Greenville, South Carolina

I haven't been much of a blogger lately. I have to admit that I find Zippy's letter to Santa hilarious. I probably find it a little too funny.

I spent some time at the GE facility in Greenville, SC this week. They make the wind turbines there. They are massive!! I was asked to go there to share best practices with the Castrol people there at their site. I walked away glad that I did not work there.

The most important revelation I walked away with was this:

I need a camera phone.

I love my crack-berry, but why I didn't get one with a camera escapes me. As I waited patiently for my delayed flight back to Philly, there was ample material to post about. Pictures would have definitely brought this post to life.

There were the low-techies. This group of 6 were doing the unthinkable. They didn't have out their laptops or their ipods. No Blackberrys. They were actually talking, and having a good time of it. They were looked at as oddities.

Diabetes boy sat across from me. He had his laptop and ipod going, but he also had one of those pager looking insulin machines hooked up to him.

Crazy tye dye guy was...crazy looking. He looked like Gene Simmons, long hair and all. There were a few times I thought a confrontation was inevitable as he meandered around the terminal mumbling to himself.

Business man was a fit 60ish dude with a tailored suit. Very spiffy.

Knowledge man spoke of his poweress on his phone, while know-it-all Sal told anybody who would listen how great he was at....well, at everything.

Then there was *whistle*. Good lord.

The prep troop, who dropped their bags because they were done lugging them around, sat next to pearly white grandma. Ivan the Russian was rushing to his flight, while what was she thinking gal got off her flight wearing clogs. Scared tennis girl looked like she wanted her mommy, while grunge wanna be had "I don't like your girlfriend" written all over her. Then there was trifecta boy. He had his phone, ipod and laptop burning. What a cliche he was.

Pictures would have added so much more to this dull post.

On a side note, the number of Amazon Kindle sightings: 0

I will say one thing about my trip. All of the people were nice. Genuinely nice. Good southern hospitality.

Me, on the other hand...

A Letter to Santa

Zipadelli is up to no good. Go to his blog to read his letter to Santa.

What has habit been doing to you?

FATHER FORGETS
W. Livingston Larned
condensed as in "Readers Digest"

Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little
paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily
wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone.
Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the
library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily
I came to your bedside.

There are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross
to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because
you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to
task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when
you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You
gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You
spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off
to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand
and called, "Goodbye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in
reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came
up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles.
There were holes in your stockings. I humiliated you before
your boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house.
Stockings were expensive-and if you had to buy them you would
be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how
you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes?
When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption,
you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge,
and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your
small arms tightended with an affection that God had set
blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither.
And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped
from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What
has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of
reprimanding-this was my reward to you for being a boy. It
was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too
much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own
years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your
character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn
itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous
impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters
tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and
I have knelt there, ashamed!

It is feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these
things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But
tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer
when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my
tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it
were a ritual: "He is nothing but a boy-a little boy!"

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you
now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are
still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your
head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much.

What has habit been doing to you?

Poor Zippy

Poor Zippy had to go and meet Santa. They even put reindeer antlers on his noggin. He's in deep depression now. I hope he snaps out of it.

Go here to see the video. Warning. Pitiful images.

Motivated to do Nothing

Lots to do and I don't feel like doing any of it. Ever feel that way?

With Heather working a second job, I'm bringing a lot of work home. I have to complete a Department of Commerce survey, and I have to review the new warehouse standard, all 33 pages of it, and write a report on where we are currently compliant, and where we aren't. I also started a new team to do a deep dive on every late order we ship, which requires a weekly meeting that lasts about 2 hours. The meeting is for decision making only, so a lot of prep goes into it. We spent three hours working on a flow chart for ONE late order reason code. There are 15 codes. We did this so we have a systematic approach to doing a root cause investigation. Lots of pain in the ass work in the beginning, but I think we will end up with a document that we can share around the business when we are done. The plant manager is back from China, so he'll probably blow it to hell anyways. He goes back in January for 2 more months, so I just need to get him to give me some space to develop the team.

It just occurred to me that nobody cares about this...

I have to write a 2500 page paper due on Friday for Art. Ick. Haven't started that one yet. I need to find time to learn to play the new guitar I just purchased.

I had started running a few months ago, but had to stop after the cough became too much. Glad to say that after a little over three months that the cough is gone. I had been doing the cart instead of running, but I found I was still eating poorly after that. The cart is walking at a 10% incline while leaning into the handles...like pushing a cart uphill. Burns lots of calories, but after doing this for 30 mins, I feel fine after 1 minute off the treadmill. So I didn't feel like I had worked that hard, so it was easy to get back into the habit of heading for the fridge. No soreness or weak muscles to remind me how hard I had worked. Gonna have to start running again, which I hate. Hated it it in the Army and still hate it.

I think this qualifies as boring now.

I don't think we'll be heading to New York on Christmas eve like we did last year. That's kind of a bummer. We're going to have to figure something else out so we aren't sitting at home alone. Can't go home, so to the family reading this, don't expect a surprise visit.

I get to go to Los Angeles in January for work, and I may also get to go to GE in South Carolina to help with a root cause investigation. Time out and about on work is always good. Gotta get that name out there.

We're going to yet another Keith Urban concert on Valentine's day. This time he is with Carrie Underwood at Hershey, Pa.

Should I get this tattoo on my inner forearm? I'm thinking no. Like the style, but not sure I want to cover it up sometimes. As I try and climb the corporate ladder, I think people will judge me by having a tattoo on my arm. Decisions. Decisions.

The end of slideshows?

Thanksgiving 2007

Another Thanksgiving come and gone.

Since we're "alone", we tried to make the best of it. The temperature was around 65, so we went outside and played. We ended up playing baseball out in the street, which is one of the favorite things I used to do as a kid. Zippy was able to get into the fun by catching foul balls.

We had a quick video call with all the family back in Illinois. That was chaotic, but the girls enjoyed it. With all the noise and madness over at my brother's, I was almost thankful for our quiet time at home.

I was asked about 20 times by 20 different people if we were going home for Thanksgiving. Funny how people just assume you go home for every holiday. We may not have the rest of our family around, but what we have is enough. We were thankful to spend Thanksgiving together as a family, even if it was just the 4 of us.

British Scientists Kill Oldest Living Animal

This is special for Paul. Check out the comments. Quite amusing.

Video taken by Heather

Keith Urban Concert #2

Heather and I enjoyed the Keith Urban in concert so much in Philadelphia we decided to go see him in Buffalo (about a 6 hour trip). One of her friends was nice (insane) enough to drive to a different state and watch Jenna and Ainsley over the weekend. Unfortunately, Ainsley was a monster. For the short time I watched her two boys on Friday night, they were angels. I don't think I have a friend that would be willing to watch my kids over the weekend.

The final portrait just in case we don't make it back...




Keith Urban


Heather had a fun time taking pictures of Pennsylvania trees. Here's some snow in the Poconos.



The new GPS to replace the one that was stolen from Heather's van while at the mall. Bastards. check out the straight Pennsylvania roads.


We made an impromptu stop at Niagara Falls.



More Pennsylvania scenery. This time, on the way back.




Pigs don't fly, but they do go by truck.

Tell a Friend You Look Like A Hippo on the Verge of a Heart Attack

Zappy

I wanted to wait until I took some pictures for this post, but I can't wait any longer. The other day, Jenna took Zippy for a walk around the block. When she got back, she let the dog outside without taking off his pinch collar or putting on his collar for the invisible fence. (Insert picture of collar here) The dog, realizing he just walked out of the yard a few minutes ago, made a run for it. Heather grabbed his collar for the invisible fence and put it in her pocket. Why she did this is unclear. It's not like we use it to walk him, and he already had his pinch collar on. Anyways, the house down the street also uses the same invisible fence that we do. (Insert picture of warning on their mailbox here) Do you see where I'm going with this? While bee-bopping down the sidewalk, Heather got zapped from the neighbor's invisible fence. If only I was there to see her jump when she got juiced.

Only Heather. You gotta love her.

More Bears Vs Eagles Pictures

Do you see that?



Check out the dude on the right mid-dive.



Dirt flying.






Pointing (again)


It's in the air. do you see it? The defense does.


Fumble on the third yard line. FFS!

Bears Vs Eagles Pictures

Eagles Vs Bears

Heather and I had never been to an NFL game, so when I got an offer for some free tickets to see the Bears vs the Eagles in Philly, we decided to go. We had some really good seats. We sat in between the 50 and 40 yard line in the eighth row.

We both had been warned about Philadelphia football fans, so we went wearing neutral colors. No orange and blue for us. We were both surprised at how long the seats remained empty right up to kick off. Speaking of the kick off, it wasn't what we expected. There was no real anticipation. There wasn't, "Gentlemen, start your engines!" There weren't any pace laps building up the excitement to the drop of the green flag. It was anti-climatic.

We can't go anywhere without having a Heather moment. She came back from getting food with her pants wet. No, she didn't piss her pants. She did manage to spill a Pepsi all over her (a $3.50 Pepsi).



I remember a British friend of mine complaining that American football was too commercialized, and that it was too slow. After seeing a game live, I couldn't agree more. Every time it got interesting, it was time for a commercial.

Mandatory Family Fun Day

Saturday was designated mandatory family fun day by Heather, so we went to a farm to get our pumpkins for Halloween. It took us about 40 minutes to get there, and we managed to get there without the girls getting into a fight. Once we got there, we decided to try our navigational skills in the corn maze. This was a first for all of us.

Here are the girls at the start. Would we make it out???

And we're off…

I've concluded that Ainsley channels a scavenger, because she is always picking things up from the ground. Corn, anybody?

I asked Heather if she knew how to orientate the map. She gave me her, "What the hell are you talking about" look, so I took over the duties as navigator.

The master and his grasshoppers. Are you imagining Heather standing there looking confused?

With the girls' help, we were able to successfully make it out of the maze.

We had a good time. We all had our moments. Can you pick out the crabby patty in this picture?

You can't go without getting your face painted!!

We each picked out our own pumpkins. One of them took a bit of an adventure, but you'll have to go here to read about that.

Multi-tasking

I'm a fan of Shepard Smith. I listen to his show on Sirius radio while I drive home from work. I find his conversational approach to telling news refreshing. You never know what he is going to say, or how he is going to say it. I found this interview of him very interesting. He talks about skipping verbs sometimes (who needs them), and how technology has revealed to him his ability to multi-task when processing information from different sources at the same time (tv, internet, phone, etc).

Here's a quote from the interview. "Technology has taught us that we can do more things at one time, that we can take in more information and process it more quickly than we could 15 years ago. I know I can. When this computer thing first started, I couldn't deal with the computer, and the e-mail, and the phone, and the TV, and all of that at one time. Well, I can now, and everybody I know can. We don't have the patience.

It's not unusual for me to be on a conference call, following along with the slides on the live meeting link, instant messaging co-workers, and working in JDE at the same time. Another example. Watching the race on tv, listening to the scanner off the internet, instant messaging my brother, and browsing the internet.

We all do it, which makes the next point even more important.

He goes on to say, "You sort of eliminate the things that get in your way in this era of multitasking, and sometimes the verbs just aren't necessary. It's, "President Bush in Washington today." I don't need to say, "He is in Washington today." "President Bush in Washington today, talking with Colin Powell, getting ready for a trip overseas. Telling others yesterday about what happened when, dah, dah, dah, dah." You don't need all of those verbs."

I can find the link between delivering the news to communicating in business today. You have to be pithy, to the point, and you had better make your argument quick. You can't dance around the subject and ramble on, or your message will get lost in the noise. As he says, we have lost our patience.

To get back to story telling, I was recently reading some material from work that taught how to use story telling to help mentor other employees. Interesting stuff. Studies show that people retain information better when provided to them in a story format.

For those of you who are not familiar with Shep, here's a video. For those tasked with coaching others and/or getting the point across quickly and in a manner which aids retention, read the linked article.

FFS

What are you doing, Tony? Two points out of the lead, and you go and do this.

Arm Update

Jenna and I went to the doctor on Thursday to make sure her arm was healing properly. Heather took her for new x-rays on Monday. They provided us a disk with the x-rays on them. They put the original x-rays on there instead of the new x-rays with her cast on there. Lucky for us, the doctor's office was able to pull up the correct x-rays online. Interesting. There was really no need for us to go in then. The doctor simply had to pull up her x-rays and determine if everything was ok, which it was. She gets to go back in 2 weeks to get her cast removed and get a new cast that stops short of the elbow. She'll be in that for 3 weeks, or so. As we were walking out, Jenna heard somebody getting their cast removed. I don't think she's looking forward to the saw. As long as they don't say the word "surgery", she should be fine.

Below are her x-rays.

Things I Found While Stumbling.

One of my favorite toolbars is StumpleUpon. I love it. Here are a few quick links to things I found interesting while using it.

Message to my friend, Paul. Notice the purple text. That just may link to something, wanker.

I'm wondering if somebody legitimately thinks that Americans think this way. Too funny.

Now people are going to think I'm a dork, but I look at this blog every now and then. The food looks yummy, and the pictures always seem to come out perfect.

The power of Photoshop.

An amazing picture.

These pictures of prepping the shuttle for launch are amazing. Don't drop it!!!!

Think you have insurmountable troubles in your life? Check out the pale blue dot to put things in perspective. It will leave you with more questions than answers.

Never heard of StumbleUpon?