Toys 'R' Us looks to resurface from the grave by Christmas
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Bring Back the Toys!
Exploring Options
UI exploring public-private partnership to operate its utilities
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The
University of Iowa's power plant, located along the Iowa River. CREDIT
UI
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The University of Iowa announced it is exploring a potential
public-private partnership (P3) with its utility system.
Under a P3, the UI would maintain ownership of its utility system
while entering into a professional services agreement with a third party. The
agreement would provide the university with an upfront payment that it would
then place into an endowment.
The annual proceeds from that endowment would be invested in the
core missions of the university, as well as strategies for implementing the UI's
Strategic Plan 2016-2021, which was previously approved by the state's
Board of Regents.
In a press release announcing the P3 plan, the UI said it joins a
growing number of institutions across the country looking for new ways to
bridge the gap in available resources.
"The UI is committed to delivering on our mission of
education and research excellence," UI President Bruce Harreld said.
"Investigating this opportunity over the next nine to 10 months in order
to determine if a P3 is right for our campus is a prudent and measured
step."
UI officials said a successful partnership would ensure that it
could keep the following commitments:
- The university will be able to operate the power plant without burning coal no later than Jan. 1, 2025.
- The new plant operator will continue to explore new sources of biofuels, creating sustainable, lower-cost fuel options.
- All facilities will be maintained by the new operator in similar or better condition.
- Campus-wide sustainability efforts will be continued.
The UI expects that the new operating entity would offer
university employees involved in the P3 a position with their company. Those
utility system employees who are not offered a position with the new operating
entity would retain a university position.
So, This is Odd
The fight to define "meat" is
intensifying, with beef and farming industry groups persuading legislators in a
dozen states to introduce laws that would make
it illegal to use the word "meat" to describe plant-based or
lab-made foods, the New York Times reports. The growing campaign comes as
startups like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods continue
to make strides in producing plant-based burgers that taste like real beef.
Missouri last year passed a law banning the use of meat-like names on products
that don't come from livestock, while Nebraska
is considering its own law this year, the Hill reports. JanLee Rowlett,
government and regulatory affairs manager for the Iowa Cattlemen's Association,
told the Telegraph Herald the labeling issue "is definitely
an interest we have. We have a lot of cattlemen here who are really
watching this issue and policy and making it a priority."
Changes at ACT
ACT names Jana CFO as it diversifies offerings
Santonu Jana, an executive with experience serving the K-12
education and edtech markets, has been named chief financial officer at ACT.
Mr. Jana's selection as CFO is the latest in a series of moves by
ACT to transition from an organization best known for assessments to a global
leader across the fields of learning, measurement and navigation.
"Education is at an inflection point where we increasingly
have the theory, technology and analytical techniques to improve outcomes for
millions of students," ACT CEO Marten Roorda said in a release.
"Santonu Jana's expertise in finance, technology and the markets we serve
will be invaluable as we move forward in our transformation."
Mr. Jana is managing principal for Axle Finance and Strategy
Consulting. He previously served as vice president for finance at Scantron and
Pearson Education, held senior positions with Advance Auto Parts and American
Express, and was as an associate with McKinsey & Company, the global
consulting firm.
"Contributing to ACT's diversification and where they want to
take the industry is an exciting opportunity," Mr. Jana said in a release.
"I look forward to working with my new colleagues in making a difference
for our customers, team members and the communities we serve."
Mr. Jana earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and earned a bachelor's degree in
electrical engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in
Kharagpur, India.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
Monday, February 11, 2019
Finding Relations
I am in a good mood today and I'm making you, the reader of this post, a promise. Here it is. I will answer this prompt prior to the end of this post:
To answer that prompt, here's another question for you. Where were you yesterday and 24 years ago?
I was at 200 5th Avenue in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a job interview at Network Data Processing (NDP). A friend of ours had gotten drunk at our New Year's Eve party on 12/31/1994 and told me all about how great NDP was, which is where he worked. Long story short, my interview was at 8 AM and before noon, I had accepted a job offer from John Millard - I was hired for my first technical writing position on the same day as my interview. These are the companies I have worked at as a technical writer:
NDP
Jordan Systems
Quintrex
the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa
Pearson
University of Iowa, which is where I work now. I spend my workday adding my experience and expertise to two major projects: Disaster Recovery documentation and Knowledge Management.
When I have worked as a technical writer for 24 years, 1 day. My personal plan is to work another 17 years, 1 month, 2 weeks, 3 days (6255 days) here in this department. If I do that, I will reach 20 years of service at the University of Iowa. I will be 66 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days as my 66th birthday will be 12/4/2035, but I would need another 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days (115 days) to reach that 20 years of service milestone.
Over the course of the last 24 years, I have met and gotten to know many fellow technical writers through the Techwr-L list. Tony Chung is one such technical writer - this is his website that I've browsed in the past: https://tonychung.ca/. I know that over the years of my technical writing career, I've corresponded with Tony off-list. I don't know when we have or how often - it's just one of those things I know and you should accept my statements without question!
It was on Friday, 2/8/2019, when Tony referenced The Big Bang Theory in one of his posts to Techwr-L. His comments about one of my favorite sitcoms prompted me to send Tony an off-list response. I included some links to Youtube.com videos during which Sheldon gives other characters instructions. That IS technical writing - my technical writing jobs have always been about software documentation, which involves a lot of writing instructions that instruct a user how to complete a task within software. While my current two projects are not directly tied to writing software documentation, there is a possibility that I may be able to do so . . . but it's too early to speculate on the likelihood of it happening - it COULD happen, it probably SHOULD happen, but I don't know for certain WHEN it will happen. Regardless, for the majority of the last 8767 days, I have earned a paycheck through working as a technical writer.
Which leads me back to Tony's email and my reply on Friday. I included 2 links (embedded for your convenience). First, there was Sheldon giving Raj instructions:
And then there was Sheldon giving Penny instructions:
I really chuckle when I watch that video because it includes this classic line from Penny.
All of that brings me to today. When I got to work today and checked my Techwr-L email account, I read Tony's reply. I immediately began to compose a response, but stopped myself, pasted the original draft of my reply into this blog post and started constructing what you have read to this point. To tie the conclusion of this post to the opening, it was Tony's prompt that caused me to spit these 774 words into this post. Here's my answer:
So who [of the Big Bang Theory characters] do you relate to the most?
To answer that prompt, here's another question for you. Where were you yesterday and 24 years ago?
I was at 200 5th Avenue in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a job interview at Network Data Processing (NDP). A friend of ours had gotten drunk at our New Year's Eve party on 12/31/1994 and told me all about how great NDP was, which is where he worked. Long story short, my interview was at 8 AM and before noon, I had accepted a job offer from John Millard - I was hired for my first technical writing position on the same day as my interview. These are the companies I have worked at as a technical writer:
NDP
Jordan Systems
Quintrex
the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa
Pearson
University of Iowa, which is where I work now. I spend my workday adding my experience and expertise to two major projects: Disaster Recovery documentation and Knowledge Management.
When I have worked as a technical writer for 24 years, 1 day. My personal plan is to work another 17 years, 1 month, 2 weeks, 3 days (6255 days) here in this department. If I do that, I will reach 20 years of service at the University of Iowa. I will be 66 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days as my 66th birthday will be 12/4/2035, but I would need another 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days (115 days) to reach that 20 years of service milestone.
Over the course of the last 24 years, I have met and gotten to know many fellow technical writers through the Techwr-L list. Tony Chung is one such technical writer - this is his website that I've browsed in the past: https://tonychung.ca/. I know that over the years of my technical writing career, I've corresponded with Tony off-list. I don't know when we have or how often - it's just one of those things I know and you should accept my statements without question!
It was on Friday, 2/8/2019, when Tony referenced The Big Bang Theory in one of his posts to Techwr-L. His comments about one of my favorite sitcoms prompted me to send Tony an off-list response. I included some links to Youtube.com videos during which Sheldon gives other characters instructions. That IS technical writing - my technical writing jobs have always been about software documentation, which involves a lot of writing instructions that instruct a user how to complete a task within software. While my current two projects are not directly tied to writing software documentation, there is a possibility that I may be able to do so . . . but it's too early to speculate on the likelihood of it happening - it COULD happen, it probably SHOULD happen, but I don't know for certain WHEN it will happen. Regardless, for the majority of the last 8767 days, I have earned a paycheck through working as a technical writer.
Which leads me back to Tony's email and my reply on Friday. I included 2 links (embedded for your convenience). First, there was Sheldon giving Raj instructions:
And then there was Sheldon giving Penny instructions:
I really chuckle when I watch that video because it includes this classic line from Penny.
All of that brings me to today. When I got to work today and checked my Techwr-L email account, I read Tony's reply. I immediately began to compose a response, but stopped myself, pasted the original draft of my reply into this blog post and started constructing what you have read to this point. To tie the conclusion of this post to the opening, it was Tony's prompt that caused me to spit these 774 words into this post. Here's my answer:
- I am not exuding self-confidence (Leonard)
- I hear a lot of fancy words that people might think I understand but I sometimes don’t but I’m hesitant to call attention to that (Penny)
- I have a deep affection for comic books, super heroes, Star Wars, and other beloved franchises (Sheldon)
- I was never a ladies man (Raj)
- I had a somewhat overbearing mother, though not nearly as overbearing as Mrs. W, and I also married the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met (Howard)
- I am not usually “thought of” when my friends are constructing plans (Stuart)
- I am tall (Bert)
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Walking Dead Season 9 Midseason Return Date & Story Details
In 12 long hours, the second half of Season 9 of The Walking Dead will be broadcast on AMC. I presume that, by now, this article has a lot of juicy details about what is going to transpire tonight. Walking Dead Season 9 Mid-season Return Date & Story Details.
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