Should I Watch the Debate?

This question is rhetorical as I will be in an airport tomorrow evening when it's on, and I doubt that it will be on in the bar waiting area, so I will have to Tivo it anyway. And by the time I have time to watch it, I will have read about it from my fellow bloggers, so there will be no suspense.

I'll Tivo it anyway and just watch the good parts, sort of like I did with the RNC (I had Zell's speech saved and watched it a couple of times).

I think Bush will do fine since he'll go up there and just do what he did at the RNC and on Bill O'Reilly this week: tell the American people what he thinks and what his vision is for America's future.

Update: Just in case, the Bush campaign is running a live feed of the debate with live facts and rebuttals during the debate (I'm sure the dems are doing this same thing, and a fun exercise would be to blog what the two "live feeds" are saying about the same thing at the same time, but I'll be traveling).

Greetings From Mrs. Director

I am now an official guest blogger on the Window Manager Blog. Our decision to make me a guest blogger is somewhat of a compromise as we decided that there was not enough right brained activity in this household to manage two blogs.

For my first posting I would like to shed some light on the elections going on in Ukraine.

The Presidential elections coming up on October 31st are extremely important not only for Ukraine and its freedom seeking people but for all of those concerned with the continued progress of democracy in Eastern Europe. The last six months has seen the elimiation of RFE (Radio Free Europe) and the closure of numerous television stations which have not supported the current administration's agenda. A host of mafia like tactics have been used to control the media. Unfortunately, the coverage by the American press about the importance of these elections has been scant. Does it make a difference to the EU or the US if Ukraine's elections are fair? Does it really matter if Ukraine is further pulled into Putin's sphere of influence? I would think so. With a population of 50 million, a nuclear arsenal and a strategic geopolicitcal position I would think that the US would be all over this. Senator Campbell (R) Coloado has had a resolution in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for sometime now demanding that Ukraine's elections be open and free. Unforunately it seems to be going nowhere.

Ukrainian Political Egg-Throwing Game

Mrs. Director sent me this link, but without translation or background, but this little game is actually pretty humerous without any of this info: Politikan

(Use your mouse location for aiming, and hold the mouse button for a few moments and release for the distance to throw the egg - the longer the mouse button is depressed, the further the egg goes).

My guess is that this game might have something to do with Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych being hit by an object during a campaign stop. Since Mrs. Director is on jury duty today, I won't post a translation or background update until this evening.

Star Trek DS9: A Much Better Show Than I Thought

(nerdmode on)

When ST:DS9 first came out in 1993, I watched a few episodes and thought it was promising, but then work and other matters got in the way and I missed the rest of the season, and most of the second season. When I caught it again a year-and-a-half later, I was hopelessly lost and just let it go again for a while. I gave it a few more tries over the years and each time I caught an episode I was just more and more lost: Who the hell are the Jem Hadar? What's a Vorta? Worf? How did HE get on there? What's all this religious stuff? I basically just gave up on it.

But thanks to all the episodes being released on DVD and the power of Netflix, I decided to go through the series sequentially one episode at a time. That's 176 episodes on 49 DVDs. I checked out the first disk on March 13 and just finished the last one September 24. That's darn near one episode a day over a half-year period, but I usually went in spurts, sometime watching all four episodes on a disk in single day then going dry for a while (I usually packed several disks on my overseas trips, which came in really handy).

Except for probably six episodes, the whole series was new to me, and after sitting through them all I have to say this: it was a great series and I think a whole lot better than The Next Generation.

The weakness the series had for television was its strength on DVD: long, involved story arcs that reached over multiple episodes or even seasons. This sort of story telling is a problem with television since if you miss one, you were pretty much hosed. But in a DVD environment when you can chug through multiple episodes, it makes it incredibly interesting. In fact, with a DVD setting you want this sort of involvement rather than a 45 minute self-contained episode where everything is wrapped up in the last 5 minutes of the show (which is why the Sopranos is also a great DVD rental).

This format allowed the show to explore some really interesting topics, some of which I thought were very pertinent for today. I thought how the Federation dealt with Bajor was analogous to what we are doing today in Iraq, and the continuous shifting alliances over seven years of several wars was like, well the continuous shifting alliances that are a part of all wars. The series explored religion, personal relationships and other topics I found compelling.

Yeah, there were some episodes that sucked (usually involving Bashir), and they dipped into the "parallel universe" well WAY too many times, but there were some really great episodes: The Visitor (I cried during this episode, but I dare any parent not to), Trials and Tribble-ations (just a great tribute to the original Trek), and Far Beyond the Stars (which was just a great premise) all stick out as some of the best (which sort of goes against what I liked about the show since these are all self-contained episodes).

I'm actually pretty bummed that I'm done with the series. After half a year, I am now wondering what is out there that can keep my attention for another half a year.

(nerdmode off)

Which SciFi Character Are You?

I thought the results must be heavily weighted towards LOTR since both Accidental Verbosity, who pointed me to the quiz, and I both came out as Tolkein characters. Looking at the list at the end, however, there are characters from other works represented (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.)

ARAGORN

Putting your appointed path ahead of any inner conflicts, you make your own rules for the benefit of all.
If my life or death I can protect you, I will.

Hit picture to take the quiz.

Carnival of the Capitalists Up

Crossroads Dispatches did a great job on this week's Carnival of the Capitalists, which is a weekly roundup of business postings from around the blogosphere. My entry on "body of work" and "masterpieces" made the carnival this week.

One Reason I Have Problems with my Church

As a converted Catholic, I chose to join my church, but I still have a few problems with it, one of them being its socialist tilt:

Pope John Paul II denounced the "imbalance" between the world's rich and poor Sunday and applauded efforts to eliminate hunger, like the recent U.N. initiative to increase funds for development.

This "initiative" was the proposal for a world tax. The problem is, the reason hunger exists in the world today isn't because of a Malthusian deficit of food or lack of funds, it is because of totalitarian and cleptocratic regimes preventing their populations from getting food. Throwing money at the problem will just create larger Swiss bank accounts for those at the top, like the UN "Oil for Food" program, which did nothing to solve hunger in Iraq, but did plenty to enrich corrupt UN officials and the Iraqi regime.

JP should be promoting democracy as the solution, like he did in Poland 25 years ago.

Colonel Sanders Isn't Dead...

...he just moved to South Korea.

Interesting Blogging Contest

Now that pretty much all international airports are wired for internet, an interesting contest would be to find which blogger has posted from the most airports, and who has posted from the most countries. I am surely not even close to being in the running (four countries and I think three or four airports), so it would be interesting to know what the top numbers are in this category.

Watching Sunrise Move Over the Blogosphere

Here I am in the Korean Air lounge waiting for my plane and reading blogs. The neat thing about blogging overseas is watching sunrise over the U.S. blogosphere. West coast bloggers are fast asleep except for the odd insomniac posting at 2:49am, but the East Coast bloggers are starting to stir, and the early risers are starting to post, coffee in hand. Over the next hour as 6am comes and goes on the East Coast, blogging traffic will pick up considerably in the East. By the time the West Coast bloggers get up and see what news transpired while they slept, the East Coast guys are on their second or third post of the day and thinking about lunch.

Of course the opposite happens in the evening as the West Coast twilight bloggers post while the East Coast guys are fast asleep.

And all this while, we traveling jetlagged travelers post at any and all hours without any discernible pattern.

Jet Lag Sucks

It's 2:45 am and I'm awake in Korea. If it goes like it did last night, I'll go back to sleep around 4am and wake up at 7am, sleeping in two shifts that will make up around seven total hours. I actually don't have trouble during the day staying awake, although I help that by drinking a bit more caffeine than I usually do (there are no Korean Starbucks nearby, but I can buy the packaged Frappacinos in a local convenience store).

I used to travel to Asia every 5-6 weeks about three years ago and didn't have this much trouble, so maybe I need to think about getting sleeping pills to help me adjust faster.

Not that I want to change my sleeping patterns much more on this trip. After doing a full day of meetings later today (it's almost Friday morning here), I hop on a plane at 5:30pm, connect in Seoul on a 9:30 pm Friday evening flight, and arrive at LAX on 4pm Friday afternoon - before I left on my original flight.

After that I will be just a bundle of energy Friday evening in SoCal.

Kerry's Favorite Body Calls for Global Tax

I don't see this story getting any play on U.S. news sites, but it certainly got my attention over here. The UN has called for a "Plan to Alleviate World Poverty":

Among the proposals offered was that of a tax on greenhouse gas emissions, financial transactions, arms sales and multinational corporations.

Also under consideration was the possibility of levying taxes on the use of key maritime routes, airline tickets and credit card purchases.

The U.S., thankfully, was cool to the idea, calling global taxes "inherently undemocratic", although that has never stopped the EU, who is backing this idea, or the UN.

No response from the Kerry team, who already wants to put U.S. foreign policy under UN control.

Born in the South, Living in the West, Politically Northeast?

The Smoking Room pointed me over to one of those political mapping quizzes. This was obviously designed by a "Big L" Libertarian since if you think drugs and prostitution should be illegal, you are deemed to "want governmental control over personal affairs" (hit on map to link to quiz).

NE- You would feel most at home in the Northeast region. You advocate a large degree of economic freedom (aka "fiscal conservatism") and a large degree of government control over personal affairs. Your neighbors include such folks as Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Helms, and Robert Bork, and may refer to themselves as "conservatives," "right-wing conservatives," or "free-market conservatives."

Or Not So Tough to Go to This Place

Am I noticing a trend in my Korea travels? First the bathroom, now this. All I know is that I am staying away from the second floor of this building. However, "A Merry Making Place" in the basement sounds like a gay fun and lively establishment.

You Got to be Tough to Go to this Place

The MAN toilet

Quick Blogging Tip

If you're traveling overseas, be sure to contact your wife before updating your blog. Trust me on this one.

My Work Won’t Survive Me, Much Less the Product

I was watching the Oscars a few years ago and they were giving out a lifetime achievement award to some director, praising his “body of work”. A few days later I was watching a documentary and they talked about an artist creating his “masterpiece”.

These two phrases kept ringing in my head for a few days and I started thinking about how, and if, they apply to the modern worker. Do we have a “body of work” or a “masterpiece” we can point to at the end of our careers that will last longer than we do?

The short answer: no. In my case, what marketing professionals create is as transitory as the products we work on. Sure, I have a few articles and publications floating out there in the ether, but the vast majority of what I do day-to-day is forgotten within a year, or certainly by the time the product is obsoleted (anyone out there using a TMS320C30, the first product I ever did marketing work on?)

If my “body of work” were put into one location, it would actually be quite volumous - everything including product definitions, roll-out plans, roadmaps, advertising, focus groups, forecasts, several start-up business plans, and lots and lots and lots of PowerPoint presentations (or its predecessor, Harvard Graphics, or its predecessor, Foils). Then there are the gigabytes (terabytes?) of emails I have created in the last 15 years (yes, email existed in 1989. We did it on mainframes). All this work would fill a good sized room, or at least a very, very large hard drive. But no one would give me an award for this body of work, and I certainly can’t find anything in there that anyone else would call a masterpiece.

So are there “bodies of work” and “masterpieces” in business at all? Sure, the bodies of work are the companies you buy stuff from everyday – the “body” being the sum of all the little things that individuals in the company do that contribute to the whole. And the masterpieces are those companies that are successful in providing quality goods and services to consumers while providing returns to investors. So the little things that we do as workers are like brush strokes within the masterpiece, not the masterpiece itself.

The bottom line is that these two artistic ideas are ill-suited for business workers. We workers just have to accept the fact that what we do is transitory and that it will be the company, not our individual work, that will be our legacy.


Ed: In the comments section, we're holding a contest on how many drinks Mitch had on his trans-Pacific flight when he wrote this.

Oh, I'm Back in Korea

Ah, back in Korea – on the good side of the DMZ. I visited the DMZ last year, so I have looked into one of the two remaining Axis of Evil. I'm not in a hurry to go see the other one.

I’ll start off this trip with a bit of Korea trivia (Korevia?): On the Korean flag above, you probably already recognize the yin-yang in the middle. What you probably didn’t know is that the four symbols surrounding the Yin-Yang represent the four elements: earth, water, fire and air.

Blogging from LAX

Got an hour before boarding my trans-Pacific flight at LAX, and my airline has internet connections in their lounge. Is this a great country or what?! (I think all public spaces will have WIFI in five years, but we'll see).

I was listening to Rush as I crawled my way to LAX in Monday morning traffic and heard the Rathergate news. He was having a field day with it, and rightly gave the blogosphere credit (he even used the term "blogosphere"). He pointed out a lot of holes in the "apology", and I doubt this will be the end of the matter.

Score one for the blogs.

So I will be stuck 12 hours on a plane. Do I take that time to write something thoughtful and insightful for my blog, or do I kick back, order a drink and watch three movies?

Comments on Commenting

One of the things I like about blogs are the comments section. In some instances, the conversations in the comments become more interesting than the post itself, although on the most popular blogs, comments become so overwhelming that they aren't provided (Instapundit) or there are so many comments that a coherent conversation becomes impossible (LGF, Scrappleface and others average over 100 comments a post).

Trolls, of course, usually wreck the comments conversations on the most popular blogs. Sometimes, however, the trolls become fixtures in the comments section, sort of becoming pets. YGB at DailyPundit, for example, is a regular in the comments section who is a self-parody of a left-wing commenter. (I theorize that he is actually a right-winger providing comic relief, although I could be wrong).

I don't get a whole lot of comments, but there are about half a dozen of you that comment regularly. My highest comment entries are typically on my most banal posts, and posts that I took days to formulate get hardly a mention at all. This seems to be a common experience in the blogosphere, maybe since most people can relate better to having a tree taken down in their back yard than ruminating on what gives their generation meaning in the world.

So, while I am on this topic, I will post my blog's comments policy:

1. All comments are welcome that are topical (or semi-topical) on the post at hand. I have deleted both right-wing and left-wing comments that had nothing to do with my post (on the right-wing side, someone I never heard of was blathering about the swift-boat stuff on a post totally unrelated to politics and linked to his own blog, so that advertising comment got the boot)

2. Those who disagree vehemently with me are welcome to post, as long as it is a coherent, rational argument. Descending into "Bush is Hitler" or other silliness will get deleted, unless it is done in an obvious attempt at humor or sarcasm (I tried a humorous post in this area myself, which I deleted when a couple of you complained that it wasn't funny). Ad hominem attacks from either side aren't welcome, but I have actually never experienced it on this blog.

3. If you accidently post the same comment twice (a problem with Haloscan sometimes), I will usually go in and delete one of the copies.

Pretty simple, really. I haven't had some of the comment-spam problems others have had, so either those people haven't found me, or more likely Haloscan does a fairly good job of screening them out.

Update: Talk about topical. Right after I posted this, I saw that someone blathered about the Iraqi war costs in the post below about Blogrolling being down. Come on, those topics aren't even close. If you're that desperate to get your point of view out, start your own blog, or find a post I did on Iraq, Kerry, or a topic that is close to what you want to talk about.

Blogrolling Down

If you notice the lack of links at right, it's because Blogrolling keeps going down - once last night and again this morning. If this keeps up I might just have to go manual, which is a pain, but at least reliable.

Update: It's back, obviously. Apparently they changed over to a new server and had "problems".

This Web Site Says it All

http://www.kerrywrongforcatholics.com/

Being for inclusiveness, I think they should create a website www.kerrywrongforeveryonebutleftwingnutjobs.com

Update: Actually, they pretty much do cover every group imagineable. I don't think all the groups have a "wrong for" site, but they do have an affinity Bush site. I am not going to hyperlink to all of these, so if you are curious check them out here:

African American
Arab American (big group of Bush supporters here, I'm sure)
Asian American / Pacific Islander
Catholic (the one above)
Conservative (a bit redundant?)
Conservative Punk (huh?)
Disability
Eastern European (I think this would include my Ukrainian grandmother-in-law)
Education (one or two teachers belong to this group nationwide)
Environment (Lots of tree huggers vote republican you know)
Evangelical (sort of goes without saying)
Farmer and Rancher (and ADM executives)
Greek American (My Big Fat Greek Republican)
Haitian American
High-Tech (I need to sign up for this group)
Hispanic
Home Schoolers (Jim??)
Indian American (I believe they mean the country India, not those who own casinos)
International Relations (Sign up here to be bombed next)
Irish American (see also: Catholic)
Italian American
Jewish (I have always wondered why Jews aren't overwhelmingly republican)
Labor Unions
Latter-day Saint (Mormans, Catholics, Jews, Evangelicals...we're inclusive!)
Law Enforcement
Lebanese American (how big is this population in all the U.S.?)
Muslim (I'm not touching this one)
Native American (Or do they mean Indian Americans?)
Senior
Small Business
Snowmobiler (this is an affinity group with the environmentalists)
Sportsmen
Stock Car Race Fans (Just put up voter registration tables at NASCAR events)
Student
Veteran (99% of them accross the U.S. belong to this one)
Women
Young Professional

Cellphones in Flight - One Technology We Don't Need

Techdirt links to a story of the upcoming ability for people to use cellphones on planes. This is a technology I'm dreading.

Airplanes are the one public place where you have some sort of peace from hearing others yell over their phones. While taxiing on the tarmac or whenever the flight attendant states "you may use your cellphones", half the plane starts yelling into their phones (I always wait until I am in the airport if I have to use my cell - what's a few extra minutes?). Imagine hearing this yelling for hours on end on a long haul flight. And with the engines going full blast, the yelling will be even louder.

In other public places you at least have the ability to get away from the yelling. On a plane, you are in an enclosed tube, and if your seat neighbor starts yelling away on the phone, you have no alternative but to listen. You think the in-flight movie is hard to hear now?

In Japan - a country more cell happy than the U.S. - public forms of transportation are cell-free zones, even if cellphones are usable: subways, trains, Shinkanzen (bullet trains) all have little signs with a cellphone with a "x" through it. If people end up taking calls, they at least go to the restroom areas where they at least don't disturb their neighbors.

I don't think it's too much to ask to keep planes cell-free. What they do need to do is get in-flight internet. Then at least people could do email, browse, or blog without disturbing their neighbors.

SoCal Airspace Closed - Stuck in Phoenix

I was sitting in a bar drinking a Sam Adams when a fellow traveler lamented that all flights to LAX were shut down. "It sucks to be you," I thought as I smugly waited for my flight to Orange County.

The bar was pretty full when I left, but I thought nothing of it. When I walked past a terminal towards my gate, I noticed that my flight departure was moved from 7:30 to 9pm. Then I noticed all flights to Southern California were cancelled or delayed. I ran back to the bar to reclaim my spot since those seats would be hot property, but it was already gone.

Turns out that all of Southern California's airports - everything from LAX to San Diego - were shut down due to a radio linkage failure, but I didn't know this yet. I just figured there were delays and found a table at a food court, which unfortunately didn't serve alcohol.

It was here that the rumor started circulating about the mass SoCal airport shutdown. It was now past 7pm, and Orange County has an 11pm curfew. I knew that if my flight didn't leave by 9:45 that it would be cancelled due to the curfew, and there were two other OC flights in front of me that hadn't taken off yet.

By this time thousands of passengers were stranded from various cancelled flights and I figured I wasn't getting out this evening. I decided that I would rent a car, go to a hotel, and then decide in the morning if I would get a flight out or drive the six hours back home. I called my "Wizard Number" at Avis and I found out that Avis, as well as the other car rental companies, no longer had any cars available. Phoenix was out of cars. I called my travel agent's "emergency number", but after 15 minutes on hold gave up. I would have to do this on my own.

I left the gates and walked towards ground transportation with hundreds of other passengers who were "officially" cancelled at this point or, like me, figured it was going to happen to them anyway. My concern at this point was getting a hotel. With hundreds, probably thousands, of additional passengers stranded in Phoenix, hotel rooms were going fast, and word had already spread that all the "close-in" hotels were already filled up.

Even worse, this shut-down was not America West's or any other airline's fault, so travelers would be on their own nickel. This has no effect on me since I will just expense this to my company, but others not so fortunate are going to be on their own nickel or sleeping at the airport.

I waited in line for a taxi and finally got a car. I told my driver, "Just drive me to a nice hotel ten miles or further from the airport." I got a strange look and he told me there were shuttles for lots of nearby airports, so I filled him in on what was going on. "I need to get to a hotel that is away from the airport." He thought something was up since he had noticed that there were passenger-filled planes that had been waiting on the tarmac for over three hours, so this suddenly made sense.

He became very friendly and suggested an up-scale Holiday Inn near downtown about ten miles from the airport. Off we went and here I am. They obviously had rooms, and after I told the manager what was going on, he figured he would be booked by midnight as the hotel radius distance from the airport expanded each hour.

I got through to America West and am booked out on a flight tomorrow afternoon - figuring air traffic is cleared up by then. The flight I was on this evening isn't "officially" cancelled yet, although the booking agent told me that with the OC airport curfew that it was definitely going to happen, so I had made a smart move by leaving the airport and finding a hotel early.

Good thing I always pack extra underwear when I travel.

Update: According to local news this morning, more planes did get out last night than were cancelled. The number of cancelled flights was probably less than 20, as the airport got to 50% capacity by 9pm and kept going until fairly late last night. Obviously all flights to Orange County were cancelled due to the curfew and the local reporter did note that a lot of people ended up sleeping in the airport last night.

If You Share a Bed, Should You Share a Blog?

I am setting up my blog to give Mrs. Director "guest posting" privileges. (gulp!) My guess is that her posts will be more popular than mine.

I know of a couple of "spousal" bloggers: Calblog's husband posts from time to time, and Accidental Verbosity is a married venture.

Any others out there? Any input on how this works out? Any juicy spousal blog fights to relate? ("It's my blog and you're not posting that crap on there!"). Are there any spousal blogs where the members are on opposite sides of the political isle? (Carville doesn't count if he has a blog).

This Might Change My Opinion of Kerry

Kerry earned one of his medals by shooting a wounded, fleeing VC in the back? Hmmm...he might be made of sterner stuff than I realized - I would certainly advocate doing that to a Taliban or Al Queda member. Of course with all the crap flying around these days, one has to wonder about the authenticity of this report in the first place.

But even if it is true, this is about the wrong war. We're in one now, and I don't think Kerry will be talking about killing America's current enemies with extreme prejudice.

Hat Tip: Presto Pundit

Did I Get a Demotion? Do I Care?

There are two things that are great about my job:

1. Not being in the home office

There's a lot to be said about officing in a remote location, which for me means I can work from home or go into our local 5-man sales office if I want interaction. This set-up gives me the freedom to take care of personal business, spend more time with my family, perfect my plan for world domination, or, yes, even blog.

That doesn't mean that I don't work. In fact, I probably work more at a remote office since I have to constantly prove myself ("Hey, I'm really working out here!"). But it does give me the flexibility to do things I want during "normal business hours", which I more than make up since I work a lot at night, have conference calls on weekends (especially Sunday evenings, which is Monday morning in Asia), and work plenty on holidays (just because it's Labor Day in the U.S. doesn't mean that everyone in Asia is home).

In short, being remote is sort of like being an independent consultant: I put in a lot of hours and have to get my work done, but I decide when to put those hours in.

2. I like working with customers - This may sound corny, but I get a lot of satisfaction working with customers, although they can sometimes be a pain in the ass. But when you pull in those big accounts, it makes it worthwhile.

These are two of the reasons are why I really didn't have a problem today when my sometimes mentally challenged boss told me there would be some "small changes in the organization".

Essentially, one of the three directors in my group has become sort of a "super-director", being put between my current boss and the rest of us (we will all still have the same title). The reason for this is that "the company is rewarding those who have been at the company a long time", which this guy definitely has been.

This brings me to the third reason I didn't have a problem with the new set-up: I like the guy they put over me. In fact, I like him a lot. The guy is brilliant, but low-key. He knows our technology like no one else, including my present boss. He understands that his weakness is market intelligence and has told me to my face that he would always rely on me to help him in this area. In short, he's a good guy who understands the strengths and weaknesses of everyone on the team, including himself (he's a low-key engineer turned marketeer, if that helps anyone get a better picture).

So the fact that I have, in essence, been put yet another rung away from the CEO really didn't bother me at all. My title didn't change. My salary certainly didn't change. And the guy I will officially report into is much more to my liking. I have speculated that this could be a long-term move to slowly move out my old boss, but I'm really not sure yet.

But what this does mean is that I have to accept my role at my company as a "specialist". I am being paid a nice large salary, am left to live where I want, but I am not going to be running up the management ladder. I am actually okay with this since it allows me to live the lifestyle I want. The question will be how long I want to do this (or am allowed to do it, which is probably as long as my product is at this company), but I see myself being happy with this set-up for a while.

Update: While this isn't really a demotion - just another layer of management - Business Pundit talks about a real demotion he had to give one of his employees.

Go Alma Mater! (But I Still Won't Donate)

Good to see that a prof at my own Alma Mater, Rice University, is among those who are saying that the CBS documents are forgeries. His analysis is based on computer knowledge and not politics, so this doesn't mean that my university is suddenly going to reverse its plunge into political correctness.

I never took anything from Robert "Corky" Cartwright, although I can't find out from his or Rice's web site if he was even around when I was there (any input, Jim, since you were a CompSci guy?)

Where Were You on 9-11-01?

My wife stood over me shaking me. I had spent the "midnight to 3am shift" doing feedings for my three week old daughter (I didn't breast feed, but my wife pumped), so it was hard to wake me up. I blearally opened my eyes wondering how it was already time to go to the office since I had arranged to come in late during the first few months after my daughter was born.

"Planes have crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon."

"Honey," I answered tiredly, thinking she was making a joke to wake me up,"you're reading too much Tom Clancy."

I looked up at the look in her eyes and saw that she was serious. "What? What happened?"

"They don't know, but they say it is terrorism."

I wondered how terrorists had become pilots of three planes, or how three pilots had turned to terrorism. I hurried downstairs to see the news on. I saw one of the buildings of the World Trade Center, the other one obscured by smoke.

"Wow, there is so much smoke that you can't even see the second building."

"No. No. The second building isn't there."

I sat dumbfounded on the couch. I, like most other Americans, spent a lot of that morning on the couch, going through the various news channels. At one point I sat with my little girl cradled in my arms, wondering what would happen to America, and her future in it.

I actually made it to the office around lunch time, at about the same time as everyone else in my office. Not a lot of work got done as we watched the internet (and I think a TV - I can't remember now) for updates on what was going on.

My bewinderment turned to rage. Those who did this would pay. We would take the fight to them. They would know America's anger and fear our wrath.

Must…Avoid….Fist…of…..Death…

I called my manager today about some other items, after which he brought up another topic.

“So, Mitch, I sent you an email today saying that you shouldn’t tell customers when you are at another customer.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your email to Paula this morning telling her you are at customer XXXX today so couldn’t get back to her on her quesitons. You should never tell a customer you are at another customer.”

“Boss, Paula works for our company. In the New England office.”

“Oh. Okay, disregard that message”

Does the boss think that I am that stupid? Or is he just that stupid? Couldn’t have checked first?

Yard Finished

To those I have been boring with my Fabulous New Backyard^TM, you'll be happy to know that the yard is finis so this should be the last post on this topic, unless people, ya know, want to hear more about it.

I've already posted about the plans, the work, the hardscape, and the cool components. This post is before-and-afters:

The yard and bar/bbq was officially broken in this past EOS weekend. I woke up both Sunday and Monday with giant sized hangovers, so the new place is definitely a success.

For those dying to know: the total tab was $40K, which includes the patio furniture, grill, fridge, fountain, the works. Total time from start to completion was 29 days, so cash was flying out at a rate of over a K a day.

I have to say that I am very pleased with my landscaper/architect. The job really consisted of handing my backyard over to him, so it is really as much his back yard as it is mine. He and his fiance are coming over for my next party next weekend so he will get the chance to enjoy it himself.

Is this Kahn's Fault?

Genesis Space Capsule Crashes Into Desert

More Bureaucratic Morass

Even when I get good news in business, there always seems to be something in the system to screw it up.

Turns out my trip to NY was worth it - I got a phone call today from the customer telling me that my company has been selected as the key vendor for their program. They will be issuing purchase orders (POs) once they work everything through their internal system and will want parts ASAP.

The problem is that one of their components has a four week lead time, meaning it would be nearly a month from the time they entered their order until they got their first units. I decided to go ahead and get those components ordered to save some time so that their leadtime from order entry to units would be maybe three weeks.

I called up my internal purchasing people and the conversation went something like this:

Mitch: I need you to enter orders for this widget so we can save leadtime.

Purchase Agent: Do you have a customer PO?

Mitch: It's coming in soon. I want to get this widget ordered now to get a jump on leadtimes.

PA: I can't enter an order without a customer PO.

Mitch: The customer just told me he is going to enter a PO. It's eminent. I need to get the widget ordered now so we can better support the customer's needs.

PA: I can't enter an order with a customer PO. Maybe you can push your customer to hurry up with his PO?

Mitch: Look, this isn't our customer's problem. It's our problem. I need that part ordered now. Can't you get the ball rolling - leaving this part blank - and enter the customer's PO number once it is entered early next week?

PA: I can't enter an order without a customer PO.

So now I have to generate an "internal purchase request", requiring the signature of a VP so I can get orders entered on this widget 5-7 days before the customer PO. How much money is my company wasting jumping through these hoops? Why can't they give marketing directors authority to just sign off on stuff like this?

What Part of "Overnight" Don't You Understand?

I have a customer building prototypes in one of my overseas factories. They are in a hurry to test them out and weeks ago asked that these units be overnighted from my overseas factory to his U.S. location.

Two weeks ago I sent an email to my factory requesting an overnight delivery. The factory responded "No problem", but would require the customer's FedEx number since it would have to be on their nickel. My customer agreed and immediately sent over their FedEx number.

Last Friday I again sent an email verifying that the parts would be overnighted, and asked that the tracking number be sent to my attention when they shipped this coming Monday.

So you do know what happened, right?

The parts were shipped "standard delivery", which will take three days. And here's the kicker: the notification of "standard delivery" was appended to my email re-verifying that they would be sent overnight!

The worst part isn't that the factory screwed up, got something lost in translation, or got stuck in some bureaucratic morass. The worst part is that this makes me look like an ass and I will be duly chewed out by the customer on a conf. call later today. You try doing that tap dance: "I told the factory, but they just screwed up. Sorry." Yeah, makes me look real good.

Religion of Peace, Part LXVII

Daily Pundit posted this heart wrenching picture of the children who were blown up and shot in the back by the Muslim extremists in Buslan:

Those who believe that America "brought 9-11 on itself" (all democrats) are now saying the same thing about Russia (a point made to me at a dinner party just last night). By blaming the victims and asking those still living to change their actions, they give terrorism a victory, thus encouraging more terrorism.

This is why this election is more than just about healthcare, social security and other gimmies from the government. This election is about the global response to terrorism, and it comes down to whether America is going to surrender or fight.

Have a Nice EOS Day Tomorrow

As a kid I always confused Memorial Day and Labor Day. One came at the beginning of summer, the other at the end, and with the significance of both holidays having greatly diminished, I sometimes called one the other. Even if most people don't confuse the two, both holidays have really become just the three-day-weekends that are the bookends of summer, with no other significant meaning.

For this reason, I think the two holidays should be renamed. Memorial Day should become "Beginning of Summer", or BOS (pronounced "Boz" to prevent confusing it with the person who signs your check). Obviously, Labor Day would become "End of Summer", or EOS, which would invoke not only Greek Mythology, but also provide lots of free advertising for Canon.

The only problem with this plan is that we would have to rename Independence Day MOS.

Was it the Big Macs or Watching the RNC?

While I am trying to be amusing in the headline, I wish for his quick and healthy recovery. While I didn't care for him, like Q&O remarks, we should respect him for the office he held, even if he didn't respect the office: Clinton Suffers Heart Attack

(Ed: I think it's Zell's fault)

Modern Day Immortality Through Mass Mail

When my grandmother died in 1999, I was named the executor of her very modest estate. I closed down her accounts, shut down her few credit cards, paid off her accounts, and cancelled her newspaper and magazine subscriptions. I assigned my address to her estate and had per personal mail forwarded to me so I could correspond with the various banks, credit card companies, and merchants for closing her accounts.

The only thing requiring more than 30 days to wrap up was dumping a worthless piece of undeveloped property in the middle of nowhere. By the middle of 2000 everything was complete. I figured the only thing left of her were my memories of one of the nicest, sweetest little-old-ladies you could ever meet (which is why the first Christmas after her death I literally had to write dozens of responses to Christmas cards, informing people to take her off their yearly list).

Five years after her death I find that she has achieved a sort of modern day immortality through the mass mail system. She receives credit card offers, requests for donations, and even an occasional newsletter from a hospital or charitable organization. Being the kind-hearted woman that she was, she gave modest amounts of money to various charitable organizations even though she was on a fixed income from her pension as a school librarian and her social security. So she became a fixture on the charity mailing lists.

The first few times I received these I wrote quick letters back telling these organizations that she was deceased and to remove her from their mailing lists. The mailings slowed down and then stopped, but six months later new mailings started to show up again. I initially responded to these as well, and things stopped for another year, then new mailings showed up again. I went through this iteration a couple more times, but after a few years I just gave up. It is now a very slow trickle, but half a decade after her death she still gets something addressed to her once or twice a year.

Turns out you not only stay on the mailing lists after you pass on, you get on them before you are able to read. Last night my daughter, who is three years old, received a credit card offer. I figure 100 years from now whoever is handling her estate will still be getting these offers.

Bush's State of the Union RNC Acceptance Speech

I am pretty much on the same page as everyone else: this was a State of the Union speech and it was pretty darn good one at that.

The first half focused on domestic agenda, and I had to grit my teeth through some of it as I mentally calculated each proposal's cost (a "compassionate" conservative I am not). The speech was a little stilted at this phase, essentially a laundry list of policy proposals. I understand this had to be done to blunt the talking points of the dems, so all the normal issues were addressed: jobs, healthcare, etc.

The second half was foreign policy, and Bush really found his pace and "voice" for this half. This is what really differentiates the two candidates and it was a stellar performance. It articulated a vision for America and for the world that is sorely lacking from his opponent, who apparently wants to articulate his vision as a Commander in Chief by whining about Cheney's Vietnam record.

Yep, I also would agree that Kerry is acting petty. I think we are going continue to watch the Kerry campaign slowly implode over the next two months.

I have never really watched a lot of convention coverage in past, so don't have a lot to compare it to, but based on what I do know, I have to say that the Republicans really did a great job this week.

Don't Mess With the South, Especially Zell

I am currently working my way through the "Starbuck" Civil War series from Bernard Cornwell. This is a great series, putting a set of fictional characters inside accurately described battles of the Civil War. In essence, it is a way of getting some detailed knowledge of history in a much more entertaining form than a history book or biography.

While I was fairly knowledgeable about the Civil War (from a Texan point of view, which means I knew less about it than the Texas War of Independence), I really had no appreciation of the huge advantage the North had over the South in terms of men, materiel, weapons, you name it. As described in the second book of the series, Copperhead, the North had put together the largest army ever assembled in North America and should have wiped out the rebellion in a few months, but those scrappy Southerners don't lie down for nobody, giving the North a real run for their money despite the overwhelming odds against them.

I saw some of that scrappiness in Zell Miller's speech last night. Like Cheney, remarked, "I'm glad he's on our side." Lileks put it even better:

I'm watching Zell Miller speak, and Holy Crow he is perturbed. The angriest man at the convention turns out to be a Democrat: who'd have thunk. He's brutal. He's hammering Kerry like a blacksmith; if Kerry was a horseshoe he'd be thinner than aluminum foil.

Watching that speech, I saw a man who embodied the feelings, thoughts and spirit of the South, and it made me wonder how Kerry will win even a single state in the South, even Florida.