January update

It was cold last week.  While I've been one to ponder the cold in the past, this was colder than I've seen in awhile.

wine bottle 2014

We had a bottle of wine in our garage.  I noticed that it was frozen, but didn't take a photo.

Once it had warmed up (from -40 F) I went back to check on the bottle.  I found that the cork had popped, without a wine opener. FYI - frozen wine is not recommended, nor is leaving wine in your garage when it's freezing.

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In other updates, my phone died.  I had wanted to wait a few months before getting a new phone.  I hadn't backed up my photos or contacts.  One day, I could no longer get it to respond when I typed on the screen.   I called customer service, to no avail.

So I have a new phone, which my kids have been asking me about for at least  a year.  I am not the type of person who needs to get the latest phone or gadget.  I suspect it's my midwestern values.  My goal, as I age, is to become more frugal, not cheap.  So having a working phone is important, but having an exciting phone for my kids is not.

I like my new phone, but I would have liked to get old photos and contacts from my other phone.  It's unfortunate that the company's policy is to delete all personal data on the phone when it arrives and to charge the customer to fix it.  I won't be shopping there again.
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As a family, we got two games for the holidays.  I highly recommend both.  The first, Set, I first played at the family reunion with chanson.  It's not easy, but it's something both kids and parents enjoy.

The second, Rush Hour, was recommended by a friend.  (My son played at a friend's party and was hooked).  I'm not going to link to places you can purchase the games - I hope you visit a local business or follow a link to support your favorite cause to order online.

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 Anyway - life is good.  I don't have much time to blog (like I used to). I do want to rehab this blog format and bring it into the 2010s. We'll see.

The consultant

I've had this cartoon up at my work forever.

There's an internet persona I encounter as a part of my job.  Basically, whenever someone has a question with a particular piece of software I work with*, he seems to weigh in.  Usually his comments decry that the original questioner is not a trained specialist, is asking ignorant questions, and he sharply criticizes management for not hiring professionals.  Obviously, this person has a financial interest in these comments - as he is a consultant who makes a living by advising in this field.  He's paid to be an expert, and to criticize the organization and its projects (right or wrong).

This type of arrogant attitude has always gotten under my skin.  In high school, a person was a "poser" without certain punk qualifications.  In college, it had to do with whether or not I had read certain authors or watched certain movies.  At my first job, it was whether or not my degree was in computer science.  For the record, at least that criticism had some basis in reality; a degree in computer science meant a higher salary and less job security.  If that company could keep hiring people without computer science degrees for a lot less money, they would fire the pricier computer science majors.

One sees this in former mormon circles a lot.  People have to trot out their mormon qualifications for speaking up about mormonism.  Born in the church, pioneer/polygamous ancestry (people don't usually mention the polygamy), mission, temple marriage, served in various callings are some of what's discussed.  Then, when they don't have that history, they're criticized for not have enough experience.  When they do, they're criticized for breaking sacred oaths and not enduring to the end.

So there's a vested interest in claiming people don't know what they're talking about.  Personally, I believe it's a balance. 

Of course people have to have a certain amount of knowledge and experience.  I wouldn't want an untrained doctor operating on me or my family. And some experiences cannot be learned.  I don't know what it's like to grow up as a male of color or in southeast Asia.

But it's ridiculous to always claim a person always needs certain education or experience that cannot be learned.  Humanity didn't get this far by assuming a person cannot learn, that they can only learn in certain ways, with certain official qualifications. 

Humans innovate.  They try to make things better.  Sometimes it's worth giving people the benefit of the doubt.

And if a person has read your diatribe against management hiring inexperienced people enough times that one can recognize your name and statements, maybe it's time to revisit your strategy.  I certainly wouldn't hire someone so obnoxious.  I would be concerned that my company or system would be dismissed - that the consultant wouldn't be working towards a solution. 

*For full disclosure, I found most of these questions by googling questions that *I* have had - so I wouldn't say the original questions were completely out of line. 

bus stop

I jumped through all the hoops and changed the bus stop for my kids.

It's surprising how satisfying this small decision is.  Last year the bus stopped a block and a half from our home. Not too far, but far enough that it was mildly inconvenient.  We couldn't sit in the house and wait for the bus.  And the bus is late occasionally, one day we waited for an hour.

As soon as I received the form in the mail announcing the old stop for this year, I knew I wanted to request the change.  There was really no reason that the stop was a block and a half away.  My kids are the only ones who meet there. I also discovered that there is a computer program that assigns kids to stops (which, to my mind, was a good reason to question why the stop was where it was.  I understand computer programs and their defects features - all too well).

The new stop is only one house away.  There are other kids that wait for the bus (for another school) across the street.  We can run to the bus (and have). 

The change process took three weeks.  If there's one thing that's dependable, it's that bureaucracies never change.  First, the school district refused to switch the stop because school hadn't started yet. Then, the operator claimed a new bus driver would be confused (in the first few weeks). 

Finally, and most illogical to my mind, although the stop was changed in the computer, the bus driver wasn't notified until a week later (after two missed morning stops). 

Although computers assign the stops, the process is still a paper one - with the bus driver receiving the stops on paper.  Yes, this is 2011.  Frankly, I don't know if this system has changed since the 1950s (the computer part has, obviously, but not the paper part).

Perhaps it's the pain of the switch, and the irritation of the red tape I had to go through.  It's simply empowering to make a change to one of the little things that drives you nuts.  It's sweet to watch it happen, and continue to save you time and energy.

The appearing and disappearing video store

While running errands yesterday, I drove past a former video store.  The past year or so, the business had just been hanging on.  When we would (rarely) go in to rent videos, there were only a handful of people there.  So, I'm not surprised that the store was shuttered.

What I do find interesting is that so many of these stores appeared and now have disappeared.  I remember when they seemed to spring up everywhere. My own family got a VCR back in the mid-eighties.  I realized that of the five video stores in my area in the past ten years, only one is currently open.

There was a time when video stores seemed to be popping up everywhere, in many strip malls.  Going to the video store to rent movies was an activity.  I remember walking through the aisles with many different people.  There was always a discussion about what to see, what movies a person felt like seeing that night, what someone had seen or hadn't seen.  Depending on the person, this process might take some time.

I'm trying to think of movie scenes where a person is renting videos or in the video store.  I'm fairly certain there are quite a few.  The two I can think of are Orgazmo and Jersey Girl - both are off color scenes/films.

With the advent of movie home delivery services, through-the- mail game delivery and order-in cable - the video stores are vanishing.  My library also rents dvds, and from my understanding, it's the biggest circulation that they have. 

I suppose it makes me a bit wistful.  Before the dot-com bubble burst, and people discussed the new economy - I didn't think (necessarily) video stores would be a casualty.  For so long, ordering or watching videos on one's pc was clunky, choppy and the technology was dicey (at best).  But technology has caught up - and things are disappearing.  While there is still some demand for video stores and game rental - it's just not what it was. And all those small businesses (and franchises) disappear.

It's interesting to think about what else might disappear.  I've talked about technology before...Gas stations on every corner, that's probably going to disappear at some point. Particularly with more fuel efficient cars.  But the other functions that gas stations have probably won't disappear, the mini-mart soda and candy shop part.  Post offices and bank branches may disappear or shrink as well.

My theory is that what people can do online, eventually they will.  It's not that there won't be post offices, because they still have a function.  Just like video stores.  And not everyone has access to the internet (or cable), so some video stores will still have a market. Just not as large of a market as they once had. 

writing on hands

I have a well-known poor memory for some things - particularly conversations and interactions. Also for people's names. I remember faces pretty well, but the names are sometimes lost. I come by it honestly.

(As an aside, I think genetics or something must play into this - some people seem to be better at different types of recollection. I don't often get lost, and I *do* typically remember birthdays; I did before social networking reminders. I have friends who are easily lost, but who remember conversations from years ago almost word for word).

Throughout high school and college, I would write things on my hand to remember them. Perhaps it wasn't the best way to remind myself, but it usually worked. And it was fairly common for teenagers who were my age - I was certainly not the only person who did that.

I wrote on my hand despite infrequent warnings from well-meaning teachers or other adults that I/we could get ink poisoning (is that even possible??).

I stopped writing on my hand at my first "real" job, where I felt I had to look more professional. And I've survived since that time. I wonder if teenagers still write on their hands? Everyone has blackberries now, text and e-mail alerts. So my guess is that they do not.

It's not terribly attractive or effective (if you wash your hands multiple times during the day, you have to re-write whatever phrase it was you needed to remember). And one would think something like "homework" would be a standing order.

Needless to say, there is a food pantry drive at work. I am 100% supportive of the food pantry. Due to the economy, a lot of people and families are hurting. I don't think charity should happen only at the holidays. I will observe, the reminders, e-mails and signs peppered throughout the building are a bit much. Adults are going to give, or they won't give.

Yet despite the multiple e-mail reminders, I kept forgetting to bring in my food donation. I had it planned out. I knew what we would donate. But somehow between getting ready for work in the morning and getting my coffee - it would slip my mind.

Friends, I seriously considered writing "food" on my hand to remember. Perhaps my forgetting was my sub-conscious reaction to any pressure to donate to a charity (I am not someone who responds well to pressure tactics - I'll respond the opposite way, most of the time).

The point is now moot, since I remembered to bring in the food donation this morning.

I was simply remembering when I used to write on my hand to remind myself of things. And grateful that I didn't have to stoop to that level this time.