Lunch Location Reboot; Successful At Remaining In Peace

I volunteered to help the ET group I am part of break out of our stale routine of always going to one of the same two restaurants for our after-meeting luncheon. Today I checked out 3 new places, & I will present the menus at Monday's meeting so we can try something new. We are finding things in our practices that need to be rebooted, & this was one of them. Bon appetite *:-)

In today's staff meeting, a rabble-rousing woman, the same one who almost always causes broadly directed negative energy to somehow arise, attacked a statement that I made which was clearly stated to help safeguard all of us who work late, having to do with the mechanical security of the doors into the building. Despite loud & interruptive commentary from the RRW, I was able to go silent when she was on the attack, & then I was able to begin again without rising to any bait she placed on the table. I feel good about that & I am hopeful that I can continue to choose peace instead of conflict. I was supported by all the others in the meeting, which made me feel good.

Animated 3D Avatars: Woodshed Wood; Soup Saves The Day

I am getting much better at cranking out the 3D avatars, & I sent 3 more to our ET team for feedback today. I am interested to find out if anybody gets excited enough about them to start doing their own, so that I can tell if this is a possible viral marketing/popularity tool so I can build it into my online courses. Not too much excitement yet, but it has only been a couple days. We'll see.

I picked up the last of the 1" x 4" x 8'-0" douglas fir boards that the lumberyard had today, & was only able to get 20. I needed 50, & I suspect that the shortages of natural products is going to get much worse in the good ol' usa before it gets better. The weather is rapidly moving toward the possibility of rain, & I am not ready. I will jam as much as I can to get ready. I still love my newly protected ingress/egress area for my truck, & I feel very secure there, which is a nice, & new, feeling *:-)

My wife makes a very helpful, healthy & easy to digest soup, & I try to eat a bowl each day. It really helped today because I was going to get a deviled egg while on my lunch-hour lumber run, but ended up short on time, so didn't get the egg. The soup got me through, & I appreciate it.

Locked Synapses; Animated Avatars; Stinky Farts

No word on who the new Chief Warlord for South Swamp will be yet, so we continue to suffer from the bumbling, inept, and damaging management by the Acting Interim Executive Director. Some of my colleagues have lost their patience, & are taking sick days to avoid the situation. The A.I.E.D. has her synapses locked & cannot sense what is needed, & so blindly, dumbly, does only what she has seen others do in the past, which of course does not apply to the current need. Oh well, I can retire in about 7 more years, so I hope to make it until then *:-)

I did another animated avatar today, not nearly as funny as the first one, but still worth watching, so I will find out the reaction, if any, tomorrow.

The lunch of Mexican food after the ET group meeting on Monday is still appearing around me, unfortunately as a haze created by the stinky farts resulting from the over-cooked in aluminum pans, stale ingredients used to prepare the food. Also, who knows what sort of dairy products were used for the sour cream & the cheese. I should have it all cleared up in time to have another meal next Monday *:-)

ET; Mexican Food; Pain Observed; Cool Video

Today, officially, the work group at South Swamp that I am in was renamed from IT to ET, standing for Educational Technology. No worries for me, because that makes me more employable. Phone Home.

Our post-group meeting lunch took place at a local Mexican restaurant that is "ok" but not great. I had reruns of the meal coming up for about 2 hours after we ate *:-) Nothing too serious though, & because the restaurant is much closer to the South Swamp building than where we usually go, it was easier on one of our members who was suffering from back pain today.

It was difficult to observe the severe back pain that one of our colleagues had to endure today, but she is a senior person on the new phone system selection team, & the vendor was in to discuss the final quotations/specifications today, & our colleague was the host for the meeting. During the ET lunch, she popped a Darvoset (I don't really know what that is), & that got her through the meeting, but she had to go home after that.

I worked until about 7:45 pm today, & while the office was empty, I was able to turn my XM trance tunes (channel 82) up nice & loud & was able to create, for the first time, an animated video avatar that is really cool. I recorded some sound with it & send it off to my ET colleagues. I don't know if they will like it or not, but my wife LOL'd which is a good sign that I did ok. Pretty cool web app & pretty fast too. It took me a while to get the still photo that needs to be uploaded into the proper proportions, etc., but once I did that correctly, the web app did the rest. Email me if you want the URL of the site, which is in Israel.

More Woodshed; Numbers; New Meeting

I got quite a bit done on the woodshed today, & I am finding it much easier to work on now that 30% of the 8' high wall is up, so any violent trespassers or dogs will be much easier to deal with, & I am not exposed as I was when first working on it. Little by little, & the Tibetan Prayer Flags are helping, imho.

I needed to get a report in to my boss, & I was not inspired to do it since it is an artificially produced billing for some of the work I did earlier in the year. The client won't be happy to find out that my boss all of a sudden is going to charge them a rental fee on each of the laptops I use in the trainings I deliver, & that was not part of the original agreement, but my boss is a little naive about this sort of thing, so I shall look at it as a learning experience for him. I am not really involved, except to provide the data from which to calculate invoice amounts. Anyway, I used Apple's new Numbers app which I recently got, & it was fun, so instead of just getting the structure of the report laid out to complete tomorrow, I got the whole thing done & sent off to my boss. Cool. That allowed me to relax with my wife when I got back from my meeting instead of having to work on it.

I attended a different 12-step meeting than I usually do, & it is good to change things up every once in a while. I will try this new schedule for a while & see how it goes.

Son Sighting; Door Jam; Woodpile In Motion; Tiny Dent

It was cool to be jammin' through the lumber yard/hardware store & to bump into my oldest son. We didn't have much time but we chatted briefly (he was on his mobile to his brother, my other son) & he took the time to stop by the car in the parking lot to say hello to his mum too *:-) Nice.

What cracked me up was that he was there to purchase some metal brackets that will let him return the house jack that he borrowed from his brother that is currently pushing the floor up under the door jam that goes into my granddaughter's room so the door will close without having to winch it shut *:-) He has been taking flack from his wife & from his daughter about it, & he wants to make the improvement permanent. Good on ya', son, there will be more of this in your future I predict *:-)

I was mister magic today, as far as my wife was concerned, because I was able to move a large woodpile (one full cord) from one end of the property to the other, all in about 1.5 hours, which blew her away. I must admit I was able to concentrate on it because I had my iPod on & was jammin' to trance, hence the focus & speed *:-) Whatever. It sure is nice to get a compliment from my wife though *:-)

However, & she doesn't know this yet, but toward the end of the woodpile transfer, when I was pretty tired, my hand slipped just a little as I was tossing a piece of firewood into the truck bed, & one end of the wood bounced against the rear fender, making a small dent. I tried to rub it out with my glove, but that only made it more obvious because it took all the dust off & made the area stand out. Oh well.

IM; Email; Gossip; Boundary Fence/Woodshed

Surprisingly busy day at South Swamp today, although I was only able to discern this from the number of IMs & Emails I received. I have the sound for incoming IMs & Emails enabled, & each is different, so as long as I keep a window open up in my office area, I can be outside or in another part of the house & hear the signal ok, which supports my multitasking obsession.

A colleague & I gossiped on IM for a while about the nearly chosen Chief Warlord, & made remarks back & forth about our ability to work with each of the candidates. So far there is only one, who if chosen, will cause me to immediately send out resumes looking for elsewhere to do what I do. Hope that isn't necessary.

During my lunch hour, since I am telecommuting today, I was able to get a nice piece of the woodshed wall/fence moving along, & was even able to stack a small amount of wood inside. I will need to purchase more supplies to finish it though.

PO'd For 13 Hours; Tomorrow Might Be A Big Day For South Swamp; More Lunch!

Yup, its true. Within one minute of me getting home last night (~1900), the power went off & it was not restored until 0830 the next day. We slept to the cheerful chirping of the 11 UPS boxes we have *:-) Several calls at different times to the utility outage status line yielded different lies at different times. so I finally gave up, which they knew I would, & went to bed to try to sleep the best I could. Oh well. More support for my wife's opinion that we are close to the conditions that exist in "3rd world" countries, if we take a real close look.

A fresh rumor surfaced today at South Swamp, which is that the new Chief Warlord may be named tomorrow. If so, that will be a big deal. I am interested so that I can plot my own course going forward, whatever that means *:-)

Management went out to lunch again today! That is unbelievable. Even if the company ends up paying for it, at least they are all talking/listening to the same subject when they are at lunch. I hope they do it every day *:-)

TGFT; Same Perception; Lunching Management

TGFT (Thank God For Trance) is still my motto of the moment. Listening to my iPod trance tracks really helps, no matter where I am or what I am doing. Trance seems to be created with the same reflective synaptic pace at which my brain resonates, which is very relaxing to listen to. Kinda like a recognition & acceptance. Thanks.

Human Resources received my written evaluation commentary on the Chief Warlord candidates today, & I asked a peer to take a look at what I had written but only after she had turned hers in as well. That happened toward the end of the day, & although the form of the submissions was different, the message that we sent was nearly identical, but in our own words of course. That made me feel good, because I respect the intuitive capabilities of this colleague. A sad commentary however, is that another of our colleagues will not submit any comments at all, & states that he doesn't care. That is a total cop out, since his current boss, who he says he really likes & hopes to continue to work for, is one of the candidates. This position is common for him however, & so, since I am his friend, I will not say or do anything to try to influence him one way or the other. It is his decision, and his consequences.

A few of our managers actually went out to lunch together spontaneously today, which very rarely happens, & what do you know? When they came back, they had some very good ideas for growth, improvement, & future path-making! Gee, ya' think?

Holiday Highlights

Both grandchildren were up at our house for a visit today *:-) Our grandson is doing really great & my nickname for him, which I will probably not use very much because his mom may not like it, is "Tank". He is already solid, and really moving fast *:-) Our granddaughter is really neat, & we had fun playing with 3-dimensional geometric shapes today, & also her dad let her out into the yard to pick her first pear off a tree, for real. This was not as simple as it sounds, because the yellowjackets are everywhere at this time of year, & we moved carefully not to piss them off. When our granddaughter was getting tired, she wanted to climb the stairs one more time up to Granma's fiber studio, & so I went along to provide support in case she was too tired to make it. She did ok, & then when in the studio, she was clearly tired, & while she was looking around I showed her a hand-spun, hand-dyed, hand-woven blanket that her Granma had made, & she reached for it, took it from me, lay it down on the floor carefully, spread it out all by herself, then looked up at me & said "sleep", & lay down on the blanket...OMG that was so cool *:-) She is neat & only 21 months old.

Hot Again; Dump Run; Triangulated

I found it interesting today when, just by walking while outside in the sun, heavy perspiration broke out. I took it easy, even though I worked, & hydrated properly *:-) GFM *:-)

As I planned I was able to do the dump run today & because we have to show our driver's license in order to get into the transfer site, I was benefited because the attendant noticed that I have reached the age where I get a discount *:-) Excellent *:-) So, talkin' trash was cheaper today *:-)

By timing my work carefully, & only taking the tools that were absolutely necessary out to the boundary line where I am building my woodshed, & where the neighbor has a short fuse, I got the upper part triangulated which will make it as strong as it needs to be. The neighbor stayed home nearly all day but finally left & I got the work done. I did other jobs around the current fencing too, so for me it was a good day *:-) Got to eat a hot fudge sunday with almonds, & my wife made a nice meal for me too *:-)

Heat Handling; Errands; Pain

Most of last night & today was spent creating initiatives to handle the very hot weather. We left all the windows & doors wide open last night, with fans moving the slowly cooling air into the corners of the house. I closed up at 0730, & we made it through the day pretty well, but of course the 3rd floor bedroom/viewing studio got pretty hot. I just opened everything up again a little while ago, & we are starting the cool down process again.

We went out together & drove to various places, some fairly far away, & successfully got several important errands done. I also was able to get a small amount of fencing/woodshed building done because the boundary line neighbors were both gone for a while. It was hot work.

My left knee continues to provide me with quite a bit of pain, & it is constant. The night before last I got only 7 minutes of completely pain free sleep, & that was just because I happened to find a pressure point that relieved the pain for a bit. I slept ok last night, but the pain continues. I forgot to put ice on the knee tonight while watching a dvd, dammit! I will try to remember tomorrow *:-) If at all possible, I will be making a dump run tomorrow.

Hot Sledge; Easy Money

Because my boundary line neighbor & his family were gone all day (& might still be gone, perhaps for the entire holiday weekend), I was able to get up on the step ladder with the 8# sledge hammer & get the anchor T-posts in place which form the core support system for the wood shed I am building on the property line. It was 100 degrees today, & even the Davey Tree guys just down the road weren't working as hard as I was *:-) I had to drink lots of water & take breaks, but got the work moving along nicely *:-)

Because today is my telecommute day, I also had to make sure that I kept pace with the emails & other assignments, but since most folks were on their way already to the long weekend, it was pretty easy. I will be working most of the weekend anyway, so they get their money's worth.

Bigoted Whitey Comes To Call

Today South Swamp hosted the final Chief Warlord position candidate for (as it turned out) "his" presentation & Q&A session with all staff. He is very white, born & bred in the mid-west, a "family" guy, has a style about him that had all the women sucking on him fairly quickly, & imho would be a disaster to work for & would kill any remaining potential for South Swamp to provide real, down & dirty access to under-served clients, but would sure talk a good talk & put on a popular WMCAA show for the big guys while junketing across the world. I have no idea if the two Big Biggies, who have the final vote, will pick him or not.

Time for sleep.

El Supervisor; 23-Second Meltdown; Revolt

5 hours standing still with my hands clasped behind my back as the 4 soldier-refugees from the Bosnia-Herzegovina war installed the cat5e cabling for floor-to-floor telecoms today. I was the supervisor of the crew, but only to the extent that I had to be there because our data center contains data that is protected under state law & can't be left alone with non-FBI approved staff. I was advised not to ask any questions like "what did you do in the war"...I guess I don't really want to know & they don't want to talk about it. Ok then.

I introduced my boss to vegan chocolate cake with icing today by showing him how to microwave the piece of cake for exactly 23 seconds so that the icing melts perfectly on the also perfectly warm cake. He was blown away with how good it is *:-)

I refused to provide my personal details regarding my preferences for the candidates for the Chief Warlord position because the person requesting the info cannot be trusted. I also made a behind-the-curtain recommendation on how to get around that evil person, which was submitted by a more senior member of the South Swamp crew, and which had to be accepted by the evil Acting Interim Executive Director. I have dubbed her behavior as "dark & deceitful" & I won't place my well-being in her hands blindly. The entire staff is more comfortable because now HR will be getting the input & the dark one will not see it *:-)

Good Show; Hard Labor; Whack-A-Mole; Who's A Cop?

I presented at today's ET staff meeting & everybody said it was very good. Now we will see if anybody takes any action *:-)

Very hard labor for several hours today doing all the heavy lifting & moving to support the swapping of offices of two Directors at South Swamp. The arrangement should be stable for at least a year, which is the period of time South Swamp is officially "in transition". After that, probably more shifts, but I hope to be a bit rested by then *:-)

I had given a whack-a-mole game to our 21 month old granddaughter, & from what her granma (my wife) tells me, she has a twinkle in her eye as she turns it on & off & goes after the moles *:-) That is really cool, imho *:-) Also, one of the episodes of House that we just watched was titled "whack-a-mole" *:-) How cool is that?

I attend meetings where no notes are permitted and where everything is supposed to be very confidential, so that truth can be told without unnecessary repercussions that might happen if the same things were said in an open forum. Anyway, part way through the session, this new guy says, which he thinks is really funny, that he is a cop & is making a record of everything & is taking names. I landed on him very heavily, & suggested that if he really is a cop, he might be having a little trouble making it home, since he had lied previously to all of us in order to get in. I guess he got a little scared, which is appropriate imho.

Boss Did Good; Magic In The Air, Full Eclipse

My current boss, who also is a candidate for the Chief Warlord, had his presentation to the entire staff today. He did unbelievably well, and was completely honest & sincere, & even his worst enemy was not able to wound him. Good for him. He is a good fellow & I hope he gets the position, although that means I will get a new boss, which may or may not be so great *:-)

I was called in late in the day & informed that I have been given an excellent percentage raise, which makes me happy. The decision-making folks also picked the right reason for giving me the raise, and mentioned that they know that I work very hard, and that I work very hard on the right stuff. 3 cheers for good DNA which allows me to work hard *:-) Even if I am a bit creaky these days *:-)

I was a bit concerned that I would have to miss my mens' meeting tonight because I have a report due at 10 a.m. tomorrow & I knew it was going to take quite a while to do. During the day, I grabbed what pieces of time I could to get some work done on it, & much to my surprise, at 6:17 p.m. I reached a point where I was able to print a proof copy, which magically looked good except for one easy fix, & then I was also able to get the CD made for the presentation, so I was out the door at 6:37 p.m. & was able to make my 7:00 p.m. meeting just in time *:-)

My colleague reminded me that there is a full eclipse of the moon tonight, & he threatened to call me at the precise time the eclipse is full so I can see it, but since it happens at the dead middle of the night, I told him no, don't call *:-) Our bedroom windows & skylight are positioned so that we will have a full arc view of the entire eclipse, so who knows, maybe I will wake up on my own naturally to see it.

Pretty Good Day

Got enough sleep. Ate pretty well. Drank enough water. Got 2 critical advancements on the boundary fence completed with no confrontations or problems. Helped my son move a large & heavy lathe from storage at our place to his home about 30 miles away. That felt good for both of us *:-) Got to see the work he is doing tearing off years-old & years-ugly stucco from his porch so he can fix it up. Had "home-fries" from my wife, which is rare, & are very good, yum! *:-) Watched some good dvd entertainment. Made the right decision not to go into the office at all today, because I just found out that a terminated employee had gotten access to the office today & was cleaning out his stuff. That could have been difficult, since I would have been there moving his furniture *:-) Glad no problems occurred.

County Fair, Keeping The Peace

We delivered my wife's creations to the county fair intake building today. She met up with friends that were there, & it was pretty easy this year compared to other years. A county fair is a unique collection of experiences not often found in the learning repertoire of most youth, & I believe if approached in the right way, can be worthwhile.

I checked regularly, by peering out the window, sleuthing along the ivy-covered fence, or otherwise surreptitiously observing, to see if my neighbor had gone away for the day so I could do some more work on the boundary line fence I am building. No luck. He stayed home all day. He also called the sheriff again, but not about me, about one of his other neighbors who is hosting a musical hoedown on his property. My neighbor doesn't like musical hoedowns, especially the ones he can hear from the inside of his house *:-)

By not working on my boundary line fence while he is at home, I am keeping the peace by not giving any opportunity for him to blame his default "rage" response to anything that he doesn't like at the moment.

Not Cat & Mouse, But Cat & Cat

Because I chose to follow a peaceful path in getting my fence built on the property line with my aggressive & violent neighbor, I now quietly walk away from my work if he happens to appear close by, or drives up unexpectedly. This is a completely new approach to conflict for me because I am accustomed to "meeting it head-on", with, of course, the usual consequences. Although it feels strange to quietly walk away from work that I have every right to do, & am doing in a peaceful way, I am aware that the larger environment around the work is highly flammable, & so I know I am doing the right thing for me. My new behavior also means that the progress on the fence is achieved in fits & starts, rather than one continuous project flow, which is a little wierd too. It is as if there are two cats needing to use the same path, and to avoid conflict that might injure each, they take turns using the path & so far are being careful to avoid direct contact.

Some sort of metamorphosis is going on with me, as yet unclear. I will be patient & professional about it, & ask for help in understanding what I need to about it.

The Right Stuff, A.I.E.D. Blows It Big Time

I made the right choice in not attending the preso from the candidate for Chief Warlord that was given this morning to all staff. I hear it was an emotional disaster for the staff members who are desperately trying to get rid of the senior male director, & are also desperately trying to get a woman, any woman, into the Executive Director (Chief Warlord) job. The losers made jerks of themselves. Glad I did not have to watch or participate.

The South Swamp Acting Interim Executive Director (A.I.E.D.) laid down very strict, Beijing-like rules of conduct & communication for everything surrounding the preso, telling us that we would be violating HR rules if any info was leaked, & then not 5 minutes after the thing was over, somebody blew it by sending an email to "all" that contained confidential info that was not to be shared widely *:-) Then about 30 minutes later, even after another lecture delivered via email about how we were not supposed to share things to "all", a different staff member added more confidential info to the original email & sent that to "all" *:-) OMG the A.I.E.D. was so pissed. She steamed right past me on her way to admonish the guilty party, & she was actually heard to say "dammit" to the woman who had screwed up *:-) I love it *:-) Then, not an hour after that, a senior member of the A.I.E.D.'s staff sent a different email to "all" that also contained different confidential info *:-) Heh *:-) Some days it is really fun to watch the show *:-)

I worked hard once I was in the office, & am happy to be home now. I still get to telecommute tomorrow, so that is good news for me.

Go Down Below Matey, There's A Hard Blow A'comin

Having survived the first 3 days of the work week, I found myself in a quandry this evening. Management has scheduled tomorrow morning to be a time of duplicity & deceit, & I don't want anything to do with it. I have been asked to be part of an artificial, KGB style populist rally for the presentation of one of the 3 remaining candidates for Chief Warlord of South Swamp. I realized this evening that I can't do that. I shall get to work late tomorrow, making sure to arrive after the rally. I never had the courage to do this in my previous position because of the potential for damaging consequences, but now I am ready to accept the consequences & to do what I believe to be correct.

Really nice party for me at work today *:-) They had a surprise birthday party for me & it was very nice, with a chocolate chocolate chocolate cake, which made it a success in my book *:-)

We are here together, my wife & I, and it is time for sleep.

Taxi Driver, Furniture Mover, Celebrant

Wow, busy day. One of my bosses had to loan her car to someone & needed a ride to work this morning since the person who usually gives her a ride couldn't because his father had a stroke. I did a google maps thing & found the house ok, & on the way I observed, & actually stopped for just a tiny bit to watch, some older folks doing what I call "Creaky Tai Chi" *:-) It was pretty early and they were all dressed warmly & were outside in a small park & were doing the Tai Chi thing & it was really pretty funny to watch, since clearly they were feeling a bit "creaky" *:-) It was also very nice however, to see community members getting together to do that sort of thing, & when I mentioned them to my boss that I was giving the taxi ride to, she said yes, they are out there every morning. Cool *:-)

More heavy office furniture moving today at South Swamp! WTF? It is true that I am a trained furniture mover and I am probably the least likely to hurt myself, but WTF? I don't know why cubicle rats feel that everything has to be done for them. I get called on not only because I know how to do it & am still quite strong, but because I am part of "IT" or "EdTech", depending on your definition, & I will get roped into moving network ports & cables anyway, so I guess they figure I'm the guy to move the furniture too. I don't mind because it helps move the organization forward, & I am not a lazy person so it satisfies my need for work too, since the organization itself is still becalmed & has not received its sailing orders.

What a neat celebration we just had at my son's house *:-) Yesterday was my birthday (a fairly big number now) & my son had screwed up the calculations & although he did his best to try to plan some sort of weekend thing he got the wrong weekend so nothing happened on my actual birthday or on the Sunday before it, which I think was what he was going to do *:-) It was kinda funny because my wife & I were finishing up the day late Saturday night & although we had been told that something might happen on that Sunday, we had heard nothing. I remarked to her "Well, its pretty quiet so I guess nothing is going to happen" *:-) BTW, I absolutely don't care that nothing happened, because the whole birthday thing doesn't seem to be part of my DNA. Anyway, my other son got creative and got all of us together at son #1's house this evening, & I had a lot of fun with my granddaughter, & also got to hold my new grandson for a nice time, during which I did a little meditation with him, which was cool. My granddaughter & I had lots of fun with the new toy I brought, which was the latest version of "whack-a-mole", which I still like playing *:-) I got a nice bottle of wine, some nice chocolates, & the promise of a nice picture of my son's family, & a nice promise from my other son that he really would be over this coming weekend to pick up the monster lathe that has been stored here for a long time, & which is gradually causing the shed to sink a little because it is too heavy. I enjoyed spending time with the family & the gifts...thanks everyone *:-)

Prayer Flags Are At Work In The Wind

The culmination of both a need & a desire became complete today *:-) For many years, just about as many years as I have wanted to complete the deer fence all along the road, I have wanted Tibetan Prayer Flags on our property to help bring more peace, not just to us, but to all who live near us. That is what I have understood the Prayer Flags have the power to do. The "need" part was because their is a great deal of danger around me now due to not only the boundary dispute that continues with my neighbor, but also because this is my natal time, which makes me very vulnerable to the forces of the world, just as a baby who is being born needs the nurturing & support of loved ones and professionals during the birth process. Anyway, as I write this, there are two 13' high poles, one on each end of our property, & each with a 6-foot long flag hanging down vertically, made up of the most traditional colors & wood block prints. They are waving in every passing breeze, no matter how slight or fierce, doing their work night & day. I am content that this wish has been granted to me *:-)

I have lost 6 pounds from the excess weight I have been carrying for a little over a year, & I am also greatful for that, & I suspect diet control is now a part of my daily requirements for living a fairly pleasant life. No worries, I will do my best to continue in good health.

Stay Low, Choose Peace

I had the option of either choosing "not peace" or "peace" today, & I chose peace *:-) I am very glad that I did, & I will try to do so more often. As I began my day there were two paths before me...first, I could work to complete the boundary line woodshed & related issues, at the very great risk of having to deal with another confrontation with my neighbor. Second, I could completely pick all the fruit off the Bartlett pear tree in our orchard, where no confrontations could happen.

As it turned out, I made the right choice by choosing to pick the fruit. As the day went by, I noticed that several traps, of an emotional IED type, had been set by my neighbor which would have gone off had I started to work on the woodshed/fence. None of the IEDs went off, & I was not injured or even upset.

Subtle things these choices we are presented with, & I am greatful to sometimes be sensitive enough to know that I have a choice *:-)

Friday In The Office, Lumber Yard Success, Home Again

I have not worked a Friday in the office for a very long time. It is rather strange, & today there were no managers there! I think everybody was so afraid of getting caught screwing around that we all worked extra hard because we didn't know when a manager would walk in *:-) It was also wierd because the temp receptionist kept wandering around counting how many people were in the office; not because he was a spy or anything, just because he wanted to know how empty the place was. Yeah, it was pretty empty. I will never understand state employment. Our bookkeeper, who is definitely a little wierd, like one of the Brady bunch girls, decided to leave early today because she wanted to make a special meal for her husband because today is his birthday & because he always cooks such nice meals for her. WTF? Hey lady, try working your full shift for a change.

I was able to get to the lumber yard on my lunch hour & got the essentials for starting work on the "fence of contention" that I am excited about getting done, because it is also the structure that will keep my winter's supply of wood stacked properly.

All in all, I am quite glad to be home & able to go to bed.

Wind & Heat, Back To The Office Tomorrow

It was surprisingly windy here in the mountains where my home office is located, & we lost power & internet for awhile. All is back up now though. It was also warmer than I expected, but I no longer pay any attention to the weather unless it is life threatening, because I believe our weather patterns have changed forever & are governed by the rules of chaos theory.

My decision to exchange telecommute days with a colleague has turned out well, since she was able to contribute very successfully during a staff meeting that she usually must miss, & she also was very appreciative of my effort because this way her partner will get to use the car tomorrow, whereas usually on Fridays my colleague needs to be in the office. It makes me feel good when things turn out to be win-win.

I was able to spend a small amount of time with our new grandson & our granddaughter this week, & that was very nice. I hope the opportunities to do so increase *:-)

Yo' Mama Ain't No Quaker, She's A Troublemaker

After reflecting briefly on the circumstances that I believe led up to last evenings confrontation with my neighbor, I remember one small conversation that I overheard the night before the confrontation. My neighbor's mother, who espouses that she is a life-long Quaker, & that she raised her son (my neighbor) as a Quaker, was visiting for awhile, & the evening before last was her last night here. I overheard only a portion of the conversation, because I was in my house on the second floor, & the windows were open to reduce the heat in the house from the hot day. She & her son were standing in front of the area that I am working on for my woodshed, & I heard her advise her son "Just pull it down". I now believe that she was referring to the work I had done to stake out the perimeter of my woodshed. I find it hardly consistent with Quaker tenets to advise one person to take unilateral & physical action against another! She ain't no Quaker, she is a Troublemaker, imho.

In addition, my poor neighbor is probably scared to death because his property line is crumbling under his feet into the creek far below, on the side of his property away from the area that I am using for my woodpile. I am sure that is motivation for trying to expand toward my area. If it were me, I would be afraid to sleep in his house.

Also, he is unemployed, & has a fierce wife, so I suspect I was perceived as a convenient outlet for his fear based anger & frustration *:-)

Oh well, I have faith that it will all work out.

Chief Warlord Returns To Dictatorial Ways, Neighbor Loses It

I'm fucking emotionally exhausted.

At 4:57 p.m. this evening, 3 minutes before the doors closed on my workplace (although I, alone, work until 6 p.m.), the South Swamp Acting Interim Executive Director comes into my cubicle, sits down, & hands me official papers that she says require my signature & that are going to HR. First, I don't report to her, & she has been asked in the past not to come directly to us with official, signature needing documents, but to go through our bosses, but she came direct anyway, because she let the deadline pass on the documents & needs them NOW (can you hear her?). Second, the papers attached to the official document are two revisions down from the ones that my boss & I have worked out over the last two weeks, & the attached docs contain job requirements that I will not perform for the money they are paying me. I have made it clear that the docs need to change & my boss has agreed, but apparently hasn't turned in the new docs yet (I confirmed this with my boss later this evening). I explained this, but she stated that I needed to sign now. She said she would talk to my boss. She has a reputation for having both selective & short memory capability, so I am concerned. I asked her if I could trust her to take care of exchanging the docs, & she said yes, so I signed. After she walked away, a colleague, who has been at the University of Blueberry Syrup for nearly six years, and has worked with her for about 4 years, asked me if I signed. I said yes. My colleague said I was stupid for doing so, because the Acting Interim Executive Director won't remember her commitment for more than 5 minutes, or until the first distraction comes up, whichever happens first. Great, I'm screwed. I sent an email right away to my boss, who is out of the office until next week, & surprisingly he must have been checking his email because he responded & said he agreed with me & that he understood & that he would send an email to the Acting Interim Executive Director tonight telling her that the revised docs must be sent to HR, not the ones that were attached to the item I signed. So. Maybe I'm not screwed.

Ok, done deal, I thought. I arrive home & am unloading some garden fence that I will be using to make the woodshed I am building look nicer, & my neighbor yells my name, violently, from his driveway. I ignore him & keep unloading the truck. He walks over to within a few inches of me & yells my name loudly & violently directly into my ear. I don't like that *:-) We have a screaming argument for about 20 minutes, which scares my wife to death, & in the process my neighbor destroys some temporary posts I have put in around the perimeter of my woodshed, & he threatens me with one of the posts. My wife, despite being truly frightened for my life, is absolutely brilliant (after I spend one minute of the 20 minutes screaming at HER to get back in the house & to stay away from the argument), & she comes out with her digital camera & actually got pictures of the neighbor destroying my posts & threatening me. Very cool. Thank you, wife *:-) Anyway, I ignore him except for screaming back at him, get into & park my truck, & go into my house, since he is becoming very violent & his dog, which has been reported to the authorities several times for attacking people (not by us) is getting very upset. My wife & I both take some rescue remedy, & retire to our upstairs dvd viewing room to start our evening together. About 30 minutes later, I hear & notice a county sheriff's car in the drive, & the county sheriff is talking to my neighbor. My wife listens to the conversation, & tells me that actually the neighbor is pretty much telling the truth. I suspect he is frightened that we have the photos, & had expected us to call the cops, so he did it first. Eventually the officer comes over to my house, & we spend some time on the deck discussing some options, & it is clear that the officer knows about the dangerous dog & the dangerous neighbor, so I don't push any unnecessary buttons. All is left where it was, with me refusing to agree to an unreasonable demand made by my neighbor, which the officer tells me I am under no obligation to comply with, & I assure the officer that I have no problem compromising but that I will not meet privately with the neighbor because he is dangerous, I am tired from work, & I don't fight on Wednesdays *:-) The officer is fine with that, & goes back over & tells the neighbor that he is not going to get what he wants, but that I won't exceed my prescribed limits either. Peace returns to our little valley, & we watch our dvd. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

More Physical Labor, Colleagial Lunch, Day Swap

Again, upon entering my workplace today I was confronted with furniture that needed me to move it *:-( Arggh. Oh well, I got it done *:-)

Although the restaurant chosen by my departmental colleagues for our regular after-staff lunch had recently been reviewed by me on yelp.com as a place I will not eat at until a management change happens, I agreed to go along because I wanted to be with my colleagues *:-) As it turns out there appears to have been a management change so maybe I can start eating there again. I did not stop going because of the food, which is quite good Indian Vegetarian fare, but because the place was not as clean as I would like. Everything seemed ok today.

Because my boss with be out of the office until next week, & because our second in command must take his place at the staff meeting on Thursday, I need to swap telecommute days with the second in command. I actually volunteered to do so because she always gets screwed because Thursday is her telecommute day & Friday is my telecommute day, & staff meetings are always on Thursdays, so she gets called in often. This time I will take Thursday as my telecommute day & she will take my regular day, Friday. She was very appreciative & I feel good about the offer I made *:-)

Pain, Physical Labor, Brilliance, Dumb-Ass Move

Ok, so I walk in the door at work today, having had knee pain all weekend, & was preparing to sort of take it easy physically by just doing the computer work I had to do. Uh, no, that's not happening. Within a few minutes, my boss asked me for help in moving his office to his new location in the same building (we don't get to hire labor if the move is in the same building). So what I am going to say, "fuck off!"? I don't think so, since he is writing my annual performance appraisal this week & next week *:-) So I worked my ass off moving office furniture & installing under-the-counter keyboard supports & stuff like that. I took aspirin tonight, so that will help. Oh well. I still have a family so I need to work *:-)

OTOH, later in the day I got to present to my boss (as he was sitting in his office that I just moved the furniture into) my interpretation of what my job description would be if I could have it the way I wanted, & I got almost everything I wanted, & I got ALL of the important stuff I wanted *:-) Also, my boss shared with me some very cool concepts for what we might be doing in the future, & what my part would be. I liked it all, & it is quite brilliant imho.

The University of Blueberry Syrup has made another dumb-ass move at the very highest level, but hey, nothing I can do about that. That's life.

'Mo Pie, Walk In The Woods, Good Productivity

Yup, I finished off the latest home made apple pie today *:-) Wow, it was good!

Despite my painful knee, I needed to get out into the woods today, & so my wife joined me & we had an excellent walk. Very healing, actually *:-)

I worked consistently throughout the weekend on getting my office paperwork, research documents, URL referent checks, & other work work done. I did pretty good, & the two briefcases that I will take back into work tomorrow, & the two laptops I will take back to work, have all been brought to a better state than when I came home at the end of last week. There is a subtle change going on in my work ethic at the moment. Don't quite understand it yet.

As far as I know, the great ship I toil upon is still becalmed in South Swamp. Perhaps tomorrow a breeze will rise *:-)

Laughter In The Air *:-)

OMG. Where did all this come from? The first dvd we watched this evening, "1941, Collector's Edition", had me ROFLing. My wife was a little less entertained, but agreed that there are some fabulous & humorous scenes. Then we watched one segment of a British comedy about one of the "houses" of Cambridge, & I laughed a lot with that one too. Then we watched one segment of Six Feet Under, & it was funny too! This much humor all in one evening is like, very unusual, & it was fun *:-)

We pipped over to my office cubicle for a brief interlude today so I could make minor adjustments to the decor & furniture placement, which will help Monday go more smoothly, & it needed to be done without a lot of kibitzers around.

Excellent pie again today *:-) Also, I had one of our just picked plums...fabulous *:-)

OMG, a old Theodore Bikel song that I downloaded just came on over my headphones, and makes me smile. Bikel was still making his rounds when I was in college, so he is part of my musical history. Sings this one all in Russian.

The anti-inflammatories are helping, but the pain still lives *:-) Oh well.

iLife & iWork Arrived, Install Went Fine

iLife08 & iWork08 both arrived today bright & early, & because today is my telecommute day I was able to install them on all 3 macs. I watched the entire Jobs "special event" that had him demo'ing & explaining them, & it was one of the best presentations I have seen, & I learned quite a bit. Not too much marketing bs either.

I gave up & took an anti-inflammatory for my left knee a few minutes ago, so perhaps I can get some sleep tonight. It hurts. Just general abuse & from moving heavy objects I suspect. I am hopeful it will ease up so I can be a bit more relaxed.

Another new home-made apple pie from my wife today, which was very good. I ate 2 whole pieces *:-) I will have more tomorrow also. They are good *:-)

A Slight Breeze Billows The Sails Briefly

The great ship upon which I toil has been becalmed for several weeks now, & the insanity continues. Today however, for a couple hours, there was a breeze that actually billowed the sails for a bit, & it brought smiles to the Captain, the Bosun, & the First Mate. The Captain wandered about the ship with an encouraging look on his face, which helped all of us just a bit. Thanks Cap'n *:-) The breeze was not enough to move the ship, but it is a harbinger, hopefully.

I was made the Project Manager for a technical remodel of two of our conference rooms & today I sent a needs analysis survey to everyone (except the ghosts). That will cause some of the inhabitants of the ship to be happy & enthused, & will cause some to be angry because we are not getting large raises this year, & they would prefer that the money that will be invested in the conference room improvements be spent on raising their salaries. I suspect that every improvement I schedule to be made will be challenged, or at least whispered about negatively behind my back. Oh well *:-)

Ayatollah Wannabee Panics; Granddaughter Wants Me To Stay; Chocolate Cake Mighty Tasty

Over at South Swamp, where I work, I had made the decision to withdraw from the voluntary group that is trying to improve our workplace through common effort. The reason I withdrew is that the group has been taken over by one of the directors (the Ayatollah Wannabee) who is using it for political purposes.

I remained in my cube working at the time the meeting was to start, and was jamming to get work done so I could get out of there around noon and go see my grandkids for a little while. The Ayatollah Wannabee, who was chairing the meeting of the volunteers, panicked because I was not there, and send a courier to remind me of the meeting and get me to go. I said no, I wasn't available today. The courier returned to the meeting location with his report, and within 20 seconds or so, the Ayatollah Wannabee herself was standing in front of me making it clear that although the meeting was certainly voluntary, that on this particular day the meeting could not go on without me. Because I have made a commitment to help stabilize the Great Ship we are all on, I decided not to make a scene with the Ayatollah Wannabee, and went to the meeting based on the promise that the issue that was for me would be the very first thing on the agenda. I arrived, and sat through 18 minutes of political posturing by the Ayatollah Wannabee, and then another 20 minutes of prep talk by the person that was going to make the presentation. We finally got to the part of the meeting that they said they needed me for, and although my positions as stated were far from popular, they also knew that I was telling my truth and that it requires attention. I left the meeting after 49 minutes, and without getting anything accomplished *:-(

But then...ah yes...but then...

I got to have a hell of a lot of fun with my granddaughter during my visit, & my wife was there too playing with the newborn (meaning holding him while he sleeps). My granddaughter remembered how to use the iPod earbuds without any coaching from me, and that was totally cool. We did a bunch of other stuff too, and then when I needed to leave to go back to work, she clung to me tightly while I held her to my shoulder, and her little hands grasped my clothing tightly, and when I would try to say "bye" she would say "no". Wow, that is a first for me, and I was impacted by it and I believe it suggests that she is beginning to love me, which is cool *:-)

Because of the emotional content of the meeting prior to my seeing my grandkids, I decided to take a piece of vegan chocolate cake back to the office to eat so I would feel better about being there, and after microwaving it for 23 seconds, it was mighty tasty and helped me get through the day.

Dentist, Tempeh Burger, End Of Day

My wife & I got through our individual experiences with our dentist very well today, & although we are always quite fatigued by the time we get home due to the distance we have to travel just to get to our dentist (slightly over an hour's drive one way) combined with the stress of having dental work done, we are grateful because we know we have one of the best dentists in the entire state, & it is worth it. I ended up having to replace my water based pressurized cleaning machine which cost a bit, but again, it is worth it. I also got more floss so I can keep doing that. The dental hygienist noticed that my teeth are tough to floss, so that validated the complaining I do to myself while I get myself psyched up to do it at home *:-)

My wife found & purchased a new type of tempeh burger & I tried one today & liked it, so we will get some more & eat them for a while as part of our regular summer food group.

It is now the end of the day for me & so rest awaits, along with sleep I hope. I was able to score some new trance music that I am listening to now & that is helping to relax me, so getting the rest will be easier with my heart open.

Long Day For Both My Wife & Me

Neither one of us got off work until 8:30 p.m. tonight. Way tired. My wife is also in pain from her hip due to too much lifting/carrying/reaching on uneven surfaces. Bummer.

Tomorrow we spend the day with the dentist. I hate it but it does help.

South Swamp ghosts are fully disappearing now, with one of the more useful ghosts sending her final goodbyes today, & we will never see her again. Another ghost, one who was in my group, has stopped coming to any meetings, & is just sitting in his cubicle, waiting for calls from potential interviews that never come. Depressing.

My new cube & set up continue to inspire others, and that is cool.

The Acting Interim Executive Director stopped by my cube today & thanked me for the efforts I put into making last Friday's set of interviews a success. I told her she is welcome.

More Apple Pie, A Little Landscaping, A Little Clean Up

My wife made another apple pie, so I am fully involved in apple pie eating as of this writing *:-) They have been really good, & use the limited number of Gravenstein apples from our tree, along with some other varieties, & the combo is exceptionally tasty. The crust is home made too *:-)

I raked, gathered & removed quite a few fallen plums from the walkways today, & this will be a necessary activity for about another month, until they are all off the trees.

I also broke down the cardboard shipping containers that had been building up, in preparation for taking them to the recycle center.

An investigator for the BGFAAT (Birthday Gift Forecast And Analysis Team) called me today & asked what I want for my birthday which is this month. I only had to think for a moment, & then I knew what I wanted and let him know. That was nice *:-)

Woods Walk, Home Made Apple Pie, Laughter

Nice day for us (my wife & I) because we got time for a nice long walk in the woods, & then came home to eat the freshly baked apple pie that my wife made *:-) Later we watched some imported British comedy dvd's that brought forth lots of laughs, which was relaxing & very pleasant.

I have a project that must get done on our property within the next 30 days, but it is a little sensitive in that I will be making permanent a firewood storage area that currently appears as temporary, & which runs along the boundary line with my neighbor. My neighbor has been having a rough time emotionally, & is already allowing anger to be his emotion of choice, so I have been waiting until he is gone for a whole day to dig the 3 holes I need to dig to place the upright pipes in concrete to form the basic corner of the new woodshed. However, he must have gotten laid off or something because for the last 2 months he has been home all day everyday, & has not been going anywhere on weekends either. I'm going to have to find a way to carefully plan and execute the project, so that I can complete the whole concrete part in 5 or 6 hours, & hope that he leaves for at least that long. Tenuous, indeed.

I just got to review the pictures from the wedding in France that my daughter & her husband attended, & they are neat. Very real, not absurd at all, & it seemed to be a wedding of just the right size for the family warmth to be shared. I appreciate the photos, thanks.

Saturday, What More Can I Say?

We'll see what happens today.

ZIA Mission Accomplished; "M" Still Incompetent

I successfully accomplished my ZIA mission of interfacing the Supreme Warlord candidate that is in Europe with the interview committee here. The chairperson of the interview committee completely botched the timing of opening the web apps & so I still got the frantic phone call from Europe wondering where the conference was, but as soon as I called the chairperson & "asked" her to quit screwing around & to open up the conference (30 minutes late) then the flow began & all was well. Two of the 5 candidates were assassinated today, but I don't know which 2 yet.

Got several major bills paid today which makes me feel good. The timing for when several of them are due apparently changed without me catching it, so I am paying more attention to that sort of thing for a while.

Watched a very good film on dvd this evening, & had some good wine too *:-) I'll start the weekend now.

South Swamp Kills Two More

Tomorrow, starting at 8:30 a.m., the elimination of 2 out of five candidates for the Supreme Warlord open position will begin & by 5:00 p.m., or shortly thereafter, only 3 will be left. One of the candidates has handicapped himself by traveling to a different continent & will be trying to influence the committee via a web app...good luck mate *:-) I trained him on how to use the web app, & I have kept in constant supportive contact with him per the request of our current Interim Acting Executive Director, but he is having trouble finding both voice & data lines in the country he is in, so several of us are putting in extra hours to monitor the communication grid to make sure we pick up whatever he can get on line. Pain in the ass, actually. He's kind of a typical asshole too, imho, but maybe that is what we attract. Some people say I am an asshole, but I remind them that my business card has "P.A." after my name, meaning Professional Asshole, and that I went to school for many years to become as much of an asshole as I am *:-)

My new cube and its configuration continues to please those who drop by for the first time, & it continues to please me also *:-) Thanks.

New Cube Arrangement Is Popular

The new cube I am in & the way I have set it up is popular not only with me, but with my colleagues as well. They seem to be comfortable stopping by & chatting, partly because it is much more open than the other one. Also, I have my 3 laptops very conveniently arranged, kind of like a command center console, which I like. Today, one of the web programmers was having trouble getting different browsers to open a shockwave file, & because I have my 3 laptops set up the way I do, with all of them having at least 2 different browsers on them, he was able to do his testing using my stuff very successfully, which hasn't happened in the past because previously I had the 3 laptops set up in various places around the old cube. They are all together now.

I had intended to visit my grandchildren on my lunch hour today so that I could be there at the same time my wife was with them, but while making a deposit at the bank I ended up having a parking lot incident, albeit a small one, with another car. I don't believe I was at fault, but the other party refused to cooperate, so I told her to call the police, which she did. So, instead of being with my grandchildren, I was in a parking lot waiting for a police officer. Unfortunately, the officer ruled in her favor, because she had a friend in the car with her that was acting as a witness, & I didn't have any witnesses. The officer told me to tell my insurance company that it was not my fault, but his report will show otherwise. After the incident, I purchased a nice piece of chocolate cake & after microwaving it for 23 seconds after getting back to the office, I ate it which made me feel better *:-)

I decided to try to see my grandchildren after work, which I did. The newest one is a great sleeper, & so I held him the whole time, while my 19 month old granddaughter took me on a tour of her room, played with some of her favorite toys with me, & hung out with me. After a little while my daughter in law actually left the room & allowed me to be alone with both grandkids, still holding the newest, which is the first time that has happened, so she must trust me to some degree *:-) I of course took advantage of that & got my granddaughter to listen to some trance music on my iPod, which she enjoyed. She even got to the point where she could take each earbud & put it into her left & right ear & listen. It was neat *:-) She liked the experience, & got a nice look on her face when she heard the music.

ZIA Mail; New Cube Space Fab!; Boss Cuts Holy Locks

The ZIA rides again *:-) I am handling high security communications for the candidates who are applying for the Executive Director position here, & some of them are outside the USA, so I am again doing the time zone boogie as I used to when I was responsible for all of Asia-Pacific, Japan, & Latin America in my previous position. It doesn't seem strange to me at all, because I did it for so many years that I came to realize that there are no such things as absolute times, absolute dates, absolute holidays, or absolute plans. I am having to also deal with Eastern European telecom & internet access, which doesn't seem to have improved much since 10 years ago, but I suppose if the USA had endured the horrible wars that occurred there then we wouldn't have much infrastructure either. My son in law travels that region fairly often, so I suspect he knows what I am talking about.

Totally stoked about my new cube space, with the natural light streaming across the workspaces and the openness because I did away with one of the cube walls. My boss noticed that on his walk through this morning, and asked me if I was working as the "hall monitor". He didn't seem too irritated though, so I am hopeful I can keep the open look and feel. This is a really nice space now, and several colleagues agree.

My boss, who is one of the candidates for the Executive Director position, got his hair cut off this weekend. He is a high level martial artist, an enthnic Otome indian (looks hispanic & has an hispanic surname) & considers his long braided hair as a spiritual item. He cut it so as to appear contemporary for the interview process, & he donated his hair for a good cause, so that balances the spiritual aspect. He looks younger, but also weaker & more boring *:-) Probably the right thing to do for this interview though.

Fab Treat, Good Dinner, Good DVD

After a very nice walk in our favorite tree forest, and also a peak at the special train that was running at a local tourist spot, we sped back home and I scarfed a treat I made for myself, consisting of a vegan chocolate brownie topped with soy ice cream *:-) My wife made herself a treat too, and we sat on our special bench out under the apple tree to eat them *:-) Pretty neat *:-) I am curious about tomorrow and the fact that I moved cubes over the weekend, and am wondering what the reactions, if any will be. I am relieved that I made the changes. We had a good dinner and DVD too.

Energy Burst; Cube Install

I was so deflated for most of the mid-day, but then decided to just "do it" & get the hell out of the house & go to the office & complete as much of my cube move as I could in a couple of hours, & I was really fortunate because my wife wanted to go with me, which helped a lot. I worked up a small sweat, got a killer picture mounted on my new cube wall, and installed a funky desk lamp that should help to loosen me up (I hope). The activity helped very much & I felt better (& got a chocolate brownie too). That felt good *:-)

Top Secret Mission Underway, Training Complete

I completed the one hour, 4 minute & 23 second, online, one-on-one training on the web conferencing app that I am to manage for the top secret, international interview process that will start 6 days from now. I will need to schedule practice sessions with all the participants prior to the actual presentation day, & I am not an expert in the app yet, so instead of working on my own project this weekend, I will need to work on this one. Oh well, at least I am still employed *:-)

Only 3 More Days...Maybe...To My PayPal Account

I have been trying to get PayPal into my life for 3 months now, & after 8 phone calls to their support over the last 10 days, I believe, if the website is telling the truth, that it is only 3 more days until I will have a verified, real life, account that I can use. It has been a bad & frustrating experience, and I can only hope that they keep my information secure, because it that blows up too, then my experience with PP will be a complete bust. We'll see.

Time To Talk About Art & Very Young Children

I was given 12 drawings done by my 20 month old granddaughter, & as an art teacher, I feel I need to comment & offer help to my granddaughter's parents.

First, please use either round paper or at least square paper, not rectangular. I believe my granddaughter must understand that there are no limitations to her space that she has to influence with her movement and art work.

Second, please make sure that the minimum size of the paper is 36" X 36". Bigger than that is fine.

Third, please use butcher paper, either white or natural color, as the base.

Fourth, please make sure that my granddaughter has plenty of room to do her work, like on the floor on a nice flat surface under the paper.

Fifth, please make sure that at least every once in a while, super messy materials are available so she can use her whole body to create her work.

Sixth, if you are going to do little sketches to help get her started, do them on your own paper, not on the paper she will be using *:-)

That's enough for now *:-)

"Institutional Inertia"...Oh Yeah *:-)

My wife just called & left a message on my mobile that she heard a phrase that seems to describe part of what is going on here at my work place, & yeah, it is a kind way of saying that this place is sick and pretty fu...d up. The phrase "Institutional Inertia" is descriptive, but it lacks the stink of the actual process of waiting until all the politicians, Warlords, & Ayatollah Wannabees feel that they have gotten as much of the pie as they are going to get, then we can get back to the actual fighting. Can you tell I am in a bad mood? I'll shake it off pretty soon, when some of the politicians get the hell out of the office. We were just told that our Acting Interim Executive Director has invited 5 staff from another organization, not affliliated with ours, to share our cubicles, which means some of us, me included, will be moving to the back of the building (did I say building, I meant bus). Also, there is another delay in the date by which we may have a new Executive Director, due to a conflict in the vacation schedules of some of the senior selecting officers. Yuck.

Blank, White, Cheap, Drywall

Well, as the Ayatollah Wannabee captured me via a blindside attack as I was coming out of the lunch room holding a piping hot container of my wife's excellent homemade soup, I was forced to listen to her attempts to pull commitment, information, vision, leadership, & enthusiastic support for her verbal concepts out of me. However, I remained calm & let her know that from my perspective, the future that I am able to see here at this organization is identical to the blank, white, cheap drywall surface that was directly behind us. She could not deny it, but tried to elicit non-specific enthusiitis from me (kinda like non-specific urethritis) which I would not provide. Geez, folks, why not just admit that we ain't got nuthin' goin' right now, and if the Great State Legislature decides to fund us, then maybe we can set our selves to some task or another. I referred her to my boss for any future commitment requests.

I have decided to take a trip to the lumber yard for awhile this afternoon to get my hands on something real *:-) I'll be back.

OMG, The ZIA Just Recruited Me Again!

It must be because I love intrigue, manipulation of global events, subtle turnings of the mind, & feeling my hand in significant events that I have been recruited by the Acting Interim Executive Director to be the "secret" technical contact for all 5 of the remaining candidates that will be interviewing for the Executive Director position. Some of the candidates are located in a different country, and so there will be some technical challenges. Nobody else in the organization is to know I am doing this, so there will be late night test conferences, emails sent with false signatures, & the usual plethora of cloak & dagger practices that will screen as much of the process as possible from the staff. Cool *:-) I will be communicating directly with the candidates, which actually surprises me since I thought HR would be doing all that, but hey, whatever. An added wrinkle (don't tell anybody), is that my own boss is one of the candidates!

Off into the dark caverns to concoct my plan *:-)

Yup, It's An Ayatollah Wannabee In South Swamp

Boring, actually, the Ayatollah wannabee stuff, but it does seem to be accurate, damn it.

In today's department staff meeting I brought up my concept about the ship we are on being "becalmed", and it resonated with everyone except the Libra in the corner who never admits to a position one way or the other *:-)

Excellent news! I get to go over to High Tech Heaven tomorrow (the Apple store) and get a couple of things worked out on my Mac.

Oops, somebody is here to interview me. Cya later.

Escaped Ayatollah Wannabee?

I think we may have an escapee from the ancient asian past here in South Swamp.

There is a woman, who has been referred to here as the Warlord who lost out in the competition to make it to the final selection process, but still has a position, that is beginning to exhibit signs of behaviour that are remarkably like those of the Ayatollahs I have been reading about recently. Passionate embrace of rigid rules last used in the time of the IBMers, about 50 years ago. Refusal to open any dialog that contains emotional elements. Holding herself stiffly erect. Speaking to others in an imperious manner professing interest in how we are. Identifying herself in public forums, the ones not usually trafficked by people who work here, as a great leader & visionary guide, which she is not.

My goodness, the things we all get up to *:-)

Feeling Better, Thank You *:-)

I'm feeling a bit better, but don't really know why. Something changed today & I am trusting that all is well. The aspirin probably helped a bit.

I heard a pretty good description of how trust works in the world while watching a british dvd with my wife this evening:

"I am a fool if I trust, but if I don't trust, I start to die"...so here's to all us trusting fools *:-)

Not a great week for me for losing some more #, but I will keep at it & try to improve going forward. Maybe it will take me TWO years *:-(

Best wishes to all, & may our grandchildren be safe & well *:-)

Becalmed In South Swamp, Which Has Started To Stink

I have been rendered nearly motionless in my work because of the lack of wind in the sails of the great ship I am a sailor on. The ship lies quite still, having entered the waters of South Swamp just a short time ago. The ghosts of those who have been declared dead but whose bodies have not yet left the ship are becoming fainter & harder to see & hear as their physical body departure time moves closer, 40 short days from now. The ghosts seem to see things far away in their eyes, no longer focused on the priorities & subjects of those of us who shall remain. How strange a decision it was to leave the bodies on the ship while their persons no longer are part of the crew. We have no leadership and hence the sad and wrongly decided continued presence of those declared dead. I shall step lightly to avoid the bodies.

I do not do well in work environments that are becalmed, and I am struggling greatly to keep myself truly occupied, for I am not one to accept busy work. Today has been more difficult than most, until at last, about 2 hours ago, I was able to continue a learning CD that is important to my future. If the outside temperature were not so damagingly high, I might have attempted physical labor, but that would not be a good idea so I have not done it. Things are slowly getting better today, so I shall hope for a productive evening *:-)

I Like DVD Movies That Are About True Events

My wife found a dvd to rent today that was about a swim team that started with nothing and went on to win some big events, and it was all a true story. I allow myself to get emotionally involved in stuff like that, and I cry and get thrilled right along with the characters. I don't do that if the story isn't about something that actually happened though. I am amazed by humanity.

Was HR Training, Is Telecommute...YEA!

I was scheduled to be in an HR training at my workplace all day (9 hours) today instead of telecommuting as I usually do on Fridays. Turns out a death in the trainer's family caused a cancellation, so I got to telecommute *:-) I am grateful. I was pretty tired after this week because the emotional level at South Swamp is still inappropriately high for a workplace, and it will be several months before any new leadership shows up, so I find that I have to take it very easy at work and be careful not to ignite the atmosphere, which is quite flammable at this time.

I tried to set up a new Flickr site for my wife and I today, and it took me 3.5 hours just to get the damn thing set up & put 22 photos on it. I still don't know if any of the invitations I sent out will be functional. I hated it. I have no idea why it is such an obtuse process. At least I can see it.

I am still working on reducing the load on my knees & ankles by dropping some weight, & I purposely designed a slow regimen, so that I won't get emotionally unbalanced during the workday. I would prefer to move faster, but so far 3# have come off & I have 23# more to go, so I am having faith that the process will get me where I want to go by next year some time. I take no solid food whatsoever between 6 p.m. & 6 a.m., & it seems to be working. I can do this now because I won't start the heavy travel schedule again until next February, when it will be much more difficult to schedule my food intake. My recent full physical from my physician resulted in a perfect report, & I am much healthier than my actual age might suggest, which is nice to know. I am still very strong, & hope to get a lot of heavy physical work done at home before the weather shifts into fall & winter wetness.

I went ahead & rented some South Park video segments, & it is just as funny & rude as everyone said, & I think it is pretty good. I hope to use some of the techniques in my own work, & I am enjoying getting caught up on the 1980's *:-)

South Swamp Warlord In Desperate Foray

Most of the Warlords in South Swamp are sort of lying low, since the process of winnowing the 23 Warlord candidates for the new Executive Director Supreme Warlord position has been completed & there are only five left now, all the other 18 having been mercilessly destroyed by the (In-) Human Resources department. One of the Warlords who has not been chosen to continue in the competition, but who still has a position here, is now using this time to stake her claim on as much territory as possible during the lull before the new Executive Director Supreme Warlord is chosen. It is a pain in the ass for the rest of us however, because we see that she is trampling on many of the carefully constructed programs of the last two years, of which she knows nothing. Pure, unadulterated ego marching across a freshly scrubbed floor in muddy boots. Oh well, not my worry. I have been very successful recently in completing some sensitive group/team work which could have gone quite wrong but didn't, & have also been successful in some individual contributor work, so I shall remain happy and confident *:-)

Besides, I have a new GRANDSON, which is very cool *:-)

SMS From France *:-)

Hee Hee.

I just found out that I knew the name of my new grandson before my daughter did *:-)

My son, the father of the new boy, and the brother of my daughter, who is currently in France, told me today that my daughter texted my son and complained that I found out the name of the new fellow before she did *:-)

I take some sort of odd, small pleasure in that, but I don't know why *:-)

Hee Hee.

High Score! New Grandson Eating Well! Son Tired As Hell!

Heh. I win *:-) Today I snuck over to my son's place on my lunch hour to try to get to see my new grandson, who now has a name. I wanted to introduce myself properly. I got to the house & gently knocked on the front door, since I couldn't see any movement. No answer. I walked around back & tried to get up on the porch so I could look in the window, but some damned new child-proof gate was too tough for me to figure out, so I didn't get on the porch either. I went back out front & walked to the corner to see if my wife's car was around, which it wasn't, so I gave her a call & she explained they were probably napping because there had been a lot of activity just prior to my arrival. I gave up & returned to my truck, which was parked in their driveway, & used my electronic door opener to get in, & the sound of the beep woke my son up who came to the door. I got in *:-) My granddaughter was all fuzzy with half-sleep half-awake so I gave her a couple kisses & asked if I could see her brother, the new fella. I got a look at him from a few feet away, & he was happily having his lunch from his mom *:-) I introduced myself to him verbally & his mom said "Hey, he opened his eyes when you did that". I thought that was really cool so I climbed up on the bed & got pretty close & then introduced myself again, & he opened his eyes again! That was awesome, & I believe I now hold the record for getting him to open his eyes when spoken to *:-) Anyway, I am going to claim the record until somebody proves different *:-) I really enjoyed seeing him today & wish him well. My son (his dad) is definitely dragging his butt however, & that reminds me of what it felt like to have a new kid. No, I don't want to do it again *:-)

Name Dropper!

My son called me today & told me the name of our new grandson *:-) It is a classic, strong, acceptable, honorable name, & the new young man can join the rest of us now that he has been properly introduced *:-)

My boss belongs to a native North American tribe that has the custom of the men in the tribe gathering in a circle after a newborn is named, & standing & shouting the name into the heavens, as a way of announcing the arrival to the cosmos. I think that is pretty cool, & I hope to do it next Tuesday, since we have our meetings just once per week, & the news about the name got to me too late for today's meeting. I look forward to it *:-)

Thank You

A wonderfully healthy more than 8 pound boy baby with big feet *:-) Very nice looking, cleft chin & the whole works. Sucking on mom like a champ *:-) We know we are fortunate to have a healthy grandchild be born, and we are grateful. Looks like that new car seat we bought will be getting a workout soon *:-)

Where's My Plug?!...Damn, I Guess He's On His Way *:-)

Our daughter in law lost her cervical plug completely today, & the contractions are rolling through in sets that are keeping her on her feet. The grandmas are in attendance, & my son (the father) is also home so we believe all will be well. We are excited to see the new fellow *:-)

Can you believe that my son was GIVEN an iPhone by the company he works for? After finding that out, & fondling his iPhone at lunch today for a little while, I came back to work & mentioned to the Interim Acting Executive Director that I felt I needed an iPhone to be as productive as possible...& she said that if I would give the state governor a call & get him to let her know it is ok, she'll get it ordered right away. Not going to happen, I guess *:-) Oh well...

Kirtan, Video Training, No Baby, No Script

Healing Kirtan is in my ears, then to my brain, then to my heart. Magic. Open & honest. It allows me to breathe as I was intended to breathe. I am grateful.

Several hours at the computer for video training today, which forced me to change my default browser to avoid some issues, & also forced me to actually learn some new things *:-) Recently, I have seen a trend in training videos that allow the trainer to just go through the application, & if they make mistakes, they just make that part of the training! Hmmm, I am not trained to train that way, but maybe I missed a train somewhere? I will think about it.

Our new grandchild has not yet decided to leave the Elysian Fields just yet. The Doctor says everything is ok, so we are cool with it & hope the mom-to-be has as easy a time as possible. We believe the new baby will be very healthy because of the full term. Good job guys *:-)

I was able to help my wife today by showing her some new stuff about printing, & also helping her find a free app that installs protection against scripts running when she goes to web pages. She seems grateful for the help, & I yelled at her much less this time while we were practicing, which makes me happier. I am a "slow & steady as she goes" type teacher, & don't really want to practice what a colleague of mine espouses, which is to "learn by destroying".

So much to do, so little time.......................Aum Aum Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti

Moodlum In The House

Cool. My boss approved the teacher level staff development course I want to take to become a Moodle Certified Teacher. I'm back in school again *:-) The pre-enrollment prep takes 2 weeks, then 8 weeks of proctored online course work, which includes a project, a written pedagogically significant tome, & an online proctored final exam. Wow, it really is school. This is something I want & I am already working on it. Good luck to me *:-) When I get all done and have the certificate on my wall, I can call myself a "Moodlum" *:-)

South Swamp Has An Important Visitor; Faith Rises From The Dead

I have worked closely for two years, all over the state, with an important Big Biggie from a different department of the same headquarters group that is responsible for South Swamp. I respect this person a great deal, & he is authentic & we are excellent colleagues. For the first time he visited our workplace & gave a 2.5 hour presentation to everyone, which was very well received. I participated perfectly, & it was clear that I have been very successful in building a solid professional relationship with the Big Biggie & the program that he is responsible for. I did not expect that today's meeting would be so beneficial for me personally, but I feel that it was, & that feels good & I am grateful.

The Closed Heart Warlord has been trying to sidetrack the healing efforts set in motion by the full day workshop on conflict resolution that we all had. Today was one of the days that she offered a "volunteers only", brown bag style lunch time (our own time) meeting opportunity to go over what progress has been made in building trust & other related initiatives. I have not attended her meetings previously because of the obvious bias, but I attended today because I no longer have the responsibility for continuing my own program of trust since it completed successfully yesterday. She was stunned by my presence & that I was participating, & I turned the meeting from fully closed & controlled, to more open & free, & even some of her direct reports felt sufficiently courageous to talk about their own "truths". I hope to be able to keep the pressure on her long enough until she gets bored with the meeting & turns it over to someone else.

Flooding Overwhelmes Warrior

A setback. A reality check. A course deviation. A release. An admission. A near-universally appreciated change. A disappointing result. An opportunity to practice acceptance. An opportunity to practice forgiveness.

About a month ago, the organization I am employed by hired two exceptionally capable trainers to spend an entire day with everyone in the organization in a workshop to allow for reawakening of trust & the foundational steps toward revitalizing an organization that has been devastated from executive abuse, incompetent current management, & radical mission change without changes to resources. The workshop day was very successful, & all were motivated to move forward with the exception of one IBM trained Warlord (henceforth to be known here as the "Closed Heart Warlord") who refused to open any emotional gates & refused to discuss organization growth via increased trust. Because I am a professional trainer, & because I was familiar with & to the trainers, having been a participant previously in one of their workshops, my name was listed next to the short-term but immediate objective of finding ways to build inter-personal trust until the receipt of the official summary from the trainers. Despite the fact the the refusing Closed Heart Warlord declared herself in charge of making sure the agreements made during the workshop were hammered into a workable document for the organization to live by going forward, which of course would end up being worthless under her formulation, I did make progress over the next month in establishing some ground rules, getting some shift in behavior toward trust, & in keeping pressure on the Warlords to stay focused on what is needed to heal the organization. During last weekend, I accidentally happened across the calendar of the Closed Heart Warlord & discovered that she has scheduled herself to be out of town on the day of the "mandatory all-hands building trust meeting" during which the employees will be asking direct face to face questions to each manager, via an anonymous list with the questions read out by a neutral 3rd party. The purpose of this is to build trust through disclosure & open dialog which of course the Closed Heart Warlord refuses to participate in. The meeting is so important that a Big Biggie will be coming to watch the action. I have no doubt that the level of fear within the Closed Heart Warlord was so extreme that she had to "get out of town". I discovered this & made sure that the management knows about it and also indicated that imho it defeats the purpose of the organizational level trust building meeting & that it should therefor be postponed until the Closed Heart Warlord can be present to face her questioners in person. Today I was informed by my boss that my tenure as the short-term trust builder has come to a successful close and that I am to let the subject drop *:-) I am happy about that because it means I did not fail and fought a good fight, although the Closed Heart Warlord has won her battle to avoid the questions.

My practice now is to begin the process of forgiveness with the Closed Heart Warlord, which is proving very very hard to do, because at the moment I feel as though she defeated the organization, and that everyone will suffer because of her behavior. My advisors are right, I am free of the obligation now, but I am having trouble letting go (no surprise there). My wife also says I went too far, which makes me angry with her because it feels as though she is not trying to understand me & share my feelings, but of course I have work to do there too. My, I'm going to be busy *:-)

Still no word on our new grandson that is still enwombed, so we are listening carefully for the phone call that will let us know another family member has arrived.

Food Lump, Ghosts, Small Change

Today the IT team went to lunch together & went to the "all you can eat" Indian food restaurant. I hate "all you can eat" Indian food restaurants because I eat too much, and then don't feel good for the rest of the afternoon. I don't know why I do that. I know better by now. I do it anyway. I will stop doing that soon *:-) I still have a food lump in my tummy that will not move. I don't feel good. Remember this, please, for next time.

It is an odd odd time here in South Swamp. The Warlords pass one another as though they aren't fighting, but they are. The staff who were laid off, and are now officially 11 days into their 60-day death march, are beginning to appear as ghosts occasionally, and I expect that will increase as they get closer to their actual death day. Weird for the rest of us tho. Not much point in working on anything with someone who is turning into a ghost.

If the Biggies approve it tomorrow, a couple of us will be moving to another part of the building. Not really much of a change for me, but at this point around here, change is good.

Lords Of South Swamp [(c) 2007 OurAutumn]

Well, through the process of trying to make sense of the convolutions & striations & silos that currently make up my workplace, I have a temporary ID for the place: "South Swamp". You may have heard, or heaven help us actually watched, "South Park", so that is sort of the model (no, I haven't ever watched it, but there are snippets here and there on the web that I have seen). I just did a google on south park, & actually it sounds fairly cool, so maybe I will try to watch some of it *:-)

Anyway, the Lords Of South Swamp continue to sneak & plot & fight, & they bring all the hanging dead & dying vegetation of their respective pasts with them on their bodies. I have just decided that I shall be a Warrior Of Service, Food & Meditation (WOSFM?...sounds like a radio station). Anyway, I shall chose my own personal colors, create my own personal crest, fabricate my own warshield & weapons, & will now look around for my charger so I can ride into battle, once someone points me in the right direction *:-)

Swamp Slogging: Parsing The Puerile Poop

Arghhhh. Hour after hour listening to the ping-pong outpourings of the staff member who considers himself an expert in all things computer, but really just wants to be loved by everybody. I am responsible for putting together a training that will allow normal everyday staff members to migrate our online courses from one LMS to another. The staff member has the job title that makes him the "expert" & therefor he was able to talk our boss into letting him do the so called "training" to get things started, & my boss, who knows very well that he won't really train anyone, but will just show them, forced him to have me in the room also using a digicam to capture his poop, & then I have to make an actual training out of it. The staff member does no prep, using no script, does not do a needs analysis, and just wanders around through the app arbitrarily showing the attendees stuff he remembers how to do. Obviously, sitting through a session like that is hell for me, & not only that, but now I am reviewing the 1 hour, 49 minute & 23 second video over & over, trying to pull together a training out of it. I have already realized that the two key learning objectives that our boss jointly told us must be accomplished, have not even been touched. I will need to write a biting email this weekend that shows we still have at least one, maybe two, more sessions to go.

I was sitting on my throne this morning mentally suffering because I didn't know how to proceed with the video project, & then my loving wife spent time with me & talked to me for a while, which loosened my mind, & then I was given the insight that I won't actually be able to finish the training materials this weekend, as I had wanted to, but instead I will need to create a story board and script, & then show where the holes are. That allowed me to come up to my office here at home and get started wading through the swamp again. Thanks, sweetie *:-)

War In Our Tunnel Of Transition

Core personality characteristics are becoming more evident as our time in transition rolls on. We still do not know who or what we are, but warlords are appearing and are fighting for territory so that they can establish their own communities & build their own dynasties in whatever new country, nebula, wasteland, ocean, planet, moon, or asteroid we become. An ancient warlord, who comes from the planet IBM, is working full tilt at manifesting rules & regulations that parallel those from her former planet, but do not seem to mesh with what we have been told we will be doing. A young warlord, not yet battle scarred & still quite philosophical, is asking his minions to "think good thoughts" about the future structure as his method of waging war. One former warlord has dropped out of the battle & has sought refuge in the folds of the skirts of the still Interim Acting Executive Director, since she has a guaranteed position going forward & he is hoping to remain hidden & protected by her. A fierce Valkyrie-like warlord has been killed by the Super Big Biggies, & her bloated carcass is sometimes seen floating by in email snippets or momentary sightings. There are up to 23 warlords still hidden in the trees, & only the Big Biggies know who they are & when they might strike as none of us are permitted to know these things. The Big Biggies will kill off all but 5 of the currently hidden warlords, & then they will appear to us under a flag of truce so that take-over negotiations can begin. One of our own warlords is vying for the currently vacant supreme leader position, but he also has not viewed his enemy & is quietly preparing for the final battle. More shall be revealed as the fog of war thins & the sound of battle quiets for a time.

4th Of July; Great Freedom Food *:-)

Perfect day for my wife & I...we got a phone call letting us know that our very very pregnant daughter in law was NOT going to go to another city to watch fireworks even though her relatives had invited her. The traffic on the particular (& only) road between here & there is horribly, & solidly, jammed on nearly every nice day, & today was beautiful. We were relieved that no potential helicopter rescue would be needed if she were to go into labor while stuck in traffic, so once we got past that point, we were able to relax & had just a very nice day, which included me firing up the propane grill & grilling veggie shishkabob, burgers & dogs, & warming the buns too *:-) Everything came out just like it is supposed to, with the black lines across everything, & the carcinogenic black edges *:-) We loaded them up with mustard, ketchup & pickle, & scarfed them joyfully down while drinking wine *:-O Excellent *:-)

We have finally been able to open up the house again now that the temperature has lowered a bit, & hopefully this night's cool air will be enough to protect us from what is supposed to be a very hot day tomorrow.

Briefly Congealed Vapor; Proposal Will Be Forwarded

For about one hour today, a group of my work colleagues coalesced in a conference room and made decisions, in part because I got up and went to the white board and forced commitments. At least now we have a proposal for what we might do to to get some new things going around here, with this meeting primarily focused on distributing what we currently own. Not exciting in and of itself, but I mentioned that we might use guerrilla marketing tactics with certain unions and grassroots organizations, which spiced the meeting up some *:-)

Delightful Gift, Excellent Carseat, Early Anniversary Meal

My wife & I love the character "Mater" from the Cars movie, & have given ourselves a couple little toys for display & fondling close by our work areas, & enjoy making Mater jokes & referring to the character from time to time. We spent time together today celebrating our anniversary a day early, & after returning to our home, my wife gave me the gift she had picked out for me: an incredibly delightful, funky & fun Mater radio/alarm combo *:-) It is hilarious, & has actual audio clips from the movie in Mater's voice that are used as the wake up message. Helluva a lot of fun to listen to *:-) Well, then the fun really begins *:-) The instructions for setting the time, establishing the alarm time & sequence, & for finding the radio station we want remind me of when the very first stuff started to arrive from Japan, & yes I am old enough to remember when "made in Japan" was a very derogatory thing to say about a product. Well, no one actually knows where this product was made, because all the literature vaguely refers to import sites in New York and Canada, but nothing really specific as to where it was made or as to where the impossible to follow instructions were written. I will be spending time figuring it out, because we love the crazy thing, & about every 15 minutes tonight while we were watching a dvd, Mater blasted out his wake up message in an uncontrolled manner, & after about 7 times of that, I had to take the batteries out *:-)

We dropped by our granddaughter's home this afternoon so we could have her mom & dad give approval to the very excellent new carseat we purchased so that we can truly be helpful grandparents & so they won't have to worry about our granddaughter when she is with us in our car. Our granddaughter was asleep, but that was fine, & our son came out to the car & checked it out and approved our installation *:-) My wife stayed in the house with our daughter in law, who is ready to give birth any day now, & was radiantly beautiful with the birth process coming down on her very quickly. I felt honored to see her in that state *:-)

I took my wife to the Indian restaurant that I recently discovered with my work colleagues & she really liked the food too, so hopefully we can meet up there sometimes *:-)

Saint-Tropez? Well, Almost *:-)

So wonderfully beautiful & warm, with ocean breezes here today! As I drove along the ocean coast during my lunch hour, viewing the distant hills over the perfect bay waters, with small white caps, sail boats, power boats, and smaller craft moving freely and happily about on the water, the thought of Saint-Tropez came to my mind and I was grateful that I could enjoy such a wonderful day *:-)

Today's staff meeting washed more of the masks off, and we are beginning to see each other for what we really are. That is good, but not comfortable. Several staff members paired off after the meeting and went for long walks outside to find their new places in the scheme of things. The report I gave was well received by the senior managers in the room, but was uncomfortable for a particular faction that is attempting a coup by usurpation of mandate. Who knows what will happen next?

Software Imperative; Headhunter Calls

We are discovering, partly because I am doing the discovering, that our software packages currently installed on our desktops is not matching the requirements of what we believe will be our new mandate. Today I recommended to senior management, after conferring with the IT Manager, that we needed to upgrade several desktop apps. This will be one way to find out if the Super Big Biggies are really intending us to stay in business, or if they are just going to let us bleed to death slowly.

The reason I bring that up is that I got an offer from a county office to take a position that I applied for 2 years ago, and which I wanted quite a bit. The hiring officer agreed, after hearing what I was currently making and what I was currently doing, that it might be close to a wash, but he and I like each other and I would also be good at doing that job, so we have agreed to sit down and talk it over in a couple weeks. It is hard for me to know if the position I have now will continue past fall 2008, or even if it will last that long. I believe the county job would last longer, but it also would be vulnerable to budget cut backs, so this is a bit of a tough one. I am asking for guidance and I believe I will be shown the right road to take. Nice to be wanted though *:-)

Moodle Schwag, Forums, Courses

Its been a Moodle day for us Moodlums *:-) I got my Moodle hat, & some magnetic thingies, and some buttons for the learners who successfully complete my trainings, & most important for me, two books that are the best ones for learning/using Moodle. The company will reimburse me for the stuff I use in the trainings, buy not my hat *:-( I spent quite a bit of time in the forums and looking around in the lounge, & actually got a personal helpful email from one of the Moodle staff pointing me in the right direction after I posted in the wrong place.
Tomorrow is planned for me to actually begin building courses, & I hope that will happen. We will see.

Indian Food *:-)

Cool. There is a new Indian food restaurant in town, & our team went there for lunch today & it is very good! I think my son & perhaps my daughter have already been there & mentioned it, but I am not sure if I remember that correctly. When the 4 of us were in the middle of the meal, the owner, an Indian man but dressed western style, came over & asked us how things were, and we all agreed they were excellent. He made some remark and I realized that I could respond by using my very limited Hindi, which I did, and he was slightly taken aback briefly & then said "Oh of course, you have been to India & you have learned some basic & helpful words & phrases". He had the traditional Indian mask of non-commitment, but I believe the interchange was pleasant for him & it was for my colleagues & I as well. Fun! Good Food! Why Not?! *:-)