Embezzlement! Official Public Notice

Wow. The official public notice of what crime our ex-CEO is supposed to have committed was published today. That is a big word: Embezzlement. Kind of a stupid word too, IMHO. Apparently the ex-CEO had hidden from the authorities who had gotten a warrant for his arrest, and he might even have gone into Mexico to escape. Anyway, he gave himself up yesterday. What a story! The Big Biggie is coming into town on Thursday to "help us all cope with this severe loss". What I want to know is why hasn't the CFO, who IMHO enabled the CEO and saw all this stuff going on for so many years has been left untouched by the investigation, and has actually been made the Interim Acting Executive Director. Something stinks here, and I can smell it. I shared that thought with a senior colleague today, and she has gotten input from some mucky mucks, who, although not directly involved in the investigation, are wondering the same thing. Typical cover up, I guess. I suspect the organization will be somewhat dismembered and broken up, so that the stink can be blown away by the winds of change.

Eagle Scout Still Means Something

A couple part time IT jobs for students have come open here, and applications have come in. I was asked to screen the applications prior to selecting interview candidates, and I did so. I included one young man who seemed a little weak on the actual networking experience side, and I included him partly because he is an Eagle Scout. My IT manager, a female, kinda looked askance at me for using Eagle Scout as a criteria for selecting interview candidates, because she had screened him out. I stood by my selection, and explained a little about what it usually means to have completed the Eagle Scout requirements and to have gotten the award. She agreed to interview him. He is getting the job *:-) Enough said *:-)

My wife and I are very glad that Helen Mirren got her well deserved Academy Award, and we enjoyed the movie very much. I also appreciate the way Helen Mirren has lived her life.

Walking, Woods, & Earthquakes

Slow day at work today, and so after I sent off emails to my boss and colleagues, responding to their requests, my wife and I got away for an hour or so to take a walk in the redwoods *:-) I telecommute on Fridays, and am very careful not to abuse my privilege but today it felt ok to get away for what would ordinarily be a lunch hour. We got back in plenty of time, and no harm was done.

As my wife lay in bed just before nodding off tonight, she turned on her little emergency radio and heard that there had been 4 small earthquakes north of us. This explained why, as we began our walk in the redwoods, she could not keep her eyes off the top of the redwoods and actually stopped still just as we were getting going, and stared at the tops of the redwoods. She didn't remark on it at the time, and did not connect it to the earthquakes, although she is known to be nearly as sensitive to their arrivals as are the animals. Sure enough, the radio report confirmed that the quakes happened at the same time she was staring at the tree tops. She has vowed to pay more attention to her natural information input in the future.

Serendipitous Opportunities Taken

Having more and more difficulty coming in to the workplace with a positive attitude, I was struggling with the usual attitude improvers that I use this morning, working to be as positive as possible. My boss has been out of the office for more than 2 weeks, and therefore the usual stress "uploads" haven't been available, and everybody who reports to him is getting more and more irritable.

Serendipitously, a well respected Director stopped in my cube about 10:20 and asked if I had some time to talk about something not related to work. I trust this Director totally so I went to her office. She sits on the senior management team, and I respect and trust her, so when she asked me, during conversation after the original reason for our discussion, if anyone in the office was having difficulty during the transition we are in. I let her know that everyone was, with some more than others, and that some have already started looking for other work, myself included, although we didn't want to, and one high performer has already had some interviews. That got it off my chest and it was good for me to be able to express it. Many other work and stress related subjects were talked about and so it was a two way street of info flow, which will benefit both of us *:-)

Also Serendipitously, as I was escaping the office to go and get my hair cut, another Director who sits on the senior management team stopped me at the double doors, he coming, me going, and mentioned that he had attended a high level meeting at the state capital yesterday, and that my name had been mentioned as a "star performer" for the the division of the University of Blueberry Syrup that I work for, and that the person speaking to him was hoping that I would be available for them to use during their big enrollment campaign set to begin in April. Our Director told me he responded that nobody was really sure about what was going on (shrugging of shoulders). I then said it would be a good idea for the biggie that he spoke to to hook up with the big biggie that is responsible for us now, and for the two, the biggie who wants my services, and the big biggie who oversees the division I report to, to make a decision about yes or no would what I do be available or not. Without that decision soon, I won't be able to prepare the material and might have to default if they make their decision too late. Not that they would care about how hard it was for me, but it would be better if they made the yea or nay decision right now.

Our IT manager shared a very cool tool with me today, which is free, and which you might find valuable:

http://secunia.com/software_inspector/

I have used it twice now and it is amazing and very helpful. I print out the results and keep them with the laptops that need service, so the techs and I know everything we need to clean up software wise. Have Fun *:-)

OMG...They Are Asking For Me Again!

I have learned over the many years of my employment with several organizations, that when Senior Management reaches the point that they are so confused, disoriented, and hopelessly lost that they have to come to me to get help in stabilizing the boat we are all on, that it is just a matter of time until we sink.

Today, about 1/2 hour ago, I am working in my cube and the Former Exective Assistant To The Former Executive Director comes running into my cube waving her arms for me to take my iPod earbuds out. I did. The Former Exective Assistant To The Former Executive Director then said she had an emergency and that I was the only one who could help. I asked, not without irritation btw, "What is the emergency"? The Former Executive Assistant To The Former Executive Director said that a call is on her line which was the line that belonged to the Former Executive Director and that the call was from Mexico City and that a VIP from a major partner in Mexico needed to talk to the Former Executive Director. Obviously, the partners of our organization have not received the word that the Former Executive Director no longer lives here *:-) The Former Executive Assistant To The Former Executive Director said she could not handle the call because she does not speak Spanish (she is white) and that the person on the other end had said "No habla Engles".

I reminded the Former Executive Assistant To The Former Executive Director that I also am white and that my Spanish is not of the formal variety but is home grown from the days I traveled on business to Mexico and Spain. She said "just take the call, ok?".

Not wanting to piss off the Former Executive Assistant To The Former Executive Director, because she is snuggled up tightly to the current Interim Acting Executive Director, I said OK I will take the call. I got enough information communicated to let them know that nobody of any importance to them would be around until next week, and I got an email address to maintain communications, and then said Adios. I gave the info to the Former Executive Assistant To The Former Executive Director and when I suggested that I should tell my boss about this, because he is the only one left who knows anything about what the partnership was about, she freaked and said "No, no!", only the Interim Acting Executive Director is to know about this. I said, OK, cool, I won't tell my boss then.

I began walking back to my cube, which is two cube farm rows over from where I was while talking with the Former Executive Assistant To The Former Executive Director, and as I started down the aisle to my cube, the Interim Acting Executive Director herself came rushing over to me and said "Was that you who was speaking Spanish?" I said, quite calmly actually, "Yes". She wanted a verbal dump of what just happened, which I provided, and she became visibly calmer when I mentioned that I would not be doing anything with this information, and that the Former Executive Assistant To The Former Executive Director would be giving her an update.

For an organization that was founded to serve the state population of Hispanic learners who need help in getting ready for college, I find it amazing that their is no longer anyone in management who is not white, or that speaks Spanish, except for my direct boss. Uh-oh.

Longest Walk So Far *:-)

3.55 miles at about 130 beats per minute, with a fastest mile leg of 16'02". My goal is to get a fastest mile leg of 15' 00". That'll take some faster swiveling of the hips *:-) Right now these are walks on my lunch hour, so I go 1/2 hour out and 1/2 hour back. I'll work on different stuff as I get more acclimated to the style of exercise I am trying now. Have fun *:-) Grandma did a solid 3 mile walk today too, but we couldn't do it together, so we compared stats after uploading to Nike+iPod. Its fun *:-)

Loving Learners

I love learners. That's one way I can learn to love myself more too *:-) But the point is that if I can remain patient enough with my students, accepting their sometimes irritating attacks on the learning process and learning institution and learning structure and learning pedagogy and rubric, then Every Time, sooner or later, there comes a breakthrough point at which all of a sudden the students' energy shifts from somewhat negative to mostly positive, and then the fun begins *:-) This results in a rush of energy not just for them but for me too, which is very cool. I am grateful that I am a teacher *:-)

The clueless accountant that is our Interim Acting Executive Director is now trying to build a closer relationship with everyone by inviting all of us at once to a lunch at a local mexican restaurant, where we would pay for our own meal, and also need to give up our lunch hour to listen to her explain how everything is going to be all right, and that our mission is still the same, despite the fact that the organization, which had a mission of serving those who were not served before due to race and financial position, and which was run by people of color, is now completely white, except for one remaining Director of Otomi extraction, who is very beleaguered because the white folks just don't have the vibe required to tune in to the root needs of the population intended to be served. No matter if the organization "survives" or not, it certainly won't be filling the need it was before.

Grandma and I just got really cool news! My son and daughter in law had their scan (or whatever it is called) done this morning and the next arrival in our family will be a boy *:-) The process of raising his own male offspring will offer my son the chance to fully graduate in life, and he is blessed, as are we *:-) We are grateful.

Really Cool Combo

My wife and I decided to go ahead and get the shoes that go along with the iPod Nanos we got ourselves, so that we could plug in to the Nike website and see what our workouts look like as graphs, with the data posted in a way that we can easily see whats what. It is very cool, and after some initial problems getting registered on the Nike site, then it has been very easy. We have posted 2 walks each, which we did together, and I like it. During the week I will be striving to get my average speed up, and my distance up. We are both walking for our workouts, not running, because of our age and also that we aren't in as good shape as we used to be. I used to cycle several thousand miles per year, and my wife used to swim several hundred miles per year, so then we were doing pretty good. I had a major bike crash and haven't ridden for mileage since.

At work the "Interim Acting Executive Director", who is a clueless former Accounting Manager for our organization, but very "safe" from the biggies point of view since she doesn't not know how to analyze or make decisions, has made 2 major faux pas that I am taking note of. First, she made a big deal about a month ago that she wanted to make sure to get input from all of us about how often the all-staff meetings should be held. By far, the input showed that once per month was plenty, and she told us that was the result. Then last Wednesday, during the first of the supposedly once a month meetings, she said that despite the input from us, she had decided that the meetings would be held every two weeks. So much for giving input, which I won't offer any more. Then, last Thursday evening about an hour before quitting time, there were only 3 of us in the cubicle area, and all of us know and like each other very well, so I was keeping the volume on my iTunes going into my headphones loud enough for the other two to hear, which they had requested, and we were starting to enjoy ourselves, although still at our desks working, and were sending occaisional jokes back and forth, when all of a sudden the "Interim Acting Executive Director" came around the corner and said that she had heard too much "giggling" out here and wondered what was going on. I shut down iTunes right away, and we didn't say anything to her, but obviously we finished the day very quietly and alone. She has also started to dress like really fancy, like some account exec for a bank or something. It is actually embarrassing. I understand what is going on, and that when a person gets put in a position way over their head, they grasp at anything to try to be the part. I have compassion for her, but it is quite destructive to the organization, because people are tuning out more and more, and a couple have already started interviewing. Maybe that is what the biggies have in mind.

Letting Go; Letting Go; Letting Go

Others need to do what they need to do, and it doesn't have anything to do with me. Shake it off, what happened is due to someone else's need to do what they did, not mine. Respect the person, love the person, and don't get caught up in whatever drama is going on with that person, just be. Damned hard to do *:-) Guilt easily rises to the surface even when the happening has absolutely nothing to do with me. Where did I get that? I believe it was fostered in me by my mother...I wonder why she fostered that in me? Probably hated my dad, or something. Ahhhggggg, get rid of this stuff...I don't want it...let go let go let go. Easier now that I have talked about it. Thanks for listening. Have a nice day *:-)

Granddaughter on my knee, reading together *:-)

How cool. I had found what I thought was a cool CD for our granddaughter to "bop" to, the Taj Mahal kids CD mentioned earlier. That worked great, and she did bop to it, moving her shoulders first and then trying to coordinate the rest of her body into the rhythm...she still has some work to do there *:-) Because my wife and I had pretty much just dropped in to our granddaughter's place, with just a 10 minute notice to her parents, I expected to just get a quick look at her dancing to the new CD, then we'd leave, because we know how hard it is to get out of the house with a kid and still get anything done, so we didn't want to take too much time, since it was also raining pretty hard which makes the kid thing even more complicated. However, our son and daughter in law seemed very comfortable with us hanging around a little, and so I got to be there long enough for our granddaughter to get used to me enough for her to accept sitting on my lap and the two of us read some books together, which was very cool.

My wife and I just returned from a "shoe run". I have been having some pain with heel bruises and other issues with my legs, partly because I have been wearing only one type of shoe day in and day out, and often for up to 14 hours per day, which kind of whacks the feet a little. Anyway, we had already purchased the iPod exercise module that fits in or on the shoe so that our new iPod nanos can help us get better at walking and running, and we were going to use our existing shoes, but with the difficulty I have been having, I decided that we would go ahead and get the Nike+ shoe model that is designed to work the best with the iPod module. We did that, and I am wearing my new Nikes right now, and they feel great. I know that it is good to not wear the same shoes all the time, but I did it anyway and am paying the price now. We will go to a measured distance track, calibrate the module and the shoes, and then we can have fun tracking our workout progress. I believe it will be fun and am looking forward to it.

My wife has created some new artisan breads that are absolutely incredible, and we are looking forward to sharing them with our family the next chance we get.

Taj Mahal for our granddaughter *:-)

I came across a very cool CD of Taj Mahal music especially created for kids and families, and since our granddaughter is already a natural born "bopper", since she sways and moves when music is on, I am excited about giving this to her and watching her reactions to it.
She also likes to be read to, and I have a very good version of the Winnie The Pooh stories ready to read to her. I am hopeful of getting some time with her soon.

I got a nice break at work, since management accepted my official request to postpone a week-long training in another part of the state that I was to do, since the software app that the training was to be given on is not ready for prime time. The ability of the newly responsible management team, since our previous CEO was removed, to make a decision of that difficulty, which included having to tell the customer to cancel, gives all of us hope that maybe the company will be successful in riding out this transition period, which we were told on Thursday would be for another six months.

We just watched "Running With Scissors" for the first time last night, and really like the movie. Very creative, very cool, very poignant.

Thieves in the night, and daytime too...

Our local police blotter is consistently reporting that homeowners' sheds, cars, and rarely, houses are being broken into and small items stolen. I believe folks who are homeless are cold, tired, hungry, and up here in the mountains are too far from the city-based support services to get what they need. Most aren't caught, and they do a little damage, steal some stuff, and move on. We haven't lost anything yet, but we do have 3 sheds on various parts of our property and we hope the local dogs and our own vigilance, plus the fact that we live on an inconvenient stretch of road, will keep the thieves away. I have no problem nailing them with my .68 calibre paint ball gun with the bright orange paint balls if I do happen to see any of them ripping us off. Might be an improvement in their overall appearance *:-) I choose not to do anything about the homeless at the moment, but I know they need help, and it is beyond my capacity to resolve. I'll keep an open mind about it as long as I can.

Hard times at work, but it is all emotional so that means I am eating too much to compensate, and to try to get away from the feelings. I hope it doesn't go on too long because I am already 30# overweight and I want to trim down.

Fear in my gut...picked up from colleagues like the flu

From top to bottom the fear level where I work at the University of Blueberry Syrup, and subsequent irrational behavior level in the workplace, is soaring. From Directors on down to temp staff, the fact that a super-big biggy is coming to visit for ONE HOUR this week has severly disrupted the normal work flow. Also, the official announcement that the former Executive Director "resigned" was made today. There are many other stories about why he is gone, but it would be completely inappropriate, and actually unfair, IMHO, to repeat any of those. Apparently it was one of those "whistle blower" things, or so I am told, and as the person who said she blew the whistle also left the company last week, she said she was disappointed because the acting Exec. Dir. did not give her a plastic whistle or something as a momento (sheesh).
Jammin' to get a major project done that I will be on the road for four days next week delivering in the south part of the state.
Back to work...

Water...I am worried about it...but am letting go

Global water resources is the thing on my mind this evening. Having just watched a documentary about it probably has something to do with that, but actually I have thought about it for the 25 years since I heard a wise man, and the only true adult I have ever met in my life, tell me that there are now three things that a family man needs to keep his family healthy: Water, Electricity, and Roads. I will do what I can *:-)

Gymnastics...wow...gotta be tough on the body...

We watched a dvd this evening that was part of a collection from a somewhat idiosyncratic dvd store in our small mountain community, titled "Stick It". Never mind the movie; the gymnastics in the movie, all done live, were jaw-dropping and a delight to watch, and we learned things too. Awesome.
Just got an email from one of the local Directors of the organization I work for that tells all employees that next Thursday we need to be on our best behavior, have our cubes neat and tidy, and dress nicely because a super-big biggie from the great headquarters in the sky is coming by for one hour to "visit"...makes me immediately want to email back and say "piss off, mate". I won't though, because my wife and I love our granddaughter and we want to be able to stay around here (in this very expensive part of the world to live in) so we can share her life, which will require that I continue to be employed *:-)
I am still getting emails tonight from a university student that has been hired to help me do some research, which means that college life hasn't changed all that much...I did almost all my work at night when I was in college.

Telecommute for health & the environment

Well, yes, I certainly feel better at the end of the day when I have a telecommute day, but I am not sure that the environment actually got better. Basically the same amount of fossil fuels got burned to support the work I do, and possibly even more food got consumed. It is more productive, IMHO.
We didn't get any time with our granddaughter this week due to sickness, but part of that is on our side, and the other part is that our granddaughter is "out in the world" more and is getting all her immunities built up, so since that is part of the natural process, then no worries.
I have a video conference of 1.5 hours length tomorrow, which I will attend through a virtual room via our vendor of such things, so I will have to shave in case they want me to show myself on video when I speak. I could say it was broken or something but I don't like to lie.
Cheers.

Payday *:-)

Money in the bank...for a very short while though. Deposit one day and take it out the next. Kinda the way it is these days. I blame the government's spending on tools of war, which I believe have now sapped economic energy from the USA economy since all that value is being wasted in ammo of all kinds for the military-industrial complex (thank you President Eisenhower, for trying to keep us on the right track).
Of course if my employment and family welfare depended on a job that was within the military-industrial complex, I probably wouldn't say anything negative about it.