That sucks. The Iowa City Regina boy's basketball coach was fired after a 19 win season. WTF!?! Here's the article: http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20140228/SPORTS010102/302280021/Regina-fires-Larson-after-19-4-season
Friday, February 28, 2014
Shining Dimly
I have a long list of character flaws. I lose things. I do what I shouldn't. I don't do what I should. I am human. I make mistakes.
I made a mistake on Wednesday and didn't find out about it until yesterday.
I forgot about the Uncle Rico rehearsal that was scheduled for Wednesday night.
Originally, we had scheduled a rehearsal for Thursday, February 20, but I had asked to push it to the following week because of preparing for Alex's Confirmation. I got it into my head that we had moved it to the following Thursday, which would have been last night. Because it was in my head that we were rehearsing on 2/27, I didn't look at the Uncle Rico group calendar.
Yesterday morning, I read my email and discovered what I had done. I felt like dog poop.
But what can I do about it? I don't own a time machine to go back in time. I can only move on.
I would like to rehearse both Monday and Tuesday next week because those are our only two rehearsals in March. I'd like to go through set two on Monday & set three on Tuesday. I practiced all of set 2 last night.
Today, my arms hurt. It's a good hurt.
Since Uncle Rico isn't going to rehearse beyond March 4, I am thinking it would be an awesome time to reunite Lou's Classic Ride for a rehearsal. I hope that can happen.
On another note, the Iowa men lost at Indiana last night.
I made a mistake on Wednesday and didn't find out about it until yesterday.
I forgot about the Uncle Rico rehearsal that was scheduled for Wednesday night.
Originally, we had scheduled a rehearsal for Thursday, February 20, but I had asked to push it to the following week because of preparing for Alex's Confirmation. I got it into my head that we had moved it to the following Thursday, which would have been last night. Because it was in my head that we were rehearsing on 2/27, I didn't look at the Uncle Rico group calendar.
Yesterday morning, I read my email and discovered what I had done. I felt like dog poop.
But what can I do about it? I don't own a time machine to go back in time. I can only move on.
I would like to rehearse both Monday and Tuesday next week because those are our only two rehearsals in March. I'd like to go through set two on Monday & set three on Tuesday. I practiced all of set 2 last night.
Today, my arms hurt. It's a good hurt.
Since Uncle Rico isn't going to rehearse beyond March 4, I am thinking it would be an awesome time to reunite Lou's Classic Ride for a rehearsal. I hope that can happen.
On another note, the Iowa men lost at Indiana last night.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
February 2014
My co-worker, who is on the road at various customer sites, sent an email to me which included the following:
On a side note, when I mentioned that we are finding out all the functionality changes through the grapevine or really late, and you asked how we were getting our info, what/who were we meeting with to get our info? Obviously that communication is broken, should we be meeting with [co-worker A] or [co-worker B], or someone else? Everyone seems like they are getting their butt kicked by workload, but we've got to find a better way to share some of this info about status and changes to the platform. Any suggestions?
This is what I wrote back to him:
|
We got the instructions done, sent out for approval and then ... crickets, Eventually, the only feedback we get is to be asked to make more words bold. Everyone's a writer and it makes me chuckle. I don't have any concrete suggestions. We're all in a definite trickle-down thing - it's not just you - I feel your pain. The docs are under tremendous scrutiny.
Recently, it seems like every customer / program wants their own version of the doc. That is complicating things immensely. We are trying to, simply, document the system and what it can do. Traditionally, there has always been this cross-over of process being integrated into the user guide. For example, a team just took back maintenance of their doc because they want the name of the user role that can do the procedure appended to every title in the document. We said, "No." They said, "that's what the customer wants."
It's more unfortunate for them more than us because they don't realize what they getting into, which is a customer-specific user guide that is modified whenever there is a new issue that comes up. The logic seems to be that if the doc has the information, no one will ever have the same tech support issue and that's just not reality. This specific program also is allowing the customer to approve the content so, despite all the top to bottom "one company" unification effort, we are going to continue to have user guides that look different in formatting, in content (the way things are worded), and such. I know the customer pays all of us, but there's this line in the sand where what they want is not in their best interest and not in our best interest. It's up to us to say, "No" and offer an alternative to things they think they want. I don't envy you being on the front line like you are. I know it's easy for me to sit here, not being in front of the customer and to spout off about how things should be. For example, I would have suggested that, instead of listing the user roles in the heading of a procedure in a user guide, create a version of the user roles matrix and say "If you are Role A, you can do this list of procedures in the user guide." It would separate the tasks the system can do (which is what the user guide should be) and what the users can do with it to complete their processes. Instead, the customer asked for something and without thinking through what that request meant to the entire structure, we gave it to them. I can tell you that no one on that team has the time to do what they've agreed to do and if I were a betting man, I'd bet that at some point that user guide comes back to my team and we have to have a discussion about system documentation v. process documentation. I don't see us maintaining the user roles in the headings when it does come back to us.
Sorry to monologue on you. I'm actually being shifted to a different project that has a deadline of mid-April. With all the other things that have been happening, I'm not as far along as I'd like to be. I will definitely do what I can to help you. Any feedback you get from the customer is always appreciated so if you get it, send it our way.
On a side note, when I mentioned that we are finding out all the functionality changes through the grapevine or really late, and you asked how we were getting our info, what/who were we meeting with to get our info? Obviously that communication is broken, should we be meeting with [co-worker A] or [co-worker B], or someone else? Everyone seems like they are getting their butt kicked by workload, but we've got to find a better way to share some of this info about status and changes to the platform. Any suggestions?
This is what I wrote back to him:
|
We got the instructions done, sent out for approval and then ... crickets, Eventually, the only feedback we get is to be asked to make more words bold. Everyone's a writer and it makes me chuckle. I don't have any concrete suggestions. We're all in a definite trickle-down thing - it's not just you - I feel your pain. The docs are under tremendous scrutiny.
Recently, it seems like every customer / program wants their own version of the doc. That is complicating things immensely. We are trying to, simply, document the system and what it can do. Traditionally, there has always been this cross-over of process being integrated into the user guide. For example, a team just took back maintenance of their doc because they want the name of the user role that can do the procedure appended to every title in the document. We said, "No." They said, "that's what the customer wants."
It's more unfortunate for them more than us because they don't realize what they getting into, which is a customer-specific user guide that is modified whenever there is a new issue that comes up. The logic seems to be that if the doc has the information, no one will ever have the same tech support issue and that's just not reality. This specific program also is allowing the customer to approve the content so, despite all the top to bottom "one company" unification effort, we are going to continue to have user guides that look different in formatting, in content (the way things are worded), and such. I know the customer pays all of us, but there's this line in the sand where what they want is not in their best interest and not in our best interest. It's up to us to say, "No" and offer an alternative to things they think they want. I don't envy you being on the front line like you are. I know it's easy for me to sit here, not being in front of the customer and to spout off about how things should be. For example, I would have suggested that, instead of listing the user roles in the heading of a procedure in a user guide, create a version of the user roles matrix and say "If you are Role A, you can do this list of procedures in the user guide." It would separate the tasks the system can do (which is what the user guide should be) and what the users can do with it to complete their processes. Instead, the customer asked for something and without thinking through what that request meant to the entire structure, we gave it to them. I can tell you that no one on that team has the time to do what they've agreed to do and if I were a betting man, I'd bet that at some point that user guide comes back to my team and we have to have a discussion about system documentation v. process documentation. I don't see us maintaining the user roles in the headings when it does come back to us.
Sorry to monologue on you. I'm actually being shifted to a different project that has a deadline of mid-April. With all the other things that have been happening, I'm not as far along as I'd like to be. I will definitely do what I can to help you. Any feedback you get from the customer is always appreciated so if you get it, send it our way.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Reasonable?
I send out emails to a community of people and this is me bitching about my week.
On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 2:44 PM, "Kate" sent me what needed to be sent out.
I was not online Monday night & Tuesday at work was crazy busy.
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 2:47 PM, "Ally" sent a request to please send out the letter that Kate had sent.
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 3:04 PM, Kate sent an updated version of what needed to be sent out.
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 7:09 PM, during 1/2 time of the Iowa v. MN men's basketball game, I sent out the updated letter.
I am a busy person and my schedule did not lighten up thus far this week. In fact, it has intensified!
On Mon, Feb 24, 2014 at 2:44 PM, "Kate" sent me what needed to be sent out.
I was not online Monday night & Tuesday at work was crazy busy.
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 2:47 PM, "Ally" sent a request to please send out the letter that Kate had sent.
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 3:04 PM, Kate sent an updated version of what needed to be sent out.
On Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 7:09 PM, during 1/2 time of the Iowa v. MN men's basketball game, I sent out the updated letter.
I am a busy person and my schedule did not lighten up thus far this week. In fact, it has intensified!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Falling Asleep
Count in music_shell yesterday: 24475 File(s)
Count in music_shell today: 24475 File(s)
I began watching WWE Raw last night in our bedroom and then, when Karen went to bed, I went out to the living room couch. I shouldn't have trusted myself to stay awake for the entire program because the next thing I knew, it was 10:30 PM. I missed the last 30 minutes of Raw. And, of course, that means I missed the return of the Undertaker, who is one of my all-time favorite pro wrestlers. It should have been a clue to me to find a way to stay awake when it was mentioned Brock Lesnar was at Raw as the pro wrestling websites I read all have been speculating that Undertaker would fight Lesnar at Wrestlemania XXX.
The problem is that most of the other matches were, really, not very good. It was boring to watch Del Rio fight Batista because, frankly, I don't care about either. Batista is in the main event at WM XXX against Randy Orton and, well, I don't give a shit. The match between Cesario and Sheamus went too long and the match between Daniel Bryan and Kane went long too.
WWE is going to be in Cedar Rapids on Saturday night. When it was announced, I asked Alex if he wanted to go. He said no. Guess what he said last night? He would go. Too bad he argued with me when I told him he needed to be upstairs and in bed by 9. He turned it around and claimed that I wouldn't let him study. He gets a pass, or so it seems, that he studies in the basement. He doesn't need his iPod or phone to do so, though, so when I took his phone away, he was mad about that. Doesn't make me want to take him to WWE. Doesn't make me want to take him to Skillet in Moline, IL, at the iWireless Center in a couple of weeks. Doesn't make me want to finagle a way to get to Boone, IA, for the LazerFest concert on Mother's Day. It's a good lineup too (of course) with Adelita's Way and The Offspring as well. Sigh.
Moving on, I did practice drums last night but I really need to do so again. The songs I went through were good. "Blister in the Sun" seemed hard for me to nail but "Bad Case of Loving You" was good as was "Mony Mony." Still, I need to do more tonight and tomorrow night to better prepare myself.
Work is busy and I need to get to it.
Count in music_shell today: 24475 File(s)
I began watching WWE Raw last night in our bedroom and then, when Karen went to bed, I went out to the living room couch. I shouldn't have trusted myself to stay awake for the entire program because the next thing I knew, it was 10:30 PM. I missed the last 30 minutes of Raw. And, of course, that means I missed the return of the Undertaker, who is one of my all-time favorite pro wrestlers. It should have been a clue to me to find a way to stay awake when it was mentioned Brock Lesnar was at Raw as the pro wrestling websites I read all have been speculating that Undertaker would fight Lesnar at Wrestlemania XXX.
The problem is that most of the other matches were, really, not very good. It was boring to watch Del Rio fight Batista because, frankly, I don't care about either. Batista is in the main event at WM XXX against Randy Orton and, well, I don't give a shit. The match between Cesario and Sheamus went too long and the match between Daniel Bryan and Kane went long too.
WWE is going to be in Cedar Rapids on Saturday night. When it was announced, I asked Alex if he wanted to go. He said no. Guess what he said last night? He would go. Too bad he argued with me when I told him he needed to be upstairs and in bed by 9. He turned it around and claimed that I wouldn't let him study. He gets a pass, or so it seems, that he studies in the basement. He doesn't need his iPod or phone to do so, though, so when I took his phone away, he was mad about that. Doesn't make me want to take him to WWE. Doesn't make me want to take him to Skillet in Moline, IL, at the iWireless Center in a couple of weeks. Doesn't make me want to finagle a way to get to Boone, IA, for the LazerFest concert on Mother's Day. It's a good lineup too (of course) with Adelita's Way and The Offspring as well. Sigh.
Moving on, I did practice drums last night but I really need to do so again. The songs I went through were good. "Blister in the Sun" seemed hard for me to nail but "Bad Case of Loving You" was good as was "Mony Mony." Still, I need to do more tonight and tomorrow night to better prepare myself.
Work is busy and I need to get to it.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Busy
It was a tiring & busy weekend, but amongst all that had to be done, I found time to enjoy what was happening.
On Friday, after going into work at 5 and then working until 3:30, I went to get my haircut. Before I got my haircut, though, I went to Fareway and purchased toilet paper, Diet Caffeine Free Coke, and breadcrumbs. When I arrived at home, Lou and Jean had already arrived. Lou showed me his new 2014 Chevy Impala that he had purchased. It's a sweet ride.
On Saturday, after watching the Iowa Hawkeyes go down in defeat to the Wisconsin Badgers - a game they should have won - I went to Hy-Vee in Coralville with Megan to pick up Alex's cake. We made a brief stop at Best Buy to purchase Bayside's "Cult" release that came out last week. We hadn't really been able to talk to each other in a while so it was good to find our connection again. Later in the day, Mark and I watched the ending of "A Few Good Men" until 12:30 AM Sunday morning.
Then, on Sunday, Alex was confirmed yesterday, along with 66 other high school students. I am very proud of Alex, who took the name Sebastian, for his choice to continue to grow in his Catholic faith.
Late last night, I worked on the CD reconversion. I am working on Spindle # 13 this week. I'm sitting at 24475 File(s) after a couple of hours of work. I'm uncertain whether I will make a lot of progress this week with the reconversion. I need to focus on preparing for Uncle Rico rehearsal on Thursday. I honestly haven't been able to sit down behind a set of drums for a couple of weeks. I don't want to walk into Uncle Rico rehearsal on Thursday without being prepared. I mentioned that to Karen a few minutes ago. Thus, I'm hoping that I can spend some time at the Yamaha set in the den tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday in order to build up my chops. I don't anticipate 4 or 5 hours a night, but am hoping for at least 6 hours before Thursday AM. I have my work cut out for me as I prepare to be able to play these songs on Thursday:
201-You May Be Right-Billy Joel
202-Blister in the Sun-Violent Femmes
203-What I Like About You-The Romantics
204-Jenny 867-5309 Jenny-Tommy Tutone
205-I'm a Believer-Smash Mouth
206-Dancing Queen-The Yayhoos
207-I Will Survive-The Shout
208-I Ran (So Far Away)-A Flock of Seagulls
209-Wonderful Tonight-Eric Clapton
210-Folsom Prison Blues-Johnny Cash
211-Two Princes-Spin Doctors
212-Hot Stuff-Cockroach
213-Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)-Robert Palmer
214-Mony Mony [Downtown Mix]-Billy Idol
215-Johnny B Goode-Chuck Berry
216-I Saw Her Standing There-Paul McCartney
217-Closing Time-Semisonic
218-Interstate Love Song-Stone Temple Pilots
On Friday, after going into work at 5 and then working until 3:30, I went to get my haircut. Before I got my haircut, though, I went to Fareway and purchased toilet paper, Diet Caffeine Free Coke, and breadcrumbs. When I arrived at home, Lou and Jean had already arrived. Lou showed me his new 2014 Chevy Impala that he had purchased. It's a sweet ride.
On Saturday, after watching the Iowa Hawkeyes go down in defeat to the Wisconsin Badgers - a game they should have won - I went to Hy-Vee in Coralville with Megan to pick up Alex's cake. We made a brief stop at Best Buy to purchase Bayside's "Cult" release that came out last week. We hadn't really been able to talk to each other in a while so it was good to find our connection again. Later in the day, Mark and I watched the ending of "A Few Good Men" until 12:30 AM Sunday morning.
Then, on Sunday, Alex was confirmed yesterday, along with 66 other high school students. I am very proud of Alex, who took the name Sebastian, for his choice to continue to grow in his Catholic faith.
Late last night, I worked on the CD reconversion. I am working on Spindle # 13 this week. I'm sitting at 24475 File(s) after a couple of hours of work. I'm uncertain whether I will make a lot of progress this week with the reconversion. I need to focus on preparing for Uncle Rico rehearsal on Thursday. I honestly haven't been able to sit down behind a set of drums for a couple of weeks. I don't want to walk into Uncle Rico rehearsal on Thursday without being prepared. I mentioned that to Karen a few minutes ago. Thus, I'm hoping that I can spend some time at the Yamaha set in the den tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday in order to build up my chops. I don't anticipate 4 or 5 hours a night, but am hoping for at least 6 hours before Thursday AM. I have my work cut out for me as I prepare to be able to play these songs on Thursday:
201-You May Be Right-Billy Joel
202-Blister in the Sun-Violent Femmes
203-What I Like About You-The Romantics
204-Jenny 867-5309 Jenny-Tommy Tutone
205-I'm a Believer-Smash Mouth
206-Dancing Queen-The Yayhoos
207-I Will Survive-The Shout
208-I Ran (So Far Away)-A Flock of Seagulls
209-Wonderful Tonight-Eric Clapton
210-Folsom Prison Blues-Johnny Cash
211-Two Princes-Spin Doctors
212-Hot Stuff-Cockroach
213-Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)-Robert Palmer
214-Mony Mony [Downtown Mix]-Billy Idol
215-Johnny B Goode-Chuck Berry
216-I Saw Her Standing There-Paul McCartney
217-Closing Time-Semisonic
218-Interstate Love Song-Stone Temple Pilots
Friday, February 21, 2014
Thursday, February 20, 2014
More Sadness in My World
Big Daddy V, a professional wrestler I watched for many years, died. He was 43. Read about him here.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Sadness
The ex-bassist for 3 Doors Down is in trouble with the law. Bassist Todd Herrell is not making good choices. http://loudwire.com/3-doors-down-todd-harrell-arrested-dui-mississippi/
New Bayside Setlist
Bayside began the tour for their new CD "Cult" last night. They played 13 songs (here) and began by playing the first 4 songs on "Cult." That's awesome! They are skipping Iowa (so far) - after playing twice in Iowa in October 2013. The closest they come to Iowa are in March. They play Milwaukee on 3/7/14 (Friday), and then Chicago on 3/8 (Saturday). I guess playing in Iowa twice on last tour was enough. Their CD is available at Best Buy for $9.99 (with a coupon) so I'm thinking Megan and I will be needing to swing through there sometime.
Minimum Wage Increase and Obama as Satan?
I remember, clear as a sunny day, that when I worked @ the Spring House from fall 1986 to fall 1992, it was a very big deal when I got a raise. I remember my hourly rate went from 3.90 / hour to 4.10 / hour. The $.20 rate increase was a result of me working hard while I was at work. I had shifted from being the host of the dining room to a brand new position that Lester created for me where my job was to, essentially, float around the restaurant and get what needed to get done "done" so that the operations of the restaurant was smooth. If that meant making up syrups so that the waitresses could simply grab their orders, I did that. If it meant filling the bread drawer and rotating the bread, I did that. If it meant clearing a table, I did that. I also remember Lester walking by me one morning with a bus tub and saying, "I can keep busy, can you?" I didn't always agree 100% with Lester, but I will always appreciate what he did for me in this regard.
I mention this as there is now a push to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 / hour. With great interest, I read how the Congressional Budget Office has analyzed the proposed minimum wage increase and that it will cost 500,000 jobs. While I don't agree with an across-the-board blind wage increase, I find it interesting that the CBO can figure out how many jobs are going to be lost. I wish I knew how they came up with 500,000. Why not 450,000? Why not 600,000? I have no idea how to do the math to figure it out. I hate math. I also think that it's possible that teenagers working in a restaurant, like the Spring House (before it closed) shouldn't make $10.10 / hour. And why is it $10.10 / hour? Wouldn't the math be simpler if it were a flat $10 / hour?
40 hours / week x $10 = $400.
40 hours / week x 10.10 = (let me get my calculator) 404.
Is it worth the extra $4 / week to do "more complex" math?
Alex had his next-to-last basketball game last night. Iowa City West lost. When Alex was on the court, he didn't touch the ball except for a couple of rebounds.
The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball game @ Indiana was postponed because part of the roof fell.
There's a new movie coming out called "Son of God" and I saw in this article that there were scenes cut in the movie because the actor was was cast as Satan looks too much like President Obama.
I mention this as there is now a push to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 / hour. With great interest, I read how the Congressional Budget Office has analyzed the proposed minimum wage increase and that it will cost 500,000 jobs. While I don't agree with an across-the-board blind wage increase, I find it interesting that the CBO can figure out how many jobs are going to be lost. I wish I knew how they came up with 500,000. Why not 450,000? Why not 600,000? I have no idea how to do the math to figure it out. I hate math. I also think that it's possible that teenagers working in a restaurant, like the Spring House (before it closed) shouldn't make $10.10 / hour. And why is it $10.10 / hour? Wouldn't the math be simpler if it were a flat $10 / hour?
40 hours / week x $10 = $400.
40 hours / week x 10.10 = (let me get my calculator) 404.
Is it worth the extra $4 / week to do "more complex" math?
Alex had his next-to-last basketball game last night. Iowa City West lost. When Alex was on the court, he didn't touch the ball except for a couple of rebounds.
The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball game @ Indiana was postponed because part of the roof fell.
There's a new movie coming out called "Son of God" and I saw in this article that there were scenes cut in the movie because the actor was was cast as Satan looks too much like President Obama.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Garbage Truck
I have a book called "The Law of the Garbage Truck: How to Stop People from Dumping on You" by David J. Pollay sitting on my dresser in my bedroom. Sometimes, when things happen in my life, it's a good idea to revisit it. If so inclined, here's the URL to buy it: http://www.amazon.com/The-Law-Garbage-Truck-Dumping/dp/1454905182
.
Even though I was an English major, I don't read a lot of books. I recommend this one, though.
.
Even though I was an English major, I don't read a lot of books. I recommend this one, though.
Camera Dump
Mom
Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Score at the Game
I'd Rather be Watching Dr. Who
Carver-Hawkeye Arena
Shoes by the Door
Alex is #44 in the white jersey
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Score of the Game
Alex is in the middle
Score of the Game - Note the number of Fouls on us (Guest)
Duck at the Black Hawk Hotel
MMC College Weekend @ Hairball on 2/15/14
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MMC College Weekend - Me / Karen, LuAnn / Mark
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