I went into a jewelry store today that had big signs out front reading, "Up to 70% off!" Inside, most of the displays were labeled with "Everything here 50%, plus an additional 20%!" At first blush, that's 70%, right?
Wrong. Since the 20% is taken off after the 50% off has been calculated, the 20% only applies to half the retail price. That is, 10% of retail, which makes the item actually 60% off, a perfectly valid amount in "Up to 70%."
60% off was a perfectly good discount for the item I purchased, and while I'd prefer 70% off, that 10% was in some ways worth observing the cleverness of the discounting scheme. Caveat emptor!
Friday, December 23, 2005
Friday, December 16, 2005
I've Done It (for the next two weeks...)
In 1994, Scott Adams published what I think was one of the funniest Dilbert comic strips.
For the next two weeks, I have that job! My work with the Connect team is finished, but I don't start with Office Live (my new position, still at Microsoft) until January. Sweet bliss!
For the next two weeks, I have that job! My work with the Connect team is finished, but I don't start with Office Live (my new position, still at Microsoft) until January. Sweet bliss!
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Next, Build a Great Team
In a previous post, I wrote about picking the right person for a task. The process scales up for looking at a team and analyzing what the team should do and who the next hire should be. The first step is to take a look at every task the team does or should be doing today. This will be, by necessity, a fairly high level task area. “Update screenshots based on feedback” is too narrow a task. “Write specifications” is about right. If the list is more than about 10-15 tasks, you’re probably defining the tasks too narrowly, dealing with a team larger than what I’m considering here (that is, a workgroup of up to about 10 people,) or your team is way over-committed. I’ll discuss the latter two problems in a moment, but for this first step, you should make sure you have broad categories.
Next, go through the suitability exercise for each member of the team for each task the team does, figuring out what each member likes and how skilled he is at the task. This fills a matrix that allows you to cross-reference tasks and team members and tell at a glance where the strengths and weakness of the team are. I’ve created a fairly simply sample matrix for a team with three people and four general tasks so we have a basis for discussion.
On this chart, “++” represents “Cultivate,” “+” represents “Educate”, “-“ is for Restrict, and Disallow is blank.
When presented this way, the nature of the team practically leaps from the page. Let’s discuss some specifics anyway. The person that should take on a leadership role for each of the first three tasks is clear. Bob should focus on requirements, Joe on specifications, and Mary on presentations. There’s no need to ask Mary to spend much time on requirements, despite her skill in that area, because Bob has it covered and Joe wants to learn. The whole team is well equipped to produce specifications, which is very good, since I based this loosely on a program management team where that’s the top priority.
Asking Bob to present for executives would be a very bad idea. So much better would be to ask Joe to be a presenter, but have him work with Mary to prepare the presentation. Mary gets the opportunity to be a leader and mentor, but Joe gets to grow his skills. With this particular mix, we have a great situation because Joe gets to lead on specification writing, and Mary gets the growth opportunity (along with Bob.)
The team clearly has a problem in the support area, though. There are two skilled individuals, but it’s a part of the job that neither of them really want to do. Asking them to do it, despite all the other good stuff they will get to do, is going to be a source of friction. There’s two ways a manager can handle this. First of all, he can try to shed that responsibility altogether. In a larger organization, this may well be possible, and the example certainly suggests there are other teams around based on the nature of the tasks. Attacking the problem with concerns about team morale and building stronger focus for the team would be good, defensible arguments. In effect, we’re addressing the concern about the team being overcommitted that I mentioned above.
Another solution is to hire the next addition to the team and use the need for a good support person as a way to qualify candidates. In fact, a person with a “Cultivate” level of support suitability and an interest in either presentation or requirements skills would actually be a great addition to the team, even if they hate writing specifications. For a program management team, this would not be obvious without going through an exercise like this.
This process is scalable beyond the workgroup level. If you roll up the overall team into a single team suitability column, you’ll get “Educate” (or maybe “Educate+” if I can slightly mangle my own methodology) for the first three tasks and “Restrict” for last. Also, in the example, the first three items could perhaps be rolled up into “Program Management” with an “Educate” suitability level. If the larger organization that contains this team does the exercise across teams against a task level where the tasks have been rolled up into more general groupings like this, similar analysis at the workgroup level can be done. There’s no reason that the columns can’t represent whole divisions or that the task rows can’t represent lines of business, it just takes more work to do the bottom up accumulation of data.
If any of my readers has an opportunity to try this out with a team, I would be very interested in hearing about what you find out and how this has allowed you to change the team for the better.
Next, go through the suitability exercise for each member of the team for each task the team does, figuring out what each member likes and how skilled he is at the task. This fills a matrix that allows you to cross-reference tasks and team members and tell at a glance where the strengths and weakness of the team are. I’ve created a fairly simply sample matrix for a team with three people and four general tasks so we have a basis for discussion.
On this chart, “++” represents “Cultivate,” “+” represents “Educate”, “-“ is for Restrict, and Disallow is blank.
When presented this way, the nature of the team practically leaps from the page. Let’s discuss some specifics anyway. The person that should take on a leadership role for each of the first three tasks is clear. Bob should focus on requirements, Joe on specifications, and Mary on presentations. There’s no need to ask Mary to spend much time on requirements, despite her skill in that area, because Bob has it covered and Joe wants to learn. The whole team is well equipped to produce specifications, which is very good, since I based this loosely on a program management team where that’s the top priority.
Asking Bob to present for executives would be a very bad idea. So much better would be to ask Joe to be a presenter, but have him work with Mary to prepare the presentation. Mary gets the opportunity to be a leader and mentor, but Joe gets to grow his skills. With this particular mix, we have a great situation because Joe gets to lead on specification writing, and Mary gets the growth opportunity (along with Bob.)
The team clearly has a problem in the support area, though. There are two skilled individuals, but it’s a part of the job that neither of them really want to do. Asking them to do it, despite all the other good stuff they will get to do, is going to be a source of friction. There’s two ways a manager can handle this. First of all, he can try to shed that responsibility altogether. In a larger organization, this may well be possible, and the example certainly suggests there are other teams around based on the nature of the tasks. Attacking the problem with concerns about team morale and building stronger focus for the team would be good, defensible arguments. In effect, we’re addressing the concern about the team being overcommitted that I mentioned above.
Another solution is to hire the next addition to the team and use the need for a good support person as a way to qualify candidates. In fact, a person with a “Cultivate” level of support suitability and an interest in either presentation or requirements skills would actually be a great addition to the team, even if they hate writing specifications. For a program management team, this would not be obvious without going through an exercise like this.
This process is scalable beyond the workgroup level. If you roll up the overall team into a single team suitability column, you’ll get “Educate” (or maybe “Educate+” if I can slightly mangle my own methodology) for the first three tasks and “Restrict” for last. Also, in the example, the first three items could perhaps be rolled up into “Program Management” with an “Educate” suitability level. If the larger organization that contains this team does the exercise across teams against a task level where the tasks have been rolled up into more general groupings like this, similar analysis at the workgroup level can be done. There’s no reason that the columns can’t represent whole divisions or that the task rows can’t represent lines of business, it just takes more work to do the bottom up accumulation of data.
If any of my readers has an opportunity to try this out with a team, I would be very interested in hearing about what you find out and how this has allowed you to change the team for the better.
Could This Really Be His Name?
The AP has a "News of the Weird" article (linked here on MSNBC) about a lingerie shop using live models in the window. The last paragraph includes a quote from an investigating officer who says no crime is being committed. His name is supposedly Lt. Peter Couture.
Do you think this could be real? "Peter" is vulgar slang for a penis. "Couture" is high-fashion clothing created by designers (such as lingerie.) I can't help but think this is bogus.
Do you think this could be real? "Peter" is vulgar slang for a penis. "Couture" is high-fashion clothing created by designers (such as lingerie.) I can't help but think this is bogus.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Picking the Right Person for a Task
In thinking about how you pick the right person for a given task, a good way to figure it out is to consider two axes of suitability. The first is whether the person is any good at the task. The second is whether the person likes the task. These are really pretty obvious, but let’s consider what happens when you take both and map the person’s suitability into one of the four quadrants formed by the options. I’ve given each quadrant a name for easy reference in discussion, where the name defines what you as a manager should do with regard to assigning the work to a person who’s suitability falls in that quadrant.
Cultivate: A manager should do this for a person that both likes the task and is good at it. Not only does this mean that you have a great choice of who should be assigned the task, if you are a manager of this person, you should be looking for opportunities to leverage his skills to do more of this and related work. In conjunction with his individual contribution, you should also be looking for ways he can supply leadership to others, assuming of course that he isn’t someone who shies away from leadership entirely. I think that latter case is fairly rare, as leadership doesn’t have to mean management or public speaking, but can take many forms.
Educate: This is what you do for a person that likes the task but does not yet have competency. I used “educate” rather than “train” because education can be more than just training. Education should include training; apprenticeship, where the person works with a more skilled coworker to learn the skills; guidance, where the manager or a mentor helps him figure out what he needs to do to improve; and opportunity, where he is given a chance to work his skills on the task, but probably off the critical path. The most important thing is to recognize this is where growth happens. An employee not doing anything that falls into this category is going to get bored, frustrated, or angry, depending on temperament and what other categories apply, and will either leave or stay on with negative impact on the larger team.
Restrict: Sometimes, a person is good at a task, but doesn’t like to do it. This is the most dangerous situation with regards to destroying a good manager/employee relationship because it’s easy for the manager to give the person the task and keep him on it. If at all possible, you shouldn’t ask him to do this work. If you do, though, it’s important to do several things: make it clear it’s temporary; explain the need; take immediate and visible steps to relieve him of the work; and find a way to deliver additional rewards for the work. Don’t think that the extra rewards will carry you along indefinitely, though. If he doesn’t like the work, you won’t be able to pay him enough to keep him at it for very long.
Disallow: For the person who doesn’t like a task and isn’t any good at it anyway, I was really thinking “avoid,” but the word isn’t strong enough. This one sounds obvious when you read it here, but managers assign work to people who don’t like it and aren’t good at it all the time. If you think your employee will grow to like it as he gains skill, think again. Not only will he hate the work, he’ll feel humiliated by his failures, disinterested in the improvement, and resentful of the assignment. If he was going to get better at it, he’d have expressed an interest. If you don’t have anyone else to do this work, then figure out how to get by without it until you have someone who can. If you decide it just can’t wait, then you have a problem on the order of figuring out which employee (or at least which employee relationship) you’re going to sacrifice to get the work done. Put in such terms, it’s likely you’ll reconsider the importance of the work one more time.
A matrix of tasks and the suitability levels for the employee assigned to each provides a pretty clear roadmap about how your employees’ careers can be directed for maximum success.
Cultivate: A manager should do this for a person that both likes the task and is good at it. Not only does this mean that you have a great choice of who should be assigned the task, if you are a manager of this person, you should be looking for opportunities to leverage his skills to do more of this and related work. In conjunction with his individual contribution, you should also be looking for ways he can supply leadership to others, assuming of course that he isn’t someone who shies away from leadership entirely. I think that latter case is fairly rare, as leadership doesn’t have to mean management or public speaking, but can take many forms.
Educate: This is what you do for a person that likes the task but does not yet have competency. I used “educate” rather than “train” because education can be more than just training. Education should include training; apprenticeship, where the person works with a more skilled coworker to learn the skills; guidance, where the manager or a mentor helps him figure out what he needs to do to improve; and opportunity, where he is given a chance to work his skills on the task, but probably off the critical path. The most important thing is to recognize this is where growth happens. An employee not doing anything that falls into this category is going to get bored, frustrated, or angry, depending on temperament and what other categories apply, and will either leave or stay on with negative impact on the larger team.
Restrict: Sometimes, a person is good at a task, but doesn’t like to do it. This is the most dangerous situation with regards to destroying a good manager/employee relationship because it’s easy for the manager to give the person the task and keep him on it. If at all possible, you shouldn’t ask him to do this work. If you do, though, it’s important to do several things: make it clear it’s temporary; explain the need; take immediate and visible steps to relieve him of the work; and find a way to deliver additional rewards for the work. Don’t think that the extra rewards will carry you along indefinitely, though. If he doesn’t like the work, you won’t be able to pay him enough to keep him at it for very long.
Disallow: For the person who doesn’t like a task and isn’t any good at it anyway, I was really thinking “avoid,” but the word isn’t strong enough. This one sounds obvious when you read it here, but managers assign work to people who don’t like it and aren’t good at it all the time. If you think your employee will grow to like it as he gains skill, think again. Not only will he hate the work, he’ll feel humiliated by his failures, disinterested in the improvement, and resentful of the assignment. If he was going to get better at it, he’d have expressed an interest. If you don’t have anyone else to do this work, then figure out how to get by without it until you have someone who can. If you decide it just can’t wait, then you have a problem on the order of figuring out which employee (or at least which employee relationship) you’re going to sacrifice to get the work done. Put in such terms, it’s likely you’ll reconsider the importance of the work one more time.
A matrix of tasks and the suitability levels for the employee assigned to each provides a pretty clear roadmap about how your employees’ careers can be directed for maximum success.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Haiku Status Report
Duncan, a developer on my feature team, was one of those I asked to give status in 30 words or less. He responded in haiku:
(Our bug database includes a priority field that the team that triages bugs tends to not set as they should.)
I am inspired to try using haiku for my own status reports in the future.
Many bugs lately!
Querying priority...
Oops, field is empty.
Querying priority...
Oops, field is empty.
(Our bug database includes a priority field that the team that triages bugs tends to not set as they should.)
I am inspired to try using haiku for my own status reports in the future.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Celebrity Trailer Sale
The sale of my trailer on eBay has made a kind of "celebrity news" in the apparently news-starved world of miniature gaming.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Great Albums
This weekend, I started ripping CDs to my hard drive, but skipping over all those songs I never really cared about that were on the CDs with "the good stuff." I'm almost done because I didn't feel very well today, so didn't go to work. Ripping CDs, though, doesn't require much.
Something interesting in this exercise is that I've now gone through just about every CD I've ever bought, since I've never really thrown any out. I think I sold ten or so on eBay once upon a time, and I've certainly misplaced a few that I was expecting to find during this exercise, but haven't. I've also bought a lot less in the last few years than I did before. But I have a pretty comprehensive set of the music I've listened to since I started buying CDs almost 20 years ago, when they first became available and I switched from vinyl.
(Children: they used to put put music on relatively delicate vinyl discs about three times larger than CDs that could only be played where you had a stereo system and read the music using a needle. There were no CDs and no Internet. Really. It's okay, I can see why you wouldn't understand.)
(Even younger children: they used to put music on things called compact discs that you had to put into a player much larger than your iPod and you couldn't get the music off the Internet very easily until there was Napster. No, I mean Napster version 1.)
(Dad: yes, I remember your reel-to-reel. I think I even remember how it was used.)
Back to my point. There were a remarkably small number of albums where I bothered to rip more than a few songs. Plenty of albums only yielded one song and some yielded none. I think I can classify a really great album as one where I decided to rip most or all of the songs. Those albums don't always have songs that I would put on a list of my favorite songs, but just seem consistently good to me.
That being said, here's a list of some that fall into that category (as Artist: Album.) It includes ELO: Time, the first album I ever owned, a gift from Dad when I was 14. I'd like to hear what some of yours might be.
Something interesting in this exercise is that I've now gone through just about every CD I've ever bought, since I've never really thrown any out. I think I sold ten or so on eBay once upon a time, and I've certainly misplaced a few that I was expecting to find during this exercise, but haven't. I've also bought a lot less in the last few years than I did before. But I have a pretty comprehensive set of the music I've listened to since I started buying CDs almost 20 years ago, when they first became available and I switched from vinyl.
(Children: they used to put put music on relatively delicate vinyl discs about three times larger than CDs that could only be played where you had a stereo system and read the music using a needle. There were no CDs and no Internet. Really. It's okay, I can see why you wouldn't understand.)
(Even younger children: they used to put music on things called compact discs that you had to put into a player much larger than your iPod and you couldn't get the music off the Internet very easily until there was Napster. No, I mean Napster version 1.)
(Dad: yes, I remember your reel-to-reel. I think I even remember how it was used.)
Back to my point. There were a remarkably small number of albums where I bothered to rip more than a few songs. Plenty of albums only yielded one song and some yielded none. I think I can classify a really great album as one where I decided to rip most or all of the songs. Those albums don't always have songs that I would put on a list of my favorite songs, but just seem consistently good to me.
That being said, here's a list of some that fall into that category (as Artist: Album.) It includes ELO: Time, the first album I ever owned, a gift from Dad when I was 14. I'd like to hear what some of yours might be.
- Alice in Chains: Jar of Flies
- Blue Man Group: Audio
- Blue Man Group: The Complex
- The Crystal Method: Legion of Boom
- The Crystal Method: Tweekend
- The Crystal Method: Vegas
- Electric Light Orchestra: Time
- Evanescence: Fallen
- Fatboy Slim: You've Come a Long Way Baby
- Garbage: Garbage
- Genesis: Genesis
- Gin Blossoms: New Miserable Experience
- Live: Throwing Copper
- Mike + The Mechanics: Mike + The Mechanics
- Oingo Boingo: Boingo Alive
- Paul Oakenfold: Perfecto Presents Paul Oakenfold in Ibiza
- Pearl Jam: Vs.
- Planet P Project: Pink World
- The Prodigy: Fat of the Land
- Soundgarden: Superunknown
- Tweaker: The Attraction to All Things Uncertain
- U2: Achtung Baby
- ZZ Top: Eliminator
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Opus Imitates Life
Today's Opus comic strip is so on target. I just read it as I sit in a Starbuck's, working on my laptop, which will underscore how funny it is once you read it.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Elizabeth - Future Gamer Chick?
Recall I talked about going to GenCon in August? Well, Elizabeth was asked if she could have her picture taken while she was there and found out today that she had some nice things said about her on the photographer's website.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Spook, then on to Shamanka
Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Spook came to the Microsoft campus, saving me a trip to the University bookstore downtown - a great author, and so polite! She didn't come for just me, mind you, but as part of a visiting lecturer series put on by Microsoft Research.
Spook, like Stiff, is a great book. I read my (now signed) copy over the next couple of days, and it's really intriguing. It's all about Mary's research into what science has to say about the afterlife and the existence (or not) thereof. It's witty, engaging, and sounds like it was immensely entertaining to research and write. When she talks about her research into the mediums of the early 1900s and the kinds of things they were doing during seances, including the incredibly weak attempts to pass off cheese-cloth as ectoplasm, you can't help but wonder how people bought into that stuff. We live in a much more skeptical society today.
But let me add something more you won't find in her book: I was talking to my dad about the ectoplasm stuff in Spook and he surprised me by saying, “Oh, yeah I’ve seen that first-hand.” I told him how that stuff seemed to have ended in the early part of the last century, so having been born in 1940, he must be mistaken. His response, “Well, it didn’t end in Russia by 1995.” Dad was unexpectedly forcibly retired by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in his 50s, many years before he wanted to be. There was a bunch of trouble that caused, but the good part was that he was pretty well sick of working anyway, couldn’t stand the politics, and this gave him the opportunity to do some studying in some subjects that interested him with all that free time. That included technical writing, until the university dropped the post-graduate degree program in the subject, trombone, and Russian.
As part of learning Russian, he ended up taking a semester immersion class where the students go and live in Russia for several months. Off he went to Yakutsk. (My dad is pretty darn cool. A couple years ago when we went to a local theme park and me and my kids were going down the big water slides, my dad came along and went down them with us. I didn’t even think about the idea that he wouldn’t. Then I was waiting at the bottom of one of them for him to show up and I’m looking at some elderly couple standing there in polyester slacks and just watching, and I realize my dad’s pretty close in age to them. At 62 years old, he’s on the water slides and it doesn’t even seem weird except by comparison. So a trip to Yakutsk wasn’t all that surprising. But I digress.)
Among the many things that happened to him in Russia, my dad got rather sick. Sick enough that the locals were concerned and wanted him to be visited by the “shamanka.” Dad tells me that’s the female version of “shaman” to the Russians. I take his word for it, but it seems like a cool word and I believe that the people that originated Baba Yaga could still have a shamanka or two hanging around. Dad’s like me, and if I read your book correctly, like you – basically a skeptic that wants to believe, but can’t help but ask for just a bit more proof, proof either way just so long as it’s proof. Applying that kind of stuff to himself, though, didn’t sit so well, and as he put, “I managed to ‘miss’ my appointment with the shamanka three times before they cornered me.”
He said the shamanka laid her hands on him and made some weird noises and then spat up a bunch of stuff into a cup. She showed him (eww!) and said it was the sickness drawn out of his body. He said it sure looked like the soup she’d had for dinner – he’d seen her eating not all that long before. That would be it, except that after having a lingering malaise for some time, he found himself feeling significantly better the very next day. He tells me he can’t help but sorta, kinda believe that there was something to it. He found out more about the profession of shamanka, and apparently these people go through some years of training at the end of which they have to pass some kind of spiritual test. Failing the test means death, and some of them don’t make it. So they take this very, very seriously.
This wouldn't have fit in Spook, but if Mary were to do another one in the same genre on things like faith-healing, she'd have some new material. Personally, I wish I could be the one to write that book, as I'd love to take a year and do the research. In the meantime, I've passed on the idea to her although I think she already has her topic picked for the next one. I may not write that book and Mary may, but that's okay. I'll write something similarly cool someday.
Spook, like Stiff, is a great book. I read my (now signed) copy over the next couple of days, and it's really intriguing. It's all about Mary's research into what science has to say about the afterlife and the existence (or not) thereof. It's witty, engaging, and sounds like it was immensely entertaining to research and write. When she talks about her research into the mediums of the early 1900s and the kinds of things they were doing during seances, including the incredibly weak attempts to pass off cheese-cloth as ectoplasm, you can't help but wonder how people bought into that stuff. We live in a much more skeptical society today.
But let me add something more you won't find in her book: I was talking to my dad about the ectoplasm stuff in Spook and he surprised me by saying, “Oh, yeah I’ve seen that first-hand.” I told him how that stuff seemed to have ended in the early part of the last century, so having been born in 1940, he must be mistaken. His response, “Well, it didn’t end in Russia by 1995.” Dad was unexpectedly forcibly retired by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in his 50s, many years before he wanted to be. There was a bunch of trouble that caused, but the good part was that he was pretty well sick of working anyway, couldn’t stand the politics, and this gave him the opportunity to do some studying in some subjects that interested him with all that free time. That included technical writing, until the university dropped the post-graduate degree program in the subject, trombone, and Russian.
As part of learning Russian, he ended up taking a semester immersion class where the students go and live in Russia for several months. Off he went to Yakutsk. (My dad is pretty darn cool. A couple years ago when we went to a local theme park and me and my kids were going down the big water slides, my dad came along and went down them with us. I didn’t even think about the idea that he wouldn’t. Then I was waiting at the bottom of one of them for him to show up and I’m looking at some elderly couple standing there in polyester slacks and just watching, and I realize my dad’s pretty close in age to them. At 62 years old, he’s on the water slides and it doesn’t even seem weird except by comparison. So a trip to Yakutsk wasn’t all that surprising. But I digress.)
Among the many things that happened to him in Russia, my dad got rather sick. Sick enough that the locals were concerned and wanted him to be visited by the “shamanka.” Dad tells me that’s the female version of “shaman” to the Russians. I take his word for it, but it seems like a cool word and I believe that the people that originated Baba Yaga could still have a shamanka or two hanging around. Dad’s like me, and if I read your book correctly, like you – basically a skeptic that wants to believe, but can’t help but ask for just a bit more proof, proof either way just so long as it’s proof. Applying that kind of stuff to himself, though, didn’t sit so well, and as he put, “I managed to ‘miss’ my appointment with the shamanka three times before they cornered me.”
He said the shamanka laid her hands on him and made some weird noises and then spat up a bunch of stuff into a cup. She showed him (eww!) and said it was the sickness drawn out of his body. He said it sure looked like the soup she’d had for dinner – he’d seen her eating not all that long before. That would be it, except that after having a lingering malaise for some time, he found himself feeling significantly better the very next day. He tells me he can’t help but sorta, kinda believe that there was something to it. He found out more about the profession of shamanka, and apparently these people go through some years of training at the end of which they have to pass some kind of spiritual test. Failing the test means death, and some of them don’t make it. So they take this very, very seriously.
This wouldn't have fit in Spook, but if Mary were to do another one in the same genre on things like faith-healing, she'd have some new material. Personally, I wish I could be the one to write that book, as I'd love to take a year and do the research. In the meantime, I've passed on the idea to her although I think she already has her topic picked for the next one. I may not write that book and Mary may, but that's okay. I'll write something similarly cool someday.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
College of Magical Knowledge
Over the last couple of weeks, I've assembled a new puzzle. I started assembling, gluing, and hanging puzzles last year, then pretty much stopped when I moved into my new apartment because of a lack of space. Since I've switched to a laptop for the most part, I finally decided to just push everything on my desk out of the way and make that a puzzle surface. This is the first time I've photographed the steps.
The puzzle I picked is called "College of Magical Knowledge" and is artwork by James C. Christensen. I did another of his last year, framed it, and gave it to Olympia as an anniversary gift. I like his artwork and his paintings make for great puzzles. This one (like the one last year) is 1500 pieces. I find that I can do a 500 piece puzzle in an afternoon, 1000 pieces with some free time spread out over a week, and 1500 in about three weeks. 1500 is also about as many as I could reasonably fit on my desk unless the pieces themselves were smaller. Even as it was, there were pieces stacked on top of pieces for quite awhile.
So, without further ado, here are the photos, from start to finish.
All Face Up
Getting all the pieces face up is always a great first step. You can see that many of them are stacked on others because of the space restrictions and that I've already pulled out most of the edge pieces. A few always get by, so I'll have to hunt for them later.
Frame Complete
I took the picture above as soon as the frame was fully assembled. I'd also picked up a few other things along the way. I had a couple edge pieces that I couldn't find for a long time, as they were buried under other stuff. Rather than focus on just one piece, I moved on, figuring I'd spot the remaining edges as I worked on other sections, which turned out to be the case.
Some Obvious Stuff
Most puzzles have some things that are fairly obvious. In this case, there were a few people and some particularly brightly color rooftops that came together quickly. Once there are a few sections together, space on the desk becomes more readily available, so it's a big step to get all the unassembled pieces outside the frame, as I've done here. In fact, it's more important than resolving the stacking problem, which I still had.
Buildings Coming Along
The buildings were next because they were distinctively yellow, orange, and yellowish brown. I'll browse through the unassembled pieces and pick up a handful of pieces of the same general color, make a space for them, and lay them out again. Then I can try to assemble chunks that can be dropped into the overall puzzle. You can just such a pre-assembly area just to the lower left of the frame area.
I also end up picking up a lot of "here and there" pieces during this process. I seem to have a knack for seeing some piece and getting an "Aha!" moment where I know just where it's supposed to go.
All Rooftops Complete
I'd made a lot of progress at this point. The rooftops were all blue tiles and the buildings themselves were rather yellowish or orange, so they were (relatively) easy to separate out from, say, trees. Note the largely lacking presence of yellow in the pieces stuck off to the side. This was also a great point because I had just put all the assembled pieces on one side of the puzzle and made sure that none were stacked on another.
Building Pretty Much Complete
As the caption says, the main building was pretty much complete. The rest of this was going to be much harder because it was mostly just leaves and tree-trunks. There were still a couple of very pesky holes that seemed like they should have been easy to find that were really bugging me.
Just Trees Left - Working By Shape
Toward the end of assembling a puzzle, when the colors aren't very helpful because the color of one piece and the color of the one next to it may not match much, I have to work by shape to maintain my momentum. Shape, at that point, is easier. When the number of remaining pieces is getting down to under about 250 or so, I'll sort them, as you can see in the picture above. I put all the pieces with no "outies" together, then the pieces with only one, with two that are perpendicular, with two that are opposite, with three, and with four, each in their own area. I'll sometimes sort those groups further based on other characteristics, ideally down to where no group has more than 10-20 pieces in it. For the pesky holes I mentioned above, this usually means they are filled in a few minutes as I know exactly what shape I need and I only have to search through a few pieces to find it. For the large holes, I can work across in rows where I know two or three characteristics of the piece I want and can use that to narrow my search down to a much smaller number.
Also, in that picture you'll see that I've turned the puzzle upside-down. That was because I can only work from one side of my desk and that let me put the empty hole in the puzzle right next to the pieces. I actually dropped a whole corner off when I was doing it and had to take about fifteen minutes to patch the pieces off the floor back into place.
Assembly Complete - Time to Glue
At last, I'm done (with assembly!) I've slid a piece of butcher-block paper under the completed puzzle and turned it around again, even though I didn't really need to do so. Next up was to glue it together. I've used either the puzzle glue that comes in small bottles with exactly the right consistency or standard white glue (like Elmer's) that's been watered down with equal success. It's really weird the first time you do it because it feels like you're ruining it. The glue is painted on the front of the puzzle. What happens, though, is that it dries clear and fills in the gaps between pieces. You have to have some kind of backer underneath because some of the glue will seep through the cracks and glue the puzzle to the table if you don't. Once it dries, supposedly an hour although I tend to leave it overnight, I trim the back and I have a piece I can pick up. Unless I use a more solid backing, it's usually turned into a rather flexible piece of cardboard. For some puzzles, that's it, it can go on the wall as is. In this case, though, I have more planned.
Framed, On the Wall
And here it is, the finished product, hanging on the wall in my office. I took the finished and glued puzzle to a custom frame shop. It was during Olympia's visit last week, so we picked out a frame together and she finally hit on one that looks truly excellent. I got it back yesterday and hung it, then took my camera with me to work today to get this last picture. It looks great and because it has so much of my labor in it, it means more to me than a much more expensive piece I have hanging in my apartment (on loan from a friend - I can't afford really expensive artwork!)
I'm guessing there's about 20 hours of work in this one and it's totally worth it. Maybe it'll inspire a reader to do one, too?
The puzzle I picked is called "College of Magical Knowledge" and is artwork by James C. Christensen. I did another of his last year, framed it, and gave it to Olympia as an anniversary gift. I like his artwork and his paintings make for great puzzles. This one (like the one last year) is 1500 pieces. I find that I can do a 500 piece puzzle in an afternoon, 1000 pieces with some free time spread out over a week, and 1500 in about three weeks. 1500 is also about as many as I could reasonably fit on my desk unless the pieces themselves were smaller. Even as it was, there were pieces stacked on top of pieces for quite awhile.
So, without further ado, here are the photos, from start to finish.
All Face Up
Getting all the pieces face up is always a great first step. You can see that many of them are stacked on others because of the space restrictions and that I've already pulled out most of the edge pieces. A few always get by, so I'll have to hunt for them later.
Frame Complete
I took the picture above as soon as the frame was fully assembled. I'd also picked up a few other things along the way. I had a couple edge pieces that I couldn't find for a long time, as they were buried under other stuff. Rather than focus on just one piece, I moved on, figuring I'd spot the remaining edges as I worked on other sections, which turned out to be the case.
Some Obvious Stuff
Most puzzles have some things that are fairly obvious. In this case, there were a few people and some particularly brightly color rooftops that came together quickly. Once there are a few sections together, space on the desk becomes more readily available, so it's a big step to get all the unassembled pieces outside the frame, as I've done here. In fact, it's more important than resolving the stacking problem, which I still had.
Buildings Coming Along
The buildings were next because they were distinctively yellow, orange, and yellowish brown. I'll browse through the unassembled pieces and pick up a handful of pieces of the same general color, make a space for them, and lay them out again. Then I can try to assemble chunks that can be dropped into the overall puzzle. You can just such a pre-assembly area just to the lower left of the frame area.
I also end up picking up a lot of "here and there" pieces during this process. I seem to have a knack for seeing some piece and getting an "Aha!" moment where I know just where it's supposed to go.
All Rooftops Complete
I'd made a lot of progress at this point. The rooftops were all blue tiles and the buildings themselves were rather yellowish or orange, so they were (relatively) easy to separate out from, say, trees. Note the largely lacking presence of yellow in the pieces stuck off to the side. This was also a great point because I had just put all the assembled pieces on one side of the puzzle and made sure that none were stacked on another.
Building Pretty Much Complete
As the caption says, the main building was pretty much complete. The rest of this was going to be much harder because it was mostly just leaves and tree-trunks. There were still a couple of very pesky holes that seemed like they should have been easy to find that were really bugging me.
Just Trees Left - Working By Shape
Toward the end of assembling a puzzle, when the colors aren't very helpful because the color of one piece and the color of the one next to it may not match much, I have to work by shape to maintain my momentum. Shape, at that point, is easier. When the number of remaining pieces is getting down to under about 250 or so, I'll sort them, as you can see in the picture above. I put all the pieces with no "outies" together, then the pieces with only one, with two that are perpendicular, with two that are opposite, with three, and with four, each in their own area. I'll sometimes sort those groups further based on other characteristics, ideally down to where no group has more than 10-20 pieces in it. For the pesky holes I mentioned above, this usually means they are filled in a few minutes as I know exactly what shape I need and I only have to search through a few pieces to find it. For the large holes, I can work across in rows where I know two or three characteristics of the piece I want and can use that to narrow my search down to a much smaller number.
Also, in that picture you'll see that I've turned the puzzle upside-down. That was because I can only work from one side of my desk and that let me put the empty hole in the puzzle right next to the pieces. I actually dropped a whole corner off when I was doing it and had to take about fifteen minutes to patch the pieces off the floor back into place.
Assembly Complete - Time to Glue
At last, I'm done (with assembly!) I've slid a piece of butcher-block paper under the completed puzzle and turned it around again, even though I didn't really need to do so. Next up was to glue it together. I've used either the puzzle glue that comes in small bottles with exactly the right consistency or standard white glue (like Elmer's) that's been watered down with equal success. It's really weird the first time you do it because it feels like you're ruining it. The glue is painted on the front of the puzzle. What happens, though, is that it dries clear and fills in the gaps between pieces. You have to have some kind of backer underneath because some of the glue will seep through the cracks and glue the puzzle to the table if you don't. Once it dries, supposedly an hour although I tend to leave it overnight, I trim the back and I have a piece I can pick up. Unless I use a more solid backing, it's usually turned into a rather flexible piece of cardboard. For some puzzles, that's it, it can go on the wall as is. In this case, though, I have more planned.
Framed, On the Wall
And here it is, the finished product, hanging on the wall in my office. I took the finished and glued puzzle to a custom frame shop. It was during Olympia's visit last week, so we picked out a frame together and she finally hit on one that looks truly excellent. I got it back yesterday and hung it, then took my camera with me to work today to get this last picture. It looks great and because it has so much of my labor in it, it means more to me than a much more expensive piece I have hanging in my apartment (on loan from a friend - I can't afford really expensive artwork!)
I'm guessing there's about 20 hours of work in this one and it's totally worth it. Maybe it'll inspire a reader to do one, too?
Monday, October 03, 2005
Mary Roach's New Book
I got an email from Mary Roach, who wrote "Stiff" - a book I favorably reviewed on my blog some time ago. I had sent her email and had a bit of back and forth discussion on various things dead, like my photos of a Hawaiian cemetery. Her email announces her new book and struck me as very funny:
Hi again -- I wanted to let you know that my second book, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, is about to hit the bookstores. Like Stiff, it’s my usual goofball, attention-deficit hodge-podge. You can check it out at www.spookthebook.comI apologize in advance: There are no maggots in this one. But there is:
--Vaginally extruded ectoplasm
--An attempt to weigh the soul of a leech
–-A Cambridge University ghost experiment carried out at an X-rated movie house
--Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek’s groundbreaking experiments on tooth scum
--The exact weight of Jesus’s soul
--A 1927 laboratory experiment to produce an outline of a monkey’s astral body
--Cameos by Elizabeth Taylor, Nikola Tesla, Homer Clyde Snook, and the Prince of WalesI leave this week on a four-week book tour. (Gawp.) The readings schedule is up on the site. Thank you so much for your support.
Bestest,
Mary Roach
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Exception: Cat with No Legs
Legless Cat
I said I don't post pictures of my cat, but I figure this is a good exception in that I am making fun of her.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Pleasant Surprise
My first meeting at work was a one-on-one with Chris. (For those that don't know, that's time where you and your manager, or in this case my "skip-level manager," get together to talk about things like career. With Michael, I meet weekly.) We have one scheduled for a half-hour every three months. That's two whole hours a year! Hmm. Sounds a little light, now that I mention it.
Anyway, Chris was a few minutes late and I was thinking that's kind of, well, lame, considering that we only get two hours a year and five minutes is just over 4% of that time. Yes, I actually did the math in my head while I waited in the hallway, which is why I didn't see his email saying he'd be late.
Then he shows up, we sit down in his office, and he says, "Hey, have you had breakfast? How about we go to the diner, 'cause I'm really hungry." He drove, we stopped at a bank so he could get cash, then we had breakfast. He paid for mine and took the time to talk through the biggest issue I face these days in my current job. The half-hour ended up being a catered hour-and-a-half. So my attribution of "lame" was completely misplaced. What a pleasant surprise. Seriously.
What I've really learned is that I need to make sure not to do that kind of attribution or pre-judgment in the future, but let the aggravation only happen after I know the whole story and determine that aggravation is truly warranted. Then, deal with it like an adult, not a petulant child. Sound like a plan?
Anyway, Chris was a few minutes late and I was thinking that's kind of, well, lame, considering that we only get two hours a year and five minutes is just over 4% of that time. Yes, I actually did the math in my head while I waited in the hallway, which is why I didn't see his email saying he'd be late.
Then he shows up, we sit down in his office, and he says, "Hey, have you had breakfast? How about we go to the diner, 'cause I'm really hungry." He drove, we stopped at a bank so he could get cash, then we had breakfast. He paid for mine and took the time to talk through the biggest issue I face these days in my current job. The half-hour ended up being a catered hour-and-a-half. So my attribution of "lame" was completely misplaced. What a pleasant surprise. Seriously.
What I've really learned is that I need to make sure not to do that kind of attribution or pre-judgment in the future, but let the aggravation only happen after I know the whole story and determine that aggravation is truly warranted. Then, deal with it like an adult, not a petulant child. Sound like a plan?
Sunday, September 25, 2005
New Guitar
I've started up my guitar lessons again after a hiatus of over a year, and I'm very excited about it. In the first lesson, my instructor, Colt Valenti, started me on some techniques for blues guitar. I can tell the difference in my playing after only one lesson.I've also bought a new guitar, a Schecter Diamond Series, CSH-1, pictured to the right. The manufacturers website has all the specifications. I already had a very basic Fender acoustic and a Fernades electric. I think it's a Fernandes Revolver. At least after a look at their website, that's what seems to match it closest. It is about 15 years old now, so the minor differences are probably just the evolution of the product. Mine is also a purple color that is apparently no longer available in the new ones.
What's compelling to me about this particular guitar includes price (only $600 on sale at Guitar Center, which makes it on the inexpensive side,) the hollow body with F-cuts, and the lack of a floating tremolo. My Fernandes has the floating tremolo, which means it also has a locking nut. That means that to make more than minor adjustments to the tuning, you have to use an Allen wrench to unlock the strings. Some of the music Colt has tried to teach me involves doing stuff like dropping the bass E string to a D, like when playing music by Soundgarden. That's a five minute operation with a floating tremolo and really cuts into lesson time.
Having a second guitar also means I can have one at home and one at my office. Having a guitar at the office may seem really strange, but by keeping my Fernandes there the last month or so, I've actually practiced more. Sometimes I have ten minutes between finishing a task and an upcoming meeting, and I practice my guitar during that time. I'll also sometimes play when I get to the office early or stay late. All these things happen enough that I was actually getting better even without lessons, but the progress was way too slow.
Lessons, however, are a necessity. If you're thinking of learning to play an instrument, take lessons! You'll waste enormous amount of time trying to figure it out yourself from books or CDs when an instructor-led lesson will accelerate the learning process 100 times.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Attack of the Yellowjackets
Today, my kids were playing outside the house (this is in Maryland) and managed to kick up a ruckus on the part of some yellowjackets. There was a lot of screaming and stinging and tiny things chasing much bigger things which ran away. Fleeing to the house brought some of the little critters inside, which induced more screaming and flailing about. Paramedics were called, but everyone seems okay.
As usual, Katerina took the worst of it, getting nailed something like ten times. Katerina seems always to be the one getting hurt. She's the one that managed to find out which slats in the porch railing were rotted through by falling through them to the concrete six feet below (lots of screaming that time, too, mostly by people other than Katerina.) Despite nothing more than scrapes that time, Katerina ended up with a broken arm after being pushed to the blacktop in school by a neighborhood boy (that liked her a lot and felt really bad about it afterwards.) She also got so excited about Christmas morning one year that she wouldn't eat and when Olympia and I arrived to announce it was time to open some presents, she passed out, scaring the heck out of everyone else (a bunch more screaming - there's a lot of that around her.)
She takes it well, though. When I called today, she answered the phone and said, "Fine," when I asked her how she was - never mentioning she'd been stung repeatedly. She also cried as much when the doctor took her cast off her arm as when it was broken. She said her cast had become her friend and didn't want to see it go. What a trooper!
I think they've figured out to stay away from the far back corner of the yard now.
As usual, Katerina took the worst of it, getting nailed something like ten times. Katerina seems always to be the one getting hurt. She's the one that managed to find out which slats in the porch railing were rotted through by falling through them to the concrete six feet below (lots of screaming that time, too, mostly by people other than Katerina.) Despite nothing more than scrapes that time, Katerina ended up with a broken arm after being pushed to the blacktop in school by a neighborhood boy (that liked her a lot and felt really bad about it afterwards.) She also got so excited about Christmas morning one year that she wouldn't eat and when Olympia and I arrived to announce it was time to open some presents, she passed out, scaring the heck out of everyone else (a bunch more screaming - there's a lot of that around her.)
She takes it well, though. When I called today, she answered the phone and said, "Fine," when I asked her how she was - never mentioning she'd been stung repeatedly. She also cried as much when the doctor took her cast off her arm as when it was broken. She said her cast had become her friend and didn't want to see it go. What a trooper!
I think they've figured out to stay away from the far back corner of the yard now.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
How My Shoes Got Wet
OK, between comments and email, apparently people want to know how I got my shoes so wet last night. Here it goes:
I went to get some dinner fairly late at TGI Friday's in Kirkland. (I actually wanted chicken wings from Wing Dome, but got there just minutes too late.) In front of the restaurant is a fountain and around the fountain are a bunch of bronze statues of people. One is of a little kid, pointing, who's standing right on the edge of the fountain.
I was walking around the fountain and didn't notice the kid statue until I suddenly thought there was someone there. I spun around to see who had snuck up behind me and whacked my side on hand of the statue. That hurt a lot (I have a bruise today) and I jumped back - directly into the fountain.
As I waded my way out, a woman walking by was laughing at me, which was okay, because I thought it was pretty funny, too. I told her, "Did you see that? That statue pushed me in! What a jerk!"
I went to get some dinner fairly late at TGI Friday's in Kirkland. (I actually wanted chicken wings from Wing Dome, but got there just minutes too late.) In front of the restaurant is a fountain and around the fountain are a bunch of bronze statues of people. One is of a little kid, pointing, who's standing right on the edge of the fountain.
I was walking around the fountain and didn't notice the kid statue until I suddenly thought there was someone there. I spun around to see who had snuck up behind me and whacked my side on hand of the statue. That hurt a lot (I have a bruise today) and I jumped back - directly into the fountain.
As I waded my way out, a woman walking by was laughing at me, which was okay, because I thought it was pretty funny, too. I told her, "Did you see that? That statue pushed me in! What a jerk!"
Mess with Their Heads
I got my sneakers really wet last night, so I needed to wear different shoes today. I wore dress shoes. Since I was going to wear dress shoes and a long-sleeved shirt anyway, I went ahead and wore dressier pants, too, instead of my usual jeans.
That really messes with the heads of your managers. They have to be thinking, "Is he interviewing? Is he planning to leave?" I think it might even make them treat you just a bit better in the hopes that it will distract you from aspects of work that you find less than pleasant.
I also picked up the book "Difficult Conversations" today at Kevin's recommendation. It's subtitled, "How to Discuss What Matters Most." It occurs to me that even if I never read it or read it and learned nothing, just having it conspicuously on my desk could improve the tenor of conversations I have with co-workers because it at least looks like I'm trying to figure out how to work with them better.
I didn't set out to mess with their heads, but it's so easy I can't help but do it without trying.
That really messes with the heads of your managers. They have to be thinking, "Is he interviewing? Is he planning to leave?" I think it might even make them treat you just a bit better in the hopes that it will distract you from aspects of work that you find less than pleasant.
I also picked up the book "Difficult Conversations" today at Kevin's recommendation. It's subtitled, "How to Discuss What Matters Most." It occurs to me that even if I never read it or read it and learned nothing, just having it conspicuously on my desk could improve the tenor of conversations I have with co-workers because it at least looks like I'm trying to figure out how to work with them better.
I didn't set out to mess with their heads, but it's so easy I can't help but do it without trying.
Friday, September 16, 2005
At Work Today
Something overheard at work today: "You know, I come in before him and leave after him, and I'm not even working all that hard."
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Book Title
I was talking with Elizabeth about the topic of rewards versus efforts, which is one of the topics I'm thinking to include in a slowly forming book concept. I mentioned to her that I was thinking to put this into a book and she asked what the title might be.
I don't know what it'll be, but I bet it'll follow the formula and be called something like "Thing: A long phrase describing the contents."
I don't know what it'll be, but I bet it'll follow the formula and be called something like "Thing: A long phrase describing the contents."
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Better Attitude About Review
It took me much less time to get past what I always see as terrible news with my annual review this year. That's surprising, because I was very disappointed with my final score at first. But then, I realized that getting a score that translates as "exceeded expectations" instead of "greatly exceeded expectations" really isn't so bad, especially when I work at one of the top software companies (and arguably one of the top companies period) in the world.
I've also received bonuses this year that exceed the U.S. poverty line for a family of three beyond my base pay, and a larger family than that if you include stock awards. I also received a raise that exceeded the estimated inflation rate for 2004. What is there in that such that complaining about it makes sense?
My manager's feedback on the review boils down to, "Dude, you are the awesome, but you really should learn to play nicer with others even when they annoy you, heck, even if they deserve it." It would be so cool if he just included that as a synopsis. I'm going to ask him to do so.
That's what I'll work on this coming year. Even if I personally produce less, I'll focus on getting less stressed out and making sure that those around me are more successful. An interesting side effect is that if I'm asked to cancel my plans and work some weekend, I'll be able to say, "No, that will make me very cranky and I don't get along with my peers as well when I'm cranky. I think I need to limit stuff like that."
I've also received bonuses this year that exceed the U.S. poverty line for a family of three beyond my base pay, and a larger family than that if you include stock awards. I also received a raise that exceeded the estimated inflation rate for 2004. What is there in that such that complaining about it makes sense?
My manager's feedback on the review boils down to, "Dude, you are the awesome, but you really should learn to play nicer with others even when they annoy you, heck, even if they deserve it." It would be so cool if he just included that as a synopsis. I'm going to ask him to do so.
That's what I'll work on this coming year. Even if I personally produce less, I'll focus on getting less stressed out and making sure that those around me are more successful. An interesting side effect is that if I'm asked to cancel my plans and work some weekend, I'll be able to say, "No, that will make me very cranky and I don't get along with my peers as well when I'm cranky. I think I need to limit stuff like that."
Thursday, September 01, 2005
*Cough, cough*, Dad?
I just got off the phone with my dad. Just after I hung up, I coughed twice. These two events, talking with Dad and coughing, in such time proximity to one another reminds me of how as an adult, I now cough exactly like my dad does. So does my brother, Adam. In fact, I pointed this out to Adam once and he said, "Yeah, I've noticed, too. When I do cough, it's always, *cough, cough*, Dad? Is that you?"
Eerie. I guess we do all become our parents eventually, in so many ways.
Eerie. I guess we do all become our parents eventually, in so many ways.
Reviews
It is currently review time at Microsoft. We're actually at the tail end of that time because as of September 15th, if your manager hasn't given you your review, you'll find out what "your numbers" are anyway, as you'll get a paycheck that reflects the changes. The "numbers" consists of a review score, a stock award, a raise, a bonus, and perhaps a promotion. Review scores run from 2.5 to 5.0: 2.5 if you're about to be fired, 3.0 if you are considered a weak performer (although there are exceptions, like for people who just joined a team and despite HR discouragement of such a policy often get a 3.0,) 3.5 for reasonable good performance, 4.0 for great performance, and 4.5 or 5.0 if you had great performance and get lucky (or something.)
My group is running late. No one on my team knows their numbers yet, and that's kind of exasperating because we're two months into the next review cycle and don't have a clear idea of the rewards for the past review cycle. I should get mine tomorrow, though, and that will be at least one huge relief because I really don't need additional areas of uncertainty in my life right now - I have more than enough of those already.
Reviews also include a sort of essay by your manager about your performance was over the year. This may or may not correspond to the actual review score since usually your manager doesn't have any direct control over the score you get. For example, my last review reads like a 4.0 review, but I actually received a 3.5. In my experience, reviews, even good ones like my "tracking to 4.0" review mid-year (where some groups give a "tracking to" score that may or may not mean anything during the actual yearly review) are basically demoralizing. Such reviews usually include a basic statement of the good things you did, without going very deep on the subject, followed by a detailed and excruciating picking apart of what could have gone better. As such, I generally dislike the review process, despite getting continually better reviews since I started at Microsoft.
If I were to go back to my small business and have employees again, this is not how I would handle reviews. I would fall back on Peter Drucker's suggestions to keep reviews positive and save the negative stuff for coaching sessions along the way. Peter Drucker is one of the world's foremost experts on management and I trust his opinions on things of this nature.
One last thing I'll add is something Trevor said to me and others about writing reviews, gleaned from some study he's done on writing good reviews, something that makes darn good sense: "When writing a review, you should try to include words like 'expectations.' You should avoid using words like 'idiot.'"
My group is running late. No one on my team knows their numbers yet, and that's kind of exasperating because we're two months into the next review cycle and don't have a clear idea of the rewards for the past review cycle. I should get mine tomorrow, though, and that will be at least one huge relief because I really don't need additional areas of uncertainty in my life right now - I have more than enough of those already.
Reviews also include a sort of essay by your manager about your performance was over the year. This may or may not correspond to the actual review score since usually your manager doesn't have any direct control over the score you get. For example, my last review reads like a 4.0 review, but I actually received a 3.5. In my experience, reviews, even good ones like my "tracking to 4.0" review mid-year (where some groups give a "tracking to" score that may or may not mean anything during the actual yearly review) are basically demoralizing. Such reviews usually include a basic statement of the good things you did, without going very deep on the subject, followed by a detailed and excruciating picking apart of what could have gone better. As such, I generally dislike the review process, despite getting continually better reviews since I started at Microsoft.
If I were to go back to my small business and have employees again, this is not how I would handle reviews. I would fall back on Peter Drucker's suggestions to keep reviews positive and save the negative stuff for coaching sessions along the way. Peter Drucker is one of the world's foremost experts on management and I trust his opinions on things of this nature.
One last thing I'll add is something Trevor said to me and others about writing reviews, gleaned from some study he's done on writing good reviews, something that makes darn good sense: "When writing a review, you should try to include words like 'expectations.' You should avoid using words like 'idiot.'"
Saturday, August 27, 2005
43 Things
http://www.43things.com/person/darktortoise
I've started my own list on 43 Things (and on the companion site, 43 Places.) This website is an incredibly cool idea, just the sort of thing that makes me happy to be living in the age of the Internet.
I've started my own list on 43 Things (and on the companion site, 43 Places.) This website is an incredibly cool idea, just the sort of thing that makes me happy to be living in the age of the Internet.
Call Me Overton?
I've been toying with the idea of asking people around me to refer to me as "Overton" rather than "Aaron." I like my last name better than my first anyway. I wonder if it would stick? Or just seem ridiculous?
My grandfather was always called Overton, even by my grandmother. She explained to me recently that she had met him at work where everyone was referred to by their last names rather than their first names. Even after they got married, she thought of him as Overton and just kept with it.
Think of the other examples: Wasn't it cool in the movie, "Aliens," that everyone called the heroine Ripley, her last name? On the TV series, "Alias," don't you like that Sid's romantic interest is called Vaughan rather than Michael? How about "The X-Files," with Scully and Mulder? No apparent lack of intimacy, but so much more interesting than "Dana and Fox."
My readers on this list are mostly the people that know me best, mostly. (Another little "Aliens" reference, there.) What do you think?
My grandfather was always called Overton, even by my grandmother. She explained to me recently that she had met him at work where everyone was referred to by their last names rather than their first names. Even after they got married, she thought of him as Overton and just kept with it.
Think of the other examples: Wasn't it cool in the movie, "Aliens," that everyone called the heroine Ripley, her last name? On the TV series, "Alias," don't you like that Sid's romantic interest is called Vaughan rather than Michael? How about "The X-Files," with Scully and Mulder? No apparent lack of intimacy, but so much more interesting than "Dana and Fox."
My readers on this list are mostly the people that know me best, mostly. (Another little "Aliens" reference, there.) What do you think?
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Car Accident Continues
When I imagine a car accident, I now picture it differently. Instead of engine oil, metal, and plastic flying around, I picture an enormous explosion of paper that covers the entire neighborhood.
Contributing to this mental image is the delivery of the civil case now filed against me King County Superior Court for unspecified damages covering a host of complaints. The trial date is set for February 12, 2007.
I guess I need to talk again to my insurance company (that's been uncomfortably quiet) and find an attorney that I can't afford but need to have.
Contributing to this mental image is the delivery of the civil case now filed against me King County Superior Court for unspecified damages covering a host of complaints. The trial date is set for February 12, 2007.
I guess I need to talk again to my insurance company (that's been uncomfortably quiet) and find an attorney that I can't afford but need to have.
Monday, August 22, 2005
GenCon Weekend
The rest of GenCon was great fun. Elizabeth and I played more games, including a second pass at the True Dungeon game, this time for the other adventure. There was one particular room in there that was worth the entire price of admission. In it, we entered a room with a silence spell over it. In play terms, that meant that anyone who communicated through sound would take damage. A riddle written on the wall indicated that to exit the room, we had to ring a bell that was there, which meant lifting the silence.
Lifting the silence required four different people to put their hands into the mouths of skulls mounted on the wall and "endure" the experience. I went first and it was really freaky. The mouth of the skull was filled with what felt like spiderwebs. Then, as I was standing there with my hand through a hole in the wall, it felt like something started licking my hand with a big, gross, slimy tongue. I almost yanked my hand out, but then settled down and let it happen. Finally, my hand was pushed out and had a letter stamped on it.
I knew Elizabeth was going to freak out at it, and two other members of our group had done it already. She put her hand through it and I moved over behind her and held her arm in place. The rest of the guys with us gathered around and encouraged her (silently) to keep quiet. It was totally obvious when the hand-licking thing started, because Elizabeth stiffened and clapped her other hand over her mouth. So there we are, six guys huddled around a teenage girl who's hand is stuck in the mouth of a skull where something unseen licks at her, all trying to stay totally quiet, the scene lit only by a couple of small green glowing bulbs. That's an incredibly tense situation that was about as entertaining as anything that weekend.
Most of the rest of our time was spent exploring the exhibit hall, although we played a game of Pirates of the Spanish Main with our newly acquired ships and participated in a free session where you get a free miniature and get to paint it using paints and brushes supplied by the sponsors, in this case Reaper Miniatures. It was the first time I'd painted a figure in quite some time, so I wasn't totally happy with it, but it certainly got me thinking about picking up painting again.
I think four days was enough (and Elizabeth agreed) but I'm looking forward to another convention when I can, and GenCon next year at a minimum.
Lifting the silence required four different people to put their hands into the mouths of skulls mounted on the wall and "endure" the experience. I went first and it was really freaky. The mouth of the skull was filled with what felt like spiderwebs. Then, as I was standing there with my hand through a hole in the wall, it felt like something started licking my hand with a big, gross, slimy tongue. I almost yanked my hand out, but then settled down and let it happen. Finally, my hand was pushed out and had a letter stamped on it.
I knew Elizabeth was going to freak out at it, and two other members of our group had done it already. She put her hand through it and I moved over behind her and held her arm in place. The rest of the guys with us gathered around and encouraged her (silently) to keep quiet. It was totally obvious when the hand-licking thing started, because Elizabeth stiffened and clapped her other hand over her mouth. So there we are, six guys huddled around a teenage girl who's hand is stuck in the mouth of a skull where something unseen licks at her, all trying to stay totally quiet, the scene lit only by a couple of small green glowing bulbs. That's an incredibly tense situation that was about as entertaining as anything that weekend.
Most of the rest of our time was spent exploring the exhibit hall, although we played a game of Pirates of the Spanish Main with our newly acquired ships and participated in a free session where you get a free miniature and get to paint it using paints and brushes supplied by the sponsors, in this case Reaper Miniatures. It was the first time I'd painted a figure in quite some time, so I wasn't totally happy with it, but it certainly got me thinking about picking up painting again.
I think four days was enough (and Elizabeth agreed) but I'm looking forward to another convention when I can, and GenCon next year at a minimum.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
GenCon Friday
Friday at GenCon started with some aggravation that was happily averted. Late Thursday, my badge fell off somewhere between when I looked at it while crossing a street coming back from dinner and entering the convention center a block away. I noticed it was missing no more than three minutes after it fell off, but after retracing my steps three times, I figure it was just gone. That's bad, because replacement of the badge was both necessary and $70. Fortunately, Zev was able to wrangle me a GM badge under the Z-Man Games name, and I was able to avoid paying for a new one.
I realize I forgot to mention that on Thursday, Elizabeth and I tried out Pirates of the Spanish Main by WizKids. You get these little plastic cards where you can punch out pieces and assemble them into pirate ships. Then, by taking turns moving them and firing with cannons, you fight the other players ships and try to sink them before they sink you. The basics are very simple and the game is very compact, so we bought a few packs of ships.
After some more time poking around the exhibit hall, we went to play the National Security Decision Making Game. Not the most exciting title, but it's a game of role-playing political leaders, military leaders, and so on in a real-world setting with a near infinite number of scenarios to play. Elizabeth found the briefing very confusing, so she instead went to watch some anime and go back to the exhibit hall. I stayed to play and ended up in a dual role of Air Force Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. There were about 50 people in the game, half playing US roles, half playing Iranian roles. In the game, the Iranians were developing nukes, an Ebola outbreak was spreading through Africa and bounced to continental Europe, and internal intrigue was going on in both countries. The winners are determined by judgement call of the group of facilitators, and I nabbed a very respectable fourth place by being the instrumental player in containing the Ebola outbreak and building some Air Force-controlled bioweapons despite international treaties and without the Secretary of Defense or President knowing that it happened.
We also tracked down my good friend Bobby, who has left his "regular" job to become a full-time miniatures sculptor. I hadn't talked to him in some time, but we picked up right where we left off, which to me is the best indication of true friendship. No matter how long it's been, it's like no time has passed when you get together again. I caught him at his sculpting demonstration table, put my camera in front of my face, and called out, "Mr. Jackson, a picture please?" He looked up, I got the photo below, and he only figured out it was me when I lowered the camera. Warm welcome number two!
Bobby Jackson, Cool Sculptor Guy
Later, Elizabeth and I got into a game of Seafarers of Catan on a "giant" board. It wasn't as large as I expected, but it was still fun to play on a cool board. It was an incredibly close game, as I was prepared to win on my next turn when another player, Carol, picked up her last victory point and won ahead of me. Here's a look at the special board:
Giant Seafarers of Catan Board
We then went to a seminar, where I was the "expert." One of my StormReavers, Steve, helped me set up two seminar sessions where I would discuss the WarEngine rules with experienced players as we try to figure out what a new edition of the game might include. The seminar included only three attendees for this session, Steve, Ray, and David, but that was okay, as we worked through a better movement system, a better way to define weapon characteristics, and a few other smaller fixes. There's another session tonight and Bobby at least will likely join us for that one.
After the seminar, it was back to the Hong Kong Action Movie room, where Elizabeth again fell asleep, but I watched the last hour of a funny movie. I have no idea what it was, though, as I never saw the title.
Now, Elizabeth is ready to go and we're headed for the convention center again, prepared to fight for parking with fans coming to the Colts game in the RCA Dome right next to the convention. More True Dungeon today, too.
I realize I forgot to mention that on Thursday, Elizabeth and I tried out Pirates of the Spanish Main by WizKids. You get these little plastic cards where you can punch out pieces and assemble them into pirate ships. Then, by taking turns moving them and firing with cannons, you fight the other players ships and try to sink them before they sink you. The basics are very simple and the game is very compact, so we bought a few packs of ships.
After some more time poking around the exhibit hall, we went to play the National Security Decision Making Game. Not the most exciting title, but it's a game of role-playing political leaders, military leaders, and so on in a real-world setting with a near infinite number of scenarios to play. Elizabeth found the briefing very confusing, so she instead went to watch some anime and go back to the exhibit hall. I stayed to play and ended up in a dual role of Air Force Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. There were about 50 people in the game, half playing US roles, half playing Iranian roles. In the game, the Iranians were developing nukes, an Ebola outbreak was spreading through Africa and bounced to continental Europe, and internal intrigue was going on in both countries. The winners are determined by judgement call of the group of facilitators, and I nabbed a very respectable fourth place by being the instrumental player in containing the Ebola outbreak and building some Air Force-controlled bioweapons despite international treaties and without the Secretary of Defense or President knowing that it happened.
We also tracked down my good friend Bobby, who has left his "regular" job to become a full-time miniatures sculptor. I hadn't talked to him in some time, but we picked up right where we left off, which to me is the best indication of true friendship. No matter how long it's been, it's like no time has passed when you get together again. I caught him at his sculpting demonstration table, put my camera in front of my face, and called out, "Mr. Jackson, a picture please?" He looked up, I got the photo below, and he only figured out it was me when I lowered the camera. Warm welcome number two!
Bobby Jackson, Cool Sculptor Guy
Later, Elizabeth and I got into a game of Seafarers of Catan on a "giant" board. It wasn't as large as I expected, but it was still fun to play on a cool board. It was an incredibly close game, as I was prepared to win on my next turn when another player, Carol, picked up her last victory point and won ahead of me. Here's a look at the special board:
Giant Seafarers of Catan Board
We then went to a seminar, where I was the "expert." One of my StormReavers, Steve, helped me set up two seminar sessions where I would discuss the WarEngine rules with experienced players as we try to figure out what a new edition of the game might include. The seminar included only three attendees for this session, Steve, Ray, and David, but that was okay, as we worked through a better movement system, a better way to define weapon characteristics, and a few other smaller fixes. There's another session tonight and Bobby at least will likely join us for that one.
After the seminar, it was back to the Hong Kong Action Movie room, where Elizabeth again fell asleep, but I watched the last hour of a funny movie. I have no idea what it was, though, as I never saw the title.
Now, Elizabeth is ready to go and we're headed for the convention center again, prepared to fight for parking with fans coming to the Colts game in the RCA Dome right next to the convention. More True Dungeon today, too.
GenCon Thursday
Elizabeth and I have been very busy here at GenCon, doing lots of fun stuff. Thursday, we browsed the exhibit hall for a bit and found my friend Zev, working his booth for his company, Z-Man Games. Elizabeth was amazed at the warm reception I got when I found him. When I was running DemonBlade Games, she was really too young to appreciate the kinds of friendships I established with some other guys in the industry.
Just walking around is interesting in and of itself, not just because of exhibitors, but because of other people attending. These two guys posed for me in mock combat:
Elf Guy Battles a Ghost Buster
We signed up for several events, then we got to play in a True Dungeon adventure. This is really pretty cool, as you walk through these incredibly dark rooms that are tricked out to look like carved dungeon halls. In any given room, there are either traps to puzzle past or monsters to fight. I played the cleric of our group. To make it more interesting than just rolling dice, the power of the spells I cast was dependent on memory. They gave me a set of about 15 prayer beads, all different. Each corresponds to a word, such as piety or fortitude. When I want to cast a spell, I would tell the guy running the room which one and he would ask me to show him a particular one. "Show me your bead of grace," he'd say, and I'd pick out the one that looks like a little melon. The less tries to get the right bead, the better the effect of the spell. I got them on the first try every time, so I was very effective. In the end, out our group of seven characters, two were killed by a failed attempt past a puzzle room and the rest of us died in the last room by not figuring out the final puzzle fast enough. That wasn't all that uncommon, apparently, and it was still lots of fun. There's a second adventure, and Elizabeth and I will play that one later today.
We dropped by the miniatures hall after that to see how some of my old StormReaver demo guys were doing running games of Shock Force and variants, that being one of the games I wrote. There was a Shock Force game, a Stargate variant, a Civil War variant, and a WWII variant all going. It's so cool to see people still playing my games. The WWII game looked particularly well planned out, and I got a picture of one of the battles in progress that came out rather well:
WWII Action Using WarEngine Rules
We had dinner with Zev and Paul (Zev's friend that helps him with Z-Man.) Elizabeth and I then tried out a game of Memoir '44, a much simpler WWII battle game by Days of Wonder. Finally, we headed over to one of the hotels where Zev's company sponsors a Hong Kong Action Movie room that runs movies from 8am to midnight every day of the convention. We started watching Big Trouble in Little China, but by this time it was really getting late and we were both kind of nodding off, so we headed back to the hotel for the night.
Just walking around is interesting in and of itself, not just because of exhibitors, but because of other people attending. These two guys posed for me in mock combat:
Elf Guy Battles a Ghost Buster
We signed up for several events, then we got to play in a True Dungeon adventure. This is really pretty cool, as you walk through these incredibly dark rooms that are tricked out to look like carved dungeon halls. In any given room, there are either traps to puzzle past or monsters to fight. I played the cleric of our group. To make it more interesting than just rolling dice, the power of the spells I cast was dependent on memory. They gave me a set of about 15 prayer beads, all different. Each corresponds to a word, such as piety or fortitude. When I want to cast a spell, I would tell the guy running the room which one and he would ask me to show him a particular one. "Show me your bead of grace," he'd say, and I'd pick out the one that looks like a little melon. The less tries to get the right bead, the better the effect of the spell. I got them on the first try every time, so I was very effective. In the end, out our group of seven characters, two were killed by a failed attempt past a puzzle room and the rest of us died in the last room by not figuring out the final puzzle fast enough. That wasn't all that uncommon, apparently, and it was still lots of fun. There's a second adventure, and Elizabeth and I will play that one later today.
We dropped by the miniatures hall after that to see how some of my old StormReaver demo guys were doing running games of Shock Force and variants, that being one of the games I wrote. There was a Shock Force game, a Stargate variant, a Civil War variant, and a WWII variant all going. It's so cool to see people still playing my games. The WWII game looked particularly well planned out, and I got a picture of one of the battles in progress that came out rather well:
WWII Action Using WarEngine Rules
We had dinner with Zev and Paul (Zev's friend that helps him with Z-Man.) Elizabeth and I then tried out a game of Memoir '44, a much simpler WWII battle game by Days of Wonder. Finally, we headed over to one of the hotels where Zev's company sponsors a Hong Kong Action Movie room that runs movies from 8am to midnight every day of the convention. We started watching Big Trouble in Little China, but by this time it was really getting late and we were both kind of nodding off, so we headed back to the hotel for the night.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Aaron and Elizabeth
Elizabeth's here now, too! I asked the woman at the hotel front desk to take this picture of us together. Actually, she was so happy to take pictures of us that she practically grabbed the camera out of my hand. She then raved about Elizabeth's hair, which is somehow the same hair Elizabeth herself had just said was so awful. Judge for yourself:
Aaron and Elizabeth
Aaron and Elizabeth
Coming to You Live from Indiana
I am in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the Courtyard by Marriott Indianapolis South. I arrived a short time ago and figured I'd go ahead and get my rental car and check into the hotel instead of just waiting three hours to get Elizabeth from the airport. She's arriving shortly on her first flight without parental escort.
We're here for GenCon 2005, a huge gaming convention I have attended before, but not in a few years and never with Elizabeth. I've also never been to the Indianapolis location for the convention, as it was still being held in Milwaukee the last time I went. I plan to take a lot of pictures, as there are lots of things to see, and to play a lot of games.
I did have a great conversation with two flight attendants on the flight from Seattle to Chicago. It was really good to get a different and positive experience from a previous one I've described elsewhere in this blog. For now, though, I'm going to go get Elizabeth and begin what should be a really fun extended weekend with my eldest daughter.
We're here for GenCon 2005, a huge gaming convention I have attended before, but not in a few years and never with Elizabeth. I've also never been to the Indianapolis location for the convention, as it was still being held in Milwaukee the last time I went. I plan to take a lot of pictures, as there are lots of things to see, and to play a lot of games.
I did have a great conversation with two flight attendants on the flight from Seattle to Chicago. It was really good to get a different and positive experience from a previous one I've described elsewhere in this blog. For now, though, I'm going to go get Elizabeth and begin what should be a really fun extended weekend with my eldest daughter.
Don't Be That Guy
I went to a lecture today, "Getting Started in Podcasting." There were parts of it that were interesting although it certainly feels like there's a certain amount of much ado about nothing. Podcasting is mostly about recording some audio or video then posting it on the Internet. That's about it.
The thing is, part of the title is "Getting Started." It seems like there were several of "that guy" there, though. You know the one. He comes to the introductory session, but already knows all that stuff. Then, he doesn't just ask questions about advanced topics while the people sitting around him stare at him blankly, he peppers those questions with his own comments. Comments that effectively highjack the presentation so he can show how smart he is.
The first guy like this that I recall distinctly was in a college course in computer science. I forget the exact title of the class, but the examples were all written in Pascal. Almost every class session, and often multiple times in the same class session, he'd start his question or comment with, "Well, I use C and...." (For those that don't know, Pascal and C are two computer programming languages. Pascal was mostly used as an instructional language. C and its descendents are probably the most popular mainstream languages.) You could just hear it in the guy's voice that he thought he was just the coolest guy ever because he was in a college class and already was using C at work.
Eventually, whenever he'd be about to say something, I'd mutter under my breath, "Well, I use C and...." Seconds later he'd say it. When I say mutter, of course I mean "say quietly but not so quietly the half-dozen people around me couldn't hear me." It was all so entertaining for us, and way better than listening to that guy.
Don't be that guy.
The thing is, part of the title is "Getting Started." It seems like there were several of "that guy" there, though. You know the one. He comes to the introductory session, but already knows all that stuff. Then, he doesn't just ask questions about advanced topics while the people sitting around him stare at him blankly, he peppers those questions with his own comments. Comments that effectively highjack the presentation so he can show how smart he is.
The first guy like this that I recall distinctly was in a college course in computer science. I forget the exact title of the class, but the examples were all written in Pascal. Almost every class session, and often multiple times in the same class session, he'd start his question or comment with, "Well, I use C and...." (For those that don't know, Pascal and C are two computer programming languages. Pascal was mostly used as an instructional language. C and its descendents are probably the most popular mainstream languages.) You could just hear it in the guy's voice that he thought he was just the coolest guy ever because he was in a college class and already was using C at work.
Eventually, whenever he'd be about to say something, I'd mutter under my breath, "Well, I use C and...." Seconds later he'd say it. When I say mutter, of course I mean "say quietly but not so quietly the half-dozen people around me couldn't hear me." It was all so entertaining for us, and way better than listening to that guy.
Don't be that guy.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Emmons Glacier Hike
Emmons Glacier
That's right, after several weeks of no wilderness hikes, I was out hiking again on Saturday. This time was to Emmons Glacier Basin in the Mount Rainier National Park, about seven miles. The best picture that I took was the one above, which happened to be only about 1.25 miles in, so someone wanting to get a great view would only have about 2.5 miles of walking. Of course, from Seattle that's about 90 miles of driving each way, so you'd really have to want to see this particular view to only walk 2.5 miles.
Emmons Glacier is the largest glacier in the "lower 48," and the trail to the glacier basin is a commonly used route for climbers headed to the summit of Mount Rainier. The Wikipedia entry for the glacier has some information on that and a good diagram of the area.
Gaurav went with me again, becoming my first two-hike companion. He vowed to quit smoking forever as we were driving back, but by the time I got around to writing this blog entry, he'd started again. What an insidious habit smoking is. I don't get it myself, because while I actually kind of like the smell of a lit cigarette, the couple of times I tried smoking back in college, it just wasn't all that appealing. I don't understand drinking coffee, either, for that matter.
We (and I use "we" to mean "me, while Gaurav listened) did chat a bit with a woman that was headed to the summit. She was going to spend the night at a shelter around 10,000 feet, then strike for the summit at the usual starting time of 1am, when the snow and ice near the top are at their most solid. She said it was her second time climbing Mount Rainier. The first time for her was four years ago and she described it as, "Easy." She started with a basic mountaineering course from The Mountaineers. They have a basic mountaineering course of study that starts in January and prepares you for a climb to the summit by mid-summer. Getting all of this information was my way of researching what it would take for me to climb the mountain myself. I plan to sign up for the course next January, so perhaps this time next year, I'll be headed to the summit.
In the meantime, it was great to be back in the wilderness again. It's a great contrast with my city walks. And today, Sunday, I was all primed to do Walk 5 in Seattle, for a total of some 14 miles of walking/hiking this weekend.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Jack of All Trades
Yesterday, I finished up some SQL views that will allow our internal customers to create ad hoc reports about beta program participation. This is a task that had been languishing for some time, waiting for a developer to come available who could do the work. But now, I'm doing it.
At Microsoft, there are six general disciplines defined on a team: Program Management (feature design and schedules,) Product Management (requirements and customer interaction,) Development, Test, User Experience (usability, documentation, and interface design,) and Release Management (deployment.)
With the work I just did for these views, it's my first work as a developer at Microsoft. My primary role is as a program manager. We don't have a dedicated product manager, so we're light on representation there, so I've picked up some of that work, too. I've filed as many bugs as anyone on the test team and have even had some days where my bug report total exceeds that of the entire test team combined. And I recently contributed as editor for our administration site's documentation. When we were deploying, I worked with the Passport team to make sure our site met compliance. That means I've now done some work in every discipline. And that is cool.
At Microsoft, there are six general disciplines defined on a team: Program Management (feature design and schedules,) Product Management (requirements and customer interaction,) Development, Test, User Experience (usability, documentation, and interface design,) and Release Management (deployment.)
With the work I just did for these views, it's my first work as a developer at Microsoft. My primary role is as a program manager. We don't have a dedicated product manager, so we're light on representation there, so I've picked up some of that work, too. I've filed as many bugs as anyone on the test team and have even had some days where my bug report total exceeds that of the entire test team combined. And I recently contributed as editor for our administration site's documentation. When we were deploying, I worked with the Passport team to make sure our site met compliance. That means I've now done some work in every discipline. And that is cool.
Monday, August 08, 2005
Something Interesting about Alaska
One thing that I always liked about Alaska is how it dominates US geography. Through a rather roundabout way, I was reminded of that tonight. I watched "xXx: State of the Union" and it was absolutely horrible. Rather than watch attentively, I ended up looking it up on IMDB while it was still playing. (4.0 out of 10, truly awful.) Then, I submitted a "goof" because they didn't even get the presidential order of succession right in the movie. I had to check my facts somewhere, and ended up on InfoPlease. I clicked around a bit there while I was already on the site and found a page on Extreme Points of the US.
If you check the footnote, you'll see that measuring from the Greenwich Meridian, Alaska is the most western, most eastern, and most northern state. (Maine gets most eastern only if you measure from the geographic center of the US - sure that makes more sense, but I'll stick with the one that makes Alaska even more interesting.) Since Denali, or Mt. McKinley as most people outside of Alaska know it, is the highest mountain in North America, Alaska picks up highest state, too. In fact, the sixteen highest mountains in the US are all in Alaska.
Incidentally, it has the largest land area of any state, more than twice Texas, the second largest (although with only 3% of the population of the Lone Star State.)
And remember, if you find any of these facts about Alaska boring, at least you're not watching "xXx: State of the Union!"
If you check the footnote, you'll see that measuring from the Greenwich Meridian, Alaska is the most western, most eastern, and most northern state. (Maine gets most eastern only if you measure from the geographic center of the US - sure that makes more sense, but I'll stick with the one that makes Alaska even more interesting.) Since Denali, or Mt. McKinley as most people outside of Alaska know it, is the highest mountain in North America, Alaska picks up highest state, too. In fact, the sixteen highest mountains in the US are all in Alaska.
Incidentally, it has the largest land area of any state, more than twice Texas, the second largest (although with only 3% of the population of the Lone Star State.)
And remember, if you find any of these facts about Alaska boring, at least you're not watching "xXx: State of the Union!"
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Some Random Thoughts
I have a bunch of relatively random, surprisingly serious things buzzing around in my head today, so I'm going to just write them down here. Perhaps I'll be mistaken for a big-name columnist.
People with big goals sometimes do stupid things in pursuit of them. Sometimes it works out for the best in the end, sometimes not. My latest was part of my Seattle City Walk, as I pushed for 20 miles in one day on Walk 4. There have been plenty of others.
Our executive branch of government became much stronger than originally intended around a century ago. More recently, over perhaps the last three decades or so, our judicial branch has become similarly overpowered. It seems our legislators are letting the balance of power get away from them at the expense of the American people. They should fix this while they still have the ability to do so.
Marriages that last a lifetime are much more challenging now that people's lives change so significantly in as little as a few years. The same is true for careers, homes, hobbies, and the like.
Racial segregation today is far more by choice than not. Go to, say, a university cafeteria and take a look the groups of students. Whites will be with whites, blacks with blacks, Asians with Asians, and so on. They aren't required to do so, but they feel more comfortable that way. I also don't think it's external pressure.
I'd rather have a member of today's Republican Party as commander-in-chief, but when it comes to spending, both our major political parties are absolutely out of control. Speaking of which, I'm not sure why the President gets all the blame for governmental overspending, since Congress has a say in the budget, too.
One last thing. I'm hungry.
People with big goals sometimes do stupid things in pursuit of them. Sometimes it works out for the best in the end, sometimes not. My latest was part of my Seattle City Walk, as I pushed for 20 miles in one day on Walk 4. There have been plenty of others.
Our executive branch of government became much stronger than originally intended around a century ago. More recently, over perhaps the last three decades or so, our judicial branch has become similarly overpowered. It seems our legislators are letting the balance of power get away from them at the expense of the American people. They should fix this while they still have the ability to do so.
Marriages that last a lifetime are much more challenging now that people's lives change so significantly in as little as a few years. The same is true for careers, homes, hobbies, and the like.
Racial segregation today is far more by choice than not. Go to, say, a university cafeteria and take a look the groups of students. Whites will be with whites, blacks with blacks, Asians with Asians, and so on. They aren't required to do so, but they feel more comfortable that way. I also don't think it's external pressure.
I'd rather have a member of today's Republican Party as commander-in-chief, but when it comes to spending, both our major political parties are absolutely out of control. Speaking of which, I'm not sure why the President gets all the blame for governmental overspending, since Congress has a say in the budget, too.
One last thing. I'm hungry.
Friday, August 05, 2005
Who's Afraid of an Empty Page?
Not me, not any more. I started blogging as a way to improve my writing, both in quality and quantity. Quality is much harder to self-judge, but I occasionally ask people like Trevor or Olympia what they think and I've had generally positive feedback.
Quantity, though, I can judge for myself. I always wanted to write when I was younger, but I'd get what many frustrated authors and artists get: fear of the empty page. How do you take the perfectly clean piece of white paper (or its digital equivalent) and dare to mark it with your lines?
A clean sheet of paper has a certain elegance to it. A piece of paper with your markings is changed. It no longer has the basic simplicity of a blank sheet and the complexity added may no longer have elegance. Let's face it, you may well have just ruined it. After a certain age, when quality and a desire to be excellent kicks in, ruining stuff that way is something we avoid. Little kids don't have this problem. Just watch a three year old with a stack of blank paper and a crayon. He'll go through twenty sheets, drawing grotesque and unidentifiable squiggles on each, in under three minutes if you let him. Some of the kids that keep it up become the famous artists of three decades later.
I realize my fear of the empty page is gone. My next post here will be number 250 since I started this blog over a year ago. When I comment on others' blogs, I find my comments are sometimes longer than their posts, but they just flow out of my head and onto the (digital) page. Hopefully, most of that is of value. (OK, I think it is. Setting aside the humility for a moment, I do feel my writing quality has improved significantly over the past year, and I don't think I was so bad to begin with. Now it would be up to you, the reader, to tell me I'm wrong instead of being not-so-subtly encouraged to tell me I'm right. I think it's easier that way.)
Quantity, though, I can judge for myself. I always wanted to write when I was younger, but I'd get what many frustrated authors and artists get: fear of the empty page. How do you take the perfectly clean piece of white paper (or its digital equivalent) and dare to mark it with your lines?
A clean sheet of paper has a certain elegance to it. A piece of paper with your markings is changed. It no longer has the basic simplicity of a blank sheet and the complexity added may no longer have elegance. Let's face it, you may well have just ruined it. After a certain age, when quality and a desire to be excellent kicks in, ruining stuff that way is something we avoid. Little kids don't have this problem. Just watch a three year old with a stack of blank paper and a crayon. He'll go through twenty sheets, drawing grotesque and unidentifiable squiggles on each, in under three minutes if you let him. Some of the kids that keep it up become the famous artists of three decades later.
I realize my fear of the empty page is gone. My next post here will be number 250 since I started this blog over a year ago. When I comment on others' blogs, I find my comments are sometimes longer than their posts, but they just flow out of my head and onto the (digital) page. Hopefully, most of that is of value. (OK, I think it is. Setting aside the humility for a moment, I do feel my writing quality has improved significantly over the past year, and I don't think I was so bad to begin with. Now it would be up to you, the reader, to tell me I'm wrong instead of being not-so-subtly encouraged to tell me I'm right. I think it's easier that way.)
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Andrew Tobias' Book
I just finished reading Andrew Tobias' book, "The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need." I think he's right. For anyone who wants the incredibly short version without needing to read the book: Get out of debt, then invest at least 10% of your income in no-load mutual funds.
If somehow that doesn't seem like enough, there's plenty more in the book. Tobias is an entertaining writer, which is hard to do with investment as the topic. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. (Your mileage will vary. I have an admittedly unusual sense of humor.)
He starts out the book with a bunch of interesting tips on saving money and explains why saving money on your expenses is actually way better than any investment you'll ever find. Well, once I understood how the Microsoft Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) works out to an 89% or better rate of return, I see that it's right up there, but that's an exception rather than a rule. If I could put 100% of my income into ESPP, I'd do immediately. But when he describes how simply buying your favorite wine by the case every quarter at a 10% discount rather than by the bottle once a week works out to a better than 40% return on investment equivalence, you're hooked. (In an appendix he goes on to describe how "better than 40%" in this particular case works out to 177%, which blows the socks off even ESPP.)
Later in the book, after warning the reader not to bother with playing the stock market in favor of those no-load mutual funds, he describes what all the terminology around stocks mean. If you've ever wondered what puts, shorts, limit orders, or margins are, you'll get it after you read this. In other sections, he describes the differences between 401k, regular IRAs, and Roth IRAs, and other mysterious acronyms related to investment.
I'll just say it one more time: what a good book, a must read for anyone that's trying to get back to zero (unfortunately, that's me) or finally has a positive net worth and has no idea what to do with it to make it grow.
Here's one of the things I thought was really funny, just to give you an idea. His definition of "margin calls": A margin call is what alerts you to the fact that your life is going to hell and that you never should have gotten into the market when you did, let alone on margin.
Get it and read it now.
If somehow that doesn't seem like enough, there's plenty more in the book. Tobias is an entertaining writer, which is hard to do with investment as the topic. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. (Your mileage will vary. I have an admittedly unusual sense of humor.)
He starts out the book with a bunch of interesting tips on saving money and explains why saving money on your expenses is actually way better than any investment you'll ever find. Well, once I understood how the Microsoft Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) works out to an 89% or better rate of return, I see that it's right up there, but that's an exception rather than a rule. If I could put 100% of my income into ESPP, I'd do immediately. But when he describes how simply buying your favorite wine by the case every quarter at a 10% discount rather than by the bottle once a week works out to a better than 40% return on investment equivalence, you're hooked. (In an appendix he goes on to describe how "better than 40%" in this particular case works out to 177%, which blows the socks off even ESPP.)
Later in the book, after warning the reader not to bother with playing the stock market in favor of those no-load mutual funds, he describes what all the terminology around stocks mean. If you've ever wondered what puts, shorts, limit orders, or margins are, you'll get it after you read this. In other sections, he describes the differences between 401k, regular IRAs, and Roth IRAs, and other mysterious acronyms related to investment.
I'll just say it one more time: what a good book, a must read for anyone that's trying to get back to zero (unfortunately, that's me) or finally has a positive net worth and has no idea what to do with it to make it grow.
Here's one of the things I thought was really funny, just to give you an idea. His definition of "margin calls": A margin call is what alerts you to the fact that your life is going to hell and that you never should have gotten into the market when you did, let alone on margin.
Get it and read it now.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Low Importance = High Interest
I've noticed that when I send or receive email marked with "Low Importance" it's actually another way to mark the email as particularly interesting. In essence, "It's low importance? Oh, then it's probably something personal or otherwise much more intriguing than a simple work-related message."
Do you read low importance messages before normal importance messages? Before high importance messages?
Do you read low importance messages before normal importance messages? Before high importance messages?
Back in Bellevue
It’s Sunday evening, and I’m home – in Bellevue, that is. One thing I’ve discovered is that in some ways, after living elsewhere for longer than I lived here, Fairbanks is still home. I kept looking around hoping to run into someone, anyone, I’d gone to school with in Fairbanks, but even after almost ten days, I didn’t. Granted, places like the clinic or Denny’s, where I took my grandmother for lunch a few times, might not have been the most likely places to run into people in their mid-thirties, like I am, but still, I had hopes. It’s hard to leave now, as I think my dad could really use my help here for another week, but while my manager at Microsoft has been very generous about letting me come up here for as long as I have, another week would probably be an unreasonable burden on my team.
On the good side, I’m an Alaska Airlines MVP from all the flying I did last year, and that means I’ve been upgrade to first class for my both segments of my flight home. I was also in first class on the trip up, so my pricey $730 coach flight (it’s a killer buying airfare on short notice) has become a pretty reasonably priced first class flight. If only I wasn’t getting back to Sea-Tac at 2am. If I’m keeping track of things correctly, I think I only need one more trip back to Maryland to reach MVP again for next year, so there are probably quite a few first class flights in my future.
After being away for ten days, there were tons of things I needed to get caught up on. My mailbox was incredibly full - enough that there was a slip in there that they were holding some of my mail (not the USPS, but the Pony Express place where I actually get my mail.) Except for a break to add to my Seattle City Walk project and dinner, I just ground away at a long list. I only finished about half of it anyway.
There was one other break this evening. The fire alarms went off in my apartment complex, all four buildings. What an incredibly obnoxious sound that was. My cat, Flicker, immediately ran over to me and was meowing piteously about the sound. I pulled out her carrier, stuffed her inside, and headed down to the courtyard. Only after I got down there did it occur to me that I brought her, but not stuff like my phone or my laptop. I'd had a conversation about that with Trevor once - what stuff do you own that you consider core. I'd figured I'd never leave either of those two items behind, since I can pretty much continue my present lifestyle with just that. But I guess when it comes to fire (or really, the horrible piercing noise of a fire alarm,) just getting my cat out of there was sufficient.
In the end, I think it was someone in the next building over that burned something in their oven, then opened the door to their apartment to try to keep their apartment alarm from going off. Instead, it set off the hallway detector, which triggers the entire complex' alarm system. Oops.
For now, though, I have to get to bed. I'm back at work tomorrow morning and I'm sure I'm going to have a long day ahead of me.
On the good side, I’m an Alaska Airlines MVP from all the flying I did last year, and that means I’ve been upgrade to first class for my both segments of my flight home. I was also in first class on the trip up, so my pricey $730 coach flight (it’s a killer buying airfare on short notice) has become a pretty reasonably priced first class flight. If only I wasn’t getting back to Sea-Tac at 2am. If I’m keeping track of things correctly, I think I only need one more trip back to Maryland to reach MVP again for next year, so there are probably quite a few first class flights in my future.
After being away for ten days, there were tons of things I needed to get caught up on. My mailbox was incredibly full - enough that there was a slip in there that they were holding some of my mail (not the USPS, but the Pony Express place where I actually get my mail.) Except for a break to add to my Seattle City Walk project and dinner, I just ground away at a long list. I only finished about half of it anyway.
There was one other break this evening. The fire alarms went off in my apartment complex, all four buildings. What an incredibly obnoxious sound that was. My cat, Flicker, immediately ran over to me and was meowing piteously about the sound. I pulled out her carrier, stuffed her inside, and headed down to the courtyard. Only after I got down there did it occur to me that I brought her, but not stuff like my phone or my laptop. I'd had a conversation about that with Trevor once - what stuff do you own that you consider core. I'd figured I'd never leave either of those two items behind, since I can pretty much continue my present lifestyle with just that. But I guess when it comes to fire (or really, the horrible piercing noise of a fire alarm,) just getting my cat out of there was sufficient.
In the end, I think it was someone in the next building over that burned something in their oven, then opened the door to their apartment to try to keep their apartment alarm from going off. Instead, it set off the hallway detector, which triggers the entire complex' alarm system. Oops.
For now, though, I have to get to bed. I'm back at work tomorrow morning and I'm sure I'm going to have a long day ahead of me.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Grandma says "Thank You"
My grandmother just recorded this message in appreciation of all the well-wishing that's been done on her behalf.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Still in Alaska
I'm still in Alaska, but headed home the day after tomorrow. Hopefully not that Day After Tomorrow, though. I realized I hadn't taken a picture of my parent's house, so I did so today from the road.
My Parents' House
I'd never gone further down Edby Road, the road my parents live on, during the two years I'd lived here or during any of the visits. So, with trusty dog at hand, I did. I was surprised how many other roads and houses were back there. I never knew.
I walked a couple of miles on the back roads tonight. It smells of burning spruce trees everywhere today. There were massive forest fires last year in Alaska that made most of the state covered in smoke for much of the summer. Some of those fires smoldered away all winter in the bogs only to blaze up again this year. The smoke I was smelling tonight is from fires that are burning hundreds of miles away. It's enough that there's a haze over the hills and the sun is dimmed enough to look at directly. It looks like a glowing red ball in the sky. But don't let me just tell you, take a look for yourself. I took a picture of that, too.
Smoke and the Sun
My Parents' House
I'd never gone further down Edby Road, the road my parents live on, during the two years I'd lived here or during any of the visits. So, with trusty dog at hand, I did. I was surprised how many other roads and houses were back there. I never knew.
I walked a couple of miles on the back roads tonight. It smells of burning spruce trees everywhere today. There were massive forest fires last year in Alaska that made most of the state covered in smoke for much of the summer. Some of those fires smoldered away all winter in the bogs only to blaze up again this year. The smoke I was smelling tonight is from fires that are burning hundreds of miles away. It's enough that there's a haze over the hills and the sun is dimmed enough to look at directly. It looks like a glowing red ball in the sky. But don't let me just tell you, take a look for yourself. I took a picture of that, too.
Smoke and the Sun
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Longhorn Beta on Connect
It's so incidentally to the main point of these news stories, but the newly released beta of Windows Longhorn (as Windows Vista) is directing people to the site my team has built to host beta programs:
http://www.hardwaregeeks.com/comments.php?shownews=3407
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Get-Ready-for-the-Longhorn-Beta-Testing-4592.shtml
http://www.techspot.com/news/18025-Longhorn-Beta-starts-rolling.html
http://www.hardwaregeeks.com/comments.php?shownews=3407
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Get-Ready-for-the-Longhorn-Beta-Testing-4592.shtml
http://www.techspot.com/news/18025-Longhorn-Beta-starts-rolling.html
Monday, July 25, 2005
Grandma-isms II
About how the dog will eat just about anything: "She'd eat your feet if they weren't hooked on."
Anger Management
I took my grandmother back to the clinic again today so they could draw some more blood. I swear they have vampires working in the back and won't be satisfied until she doesn't have any left.
Afterwards, we went for some lunch and I had the opportunity to chat with her for well over an hour. We talked a little about tempers and how people in our family handle getting mad. Apparently my grandfather (now gone some twenty years) and I had the same kinds of terrible, hot tempers. Grandpa, at fourteen, apparently blew up at his mother, though, and said some things to her that he regretted for a long time. At that point, he resolved that he would never again let his temper get the better of him. Grandma tells me that he did a really good job of that and never or rarely did. I went through a similar awakening at about sixteen when I realized that my temper was costing me far more than I ever gained from it. I haven't always been able to keep it under control, but it's rare when it gets the best of me and every time it does it reminds me why I need to be more careful.
My grandfather wasn't the only one with a temper on that side of the family, though. He had a sister, Mamie, that had quite a terrible temper, but unlike my grandfather, she seemed to enjoy it. Grandma described to me today how my aunt Mamie would go over to her grandkids house and get in a fight over something within ten minutes. Even though she might have been asked to stay over, she'd get out of there late at night and stomp home. Along the way, every block or so, was a relative of some sort. The grandkids would call my grandmother and tell her, "Mamie's mad and she's headed home. Watch for her."
So my grandparents would watch for Mamie and once she'd stomp by, they'd call the next relatives up the block and tell them, "Mamie's mad and she's headed home. Watch for her." And so it would go, block after block, until Mamie made it home, safely watched over by all her relatives all the way home, mad as hell, and with no idea that people were looking out for her every step of the way.
There's a lesson in there for all of us.
Afterwards, we went for some lunch and I had the opportunity to chat with her for well over an hour. We talked a little about tempers and how people in our family handle getting mad. Apparently my grandfather (now gone some twenty years) and I had the same kinds of terrible, hot tempers. Grandpa, at fourteen, apparently blew up at his mother, though, and said some things to her that he regretted for a long time. At that point, he resolved that he would never again let his temper get the better of him. Grandma tells me that he did a really good job of that and never or rarely did. I went through a similar awakening at about sixteen when I realized that my temper was costing me far more than I ever gained from it. I haven't always been able to keep it under control, but it's rare when it gets the best of me and every time it does it reminds me why I need to be more careful.
My grandfather wasn't the only one with a temper on that side of the family, though. He had a sister, Mamie, that had quite a terrible temper, but unlike my grandfather, she seemed to enjoy it. Grandma described to me today how my aunt Mamie would go over to her grandkids house and get in a fight over something within ten minutes. Even though she might have been asked to stay over, she'd get out of there late at night and stomp home. Along the way, every block or so, was a relative of some sort. The grandkids would call my grandmother and tell her, "Mamie's mad and she's headed home. Watch for her."
So my grandparents would watch for Mamie and once she'd stomp by, they'd call the next relatives up the block and tell them, "Mamie's mad and she's headed home. Watch for her." And so it would go, block after block, until Mamie made it home, safely watched over by all her relatives all the way home, mad as hell, and with no idea that people were looking out for her every step of the way.
There's a lesson in there for all of us.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Chena River on a Kayak
This afternoon I got my dad out of the house and onto the Chena River for a couple hours on a kayak.
Afternoon on the Chena River
There's a place about halfway across town that rents kayaks, canoes, and bicycles. It's locate directly on the Chena River, which winds it way around and through town. A few miles downriver is the Pumphouse, a restaurant located directly on the river (and where I had my first job, working as a dishwasher for about a year when I was seventeen.) I got a good picture of my dad on his bright yellow kayak.
Dad in a Kayak
It was really a gorgeous day for it. The summers in Alaska (when it's not down around 45 degrees out) are really beautiful. It was a little overcast here and there and there were some threatening stormclouds in the distance, but the rain held off until we were done with the kayaking and had our early dinner. Just look at this sky.
Chena Sky
For a river in the middle of Alaska, there was plenty of traffic, though. There were a number of homemade floats that were constructed as part of a Golden Days event and although our launching point was the landing point for most of them, a few kept going and we would pass them by. The friendliest people we met were not on a float at all, though, but rather in a couple of little rubber boats. This woman with her dog and her daughter (who was off to the left) chatted with me and my dad for a bit. Her daughter kept offering us different kinds of food, which we refused until she offered watermelon. They had a third raft with a cooler in it. Then the mom got a cell phone call (how un-Alaskan!) and we went on ahead faster.
Company on the Chena
The largest of the boats that travel up and down the river are the classic riverboats. Some of them are even steam powered, like the Discovery I, II, and III that cart tourists up and down the Chena and the Tanana, the much larger river the Chena joins just a couple miles from my parents' house. The one I show here is the Tanana Chief and I think is owned by someone other than the Discovery people. Mark Twain would be so pleased to see these boats still around.
Tanana Chief Paddleboat
As I mentioned, we put ashore at the Pumphouse, where a shuttle came to get the kayaks. Lunch was merely mediocre and overpriced. I did, however, get some nice photos of the well-kept flower garden out front. I'm glad we got out of doors today. It would have been far too easy to just sit inside and monkey around with the computer.
Garden at the Pumphouse
Afternoon on the Chena River
There's a place about halfway across town that rents kayaks, canoes, and bicycles. It's locate directly on the Chena River, which winds it way around and through town. A few miles downriver is the Pumphouse, a restaurant located directly on the river (and where I had my first job, working as a dishwasher for about a year when I was seventeen.) I got a good picture of my dad on his bright yellow kayak.
Dad in a Kayak
It was really a gorgeous day for it. The summers in Alaska (when it's not down around 45 degrees out) are really beautiful. It was a little overcast here and there and there were some threatening stormclouds in the distance, but the rain held off until we were done with the kayaking and had our early dinner. Just look at this sky.
Chena Sky
For a river in the middle of Alaska, there was plenty of traffic, though. There were a number of homemade floats that were constructed as part of a Golden Days event and although our launching point was the landing point for most of them, a few kept going and we would pass them by. The friendliest people we met were not on a float at all, though, but rather in a couple of little rubber boats. This woman with her dog and her daughter (who was off to the left) chatted with me and my dad for a bit. Her daughter kept offering us different kinds of food, which we refused until she offered watermelon. They had a third raft with a cooler in it. Then the mom got a cell phone call (how un-Alaskan!) and we went on ahead faster.
Company on the Chena
The largest of the boats that travel up and down the river are the classic riverboats. Some of them are even steam powered, like the Discovery I, II, and III that cart tourists up and down the Chena and the Tanana, the much larger river the Chena joins just a couple miles from my parents' house. The one I show here is the Tanana Chief and I think is owned by someone other than the Discovery people. Mark Twain would be so pleased to see these boats still around.
Tanana Chief Paddleboat
As I mentioned, we put ashore at the Pumphouse, where a shuttle came to get the kayaks. Lunch was merely mediocre and overpriced. I did, however, get some nice photos of the well-kept flower garden out front. I'm glad we got out of doors today. It would have been far too easy to just sit inside and monkey around with the computer.
Garden at the Pumphouse
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