No good deed goes unpunished

I'm still wrapping things up from the holiday.  This past week was a bit a stretch for some - after the long holidays and week off, it was hard to get back into a rhythm.  Reports and projects that were postponed prior to the holidays have returned with a vengeance.  We are already working at deadlines and projects due by the end of the month.      

At least at home I am making some progress in returning things to a quasi normal state.  I took the Xmas lights down after returning from the New Year's rally.  In the old days, we would typically leave them up until the Super Bowl, but that was when it was in January.  I started dismantling the tree and packing it up in the attic.  This year I broke with tradition and change the lighting scheme.  Our company was encouraging everyone to decorate in purple (designated color for Epilepsy Awareness) so I bought several purple led strings.  Made for an interesting display - purple is a bit darker than the typical white bulbs and most of my pictures did not come out well.  I am spending the day packing the ornaments and decorations away while watching the playoffs.

Yesterday, I went to turn in recycling.  The city had a hazardous recycling day where you can recycle things like electronics, batteries, chemicals, paint, etc..  Things that are not normally in the recycling chain and you don't want to throw in the trash.  I've done two of these before and they were well run.  Yesterday was not.  I drove by the drop off initially and the line of cars was down the block and not moving.  Ran off to do some errands and came back and the line was longer.  I didn't have much (got rid of a lot our electronics last summer) - just a couple of cans of paint and some batteries so I decided to try it anyway.  I sat in line for a good 20 minutes before I decided (like a few others) to park and just carry it over to the drop off only to be rudely told "no walk ups" and we had to drive through in our cars.  There were several other who has the same idea only to be turned away.  More than a few simply said screw it and left.  I decided to do my bit for queen & country and stick it out.  I understand that the people were working hard and it was a miserable day (rain, cold) and they were overwhelmed by the number of vehicles, but 1.5 hours to turn in some cans of paint and batteries?  I did the right thing for the environment but many people were unhappy with the total chaos and lack of communication.   

At least I did do one good deed over the holidays.  While out at the New Year's rally, I had to run into town to get some supplies to make wassail.  Went to the small town grocery store in Bellville - Brookshire Brothers.  Got my supplies and had checked out and decided to buy a lottery ticket on a lark.  While waiting at the counter, a young woman and her daughter came up aside of me.  A typical harried young mother with highly energetic and bubbly daughter.  Since the woman looked like she had her hands full, I waved her on in front of me.  For a brief moment, I started to regret my chivalry when I saw she was cashing her paycheck and had to go through all sorts of confirmation and authentication, but I figured I had time and she didn't.  Took a some time for the cashier to verify her id and count out the bills - had to be a decent check since I saw several 50s and a few 100s cross the counter.  She wrapped everything up and collected her daughter to pick up a few things in the store and turned away.  As I stepped up to the counter I noticed a nice crisp, clean brand new $100 bill still on the counter.  Took me a nanosecond to recognize it and where it came from.  I picked it up and turned to go find the mother.  Fortunately, they hadn't gotten far and I was able to hand it back to her.  I can tell she was a bit embarrassed and thanked me profusely.  When I stepped back to the window, the elderly gentlemen behind me gave me a thumbs up and nodded in approval.  I said that it was the right thing to do.  It may be the boy scout in me but I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't done that.     

Froehliche Weihnachten

I hope everyone is having a safe and Merry Christmas.

After all the panic and scrambling, we've finally slid into Christmas.  I'd love to say we've been taking it easy and got all the baking done and gone for a quiet (but cold) bike ride, but that ain't true.  For one thing, it's 76 degrees down here.  No white Christmas this year.    

I've been working on various projects/problems leading up to the holidays.  Some people have asked if I am taking off time over the holidays, but I'm not.  Worked all of last week and and will work most of this week as well.  This puts a slight damper on the holiday mood (at least for me).  I've even had a conference call with a supplier booked for yesterday morning (Christmas Eve) to address some crisis.  I guess it's my turn in the barrel.  I'm sort of paying for that 10 day boat trip in November.  Kinda reminds me of when I was in the Army and pulled duty for Thanksgiving AND Christmas back in Germany.  I got tagged for that plum assignment because we were a young newlywed couple and had no kids.  

Good news is that the newlyweds came home Saturday night.  They are home for a few days so we will get to enjoy the holidays with them.  It is getting harder each year on how to coordinate the family gatherings.  With the various new families branching out, we are looking at 3 or 4 Christmas celebrations.  One for us, one with the daughter-in-law's family, one with my parents/brother, one with my wife's parents.  We tried to gather everyone over here a few times over they years, but with the new additions, it has turned into a regular circus.  Still, will be good to share some Xmas joy with all the parents, brothers, sisters (in-laws), children, nieces, nephews, etc.  This morning, the kids are over at the DIL's parents to celebrate Christmas with her sister and long time family friends.  We get our turn this afternoon.  I've invited my parents over as well.  My brother had his annual gathering this morning across town at his house with the entire crew (15+) which includes the new grandchild.  They do an early opening with a breakfast casserole as the main dish.  Since my crew is older and gets up later, we tend to do a later (2nd shift) event.  I find it's getting harder each year to coordinate all this hoopla, but somehow we will manage. 

Merry Christmas to all my friends out there and I'm looking forward to another great year. 

Doggy Christmas!
And, no, these are not my two mutts.

Just great

Well, isn’t that just special?    I’ve been scouring my photo albums for pictures of the old cars, but, so far I’ve only found a few of the Toyota truck and the Volvo (we really need to organize our old photos).  So, in the interest of keeping things moving, I was just going to move on with the final post about my project car, the key word being:  “was”.  The post is already written and ready to fly but when I tried to attach a picture or two of Maria, I am got a warning from e-blogger that I am “over my limit” for file sizes.  It seems that, from all the pictures I’ve been posting over the past 4+ years, I have kinda maxed out my account.  Not wanting to delete any of the old shots, I’ll need to pony up a few $$ in order for me to upload any pictures of my project.  Of course, being Mr. Tightwad, that just chaps my a$$, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.  Besides, I have a boatload of pictures from our 10 day journey that I need to share.   

Speaking of that journey, ShadowRun300 and Terri both guessed at the right destinations, just not the mode of transport.  We just got back from a 10 day cruise to the Panama Canal.  Got to tour a good portion of the Caribbean with stops at various islands or tourist sport.  I’ll post a trip report after I finish up the car tales.  Basically, it was 10 days of eating, drinking, gambling, site seeing, eating, reading, sitting out by the pool, drinking, buying souvenir crap, and eating.        

Heeeeere's Johnny!

Ok, folks, I'm back on line.  Don't ask me how or why, but when I woke up this morning and found we have 4 lights on the router.  And the technician appointment is still for tomorrow afternoon.  I secretly feel that there is some sick, twisted, evil gremlin in the system that knows when the service technician is coming and then, MIRACULOUSLY, the system heals itself.  Kind of like when you take your car into the shop to fix that "noise" and the noise disappears (and the mechanic looks at you like you are all sorts of stupid).  This has done this to us before.  Had an outage before I was going to Manila and had booked an appointment but when the system cured itself I cancelled the appointment.  I did call Comcast again last night and really leaned into the CS guy (Shane) about the Sunday date and how I had been without a net since Monday and Is Sunday the Best you Guys Can Do?  He was, as with the rest, very apologetic and swore he would contact the local technician office and they would call me back in an hour to see if they could help.  Sat down to watch my latest NetFlix sucky choice:  Contraband (totally forgettable) and, after three hours, gave up on them (not that I had high expectations anyway).  So far, no call, but the net is working.  This time, I am going to keep the appointment tomorrow to see if the technician can figure out what the heck is the problem.        

Thanks for everyone's sympathy/well wishes.  We had been without the net I had almost reverted back to barbarism (reading the paper, watching the home shopping network, going to the library, etc.).  At least I don't have to resort to posting my blog via iPhone (for now).  It was a bit of a challenge, but in keeping with my mantra:  Improvise, Adapt & Overcome (ok, I stole that from the Marines) and I learned to work around the system.  Not to bore everyone with the details, but, basically, in order to post to my blog, I would write my blog notes in an e-mail to my yahoo account and then capture the note from my iPhone when I had a WiFi signal and post up on my blog.  And posting via that tiny screen is "interesting" to say the least.  That's why you see some repeated lines or mis-spellings.  Hard to correct some of my words after they have posted.  And forget about posting pictures (I ain't mastered that trick, yet).    

So, now I am playing catch up with everyone's blogs.  Been trying to read and comment via the iPhone, but it's been hard to keep up.  Especially with the frequent fliers (sorry Abby but your security password is hard to navigate from my phone).  

In the interim, getting back to something I started before I flew off to the Philippines last week - random pictures.  Anyone recognize this figurine?  I took this picture while on the phone with the Comcast service guy.   

Extra points if you can give me the actual name of this one  

Long haul

More travel plans ahead.  I know I've groused about my frequent trips in the past, making cross country flights to the east/west coast, long lines, airport food, layovers, surly passengers, time changes, rough flights, living out of a suitcase, getting groped by the TSA, it all adds up to be a ginormous pain in the assets.  But, between you and me, deep down, I kinda like the change of pace/scenery.  This is not what I signed up for originally 11 years ago, but I inherited this role and the road trips are part of the job.  It ain't easy, but I try to make the most out of it wherever I go.  When traveling on company business, the company has certain rules and requirements to keep the costs down (translation:  cheap).  Travel at night, no direct flights, lowest cost carrier, subcompact car, no 5 star accommodations, no elaborate steak & lobster meals.  I really don’t have a problem with these mandates.  Whenever travelling on the company dime, I plan it like it was coming out of my own wallet.  I don’t really go extravagant on the expenses – it’s not my style (coach flights, mid-range hotels, places that serve breakfast, no fancy dinners).  My only real stipulation is direct flights.  I have taken trips from here to Florida would normally be a 3 hour direct flight but my flight wound up going through Atlanta or Chicago and the trip turns into a 7 hour ordeal.  Even with those challenges, I don’t have a real problem with going coach/economy.  I learned from my travels with the Army, you get used to travel by covered wagon or dog sled.  That’s why to this day I still have a soft spot for any active military people I encounter in the airports. 

I have several road trips on the board between now and Christmas.  Two or three supplier audits and a vacation.  The vacation has been in the works for a while.  This will be our first real off the grid vacation in almost 4  years.  Our destination is under wraps at this time but I can honestly say that I have never been there before (aka bucket list).  More hints later.

The next supplier trip is going to be the interesting one I've mentioned before.  I am scheduled to fly to the Philippines next month for a couple of days.  Now, I have flown several long distance, overseas flight to England, Belgium, and Germany.  Those are normally 8-10 hour flights.  Just picture spending an entire day at school or the office except you are strapped in a skinny airline seat aboard an overcrowded plan with nowhere to go.  Now going the other direction is going to be a whole new experience.  The SHORTEST flight I could find has two layovers/plane changes.  We fly out of Houston and land in Hawaii 8 hours later.  After a short layover, we load up on a 2nd plane and head to Guam for another 8 hours.  Another layover and another plane change and we are off again to Manila for another 4 hours.  By my estimate, we'll be in the air for over 20 hours.  Essentially, from the time we lift off in Houston until the time I pick up my bags it will be roughly 23 hours.  And that doesn't count the 2-3 hours I allow to get to the airport early to clear TSA and get checked in.  Some people might look at the opportunity to go to Hawaii as a sweet deal and normally I would agree except that the time I get to spend on the island in the airport.  Whoop-tee-doo.  Ditto for Guam.  We basically 1/2 way around the globe and 13 hours difference.  I'm not sure if it it is now 6:00 pm this evening or 6:00 pm yesterday.  We don't get much time in Manila to see anything.  Two days of audits and then back on a plane headed home.  The one silver lining is that the company policy is if you have to travel and the travel time is over 10 hours, you get to go business class.  The nice part is that, for overseas flights business and first class are one in the same.  That means we get to fly 1st class the entire way.  Definitely a step up from my previous travels.  I will take some pictures of how the other class travels.  Return trip is pretty much the same deal in reverse although dealing with the international date line has got me all confused.  We take off Thursday night at 2200 and land in Hawaii on Thursday morning???  At least we get some really nice seats and don’t have to pay for our meals or alcohol.  My plan is to drink the plane dry.

Busier

than a one armed paper hanger with an itch.  


I am a creature of habit.  It could be my O/C personality or maybe I prefer a consistency.  Every morning,  it is pretty much the same routine.  Wake up at 0 dark  thirty, let the dogs out, fire up the coffee pot, crank up the computer, fetch the paper, let the dogs in, check my e-mails, read the online news, catch up on all my favorite blogs, check my work e-mail/schedule, answer a dozen inquiries, walk the dogs, give them their post walk chew bones, make lunch, shut down the computer, take a shower, let the dogs out one last time, jump in the car and head off to work.   


This morning, when I logged onto my work  account to check  e-mails and get a run on the day, I saw that I had meetings scheduled from 0800 until 1700 (5:00 pm).   I like to consider myself a tolerant kind of guy,  but crikey, 9 hours of meetings????  One of this is probably a meeting on trying to explain why we weren't getting our projects done.  


To quote Steve McCroskey: Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking...

Hair today, gone tomorrow

I think I may be turning the corner on this zombie flu thing.  Was definitely feeling a bit better this weekend and able to get some things done.  


A few weeks back, some people posted a meme about hair.  Long, short, how they used to wear it, what they are into now.  I like RC’s style, even if it does trend towards the wild professor look (or, perhaps, Tom Baker)?  I figured that I should add my two cents to the debate.

First of all, if you have seen any recent pictures of my mug, one might infer that I am “follically challenged”.  My current hair style is a conscious choice I’ve grown into over the years. 

I haven’t always been this way.  When I was a kid, I had long, flowing hair.  Not sure what style I would label it, but it was more wavy than curly.  My most distinctive feature was a cow-lick.  You know, that one spot of hair that won’t be controlled by any conventional means of hair products.  It kinda stood out at times (think There’s Something About Mary).  When I was a cute youngster, it was cute with all my relatives and I got lots of attention.  All my aunts loved to touch it.  At some point, it got old.  I tried to have my hair styled in high school, but it was too much hassle/maintenance for me.  In high school, my inner child rebelled and I let it go long (plus my parents got tired of nagging me to get it cut).  If you could picture it, I was kind of a stoner in high school with shoulder length who rode a motorcycle.  The problem was that my hair tends to be oily and a PITA to maintain.  I wandered aimlessly through high school with no real direction aside of graduating.  When I finally picked my college, I actually fell in love with the Corps of Cadets (the ROTC unit) at A&M.  With all the spirit and traditions and camaraderie, it somehow filled a niche I didn’t know I was looking for.  It fit what I needed at that point in my life (that’s another blog post).  Of course, being a paramilitary unit, long hair is not generally accepted so, right after I enrolled in the fall of 75, I got my first burr cut.  Old style barbers on the north side of campus that have been cutting hair since WWII.  Was weird at first, but I found that I kinda liked it.  I kept it short during college and let it grow out a bit in the Army while in Germany, but at some point, the family genes started to catch up with me.  Seems like, as life worn on, my hairline kept retreating south (or my eyebrows kept getting lower).  Add that to one of those nifty “spots” on top, I figured was fighting a losing cause.  Mot sure when I started getting a shorter cut in my recent days, but with the scouts, I found it easier to sport a shorter do when we did any camps or traveling.  One less thing to mess with.  It became a regular habit that I started to get my hair cut short before any of my road trips. 

In my younger days as a aspiring drummer

You think with a haircut like mine, it would be easy to find someone to cut it.  When Stephen was younger, we had a barber in a house right next door to our church.  A local barber called Ray who had been cutting hair since the 60s.  Ray had actually converted his garage into a two chair shop complete with barber pole.  We used him for years until he retired and sold off his house and moved.  We wandered for a while trying out the local chains, but didn’t find anything that we fell in love with.  That is until I stumbled across a local chain called Sports Clips.  I discovered this great stylist that I fell found a in love with.   She was a short Vietnamese fiery woman that was barely reached 5 feet.  Nihiti was a marathon runner (full marathon, I might add) and was probably all of 90 lbs.  She was funny and a great stylist, but I am not sure my hair cuts were a challenge to her.  She has been cutting my hair for almost 15 years and I don’t even need to tell her what I want done.  She's even been cutting Stephen’s hair for years and, even though he lives in Austin, he makes it a point to get his hair cut there when he is home.  I am a person of habit.  When I find something I like and tend to stick with it.  I wear my shoes out, I drive my cars until the wheels fall off, I will wear clothes that probably should be retired a while ago.  So when I went to Sport Clips prior to my trip to Belgium, imagine my shock when they told me that  Nihiti  was no longer working there.  I got no story of where she went or why she left, so I figured she either pissed off the wrong person, cut off someone’s ear or got fed up cutting hair.  I figure it was not the latter and if I could find out where she went to, I would definitely follow her.  

High school Chic (or geek?)

For now, I am in mourning.  I went to my local Sport Clips chain Friday to get my hair cut by Jennifer, but it just wasn't the same.  Bummer. 

Don't call me, I'll call you

Terri struck a nerve earlier with her post about late night phone calls.  I have a particular pet peeve/phobia/paranoia over late night phone calls.  Oh, sure, getting waked up out of a sound sleep is jarring enough, but it goes way deeper than that.  I am the light sleeper in the house and it usually doesn’t take a lot to get me to a wide awake status (like a dog hocking up a hairball in the bedroom).  For the record, I have never liked getting a phone call in the middle of the night.  It never was good news.   

It all starts back when I was a Lieutenant in an Armor Battalion stationed in Germany.  Yea, it might have been all fun and games playing soldier over in Germany eating C-rations, getting to tear up the countryside in big, massive all-terrain vehicles (called tanks) and blowing stuff up, but we had a mission.  Boil all training and drills and target practice down, our basic mission was to fill the gap if the balloon ever went up.  We were stationed in Germany at the tail end of the cold war where our primary mission of the US military was to defend the eastern boarder against Russian and East Germany.  There were numerous units assigned to man the borders against any possible incursion.  Several units were on constant patrol on the border between East and West Germany and their task was to defend against any possible attacks.  We were stationed further west in Stuttgart about 4-6 hours from the border.  The drill was, if the balloon went up and the East Germans/Russians invaded Germany, we were to be the second line of defense.  The border units were the first into the fray and our job was to load up our gear and tanks and head east to the border and get further orders on the road.  Given the tactics of the day, our job to was to plug any gaps in the defensive line.  What does all that really mean?  Our job was to stand by in case the next major war started.  Not to sugar coat it, but we pretty much figured that, if a conflict ever started, our life expectancy was pretty short.  The proverbial elephant in the room topic that no one liked to dwell upon. 

To insure operational readiness, they loved to practice getting ready at any time day or night.  We had a phone tree established and everyone had at least 2-3 people to call, so if you got the call, you were to notify the next persons in the chain.  When the alert was given, the Battalion commander was called first, then his S1 and next the Scout Platoon (first responders).  Since the Scout Platoon leader lived upstairs from me and I was the next one in the chain to call, I sort of had a heads up on when he got his call.  Of course, it wouldn’t be real practice unless they did it in the dead of night.  Usually, they called around 2-3 in the morning and when the call came in, you never knew if it was the real thing, so the pucker factor was pretty high.  I kept a duffel bag packed downstairs in our storage room that was my “war bag”.  It had basic toiletries, a change of uniform, extra underwear, cold weather gear, a box of cigars, and a pint of scotch.  I thank God I never got to use that bag, but it was always ready to go.  It became a bit of paranoia with me if the phone ever went off in the middle of the night.  To this day, 25+ years later, my heart skips a beat whenever I hear the distinctive ring/klaxon of a German phone.  And if I get a phone call in the middle of the night, you’ll have to peal me off the ceiling. 

As I came back stateside and got out of the Army, I was able to unwind some of that stress, but I still panic whenever the phone rings at night.  Woe be to the poor soul who make a wrong number call to my house at 0300.  I thought I was over it for the most part, but with the addition of a son to the tribe, it took on a whole new meaning.  I haven’t fielded a lot of those calls, but there has been one or two (mostly for car problems).  The latest one was last week.  Momma has been taking care of her parents and sometimes she doesn’t get home until pretty late.  Being a COF (certified old fart) who gets up early, I pretty much hit the sack by 2200.  Around half past midnight, the phone went off and it had one of the distinctive rings I set up for my various family members.  Suffice it to say, it scared the crap out of me.  Turns out her car wouldn't start so I had to get dressed, fire up the land barge and go pick her up.  I didn't mind going out to get her, was just pissed off that her car decided that midnight was a good time to break down.  

Full plate

I should be happy, but I’m not.

I have the day off again. It is that time of year when I have vacation built up that I have to take. The company has a policy that you could only carry over a certain amount of hours/days at the end of the year. Since I have been here for 10+ years, I accrue a boatload of vacation each year and can only carry over 60 hours (7.5 days) by the end of December. They used to have a policy that, if you didn’t use the vacation, they would pay it out to you. That changed a few years back and now the policy is “use it or lose it”. I think it is a bit counterproductive. I am one of those who doesn’t take much vacation during the year. We used to take a lot of trips and with my Boy Scout involvement, I would normally burn up most of my days throughout the year. When junior was doing intern work out west, we took off a week or two to go out and visit/bug him. Since junior has graduated and lives only 3 hours away, we are not taking as much time off. Momma is spending a lot of time taking care of her parents and we cannot get away for long trips. This all leaves me with a plethora of vacation time to burn at the end of the year. I’ve taken off Fridays to go to college football games, I’ve done a bit of hunting, momma’s got me doing a whole bunch of “honey dos” (aka chores). I am pretty much taking off every Friday between now and the end of the year. Got a lot of work to do at the office and every time I take off, I seem to get further behind. On top of that, I just got signed up yesterday for a road trip to Belgium the week before Thanksgiving for another audit and to work with our European office. I know, I know - I really shouldn’t be whining and should be grateful for the time and opportunity, but this just messes with my plans. I always thought that, when junior was out of the house and it was just momma and I and the dogs, life would be calmer and less hectic. Silly rabbit.


In spite of my complaining, we have been busy. A couple of trips up to College Station for games. Helped my dad celebrate his 88th birthday last week. He and mom are still pretty darn spry for a bunch of octogenarians. You think, at that age, they’d be hanging out at home or in nursing home. Nah, they just left town on a short 4 day cruise to Cozumel with my brother. I can only hope I am that active/mobile when I get their age.

And the real reason I am not happy is that my PC picked up some virus last week and pretty much cratered the system. I was able to restore it to an older version, but all my settings are screwed up. None of my favorites are set up any more, most of my files and pictures are missing. I have a back up drive, but a lot of the information is not there as it should be. I have copies of the important stuff and a lot of my files are recoverable and I made a secondary back up of my pictures (being paranoid is sometimes a good thing), but this just pisses me off. I am not ignoring everyone, I am just trying to get back to where I was two weeks ago.

You are what you eat

It sucks getting old.

Not too long ago, I used to be bullet proof (or so I thought). I could eat anything, drink anything, smoke cigars, dip snuff, without any consequences. Back in college, I could eat two pizzas, down a liter of coke, a pitcher of beer and still go out for some dancing at the Sparky's. I could easily drink two six packs of Lone Star (The State Beer of Texas) at night and still get up 0700 and stagger off to class. Now if I drink a lite beer past 8 o'clock at night, I have to get up at 0200 to go pee. My standard breakfast used to be 2-3 sausage biscuits drenched with picante sauce. Now I have to take Prilosec in advance if I even think I am going to eat something spicy. In Germany, the frou and I used to be regular wine connoisseurs. We did a number of trips to the wine region along the Rhine and Mosel river to local wineries. Did numerous wine tastings and brought home cases of wine. Now, if I have even one glass of Merlot or Cabernet, I am up all night with heartburn. Jalapenos used to be my favorite topping at Whataburger, now I cannot even look at one of those little green suckers without getting indigestion.

Last week we had a chili cook off at work as part of our fundraiser effort. I did ok as long as I prepped for it and did not eat too much chili (shied away from the Chili Sheen team - Duh!). They even had a jalapeno eating and root beer chugging contest (winners get an extra day off). The winner of the jalapeno contest downed 8 (eight/ocho/ocht) medium jalapenos (medium in size, but uber hot). Made me cringe to think of the poor guy the next day. Jalapenos is one of those "payback" foods - you wind up paying for it later.

You learn to adapt as you get older. I no longer eat pepperoni on pizza. Will shy away from jalapenos & habaneros and tend to skip the cilantro. Greasy foods are kryptonite to me. Even alcohol needs to be regulated. Even at night, I tend to watch what I eat or how late I eat so it does not affect me later. Thought I was doing ok last night. I only had a chicken pot pie (old childhood favorite) last night for dinner. Not sure if it was that or the vodka tonic that I had (been a long week), but I was up 1/2 the night with some serious butt-kicking heartburn. Doubled up on the Prilosec, popped some tums, drank milk - nothing I took seemed to help. The only relief I got was to sleep sitting up, but even that was minor. Finally dropped off around 0230 only to get up at 0400 to get ready for work. Even now, I am still urping. You'd think, after all these years, I would know better.

Meeting Etiquette

Now that the holidays are over and we are back to the daily grind, I thought I would take a moment to cover a few basic business protocols/courtesies. Nothing earth shattering, just some basic guidelines to follow that lend themselves to making things run smoother at the office.  Most of these apply to conference room etiquette – please remember others use the conference room AFTER you get done.

1. If you have rearranged the tables/chairs, please put them back the way you found them. Nothing's more fun than having to spend the first 5 minutes rearranging the room. This is really irritating when someone has taken chairs out of the room and we wind up playing “musical chairs”.
2. If you have reformatted the overhead projection system to work with your laptop, please set it back to the original format when you are done (if not, it typically takes 10 minutes for the next user). I tend to make use of technology if it is available. That includes the PC in the room that is hooked up to the projector. Helps to show things on the wall for everyone to view but, without the system, I have to resort to shadow puppets on the wall. 
3. Keep the meetings on time. I know your problem/meeting is important, but our time is valuable too. Maybe I am just being picky, but when I have scheduled a meeting for a group (6-10) of people at 10:00 am, I expect to be able to start at 10:00. Few thing are more irritating than to have to a) ask if you are almost done and b) wait outside while you wrap it up. Pick it up and move along. 
4. DO NOT write critical information or agendas on the chalk/white board and expect to have it remain there in perpetuity. While in one of my myriad of meetings last week, I noted that there was a technical analysis written out on the board that has been there since before Thanksgiving with the tag line: “DO NOT ERASE”. That situation tends to really piss me off. If it is that important, have someone transcribe it and send copies to the entire group. I have even seen one guy take a picture of the board on his Blackberry to retain if for his notes. In the case where it is obvious that the notes and message have been there a while (anything over 48 hours is fair game), I tend to make a few changes.  I added several notes, made a few numerical changes, through Pi into the equation as some point, made a few random/unrelated criteria, and an occasional lewd picture (I know. I know. That’s petty/childish, but that’s how I roll). 
5. Be on time. Based upon how others operate around here (see note c), some people like to drift around 5-10 minutes late because they do not expect everyone to be there on time. Again, I may be nitpicking here, but when I say the meeting starts at 10:00 am, I’m teeing off at 10:01. If you are late, catch up on your own dime. Of course, this rule is usually bent/broken depending upon how high up the food chain you are, but that’s still no excuse.
6. Bring your own weapons/equipment. I have enough of a challenge trying to organize a group of people with totally conflicting schedules/attitudes, please bring your own pens/pencils/paper to make notes. I would not expect to show up in class and have the teacher to give me notepaper. To quote the Boy Scouts: Be Prepared.
7. KISS (Keep It Short Stupid) principle applies. We only have a limited amount of time on this planet, so please keep to the script/agenda and let’s get through the meeting on time. Much as I love spending one (plus) hour of my life sitting in the same meeting room with you, I do have other things to accomplish before I retire. If you want to have a side or tangential conversation, schedule your own damn meeting.

There are probably another dozen more I could add, but that's enough to start off the week.

Have a great week and remember, there are only 341 more days until Christmas! 

Holiday prep

Seems like every year there is some new twist or added deal that makes life interesting.  I try to plan ahead, get organized, and stay ahead of the rush, but every year I seem to come screeching into the holidays, trying to figure out what gifts to give.  For some people, it seems to be a gift.  They are able to pick the perfect gift, the one that fits the recipient, the one that is most thoughtful (and it was on sale).   Normally, those are the people who have their Christmas shopping done before the Thanksgiving turkey has thawed.  As you might surmise, I ain't one of that group.  I try to find a gift that is appropriate/fun, not cheesy or something that winds up in a garage sale a year later.  For my old brother, it has always been a challenge.  Hunting, trailer travel, antique cars - he has interesting tastes/hobbies and, no matter what direction I take gift wise, I always seem to fall short (IMO) of the mark.  He has four boys we used to buy gifts for each, but not that they are out of the house and married, we are moving towards family gifts.  My other brother (nature boy living in yurt near Seattle), he is in a whole different category.  He married two years back to a wonderful woman (with two daughters) so he basically inherited a family.  His lifestyle is, how to put it, eclectic.  Prefers outdoors activities, high tech savvy, not in that trendy way.  Kind of a backpacking, kayak, Patagonia wearing outdoorsman, even if he is just shy of 6 decades.  Two years back we visited with them in Seattle in their house/land (the only ones from my family who have seen their place) - very nice, if not sparse, but it fits their lifestyle.  I tried to bring them some wine/beer for dinner but did not realize that they are on a gluten-free diet, so most of my food gift ideas would not work.  My parents, bless their hearts, are a real challenge.  What do you get for a pair of 87+ year young couple who still gallivants across the countryside in their trailer?  Anything I get for the home is pretty much a waste as they are not home a lot.  Neither is very much into techy stuff, but we are trying to bring them into the 21st century.  So whatever I get has to be mobile to be used in their trailer. 

Truth be told, I hate gift lists.  I know it makes it simpler, but I feel they take away some of the spontaneity of the gift.  Maybe it is just me, but it seems like when people give out a list of what they want, it is more of a "gimme" list.  That said, I did fall back to one yesterday.  My nephew married a few years back to a smart, organized, classy lawyer (he married up) and they're on the path for bigger things.  For the past few years, she has posted a wish list for him and I always felt it was a wee bit presumptive.  I have always had a hard time getting a gift for them because of their tastes/lifestyle, but I may resort to her list to save time/grief.  Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I prefer something more from the heart than from amazon.com.           

For the immediate family, I have already a line on my bride for this year.  Already bought a quilting software package she has been eyeing for a year that let's you design your quilts.  I am debating getting her either an iPhone or iPad, but still on the cusp.  Have not gotten anything for the son but have some ideas.  

I am on the road again this afternoon for a short supplier trip.  At least this one is "local".  Will head to Austin for a one day audit.  Since I get to organize these trips, I kinda planned this one on the fly with some extra time allotted to visit with junior.  Will probably take him and his girlfriend out for dinner tonight.  Planning to try to hit a few stores in Austin for gifts/ideas.  As usual, I always blow the budget every year. 

Ho ho ho...

Home alone

Not really.  With a pair of overly affectionate, attention deficit dogs, one is never really alone.

I have off this week to burn vacation, but I am still having to work on several issues at the office.  Some people don't seem to understand the message "I am out of the office and will return next week".  The drawback of all this technology (e-mail, remote log in, blackberries) is that people feel that you should be able to respond even if you are off.  There are some people who will get pissed off if you don't respond to their messages quickly enough (what part about "being off" is hard to comprehend?).

Most of my stuff I am pushing off until next week or not responding.  I am simply monitoring the conversation at the office to stay ahead of the storm.  I am doing phone interviews this week for a new buyer and need to knock out several calls before I get back next week.  I forgot how much I hate interviews - both giving and doing.  Phone interviews are not my forte.  I have about 20 minutes to ask you a bunch of questions to see what kind of person you are.  It's hard to make a snap judgement based upon a brief call, but it is necessary evil to weed out candidates who will not fit the profile.  I have about 12 calls to make over the next few days and I am expected to have a short list of possible people for an on site interview by Monday.  I am not happy (nor is my wife) about doing this while on my time off, but I am under the gun to get this done quickly.  As I remind myself and my bride, it is what we get paid the big bucks for.  Management, in spite of all its glory, has certain expectations and being available/on call during off hours is one of the down sides.  At least I have a job I can complain about, unlike some people, so for that I am grateful. 

In between making calls and fielding the occasional e-mail, I am putting up lights and putting up the tree.  I think this is the last year for our old tree and I may break down and get a new one.  We haven't had a live tree for many years, and with son off in college, we are not in a hurry to change that tradition.  Besides, with his allergies, a live tree would just reek havoc with his sinuses.  Although, I do miss the smell of pine in the house during the holidays.  On the other hand, I shudder to think what the dogs would think about a live tree in the house. 

While I am off this week, I am playing the old retiree in the neighborhood.  Walk the dogs late, clean up the yard, hand Christmas lights, etc.  I noted the school bus roaring through the neighborhood for the various grades (high school at 0630, middle school at 0730) picking up kids for school.  What disturbed me was one poor kid was trudging his way down to the bus stop yesterday morning.  He was hauling a small rolling suitcase much like I take on flights for supplier audits.  Does he have that much homework/books to require a rolling suitcase?  Maybe he was carrying a big lunch?  In my day, that would probably earn you some harrassment from your classmates, but maybe this is the norm.   

Mixed feelings

Up early with the dogs.  Cannot go back to sleep.  Have a report to write, need to finish packing for my road trip.  Heading out to San Diego this morning.  Tomorrow we are to tour a supplier in Tijuana, Mexico.  Lots of people are concerned for us given the current chaos along the border.  This is a company sanctioned trip and we are being escorted across the border so I'm hoping there won't  be any problems.  Just trying not to forget our passports so we don't get stuck south of the border. 

I am disappointed/disenfranchised/pissed off.  In this humble forum, I try to shy away from politics, religion, work as these are fairly touchy subjects for many, and there are a lot wiser folk out there than I.  However, last week really pushed my buttons.  My nephew has been working at his company for 10 years (just got his 10 year anniversary award).  He had a good role and has dedicated a lot of his energy & time to the organization over the past decade.  On Thursday, they let him go without any warning.  To my knowledge, there wasn't single, solid reason (theft, fraud, missing work, drugs, layoff, etc.).  A young kid (30) with a beautiful wife and 9 month old daughter.  This had been the only job he had right out of college.  A lot of his co-workers/friends/family are shocked and disappointed.  Loyalty is hard to earn and it seems that 10 years doesn't to buy you much credit these days.  I only hope that he can look beyond this setback and move forward to the next rung on the career ladder. 

Blood from a stone

Soap box time (aka I'm griping)


Got a notice from the perky little admin in HR that we had a blood drive today.  I'm not griping about this activity or getting the notice, but it just serves to remind me on how pissed off I am with the Blood Bank and all of their rules/conditions.

Before I vent, let me take you back a few years.


I used to give blood. Started out in college during one semester at the quack shack (campus medical center). Gave blood once. Hurt but I liked the feeling of helping others. Became a regular habit. I would give blood 2-3 times a year depending upon when the blood drive was and if I was not sick. Kept going through college, and did it in the Army for years. I even kept up with it when I left the Army and moved to Dallas/Houston. I did it well before the policy that you could donate/bank it for family/friends. I didn't mind the process and, honestly, it didn't hurt (too much). I would recommend donating blood if you are able and up to it. Not everyone can and, you never know, it might save a life.

Now to my gripe. After many years of giving blood, they started to reward the frequent bleeders. T-shirts, pens, lunch certificates, cookies (I'm in it for the brownies). After a certain point the blood bank will give you a coffee mug as you pass certain gallon marks. I got my 1 gallon cup. Even got my 3 gallon cup. Was working towards my 5 gallon cup a few years back. One day, I plopped myself down to give and the technician kindly informed me that I was on one of the banned lists. WTF? SRSLY?  Now, I am pretty sure I had not done drugs or had major surgery or some communicable disease or paid for "relations with another person" or had a tattoo.  I was pretty much leading a clean life (ok, beer doesn't count).  My brother and his family had been banned for years because they lived in Scotland for a few years and the blood bank has a permanent injunction against people who lived there because of Mad Cow disease. Now I have never been to England (flew over it on my way to Germany), but that was not an issue, until a few years ago. All of a sudden a new restriction was added: If you served in the military and were stationed in Germany between 1980 - 1990, then you were banned from giving blood. Seems that there may have been some instances where the commissary bought its meat from England. Supposedly the blood bank does not have any way to test for this disease, so I am on a permanent ban. Not temporary. Permanent. Now that just chaps my a%%. For almost 20 years, I've been spilling my blood and, until now, it was ok. Now I am blackballed. I tried to contact the blood bank directly but they are tied up by CDC regulations. I make it a point to visit the bloodmobile every time they are on the property to see if I am still on the list. Here I am ready & willing to donate and no takers.  Bummer...

And the next stop down memory lane...

Care to guess the year?

Meets Expectations

I hate review time.

Every year, we seem to go through the same exercise. You are expected to rate/evaluate your employees for their productivity and performance over the past 12 months and you have less than a week to summarize everyone's efforts. I should be used to this. For almost 30 years, I have been in a leadership role of one form or another. First the Army followed by several manufacturing companies. I have done very simple reviews on a basic form to some complex computer system that calculates how much we get to reward (or penalize) someone for their performance. I have had as few as 3 people and as many as 35 to rate at one time. They've ranged from the fresh out of school, still wet behind the ears kids all the way to grandma who is months away from retirement. I've done hourly employees, salary employees, engineers, supervisors, managers, mechanics, sergeants, privates. After all of the hours of evaluating people and lumping them into one group or another, I still hate the process. Just when you have your system down, they change the rules/format. Been doing a particular style of review here for the past 4 years.  IMHO, the format sucks, the rating scale looks like it was made up by a drunken sailor, and you are required to rate people for some odd skills that have nothing to do with their job  This year's grades have changed as well.  Last few years you got rated a number from 1 (low) to 5 (high).  If you got a 1, you better be looking for another job.  A 5 meant you essentially walk on water.  Not many people get a 5.  I once tried to rate my team lead a 5 (felt she earned it and it was fully justified) and got a lot of crap from HR as to how my score was inflated.  For the most part, everyone fell into the 3/4 range.  This year, the grades are either EE - Exceeds Expectation, ME- Meets Expectations, NE - Needs Improvement.  Much as I disliked this format, we were used to and knew how to make it work. Of course, that means we are ripe for change. 2 weeks ago, our new HR manager rolled out an entirely new form and the overall response is, to put it mildly, less than enthusiastic. We've gone from a 3-4 page review for that rates you over different skills/traits and has various blocks to check off for the rating to a single page form with 4 open blocks that you enter in the applicable accomplishments and skills required for the job. Basically, I have to sum up your entire year's efforts in a single page. And there has been very little guidance on how this is to be filled out or what are the minimum requirements. There is much confusion down here on the farm and the natives are not happy. I worked over the weekend trying to give as much feedback and detail to make a fair assessment only to be told yesterday that I did not need all of the detail I had provided. There are a number of supervisors with 10+ people that are burning the midnight oil to get these done by Friday. The Army taught me a long time ago how to be very "loquacious" on reviews. I can take a simple sentence and make it into a full paragraph, if need be. Asking me to be brief is like asking Claire not to chase tree rats. I am lucky this year because I only have 3 reviews to give and they are positive. Over the years I have discovered that a number of people don't really care what you rate them, many are just interested in the bottom line. Great rating. How much does that translate into?  I have a few that genuinely want a high score, even if it does not give them much of an increase. There have been a few years where the raises were scarce or marginal, so I am grateful we are doing well enough to reward everyone's efforts. 

Pennsylvania report

Whenever I go on  road trip, I tend to make mental notes about the trip.
What worked, what didn't.
What I liked, what I didn't.
What I am glad to have done/seen, what I will never do again.

I've been to Philly before.  About 10 years ago, with a different company, for a different reason.  We spent a week in a small town north of Philadelphia in training.  We tried to see some of the area, but only got time to see Valley Forge.  We did have a chance on the weekend we arrived to drive out to Atlantic City for some gambling.  Never made it downtown to see Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell.  My initial observation from the last trip was that it was a nice area, very wooded, green.  Traffic sucked.  Hated the toll road system.  Food was good - found a great German food restaurant, but their liquor laws were a bit confusing.  You cannot buy beer or wine at the local grocery store, but I finally stumbled across a package store that sold beer by case.  I may be a seasoned drinker, but trying to consume a case of beer in less than 4 days is something I might have done in college.  Tried out a local Mexican food restaurant that was, to put it nicely, on my "never again" list.  I mean, really, how can you screw up a Margarita?  The trip was pretty good, but I was left with the impression that the traffic/road system was something less that I would prefer on a regular basis.

Fast forward to last week.  Took a short hop to north Philly for a pair of supplier audits.  I was the leader of this little expedition, so I was left with the planning/logistics.  Since the two companies we were going to audit were on different ends of Philly, I picked a hotel in the middle.  A decent Hampton Inn in Plymouth Meeting just off of 476.  Given some of my previous experience and the geographic location, I figured to make use of the toll road system to get us to where we needed to go.   Hop on the 276 toll road east in the morning to the first site and then back on 276 to the west for the second day.  No big deal, right.  Only the entrances to the toll roads were as confusing as I recall from my last visit.  We could find all sorts of ways to get onto 276 west, but could not buy our way onto the east bound toll road.  Left the hotel early on Tuesday morning with plenty of time to make it to the site only to spend 20 minutes wandering through the local streets to find a east bound entrance.  Finally made it onto the toll road and to the site only 15 minutes late.  Nothing pisses me off that getting screwed up on my directions and being late to an audit that I scheduled.  Throws me off my game.  After the audit, we went downtown to tour the historical center and we had no troubles getting there and back to the hotel.  Wandered around some of the local suburbs looking for a good restaurant before we stumbled across a very nice, small bar/cafe that had an outstanding cheese steak.  Day two, I figured we had it made.  Right next to the toll road and we know where the west bound entrance was.  Can't screw this one up, right?  Au contrair, my friend.  I got on the entrance, navigated the ticket lanes only to jump on the east bound toll road entrance.  Before we could blink, we were headed east again into Jersey.  Of course, we had to go 10 miles before I could get off and execute a u-turn in the toll booth lane to put us back on the west bound side.  Needless to say, I was pissed again for messing up this simple execution.  Put us about 15 minutes late to the supplier, but not too far behind schedule.  This place was in a very nice little town west of Philly way out from the main traffic.  Coming back I had no problems navigating the roads to get us back to the hotel.  On the toll road/highways, I did note that, most Pennsylvanians do not tend to use their turn signals.  At times, I felt like was an out lander by signalling my intent to change lanes.  On our last day in Philly, we left the hotel early enough to make the airport, but misread the exit to the rental car place and wound up driving across the river into south Philly.  If we had the time, we would have looked for Pat's.  Finally made it to the rental place but could not find a gas station so had to let them pay for gas to fill up the car ($6.99/gallon).  Glad it wasn't my dime paying for this rental.  

Overall, my impression was that the surrounding areas of Philly were nice.  Traffic sucked.  Toll roads were confusing, headaches.  I am reminded of Meleah's trials on the NJTPK.  Not quite as bad, but still I am not a big fan of the Philly toll roads.           

TMI

Just how important is your call, anyway?
I have a pet peeve about people talking on their phones in all sorts of places. This has been building for a while but yesterday just set me off.

Driving - If you are driving, get a blue tooth or headset and keep your damn hands on the wheel. I don't care if you are talking to your long lost sister you haven't seen in 30 years or you are calling little Johnny to see how the soccer game is going. Nothing. Let me repeat that, NOTHING is important enough to risk your life and mine. You may be the world's most best stunt driver, but holding a phone to your face for 10 miles as you careen down the beltway at 75 MPH is not my idea of safe driving. And texting while driving is grounds for getting shot (or, at a minimum, flipped off). I say admit that I am guilty of this transgression in the past but I have repented and learned the error of my ways. I have blue tooth set and will use it occasionally while driving but prefer not to take calls while I am driving. Texas already has a law on the books that makes it illegal to use a cell phone while in a school zone (blue tooth is ok). My home town just enacted a new ordinance that will ban texting/e-mailing while driving anywhere inside the city limits. Even if you are parked at a light, it is verboten.

Public places - restaurants, bars, airports, an elevator, the doctor's office, on a plane, in the store. I know you have to keep in touch, but keep in mind that not everyone in the immediate vicinity wants to share in your conversation. I've said it before: I'm a feeling person, but not a caring person. I really don't care to hear where you are going for dinner or how your last job sucked. Private conversations should be just that, private. If you want to have some fun with these people, strike up your own conversation loudly right next to them. More than once I have taken a call to my friend about some fictitious ailment (Yeah, the doc said I should stay away from Mexican food for a couple of weeks. Otherwise it gives me the runs and some really bad gas.) Of course, to do this requires some amount of humility but I am too old to get embarrassed easily.

Rest rooms - do I really have to say this? Is this really something we should have a rule about? When you are on the phone and going to the bathroom at the SAME TIME, it is time to get a new hobby/life. I stepped into the bathroom this afternoon to "take care of business" and there was one accountant standing next to me TALKING ON A PHONE. Multi-tasking, my ass. There has to be some sort of rule about keeping focused on the job at hand. Does the person on the other end realize where this conversation is going (or coming from)? Sadly, this is NOT the first time I have encountered this situation. Whenever I run into this kind of scenario, my a#%@*@ persona kicks in and I tend to make way more noise than necessary. A few will get the hint. Others are just plain clueless.

Friday already?

Work, work, work. Ever have one of those weeks where all you seem to do is sleep, eat, work? Ever since I got back from NY, it has been pretty much running nonstop at at the office. We're getting closer to implementing our new software and we are busy testing and retesting and then testing some more. Been in early every morning and working late nights. We're on the edge right now. We could go live at the end of the month but we still have some gremlins in the system that could do with some more "fixing" but that would delay the go live by another month. While we'd like to have more time, we are tired of dealing with this project and want to move forward. Got a meeting today with the big dogs to decide the next step.

Glad to have made it through another week at work. I don't really have much planned for the weekend as it is still way to hot (~100) to do yard work. Need to get new glasses, work on son's car, wax the truck/car. Speaking of my son, he is winding up his tour with MS in Seattle and will be heading back home next weekend. Supposed to fly in late Friday and I am sure life will get hectic for a while. Not sure how he is going to ship back all of the stuff I shipped to him (including a new bike) but, he is an innovative, intelligent guy and I am sure will figure it out. College starts up in about 3 weeks, so I am certain the next few weeks will be full of chaos as he preps to head back to Austin. This is his senior year and he pretty much knows the routine/system, so our input/help is not required as much.

Grayson is doing great and about to finish up round 1 of his heartworm treatment. We start round 2 on Monday and it will be another 4 weeks of rest/inactivity before we are out from under his problem. So far, he has not shown any signs of slowing down. No more possums, but he does love to cut loose in the yard if you let him.

Back in the saddle

Ok, enough goofing off, back to work. Good weekend. Still sick, but getting better. Was able to get some yard work done and cut down some limbs in the street. The city is pretty A/R about certain codes and one of them is having tree limbs hanging down over the streets/sidewalks (must not be lower than 13' over the roadway). Occasionally, the city sends out an inspector who leaves us with lovely little note to cut the branches back in 14 days OR ELSE. I find it amusing/annoying, seeing how there are at least a dozen other houses in my hood that have tree branches I can touch when walking dog. I've got three huge trees (2 Arizona Ash, 1 Live Oak) and I've had them cut back before, but they keep coming back every year with more limbs. After Hurricane Ike last year, a lot of tree limbs were knocked down or hanging lower. I cut most of the major offenders back but there is still a lot of branches to be trimmed up. I may have to resort to hiring another crew again to clean up my trees. I don't mind tree work, but its the clean up that take longest part. Besides, momma is not very happy with me climbing up in those trees like a money with a chain saw. Keeps saying something about insurance money and selling my Mustang.

Talked with son last night. He is doing great. Loves the job. Loves the place. Redmond is very bike-centric and he is able to bike to work from his apartment just 3 blocks away. MS has a program to take its interns out on various "social activities" so they will bond as a team. Yesterday, they did the Theo chocolate factory (organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar) in Fremond, WA. Gee, life's rough....