Top Down Weather

I've been enjoying the weather these last few weeks.. It's been great! It's been in the 70s with royal blue skies. It's top down sort of stuff.

The trees haven't turned yet but it's absolutely an awesome autumn week.

Going to work at 6:00 doesn't allow the top down but coming home is another story. When I leave it's in the 50s. I guess I COULD fire up the heater and drive with the top down. I've tried this actually, it's great fun if a bit chilly. I actually had the top down in the 40s. If I put the windows up and the heater on, it's really not too bad.

I usually listen to my Chinese tapes blasting in the speakers on the way home. Later, I'll stuff my iPod into my ears for the lessons. I know it may look strange. "Who is this guy with the Chinese voice blaring from his car anyway?"

...dave
Another cool site that allows you to watch cool stuff being made.

I just want one

It seems that you just can't buy one of anything anymore. If you shop at Costco, not only do things come in jumbo size but they come packaged in quantities of two, three or more. But I really just need one.

Even the stationary stores are packaging pens by the dozens. I can't go into a Staples, for example, and just buy a pen. I have to buy four or six of them. And here's the worse part. If I want a certain color, say red, I have to buy two blacks, a blue and a red. Of course, if you want a jumbo pack, you can buy 24 red pens. But I really just need one.

Now I have all kinds of pens in my house. They are scattered in every drawer, cubby hole, and book bag. But I don't use any of them. Just the one that I really wanted. I'm hoping I'll lose the others so that I can go get another pack. I really just wanted the red one.

Doesn't anyone see the conspiracy? The big wheels of business are ruining our planet, forcing us to buy pens we really don't need. Here's the worst part. The stationary stores keep changing the types of pens they offer. Just about the time I find a pen I like, I search far and wide to find another just like it. But then the great wheels of commerce have moved on and left me behind with a dry ink pen.

All I really wanted was a single red pen!

...dave
"Most imports are from outside of the country" -George W. Bush quotes (American 43rd US President since 2001. b.1946)

2006 Cayman S

Here's what I need.

I know, I know, it's just another black hole to put my money. But really, if I pick up a new one for just $60k, I wouldn't have to put any more money into it.

I'm just thinking that it would solve my sports car longing.

It's a simplification of sorts. Most people have four seats, this is half of that, it just has two. It's smaller, thus less to clean and care for. Therefore, I'll spend less time with it. It's faster, (0-60 in 5.4 seconds), so that I can now get to places sooner, thus getting more important things done.

At least that's what I told our CO. I think he's buying my story.

...dave
"A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car." -Kenneth Tynan quotes (English theatre Critic, 1927-1980)

KaBOOM!

The Enterprise has been big on "giving back to the community" so we were asked to help out at the next KaBOOM.

Several weeks ago we did a Habitat Build which helps build a house for a needy family. This project is focused on the kids.

It was kind of fun really. I came in my jeans, boots, and gloves. They picked us up from a parking lot nearby and shuttled us to the site. When we arrived there were just a few holes where the jungle gym posts go, some potted trees and plants, and a huge pile of wood shavings.

They had some great coffee waiting for us as well as some croissants and donuts. We signed a waiver, got a "Hello my name is: " sticker for our new T-shirts with the KaBOOM logo on it. On each of the stickers was a little icon that showed what we were going to be assigned that day. Mine had a grass icon on it. No! Not yard work! I hate this stuff!

It was about 45 degrees out when we started but I soon warmed up digging holes for the trees and plants. Ruth would be proud of me.

Things were going well when we discovered that the cement pallets were parked right in a spot where we needed to plant. Someone got the idea to move these 80lb sacks sooner rather than later. So we set up a human chain to move them. I was one of the links, but a weak one and so fell out. I just hustled the pallets from the unload site to the new stacking site.

Some kids came and painted square boards with designs which we later hung up on the chain link fence.

The "jungle gym" was nothing like I had when I was a kid. This was really cool stuff. Lots of monkey bars, swings, fire truck, and teeter-totters. The area covered about 3,000 square feet.

We were done early. We had lunch, which was supplied, planted some more flowers and left.

It was when I stared to get into the car that I realized I pulled something in my back when lifting the cement bags. I had a hard time sleeping and had to stay in from work the next day. I couldn't even put on my socks.

I'm such a wimp!

...dave
Writing is very much a playground - an artistic playground. It's the most fun thing I do. -Shania Twain

Book Idea

A book? A guy from work approached me about a book idea. A book about our experiences in the Enterprise. A Dos and don'ts kind of book. Or maybe a lessons learned. I've learned this from that.

Not sure what the title would be but it sounds kind of interesting. He's got a contact with a guy that is already published who wants to write another book. We could feed him the articles we don't want to include in ours, in exchange for a leg-up into publishing.

Hmmmm...not sure about this. Could be interesting. I already know who I'd get to design my cover.

...dave
Everyone has a book inside of them. And that's exactly where it ought to stay.

Disturbing Sports

Is it just my imagination or has sports gotten really out of hand?

I'm not much on sports so don't follow it closely. I discovered this report about Todd Bertuzzi's attack on Steve Moore. It's not only alarming but deadly. It's become like the days of the Roman amphitheater.

They talk about suspension but there ought to be stiffer penalties, like prison for example.

How do these guys live with themselves?

Just my two cents.

...dave
Sports Do Not Build Character...They Reveal It. -John Wooden

City of Wiggles

Not that San Francisco hasn't wiggled before but now it is really wiggling! Someone has actually crated the earthquake city in ... ready for this? ... jello!

Who in the world has time for this? Where do they get these ideas? And more importantly, why?

...dave
"I have always been rather better treated in San Francisco than I actually deserved." -Mark Twain

Spelunking in the UK

Now here's a cool idea. How about caving in sewers? I'm kind of down with that. Some might consider it a rather crappy idea (or they might say it stinks) but I think it could be a rather moving experience.

This kind of exploration has a warm appeal. You get your exercise, your curiosity, and your olfactory glans exercised all at once.

Very cool. I wish they had something like this in our area.

...dave
Non-reciprocal principle: If you add a cup of wine to a barrel of sewage, you get a barrel of sewage. If you add a cup of sewage to a barrel of wine, you get a barrel of sewage.

Amazon on PBS

Just watching a special on PBS. Amazing facts about the Amazon Jungle:

1/5 of the world's oxygen is generated in the Amazon.

1/5 of the world's fresh water is located in the Amazon.

A single tree is 160 feet high, is the giant of the Amazon. It's brazil nuts harvests $50k a year.

85% of the Amazon has not been explored yet. Some native tribes living inside have no idea of an outside world.

A pod dropped from the tree is the size of a cannon ball. It travels 55 mph as it hurls to the forest floor. Agouti shells the cannon ball, finds the seeds inside, and buries them and forgets where.

It takes a tree some 500 years to grow.

It makes me appreciate how important the earth resources really are.

...dave
Do not be afraid to go out on a limb ... That's where the fruit is. -Anonymous

Bluetooth Headsets

Bluetooth used to be something you saw in the south when a redneck smiled at you. Now it's part of some newfangled technology.

It's now used in headsets for cell phone users. The device is sort of a Star Trek thingy hanging out of people's ears like a wad of silver ear wax. It looks way too geeky to me.

And I see people using these things everywhere. At first only teens used them. But the other day I saw a 60 year old lady with one of these barnacles in her ear. She was eating and talking at the same time.

It's strange, people don't dine out with their friends anymore. They dine alone and talk to their friends on the phone. It's sort of a virtual relationship.

I know folks like the idea of wireless stuff, and I get that an untethered phone makes for a sleek look and all that. But whatever happened to talking on a phone? Soon the earpiece will BE the phone. Eventually you'll put a piece of clear wax in your auditory canal and talk away. No need for a device with buttons on it. You'll just say the person's name and the device will connect to the Internet, look up the number and dial it. No manual dialing necessary.

Personally, I'm waiting for the Dick Tracy watch. I want to talk and see the person at the same time.

...dave
Modern technology / Owes ecology / An apology. - Alan M. Eddison

Wilma

I just hate these American newscasters. They are so heartless.

Today they were quoted as saying:

"The storm hit Cancun and ruined thousands of American's vacations."

What about all the poor folks who live there? How can they be so senseless? Meanwhile it's left folks homeless, 13 dead, and others living in schools.

Are they really thinking?

...dave
"The only safe ship in a storm is leadership." -Faye Wattleton quotes

Lap Desk

Since I don't have my own desk now, I've decided to get a lap desk.

Borders had one for $50 but with the 24% discount I got it for less. It's kind of cool I guess. I flips up and you can store books and pens inside. It may just work. It even has a pen grove like the old-time desks at school. There's a black beanbag pillow underneath so that it'll settle down across the lap. There is a divider for the pens inside as well.

The idea was to bring it to class today but it's rather large for the chairs. Besides, it may be a bit silly looking. This usually doesn't bother me but...

I've been trying a new note taking process. Since at these meetings I'm always balancing several books, some notes, and the notebook in my lap, I decided to take a different track.

I purchased a pack of 4x6 cards and a small binder clip. I simply clip 20 cards together and write notes on them in portrait position. It really works well. When I have to reference something in one of the books, it'll simply switch hands and I can still refer to them. When I get down near the bottom of the card, I'll unclip it from the rest, slide it up a bit and re-clip it. The cards under the top note card provides writing surface for me to fill in the lower half of the card.

It's simple and cheap! I may just switch to this style for all my note taking.

...dave
My friend invented Cliff's Notes. When I asked him how he got such a great idea, he said, "Well, first I... I just... well, to make a long story short..." -Steven Wright

Broken Shelves

I've finally found a bookcase that needs no bookends!

Check this out: BrokenShelves There is even a place to sit within the bookcase. Very cool.

Who thinks this stuff up anyway?

...dave
When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes. - Desiderius Erasmus

Do people really do this stuff for a living?

The last class on Monday night was tough. After a whole day of going to these sessions, I think I'll go mad.

The guy presenting at this session is in the front of a room so long, when I walked in I felt like like I just stepped into the fuselage of an airplane. The screen is so far away they should have handed out binoculars at the door. I walked half way through the tube, found a seat on the wall, and tuned in to his speech.

The speaker was talking English but I couldn't make out what he was talking about. I could understand the words but not the meaning. It felt like I was in a dream. I did write down what he said in hopes of understanding it in the morning:

"With a processing class of 20 equal to z this will update the amount value in the z-table. If you use p12-3 as a constant you'll have a zero UND infotype wage type."

Huh? I am NOT wasting brain cells on this kind of stuff. I can't take much more of this. I need to bail. Wait, what did he say?

"Here's the best one. I really like this one. Amount less than KZ01"

If this is his favorite, I'd hate to hear what really bores him!

That's it, I'm leaving.

How can people do this stuff for a living?

...dave
If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves. -Lane Kirkland

Today's Workforce is Different

A lot of information regarding the changing workforce came from the keynote speaker this morning.

He talked about the four generations now in the workforce. They have very different moral standards, and a very different view of authority. The four "generations" are not age specific but era specific. He called them:

1) Traditionalists
2) Baby boomers
3) GenXers
4) Millennialists

Their views are all very different. They communicate differently:

1) Face-to-face
2) Phone
3) email
4) text message

Then he said: Even their view of sex is very different:

1) After marriage
2) back seat
3) over Internet
4) define sex

He put this slide up on the screen:

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants... They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents ... and tyrannize their teachers."

Then asked anyone if they knew who said this. There was quiet all around. Then he revealed the source as SOCRATES.

(Just doing a quick search on the internet, it's not clear that in fact Socrates did say this. Some say Plato. Whoever said it, the effect is the same.)

He also said that whereas most born in the 40s worked for the same company for years, the newer generation, by age 34, has worked for nine companies!

Joe Ucciferro, was well qualified to give a talk on talent software generally and the SAP talent software specifically. He was from the Day & Zimmerman company. They manage military installations in the U.S. including bases in Oahu. They also manage personnel guarding various chemical installations and missile facilities. "Everything we do" he said "revolves around the best talent possible." I guess so! I hope so!

...dave
We have guided missiles and misguided men." -- Martin Luther King, Jr

Elephant & Castle

Here I am in Philadelphia for a business conference.

I took Delta, the bankrupt airline, but we made it all the way. No problems with stopping halfway or anything. I was half expecting to get off half way and thumb a ride.

I sat in first class since that's all I could schedule through the Enterprise website. As soon as I sat down I was offered a drink. I was looking a bit green around the gills I guess. The rest of the poor folks had to scurry past me, to the back of the plane.

I made several comments to them as they passed. I tried not to be a snob. I just wanted to give them some friendly reminders as they passed:

        Hey, careful there lady with your oversized purse. I'm drinking here.

        Watch that gym bag mister.

        Hey buddy, check your circus tent at the counter, it ain't going to fit in the overhead bin.

        Hey, watch the roller cart there, those are my feet!

        Can you hurry it along folks? I need to stretch my legs and you're clogging up the isle.

You know, I was just giving some friendly reminders. Folks who sit in coach don't show any consideration for us folks here in first class. They should have more respect.

I arrived in the afternoon on Sunday, about 3:00 or so but since I can't register for the conference until 4:30 I decided to take a walk about near the Wyndham Franklin Square Hotel.

Many of the stores are "artsy" and some are plain weird. There was one called The African Woman. Lots of old stuff there but I didn't dare go inside.

Anyway, even being in first class, all I got was free wine and a bag of chips, so I was hungry. That's why the Fish 'n Chips looked so good here at the Elephant & Castle restaurant. It's got sort of on an Irish/English theme.

I asked my waitress if the Oktoberfest beer was a light ale. She said "yes" but brought a dark, heavy, iron beer. Still good though.

The walls are built of thick brick (three feet). There are arches into the adjoining rooms. The walls facing the street are of timber and plaster. There's a huge mirror hanging on the wall with gold lettering that reads "Barnett & Sons Distillers and blenders Glasgow & London." All the tables and chairs are made of thick natural oak.

There's a large flat screen on the wall, the football games are on. But it's like looking at an old Japanese film. The mouth is out of sync with the sound. Just a bit disconcerting. Cowboys and the NY Giants are playing. I try to understand this stuff but I miss the significance of what's happening on the field. I once went to a Giants baseball game in California and rooted for the wrong team! To me, it just a bunch of guys in shinny tights chasing a ball across a stripped green field. The Cowboys won.

Men in tights. How is this different than ballet? Just a different dance really. As I see it, football is ballet with a ball.

But I digress.

The waitress came and I ordered the Highland Bread Pudding with coffee. The pudding is great and the coffee is awesome.

Now they've switched to the Falcons and New Orleans game. The Falcons won 34 to 31.

I'm going back to the room and crash.

...dave
Pro football is like nuclear warfare.  There are no winners, only survivors.  ~Frank Gifford

Lee's Visit

We had a visit from a Chinese brother from Canada. He DROVE down. It took him parts of two days. He speaks Mandarin fluently (as well as seven other dialects). He gave some very helpful hints about learning foreign languages generally and Chinese specifically.

Here they are in no specific order:

1) Focus on the most frequently used vocabulary.

        There are about 200-300 words most frequently used in any language. Learn what these are in your target language.         
        Here are a few from Chinese:

        
2) Bring the books to the meeting that are of your target language.

In the case of Chinese, this is a challenge. When first learning Chinese I couldn't read ANY of the characters. Now I can read maybe 100. What that means is that I can follow as it is read from the platform up to a point. When they read a character I don't know I need to listen and look for one I do. This is what I've decided to do. One student began this process only after three months. What I've been doing up until now is bringing along the pinying books (Romanize Chinese). I need to move to the next level.

3) Pronunciation, Comprehension, and Construction

These are the three areas a new language learner must focus on. Pronunciation and comprehension seem obvious. Construction is the ability to put together sentences. In Chinese the sentences are constructed with the general in front moving to the more specific at the end.

In English I could say: Let's go to the store in the car. Or: Let's use the car to go to the store. In Chinese you must say: Let's go together to the store in the car. Chinese sentences must always have the time in the front. In other words: Let's at 2:00 go to the store in the car.

Constructing your sentences correctly will, of course, increase your chances of being understood by the natives.

...dave
I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain.  ~Jane Wagner

Eating Out Alone

I get where Keith and Tahl are coming from in their book Never Eat Alone but I would propose that you eat alone occasionally. Because, unless you eat alone, you'll never overhear neighboring table discussions. Let's face it, when you eat with someone else you're off in your own discussion. You don't really tune in to another table. Believe me when I tell you, eating alone can be an education, or at least entertainment.

For example, just today while eating at Jason's Deli at the Comberland Mall in Atlanta I overheard this discussion:

girl #1: Did you hear? They are putting in glass offices on our floor!

guy: Now where am I going to pick my nose?

girl #2: Well, at least we can see what Jennie is doing with all those vendors she has coming in.

guy: I've never seen so many cheap sport coats in my life.

girl #1: Now I can't hide out in my office anymore.

Ah yes, eating alone can be quite entertaining.

I couldn't WRITE better dialogue then that!

The lunch was great too. Chicken pasta with marinara sauce and toasted garlic sour dough bread.

...dave
"He who eats alone chokes alone." -Arab Proverb, H. L. Mencken, Dictionary of Quotations (1942)

Pest Control

I've been reading Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh.

Here are some metaphors and similes from the book:

The subway bum was as twisted as a door knob.

The refrigerator shuttered noticeably every time the compressor needed to rest.

He had jet black hair that he plowed through with a wide-toothed comb which left furrows wide enough to plant anything but an idea.

The executive's desk was so large you could slaughter an animal on it.

Sy fumigated the room with cigar smoke.

It hit me like the end of a date with Mike Tyson.

He killed his glass of tequila.

He picked up his bag from the spastically rotating conveyor.

He was tough as goat knees and had freon in his veins.

It was harder then opening an oyster with a wet bus ticket.

Great writing, great images.

...dave

270 posts

It seems hard to believe that I've been at this post-a-day blog for about a year. In just a couple of months, this will be behind me.

It was all in an effort to force myself to write each day in hopes of improving the output. Originally, I had hoped to keep it funny, or at least humorous. That lasted a few days. Then I wanted to post something meaningful. That lasted a few more days. Then I just wanted to post SOMETHING. No matter how insipid, inane, arcane, or even crazy the remarks, they have at least been consistent.

Now I'm closer to the end of this journey than it's beginning. It's been fun, if exhausting. Keeping up with a post a day is simply madness, some would call it crazy. I call it insane.

Posting something interesting, or insightful, or even humorous is more difficult that I realized. (Just read any of these posts!) I just can't think of interesting stuff to say everyday. My life is simply not THAT interesting, and that is what this experiment was supposed to be all about.

I had thought that experiences don't have to be interesting if told in some interesting way. I guess that's true up to a point. But someone writing about a jungle expedition or cave exploration would certainly get more traffic to their web site.

From the early days of posts here, the traffic has increased from about 600 hits a month to 750 hits a month. Not a whole lot. I had imagined that linking the site to others would increase traffic. But it's content, not links keeps them coming.

So while it has all been an interesting exercise in writing, not much else has come from this.

The real joy simply comes from sharing.

...dave
You can't have everything; where would you put it? -  Steven Wright

pocketmod.com

In the spirit of GTD (getting things done), this site offers a VERY cool free application. It's a small little booklet you can make from a single 8 1/5 x 11 piece of paper.

Go to the pocketmod.com web site and read about it. Click on the right "create a pocketmod" and you're off and running. Very simple. You just drag the sheet you want to the page in your booklet, print it out, fold and cut, and you have a small booklet you can put in your wallet or purse. Very cool.

I kind of got carried away and created a Word document that does the same thing. The advantage of the Word document is that you can pour your own text into the booklet pages. If you want to include calendars in your pages, simply visit timeanddate.com where you can create your own calendar to import into Word.

...dave
Simplicity is the essence of happiness. - Cedric Bledsoe

Chinese Laoshi

We got a chance to be a Chinese teacher (Laoshi: laow-sure) for a day. That was fun, at least for us.

One of the teachers is away in Japan this week so Chui (Chew) asked us to teach Chinese measure words. Huh? Us? What do we know?

"If you teach it, you'll learn it."

He was right. I'm not sure how much the students got out of the class but we spent two hours preparing for it and we learned a lot.

Measure words are similar to our English measure words: flock of geese, heard of sheep, pack of wolves. The only difference is, the Chinese have many, many measure words. You have to use a measure word when you talk about a long skinny thing, such as a snake (she) or a river (he). [The 'e' is a 'eh' sound. LIke the 'ou' in could.] If you describe something flat, you have to use zhong.

Well, we went over all this stuff explaining what was in the notebook that the class already had in their hands. We just read it for them and tried to answer questions. Fortunately, Suzi and Chiu (the real teachers) were there to correct us.

But we still wanted to help them remember at least the nine measure words for the day. So Ruth wrote one of the measure words on a four-by-six card and I wrote a noun on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. Ruth and I drew a picture of the noun on the sheet. We distributed two measure words to each of the students and told them to raise the card when they thought it matched the noun I held up.

The funniest part was seeing them react to the silly hand-drawn pictures we had made. They especially like the two-legged sheep. (Yeah, it had issues.)

I don't know what they learned from all this, but at least we had a good time teaching.

...dave
Experience is the worst teacher, it gives the test before the lesson. -Vernon Law

Weird Plans

You will not believe your eyes. This is animation at it's best. Believe me when I tell you these are plants you don't want to meet.

...dave
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Bamboo Uses

Bamboo can be very useful. I remember that we had bamboo growing on the side of our house. It was impossible to keep it trimmed. It was so thick I could barely squeeze through it. Once a year we'd go out to hack it down. It was always a nusance.

Today, though, I found this site. If only we had know about it then. We could have made a fortune selling our bamboo.

My favorite is the bike.

...dave
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. -Robert Stevenson

Being Helpful

Today was fantastic at the Enterprise. So much was happening that the days are moving quickly even this entire week.

We are buying a new software package that costs millions. What kind of hardware will it need? What kind of database will be used? Are the clients fat or thin? (Clients used here do NOT refer to users but to the user-facing software piece. Microsoft Word is a "fat client" because you have to install software on your local machine. A browser that is used to visit Amazon is a "thin client" because you don't need to install anything special to surf to the Amazon site and buy stuff. Sometimes this is also know as a "glass client." )

Anyway, all of this technical stuff gets sent to me to figure out. What version of AIX will it support? Can you read the contract before we sign (30 pages) and determine if we missed anything?

I try to give my business clients (Directors and VPs) the fastest service possible. Even if I'm in another meeting and they page me, I'll duck out, call them to answer the questions, and then return to the meeting. They like this and they report their satisfaction up to my managers. Some architects make them wait so as to feel more important. This only backfires.

The key to any relationship is to provide service. This works even in business. If you serve them, provide the support they need, they will view you as great.

Some of the directors that have left the enterprise to work for some other enterprise, like Coke, think I'm fantastic. They'll talk about me after they leave. The reality is, I know where or who can help me get the information they are looking for. I always copy my source in email when answering the questions. This not only adds credibility to what I'm saying but also builds relationships between my peers and my business clients.

At first I didn't see much result from this method of work. Sometimes people took credit for what I recommended and presented it as their own. In one case, screens from the software I designed was placed into an executive presentation at a Board Meeting as a win for the Information Technology of the enterprise. When, in fact, it was Information Technology that opposed me all the way. (My name and team was omitted from their presentation.)

But now, things are starting to snowball. The momentum is building. People recognize the contribution I can make. It's a good feeling to be helpful. I like the feeling that I'm building teams across the entire organization.

I like to think of the individuals as droplets of water moving up the trunk of the sequoia, pulling each other along. Cohesion is key.

Or to put it another way, it all looks so disjointed and unconnected but today it came together. The ingrediants I've been mixing in have now congealed.

...dave
Speaking about people skills (often called "soft skills") someone once said: The soft stuff is the hard stuff. Ignore it at your peril.

Gentle Rain

Gentle rain is very calming. It's overcast now and the downspouts empty their contents in a stream. The stream is steady now. There is no noise outside but the gentle rain. A distant dog barks. I hear him no more. I'm feeling sleepy.

I'm in this black wood framed chair. It rocks me gently, slightly. It could put me to sleep like a baby in his mother's arms. This iBook is warm in my lap. My palms rest on the eggshell colored support near the keyboard.

I can click on the browser and be anywhere in an instant, but I wont, I don't. I want to be right here. In the moment, spewing text from this machine and posting it out to the world. What contentment. An umbilical connection to my friends, regardless of their location. I can communicate easily, quickly, or even not at all. Umbilical connection. This is why the blog is so popular. It goes back to connections. Connections with friends. Friends that may be very far away, but still connections.

And so I type and not sleep like my body tells me I should. The rain falls gently. The shutters are drawn like eye lids over windows of the soul. The sounds of the keyboard are all I hear. And I rock ever so gently. Eyes closing now, then they force themselves open to finish this post. What's a post without the final signature and quote? It's no post at all. And so I close. Close this post for sleep. Sleep induced by gentle rain.

...dave
"'I love walking in the rain, 'cause then no-one knows im crying'" -Anonymous

I used to think...

I used to think that journals should only have writing in them. No pictures or drawings should be allowed. But How To Make A Journal Of Your Life proved me wrong.

Here's a great little book all about cool ideas for recording not just your thoughts but your observations. I used to think that only a written journal would be taken seriously. But who says it's all serious? Why not be creative and draw a little?

Now if you think you're not a good artist, think again. Price confesses he wasn't either. "Learn by doing" is his mantra. And even though his sketches are lopsided, out-of-scale, and Dr. Seuss-like, they are really very cool.

Mix it up a little and glue some pictures in. Save that special ticket and paste it in a page where your write about a move you saw. Write your story around the drawings to add that human, almost whimsical touch.

I know it all sounds wimpy, but you've got to check it out for yourself.

Just to show that you can take a hand printed book seriously, look at Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory. Click on "search inside this book" on both links above (they appear just under the picture of the book). I guarantee you'll be hooked.

...dave
Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow. - Mahatma Gandhi

Fish Fry Tradition

One of our friends has a fish fry tradition. Every year, in the fall, they invite selected friends over for a fish fry. What's a fish fry?

A fish fry is deep south cooking at it's best and heart health at it's worst!

They buy catfish in boxes, bread them, and deep fry them in a kettle. Hush Puppies are also thrown in. (Hush Puppies are corn meal balls deep fried until they float. Check out this site for Soul Food recipes.) Another friend, Ed, brings over his french fryer and he fries up some fat potatoes. We have a feast.

Steve, our host, has a large back yard with several "conversation centers" where groups can gather and, well, just converse. Tiki torches on bamboo sticks puncture the lawn and provide an invisible net around the groups to keep the bugs away. Inside he's set up tables for cards and games.

I just saunter around to the different conversations, break in, engage, and then leave for another. The whole gathering works this way. Last night (Sunday) I stood around and watched an insane Nertz card game in action. It's kind of like a multi-person solitaire card game. It's a fast game where everyone stands up around the table. The game last night had eight people in it. Arms were flailing and cards were flying.

Even though we've sort of moved away, we still get an invitation to this bash. It's great fun.

...dave
Baking is problematic for me because I usually drink a lot of wine when I cook! -Ted Allen

How much do you charge?

One of the recurring themes of the south is prejudice. I always sit incredulous as someone tells me their story. A story of snobbery, jealously, and "good ol' boy networks." It makes me ill.

How many times have I heard the story of a black man out mowing his lawn when a white man pulls up to ask what he charges for yard work. Over and over this has actually occurred. It's never occurred to these folks that the black man OWNS the house.

My favorite, and true, story is of Ted. He was out mowing his lawn when an old white man and his wife drove up in a Cadillic. He leaned over his wife and called out to Ted: "Hey, boy, how much do you charge?"

Ted, a man with a sense of humor, walked over to the car, leaned into the car while dripping in sweat and said:

"I don't charge anything. The woman who lives here let's me sleep with her."

The man shot out of the subdivision like a cannon. Ted stood and smiled.

I laughed at his ingenuity.

...dave
Everyone is a prisoner of his own experience. No one can eliminate prejudices--just recognize them. -Edward R. Murrow

Motivational speeches

Don't you just love them, motivation quotes and speeches?

I'll walk into an office with a picture of some guy skiing down a snow powered mountain and a quote below, something like: Achieve

Okay, right, I'm feeling it, sure.

Or there will be some sailboat on an open ocean with the single word below: Succeed

Sure, not a problem. I feel so empowered now.

Have you prices of these things? If I spend $150 for a framed picture with a "motivational word" on it, it means someone else is succeeding. It ain't me.

While attending a manager's meeting we heard some of these lines:

"We must climb hard up this hill to distance ourselves from the competition."

or

"We are in a long race and must keep our high-performance engines tuned and revved. We can't spend time in the pit stop. We've got to get back out on the track because the competition can pass us by."

Yeah, THAT motivates me. I'm revved!

All the folks spouting this stuff just got a new BMW 745i from a semi that pulled up in the front parking lot. The big boss told them to go out and pick the color they wanted.

Hey, I'd be happy with a little extra cash to WASH my car. Hey, buddy, can you spare a dime? A little cash would motivate me. Talk is cheap.

...dave
Be sincere; be brief; be seated. -Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Laptop Unsecured

Most of the guys I work with have notebooks for their main machine. Some have docking stations that allow them to drop them into a slot and use an external keyboard, mouse, and display. Trouble is, these machines are easy to steal. After we leave, anyone can walk up and grab the notebook and walk out of the building.

If you leave your notebook "unsecure" i.e. on your desk, the night security will leave a friendly message on your notebook telling you to lock it up at night or take it home. I got tired of getting these messages. I hate shutting it down and locking it away because it takes too long to boot in the morning. So I bought a lock for it. It's a cable that loops around the wall mount and onto the notebook. I thought I was safe, but still, the notes kept coming. If I left the note on my desk, they would leave another one on top of it.

Finally I resorted to leaving my own note. I now tape a paper to the top of the notebook explaining that the notebook IS secure. Look under the table dude! You'd need a crowbar to remove it. Finally, the notes ceased. I also bought a few cables for the other guys.

I wish there were more "thank yous" all around. It seems that I only get notes when I'm bad. I was thinking about writing one up for them to leave behind when an employee DID lock the notebook away or secured it in some way. How about :

"Thank you for demonstrating appropriate levels of security and thank you for protecting our corporate assets."

Yeah, that sound nice.

Think they'll go for it?

...dave