction: My Bodyattack Class was canceled just before the gig started due to low attendance, and I'm dropping my Bodypump teaching for a while too: Can't really justify that time away from the family right now: I can keep in shape while on the road, and not disappear for hours to teach or practice teaching. It has been a fun thing to do these past 9 months, but I have other priorities that need to take precedence. Sorry Les Mills.
On the home front: Bella finished Kindergarten on Friday - she's officially a "first grader". I think that the excitement wore us all out a little... plus Isaac has some molars cutting right now, so he's pretty ornery. The upshot is that while Saturday was the usual fun, Sunday was a very crabby day for the kids, and Pamela and I were completely at a loss as to what to do. Even TACO night wasn't able to break through it! Even good guy Zinsser was a bit peevish.... After everyone was off to bed, Pamela and I just stared at eachother in disbelief.
Fortunately, the tide turned somewhat yesterday, and Pamela hasn't been exactly besieged.... she's handling things pretty well and I'm grateful. Last night Bella played Soccer again, and she told me on the video chat this AM that she "actually kicked the ball this time". I'm so proud!
Ah the Video Chat - it's a valuable lifeline to home. It's no secret that while one huge driver for my career change was the rewarding work (and I really am loving it), it can't be denied that there was a financial element to it: Things really hadn't panned out as expected with the new sales role, and I needed to make a change. Well, last night I was doing some financial modeling to budget things out.... and did a model of what things would have looked like if I had stayed the course with the same revenues... It wasn't pretty. I sat back and took a look around my Residence Inn room and said "Yeah, this'll do. This will be ok."
Besides, I love South Jersey. I'm catching myself imitating the cadence of the speech patterns here... and am terrified that I'll come home and start sounding like mobster. A problem of having a "neutral" accent (since my MN accent isn't very strong) is that really strong accents are "contagious". "Do you want more coffee?" "Nah, we're good here. Tanks".
One more detail: Uncle Ant of the Scotch Avengers leaves today for a 5 day trip to Scotland - a first class ticket paid for (by miles) from another scotch aficionado who wanted to see what sort of tour Ant could whip up of the Isle of Islay. So we'll have some great stories I'm sure... We're all jealous!
One casualty of the travel is my fitness instruction: My Bodyattack Class was canceled just before the gig started due to low attendance, and I'm dropping my Bodypump teaching for a while too: Can't really justify that time away from the family right now: I can keep in shape while on the road, and not disappear for hours to teach or practice teaching. It has been a fun thing to do these past 9 months, but I have other priorities that need to take precedence. Sorry Les Mills.
On the home front: Bella finished Kindergarten on Friday - she's officially a "first grader". I think that the excitement wore us all out a little... plus Isaac has some molars cutting right now, so he's pretty ornery. The upshot is that while Saturday was the usual fun, Sunday was a very crabby day for the kids, and Pamela and I were completely at a loss as to what to do. Even TACO night wasn't able to break through it! Even good guy Zinsser was a bit peevish.... After everyone was off to bed, Pamela and I just stared at eachother in disbelief.
Fortunately, the tide turned somewhat yesterday, and Pamela hasn't been exactly besieged.... she's handling things pretty well and I'm grateful. Last night Bella played Soccer again, and she told me on the video chat this AM that she "actually kicked the ball this time". I'm so proud!
Ah the Video Chat - it's a valuable lifeline to home. It's no secret that while one huge driver for my career change was the rewarding work (and I really am loving it), it can't be denied that there was a financial element to it: Things really hadn't panned out as expected with the new sales role, and I needed to make a change. Well, last night I was doing some financial modeling to budget things out.... and did a model of what things would have looked like if I had stayed the course with the same revenues... It wasn't pretty. I sat back and took a look around my Residence Inn room and said "Yeah, this'll do. This will be ok."
Besides, I love South Jersey. I'm catching myself imitating the cadence of the speech patterns here... and am terrified that I'll come home and start sounding like mobster. A problem of having a "neutral" accent (since my MN accent isn't very strong) is that really strong accents are "contagious". "Do you want more coffee?" "Nah, we're good here. Tanks".
One more detail: Uncle Ant of the Scotch Avengers leaves today for a 5 day trip to Scotland - a first class ticket paid for (by miles) from another scotch aficionado who wanted to see what sort of tour Ant could whip up of the Isle of Islay. So we'll have some great stories I'm sure... We're all jealous!
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Surreal Moments
I'm at the new gig in South Jersey again this week and have some odd occurrences to report:
1) The worksite here backs onto a small pond with a walkway around it. I was just out there collecting some thoughts and my eye was drawn down under the walkway: Floating in the water was a bunch of what looked like comic books... but on closer look appeared to be written in arabic. The cover of one had an eagle holding an AK47. Other books were below it... all getting waterlogged.
As I studied this, my eye tracked and saw a HUGE TURTLE - over a foot in diameter - sitting in the water just next to the texts. Guarding them?
I moseyed back inside.... and there haven't been any reports of global jihad breaking out in Gibbsboro New Jersey, so I'll just keep an eye on things. They're moving from that location in 2 weeks anyway.
2) Some may remember my brief career in the early 1990s doing arrangement work for lounge singers: I shorthand that as "i wrote Karaoke backing tracks", but in reality at the time, the true customer was single lounge singers with a single keyboard that could play "midi files".
Well tonight I saw the logical progression. As I had some VERY tasty Penne Arribiata at a restaurant recommended by my Italian boss, a lounge act came on stage. The lady was rail thin with hair teased to double her head circumference, and the guy had a non-ironic latin 'fro, a solid black sponge going down to a ponytail (I know - how did that WORK?).
The two of them sat with microphones on either side of a LAPTOP COMPUTER and a mixer. So they weren't even trying to pretend to play one of the parts, as my lounge singers felt obligated to back in the day. Better, when the lady was singing, the guy was playing with the knobs on the mixer, adding in reverb and delay to make her voice sound more exotic at certain points. When he was singing, she sat on her barstool and stared into space. It was a beautiful evening.
And it set me up with energy to do 4 more hours of work in the hotel room. See, in addition to my gig, there's another guy there who has a big deliverable and the other consultants have figured out he really isn't going to deliver much for the 400 hours he has billed, so they've asked ME to ghost write a bunch of his stuff (for pay, of course), so tonight I was reformatting and rewriting a bunch of reference documents. Good times.
3) Surreal moment number three wasn't really that deep: It was just me driving "home" to the ALoft hotel through some very industrial areas, with the sky just superblue with dusk, the lights just coming on, and wisps of orange and yellow clouds across the sky.
As I sat at a light, just ahead a freight train started across a bridge I was about to go under. Very slowly, pulling flatbed cars on which were stacked black metal boxes with the word "EPIC" stenciled on the sides. (Epic was the software we specialized in implementing at my last job... not touching it right now).
I drove under the bridge and on the left was a scrap yard, and as I glanced, TWO cranes literally FLUNG clawfuls of metal onto a small mountain. They wound back, swung forward, and released the gleaming metal. Then I drove up a 30 degree incline to a bridge into the sky (over a waterway).... then down to the hotel.
I'm telling you, it was a very peaceful and strange few minutes.
And that's my story for the evening. Night night.
1) The worksite here backs onto a small pond with a walkway around it. I was just out there collecting some thoughts and my eye was drawn down under the walkway: Floating in the water was a bunch of what looked like comic books... but on closer look appeared to be written in arabic. The cover of one had an eagle holding an AK47. Other books were below it... all getting waterlogged.
As I studied this, my eye tracked and saw a HUGE TURTLE - over a foot in diameter - sitting in the water just next to the texts. Guarding them?
I moseyed back inside.... and there haven't been any reports of global jihad breaking out in Gibbsboro New Jersey, so I'll just keep an eye on things. They're moving from that location in 2 weeks anyway.
2) Some may remember my brief career in the early 1990s doing arrangement work for lounge singers: I shorthand that as "i wrote Karaoke backing tracks", but in reality at the time, the true customer was single lounge singers with a single keyboard that could play "midi files".
Well tonight I saw the logical progression. As I had some VERY tasty Penne Arribiata at a restaurant recommended by my Italian boss, a lounge act came on stage. The lady was rail thin with hair teased to double her head circumference, and the guy had a non-ironic latin 'fro, a solid black sponge going down to a ponytail (I know - how did that WORK?).
The two of them sat with microphones on either side of a LAPTOP COMPUTER and a mixer. So they weren't even trying to pretend to play one of the parts, as my lounge singers felt obligated to back in the day. Better, when the lady was singing, the guy was playing with the knobs on the mixer, adding in reverb and delay to make her voice sound more exotic at certain points. When he was singing, she sat on her barstool and stared into space. It was a beautiful evening.
And it set me up with energy to do 4 more hours of work in the hotel room. See, in addition to my gig, there's another guy there who has a big deliverable and the other consultants have figured out he really isn't going to deliver much for the 400 hours he has billed, so they've asked ME to ghost write a bunch of his stuff (for pay, of course), so tonight I was reformatting and rewriting a bunch of reference documents. Good times.
3) Surreal moment number three wasn't really that deep: It was just me driving "home" to the ALoft hotel through some very industrial areas, with the sky just superblue with dusk, the lights just coming on, and wisps of orange and yellow clouds across the sky.
As I sat at a light, just ahead a freight train started across a bridge I was about to go under. Very slowly, pulling flatbed cars on which were stacked black metal boxes with the word "EPIC" stenciled on the sides. (Epic was the software we specialized in implementing at my last job... not touching it right now).
I drove under the bridge and on the left was a scrap yard, and as I glanced, TWO cranes literally FLUNG clawfuls of metal onto a small mountain. They wound back, swung forward, and released the gleaming metal. Then I drove up a 30 degree incline to a bridge into the sky (over a waterway).... then down to the hotel.
I'm telling you, it was a very peaceful and strange few minutes.
And that's my story for the evening. Night night.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Bella Quote
"I don't want to be popular. It is better to be rare."
(Bella, last night in bed to Pamela)
No comment - I love that girl.
(Bella, last night in bed to Pamela)
No comment - I love that girl.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Jersey
First week of the interim gig - and while I did fly into Philly, My trip took me 15 miles due east to the wonders of South Jersey. Here's what I gotta say:
1) So far, there are a LOT of people who do in fact talk like and look like The Sopranos. I was in a hoagie place today, while a total Bobby Bacala got into an argument with one of the sandwich guys about the health merits of sushi - "it's got oils that is good for your heart, which is very important when you're a fat guy like ME!!!" "eh - only way youse supposed to eat fish is if it's COOKED. Can't COOKED fish be good for your heart too?" Large man gives a dismissive wave and walks out with a large turkey hoagie.
2) The work I'm expected to do in the next 6 weeks is pretty fun, but it's sort of like lying on your back looking up at the sky on a cloudless night. Your eyes see the stars. And then as they adjust, you realize there are a whole LOT more stars behind those bright ones that you were looking at. And then you notice that milky band of the galaxy. The scope appears to be exploding, but then I'm also seeing areas where I can identify it, contain it, and carve it off. And I just need to remind myself - my job is to actually figure out the size of the project, then recommend how to get it done, not actually DO it.
Because by then, I'll be safely in Philly.
3) I picked a hotel that I'm alternately liking and hating. It's not quiet, it smells a bit damp, and it's located off of a breakneck turnoff of a highway, and to get anywhere I need to merge into fast traffic and make a U-Turn. BUT, instead of a tiny workout room, there's a full health club across the street which is pretty nice. Next week I'm trying a different place...
Oh, and the internet connection is terrible at this hotel. Which is why I can't iChat with my family here.
4) iChat is wonderful and will be the key to sanity as I travel: I've enjoyed checking in with the brood every day from the workplace. I can't wait to see them tomorrow!
I forgot my power cord at the client site, so I've only got a little juice left - so no more big updates... but I'll try to update at least every other day from the road going forward. Keep the lifeline going!
1) So far, there are a LOT of people who do in fact talk like and look like The Sopranos. I was in a hoagie place today, while a total Bobby Bacala got into an argument with one of the sandwich guys about the health merits of sushi - "it's got oils that is good for your heart, which is very important when you're a fat guy like ME!!!" "eh - only way youse supposed to eat fish is if it's COOKED. Can't COOKED fish be good for your heart too?" Large man gives a dismissive wave and walks out with a large turkey hoagie.
2) The work I'm expected to do in the next 6 weeks is pretty fun, but it's sort of like lying on your back looking up at the sky on a cloudless night. Your eyes see the stars. And then as they adjust, you realize there are a whole LOT more stars behind those bright ones that you were looking at. And then you notice that milky band of the galaxy. The scope appears to be exploding, but then I'm also seeing areas where I can identify it, contain it, and carve it off. And I just need to remind myself - my job is to actually figure out the size of the project, then recommend how to get it done, not actually DO it.
Because by then, I'll be safely in Philly.
3) I picked a hotel that I'm alternately liking and hating. It's not quiet, it smells a bit damp, and it's located off of a breakneck turnoff of a highway, and to get anywhere I need to merge into fast traffic and make a U-Turn. BUT, instead of a tiny workout room, there's a full health club across the street which is pretty nice. Next week I'm trying a different place...
Oh, and the internet connection is terrible at this hotel. Which is why I can't iChat with my family here.
4) iChat is wonderful and will be the key to sanity as I travel: I've enjoyed checking in with the brood every day from the workplace. I can't wait to see them tomorrow!
I forgot my power cord at the client site, so I've only got a little juice left - so no more big updates... but I'll try to update at least every other day from the road going forward. Keep the lifeline going!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
A beautiful weekend...
The trial is over, I have work, I love my dog, and I've got a new nephew - Magnus! Dear sister Carrie has gone and had a healthy baby boy with her fiancee Scott, and the little titan is named for great destiny. We met him this weekend, and he played the part of helpless baby VERY WELL - we suspected nothing. Carrie and Scott are in great spirits, updating the Facebook with pictures and whatnot.
It'll be fun to have yet another Boy Cousin in the family. And cousin Tiffany also had a boy this past week too (Clyde) - so Bella remains queen bee of that side of the family (the one other girl in the preteen age group, Areaya, rarely comes from Delaware so we call Bella queen bee by default)
I'm charging my batteries preparing for my trip to South Jersey this week - I expect it'll be both feet in the water right away - as it should be. I broke the news to Bella and Isaac today, and they got a little misty, but then it devolved into a wrassling match, so all is forgiven. I'll need to be VERY present when I'm here for them.
Isaac had some brainstorms this week, and has had to have a lot of timeouts: Very willful ignoring of us, headstrong marching in the opposite direction, and my favorite is on the third call for him to do something he stops, cups his ear and says "what? what did you say? WHAT?" Cute, yes, but we do want to put him in Zinsser's kennel sometimes.
Today he had a silver robot in his bed for naptime (yes, a Cylon, but the 70's model) and he did both sides of this conversation:
Isaac: Hi Mister Robot!
Robot: HI
Isaac: Say "Hello" Robot!
Robot: HELLO
Isaac: Say "Hello" Robot!
Robot: HELLO. OK ALL DONE. DON'T WANT TO DO THAT ANYMORE.
Isaac: Ok, Robot.
Robot: I AM SO HAPPY. I WANT TO GO INTO OUTER SPACE
Isaac: Ok Robot, let's go into space together!
Robot: 3-2-1 BLAST... NO WAIT. 5-4-3-2-1 BLASTOFF! HERE WE GO!
When he was doing the robot voice, it was monotone and robotic sounding.
During Isaac's naptime, Bella and I snuck off to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3D. It was wonderful stuff - not too heavy, very amusing. And a lot less potty humor than some Dreamworks properties. And Ginormica was fantastic.
Tonight, our neighbors (who have Wyatt, who is just a little older than Isaac) had us over: Ryan had roasted some whole chickens and whipped up some homemade BBQ sauce for sandwiches. I made tacos for the kids, and only lost 3 of them when I walked smack into a screen door. No I had not been drinking. Thank you for your support. The kids all played well, Zinsser was in the middle of it all too.
Finally, little Zinsser update: He's still adorable, and getting a bit bigger every day. He's been kinder to us at night - last night he went 7 hours without barking OR messing his kennel. Of course earlier in the day, he messed in his kennel twice, so it's a wash. We finally got a small wire pen for the yard which is his "poo and pee place", and so far it's working pretty well. We'll see tonight.
I still love that dog, and he is finally warming to the rest of the family: He's really attaching to Bella well - to the point that he will stay on her lap if I'm in the room. And it thrills Bella's heart every day to have a dog. In fact the other night as she was falling asleep, she said "it's just like a dream, having a dog... only better".
It'll be fun to have yet another Boy Cousin in the family. And cousin Tiffany also had a boy this past week too (Clyde) - so Bella remains queen bee of that side of the family (the one other girl in the preteen age group, Areaya, rarely comes from Delaware so we call Bella queen bee by default)
I'm charging my batteries preparing for my trip to South Jersey this week - I expect it'll be both feet in the water right away - as it should be. I broke the news to Bella and Isaac today, and they got a little misty, but then it devolved into a wrassling match, so all is forgiven. I'll need to be VERY present when I'm here for them.
Isaac had some brainstorms this week, and has had to have a lot of timeouts: Very willful ignoring of us, headstrong marching in the opposite direction, and my favorite is on the third call for him to do something he stops, cups his ear and says "what? what did you say? WHAT?" Cute, yes, but we do want to put him in Zinsser's kennel sometimes.
Today he had a silver robot in his bed for naptime (yes, a Cylon, but the 70's model) and he did both sides of this conversation:
Isaac: Hi Mister Robot!
Robot: HI
Isaac: Say "Hello" Robot!
Robot: HELLO
Isaac: Say "Hello" Robot!
Robot: HELLO. OK ALL DONE. DON'T WANT TO DO THAT ANYMORE.
Isaac: Ok, Robot.
Robot: I AM SO HAPPY. I WANT TO GO INTO OUTER SPACE
Isaac: Ok Robot, let's go into space together!
Robot: 3-2-1 BLAST... NO WAIT. 5-4-3-2-1 BLASTOFF! HERE WE GO!
When he was doing the robot voice, it was monotone and robotic sounding.
During Isaac's naptime, Bella and I snuck off to see Monsters vs Aliens in 3D. It was wonderful stuff - not too heavy, very amusing. And a lot less potty humor than some Dreamworks properties. And Ginormica was fantastic.
Tonight, our neighbors (who have Wyatt, who is just a little older than Isaac) had us over: Ryan had roasted some whole chickens and whipped up some homemade BBQ sauce for sandwiches. I made tacos for the kids, and only lost 3 of them when I walked smack into a screen door. No I had not been drinking. Thank you for your support. The kids all played well, Zinsser was in the middle of it all too.
Finally, little Zinsser update: He's still adorable, and getting a bit bigger every day. He's been kinder to us at night - last night he went 7 hours without barking OR messing his kennel. Of course earlier in the day, he messed in his kennel twice, so it's a wash. We finally got a small wire pen for the yard which is his "poo and pee place", and so far it's working pretty well. We'll see tonight.
I still love that dog, and he is finally warming to the rest of the family: He's really attaching to Bella well - to the point that he will stay on her lap if I'm in the room. And it thrills Bella's heart every day to have a dog. In fact the other night as she was falling asleep, she said "it's just like a dream, having a dog... only better".
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Puppy Papa
I love this dog, and this dog loves me. We've spent a lot of time together these past days, especially with Bella at school, Isaac up and about (but with a good nap in the day), and Pamela downtown attending the trial... yes it's been Jimmy and Zinsser in the house, and the dog stalks me at every moment. And I love it.
It's been very hot these past two days, and while I do have the AC on (yes, 90 degrees is pushing it), having a dog on your chest at all times is not the most refreshing thing. I can tell by the way he's panting that it's a bit warm for him too, so I move him off, and he climbs back on... the things he does for love.
On to other things:
The trial is now in the jury's hands, and Pamela spent most of the day with the family waiting for a verdict, which hadn't come by 8pm when they all went home. Hopefully by 9am tomorrow they'll have their verdict.
I'm not getting any more of a vacation this summer: One of my contacts in the business found out I have 6 weeks before starting my next gig and decided to put me to work for them doing strategic planning work. I'll be headed out to Philly/South Jersey on Tuesday to start the work.
It's actually fun work: I'll be figuring out the overall strategy a new hospital will be using for identification: Patients, Staff, Physicians - how do we know who a person is - for security, for access, for patient safety. I do the strategy and get the docs and management to sign off on it, then we hand off the project to someone else to DO. It'll get my brain all warmed up for the new job in July!
And since my new work is in Philly too, it's possible I could do fill-in work out there ongoing, upping the hours.... I mean, if I'm out there, there's no reason not to be working.
This is going to be hard on the family - this travel - and I am prepared to work extra hard on the Friday/Weekend home stretches to make my time count. But as I've been watching things continue to devolve at the old place, this is the right thing for me to do. The sales pipeline is bone dry. Morale is rock bottom, and the knives are regularly being unsheathed and sharpened. While I'd love to have work locally, right now my unique skills are in need in a different city, and I can help actually make a difference. And when the TC market warms up next year, I can be here to help with even more great experience under my belt.
In the meantime, I'll have iChat to keep in touch, and the family has my dear friend Zinsser to keep them company.
Oh yes: Zinsser has been sleeping a bit better: Going for 3-4 hour stretches before yipping to be let out. And he's getting to know his crate and it's not QUITE the insult it seemed the first few nights. We're still working on his biological processes. Twice now, we've gone outside for potty breaks, sat out there for 10 minutes, and then he came back in to poop on the floor. But tonight I got him out there and waited it out...
So that it that!
It's been very hot these past two days, and while I do have the AC on (yes, 90 degrees is pushing it), having a dog on your chest at all times is not the most refreshing thing. I can tell by the way he's panting that it's a bit warm for him too, so I move him off, and he climbs back on... the things he does for love.
On to other things:
The trial is now in the jury's hands, and Pamela spent most of the day with the family waiting for a verdict, which hadn't come by 8pm when they all went home. Hopefully by 9am tomorrow they'll have their verdict.
I'm not getting any more of a vacation this summer: One of my contacts in the business found out I have 6 weeks before starting my next gig and decided to put me to work for them doing strategic planning work. I'll be headed out to Philly/South Jersey on Tuesday to start the work.
It's actually fun work: I'll be figuring out the overall strategy a new hospital will be using for identification: Patients, Staff, Physicians - how do we know who a person is - for security, for access, for patient safety. I do the strategy and get the docs and management to sign off on it, then we hand off the project to someone else to DO. It'll get my brain all warmed up for the new job in July!
And since my new work is in Philly too, it's possible I could do fill-in work out there ongoing, upping the hours.... I mean, if I'm out there, there's no reason not to be working.
This is going to be hard on the family - this travel - and I am prepared to work extra hard on the Friday/Weekend home stretches to make my time count. But as I've been watching things continue to devolve at the old place, this is the right thing for me to do. The sales pipeline is bone dry. Morale is rock bottom, and the knives are regularly being unsheathed and sharpened. While I'd love to have work locally, right now my unique skills are in need in a different city, and I can help actually make a difference. And when the TC market warms up next year, I can be here to help with even more great experience under my belt.
In the meantime, I'll have iChat to keep in touch, and the family has my dear friend Zinsser to keep them company.
Oh yes: Zinsser has been sleeping a bit better: Going for 3-4 hour stretches before yipping to be let out. And he's getting to know his crate and it's not QUITE the insult it seemed the first few nights. We're still working on his biological processes. Twice now, we've gone outside for potty breaks, sat out there for 10 minutes, and then he came back in to poop on the floor. But tonight I got him out there and waited it out...
So that it that!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The first night....
To add chaos on top of excitement, we had Jenny for a sleepover last night, as well as it being Zinsser's first night in our home. So the energy level meter was pretty much peaked all evening.
We had Zinsser in his crate for bedtime, but not before some long cuddles and a final potty break. He was NOT happy to be in that crate, and there was a lot of howling and whining... but we put his crate into bed with us, so he could look at us and hear our breathing... and that calmed him down.
Twice in the night, we heard him whine and bark with some "intent". 2am and 4:15am. He seemed pretty agitated, so we took it to mean "potty time"... anyone driving through the neighborhood would have found bleary eyed bathrobe people standing over a tiny puppy in our front yard.
But the end result: No pee or poo in his kennel... so far. We've heard that if the puppy keeps his kennel clean, he's easier to potty train, so we're encouraged.
This morning, Bella and Jenny woke up at 6 and wanted to get Zinsser... but he was still sleeping, so I put them off. At 6:15 Bella wanted me to know she REALLY wanted Zinsser. I told her to wait. At 6:30, Zinsser and Isaac both woke up, so the house got going. I made pancakes and bacon, and we took the little guy out for his morning potty break.
By 8, we had a houseful of neighbor kids who all wanted to meet the puppy. by 8:45 everyone was gone (including Jenny), and we were having some quiet time with the dog.
Pamela and Bella are headed off to Church in an hour, and I'm looking forward to my 2 hours with Zinsser too... ;->
We had Zinsser in his crate for bedtime, but not before some long cuddles and a final potty break. He was NOT happy to be in that crate, and there was a lot of howling and whining... but we put his crate into bed with us, so he could look at us and hear our breathing... and that calmed him down.
Twice in the night, we heard him whine and bark with some "intent". 2am and 4:15am. He seemed pretty agitated, so we took it to mean "potty time"... anyone driving through the neighborhood would have found bleary eyed bathrobe people standing over a tiny puppy in our front yard.
But the end result: No pee or poo in his kennel... so far. We've heard that if the puppy keeps his kennel clean, he's easier to potty train, so we're encouraged.
This morning, Bella and Jenny woke up at 6 and wanted to get Zinsser... but he was still sleeping, so I put them off. At 6:15 Bella wanted me to know she REALLY wanted Zinsser. I told her to wait. At 6:30, Zinsser and Isaac both woke up, so the house got going. I made pancakes and bacon, and we took the little guy out for his morning potty break.
By 8, we had a houseful of neighbor kids who all wanted to meet the puppy. by 8:45 everyone was gone (including Jenny), and we were having some quiet time with the dog.
Pamela and Bella are headed off to Church in an hour, and I'm looking forward to my 2 hours with Zinsser too... ;->
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Puppy Love
I've got a snoozing puppy across my belly as I type this... and I couldn't be happier. Ok, the details.
Zinsser is a Schnoodle, which is a well established poodle/schnauzer hybrid which is very good for allergies and doesn't shed. The breeder we used provided another schnoodle on our block - Otto - who is a year old and a handsome devil. As a breed, they're hypoallergenic, smart, and playful. Great with kids, and easy to train (though their poodle brains make them crafty)... he'll get to be around 15 lbs fully grown.
Bella has wanted a dog almost since birth, and we have promised for years that she could have one on her golden birthday (10/7/09), but who wants to train a dog in the fall with the cold weather? We decided that springtime is the right time for puppies, so we put our deposit down for a puppy.
About that deposit: The breeder we used has a great reputation and we're very happy with everything they've done... but it's not cheap. Fortunately, I did a bunch of e-baying recently, and my proceeds from Star Trek toys, Depeche Mode t-shirts, and old computer interfaces paid for the dog outright.
Anyway, Bella and Isaac were off at swimming with Grandma and Grandpa while we drove out to Isanti to pick up the little devil. We made it back before they did, so when Bella walked in, she got to meet the dog. She was very reserved with a nervous giggle and a big smile... and carried the dog like a ticking timebomb for a while... but by the end of the day she was palling around like a pro.
As to the name: Bella has heard Papa talk about "Zinsser" for years - especially whenever discussing painting projects - he's a big fan of proper wall preparation. Zinsser is a wall primer. But Bella liked the sound of the word, and Papa sure says it enough that she remembered it... and she decided that would be a good name for a dog. She's had that as her dog name for at least a year now... So when she met the puppy, she named him Zinsser right away... "Z" for short.
So just how hypoallergenic is he? I've had him up close to my face for much of the day, and haven't had even a tickle of allergies. I've had worse reactions to Merino wool. This little guy is ok with my body, which makes me very happy. Because for as much as Bella has wanted a dog, I confess to having wanted one pretty badly for the past year too, so I'm happy to have him in the house.
I do hear that the first night for a puppy in his kennel is a noisy affair, so I'm expecting a bad night of sleep... bring it on.
Zinsser is a Schnoodle, which is a well established poodle/schnauzer hybrid which is very good for allergies and doesn't shed. The breeder we used provided another schnoodle on our block - Otto - who is a year old and a handsome devil. As a breed, they're hypoallergenic, smart, and playful. Great with kids, and easy to train (though their poodle brains make them crafty)... he'll get to be around 15 lbs fully grown.
Bella has wanted a dog almost since birth, and we have promised for years that she could have one on her golden birthday (10/7/09), but who wants to train a dog in the fall with the cold weather? We decided that springtime is the right time for puppies, so we put our deposit down for a puppy.
About that deposit: The breeder we used has a great reputation and we're very happy with everything they've done... but it's not cheap. Fortunately, I did a bunch of e-baying recently, and my proceeds from Star Trek toys, Depeche Mode t-shirts, and old computer interfaces paid for the dog outright.
Anyway, Bella and Isaac were off at swimming with Grandma and Grandpa while we drove out to Isanti to pick up the little devil. We made it back before they did, so when Bella walked in, she got to meet the dog. She was very reserved with a nervous giggle and a big smile... and carried the dog like a ticking timebomb for a while... but by the end of the day she was palling around like a pro.
As to the name: Bella has heard Papa talk about "Zinsser" for years - especially whenever discussing painting projects - he's a big fan of proper wall preparation. Zinsser is a wall primer. But Bella liked the sound of the word, and Papa sure says it enough that she remembered it... and she decided that would be a good name for a dog. She's had that as her dog name for at least a year now... So when she met the puppy, she named him Zinsser right away... "Z" for short.
So just how hypoallergenic is he? I've had him up close to my face for much of the day, and haven't had even a tickle of allergies. I've had worse reactions to Merino wool. This little guy is ok with my body, which makes me very happy. Because for as much as Bella has wanted a dog, I confess to having wanted one pretty badly for the past year too, so I'm happy to have him in the house.
I do hear that the first night for a puppy in his kennel is a noisy affair, so I'm expecting a bad night of sleep... bring it on.
Meet Zinsser
Mister Zinsser (or "Z") is the newest member of the family. He's an 8 week old Schnauzer/Poodle mix (called a "Schnoodle". He's smart, sweet, and very cuddly.
He also loves climbing on my head.
Bella, as you can expect believes she has died and gone to heaven. Pamela and I decided to keep this a secret, so when she came home from swimming, she found a new friend.
Friday, May 15, 2009
PS
Two more things:
1) Watch for big news in our household tomorrow. BIG news.
2) I'm nursing a burnt tongue: I was served a PIPING HOT Creme Brulee this evening. I do not believe that is how they are meant to be served.
1) Watch for big news in our household tomorrow. BIG news.
2) I'm nursing a burnt tongue: I was served a PIPING HOT Creme Brulee this evening. I do not believe that is how they are meant to be served.
Latest Updates
Such a busy week - ups and downs for sure! Here's what we're tracking in Jimmy Central:
1) The trial was very tough on us this week: Pamela went most days, as did I, but I took off early to pick up Isaac, so Pamela wins the attendance award, except for Wednesday when a migraine flattened her for the entire day. The details are depressing and I alternate between feeling angry and sad at all parties... every moment is a reminder to treat our lives with care. There are a lot of broken people out there.
I'm not going to post any details - it'll all come out in the end. We ARE very frustrated with the press, however: They really think it's important to keep blaming the victim and question WHY Mark was in the neighborhood in the first place. IT DOESN'T MATTER. Even if it was for an unsavory reason, it doesn't mitigate or justify murder. So let it GO. At least one colleague has terminated his Star Trib subscription in protest.
2) In GOOD news, I now have solid confirmation on my next gig - I'll be headed east to do good work for a Pediatric Cardiology group, flexing my geek AND my management muscles. The guys I'll be working for/with are great and I can't wait to get started.
I'll begin right after the 4th of July holiday, so I'm actually taking a few weeks off, which has been handy while covering this Trial this week, but will also be needed as the kids finish school (Isaac was done this week, Bella in 2-3 more weeks) and I can engage in all sorts of summer fun with them. Of course, my name is in the hat for some short term work too, so I may be posting about heading to New Jersey for a quick gig, but in the meantime, we're planning on WEEKS of me hanging around.
3) After trying for 5 months, we're finally killing my 6am BodyAttack class. I never got more than 5-6 people to attend, and the break-even point is 8. There were many weeks where I was teaching to 2 or 3 people. I'm not sure why we never got the numbers up: People who did show, tended to come again so it's probably NOT me. probably.
I'm still planning to get up early and head to the studio to DO Bodyattack twice a week so that I stay in shape... (why? sprung wooden floor and high ceilings at the studio let me really run and jump instead of duck and crouch as I do in our basement....) At least until July when I will need to move to an entirely new routine...
4) There's a new burger place in town called Five Guys - it's a chain from DC, and it's incredible... I took Isaac there earlier this week and we split an order of fries, and each had a burger. Isaac has toyed with the concept of hamburgers in the past, but never really committed. FiveGuys has turned him into a convert, and he EATS the burger. I'm so proud. We went again today. Ooooof.
5) Yesterday, Bella said "Dad, I made you a card in class today". She handed me a folded piece of paper with a big red heart on the front. She's been writing us nice love notes, so I expected the same. I opened the card, and inside was a drawing of a tarantula and the word "BOO" written about 50 times. It was the best prank yet, and I was paralyzed with laughter. Bella was pretty proud of "getting me".
Earlier that day, I met her for lunch in her cafeteria, and was proud to be the "silly dad" who insisted on having a phone conversation with a banana. The entire table of kindergartners were rolling in the aisles. The best part was when I pulled out my phone and tried to eat it. That sent them to sheer bliss.
I have been rehearsing for "silly dad" for many years, and resolve to enjoy these moments BEFORE I am an abject embarrassment to my children... which will be quite soon I'm sure.
6) One more Bella thing: The other morning she leaped out of bed and ran downstairs, insisting she had something she NEEDED to draw. Minutes later, she had sketched a duck by a pond... but instead of the standard duck-in-profile, she was working on perspective, with the duck at a 3/4 turn, and the head facing the viewer. I didn't quite work (it looked like an italian wine sac with a clown face), but I was amazed that she had a vision of how the duck would look in that position and wanted to try to draw it. She really is very creative.
7) Wow. Seven things? Number seven is simply this: STAR TREK IS AMAZING. I've seen it twice, and it's like going to church. I haven't been this completely satisfied by a movie since The Matrix (which I saw 5 times in the theater). SEE THE MOVIE. You don't need to be a Trekker to enjoy it. The Onion had it right.
1) The trial was very tough on us this week: Pamela went most days, as did I, but I took off early to pick up Isaac, so Pamela wins the attendance award, except for Wednesday when a migraine flattened her for the entire day. The details are depressing and I alternate between feeling angry and sad at all parties... every moment is a reminder to treat our lives with care. There are a lot of broken people out there.
I'm not going to post any details - it'll all come out in the end. We ARE very frustrated with the press, however: They really think it's important to keep blaming the victim and question WHY Mark was in the neighborhood in the first place. IT DOESN'T MATTER. Even if it was for an unsavory reason, it doesn't mitigate or justify murder. So let it GO. At least one colleague has terminated his Star Trib subscription in protest.
2) In GOOD news, I now have solid confirmation on my next gig - I'll be headed east to do good work for a Pediatric Cardiology group, flexing my geek AND my management muscles. The guys I'll be working for/with are great and I can't wait to get started.
I'll begin right after the 4th of July holiday, so I'm actually taking a few weeks off, which has been handy while covering this Trial this week, but will also be needed as the kids finish school (Isaac was done this week, Bella in 2-3 more weeks) and I can engage in all sorts of summer fun with them. Of course, my name is in the hat for some short term work too, so I may be posting about heading to New Jersey for a quick gig, but in the meantime, we're planning on WEEKS of me hanging around.
3) After trying for 5 months, we're finally killing my 6am BodyAttack class. I never got more than 5-6 people to attend, and the break-even point is 8. There were many weeks where I was teaching to 2 or 3 people. I'm not sure why we never got the numbers up: People who did show, tended to come again so it's probably NOT me. probably.
I'm still planning to get up early and head to the studio to DO Bodyattack twice a week so that I stay in shape... (why? sprung wooden floor and high ceilings at the studio let me really run and jump instead of duck and crouch as I do in our basement....) At least until July when I will need to move to an entirely new routine...
4) There's a new burger place in town called Five Guys - it's a chain from DC, and it's incredible... I took Isaac there earlier this week and we split an order of fries, and each had a burger. Isaac has toyed with the concept of hamburgers in the past, but never really committed. FiveGuys has turned him into a convert, and he EATS the burger. I'm so proud. We went again today. Ooooof.
5) Yesterday, Bella said "Dad, I made you a card in class today". She handed me a folded piece of paper with a big red heart on the front. She's been writing us nice love notes, so I expected the same. I opened the card, and inside was a drawing of a tarantula and the word "BOO" written about 50 times. It was the best prank yet, and I was paralyzed with laughter. Bella was pretty proud of "getting me".
Earlier that day, I met her for lunch in her cafeteria, and was proud to be the "silly dad" who insisted on having a phone conversation with a banana. The entire table of kindergartners were rolling in the aisles. The best part was when I pulled out my phone and tried to eat it. That sent them to sheer bliss.
I have been rehearsing for "silly dad" for many years, and resolve to enjoy these moments BEFORE I am an abject embarrassment to my children... which will be quite soon I'm sure.
6) One more Bella thing: The other morning she leaped out of bed and ran downstairs, insisting she had something she NEEDED to draw. Minutes later, she had sketched a duck by a pond... but instead of the standard duck-in-profile, she was working on perspective, with the duck at a 3/4 turn, and the head facing the viewer. I didn't quite work (it looked like an italian wine sac with a clown face), but I was amazed that she had a vision of how the duck would look in that position and wanted to try to draw it. She really is very creative.
7) Wow. Seven things? Number seven is simply this: STAR TREK IS AMAZING. I've seen it twice, and it's like going to church. I haven't been this completely satisfied by a movie since The Matrix (which I saw 5 times in the theater). SEE THE MOVIE. You don't need to be a Trekker to enjoy it. The Onion had it right.
Monday, May 11, 2009
A hard day...
Today was the beginning of the trial for the second suspect in Mark's murder back in Sept 2007. Jury selection was last week, and today was the beginning of the proper trial, with opening arguments and the defendant in the courtroom. Of course I took off work and joined Pamela to be supportive on this first day... Samantha was due to testify later in the afternoon, so we wanted to make sure she saw a sea of friendly faces.
The opening arguments were interesting in that the prosecution acknowledged that the evidence is based on statements by the defendant and informers and no physical evidence... and the defense telegraphing that everyone who passed on that information are liars and cheats. The defense was all over the map, kind of trying to paint the defendant as pulling his life together, a family man, a musician, and a patsy victim of others who would see him fall.
Forgetting for a moment that the defendant has a prior assault convictions where he beat someone in the head with a metal bar just as Mark had done to him. Otherwise, I'm sure a nice fellow.
We heard testimony from both the veteran cop and the rookie who were first on the scene, and from a member of the forensics team (brief aside: The forensics guy had a distinguished east-indian look with a shock of white hair, and when he opened his mouth, the nasal and slightly effeminate northern Minnesota accent was shockingly mismatched with his look... It was bracingly distracting).
During testimony, we were shown pictures of Mark lying in the yard next to his bike which were both shocking and strangely comforting - to finally see him in his final resting place - it made it feel strangely real. Of course, this affected us all pretty deeply, and the judge paused the proceedings to let us know that overt emotion in the gallery could be seen as an attempt to influence the jury, and could lead to a mistrial, so we need to keep that in check. RIGHT.
Sam's testimony came later in the day, and it was hard to watch: She was just delivering a chronology of the evening... and the hardest thing to watch was her explaining that at 1:30 when she awoke and didn't find Mark in bed (but Eve was), how she assumed he was on the couch downstairs... And how she figured out he was gone in the AM, but needed to get the kids off to school without alarming them.
I must say that in the past year, Isaac has been the kind of kid who wants to be in bed with you, and once there is NOT a good neighbor. I have fled to the couch more than once, as has Pamela. I can completely understand waking up with a kid in bed but not your spouse and not really wondering what the problem is.
Sam made it through with just a few breaks to collect herself, and the cross-examination was mercifully short - I think that no matter what your defensive strategy is, it scores no points with a jury to belittle or harass a grieving widow.
On our way out, there were TV cameras set up, but we weren't approached for comment. All the same, I was apparently on several news channels this evening.
As the trial goes this week, Pamela and I will be there as we can to support Sam and the family... It'll be good to have this closure.
The opening arguments were interesting in that the prosecution acknowledged that the evidence is based on statements by the defendant and informers and no physical evidence... and the defense telegraphing that everyone who passed on that information are liars and cheats. The defense was all over the map, kind of trying to paint the defendant as pulling his life together, a family man, a musician, and a patsy victim of others who would see him fall.
Forgetting for a moment that the defendant has a prior assault convictions where he beat someone in the head with a metal bar just as Mark had done to him. Otherwise, I'm sure a nice fellow.
We heard testimony from both the veteran cop and the rookie who were first on the scene, and from a member of the forensics team (brief aside: The forensics guy had a distinguished east-indian look with a shock of white hair, and when he opened his mouth, the nasal and slightly effeminate northern Minnesota accent was shockingly mismatched with his look... It was bracingly distracting).
During testimony, we were shown pictures of Mark lying in the yard next to his bike which were both shocking and strangely comforting - to finally see him in his final resting place - it made it feel strangely real. Of course, this affected us all pretty deeply, and the judge paused the proceedings to let us know that overt emotion in the gallery could be seen as an attempt to influence the jury, and could lead to a mistrial, so we need to keep that in check. RIGHT.
Sam's testimony came later in the day, and it was hard to watch: She was just delivering a chronology of the evening... and the hardest thing to watch was her explaining that at 1:30 when she awoke and didn't find Mark in bed (but Eve was), how she assumed he was on the couch downstairs... And how she figured out he was gone in the AM, but needed to get the kids off to school without alarming them.
I must say that in the past year, Isaac has been the kind of kid who wants to be in bed with you, and once there is NOT a good neighbor. I have fled to the couch more than once, as has Pamela. I can completely understand waking up with a kid in bed but not your spouse and not really wondering what the problem is.
Sam made it through with just a few breaks to collect herself, and the cross-examination was mercifully short - I think that no matter what your defensive strategy is, it scores no points with a jury to belittle or harass a grieving widow.
On our way out, there were TV cameras set up, but we weren't approached for comment. All the same, I was apparently on several news channels this evening.
As the trial goes this week, Pamela and I will be there as we can to support Sam and the family... It'll be good to have this closure.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Tech Support
This weekend, I helped three people with computer stuff:
Two people got new computers and needed their old stuff transferred across. One was moving from a 6 year old PC to a new Laptop. The other was from a 4 year old PC to another desktop, plus a new printer/scan/copier. In the end, I spent over 8 hours of my weekend doing this work - and one is for money (yay), the other for babysitting time (YAY!!!!). It's actually pretty fun work for me but there are... frustrations...
Mostly it's in accessing/finding the right data in the old system to move: Stuff in 2004 was put in different places than they do now, so I need to get creative - lots of sleuthing. Also, the older systems have slower communications ports, so I spend a LOT of time waiting for data to copy over.
Then there's the "remove all of the crap" stage: PC vendors love to load up their machines with trial versions of software which pop up right and left with reminders to try and buy. It is my personal vendetta to eliminate all of these useless things and get them a working system right out of the gate.
All told, I wound up 98% successful: Turns out that one old program simply will NOT move to the new system and my client needs to shell out for an upgrade, which'll cost her over $700... and we're still trying to configure her email so that her contacts will show up (and I know they're in there....).
And I actually sort of enjoyed working with the new Windows machines - Vista isn't THAT bad, and the new computers were pretty snappy and responsive. The frustrations were with the older machines in both cases... but as I was in there moving things, realizing that the underpinnings are pretty much the same, I realized - I can enjoy Vista, but it's still Windows... it's still going to bite me someday. Still, I can't argue that there's some value: The laptop was under $700. The new CPU was $450. You just can't buy Macs for that price.
My third tech support call for the weekend was from the neighbor with a Mac: All of his pictures had disappeared, his backups weren't running, and a launch icon was missing. I had it fixed in 10 minutes and was home to tuck Bella in for bed.
I do love me some Macintosh... They may be a bit more expensive, but you save a lot of time.
Two people got new computers and needed their old stuff transferred across. One was moving from a 6 year old PC to a new Laptop. The other was from a 4 year old PC to another desktop, plus a new printer/scan/copier. In the end, I spent over 8 hours of my weekend doing this work - and one is for money (yay), the other for babysitting time (YAY!!!!). It's actually pretty fun work for me but there are... frustrations...
Mostly it's in accessing/finding the right data in the old system to move: Stuff in 2004 was put in different places than they do now, so I need to get creative - lots of sleuthing. Also, the older systems have slower communications ports, so I spend a LOT of time waiting for data to copy over.
Then there's the "remove all of the crap" stage: PC vendors love to load up their machines with trial versions of software which pop up right and left with reminders to try and buy. It is my personal vendetta to eliminate all of these useless things and get them a working system right out of the gate.
All told, I wound up 98% successful: Turns out that one old program simply will NOT move to the new system and my client needs to shell out for an upgrade, which'll cost her over $700... and we're still trying to configure her email so that her contacts will show up (and I know they're in there....).
And I actually sort of enjoyed working with the new Windows machines - Vista isn't THAT bad, and the new computers were pretty snappy and responsive. The frustrations were with the older machines in both cases... but as I was in there moving things, realizing that the underpinnings are pretty much the same, I realized - I can enjoy Vista, but it's still Windows... it's still going to bite me someday. Still, I can't argue that there's some value: The laptop was under $700. The new CPU was $450. You just can't buy Macs for that price.
My third tech support call for the weekend was from the neighbor with a Mac: All of his pictures had disappeared, his backups weren't running, and a launch icon was missing. I had it fixed in 10 minutes and was home to tuck Bella in for bed.
I do love me some Macintosh... They may be a bit more expensive, but you save a lot of time.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Media
1) No sooner do I post my "poor communication skills" diatribe, but then Fringe went and did me proud: Scientist who knows a lot says "I'll tell you what I know, but first you must help me do X"... nobody's sure if we can trust him, he's trickling out little bits, and then things turn and the scientist dies before he can tell what he knows.
Classic poor communication setup, right? WRONG - he left behind a videotape where he says "I promised to tell, and if you're seeing this I must be dead, but a deal is a deal". It was great.
2) I've been watching Tropic Thunder again: This time with the actor's commentary track turned on: Yes, Robert Downey Jr does the entire commentary track as Kirk Lazarus in character, with that deep 70's blacksploitation rumble. And poor Ben Stiller and Jack Black just can barely keep up. A highlight is Jack Black getting an In-n-Out 4X4 to the recording studio.
3) Ooooooh Dollhouse, you are living up to your potential. This was a good show this week. DARK.
4) Heroes knocked it outta the park with a great finale this week too.
And that's the media update.
Classic poor communication setup, right? WRONG - he left behind a videotape where he says "I promised to tell, and if you're seeing this I must be dead, but a deal is a deal". It was great.
2) I've been watching Tropic Thunder again: This time with the actor's commentary track turned on: Yes, Robert Downey Jr does the entire commentary track as Kirk Lazarus in character, with that deep 70's blacksploitation rumble. And poor Ben Stiller and Jack Black just can barely keep up. A highlight is Jack Black getting an In-n-Out 4X4 to the recording studio.
3) Ooooooh Dollhouse, you are living up to your potential. This was a good show this week. DARK.
4) Heroes knocked it outta the park with a great finale this week too.
And that's the media update.
Quick Update
Today was a swimming day with Isaac, and he's really becoming part fish - he loves to dunk his head under water and keep it there for a count of 5. After swimming, he insisted that we stop at a playground to look for "Some kids, some BIG kids" to play with. We parked and he marched to the playground exclaiming "Playground, HERE I COME!" Alas, there were no kids there, but there was a group of middle-tweeners playing softball across the park, so he ran off that direction shouting "KIDS!!! KIDS!!!!"
That guy just loves people.
In the meantime, we're working on big sister management strategies: The more Isaac does cute stuff, we get the uncomfortable "bella echoes the behavior" for attention. We're finding we need to give her big girl jobs - a LOT of them - to keep her busy and getting positive attention. Now if only she had something to take care of... a pet... hmm... Watch this space.
Work: Well, since the last update and now, I had a plan that was supported by my managers, but it got shot down by HR... but then they came up with a different plan which appears to be acceptable to HR. I'm going to digress here - I simply don't like HR departments in general: My main interactions with them have been them not hiring people I wanted them to hire, not firing people I wanted them to fire, and hiring and firing people I didn't want them to hire or fire. Oh, and periodically making my benefits slightly worse. They truly are well represented by the Catbert character in Dilbert - a more malevolent department does not exist in any organization.
If you are a member of the HR world (or as my employer puts it: "Human Capital"), feel free to defend yourself in the comments. And on a personal level, I have known many NICE HR people. But as a collective group - the worst bureaucratic nightmare organization possible.
Anyway, digression over. The SF gig may not happen - one of the people who interviewed me decided that in the process of telling me about it, it sounded so cool he decided HE wants to take the job. Plus, in a miscommunication of legenday proportions, it was the wrong San: Diego, not Francisco. That is very different. So that one's on the lower tier of possibility. But something new in Seattle popped up... lots of plates spinning and the vortex of potential is swirling.
Now it's time to get caught up on Dollhouse!!!
That guy just loves people.
In the meantime, we're working on big sister management strategies: The more Isaac does cute stuff, we get the uncomfortable "bella echoes the behavior" for attention. We're finding we need to give her big girl jobs - a LOT of them - to keep her busy and getting positive attention. Now if only she had something to take care of... a pet... hmm... Watch this space.
Work: Well, since the last update and now, I had a plan that was supported by my managers, but it got shot down by HR... but then they came up with a different plan which appears to be acceptable to HR. I'm going to digress here - I simply don't like HR departments in general: My main interactions with them have been them not hiring people I wanted them to hire, not firing people I wanted them to fire, and hiring and firing people I didn't want them to hire or fire. Oh, and periodically making my benefits slightly worse. They truly are well represented by the Catbert character in Dilbert - a more malevolent department does not exist in any organization.
If you are a member of the HR world (or as my employer puts it: "Human Capital"), feel free to defend yourself in the comments. And on a personal level, I have known many NICE HR people. But as a collective group - the worst bureaucratic nightmare organization possible.
Anyway, digression over. The SF gig may not happen - one of the people who interviewed me decided that in the process of telling me about it, it sounded so cool he decided HE wants to take the job. Plus, in a miscommunication of legenday proportions, it was the wrong San: Diego, not Francisco. That is very different. So that one's on the lower tier of possibility. But something new in Seattle popped up... lots of plates spinning and the vortex of potential is swirling.
Now it's time to get caught up on Dollhouse!!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sarasota
From Minne-sota to Sara-sota. Why am I here? While at our trade show, we held a drawing for an Amazon Kindle2, and I got to deliver it! Of course it's for a customer who doesn't use any of the software we implement, nor do they use many consultants, but hey, it was a random drawing, and he won fair and square, so why not go out and see what they're up to?
My scotch avengers had just been talking about "when in a foreign land, look for rare bottles", and an internet search brought up an interesting restaurant/bottle shop on Longboat Key, advertising "Best rare single malt selection in Sarasota!". I needed some lunch, so off I went. The food was passable (gaspacho), the decor was mid-eighties Miami-vice style, but I was sitting outdoors and a breeze was blowing, so I didn't care all that much. The scotch selection was hilariously bad, however, which doesn't bode well for the rest of Sarasota, alas. We're talking 5 bottles: Macallan 12, Glenlivet 12, and Glenfiddich who-cares, Bowmore 18, and Talisker 10. Nothing to write home about, and I think that their internet bragging rights should be removed. Not that it would make much difference, all 5 bottles were covered with a thick layer of dust, so I suspect that even IF they were the best in town, there's just not a market.
Went to my meeting, which was pleasant enough. Confirmed we're not really a vendor match, but he was appreciative of the Kindle. I actually spent more time talking him through the features of the kindle than pitching the company... But who knows - something COULD happen - we did have a nice visit.
Then I called an old co-worker Nick who lives out this direction only to find that he's on a job in Connecticut, but he recommended a restaurant for soft shell crab (which I don't like, but I figure they'd have something I WOULD like), and gave me what seemed like clear directions. I just headed up Longboat key.
On the way, I stopped at a Marine Aquarium and met some Rays, Sharks, Octopi, and assorted fishies. But the COOL things were in separate buildings: First, a Seabird Hospital and Sanctuary. Egrets and Pelicans with broken wings are hard enough to look at, but for some reason, there were a LOT of sandhill cranes with prosthetic feet. Many of the birds didn't appear to have anything wrong - perhaps healed, perhaps just resting. A pen with 5 giant owls was quite startling - they all turned and looked at me at once. As sad as it is to see animals hurt, it was also incredibly heartwarming to think that people are giving their time and effort to help these animals and give them shelter and another chance. I left the hospital feeling hopeful for them, and for us.
Over to the Marine Mammal sanctuary: Some dolphins (not for show, they're healing!), lots of giant turtles (close enough to touch, but don't!!! they have powerful jaws!!!) And a manatee in a big pen swimming around: Manatees look like a child's drawing of an animal more than a real animal. They're all lumpy, and the tail seems added on, and the eye looks for all the world like a dot from a magic marker. They're like lumpy clay whale/seals. But they also seem pretty nice.
I enjoyed my time with the sea creatures. And that led to a powerful hunger... though not really for seafood.
I kept on the road, imagining that I'd hit the end of the road and the restaurant would be self evident, just as the Bubble Room really can't be missed on Captiva. "Just go til the road ends, and there it is". After 10 miles and two islands past Longboat Key, I figured out I had missed it. I pulled into a shack by the side of the road with a compelling skeleton sign called "Mister Bones BBQ". Turns out, it was delicious. I ate a full rack of ribs, waddled back to my car, and headed back to my hotel.
Now I'm working on "what comes next" in my career: I got a call this afternoon for a possible fun gig, which seems like a more major commitment than my other one... this is managing the building of an entirely new hospital... in the SF Bay area. Need to find out more (have a call in the AM), but it sounds like a great challenge.... Plus I have friends out there - first Yoshi moved there to work for Pixar, and my buddy Paul looks to have a new position at another Bay Area concern (which if you can believe it is actually as cool as Pixar, if not more so... but I can't reveal it yet). Plus the existing superfriends. So there'd be a lot of fun out there. I'd have to budget for a LOT of trips with the kids and Pamela - especially in the colder months...
The next few weeks will definitely tell more about what will happen: There are great possibilities, and the amazing successes of Paul and Yoshi just tells me that while there is a lot of upsetting energy out there, there is also some positive disruption happening, and I need to ride the wave.
I'll be home Wed afternoon... and we'll see what the rest of the week brings!
My scotch avengers had just been talking about "when in a foreign land, look for rare bottles", and an internet search brought up an interesting restaurant/bottle shop on Longboat Key, advertising "Best rare single malt selection in Sarasota!". I needed some lunch, so off I went. The food was passable (gaspacho), the decor was mid-eighties Miami-vice style, but I was sitting outdoors and a breeze was blowing, so I didn't care all that much. The scotch selection was hilariously bad, however, which doesn't bode well for the rest of Sarasota, alas. We're talking 5 bottles: Macallan 12, Glenlivet 12, and Glenfiddich who-cares, Bowmore 18, and Talisker 10. Nothing to write home about, and I think that their internet bragging rights should be removed. Not that it would make much difference, all 5 bottles were covered with a thick layer of dust, so I suspect that even IF they were the best in town, there's just not a market.
Went to my meeting, which was pleasant enough. Confirmed we're not really a vendor match, but he was appreciative of the Kindle. I actually spent more time talking him through the features of the kindle than pitching the company... But who knows - something COULD happen - we did have a nice visit.
Then I called an old co-worker Nick who lives out this direction only to find that he's on a job in Connecticut, but he recommended a restaurant for soft shell crab (which I don't like, but I figure they'd have something I WOULD like), and gave me what seemed like clear directions. I just headed up Longboat key.
On the way, I stopped at a Marine Aquarium and met some Rays, Sharks, Octopi, and assorted fishies. But the COOL things were in separate buildings: First, a Seabird Hospital and Sanctuary. Egrets and Pelicans with broken wings are hard enough to look at, but for some reason, there were a LOT of sandhill cranes with prosthetic feet. Many of the birds didn't appear to have anything wrong - perhaps healed, perhaps just resting. A pen with 5 giant owls was quite startling - they all turned and looked at me at once. As sad as it is to see animals hurt, it was also incredibly heartwarming to think that people are giving their time and effort to help these animals and give them shelter and another chance. I left the hospital feeling hopeful for them, and for us.
Over to the Marine Mammal sanctuary: Some dolphins (not for show, they're healing!), lots of giant turtles (close enough to touch, but don't!!! they have powerful jaws!!!) And a manatee in a big pen swimming around: Manatees look like a child's drawing of an animal more than a real animal. They're all lumpy, and the tail seems added on, and the eye looks for all the world like a dot from a magic marker. They're like lumpy clay whale/seals. But they also seem pretty nice.
I enjoyed my time with the sea creatures. And that led to a powerful hunger... though not really for seafood.
I kept on the road, imagining that I'd hit the end of the road and the restaurant would be self evident, just as the Bubble Room really can't be missed on Captiva. "Just go til the road ends, and there it is". After 10 miles and two islands past Longboat Key, I figured out I had missed it. I pulled into a shack by the side of the road with a compelling skeleton sign called "Mister Bones BBQ". Turns out, it was delicious. I ate a full rack of ribs, waddled back to my car, and headed back to my hotel.
Now I'm working on "what comes next" in my career: I got a call this afternoon for a possible fun gig, which seems like a more major commitment than my other one... this is managing the building of an entirely new hospital... in the SF Bay area. Need to find out more (have a call in the AM), but it sounds like a great challenge.... Plus I have friends out there - first Yoshi moved there to work for Pixar, and my buddy Paul looks to have a new position at another Bay Area concern (which if you can believe it is actually as cool as Pixar, if not more so... but I can't reveal it yet). Plus the existing superfriends. So there'd be a lot of fun out there. I'd have to budget for a LOT of trips with the kids and Pamela - especially in the colder months...
The next few weeks will definitely tell more about what will happen: There are great possibilities, and the amazing successes of Paul and Yoshi just tells me that while there is a lot of upsetting energy out there, there is also some positive disruption happening, and I need to ride the wave.
I'll be home Wed afternoon... and we'll see what the rest of the week brings!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Not to be believed
When Pamela went on Oprah a couple of weeks back, she self-identified as "Dr Mehmet Oz's biggest fan" and got to sit on Oprah's couch with her Dr Oz action figure (sans Oprah, alas). The talent wrangler gave Pamela her card and asked her to write for tickets to Dr Oz's new show coming in the fall.
So Pamela did write last night, and by this morning, the coordinator had written back: Dr Oz will be on Oprah THIS THURSDAY - does Pamela want to go? A quick set of calls to arrange things, and yes, she's definitely going, and this time bringing her mom.
I'll be superdad with the kids from Wed night to Friday lunchtime. And Pamela will have been in the Oprah audience twice in a month. WOW.
In my own world, I'm still waiting for the stars to align for my next gig, but am growing more and more amused at how things are turning at my work: Today the new "big boss" decided that the way to penetrate into more clients is... wait for it... to hire a telemarketing firm to do the initial calls, and set up meetings for us.
I actually can't imagine that working... not in a relationship-based business like this. In fact I could see it backfiring in a massive way. But I'm not the big boss guy. I'm just a guy who is biding his time waiting for the next thing. Nothing to see here. No siree.
So Pamela did write last night, and by this morning, the coordinator had written back: Dr Oz will be on Oprah THIS THURSDAY - does Pamela want to go? A quick set of calls to arrange things, and yes, she's definitely going, and this time bringing her mom.
I'll be superdad with the kids from Wed night to Friday lunchtime. And Pamela will have been in the Oprah audience twice in a month. WOW.
In my own world, I'm still waiting for the stars to align for my next gig, but am growing more and more amused at how things are turning at my work: Today the new "big boss" decided that the way to penetrate into more clients is... wait for it... to hire a telemarketing firm to do the initial calls, and set up meetings for us.
I actually can't imagine that working... not in a relationship-based business like this. In fact I could see it backfiring in a massive way. But I'm not the big boss guy. I'm just a guy who is biding his time waiting for the next thing. Nothing to see here. No siree.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Crazy Neighborhood Living
Spring has sprung SO HARD: For the third day in a row, the whole neighborhood has been parked out on a neighbor's yard with kids running around and adults shooting the breeze with a beer or two. It's especially fun now with Isaac, who is capable of holding his own with most of the bigger kids, and is in the middle of the action.
He actually does so well, that Colin, one of the neighbor kids who is TEN asked for a playdate with Isaac yesterday. They spent an hour in their backyard (with Colin's mom) playing happily.
Today we rolled out the Mobile Relaxation Unit - the couch that Jenny's parents donated to the cause which Pamela and Papa extensively redecorated with brightly colored remnants. We carried it out the front door, set it down, and rolled it across the street and down the block on its casters. The neighborhood kids were all screaming with excitement to see this grey, pink, silver, and zebra striped couch rolling down the middle of the street. We were going to bring it home tonight, but the fact is tomorrow will be another party (and we'll be grilling!), so we left it over there.
Bella and Isaac are hitting growth spurts now, and have both outgrown their shoes. Bella has these big paddlefeet (when Kaitie handed her to us in the hospital 6 1/2 years ago, she actually apologized "I can see she got my feet!") so we can't just do the neighborhood shoe hand-down. We went to Schuler Shoes, a local institution and got her properly fitted with a couple of pairs of New Balances which have the room she needs. One of the pairs has robots and blinking lights on it, the other is silver with bright yellow details (Yellow is coming up in the rankings of favorite colors these days). Isaac also busted out of his latest pair, and so we got him a couple of fresh shoes on sale.
Of course, nothing is FAST in a small shoe store, so Isaac and Bella were running around like MANIACS which exhausted us. Isaac walked behind a rack of sportswear, and pushed his way through, pausing to declare "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!" as though he had just emerged from the curtain on stage. I almost fell out of my chair. What a ham.
As to work: I have one solid offer to start in July, one potential to start in 2 weeks, one fell through already, and one just arose today from a new source which I should find out more about tomorrow. So parachute or not, I think things are looking pretty good. On the parachute front, there's resistance at the management level, as noted elsewhere... but then our April forecasts aren't looking so good and we have an "emergency circle the wagons" meeting tomorrow. We'll just see.
He actually does so well, that Colin, one of the neighbor kids who is TEN asked for a playdate with Isaac yesterday. They spent an hour in their backyard (with Colin's mom) playing happily.
Today we rolled out the Mobile Relaxation Unit - the couch that Jenny's parents donated to the cause which Pamela and Papa extensively redecorated with brightly colored remnants. We carried it out the front door, set it down, and rolled it across the street and down the block on its casters. The neighborhood kids were all screaming with excitement to see this grey, pink, silver, and zebra striped couch rolling down the middle of the street. We were going to bring it home tonight, but the fact is tomorrow will be another party (and we'll be grilling!), so we left it over there.
Bella and Isaac are hitting growth spurts now, and have both outgrown their shoes. Bella has these big paddlefeet (when Kaitie handed her to us in the hospital 6 1/2 years ago, she actually apologized "I can see she got my feet!") so we can't just do the neighborhood shoe hand-down. We went to Schuler Shoes, a local institution and got her properly fitted with a couple of pairs of New Balances which have the room she needs. One of the pairs has robots and blinking lights on it, the other is silver with bright yellow details (Yellow is coming up in the rankings of favorite colors these days). Isaac also busted out of his latest pair, and so we got him a couple of fresh shoes on sale.
Of course, nothing is FAST in a small shoe store, so Isaac and Bella were running around like MANIACS which exhausted us. Isaac walked behind a rack of sportswear, and pushed his way through, pausing to declare "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!!" as though he had just emerged from the curtain on stage. I almost fell out of my chair. What a ham.
As to work: I have one solid offer to start in July, one potential to start in 2 weeks, one fell through already, and one just arose today from a new source which I should find out more about tomorrow. So parachute or not, I think things are looking pretty good. On the parachute front, there's resistance at the management level, as noted elsewhere... but then our April forecasts aren't looking so good and we have an "emergency circle the wagons" meeting tomorrow. We'll just see.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Poor communication skills as plot device
I've grown in awareness when I'm watching or reading something of the prevalence of the unfinished sentence as a major plot device which simply wouldn't work in real life. This was used to horrible effect in the old X-Files, where if Mulder would simply finish a sentence, or add in a single detail when explaining something to Scully, she would have had enough information to actually HELP him sometimes.
Hypothetical example:
Agent 1 and Agent 2 are leaving from Spybase Alpha to infiltrate the underwater lair of Dr Devious.
Agent 1: How are we going to get in?
Agent 2: I'll go first and let you in.
Agent 1: How will you get past them?
Agent 2: I have a plan.
Flash forward - Agent 2 is seriously behind schedule, Agent 1 panics, stumbles into some guards, is taken prisoner, and is being brought before Dr Devious. In a nick of time Agent 2 pops out of a pool of water and saves Agent 1 "didn't I tell you, I can breathe underwater?"
If Agent 2 had just TOLD AGENT 1 his plan was to swim under the whole damn island because he has GILLS, Agent 1 could have sat back and worked with that. But NO. Agent 2 didn't reveal the plan. And it's not like they didn't have a good few hours in the SpyJet, just the two of them, flying to Dr Devious' island. What else did they talk about? American Idol???
This may seem extreme, but for god's sake, it's used on a weekly basis on just about every one of my favorite shows. (And of course in those Maximum Ride books: Anyone: "Max, let me tell you some useful information" Max: "WHATEVER!!!")
And when they do it, I want to scream because it is just LAZY WRITING. Even well written shows like Fringe are guilty - The cellphone conversation where if they just added ONE MORE SENTENCE to the conversation prior to hanging up, things would turn out differently. Like "I'm at the corner of Dunn and Bradstreet", or "I think that my wound is growing more infected", or "He's acting strangely". Things that I imagine you or I would probably add in.
So writers, and I know there are so many of you reading this, please please please, if you catch yourself withholding information to further the plot, that's ok. But then at least be realistic with how people who HAVE the information would USE that information. In a life threatening or strategic situation, a person sitting on a key bit of info and somehow NOT revealing it during the entire course of a transatlantic flight, or just before a firefight is just absurd.
At least let the person either NOT have an opportunity to be sharing the info (IE - don't have them talking in 90% detail about something but then trailing off "there's more.... but we don't have time"), or let them actually share the info WITH their people, but not US, so we can all be pleasantly surprised by the entire SWAT team crashing through the wall taking out the Vegan Terrorists because the whole group was working with the best possible information.
We as viewers can still be surprised.
And I'll be a lot less frustrated.
Hypothetical example:
Agent 1 and Agent 2 are leaving from Spybase Alpha to infiltrate the underwater lair of Dr Devious.
Agent 1: How are we going to get in?
Agent 2: I'll go first and let you in.
Agent 1: How will you get past them?
Agent 2: I have a plan.
Flash forward - Agent 2 is seriously behind schedule, Agent 1 panics, stumbles into some guards, is taken prisoner, and is being brought before Dr Devious. In a nick of time Agent 2 pops out of a pool of water and saves Agent 1 "didn't I tell you, I can breathe underwater?"
If Agent 2 had just TOLD AGENT 1 his plan was to swim under the whole damn island because he has GILLS, Agent 1 could have sat back and worked with that. But NO. Agent 2 didn't reveal the plan. And it's not like they didn't have a good few hours in the SpyJet, just the two of them, flying to Dr Devious' island. What else did they talk about? American Idol???
This may seem extreme, but for god's sake, it's used on a weekly basis on just about every one of my favorite shows. (And of course in those Maximum Ride books: Anyone: "Max, let me tell you some useful information" Max: "WHATEVER!!!"
And when they do it, I want to scream because it is just LAZY WRITING. Even well written shows like Fringe are guilty - The cellphone conversation where if they just added ONE MORE SENTENCE to the conversation prior to hanging up, things would turn out differently. Like "I'm at the corner of Dunn and Bradstreet", or "I think that my wound is growing more infected", or "He's acting strangely". Things that I imagine you or I would probably add in.
So writers, and I know there are so many of you reading this, please please please, if you catch yourself withholding information to further the plot, that's ok. But then at least be realistic with how people who HAVE the information would USE that information. In a life threatening or strategic situation, a person sitting on a key bit of info and somehow NOT revealing it during the entire course of a transatlantic flight, or just before a firefight is just absurd.
At least let the person either NOT have an opportunity to be sharing the info (IE - don't have them talking in 90% detail about something but then trailing off "there's more.... but we don't have time"), or let them actually share the info WITH their people, but not US, so we can all be pleasantly surprised by the entire SWAT team crashing through the wall taking out the Vegan Terrorists because the whole group was working with the best possible information.
We as viewers can still be surprised.
And I'll be a lot less frustrated.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
So far...
Two days home, and it's good to be here. Tiring, too!
Last night Isaac was bursting with wild energy, leaping from chair to couch to floor announcing that he's "SUPAMAN!!!" He took a good hour to wind down in bed, and then decided to get up around 3 to talk, sing, babble, and demand my company. I crashed on his floor a while, then brought him into bed with us. Funny thing, Isaac harasses ME in bed but leaves Pamela alone. If I'm on my back or facing him, he's happy, but noisy, which makes it hard to sleep. If I roll over and face the other way, he kicks me, tousles my hair, pokes my back, etc etc. He just can't keep his hands off of me.
By 4:30 I had enough, got up and went to the workout - not teaching, just using the studio to practice my aerobics routine. It's been over 2 weeks since I last taught and I needed to a) remember everything, and b) make sure I could do the full hour without dying. PASSED on both counts. Got home with fresh bread from Breadsmith and caught 45 min on the sofa before the upstairs woke up.
At work today, it was supposed to be "D-Day": My boss had made the case for me to be laid off based on a few factors, and his boss was going to check in with me today. Well, we had the meeting, and I blew it. I actually was myself, and he decided that I had skills and energy and he didn't want to let me go. So I'm going to probably have to forgo the severance and just move on. SIGH. It was a long shot anyway, but at least I tried. This might not be "the end" yet, as my bosses might just decide to act in my favor... things move in mysterious ways.
I came home a little dejected, to find the entire neighborhood in Jenny's front yard: The kids were all running around playing, and the parents were all kicking back in lawn chairs with sunglasses. We were kicking off SPRINGTIME in a proper way. 3 hours later, the kids were filthy, we all had full bellies from Famous Dave's (someone bravely went out to get takeout for us), and the stresses of the day had melted away.
We threw the kids into the tub to soak and it was off to bed for them. And I'm debating whether to catch Fringe tonight, or wait until tomorrow... hmmm....
Last night Isaac was bursting with wild energy, leaping from chair to couch to floor announcing that he's "SUPAMAN!!!" He took a good hour to wind down in bed, and then decided to get up around 3 to talk, sing, babble, and demand my company. I crashed on his floor a while, then brought him into bed with us. Funny thing, Isaac harasses ME in bed but leaves Pamela alone. If I'm on my back or facing him, he's happy, but noisy, which makes it hard to sleep. If I roll over and face the other way, he kicks me, tousles my hair, pokes my back, etc etc. He just can't keep his hands off of me.
By 4:30 I had enough, got up and went to the workout - not teaching, just using the studio to practice my aerobics routine. It's been over 2 weeks since I last taught and I needed to a) remember everything, and b) make sure I could do the full hour without dying. PASSED on both counts. Got home with fresh bread from Breadsmith and caught 45 min on the sofa before the upstairs woke up.
At work today, it was supposed to be "D-Day": My boss had made the case for me to be laid off based on a few factors, and his boss was going to check in with me today. Well, we had the meeting, and I blew it. I actually was myself, and he decided that I had skills and energy and he didn't want to let me go. So I'm going to probably have to forgo the severance and just move on. SIGH. It was a long shot anyway, but at least I tried. This might not be "the end" yet, as my bosses might just decide to act in my favor... things move in mysterious ways.
I came home a little dejected, to find the entire neighborhood in Jenny's front yard: The kids were all running around playing, and the parents were all kicking back in lawn chairs with sunglasses. We were kicking off SPRINGTIME in a proper way. 3 hours later, the kids were filthy, we all had full bellies from Famous Dave's (someone bravely went out to get takeout for us), and the stresses of the day had melted away.
We threw the kids into the tub to soak and it was off to bed for them. And I'm debating whether to catch Fringe tonight, or wait until tomorrow... hmmm....
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Home and Safe AGAIN
After 10 days away, I'm finally back in my own home, sitting on my couch in front of the fireplace, enjoying a decaf. The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind - from the trip to Portland, to the secret Eastern city, to Chicago for the Trade Show of DOOM, to Palatine for more family fun and Easter... and finally home today.
Some highlights of Chicago/Palatine: On Friday, we went to the train station and caught the Metra and went 5 stops toward Chicago to Des Plaines, to lunch at the ChooChoo restaurant. Isaac and Bella were both wearing striped overalls and loved the train experience. The ChooChoo was opened in 1951 - a malt and burger joint where the food is sent from the kitchen around the bar on a model train. It's delightful, and the joint was packed. The kids were enthralled and got excited every time that train came out. It was like magic. Sadly the town of Des Plaines figures that spot might be better used for parking, so there's an online petition to save this place at www.savethechoochoo.com
Jimmy to the Rescue: I'd been hearing from Bam that her iMac was starting to act funny. The list of symptoms were alarming, and I was happy that at our last visit in November I had the presence of mind to set up a backup disk for them. When I arrived on Wednesday, I ran over to it, confirmed that there WERE backups, and took one more just for good measure. When it went to sleep after backing up, it was to be its final shutdown. It never woke again... perhaps it knew that things would be OK now that the geek with glasses was there.
Bridget (Lilli's mom) is an Apple Store manager and had a line on an ex-demo iMac to replace it: Amazing machine, amazing price (my jaw dropped), so we went to get it and I spent the next couple of days bringing her data back from the dead, while pruning out years of ridiculous old downloads. By the end, we were back up and running with a fabulously huge 24" display. I love it when a technology story ends well.
Easter was our usual brunch with Grandma and the K-family at her retirement community. Very good food, good conversation, and both Bella and Isaac were pretty adventurous with the eating. About a pound of bacon each, probably.
The drive home started around 2, and we rolled in just before 9, having taken a leisurely dinner at a Pizza Hut in Mauston. The kids slept the first half of the trip, and we watched videos the second half. All was very very nice until about 10 minutes from home when screaming and squirming erupted. It was all hands on deck triage to get things down when we got in the door, and both kids zonked almost immediately.
And now I'm off to do the same.
Some highlights of Chicago/Palatine: On Friday, we went to the train station and caught the Metra and went 5 stops toward Chicago to Des Plaines, to lunch at the ChooChoo restaurant. Isaac and Bella were both wearing striped overalls and loved the train experience. The ChooChoo was opened in 1951 - a malt and burger joint where the food is sent from the kitchen around the bar on a model train. It's delightful, and the joint was packed. The kids were enthralled and got excited every time that train came out. It was like magic. Sadly the town of Des Plaines figures that spot might be better used for parking, so there's an online petition to save this place at www.savethechoochoo.com
Jimmy to the Rescue: I'd been hearing from Bam that her iMac was starting to act funny. The list of symptoms were alarming, and I was happy that at our last visit in November I had the presence of mind to set up a backup disk for them. When I arrived on Wednesday, I ran over to it, confirmed that there WERE backups, and took one more just for good measure. When it went to sleep after backing up, it was to be its final shutdown. It never woke again... perhaps it knew that things would be OK now that the geek with glasses was there.
Bridget (Lilli's mom) is an Apple Store manager and had a line on an ex-demo iMac to replace it: Amazing machine, amazing price (my jaw dropped), so we went to get it and I spent the next couple of days bringing her data back from the dead, while pruning out years of ridiculous old downloads. By the end, we were back up and running with a fabulously huge 24" display. I love it when a technology story ends well.
Easter was our usual brunch with Grandma and the K-family at her retirement community. Very good food, good conversation, and both Bella and Isaac were pretty adventurous with the eating. About a pound of bacon each, probably.
The drive home started around 2, and we rolled in just before 9, having taken a leisurely dinner at a Pizza Hut in Mauston. The kids slept the first half of the trip, and we watched videos the second half. All was very very nice until about 10 minutes from home when screaming and squirming erupted. It was all hands on deck triage to get things down when we got in the door, and both kids zonked almost immediately.
And now I'm off to do the same.
Words to Live By
Bella, Isaac, and I were at a playground, and Bella spotted a sand volleyball court and wanted to play "in the big sandbox". She dropped to her knees and started digging in the sand to make a big wall. Now, it was around 50 degrees, dry, and windy. There wasn't going to be much of a wall made, and while I was all for running around and climbing on the playground equipment, I told her I didn't want to get my hands dirty.
She told me:
"Dad, when you're having fun: the dirtier you get, the more fun you're having. And you're not dirty AT ALL."
Fair enough. We did play a lot, but not enough for her: She went to bed sad that she didn't get to have enough fun outside. Thankfully, spring is still springing, and we'll have a lot more fun in the months to come. And we're going to have to get some hands dirty.
She told me:
"Dad, when you're having fun: the dirtier you get, the more fun you're having. And you're not dirty AT ALL."
Fair enough. We did play a lot, but not enough for her: She went to bed sad that she didn't get to have enough fun outside. Thankfully, spring is still springing, and we'll have a lot more fun in the months to come. And we're going to have to get some hands dirty.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Re-CHARGE!!!
The mind numbing events of the past week seem so far away now, after a couple of great days with the family. The kids and I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo yesterday and made friends with the big cats and the monkeys... while Pamela attended a taping of the Oprah Show!!! I don't think I'm breaking any nondisclosure agreements by telling you that Pamela did NOT attend a big giveaway taping, so no new cars or weeks at Miraval, alas.
We've been running around outside a lot, building forts, and giving a lot of airplane rides. The house has been full of giggles.
Thanks for the well wishes after the last update: It was a total "venting" post, I admit, but I needed to get it out! Things are moving forward on all of my "secret plans" so I'm feeling very positive now.
We're off to take the train for a family adventure this morning, so that's the short update!
We've been running around outside a lot, building forts, and giving a lot of airplane rides. The house has been full of giggles.
Thanks for the well wishes after the last update: It was a total "venting" post, I admit, but I needed to get it out! Things are moving forward on all of my "secret plans" so I'm feeling very positive now.
We're off to take the train for a family adventure this morning, so that's the short update!
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Catch the Train
Well in the week since my last update... so much has happened. So much.
1) My secret meeting went extremely well, and I think there's a great opportunity out there. The catch is that for funding reasons it can't start until July, so I'm not sure exactly how to hold out until then. Perhaps I could get the old gang together and do some street corner busking.
But seriously - the job would be working in a clinical context again, doing large scale analysis and planning, working for cardiologists and geeks alike to build a new system. They were clear that it's a year to start, but could turn into multiple years... and they'd work with me on family friendly travel options (week on/week off, etc). It's for a children's facility too, so there's good karma in helping care for kids.
2) The trade conference has been an unmitigated disaster. We were asked to share booth space with our parent company which is in an entirely different line of business than us. So the whole booth looked like Company X, with just a little sign inside saying "Plus Company X Consulting". We were off the main drag, and had bad sight lines, and nobody knew we were there. And nobody would wander in looking for our services either, any more than you would go to a Ford dealership to purchase the new Stephen King thriller.
ADD to this that our parent company has been involved in some unpleasant litigation recently which has led (rightly or wrongly - I don't understand the lawsuits) to a general perception of our company is borderline unethical... and that's the name on my badge. As I schmoozed in receptions, I actually had several people physically recoil and walk away as they saw the name. REALLY.
So even though we all know I'm moving to some new thing, I did want to attend and do my real job well, since it is my job. But I was 100% stymied, and the end result is that I didn't have a SINGLE potential client interaction. It's mind blowing!!!
3) I did make some PERSONAL connections for my next potentials, however...
4) Allright I gotta vent - with a lot of time in the booth and not much traffic, I got to see our management team in action, and it wasn't pleasant. Our CEO showed up for 2 hours one of the days, and sat on a couch in the booth doing emails. Didn't say hello to the 10 people working, no pep talk, no personal connections whatsoever. The dominant narrative on this guy is "he's really smart, but not so good with people" - my revised narrative is "this guy is a total jerkwad". Sorry, but the job of CEO is to lead. To lead, you need to motivate people, not be a toad. It would have been better for him to have not shown up at all than this performance.
The layers below him were equally annoying. Booth rules are simple - walk around, engage customers, smile, don't eat, don't sit. Standard VP behavior in OUR booth? Sitting in circles, talking on phones sipping coffee, checking email, ignoring customers (the few that wandered in). It was embarrassing.
So to recap - terrible booth, bad location, uninspiring leadership, bad customer reaction to our brand... hmmmmm.... Remind me why I'm looking to move on again?
5) To rub salt in the wound of the week, the obligatory "team building exercises" for the week were just more depressing than anything. With the downward spiral in all other aspects of the company, our personal relationships are all fraying, and there's a breakdown in our willingness to tolerate eachother's quirks. So at the dinners, there were long silences, and a lot of "Whew, I'm beat - time to turn in!" Compared with years past where we all cut loose and had a great time... it just felt like one of those balloons with a slow leak.
AND SO:
I'm getting on a train to take me back up to Palatine to see the family, and I'm happy to have this week behind me. I thank you for letting me get this off my chest... I'm going to have 5 wonderful days up here surrounded with love which will bring me right back up to fighting strength!
1) My secret meeting went extremely well, and I think there's a great opportunity out there. The catch is that for funding reasons it can't start until July, so I'm not sure exactly how to hold out until then. Perhaps I could get the old gang together and do some street corner busking.
But seriously - the job would be working in a clinical context again, doing large scale analysis and planning, working for cardiologists and geeks alike to build a new system. They were clear that it's a year to start, but could turn into multiple years... and they'd work with me on family friendly travel options (week on/week off, etc). It's for a children's facility too, so there's good karma in helping care for kids.
2) The trade conference has been an unmitigated disaster. We were asked to share booth space with our parent company which is in an entirely different line of business than us. So the whole booth looked like Company X, with just a little sign inside saying "Plus Company X Consulting". We were off the main drag, and had bad sight lines, and nobody knew we were there. And nobody would wander in looking for our services either, any more than you would go to a Ford dealership to purchase the new Stephen King thriller.
ADD to this that our parent company has been involved in some unpleasant litigation recently which has led (rightly or wrongly - I don't understand the lawsuits) to a general perception of our company is borderline unethical... and that's the name on my badge. As I schmoozed in receptions, I actually had several people physically recoil and walk away as they saw the name. REALLY.
So even though we all know I'm moving to some new thing, I did want to attend and do my real job well, since it is my job. But I was 100% stymied, and the end result is that I didn't have a SINGLE potential client interaction. It's mind blowing!!!
3) I did make some PERSONAL connections for my next potentials, however...
4) Allright I gotta vent - with a lot of time in the booth and not much traffic, I got to see our management team in action, and it wasn't pleasant. Our CEO showed up for 2 hours one of the days, and sat on a couch in the booth doing emails. Didn't say hello to the 10 people working, no pep talk, no personal connections whatsoever. The dominant narrative on this guy is "he's really smart, but not so good with people" - my revised narrative is "this guy is a total jerkwad". Sorry, but the job of CEO is to lead. To lead, you need to motivate people, not be a toad. It would have been better for him to have not shown up at all than this performance.
The layers below him were equally annoying. Booth rules are simple - walk around, engage customers, smile, don't eat, don't sit. Standard VP behavior in OUR booth? Sitting in circles, talking on phones sipping coffee, checking email, ignoring customers (the few that wandered in). It was embarrassing.
So to recap - terrible booth, bad location, uninspiring leadership, bad customer reaction to our brand... hmmmmm.... Remind me why I'm looking to move on again?
5) To rub salt in the wound of the week, the obligatory "team building exercises" for the week were just more depressing than anything. With the downward spiral in all other aspects of the company, our personal relationships are all fraying, and there's a breakdown in our willingness to tolerate eachother's quirks. So at the dinners, there were long silences, and a lot of "Whew, I'm beat - time to turn in!" Compared with years past where we all cut loose and had a great time... it just felt like one of those balloons with a slow leak.
AND SO:
I'm getting on a train to take me back up to Palatine to see the family, and I'm happy to have this week behind me. I thank you for letting me get this off my chest... I'm going to have 5 wonderful days up here surrounded with love which will bring me right back up to fighting strength!
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Rat-a-Tat
On Saturday, Papabam came up to spend the week with us. Papa and Bella immediately went into project mode, and took over the dining room table with all sorts of little crafts. By Sunday, Bella was wearing a pair of eyeglasses made out of twigs and string, and there was a full size drawing of Isaac with butterfly wings on the floor. It's simply wonderful.
Sunday AM we went to the Arboretum for their annual pancake breakfast and maple syrup tour. We ate huge stacks of very good flapjacks and sausages, and even though the weather was brisk, we enjoyed touring the maple syrup fields... I was impressed with the latest technology: while they still use bags/buckets for some trees, they also run loooooong tubes down hills connecting a dozen trees in series, leading directly to the collection vat.
Our neighbors upgraded their couch, so we scrounged their old one and turned it into a "Mobile Recreation Unit" - we recovered it in scrap fabrics (fake fur, vinyl, animal print, flannel, it's frankly hideous in a good way) and bolted casters to the bottom. This beast will live in our garage and get wheeled out on nice days for hobnobbing on the sidewalk. We're going to carpe a lot of diems.
I'm in Portland today: We finally got a meeting with a client that I'd been desperately trying to get into for over a year. And when they made time, they MADE TIME: I got 90 minutes with them, including 30 minutes with their CIO, plus their director joined us for dinner as well. It was actually fabulous.
But more than the schmooze: When the CIO arrived, he had some very specific questions - how would we solve problem X? How would we design project team to do Y? For 30 min, it was a rapid fire conversation with just the two of us, and the rest of the people at the table sat back and tried to keep up. I gave him some free consulting, and he took copious notes. Enough to establish credibility, not enough to do the full job, of course. It's not like I read him the Colonel's secret spices recipe or anything. I got a good email back from him today thanking me for my time and looking forward to working more in the future.
I really liked yesterday because it didn't feel like sales. It felt like consulting: Talking about problems, and brainstorming solutions. And that just further cements my conviction - I need to be consulting again. And do I even need to mention that there's not a single other person in my company who could have answered his questions, nor is there anyone who could actually do the work I was describing that needs doing? Of course I don't. You know what I gotta do.
Dinner at the Heathman was divine, and I always love the fact that they have Ardbeg at the bar - long live the smoke! The Heathmans in Portland and Seattle are just such amazing places.
So shhhhhhh don't tell anyone but I'm not actually going home from Portland - I'm headed out to an east coast city to talk to another group about solutions - on my own behalf. I bought my own ticket, got my own hotel... and it's another "who could do this but me?" sort of gig. I'll be home Thursday and will probably have some news...
Then it's off to Chicago for the big HIMSS trade conference. Mucho schmoozo. But I'm still bringing my A-Game to the job I actually HAVE. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, doncha know.
Pamela, the kids, and Papabam will drive down to Palatine over the weekend and I'll meet up with them Wednesday for family fun time. We'll come back home after Easter. The kids get two whole weeks with their grandparents.
Sunday AM we went to the Arboretum for their annual pancake breakfast and maple syrup tour. We ate huge stacks of very good flapjacks and sausages, and even though the weather was brisk, we enjoyed touring the maple syrup fields... I was impressed with the latest technology: while they still use bags/buckets for some trees, they also run loooooong tubes down hills connecting a dozen trees in series, leading directly to the collection vat.
Our neighbors upgraded their couch, so we scrounged their old one and turned it into a "Mobile Recreation Unit" - we recovered it in scrap fabrics (fake fur, vinyl, animal print, flannel, it's frankly hideous in a good way) and bolted casters to the bottom. This beast will live in our garage and get wheeled out on nice days for hobnobbing on the sidewalk. We're going to carpe a lot of diems.
I'm in Portland today: We finally got a meeting with a client that I'd been desperately trying to get into for over a year. And when they made time, they MADE TIME: I got 90 minutes with them, including 30 minutes with their CIO, plus their director joined us for dinner as well. It was actually fabulous.
But more than the schmooze: When the CIO arrived, he had some very specific questions - how would we solve problem X? How would we design project team to do Y? For 30 min, it was a rapid fire conversation with just the two of us, and the rest of the people at the table sat back and tried to keep up. I gave him some free consulting, and he took copious notes. Enough to establish credibility, not enough to do the full job, of course. It's not like I read him the Colonel's secret spices recipe or anything. I got a good email back from him today thanking me for my time and looking forward to working more in the future.
I really liked yesterday because it didn't feel like sales. It felt like consulting: Talking about problems, and brainstorming solutions. And that just further cements my conviction - I need to be consulting again. And do I even need to mention that there's not a single other person in my company who could have answered his questions, nor is there anyone who could actually do the work I was describing that needs doing? Of course I don't. You know what I gotta do.
Dinner at the Heathman was divine, and I always love the fact that they have Ardbeg at the bar - long live the smoke! The Heathmans in Portland and Seattle are just such amazing places.
So shhhhhhh don't tell anyone but I'm not actually going home from Portland - I'm headed out to an east coast city to talk to another group about solutions - on my own behalf. I bought my own ticket, got my own hotel... and it's another "who could do this but me?" sort of gig. I'll be home Thursday and will probably have some news...
Then it's off to Chicago for the big HIMSS trade conference. Mucho schmoozo. But I'm still bringing my A-Game to the job I actually HAVE. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, doncha know.
Pamela, the kids, and Papabam will drive down to Palatine over the weekend and I'll meet up with them Wednesday for family fun time. We'll come back home after Easter. The kids get two whole weeks with their grandparents.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Bossypants
Isaac is truly feeling his two-ness, and his virgo-ness. The man has been giving orders non-stop for a few days. Hold this, I go first, no, no, no, THAT ONE, no I WILL DO IT. Any failure to obey will result in him immediately dropping to the ground screaming.
Pamela and I are dealing with it. Amazingly, so is Bella.
Bella woke up this AM and decided to make me some artwork: She drew me a frog, a snake, and a chameleon. The chameleon was a great drawing, with the spiral tail and long tongue - Bella really has a great eye for detail. That we almost missed the bus is entirely beside the point.
In fitness news, we're preparing for the launch of a new BodyPump release at our studio. The owner has had us working hard on this - we've had over 7 hours of group practice time... unpaid of course... and will have 4 more hours before our launch on Sunday. Now on one level, I acknowledge that to be in the exercise business for the money is a fools game - the only people making money are club owners. The trainers make $12-20 a class, but you can only teach 1-2 classes a day MAX, you need to cover your own training costs, you buy new music releases every quarter for $40 per program... Basically you are not making any money.
But you are feeling good about being in shape AND sharing the love of fitness with others.
The fact that we're working so hard on the releases led me to a strange event today: I was talking to a co-worker who started working out at a local community center. She started talking about the music being used in her "Pump and Lift" class... and I realized she's being taught BodyPump, but not in a licensed facility - the instructor is totally bootlegging our new release!!!
I don't know why this bugged me so much. I have a somewhat loose relationship with intellectual property in general (I borrow books and CDs, and have downloaded a show or two in the past)... but it seems that the fitness world is not exactly the huge money empire that would be completely unaffected by someone teaching bodypump without the license...
It just got me thinking, that's all.
Pamela and I are dealing with it. Amazingly, so is Bella.
Bella woke up this AM and decided to make me some artwork: She drew me a frog, a snake, and a chameleon. The chameleon was a great drawing, with the spiral tail and long tongue - Bella really has a great eye for detail. That we almost missed the bus is entirely beside the point.
In fitness news, we're preparing for the launch of a new BodyPump release at our studio. The owner has had us working hard on this - we've had over 7 hours of group practice time... unpaid of course... and will have 4 more hours before our launch on Sunday. Now on one level, I acknowledge that to be in the exercise business for the money is a fools game - the only people making money are club owners. The trainers make $12-20 a class, but you can only teach 1-2 classes a day MAX, you need to cover your own training costs, you buy new music releases every quarter for $40 per program... Basically you are not making any money.
But you are feeling good about being in shape AND sharing the love of fitness with others.
The fact that we're working so hard on the releases led me to a strange event today: I was talking to a co-worker who started working out at a local community center. She started talking about the music being used in her "Pump and Lift" class... and I realized she's being taught BodyPump, but not in a licensed facility - the instructor is totally bootlegging our new release!!!
I don't know why this bugged me so much. I have a somewhat loose relationship with intellectual property in general (I borrow books and CDs, and have downloaded a show or two in the past)... but it seems that the fitness world is not exactly the huge money empire that would be completely unaffected by someone teaching bodypump without the license...
It just got me thinking, that's all.
Plots and Plans
I've had a trifecta of "the world working in mysterious ways" recently.
1) Good buddy Yoshi started his dream job with Pixar this week. How did he get there? 10 years working at a science museum, 2 years away from home at grad school, 1 year at a software startup in Austin TX, and a chance encounter. Somehow all of those components came together to make this Pixar job work for him. Along the way, there was heartbreak and difficulties, but I tell you, if you asked him 10 years ago what his dream job was, this would pretty much be it. And he got there.
2) Had lunch today with Mom. When we made the lunch date 2 weeks ago, things were sounding a bit sad and desperate - Mom's a storyteller and makes money here and there, but is not following any sort of traditional career path (nor should she - the office life is not for her!). But two weeks ago, things were looking a bit grim. So we made the date.
In the meantime, three bits of synchronicity cropped up: a good friend has found a niche writing state grants and needs some help proofreading/editing. That's 20 hr/week. She's been asked to present a proposal for storytelling for a summer language program... from someone who just happened to be enjoying a cup of coffee when she was telling at a coffee shop. AND her great work on "My War" last year has led to another similar potential project.
So when we had our lunch at Mayslacks (a northeast Mpls institution with roast beef sammiches as big as Isaac's skull), the air was not desperate, but rather excited: What of these opportunities will prove the most lucrative? Of course we did talk about NEW possibilities as well, but I was so happy to see the universe had delivered some opportunities.
3) For my own part, my "next big thing" search has really accelerated: I did the math and figured out that while April will be an OK month, May and June will be extremely LEAN - to the point of not being livable with our expenses (we're talking selling my gold tooth). So I gotta get out. The die is cast, I'm not messing around, I'm 100% out in the world looking for the next big thing.
I did another round of reaching out yesterday, and have a couple of very interesting opportunities in my lap now. I've gone from no hope to a full HANDFUL of new options. Just this reaching out has really given me some amazing opportunities. As one person said "look at this resume - WHY did they have him doing sales? He's got an incredible consulting resume!!!" Now, these gigs will involve travel, which is something we're (Pamela and I, not Isaac and Bella) prepared to accept for the time being. But they'll re-energize my soul, give me work that I can be proud of, and frankly get me more jing-a-ling.
To assist in my exit, I prepared a PowerPoint to review with my boss explaining why he should lay me off and give me severance rather than letting me quit... A bold move, I admit, but actually pretty amusing. I had a co-worker proof read it without telling her what it was about, and she was curled up on the floor in laughing hysterics for a full 30 minutes.
I mean really: Asking to be fired is strange enough. But in PowerPoint? I'm blazing new trails. The only trick: Do I still get to go to Portland next week? (I really want one more Voodoo donut!!!!).
So I'm believing in synchronicity - that even in this crazy climate that there are opportunities for a person like me, and I'm stepping forward. STEP.
1) Good buddy Yoshi started his dream job with Pixar this week. How did he get there? 10 years working at a science museum, 2 years away from home at grad school, 1 year at a software startup in Austin TX, and a chance encounter. Somehow all of those components came together to make this Pixar job work for him. Along the way, there was heartbreak and difficulties, but I tell you, if you asked him 10 years ago what his dream job was, this would pretty much be it. And he got there.
2) Had lunch today with Mom. When we made the lunch date 2 weeks ago, things were sounding a bit sad and desperate - Mom's a storyteller and makes money here and there, but is not following any sort of traditional career path (nor should she - the office life is not for her!). But two weeks ago, things were looking a bit grim. So we made the date.
In the meantime, three bits of synchronicity cropped up: a good friend has found a niche writing state grants and needs some help proofreading/editing. That's 20 hr/week. She's been asked to present a proposal for storytelling for a summer language program... from someone who just happened to be enjoying a cup of coffee when she was telling at a coffee shop. AND her great work on "My War" last year has led to another similar potential project.
So when we had our lunch at Mayslacks (a northeast Mpls institution with roast beef sammiches as big as Isaac's skull), the air was not desperate, but rather excited: What of these opportunities will prove the most lucrative? Of course we did talk about NEW possibilities as well, but I was so happy to see the universe had delivered some opportunities.
3) For my own part, my "next big thing" search has really accelerated: I did the math and figured out that while April will be an OK month, May and June will be extremely LEAN - to the point of not being livable with our expenses (we're talking selling my gold tooth). So I gotta get out. The die is cast, I'm not messing around, I'm 100% out in the world looking for the next big thing.
I did another round of reaching out yesterday, and have a couple of very interesting opportunities in my lap now. I've gone from no hope to a full HANDFUL of new options. Just this reaching out has really given me some amazing opportunities. As one person said "look at this resume - WHY did they have him doing sales? He's got an incredible consulting resume!!!" Now, these gigs will involve travel, which is something we're (Pamela and I, not Isaac and Bella) prepared to accept for the time being. But they'll re-energize my soul, give me work that I can be proud of, and frankly get me more jing-a-ling.
To assist in my exit, I prepared a PowerPoint to review with my boss explaining why he should lay me off and give me severance rather than letting me quit... A bold move, I admit, but actually pretty amusing. I had a co-worker proof read it without telling her what it was about, and she was curled up on the floor in laughing hysterics for a full 30 minutes.
I mean really: Asking to be fired is strange enough. But in PowerPoint? I'm blazing new trails. The only trick: Do I still get to go to Portland next week? (I really want one more Voodoo donut!!!!).
So I'm believing in synchronicity - that even in this crazy climate that there are opportunities for a person like me, and I'm stepping forward. STEP.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Wonder of Wonders
It was another full-bore weekend of delight:
1) Friday night, had the boys over for scotch tasting and a movie. The scotches were all amazing, as usual, with the belle of the ball being a 21-year Lagavulin 21 that was sherry cask matured. It frankly tasted WONDERFUL. It's a rare beast, however... Will I taste another? Perhaps, but I'm better just for having tried this one for sure.
The movie was Tropic Thunder, which was so outrageously funny... due in no small part to the completely over the top performance by Robert Downey Jr. He COMMITTED to that role, and really made it. Every damn thing he said and did made me giggle. Tom Cruise was also great... Poor Jack Black was basically being Jack Black, which is usually good enough, but not when "Kirk Lazarus" was blowing our minds.
2) Saturday I took Isaac back to Edenborough Park, the multistory indoor climbing structure. Whereas 3 weeks earlier, he was more tentative, this time he decided to "own" the whole place. He led the way climbing to high levels and zooming down the slides: He got a few favorite "routines" in our almost 2 hours, and got so fast at climbing up and sliding down that I had to stop trying to keep up and take a "monitoring perch". He went all out in the moonwalk too, leaping around and giggling. Yes, he still needed me for a boost on a couple of the higher ledges, so I'm not completely superfluous, but this place is HIS.
Ran into the drummer of my high school band up in the structure - his son is about the same age as Isaac and we had just a quick hello before we had to pursue our kids in opposite directions.
Later that day, we had a visit from Yoshi, who has a life changing career opportunity to work for Pixar, and is moving to San Fran in a week. He had been working in Austin Tx at a game development startup, and their product is just getting ready to be released, so it's a bittersweet victory, but this is a ticket to the "big show" and we're all so happy for him. PIXAR!!! Best movies in the universe, and he'll be in there helping the artists, creating some new toolsets for them to use. Brilliant. Uncle Ant and his wife Candy also came along, and we had dinner at the Chatterbox (which seems to be doing quite well for themselves!) Poor Pamela missed part of the day suffering from a Migraine, but managed to pull it together for the evening.
3) Today my life belonged to Time Out Fitness: We're doing a big launch for BodyPump 69 in a week, and we were doing final technique workthrough, sequencing of who is doing what, coordination of wardrobes, and general tweaking. Over 2 hours of work, a LOT of it while holding loaded barbells, and also rehearsing with full energy. Which would be fine, except today was ALSO my 3rd attempt at taping BodyAttack. I think it went well - we discovered what the problem was last time... and I think it was a great class. I was completely wiped by the end, however, and am ready to be poured into a bucket like Odo from Deep Space Nine.
In my relaxed state, I was thrilled to find that Pamela had prepared Penne with red sauce and spicy sausage for dinner, which I devoured. This is on top of cleaning the porch and getting it all set up for "sitting out there" time. Since the kids had spent a LOT of the weekend running around outside, they were brittle little creatures who needed to be hosed off and put right to bed... which got done pretty early actually.
THEN the fun began: Time to box up all those Ebay sales and get the first wave of them out tomorrow! 9 packages ready to go today (the ones who have already paid...), one shipped last week... and 9 still to get paid for and ship. So far $500 in payments... waiting on another $175 from what has already sold. THIS IS AMAZING, and this will basically pay for our summer vacation. EXCELSIOR!!!
Allright, so I'm teaching BodyPump tomorrow at 6am, so it's time to hit the hay.
1) Friday night, had the boys over for scotch tasting and a movie. The scotches were all amazing, as usual, with the belle of the ball being a 21-year Lagavulin 21 that was sherry cask matured. It frankly tasted WONDERFUL. It's a rare beast, however... Will I taste another? Perhaps, but I'm better just for having tried this one for sure.
The movie was Tropic Thunder, which was so outrageously funny... due in no small part to the completely over the top performance by Robert Downey Jr. He COMMITTED to that role, and really made it. Every damn thing he said and did made me giggle. Tom Cruise was also great... Poor Jack Black was basically being Jack Black, which is usually good enough, but not when "Kirk Lazarus" was blowing our minds.
2) Saturday I took Isaac back to Edenborough Park, the multistory indoor climbing structure. Whereas 3 weeks earlier, he was more tentative, this time he decided to "own" the whole place. He led the way climbing to high levels and zooming down the slides: He got a few favorite "routines" in our almost 2 hours, and got so fast at climbing up and sliding down that I had to stop trying to keep up and take a "monitoring perch". He went all out in the moonwalk too, leaping around and giggling. Yes, he still needed me for a boost on a couple of the higher ledges, so I'm not completely superfluous, but this place is HIS.
Ran into the drummer of my high school band up in the structure - his son is about the same age as Isaac and we had just a quick hello before we had to pursue our kids in opposite directions.
Later that day, we had a visit from Yoshi, who has a life changing career opportunity to work for Pixar, and is moving to San Fran in a week. He had been working in Austin Tx at a game development startup, and their product is just getting ready to be released, so it's a bittersweet victory, but this is a ticket to the "big show" and we're all so happy for him. PIXAR!!! Best movies in the universe, and he'll be in there helping the artists, creating some new toolsets for them to use. Brilliant. Uncle Ant and his wife Candy also came along, and we had dinner at the Chatterbox (which seems to be doing quite well for themselves!) Poor Pamela missed part of the day suffering from a Migraine, but managed to pull it together for the evening.
3) Today my life belonged to Time Out Fitness: We're doing a big launch for BodyPump 69 in a week, and we were doing final technique workthrough, sequencing of who is doing what, coordination of wardrobes, and general tweaking. Over 2 hours of work, a LOT of it while holding loaded barbells, and also rehearsing with full energy. Which would be fine, except today was ALSO my 3rd attempt at taping BodyAttack. I think it went well - we discovered what the problem was last time... and I think it was a great class. I was completely wiped by the end, however, and am ready to be poured into a bucket like Odo from Deep Space Nine.
In my relaxed state, I was thrilled to find that Pamela had prepared Penne with red sauce and spicy sausage for dinner, which I devoured. This is on top of cleaning the porch and getting it all set up for "sitting out there" time. Since the kids had spent a LOT of the weekend running around outside, they were brittle little creatures who needed to be hosed off and put right to bed... which got done pretty early actually.
THEN the fun began: Time to box up all those Ebay sales and get the first wave of them out tomorrow! 9 packages ready to go today (the ones who have already paid...), one shipped last week... and 9 still to get paid for and ship. So far $500 in payments... waiting on another $175 from what has already sold. THIS IS AMAZING, and this will basically pay for our summer vacation. EXCELSIOR!!!
Allright, so I'm teaching BodyPump tomorrow at 6am, so it's time to hit the hay.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Operation S-Can continues
The first of my Star Trek toys just sold on Ebay. $72 + $10 shipping. For a toy I bought in 1995 for... $14, threw away the box, and let sit in a bin for 13 years. Not too shabby. Not all of them are gold: A lot of them will malinger at $5 and $10, plus shipping, which is still better than throwing them away.
It'll help pay for the replacement tire I had to buy today: you want to have a good spare in the trunk these days. (See last Thursday's blog on that) Very happy to have my complimentary roadside assistance for that.
On to Literature: My mom has suggested that I get into the James Patterson Maximum Ride series - about winged teens saving the world. It's apparently the new Twilight. So I'll be giving that a go. There are 5 books so far - I suspect it's a little less "big Arc" than Twilight and more "and another adventure with...".
Just finished a book by Bruce Sterling - The Caryatids. Sterling is a singularly frustrating author for me: He has such incredible ideas and a great head for the deeper macro causes driving the world he's describing. He builds great situations and backdrops. But he has a tin ear for dialogue and character: I never believe that any person in his stories is acting in a way I comprehend as a human being. It's as if he views people and motivations from a two way mirror without the benefit of audio and guesses at what their actions might mean, but misses the point entirely.
It doesn't help that the core of this book was four bickering clone sisters on a ruined greenhouse-effect earth who hate their clone mother (who is on a chinese space station) and a philandering man who loved them all... none of who acted with any shred of consistency.
An earlier book - Holy Fire - was similarly frustrating: Scientifically, it was a cool concept: A respectable octogenarian woman undergoes an age reversal process, and begins wreaking havoc because she begins thinking impulsively like a teen. There's interesting science to back that up (brain development in teens....), but written in such a way that really didn't relate. I wound up throwing the book down yelling "oh just GROW UP you pouty face". So maybe he did a good job. But it wasn't fun.
Maybe he shouldn't be writing for female protagonists... because I don't feel he gets them even close to right. On the other hand, maybe he writes BRILLIANTLY for female protagonists and I just don't understand because I'm not a female. I'm prepared to accept that possibility. But in either situation, the reading is not very satisfying to me. I'm moving him to my "not all that great for me" column.
Compare and contrast with Neal Stephenson and Charles Stross: They both work in similar veins, but both have a more fluid ear for dialogue and character motivation: I understand where people are coming from and why they're moving the directions they move in their books. It just feels RIGHT. Even when Neal takes for-freaking-EVER to get to the point sometimes....
Allright: Workout stuff. Shockingly, my second attempt at taping BodyAttack failed. A missing two minutes from the middle - I think my taping assistant bumped the red button while moving the camera. Sigh. Try three coming atcha Sunday.
It'll help pay for the replacement tire I had to buy today: you want to have a good spare in the trunk these days. (See last Thursday's blog on that) Very happy to have my complimentary roadside assistance for that.
On to Literature: My mom has suggested that I get into the James Patterson Maximum Ride series - about winged teens saving the world. It's apparently the new Twilight. So I'll be giving that a go. There are 5 books so far - I suspect it's a little less "big Arc" than Twilight and more "and another adventure with...".
Just finished a book by Bruce Sterling - The Caryatids. Sterling is a singularly frustrating author for me: He has such incredible ideas and a great head for the deeper macro causes driving the world he's describing. He builds great situations and backdrops. But he has a tin ear for dialogue and character: I never believe that any person in his stories is acting in a way I comprehend as a human being. It's as if he views people and motivations from a two way mirror without the benefit of audio and guesses at what their actions might mean, but misses the point entirely.
It doesn't help that the core of this book was four bickering clone sisters on a ruined greenhouse-effect earth who hate their clone mother (who is on a chinese space station) and a philandering man who loved them all... none of who acted with any shred of consistency.
An earlier book - Holy Fire - was similarly frustrating: Scientifically, it was a cool concept: A respectable octogenarian woman undergoes an age reversal process, and begins wreaking havoc because she begins thinking impulsively like a teen. There's interesting science to back that up (brain development in teens....), but written in such a way that really didn't relate. I wound up throwing the book down yelling "oh just GROW UP you pouty face". So maybe he did a good job. But it wasn't fun.
Maybe he shouldn't be writing for female protagonists... because I don't feel he gets them even close to right. On the other hand, maybe he writes BRILLIANTLY for female protagonists and I just don't understand because I'm not a female. I'm prepared to accept that possibility. But in either situation, the reading is not very satisfying to me. I'm moving him to my "not all that great for me" column.
Compare and contrast with Neal Stephenson and Charles Stross: They both work in similar veins, but both have a more fluid ear for dialogue and character motivation: I understand where people are coming from and why they're moving the directions they move in their books. It just feels RIGHT. Even when Neal takes for-freaking-EVER to get to the point sometimes....
Allright: Workout stuff. Shockingly, my second attempt at taping BodyAttack failed. A missing two minutes from the middle - I think my taping assistant bumped the red button while moving the camera. Sigh. Try three coming atcha Sunday.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Unfurling...
The weather has finally turned and the kids are going completely bananas. Isaac wants to be outside every minute of the day, and they're sort of oblivious to the fact that while it's definitely warm-ER, it's not actually WARM yet. Bella in short sleeves. Isaac running out the door, up the block, and splashing in a puddle in his socks. My challenge will be to let them love this weather WITHOUT them catching cold!!!
Sunday, with the melt just starting, the kids insisted on getting going on the swingset. Wyatt from up the block joined in (he's 6 months older than Isaac, and is a little buddy). They were climbing in the camper, sliding down the slide, working the swingset. All with a lot of snow and ice still around.
I took them over to the Convention Grill for some health food: Isaac went completely mental for a chocolate malt: He eschewed the spoon and went straight for the straw: He was sucking SO HARD I thought his eyes were going to pop out, but persistence paid off and he got it going. But then he chomped the straw and restricted the flow.... and came up with a solution: Pull out the straw and flip it to try the other end. Yes, this did somehow work, and yes, it did result in a LOT of malt on his hands. And yes, he did this flip trick about 10 more times. Dude was COATED in malt.
Bella actually did NOT eat much of her malt, but did justice to the corn dog and fries. She loves dipping fries into malts. Apparently tasty. I was working hard with these kids. The next morning, some neighbors commented that they'd seen me there - I had no memory of seeing them, and it's not that big of a place! They said I was obviously completely focused on the kids, and that it was good.
Tonight, I took the kids to the Burrito Store, and then they insisted I stop at the park near our house. They worked the playground equipment for 40 minutes, burning off energy and loving the outdoors. When I finally got them to bed, it was a little later than I was planning, so Bella and I skipped quickly to stories.
Somehow, we were talking about singing, dancing, and playing instruments. We agreed that singing plus one thing is pretty common (singing at the piano). And dancing and singing is easy. But dancing and playing the piano would be pretty ridiculous. Unless you had a big circular piano, and you danced in the middle while playing all around you. I loved that vision of Bella's.
Oh, and she made a grasshopper in class the other day: total invention on her part... I'll upload a picture soon.
Ok, a total random update, but there you go.
Sunday, with the melt just starting, the kids insisted on getting going on the swingset. Wyatt from up the block joined in (he's 6 months older than Isaac, and is a little buddy). They were climbing in the camper, sliding down the slide, working the swingset. All with a lot of snow and ice still around.
I took them over to the Convention Grill for some health food: Isaac went completely mental for a chocolate malt: He eschewed the spoon and went straight for the straw: He was sucking SO HARD I thought his eyes were going to pop out, but persistence paid off and he got it going. But then he chomped the straw and restricted the flow.... and came up with a solution: Pull out the straw and flip it to try the other end. Yes, this did somehow work, and yes, it did result in a LOT of malt on his hands. And yes, he did this flip trick about 10 more times. Dude was COATED in malt.
Bella actually did NOT eat much of her malt, but did justice to the corn dog and fries. She loves dipping fries into malts. Apparently tasty. I was working hard with these kids. The next morning, some neighbors commented that they'd seen me there - I had no memory of seeing them, and it's not that big of a place! They said I was obviously completely focused on the kids, and that it was good.
Tonight, I took the kids to the Burrito Store, and then they insisted I stop at the park near our house. They worked the playground equipment for 40 minutes, burning off energy and loving the outdoors. When I finally got them to bed, it was a little later than I was planning, so Bella and I skipped quickly to stories.
Somehow, we were talking about singing, dancing, and playing instruments. We agreed that singing plus one thing is pretty common (singing at the piano). And dancing and singing is easy. But dancing and playing the piano would be pretty ridiculous. Unless you had a big circular piano, and you danced in the middle while playing all around you. I loved that vision of Bella's.
Oh, and she made a grasshopper in class the other day: total invention on her part... I'll upload a picture soon.
Ok, a total random update, but there you go.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
The Electronic Bay
Operation "Clear 'em OUT" continues at the house: We've had a monthly visit from ARC (a good local charity). Every week we've taken another load of old clothes to Once Upon A Child, and we're turning old clothes into new ones for our growing kids. I have a trunk full of CDs and DVDs which I have every intention of taking to Cheapo soon... And we've agreed that Half Price Books is a terrible scam and a self perpetuating nightmare: Why do you never shop there? Crap books. Why crap books? Because they pay pennies on the cover price for everything, after making you wait for a half hour. A full bag of decent books - $2.50. REALLY? For that price, couldn't you have just eyeballed the bag and insulted us right away?
Today our adventures were two pronged - Shredding and Ebay. We have stacks and stacks of documents which we were in the process of understanding when Bella came along 6 years ago, and we have been randomly adding to that pile ever since. Well, it's getting organized now, and we are deciding that insurance cards for cars we haven't owned since 1999 are NOT crucial for us to retain. Nor are 10 year old insurance statements declaring coverage on our Artificial Insemination procedures. No, there's a lot of stuff we have been saving for absolutely no reason. SO WE'RE SHREDDING IT. Whrrrrrrrrrr. We've actually filled a paper lawn clipping bag with shreds. It feels great. Manuals for a TV I haven't had for 4 years? GONE. HAHA!!!!
As we were cleaning the basement, we "found" the bins with my "collectibles" from my toy hoarding phase of the 1990s. LOTS of Star Trek things. I also found a trove of old concert T-shirts from the 1980s. I was saving them, thinking that when I got to 40, I'd think they were fabulous and would knuckle a tear away and cherish them. I maybe even thought my eventual children would think they were cool. Well, here I am, and I'm not knuckling anything away. And I doubt Bella or Isaac will be particularly excited by Depeche Mode or New Order shirts. No more than I would have been jazzed to have a Kingston Trio shirt from my Parents, I guess. No, these are mementos but not memories. Plus, they're fetching a pretty penny on Ebay!
So I have 18 auctions up now. Search on my username - ppgwave - if you'd like to see some of the gems. I can't really keep my personality entirely out of the picture when it comes to Ebay: On the concert T's, I talk about how the show was. On one Star Trek ship that was frankly pretty poorly built by the manufacturer, I plead that the horrible condition of the unit is entirely because it was a crap item. On one I lied that the scuff marks on a fake phaser gun were from my using it on a secret mission.
My favorite so far is my Laurie Anderson Mister Heartbreak tour shirt from 1984. I wore that shirt at least 300 times since getting it, and it is practically transparent, but still legible. In the description, I hint that Lou Reed could make a nice gift to his gal pal Laurie A with this remnant from the past. Of all of the postings, this one already has an interested buyer. IN TASMANIA.
My one complaint on the process is that IT TAKES A LONG TIME to do auctions. I have extra auction software (GarageSale), and it still took most of the afternoon to put it all together. What a pain. Plus, I'll have to mail that stuff everywhere. Oh well. Better than just tossing it. The people who will buy these things will likely love them more than I am now. And if the experiment works, I may start to look at moving along my other "treasure trove" - my comic books from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And with that, it's off to bed!
Today our adventures were two pronged - Shredding and Ebay. We have stacks and stacks of documents which we were in the process of understanding when Bella came along 6 years ago, and we have been randomly adding to that pile ever since. Well, it's getting organized now, and we are deciding that insurance cards for cars we haven't owned since 1999 are NOT crucial for us to retain. Nor are 10 year old insurance statements declaring coverage on our Artificial Insemination procedures. No, there's a lot of stuff we have been saving for absolutely no reason. SO WE'RE SHREDDING IT. Whrrrrrrrrrr. We've actually filled a paper lawn clipping bag with shreds. It feels great. Manuals for a TV I haven't had for 4 years? GONE. HAHA!!!!
As we were cleaning the basement, we "found" the bins with my "collectibles" from my toy hoarding phase of the 1990s. LOTS of Star Trek things. I also found a trove of old concert T-shirts from the 1980s. I was saving them, thinking that when I got to 40, I'd think they were fabulous and would knuckle a tear away and cherish them. I maybe even thought my eventual children would think they were cool. Well, here I am, and I'm not knuckling anything away. And I doubt Bella or Isaac will be particularly excited by Depeche Mode or New Order shirts. No more than I would have been jazzed to have a Kingston Trio shirt from my Parents, I guess. No, these are mementos but not memories. Plus, they're fetching a pretty penny on Ebay!
So I have 18 auctions up now. Search on my username - ppgwave - if you'd like to see some of the gems. I can't really keep my personality entirely out of the picture when it comes to Ebay: On the concert T's, I talk about how the show was. On one Star Trek ship that was frankly pretty poorly built by the manufacturer, I plead that the horrible condition of the unit is entirely because it was a crap item. On one I lied that the scuff marks on a fake phaser gun were from my using it on a secret mission.
My favorite so far is my Laurie Anderson Mister Heartbreak tour shirt from 1984. I wore that shirt at least 300 times since getting it, and it is practically transparent, but still legible. In the description, I hint that Lou Reed could make a nice gift to his gal pal Laurie A with this remnant from the past. Of all of the postings, this one already has an interested buyer. IN TASMANIA.
My one complaint on the process is that IT TAKES A LONG TIME to do auctions. I have extra auction software (GarageSale), and it still took most of the afternoon to put it all together. What a pain. Plus, I'll have to mail that stuff everywhere. Oh well. Better than just tossing it. The people who will buy these things will likely love them more than I am now. And if the experiment works, I may start to look at moving along my other "treasure trove" - my comic books from the late 1970s and early 1980s.
And with that, it's off to bed!
Friday, March 13, 2009
My Party With Isaac (Warning: Farts)
This evening was the Highlands School Carnival - a noisy confusion of excitement where Bella's elementary school is transformed into a, well, a carnival with games, prizes, moon walks, and general squealing mayhem. It is indeed the social event of the K-5th grade calendar. Our initial plans were to bring both Bella and Isaac along, and have one of us bail with Isaac around 7-ish.
Alas, Isaac has not been feeling well nor sleeping well, so I made an executive decision around 5pm to keep him home. I confess that for my own sanity this seemed a good option as well, and I looked forward to an early evening with him and a relaxing time watching Terminator and Dollhouse.
That was not to be.
From 5:15 to 6:15, we had a nice time in the basement watching SuperWhy and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He was glazey eyed, yawning, and chewing on his didda. Bedtime was right around the corner. So how to fill a little time? Ah, a BATH.
6:15-7:15 - Bath Time. Yes, it was an hour. He swam, laughed, floated on his back, sang, played with duckies, splashed, swam more, blew bubbles, giggled.... He was like popeye in a bathtub filled with spinach: He went completely crazy.
So I thought maybe he had blown off some steam and was ready for bed?
7:15-7:45 - dressing for bed, playing, reading stories, and the first attempt at bedtime. First farts detected.
7:45-8:00 - seemingly quiet, though some settling and cooing sounds.
8:01 announcement: "DADDY - I POOOOOOOOOED!!!!!"
8:02 - Entered room and was immediately overwhelmed with a grievous atmosphere. There was a POWERFUL STINK going on.
8:03 - Discovery: NO POOP.
8:04 - A toot so powerful, his feet actually left the ground. Several more followed. I took him out of the room to get some fresh air. He demanded to go downstairs.
8:10-8:30: Isaac is eating. Sausages with maple syrup left over from dinner, strawberries, crackers. He is voracious and very awake. Toots are beginning to subside.
8:30 back in bed.
8:45 - Bella and Pamela are back from Carnival. Isaac hears and is hollering his head off for Bella. Bella says hi.
9:00 - Isaac confirmed asleep. Now it's time for Bella.
Pamela and Bella had a great time at the Carnival: Bella won a gift basket chock full of art supplies and kits, which will lead to many great rainy afternoons now that spring may indeed be springing.
9:15 - After scarfing a plate of tortellini, Bella is in bed too.
9:30 - I finally get to watch Terminator. Taking a break to Blog, and then watch Dollhouse. I'll be sleepy tomorrow, but it'll be worth it.
Alas, Isaac has not been feeling well nor sleeping well, so I made an executive decision around 5pm to keep him home. I confess that for my own sanity this seemed a good option as well, and I looked forward to an early evening with him and a relaxing time watching Terminator and Dollhouse.
That was not to be.
From 5:15 to 6:15, we had a nice time in the basement watching SuperWhy and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He was glazey eyed, yawning, and chewing on his didda. Bedtime was right around the corner. So how to fill a little time? Ah, a BATH.
6:15-7:15 - Bath Time. Yes, it was an hour. He swam, laughed, floated on his back, sang, played with duckies, splashed, swam more, blew bubbles, giggled.... He was like popeye in a bathtub filled with spinach: He went completely crazy.
So I thought maybe he had blown off some steam and was ready for bed?
7:15-7:45 - dressing for bed, playing, reading stories, and the first attempt at bedtime. First farts detected.
7:45-8:00 - seemingly quiet, though some settling and cooing sounds.
8:01 announcement: "DADDY - I POOOOOOOOOED!!!!!"
8:02 - Entered room and was immediately overwhelmed with a grievous atmosphere. There was a POWERFUL STINK going on.
8:03 - Discovery: NO POOP.
8:04 - A toot so powerful, his feet actually left the ground. Several more followed. I took him out of the room to get some fresh air. He demanded to go downstairs.
8:10-8:30: Isaac is eating. Sausages with maple syrup left over from dinner, strawberries, crackers. He is voracious and very awake. Toots are beginning to subside.
8:30 back in bed.
8:45 - Bella and Pamela are back from Carnival. Isaac hears and is hollering his head off for Bella. Bella says hi.
9:00 - Isaac confirmed asleep. Now it's time for Bella.
Pamela and Bella had a great time at the Carnival: Bella won a gift basket chock full of art supplies and kits, which will lead to many great rainy afternoons now that spring may indeed be springing.
9:15 - After scarfing a plate of tortellini, Bella is in bed too.
9:30 - I finally get to watch Terminator. Taking a break to Blog, and then watch Dollhouse. I'll be sleepy tomorrow, but it'll be worth it.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Tweeting and such
Not sure why but I decided to fire up a Twitter account: These are little 140 word updates you can broadcast to the world. I have a client on my Blackberry, so I can tweet things like "getting lunch now" and all 9 people who follow my feed will know that I am, at that very moment, getting lunch.
I haven't really figured out why one would tweet, but I'm doing it.
Twitter has been in the news recently as a bunch of GOP senators got Tweeting on their Blackberries during Obama's Not-SOTU speech posting snarky little things to the world about what they were thinking. Doonesbury has been teasing on the Twitter recently too.
So now, I blog occasionally, I update my facebook status a couple of times a day, and I tweet. So who is really caring that I'm this connected? I wouldn't dream of calling up my hairdresser Warren to tell him my thoughts about the latest Depeche Mode single, but he gets my Tweet on the subject.
So look at this Twitter thing as an experiment. I will likely let this fall by the wayside pretty soon... But if you do care, I'm ppgwave on Twitter.
In other news, we had our annual "cold weather tire separation incident" with the Jag today. We've gone through at least one tire a year during a cold snap - the tire just wiggles off the rim. Cost of doing business I suppose. It says something about the stability control of my car that it was the SOUND that alerted me that something was amiss, while the car continued to handle perfectly, despite riding on a rim and a ribbon of rubber. Did I mention it happened going 65 on HWY 100?
We were a bit bedraggled today - Isaac decided that 4 am was a good time to wake up. He joined me in the shower for my 5am get-ready-for-bodypump ritual, and then wanted to go back to bed. But as I was preparing to leave, I still heard him. Since I wasn't teaching, I decided to relieve Pamela, took him up to the 3rd floor with me, and we napped for another 90 min (and he actually fell asleep). But this wasn't a good night of rest. We all needed naps, but Isaac declined his, so it was an early bedtime.
And it'll be an early bedtime for me as well...
I haven't really figured out why one would tweet, but I'm doing it.
Twitter has been in the news recently as a bunch of GOP senators got Tweeting on their Blackberries during Obama's Not-SOTU speech posting snarky little things to the world about what they were thinking. Doonesbury has been teasing on the Twitter recently too.
So now, I blog occasionally, I update my facebook status a couple of times a day, and I tweet. So who is really caring that I'm this connected? I wouldn't dream of calling up my hairdresser Warren to tell him my thoughts about the latest Depeche Mode single, but he gets my Tweet on the subject.
So look at this Twitter thing as an experiment. I will likely let this fall by the wayside pretty soon... But if you do care, I'm ppgwave on Twitter.
In other news, we had our annual "cold weather tire separation incident" with the Jag today. We've gone through at least one tire a year during a cold snap - the tire just wiggles off the rim. Cost of doing business I suppose. It says something about the stability control of my car that it was the SOUND that alerted me that something was amiss, while the car continued to handle perfectly, despite riding on a rim and a ribbon of rubber. Did I mention it happened going 65 on HWY 100?
We were a bit bedraggled today - Isaac decided that 4 am was a good time to wake up. He joined me in the shower for my 5am get-ready-for-bodypump ritual, and then wanted to go back to bed. But as I was preparing to leave, I still heard him. Since I wasn't teaching, I decided to relieve Pamela, took him up to the 3rd floor with me, and we napped for another 90 min (and he actually fell asleep). But this wasn't a good night of rest. We all needed naps, but Isaac declined his, so it was an early bedtime.
And it'll be an early bedtime for me as well...
Monday, March 09, 2009
Persistence
Bella had a class project: Persistence. Every kid in her kindergarten class was encouraged to pick something to do or learn, and stick with it. Then they were to give a short presentation on what they persisted in. Bella and I decided that her persistence project would be to build a big Lego set all by herself.
We picked out a big yellow crane kit with over 500 pieces, and over the course of 4 weeks, we spent over 8 hours building this thing. And by "we" I mean SHE did everything, but I did quality control: As she finished a step, I took a look and if there were things out of place, I asked her to look harder at the instructions... and if there were pieces that didn't snap easily, I might have helped once or twice. But that entire thing was built by her, with her following the directions.
She definitely had challenges - some days were hard to motivate, some steps were harder to understand, and some parts were sort of boring to assemble... but by Sunday afternoon, she put the last piece in place and held it up, with a big grin on her face. We had taken pictures throughout the process, and printed them all up. She glued them to a posterboard and wrote her story.
Today, Pamela brought the poster and the crane into class, and Bella was the star of the show. She radiated pride as everyone oohed and ahhed over her crane and poster - the teacher said she had never seen a kid do a project that complex, and that the bar is raised.
An interesting aside - one of the alternative persistence projects we thought about was learning to spell our full last name. Bella thought that wouldn't be much fun for persistence. All the same, on Friday she recited all 16 letters to me from memory. So she really did both projects. What a girl!!!
Isaac has been quite something these days too: He's really being a little boy, but he is maybe the most polite gentleman I've ever met. He always says please and thank you, and you're welcome. The other night, he was arranging his toy robots on the shelf, and wanted to switch two of their places. As he reached for one of the robots, he said "excuse me, mister".
We went to a sock hop this weekend for Isaac's preschool, and he spent several hours running around playing, and just a little dancing. But we had a few moments where he would be dancing at one end of the gym, then suddenly dart clear across the room to the climbing area. As as he scooted, his arms were out to his sides and his feet were a blur - I suspect that his toes were touching only every 4th step or so, and only then so as not to arouse suspicion.
On my own front, my tendrils are slowly unfurling, extending out into my network, and my next thing is cordially invited to present itself. We'll leave it at that for now.
We picked out a big yellow crane kit with over 500 pieces, and over the course of 4 weeks, we spent over 8 hours building this thing. And by "we" I mean SHE did everything, but I did quality control: As she finished a step, I took a look and if there were things out of place, I asked her to look harder at the instructions... and if there were pieces that didn't snap easily, I might have helped once or twice. But that entire thing was built by her, with her following the directions.
She definitely had challenges - some days were hard to motivate, some steps were harder to understand, and some parts were sort of boring to assemble... but by Sunday afternoon, she put the last piece in place and held it up, with a big grin on her face. We had taken pictures throughout the process, and printed them all up. She glued them to a posterboard and wrote her story.
Today, Pamela brought the poster and the crane into class, and Bella was the star of the show. She radiated pride as everyone oohed and ahhed over her crane and poster - the teacher said she had never seen a kid do a project that complex, and that the bar is raised.
An interesting aside - one of the alternative persistence projects we thought about was learning to spell our full last name. Bella thought that wouldn't be much fun for persistence. All the same, on Friday she recited all 16 letters to me from memory. So she really did both projects. What a girl!!!
Isaac has been quite something these days too: He's really being a little boy, but he is maybe the most polite gentleman I've ever met. He always says please and thank you, and you're welcome. The other night, he was arranging his toy robots on the shelf, and wanted to switch two of their places. As he reached for one of the robots, he said "excuse me, mister".
We went to a sock hop this weekend for Isaac's preschool, and he spent several hours running around playing, and just a little dancing. But we had a few moments where he would be dancing at one end of the gym, then suddenly dart clear across the room to the climbing area. As as he scooted, his arms were out to his sides and his feet were a blur - I suspect that his toes were touching only every 4th step or so, and only then so as not to arouse suspicion.
On my own front, my tendrils are slowly unfurling, extending out into my network, and my next thing is cordially invited to present itself. We'll leave it at that for now.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
A terrible idea
I got the thought that since my work is sales, and my sales are slow (and my morale is low) maybe I should check out a BOOK on sales - pick up some ideas.
Yeah, that was a terrible terrible idea. From what I can tell, the whole point here is:
1) You're not unique
2) You don't HAVE anything that's unique
3) The merits of your product are meaningless
4) The only thing separating you from everyone else is how persistent you are.
Unfortunately, I'd say that 2-3 years ago, what we were selling WAS unique and did have unique merits (that helped with sales). High satisfaction scores and a rare skillset in consultants. But flash forward to today and the skills are a lot less rare, our marketing scores are lower, and there's increased competition from all angles.
So yes, to just about everyone, I'm just one of a dozen people calling about the exact same thing.
Contrast that to when I was a guy DOING the work - that's where I got to be unique, where I had specific measurable value, where the clients were eager to talk to me.
I suppose these thoughts have been brewing for a while, but having sales strategy laid out like that in black and white really put it into focus for me. Add to that my trip to Dallas with 200 other salespeople from this company, and realizing this: These people are not my Tribe.
I have very little in common with them. I'm a doer. I have skills that can ACTUALLY make people's lives better, and I'm not really using them right now. For a while I hoped that by working on a more meta level (helping people FIND the people who will help them) I could spread good a bit further around. But it's feeling less and less like that is the case.
So I'm giving myself permission to explore what the next option is. To feel good about what I'm doing on a daily basis. To help clinicians and patients in a more direct way.
Actually, reading that Sales book probably WASN'T the worst idea.
Yeah, that was a terrible terrible idea. From what I can tell, the whole point here is:
1) You're not unique
2) You don't HAVE anything that's unique
3) The merits of your product are meaningless
4) The only thing separating you from everyone else is how persistent you are.
Unfortunately, I'd say that 2-3 years ago, what we were selling WAS unique and did have unique merits (that helped with sales). High satisfaction scores and a rare skillset in consultants. But flash forward to today and the skills are a lot less rare, our marketing scores are lower, and there's increased competition from all angles.
So yes, to just about everyone, I'm just one of a dozen people calling about the exact same thing.
Contrast that to when I was a guy DOING the work - that's where I got to be unique, where I had specific measurable value, where the clients were eager to talk to me.
I suppose these thoughts have been brewing for a while, but having sales strategy laid out like that in black and white really put it into focus for me. Add to that my trip to Dallas with 200 other salespeople from this company, and realizing this: These people are not my Tribe.
I have very little in common with them. I'm a doer. I have skills that can ACTUALLY make people's lives better, and I'm not really using them right now. For a while I hoped that by working on a more meta level (helping people FIND the people who will help them) I could spread good a bit further around. But it's feeling less and less like that is the case.
So I'm giving myself permission to explore what the next option is. To feel good about what I'm doing on a daily basis. To help clinicians and patients in a more direct way.
Actually, reading that Sales book probably WASN'T the worst idea.
Monday, March 02, 2009
A fresh week...
I am continuing my path to peacefulness this week, looking for the good things in life to focus on. Which is helpful when you're in Tacoma with a series of planned meetings and discover that two of them have been canceled without your knowledge. I have plenty of other things to do here. Plenty.
Sunday I took the kids to the Zoo for a change - Isaac was jumping up and down yelling with excitement about the monkeys, the dolphins, the fish, the bear... and cowering before the terror of the shark. Bella was eagerly showing Isaac just about everything. The Zoo was a bit quiet - lots of exhibits under construction (absent: Ring Tailed Lemurs, Gibbons, Dolphin Show), but some perpetually sleepy creatures were up and at'em for us: The Loris (slow and pygmy) and the Otters were fully active.
At the end, the kids suckered me into getting stuffed animals at the Zoo Store. Bella picked a plush wolverine (which was far sweeter looking than the real thing). She got a faraway look in her eye and averred "I love this wolverine as much as my doggy the dog. Not more, not less, but AS MUCH". Of course, last night, who was she hollering for in the middle of the night? Not wolverine. Doggy. Isaac got a little monkey which he loved deeply for around 8 minutes and then forgot all about it.
We had another family come over last night for Taco night. As usual Bella wolfed down 8 tacos plus dessert. In the night she called out that her legs were hurting - a sure sign that this food is going right into the growing factory. Anyway, the family has kids that worked well with Isaac and Bella, and there was a nonstop din of child mirth. We were concerned initially - the visiting dad had been laid off, and we were hoping for good things for them. By the time they arrived, he already had another, better job. So I'm encouraged that there IS work out there...
As I prepared to leave today, Isaac was pretty obviously aware that I was leaving for a few days, and needed a LOT of dad cuddles. We played airplane and wrassled quite a bit, and also had some quiet hugs. Traveling isn't easy on the family, and I'm so appreciative to them for supporting me... even when sometimes the purpose of the trip seems moot (like when people DON'T SHOW UP TO MEETINGS).
I've got a good networking dinner set up for tonight, and I'll be seeing Paul and Caesar tomorrow, so things are not a total loss....
On the plane today, they preboarded us in First, and then stopped boarding - the pilots were stuck at a different airport and we were going to be delayed for 45 minutes. So we were given the option - hang out on the plane and have some snacks and coffee, or deplane. We all stayed put (stand in the crowded gate, or sit comfortably and have a snack?). Not 2 minutes later, they announced they had found an "alternate crew" and we were going to take off as planned. I think that it may have actually been a thought experiment. I kept looking for people with lab coats and clipboards. Did we pass? Fail?
I'm off for the evening...
Sunday I took the kids to the Zoo for a change - Isaac was jumping up and down yelling with excitement about the monkeys, the dolphins, the fish, the bear... and cowering before the terror of the shark. Bella was eagerly showing Isaac just about everything. The Zoo was a bit quiet - lots of exhibits under construction (absent: Ring Tailed Lemurs, Gibbons, Dolphin Show), but some perpetually sleepy creatures were up and at'em for us: The Loris (slow and pygmy) and the Otters were fully active.
At the end, the kids suckered me into getting stuffed animals at the Zoo Store. Bella picked a plush wolverine (which was far sweeter looking than the real thing). She got a faraway look in her eye and averred "I love this wolverine as much as my doggy the dog. Not more, not less, but AS MUCH". Of course, last night, who was she hollering for in the middle of the night? Not wolverine. Doggy. Isaac got a little monkey which he loved deeply for around 8 minutes and then forgot all about it.
We had another family come over last night for Taco night. As usual Bella wolfed down 8 tacos plus dessert. In the night she called out that her legs were hurting - a sure sign that this food is going right into the growing factory. Anyway, the family has kids that worked well with Isaac and Bella, and there was a nonstop din of child mirth. We were concerned initially - the visiting dad had been laid off, and we were hoping for good things for them. By the time they arrived, he already had another, better job. So I'm encouraged that there IS work out there...
As I prepared to leave today, Isaac was pretty obviously aware that I was leaving for a few days, and needed a LOT of dad cuddles. We played airplane and wrassled quite a bit, and also had some quiet hugs. Traveling isn't easy on the family, and I'm so appreciative to them for supporting me... even when sometimes the purpose of the trip seems moot (like when people DON'T SHOW UP TO MEETINGS).
I've got a good networking dinner set up for tonight, and I'll be seeing Paul and Caesar tomorrow, so things are not a total loss....
On the plane today, they preboarded us in First, and then stopped boarding - the pilots were stuck at a different airport and we were going to be delayed for 45 minutes. So we were given the option - hang out on the plane and have some snacks and coffee, or deplane. We all stayed put (stand in the crowded gate, or sit comfortably and have a snack?). Not 2 minutes later, they announced they had found an "alternate crew" and we were going to take off as planned. I think that it may have actually been a thought experiment. I kept looking for people with lab coats and clipboards. Did we pass? Fail?
I'm off for the evening...
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