Nancy A. Ridenhour's Blog

PBS BritishAristocracy Overview

2012-01-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

I am like a lot of others. I am fascinated with Downton Abbey. So last night I made it a point to turn from the football game to UNV-TV to watch the 8PM show about the Manor Houses of the British Aristocracy and then Downton Abbey (I did turn back to the game between shows).

The show must have been added after the schedule was printed. I had seen the advertisement earlier in the week. It advertised as explaining the aristocracy and the manor houses. It did NOT disappoint me. I am glad that I watched.

The show told the history of those manor houses. It explained the ranks of the king, dukes and earls. It also showed the ranks of the workers on the estates. It explained that the entail kept the estate together so that it would survive. It also explained how it was dependent on the land.

Then it talked about the problems that started showing up in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This brings it into Downton Abbey’s time. The show talked about the American girls marrying to get the title. The British needed the money for the manor house. Cora is the character on Downton Abbey. In real life one was Winston Churchill’s mother.

The 8 PM show also told how this class kept trying to hold onto the power and money. Throughout I could not help but think about the struggles that we are talking about – the taxes, wealth, etc. It gave a new perspective about what is happening now.

By the way, Downton Abbey ended in time for me to see the end of the regular time and the overtime of that football game.

Be Careful with New Domain Names

2012-01-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

Starting Thursday, new top level domain names will be available for a price. These are the names that appear at the end such as “com” or “net” or “org”. The price is $185,000 to acquire. I have also heard $25,000 each year to keep it.

Who has the money for this? Naturally large corporations will be protecting their brand. Also inventive companies will be involved. The Wall Street Journal ran an article on them on Monday.

One area that has not been discussed is the security threat. No one seems to be talking about the hacker. People like to think of the hacker as an individual. They can be. They can also be workers in organized companies.

How fast are any of us going to click on a search result and suddenly be connected to a fake site? If it looks real and asks for the ID and password, we could give it before we think it through. The site could pass us to the correct one. In the meantime we just gave someone (there is that person again) our info.

We will need to make sure that the sites we access are the correct ones. We are just going to have to stop and think first. It can happen to any of us at any time. No one is immune.

Housing Market's Black Hole

2011-12-30T07:33:00.000-08:00

I continue to hear about the shadow market of foreclosures in the housing market. However, no one discusses the aging population and the housing market. I am.

Let’s face that we all have to die sometime. Yes, I know that most of us will spend some time in a care facility first. Before that we have to live somewhere.

At the end of 2010 the estimate was 40 million on Medicare. Therefore we have approximately 40 million that are now 66 and over since it has been one year. There are approximately 78 million in the Baby Boom. We are the generation born between 1946 and 1963 (some count into 1964 to handle the school year, etc). To government horror we have sent over 3 million onto Medicare this year.

You are asking what this has to do with housing. Stop and think. How many of these over 65 do you know that still live in their homes? How many of these are 1 person is living in that home? What happens when that person finally dies or goes to a nursing home? How many “boomers” have a home and are the sole owner? How many “boomers” are now “empty nesters”? Take a look at your family, neighborhood, friends and colleagues.

My neighborhood is a good study. There are a number of us that are the sole owners of these houses. When I go (I prefer that term or passed on, sort of like “went long, did not come back”), I doubt that my brother and sister will wait for a high price since my home is paid for. Also they are not going to want the hassle of checking on it. It is not worth that.

Some are sole owner and have mortgages or money on Home Equity Loans (HELOCS). Those may just default depending on the estate and where the heirs are located. Realize that heirs may not be able to check on the properties and may have to get out quickly.

Homes are on the market for various reasons. One or two are in foreclosure. The couple in one died and the son is trying to sell it. Another home owner has been injured and needs to move closer to family. Some have had to move for jobs. One is moving to granny’s home and selling this one.

Some start out trying to sale. Then they try to sale or rent. Some just go straight to the rent option.

About 2 years ago, 4 houses had senior couples living in them. Now they have widows.

I know of one home taking care of an illness. There are probably more.

How many of these people own timeshares or vacation homes? What will happen to those?

I do not think that anyone has the statistics on all of this. Most cities and counties get money from property taxes but they do not keep up with the age of the owners or who lives there. This could be scary for future budgets.

I am currently reading the “Black Swan”. Maybe this problem in the housing market is the next one. I think this is the true shadow over the housing market. I do not think that anyone can estimate it. It should be very interesting over the next few years.

Touring High Point University

2011-12-16T06:49:00.001-08:00

This week I had the opportunity to attend an event at High Point University. My main goal was to hear Dr. Nido Qubein who is the President of the University. We also had a tour of the campus before lunch. Since then I have begun realizing lessons that I learned from the event.

If you are putting your name on something, budget for the maintenance of it. If people want to put your name on something, find out how it will be maintained. During the presentation we had seen pictures of old buildings that have now been replaced. They also have new names. During the tour, one cannot help but notice that they are maintained. I could not help but think that the name on the previous building meant old, dilapidated, unclean, and/or eyesore. Some way to be remembered! I am sure that is not what someone had in mind when they first gave the money for the building.

Remove bad distractions. The tour showed a clean campus. One does not have to dodge trash when walking on the sidewalks. Security guards were at each entrance. They were more like greeters but with uniforms and the nice fence and gates gave a feeling of security when driving onto the campus.

Be polite and assist others. Students hold open doors for visitors. They say “excuse me”. I walked back from lunch to the student center instead of using the shuttle. One student stopped his car for me to cross. How often do you see that?

Keep your focus. I was there to listen and learn. I cleared the day to just be for this event. I am still listing what I learned. I am glad of the lesson that I learned some years ago. Unless the item is life or death, it can wait or I am a slave to it. It is not a nice thought but it is real.

How many of us are spending time trying to handle something that we do not need to be handling? This campus is working to remove those distractions for the students, parents and faculty. Maybe that is the main lesson we all need to work on as the new year approaches.

NCSU's Crazy Saturday Ballgame

2011-11-29T07:20:00.000-08:00

I have a season ticket to NC State Wolfpack football games. I make most of them. What a contrast between the Clemson and the Maryland games!

In the Clemson game the first quarter concerned me because the game was going Clemson’s way. The team stayed at it and the second quarter saw it going our way.

What a difference one week makes! I have to admit that I was concerned going into this game. It has appeared that aliens inhabit their bodies every other week. It is almost as if another team is there. Just look at the season. We get trounced by FSU. Then we shut out UNC. We get beaten by Boston College and turn around and beat Clemson.

This past Saturday against Maryland NCSU could do nothing right through the first part of the third quarter. Then it started rolling. Once it did, the momentum was like a boulder going off a cliff. I still cannot believe how many points we scored in the last part of this game!

The game reminds me of life. One day we are going good and the next we are knocked down. In this economy it is one step forward and one backward. Sometimes maybe we need to reach out and go to the next step.

I am researching a decision that determines if I stay where I am or grow in a new direction. Maybe it is like those players. It may be time to step up and grow into something bigger.

Rang the NCSU Chimes Tuesday

2011-11-18T06:41:00.001-08:00

Tuesday was the semi-annual board meeting for the Friends and Alumni Advisors of PAMS at NCSU. What is all of that you say and what does it have to do with the chimes?

PAMS is the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. This is the one that I received my Statistics degree from. NCSU is North Carolina State University.

Now for the chimes. When I was at State I served as the University Carilloneur from the Fall of 1974 through the Spring of 1976. For the 74-75 year, I played the chimes 3 days each week at 5 PM. For 75-76, I played 2 days and a couple of others played the other days. This way the chimes rang each evening.

Before the meeting this week, we had a tour of the Bell Tower. Tom Stafford began the tour at the front of Holladay Hall. This was the first building on campus. We then walked around the building and went in where I used to go in to access the carillon. For those that do not know, there are not any bells in the tower. It has always been played by a machine in Holladay Hall’s basement. I played from the keyboard in there.

We went into the room. It was a little different. The control box was bigger when I played. The keyboard is now in front of the window and one can look out the window while playing. While there, Tom showed the group the books with the notations of what they played. I think mine were in a larger notebook and for some reason I used a different one than the person before me had. I have to hunt that.

Anyway, while we were there, the 2 PM hour chimed. Then Tom said Nancy will play 6 notes. I at first thought the keyboard and what could I remember. Thankfully, what I played were 6 buttons on the box that were marked “bells”. It came back to wait for the chime to sound. One has to count when one plays chimes/bells or there will be a lot of ringing.

Then we went to the Bell Tower. We got to go inside and see the memorial to the alums that died in World War I. Then it was on to attend the board meeting.

Listening and Observing is Networking

2011-11-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

This week I have had 2 opportunities to listen and observe the actions and talk of others. I am having time today to realize how much I learned.

First, I worked inside the local voting precinct on Tuesday. My job is to put in the key to the ballot machine, select the correct ballot, and make sure the voter knows how the machine works. Standing most of the time can be exhausting. However, it is also a good time to have a quick chat with neighbors if we are not busy at the machines. The election results were also interesting considering the number of voters that I saw. Remember that neither I nor anyone else can see ballots. I can see who comes in that I direct to a machine or who I happen to notice.

Thursday I attended a SIRDUG meeting. Since I bruised my gums in a fall on Saturday, eating is difficult and I found myself just listening to a group next to me while I ate slowly. I was able to talk with a couple of them after I finished eating. Today I have realized how much I heard about the market conditions for IT in this area. This info is useful as I weigh decisions about my business and next year.

It is also helpful that I had Wednesday to think about what I heard on Tuesday. It is nice to have today to think back on Thursday.

Texas State Fair

2011-10-28T07:49:00.001-07:00

Last week I was able to attend the Texas State Fair while in Dallas for a conference. The conference ended on Friday afternoon and my flight was Saturday morning. The hotel was downtown at the Pearl Street DART station. I got on and went to Fair Park.

I bought a sheet of 20 coupons for rides. The Ferris wheel is my first choice so I went straight to it. That took 12 coupons. At the top I could see a long ways since Texas is so flat.

I checked the swings and the tramway. They each wanted 10 coupons and I only had 8 left. I was not buying anymore coupons. I would have liked to ride at least one of them. I think they should fix it so you get at least 2 rides for a sheet of coupons.

I went through the Southern Living Garden in the Midway area. It was free and wonderful to see. It had garden designs with little train tracks and toy trains running. It also had a guy carving designs into sides of pumpkins.

I stopped for something to eat at the Old Mill Inn. This was a nice restaurant for a sandwich. The chicken salad one was very good. Again, I was puzzled why I had to keep sweetening my ice tea in Texas. The restaurant is opened all year on the grounds.

I went through the Texas Hall of Fame. That was also free. It also is permanent on the site along with the Cotton Bowl. I found that interesting. It told how the Alamo got its name. Also it told the story about the settling of Texas.

I finally went through the House of Tomorrow. That took 4 more coupons. It was interesting and I have the book on it to read sometime.

I was left with 4 coupons. That is all right.

High Pensions and 401K's

2011-10-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

This morning I realized that some actions may be more tied to us WWII Baby Boomers than I thought. We are considered to be the group born between 1946 and 1963 (some say 1964 – I think they are using school years and getting the group that graduated in 1982). Anyway we have had big impacts on this economy. I think we have had another one.

In 1986 the Tax Reform Act changed the number of years that one had to be at a company before being vested in the pension plan. It was 10 years. The act said that in January 1989 all of those with 5 years would be vested or the company could choose to vest people by percentages from 3 through 7 years (something like 30% after 3 years and finally 100% after 7 years).

It was shortly after this that the 401k’s came on the scene and companies began dumping the defined pension plans. I have one of these defined pension plans. I checked the documentation recently. It will not pay a lot but it may buy some groceries if I want until the maximum time before drawing since I was only in it 9 years.

Anyway, this morning I noticed the timing of this change. The Baby Boom had gotten into the market place. Changing jobs every few years was common. Many of us did not have any pension plan and were already in our 30’s. The government must have realized how many of us may not have a pension and be dependent with longer living times after 65.

I also think that companies began to realize the liability that they were going to have with pension funds and wanted the change. I am now determining how this helped companies go forward without this liability on them.

Squirrel Beat Me

2011-10-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Because this neighborhood is heavily wooded with oak trees, we have lots of squirrels. Any tree that produces nuts has been removed from my yard. I still have squirrels around.

Yesterday I had to water the new grass areas. When I went out I saw the dead squirrel in the road in front of my house. At first I did not want to deal with this. I am tired of dealing with the dead squirrels. I did not want to bury another one. I finally decided to tend to it after I finished the watering and before I put the hose up.

While watering a hawk flew over. I thought that I would not have to handle the squirrel. It circled a few times and I was sure it was going to take that squirrel. It flew off! Hawks either do not like squirrels or they only want something they have to kill.

I finished the watering and got the shovel. Then I found a soft place in one of my natural areas and dug a hole. Then I went into the road and scooped the squirrel onto the shovel. Yes I had on gloves and another instrument to help so that I would not touch the squirrel. Remember, I have done this numerous times.

I buried it and put the daffodil bulbs back on top. Maybe they will bloom big in spring.

Halloween Now a Big Holiday

2011-10-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I heard that Halloween is now in the top holidays in the country. That got me to thinking why it has moved up in importance.

First there is candy. I am a chocoholic. It takes will-power to limit the chocolate. I also like Candy Corn. Halloween is a great time of year for me just for the sweets.

Second, it is a chance to dress up as another character. For a short time we get to escape the boundaries of our characters and be someone else. That is fun!

Third, we get to put out decorations. It has been months since some of us put up anything for a holiday or special event. This again is fun.

Fourth, the scary parts are all in fun. We know that they are not really going to hurt us. Since they are just to look scary, we enjoy them. Especially in these economic times, that is nice.

Fifth, we like to think that those that have died and we were close to do come back but to help us. Remember Halloween is really “Hallowed Evening”. It is the evening before All Saints Day when we remember the saints that have gone before us. It gives us encouragement. We need that feeling during these times.

Yes, I guess it is only natural that Halloween has become an important holiday time. Let’s enjoy it.

Speaking 3 Times in One Day

2011-09-24T07:47:00.001-07:00

Thursday I had the opportunity to speak to 3 local chapters of the American Business Networks/Maximize Local Networking (ABN/ML Networking). I gave a 15 minute talk titled “What is Attracting the Hackers”. The talk centers on the data anyone has, why someone may want it, and some precautions that any of us can take to lower our risks.

The first chapter meets in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte at 7:30 AM. Since this is on the south side of the county and I live on the North side, I left home at 6 AM. With it raining that morning I was glad I did. I arrived at 7 AM and that gave me time to get ready, find out where I was on the program agenda, and meet some of the people in the group. I made some good contacts.

One contact was made because I had on my eWomenNetwork pendant. She recognized it and said she is also in eWomenNetwork. I will look for her at the next meeting. I wore the pendant because I got this speaking engagement because Mary Coffey heard me at the eWomenNetwork event in May.

Then on to Fort Mill in South Carolina. The group meets at 11:30 until 1 PM. I had a little time to see Fort Mill, take a break, and work on some other items. This was a bigger group. Again, I made some contacts that I think will be helpful in the future.

On to the SouthPark group that meets at 3:30 PM. I had time to run into SouthPark. The only thing that is the same since that mall opened is the fountain and even that has been modified. This group is smaller. I was told that I could speak first since they had some other items to discuss. That was fine with me.

Since a few people were at all 3 groups, I changed the opening and added some different info in a couple of spots. It still got the point across. I enjoyed the questions that came after.

I learned a lot doing this. I hope the attendees received some valuable information. Thank you to Mary Coffey and Alex Maginnis for giving me this opportunity.

Is 9/11 Our Worst Attack?

2011-09-08T08:06:00.001-07:00

The news is having more about 9/11 each day. A few days ago, I heard it called our worst attack. Is it really? Yes I remember where I was when the word came about it. Yes I saw the pictures. I remember the planes not flying for days.

In 1963 I remember the principal coming to the classroom to tell us that the President had been shot in Dallas. I remember seeing the pictures over that weekend and the scared nation worried about an invasion. I remember coming home from church that Sunday and my Dad turned on the TV and told me that I was old enough to watch them transfer Lee Harvey Oswald. As I watched Jack Ruby stepped out and shot him. I knew it was real! The conspiracy theories were now fueled.

My Mother talked about December 7, 1941. She remembered staring at the radio while hearing about Pearl Harbor. How hard would it be to control fear without seeing pictures for days? The Declaration for War was requested the next day.

How many fears did others have for WWI, the Spanish/American War, and the Civil War? We tend to think of the celebration scene in “Gone With the Wind”. How many were really scared?

How about the War of 1812? This past weekend I was at the NCSU/Liberty football game. As we sang the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner I remembered why it is the National Anthem. Imagine the fears that Key had that night as the battle raged and he was a prisoner. Could the nation stand? The next morning he had his answer. The flag still flew! The last line reminds us of our freedom and bravery.

Yes, 9/11 was a bad attack. I do not think it was any worse than the others. What it does do is remind us that we will have our freedom and bravery as long as we have our hope and courage.

Learning Mozilla Firefox

2011-08-22T12:59:00.000-07:00

I decided that it was time to have a second browser on the main computer. I need it for security information. I had some security concerns come up over the last few days. I realized that I needed another way in. I chose the free download from Mozilla for the Firefox.

Right away it has proven beneficial. It gave me the detail I needed on one security issue to get it resolved. I like details! It has also provided me with info on another site that I go in. I am a cautious person but now I am more cautious. I am clearing history after email usages each time. That message said a lot.

I have the favorites copied from the IE9. I can use either one I want. This is nice.

I have to find how to make the print bigger so I can read it. The full page shows but the print is small. I will find that when I have time.

My next attempt will be to post this blog. I will be interested in seeing how well that works. I have been having compatibility issues with IE9. If it does not work, I will add that on.

Needed USB Flexible Hub

2011-08-12T07:48:00.001-07:00

I got the bright idea Wednesday morning to start up the webcam on this “new” computer. I had not needed it. I just wanted to start something up for an article that I am doing on robots. I thought finding a use for a piece of the computer would make for a good article.

First I had to find the software. The computer did not come with instructions in 1,2,3 order. Then I started the load. It messed up. I had to uninstall and reinstall. That worked. The webcam click looked right and had options.

One problem existed. It was not picking up me in front of the computer. The message said “no webcam”. I began to work further. I found the user manuals online and read them. I went back over the connection for the monitor.

Finally I contacted support. After some time and going to the supervisor, the problem was found. There was another cable that had to attach. The instructions were not 1,2,3 again. It had simply been a drawing and I missed adding one cable.

Now I had a new problem. I was out of USB ports in the back and had to use one in the front. It came up fine. I did not know I looked so bad on the monitor. I will have to work on that.

Anyway, I unplugged it and got the blue screen. The computer restarted fine. Since I did not want to have only one USB port left, I decided to buy a flexible hub.

On Thursday morning I bought the hub. I moved the keyboard and mouse to it. Then I plugged it in where the keyboard had been. I plugged the webcam in where the mouse plug had been. Then I started up the computer.

After all of the devices installed so the computer knows where everything is, it all worked. I am now changing my article to more of why my generation does not use all of the functions. I have plenty of material.

China Wind versus Solar Power

2011-08-05T08:16:00.001-07:00

I read an article this week that mentioned that China is investing heavily in wind power. They are not investing nearly as much in solar. They make the solar panels but export most of them. I researched to find out why.

First I learned that China has wind power onshore and offshore. Inner Mongolia has lots of wind and can generate large amounts of power. The problem China appears to be having is linking the wind power to the main power grid. Any country that can build the rails they have built can solve this one.

Second China has a large coastline. Water has less surface roughness, especially deep water. Wind speeds tend to be higher on water than land. This will work better. The water is close to the main population areas of China.

Wind power has problems. The turbines can interfere with ground radar so they need to be away from airports and military installations. They make noise so neighborhoods do not want them nearby. They are not something that many people want in their view.

Then I learned more about solar power. The panels are costly. The panels are made out of materials that require high maintenance. Also, I read that the average amount of sunlight hitting any one area for the needed length of time is small. Therefore the panels have to be larger to obtain enough power.

Heating the surface does not help. Apparently someone tried it. One report says that the most efficient energy collectors tend to run close to the temperature of the environment around them.

According to one report China could meet all of its electricity needs from wind power by 2030. I have no doubt they will.

Every time I hear about wind power I remember the cartoon with the bees looking at the wind turbine farm. One bee said “there is no nectar and the petals swat you”.

New Chinese Submarine

2011-07-23T06:47:00.001-07:00

I have been following the debt talks like most others in this country. However, I am also following the news on the new Chinese submarine. Yesterday the WSJ had an article and picture. They also had a map of the mineral deposits under the oceans. This sub can dive deeper than anything the US has. It has now been cleared by the UN to dive between Africa and Australia along a major mineral deposit.

Am I the only one that wonders if these pictures are now showing as we talk about this debt and what we will and will not pay? I think we will pay the interest on those bonds the Chinese have. We need to be investing in a submarine.

Deal on the Deficit?

2011-07-15T08:22:00.001-07:00

I am watching the deficit discussions. I have made plans if the Federal Government has to stop and if it does not. I imagine that I am not the only person that is being cautious with my money. I am talking the business and personal finances. I wonder how many more households and businesses are thinking twice on every financial move.

Maybe they have a deal. Maybe it is so bad that they are waiting until the last minute. I came to this conclusion last night after hearing about 2 people dodging a question. The questioner asks what happens if the deficit is not handled. The two people are Timothy Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury) and Nancy Pelosi. They both continue to answer that a deal will be made. They will not tell what happens if the shutdown occurs.

I keep hearing that they all want housing to recover. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that housing will take some years to begin to recover. It will probably never be at the level that we saw it the last ten years. Anyone that does not understand that needs to take a look at the demographics of this country.

At the end of the year we had over 40 million people on Medicare. Use that number for the group over 65. Then take 78 million as the number of us baby boomers. We are that generation born between 1946 and 1963 or 1964 (depending on who you ask). We cannot live forever. At some time the houses that we live in will be vacated. They will come on the market.

Now let’s consider that salaries/wages will be stagnant for some time. Normally a recession causes the unskilled to lose the jobs. This recession has unemployed a large number of skilled and older workers. Companies can hire them cheaper than they used to earn. Being older, they may have health problems that companies do not want to put on their health care plans. This is going to make it harder to get the unemployed back on employment.

I like to know where I stand. I like to understand any change and its impact on me as fully as possible. To me, Washington needs to be upfront and settle this deficit question for the next 2 years. They will have to consider the consequences of the above in the deal. Then we can begin to move forward.

Look Behind the News

2011-07-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

Being a statistics major, I learned to ask where the numbers came from. I am learning to look behind the news items to find out what is really going on.

I attend a book group that last night discussed “Aftershock”. While reading that book I remembered some info on a few subdivisions in my region. The way they suddenly started selling in the 90’s made sense. During the discussion, I gained info from the discussion of others. They were telling things that they are hearing and seeing.

That brings me to the next point. Just hearing is one thing. Seeing actions is another. One needs to make sure that what one hears matches what one is seeing. One person commented on all of the people that are at the beach this week. I remembered the grocery clerk telling me last week about people buying food to take with them. It is cheaper here than there. I mentioned that and another agreed that people are doing that and not going out to eat.

One person mentioned that smoking is down. I mentioned that people are buying discount cigarettes online and that may be distorting the numbers, depending upon how it is being counted.

This morning the news is that 16.2% of people in North Carolina are now using food stamps. How high is it really? Is this number low? Could one person in an extended family qualify but the extended family is dependent on them? Is the number high? Is someone getting them that really does not need them?

One of the good pieces of advice that my mother left me with was “one does not know what goes on inside the 4 walls of a house”. That is so true in the South since we installed air conditioning. We used to know a lot more when the windows and doors were open.

Cloud Computing One Does Not Fit All

2011-07-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been studying cloud computing for several months. One thing I have learned is that one way does not fit every industry. It also does not fit every company. Several items must be considered.

First how secure does the data have to be? Do you need to know the server that your data is on? Does it need to use a landline or will wireless connection work? What is the speed of the connection? What happens if it goes down?

What about backups? Do you need to make those or does the cloud provider handle this? Again the same questions as above come back up.

Last week one paper reported that the FBI walked into a cloud provider and took a server. They were taking the data that is associated with one company. Other companies were on the server. They were down for some time. Just something to think about.

Do you want all of your data on the cloud? Maybe some data needs to stay at the facility. Maybe it needs to interface with data on one or multiple clouds.

I was watching clouds the other day while I was at the pool. I noticed how they changed shapes. This is how the cloud is to work and within a provider it appears to work fine. However, watch clouds. They also come together. They tear apart to become multiple clouds. Maybe this is also how cloud computing is to work.

Tour Greer BMW Plant

2011-06-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

I love to see how products are made. When I received the invitation from the Greater Business Women’s Council to attend an event at the BMW plant on June 16th, I jumped at the chance. Yes, it was business networking and listening to a panel. I learned from both areas. However, the big draw was to take the plant tour.

First they checked the shoes. Having been in the textile industry, I learned to wear closed toe and closed heel shoes. After having toured a textile mill in high heels one time, I learned to wear flats or as close as I could get. I passed.

Then we had to turn in any devices that take pictures. I put my cell phone into one of their numbered bags and took my copy of the number. The phones and iPads were locked in a cabinet.

We then received our badges, safety glasses and earphones. Ryan introduced herself as our tour guide and made sure that we could all hear her. Then she instructed us about where we would be walking and warned about the sparks we would see.

We got to see the entire assembly line. We walked one mile in a little over one hour. The robots are fascinating to watch and I would still be there watching if allowed. I would love to just sit and watch the doors find their cars through the technology. The doors are removed after painting. The car interior and doors are assembled separately. Then they find each other at the right time via technology.

Every car is started in that plant when it comes to the end of the assembly line. They have an amazing air system because I did not smell any exhaust.

Ryan was a great tour guide. She told me that they have the tours booked for a couple of weeks. If you are going to that area, go online and reserve your tour time.

Staying in My Niche

2011-06-08T07:06:00.001-07:00

It is so tempting to branch out in my niche. The computer industry has so many interesting facets that I want to learn all of them. However, I have to realize that there is just not enough time. I have to keep asking myself if this is an area where I can know someone that knows it much better than I do. Then I can call on that person.

I guess it goes back to that old saying of “stick to your knitting”. Since I never really learned to knit that phrase did not mean a lot until this week. On Monday I was in a webinar when the host said that people need to learn to stick to what they do best. The added costs for new areas start taking away profit. They may look good but they may not really be good if the overhead increases.

This morning I turned down a potential income producer. It was not really a fit to my business. It would have been a side area and stretched me further. It was not easy to so no. I thought about this for a few weeks. I thought about how to make it work with the business. I thought about the potential with this partner. After that webinar on Monday, I realized that I needed to hear that. The idea did not fit.

I think we are all learning that we cannot do it all. We can try. We can tell ourselves that multitasking works. For example, I am running the sprinkler while I am working at home this morning. This means that when I complete a task I check the time and go move the sprinkler if time. Otherwise I go on to the next task. If that part of the yard gets more water, then so be it. I am not jumping up at set times. The work tasks take priority. (Yes, I have thought of a water system but this yard has some parts that need watering more often than others.)

Now I am looking at other businesses that have branched out. I was in the banking industry when the deregulation started. Maybe branching out is a warning sign about companies. I wonder if it fits governments, especially the municipalities and the problems they are now having. Did they try to do too much?

Our Freedom to Choose

2011-06-03T06:20:00.001-07:00

This week we started with celebrating Memorial Day. The statement that I always hear is “they fought for our freedom”. On Wednesday, I was running an errand and realized that I have the freedom to choose. I had chosen to run that errand at that time. I also had the time to run the errand. I was glad that I had that choice.

We all have the freedom to choose at least one thing. We can choose how we feel about something or someone. We can choose how we will respond to an event or a remark. If we do not have the freedom to choose, then we need to ask ourselves how we got to that point. What choice did we make that took that freedom at this moment?

Yes, we made a decision somewhere. I have made many. Some I learned were correct quickly. I learned that some were wrong quickly. Some I learned later if they were right or wrong. Some of them I may never know the answer.

Everyone needs time to reflect on a situation. If we do not have time to stop and think, then we need to take time after the crisis to determine how we got to that point and work to correct it. I enjoy taking an extra hour at lunch at least a couple of times each week. It allows me to think through some conversations. I can see situations from a different perspective. It gives me options. This allows for choices to be made.

I also enjoy taking a moment each morning to think through the important activities for that day. I am learning to take a 10-15 minute break between activities. This allows me to think the day through again. I can sometimes make adjustments. I like having the flexibility.

Yes, I realize there are times when one must react. One must go on defense quickly. However, the objective should be to get back on offense. Think sports.

I also have days where changes cannot be made unless it is an emergency. However, those days are known about in advance so I try to have a day or two before to handle flexible items.

Thank you to all of the people past and present who have made this freedom available to me.

Are We Automating Too Much?

2011-05-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

This week I read about a device that one can use in a store to record the purchases while they shop. One picks it up as they enter the store, scans items as they buy, and then uses it to checkout. It is to save time at the checkout.

This morning was my weekly trip for groceries. I go to the Harris Teeter at Rosedale or the one at the Target (Exit 23 versus Exit 25 of I-77). Today I chose Rosedale because of the other errands I had to run.

I thought about the device while I was there. The produce person was happy to go get me some spinach. They were restocking and the spinach was out. How would that have worked with the device?

I could have easily scanned each item as I put it in the cart, except for the produce. I buy lots of produce for one person. It is hard to scan that. Produce is one reason I HATE self-checkout. I always have problems with the scanner weighing it.

I also had my bags with me. I could have easily put the items in the bags while shopping. Then with the scanner, I could have paid at the machine and been on my way.

However, I would have missed talking with the people at the checkout. I like seeing the smiles on the faces of the people of both of the stores. I like the small talk. I also like watching people if I have to be in a line for a short time. I admit it. I also read the headlines on the magazines at the checkout if there is a line. Some are entertaining.

All of this has gotten me to thinking about why we are automating all of this. Relationships take time. Even casual ones at a store check-out take some time. However, they add a flavor to life that we do not get from machines. Automation has allowed us to exchange info easier. It has allowed us to keep up with others easier. Are we overusing automation? Is it allowing us to keep up in name only and bypass the seeing, hearing, thinking, and understanding parts of relationships?

IMS Systems to 24 X 7

2011-05-10T06:19:00.000-07:00

I was catching up on my technical reading yesterday evening. I was reading the ZJournal for April and May. I read several articles. The one that has stuck in my mind is the on Preparing IMS for 24 X 7.

The article talks about changing the DLIBATCH and DBBBATCH to BMPBATCH. It gives a lot of details about the changes needed for this. However, I see nothing about the business process changes that will be needed.

I was the project leader for a consumer loan system in a large bank. The bank and system are now gone. However, there are bound to be plenty of these old systems still running. They are accounting systems first and foremost. Yes, they have customer data and that will need to be accessed around the globe. However, the accounting functions still have to work. Bank regulators require it now more than ever

Since I read it I have been thinking about the changes. Mechanisms will need to be in place to do “snapshot” accounting. This may be duplicate databases. It may require use of posted date and time checks. Something will have to be put into place. It is not going to be easy. It is going to take a lot of thought and design at the front of the project to make the information available 24 X 7.

Common Item of Royal Wedding and Bin Laden Death

2011-05-04T07:35:00.001-07:00

In the past 5 days, I have followed 2 events primarily by the Internet. This is nice. I can view the parts that I want to see when I want to see them.

Thirty years ago, I got up at 4 AM to watch the Royal Wedding. Back then we only had 3 networks available in the Charlotte region. Also the Internet did not exist. I watched most of it and timed it with getting ready to go to work. Then I sat through the news that evening to watch some more.

This time I slept. I had a day trip to Raleigh on Thursday and “sleeping in” was nice. I attended to some errands, emails, and other business functions. Then I clicked on the news areas on the Internet. I could view what I wanted to for as long as I wanted to.

On Sunday night I was already asleep when word came about the death of Osama Bin Laden. I saw it on the Internet the next day. Again, I could see what I wanted to and then go on. I chose to watch some analysis that evening on TV but cut it when it started repeating.

I like these options. I like having control and flexibility on getting the information.

Swimming in the Cloud

2011-04-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

In the past 24 hours, I have sat through several sessions on cloud computing. The sessions started Tuesday afternoon with a marketing discussion for 2 hours about the cloud. Then today I attend the 3rd annual SaaS Cloud Computing Conference at UNC Charlotte. I sat through 8 sessions about the cloud.

I have now heard so much about the good, bad and medium of it that I do not want to see another cloud for a few days. However, we have storms coming through tonight. All right. I will give Mother Nature Thursday to get the clouds out of here.

Seriously, I have been studying this area for some months now. The more I learn, the more I realize that I have to learn. There are so many questions around this area. There are so many different definitions. It can be just like the clouds in the sky. They can be nice and fluffy or stormy and bad.

I have a lot of data to digest from the last 2 days. That will have to wait until after Thursday. I have other things to tend to.

Tigerpaw Software, eWomenNetwork, the Scanner and Me

2011-04-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have gone quickly. I now have the Tigerpaw software running on the new computer. Thank you to Tony and Abby for all of their help. I thought this mature computer person had messed up until Tony said that they had a fix for the server 2008 error. It was quick and then the rest was easy. I also learned that with the new generation Restore means to create and restore. My generation we had to create the database and then restore.

I am presenting at the May 5 eWomenNetwork event in Charlotte. I am working on that presentation. Thankfully I had most of it done before the computer switch. I am also the PR contact now for the group. That means that I am sending out the print PR. Therefore I have been working on that.

The new printer is not an all in one. I did that off of the Dell recommendation for print quality. I bought a scanner yesterday and attached it. I actually like the way it works better than the way the all in one printer did it.

For the rest of the week I need to check on my taxes and get this PR out besides some other work for the business. Oh yes, I hear a golf course calling since the weather is getting better. I will get it all done.

Adjusting to Office 2010

2011-04-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

I still have one more piece of software to add to the computer and I think that I am going to buy a scanner. I lost that function with the printer. Last week I attended the Robin Robins Bootcamp virtually so this is the first week that I have been back to doing “normal” activities on the computer.

I am finding the buttons in the Word, Excel, Publisher, and Outlook. Everything is different from the Office 2003. For Word I keep resetting the font to Times New Roman and 12. I will figure out how to make it stay later. I just want to catch up.

For Excel, I needed to change the month for a document to be used in April. I finally found the Replace. It is to the right side of the screen. Edit is not where it was.

For Publisher, I started editing the March Newsletter. Yes, I told you I am behind. I will use it for marketing campaigns. Anyway, I had to find the buttons to remove the guidelines. Then I had to find how to insert items. I found them. I just have to proof what I did, make a few changes and then it will be ready to have printed.

I just finished updating a contact in Outlook. I downloaded an export file from the old computer of the names, email addresses, and phone numbers. Now as I access the people I am updating them. In this case I had new info to add. The basics all worked. I just had to find Print.

At least I can now get this written. I am getting there.

Will Charlotte Home Prices Go Down?

2011-03-23T07:18:00.001-07:00

Being a homeowner in Huntersville, I watch the Charlotte area housing market. I walk at least once per week in my neighborhood and have noticed a number of houses still on the market since last spring. I notice the ones that have not had a price decrease and the ones that the New Price sign seems to stay up for months. I have also seen one that has lowered the price twice. I do not think one has sold in here since September.

It seems to be a trend in the area. The papers are reporting sales but they are not nearly as numerous as they were a few years ago. The notices take up much less space in the paper. Some papers only report on a monthly basis now rather than a weekly basis.

Then I read that $60,000 was the average retirement fund balance. Being a Statistics major I got to thinking on this. This number seemed low. Then it all came back to me and I realized the housing connection and this number.

I was at First Union in the 1980’s. It was my third job after college. In 1986 I was thinking of leaving. I had over 4 years to go to get vested since one had to be on the job 10 years to be vested in any pension plan. The 1986 Tax Reform Act passed. It said that on January 1 of 1989 anyone that had been with a company for 5 years was vested. I stayed until May 1989. It is not a lot of pension but will buy some groceries when I am ready to use it. Others went ahead and left. They still had no pension and were in their 30’s and 40’s.

The 401K plan came in to replace the pension plan. People started putting some money in the plan. A few years later they started tapping at least a part of it for down payments on houses. I think that people have also tapped this and home equity lines for children’s college tuition, cars, and weddings. I do not think they have put the money back. If the house is for sale, maybe they cannot afford to lower the price. Maybe they cannot lose the money. Maybe people assumed the lifespan and growing population they had seen as children.

We boomers are aging. Some from previous generations still live in their own home. Sometime all of these homes go on the market. I hope I am wrong about the amount of retirement funds in these homes.

Changing the Desktop

2011-03-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

The reliable desktop turned 5 years old in February. It is like parting with a trusted friend. It was there. It always came on when needed. The keyboard and I fit. However, it was Windows XP and Office 2003. It was time to go. I have a laptop that has Vista and 2007 but it is not the same.

I now have a new desktop. I received the parts on Tuesday. I took the old one out Wednesday morning, cleaned the area, and then assembled the new one. I stopped for lunch and read the instruction book on how to start it up. I got all of the pieces working. End of day one.

On Thursday I had some errands to run in the morning. However, I had time to check emails and do a few other things on the computer. The computer also had things it decided to do. For example, it decided to download all of the Windows updates that had come out since the version I received. I think the updates are done.

Thursday afternoon I put some files back on that I desperately have to have to function. Yes I have offsite backup but I have not loaded that software yet. Remember I am a one-person show in this business, house, yard, etc. Yes, I hired a yard service and they came Wednesday. The yard looks great. However, the new grass needs some water due to this heat (later today). Getting back to subject, I got the files on. I figured out how to copy folders rather than each file.

Darn this 2010. I am used to hitting the Enter key twice for a new paragraph and a space between.

I am still adjusting to the new keyboard. My chair, the monitor and my hands do not fit this keyboard. I just put a towel in the chair. Now my back hurts. I just moved the keyboard to my lap. This is better.

I am sure there are more adjustments that I will need to make in the days ahead. Five years is a long time of habit in the computer business. (Darn this keyboard. I keep hitting the CAPS key.) However, I like to think of myself as someone that can change and adjust. I will. Now where is the SAVE on this document?

Ordering a New Desktop

2011-03-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

The office desktop is now 5 years old. I am comfortable with it. I know how it works. However, it is time to replace it.

For the past few weeks I have been researching the detail components and deciding what I really need. For example, this machine has a slot for a 3.5 disk. Remember those? I cannot remember the last time I used one. I have even found some on the shelf below the computer. They are great dust catchers.

This one has 2 DVD drives. I only need one. I use USB ports now. I will confess to playing some of the Harry Potter games on that first movie DVD.

I remember my first personal computer. It was an Apple II plus. I bought one disk drive. Then went back and bought another one and added it on.

Now my main concerns revolve around participating in online meetings. I want to make sure about the webcam, microphone and speakers.

I ordered the new one this morning. Part of it will be here in a week. The other part can take 2 weeks. That will give me time to clean the study and get ready. I am also using some pieces that I already have such as surge protectors. I can be tight with a buck.

I like having access and options. Therefore I have already determined how this one can be set up in the guest room. I will not have Internet access but I will be able to access and print files if I absolutely have to. I see no reason to bring all of these files over. I have not accessed most of them in over 1 year. Besides I have them backed up by an online backup service. If I need them I should have the option of accessing them via the Internet. If that fails, I can copy them from the old machine to a USB and load them.

Now I have to get ready and get some other tasks out of the way.

Talking is More Prevalent

2011-02-17T12:51:00.001-08:00

We need to learn and teach people that listening and observing is more important than talking. I realized this morning that we adults are teaching children to talk instead. We can say to be quiet but our actions are saying the other.

I was finishing teaching Junior Achievement when I realized this. I have been teaching a 5-session course to two 5th grade classes at one of the local public schools. I have noticed how many times I have to ask for quiet. At first one would say that this reflects the social/economic type of the students’ homes. However, I also see this in a 6th grade Sunday school that I teach periodically in an upper income church. This morning I realized that children are imitating adults.

Stop to think about this. Do people see you being silent, observing and listening? Do they see you talking directly or indirectly to others? Admit that answering emails and sending text messages is talking. How many children see adults interrupting other adults? How many watched people engaged in close conversation or using cell phones instead of listening during the State of the Union address? How many in North Carolina saw cell phone usage and close conversations during the State of the State Address? What actions do people, especially children see at concerts, lectures, meetings, and even church? How many of these actions are done in business meetings, become routine and so are being done in public places for children to see?

I learned long time ago that I can either be learning by listening and seeing or I can be talking. Our country has a number of problems. We need to get back to conversations. Conversations are where we do more listening and seeing than talking.

Fighting off Illnesses

2011-02-11T08:12:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I taught Junior Achievement to 2 classes. I noticed the room was warmer than usual when I arrived. I taught the first block class and all was fine. Near the end of the second block class I began to feel some illness attacking me. I had heard that the flu and a 24 hour virus are making the rounds in the Charlotte region so I had been watching what I ate and getting sleep and fresh air. I repeated those activities after the classes, washed my hands after opening the mail, and rested more.

This morning I am feeling all right but not the best. I had a blood test at the doctor’s office first thing. I decided to sit in the “Sick Waiting” area. I had already thought about doing this because every time that I sit in “Well Waiting” I get sick. “Sick Waiting” has direct window light, more plants, and when I arrived there were no people in it. I got a sit next to the windows. By the way, there were a number of people in “Well Waiting”.

While I was waiting, one man came in a sat down several seats from me. Then a father came in with his daughter. She appeared to be in her tweens and they sat a few rows over from me. Then a mother and small child came in and went to the back of the area. We were all only there a few minutes. However, it was long enough for me to overhear the phone call the tweens father made to tell someone that she had a bad sore throat and that strep throat is going around (something else to dodge). I also noticed how fast the tween and the small child were called for to see the doctor. Sick Waiting was clearing out!

I got called back shortly. The blood was drawn and I got out of there. After the doctor’s office, I went to get breakfast. I washed my hands before eating. Then I went to the grocery store. I washed my hands when I got home.

I try to think of my health first and then other things. I wonder what all of these illnesses are costing the schools and the business offices. I have also heard that people are going to work sick and sending students to school sick because they used so many personal days during the snow in January. Apparently people have nice vacation plans for later in the year. I hope they live to enjoy it.

Egypt is Showing Ease of Data Out

2011-02-04T08:19:00.001-08:00

I am like most others. I have been watching the video and info coming out of Egypt. This action is showing how hard it is for anyone to block information from getting out. Let’s face it. The days of hiding data are over.

First we heard that this demonstration/revolution was a surprise. Last Saturday I attended an investment seminar. The lunch speaker said that his indicators on January 18th said to sell every investment in Egypt. At least the indicators knew something.

Then I got to thinking about that gas price increase announcement in December. It was made the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Just how many people were working at those big oil companies that week? How long would it have taken to get approval to release that info? I wonder if someone knew something.

Last night the Wall Street Journal published an article about several men from Egypt. The article reported that they have been meeting for some time to put together a plan for a coalition. It also reported that these men have been active on Facebook and Twitter. These are not just young men. There are at least a few in their 60’s. Again, somebody knew something was going to happen if they were putting a plan together.

It appears that only those at the top did not know. Maybe they only get info from the sources they have been talking with for years. It is very comfortable to only talk with those around you.

I learned long time ago to get info from several sources. I also learned to observe actions versus talk. I get my news from several sources and I make sure that they have different viewpoints. I also force myself to listen to people from different social and economic spheres. I am amazed at what I overhear while I am standing in a store checkout line!

If we take no other lesson from this, we need to learn that information is flowing out. We need to pay attention to what we are filtering and make sure that we are receiving different views to make intelligent decisions.

Need To Think Backwards

2011-01-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

In the past couple of weeks I have heard of thinking or going backwards. The first time was watching a PBS special on Salmon in the Northwest. They swim in some places to the ocean backwards so they can remember the way back upstream.

The second time I heard of this concept was at a business luncheon last week. The speaker was talking of seeing yourself in the future. Then she said to think back through the steps that got you there.

I am having writers block on an article for the newsletter and a marketing item. It has dawned on me that I need to think backwards. For the article, I need to think of the final message and work backwards. The thoughts are swirling and are next to work on.

The marketing item needs to be thought of in context with its place in the marketing funnel. I am going to have to work on that one. I need to think the process through from start to finish and then from finish to start. I think that will work.

First the article and then the marketing.

Iced In - Catching Up

2011-01-14T07:12:00.001-08:00

I have chosen to stay home these last four days. Networking meetings were canceled due to the weather. I had one meeting that was one-on-one on Wednesday. I sent the email about canceling and the other person said they agreed. We rescheduled for next week.

It is amazing what I have gotten done. I have done the chores that I would normally do and attended the webinars that were scheduled. I have also had time to work on the marketing funnel. I have ordered some marketing items and sent others for copying. I have the first 3 Junior Achievement lessons ready and am working on the 4th one. Tearing the game cards apart takes time!

On Monday and Tuesday I enjoyed watching my neighbors working to get out and go to work. I was awakened at 5:30 AM Tuesday morning by one neighbor working to get up a hill and onto my street. He must have had to try 5 times to get from his drive, up the hill and make the turn. I was laughing and so glad that I did not have to go.

I remember the days of having to drive in this mess to get to and from work. I remember the time they put the slag down (clay dirt with some salt) while I was at work. One person from up north asked when they were going to put the salt down. Another worker from up north informed the new one that the red dirt was it.

We now get a brine mixture put on the roads before the weather comes in. Since I had to drive over it Saturday and Sunday I will need to take the car to a car wash after a rain.

I am out of milk so I had a smoothie for breakfast. The streets are clear and I should be able to get over the one ice patch in my drive in a little while. I guess all good things have to come to an end sometime.

NCSU and Tennessee Football in 2012

2010-12-31T06:58:00.000-08:00

Being an NC State grad and Wolfpack fan, I watched the second half of the Music City bowl last night. You may ask why or you may think because Carolina is a rival and they were playing. I watched Tennessee!

We are scheduled to play them on September 1, 2012 in the Chic-fil-A kickoff game. I watched this freshman quarterback and 3 freshmen on the front line gain tons of experience in minutes. I also watched veterans that have been through coaching changes in their years at that school. With those veterans helping the incoming students, Tennessee is going to be a TOUGH opponent that night.

I am going to have to ask some UNC people where the fans were. That stadium was full of Volunteer fans. Having driven Interstate 40 from Knoxville to Nashville in April, I know that Interstate 75 goes through Knoxville and straight to Atlanta. I presume they will be there to watch what will be a great team by that time.

There was another reason that I watched that game. Remember I mentioned that I was in Nashville in April. Just 2 weeks later it flooded. My meeting was downtown. I know where that stadium is. I walked along that riverbank. I saw the pictures of that now peaceful river last night. They must still be recovering from the flood but Nashville appears to be resilient and making great progress. That same resilience shows in the Tennessee team and fans.

The Wolfpack is going to have a tough opening game in 2012. I have the date circled on the 2012 calendar. I could not make it to Orlando but Atlanta is a lot close and easier to schedule time to go. You might realize that I love to watch the playing strategy. I am looking forward to this game.

Changing Christmas Day Plans

2010-12-23T12:55:00.000-08:00

I have been changing plans for Christmas Day due to the weather forecast. I have had my sister over to my place on Christmas since my mother died in 1999. However, the weather forecast is for snow flurries and cold. It may not be ideal driving conditions. We are able to switch plans. We are changing to celebrate on Christmas Eve instead. I am heading over there for a few hours.

This weather is making me a believer of the “Law of Attraction”. I think it is Mother Nature’s way of accommodating all of the holiday talk for over a month. Holiday songs were playing on the radio before Thanksgiving. Holiday movies have been playing a lot also. When one fills the air with “Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow”, “White Christmas”, “It is Cold Outside” (or whatever that song is called) I guess one should expect the weather systems to fill the expectations. Consequently, the South is below normal in temperatures and snow is being forecast.

I went to the grocery store this morning ahead of the Christmas rush tomorrow. I also filled up the gas tank and bought a car wash to use next week to wash the car after the snow/ice melt. The plans are adjusted. I am ready.

Leaves in Huntersville North Carolina

2010-12-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

I just spent another 2 hours in the yard raking and bagging the excess leaves. Yes, I mulch when I can but a storm is coming, the ground is hard and I did not want to mash the new grass any more than necessary. I also wanted the excess leaves off of the yard. One thing I learned growing up in this area was not to keep these big oak leaves around. Either mulch them up or get rid of them. The big leaves can kill the grass if left on too long. They may also provide a nice place for animals that you do not want in your yard when left piled too high.

The leaves began falling in mid-November this year. So far I have mulched the whole yard 2 times, filled the yard waste container every week, and bagged 51 bags of leaves. I had 2 big oaks cut in June and the final one cut down the first of October. I only have 2 dogwoods left.

I put the down payment on the 7th lot in Shepherds Vineyard in April 1987. I closed on the house in November of 1987. At that time the town sent a vacuum truck through to collect the leaves left at the curb. A few years later they changed garbage service and the bagging started. A few years later, they limited the pickup to 20 bags per week. Now it is 5 bags per week except for pickups between November 1 and January 15. They will take 10 bags on those weeks.

I have missed holiday events to clean the yard. I have raked and mulched when it was cold and raining. I have also worked to the street light in the front and the security light in my backyard.

It is time for my neighbors to quit letting the big oak leaves pile up in the yards and curbs and then blow into my yard when the weather changes. If they do not know how to mulch them, they can learn. I just searched “mulching oak leaves” online. There are a number of valid sites to read.

I have bit my tongue over the years because small children were around a couple of these homes. However, the time for being polite and nice is over. I called the town last week and again this week. I have not seen any sign of help. I have decided to post this blog. I have also decided to write this blog entry as a letter to the editor and mail to both of the local papers. I am also going to research signs because I have an idea for holiday signage that may get the message across. However, the signage may be illegal and I do not want the town hollering about that.

I try to be considerate of my neighbors. I wish I could say the same for a couple of my neighbors.

Seminars and Meetings Galore!

2010-12-10T06:19:00.001-08:00

In the past two weeks I have attended more seminars and meetings than I normally do in 3 weeks. It seems that every business/organization has scheduled the events in these 3 weeks between the Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks. These do not count the holiday parties and the normal monthly meetings.

Just this week I have attended one breakfast meeting on regional issues, one all-day workshop on business needs, one computing class, one meeting on how an organization works that I just joined, and one marketing class.

I have 3 stacks of documents on my desk and one more week to go. I even have one pile that has different items stacked in different directions. This does not count the mail that has come in and is stacked in one corning. It also does not count the marketing info that I am working on in another corner.

I am tackling one item at a time. Hopefully I can at least get it organized today and worked on next week.

Shopping Carts Made Here

2010-11-17T07:03:00.001-08:00

North Carolina can beat China on distribution costs on certain items made here. I realized this after hearing about shopping carts last night. I attended the Harvard Business School Charlotte Chapter alumni meeting. The speaker was Pierre Arsenault. He is the President and CEO of Cari-All, Inc. They own Technibilt in Newton, North Carolina. This company makes shopping carts.

Pierre Arsenault led an interactive discussion on this industry. The main point that stuck with me was why the shopping cart is built in the United States and not China. It is shipping. Think about the packaging and transporting of the cart. So much would be air that it is not worth the price of the shipping. That makes up for the manufacturing costs.

This point also reinforces what I have said about the Charlotte region. Our main industry is not banking. It is transportation – the moving of goods, services, and people. We have always been a transportation area. If you doubt that go back to the Indians. The Cherokee came down the Catawba River and traded with the Catawba tribe. I have always heard that is the reason that the Charlotte square in downtown is Tryon and Trade streets.

The railroad plays a big part in transportation. My mother was from Lincolnton. She told me the story about the railroad that she had heard. The time was the 1840’s and they wanted to get the cotton from the South to the mills in the North. Here is what I remember. The train had to change locomotives every 160 miles. It was running from DC to Richmond. To run to Mobile, Alabama it needed a few more stops. The mileage was reached just north of Salisbury, North Carolina in a town called Spencer. Next stop was Greenville, South Carolina and then a little place in Georgia called Atlanta (now you know why Atlanta grew). The railroad could cross the Catawba in 2 places. The first choice was to run to the bigger town of Lincolnton but they said no. So the railroad ran through the smaller town that at that time was called Charlotte Town. The rest is history.

The roads play another part. I studied North Carolina history in the 7th grade. If I remember correctly (lots of years ago), Governor Morrison was the “good roads governor”. He connected all of the county seats (county government towns). Even numbers ran primarily East and West. Odd numbers ran primarily North and South.

We also have Interstates 85, 40, 95, 77, and 26. I grew up close to part of 85. It was the textile interstate for a long time. Now all of these interstates move a lot of freight and people.

Then there is the airport. We have flights all over the United States and to many parts of the world.

This region can continue to grow. We just have to keep going forward with what we do best.

Neighbors

2010-11-12T07:16:00.000-08:00

One of my next door neighbors is building an addition on his house. Yesterday he had to ask if they can put the roof trusses in my natural area. Trying to be a nice neighbor I have agreed. They are only to be there one day. This is to occur next week. I have also told the landscaper to hold up planting the crepe myrtle because it would be in the way.

However, I draw the line at them bringing them up my front yard. They are going to have to come through his yard to my natural area. If that means that he has to cut down a tree, so be it. It will not be the first time that I have had to put my foot down on something.

Over night and this morning all of the times that I have had to allow a truck into the back yard or some other project need for part of my yard have come back. I also remembered the incident on the trencher last year. I and the electric company had already cleared for that trencher to come up his part of the 10 foot drain/right-of-way area. I was gone the morning they came. I understand from several sources that he stopped them until they decided that they were coming through my front yard. Then he relented.

That was one year and one week ago. I realized this morning that he had to know then that he was going to do this building project since he had blueprints in March.

Over the years I have bit my tongue more times than I care to count in talking with all of my neighbors. Children were living in some of these homes and I swallowed a lot. However, the children are growing up. The houses have not appreciated as they should have. In this economy they are even lower than they were. After 23 years they have not doubled.

I now have more criteria for a new house. It should be on a corner. It should be in a neighborhood with alley ways. This way I will only have one neighbor with a connecting yard.

No More Taxes?

2010-11-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night I read “The Lake Norman Citizen” and “The Herald Weekly”. I hope two article were written before the election. One was about the Davidson IB School being moved to Alexander middle and the other was about the libraries. Apparently people want more tax money to pay for the school to stay in Davidson and all of the libraries to stay open.

I am wondering which people are not getting it. I do not want to pay any more taxes. I understand that it would be nice for someone’s child to go to Davidson to school. I understand that having a library in each town is very convenient. It would be wonderful if this could all be magically done. It cannot.

I married work for many years and consequently do not have children. I do not even have nieces and nephews. If these wants for children keep up, I am thinking of starting a movement for single people to get a part of the child tax deductions on our income taxes.

Do not get me wrong. I pay for children to go to school and understand the need. I donate to my college alma mater so that children can go. I donate my time and some money to teach Junior Achievement in a 5th grade classroom. However, this “our children” and “it takes a village” has to stop. It is not “our children”. I should not have to keep paying for all of these items that I seldom or never get to use.

There is one more point to the libraries. This sounds like the old argument between Davidson, Cornelius and Huntersville that erupted when the Y was built. It again erupted when the tiny library in each town was replaced with a regional that wound up in Huntersville because of where the land could be purchased. The argument is that each wants it, only one can have it, and the other 2 get mad when the one gets it. After the regional was built and the 3 town libraries were closed, Cornelius and Davidson erupted and got a town library in each town. Now we cannot pay.

Listening and Watching NCSU Wolfpack Football

2010-10-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

I could not make it to Raleigh for the game last night. Life just worked better to stay home since the game was on TV. I turned on the Wolfpack Radio station out of Hickory. I turned the TV to ESPN and the sound down. It was great!

People that know me will tell you that I can be tight with a dollar. The best deal I have going is this Radio/TV setup. The radio is 4 seconds ahead of the TV. I get to hear what the play does and then see it. It is my version of “instant replay”. It also works really well when the play is stopped so the previous one can be discussed. I get to hear what the radio announcers are seeing and what the TV keeps showing.

I kept laughing when the radio announcers were ready for play to resume after a TV timeout. I would think “not yet. TV just started another commercial”. Speaking of commercials, I like getting to hear and see different ones. During this TV broadcast, the commercials had the names of the product or company on them. That was smart! One month ago, some did not and I did not know what they were about until I watched a game with the sound on.

I presume that the wrecked car TV showed after showing Nate Irving was his. It was a miracle for him to survive that. He is playing well for someone that went through that the other year.

It is also easy to be a “couch” coach. I kept saying “go around” on that 4th quarter drive. Finally they did and scored the TD. They must have heard me.

I was glad that Ponder fumbled the ball since I think that our defense was tired and that was the way we stopped them. However, I was upset that TV kept showing him on the bench. This “couch” coach thinks they could have shown something else.

All of us make mistakes. However, I had a wise boss at my first job after my NCSU graduation. Mister Jenkins said “Make a mistake once and I will help you correct it. Make the same mistake again, and I will ask why you did that. Make it a third time and I will work to get you off of my team. You can make mistakes. That is part of learning. Own up to them. Just do not keep making the same ones.” I have never forgotten that. We need to remember that with everything including college football games. They are students. They are learning and trying. Can we say the same about us?

Individual Health Insurance for All?

2010-10-18T08:07:00.001-07:00

I attended an NCTA meeting last Thursday that discussed technology and the healthcare industry. As I listened to the panel, I kept hearing all of the info that is going to be recorded and maintained on individuals. I realized that I have the best world for this since I already select and maintain my health insurance. Let me explain.

I grew up in a one-company town. I question giving an employer too much information. I have heard how this can be misused.

One panelist kept discussing all of the data that can be maintained through benefit programs. He kept stressing recording trips to the gym, what one eats, and so on. I kept wondering what employee is going to provide the info or try to hide some info.

Another panelist started talking about the concerns about data when someone switches from one healthcare provider to another. There are privacy laws about this.

Maybe it is time for employers to get out of the health insurance business. I understand that this benefit began during World War II when they could not raise salaries. Maybe we need to go back to just pay the employee and let them go get it. Let these matters be between the individual, the medical people and the insurance company.

Being self-employed, I have the arrangement of me, the insurance company and the medical people. I like that better. I do not want some company knowing all of this info. Now if we can just get it so that if one changes states, the insurance can go too.

Following the Chilean Miners Rescue

2010-10-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

I am doing what I think a lot of people are doing today. I am following the story on the Chilean miners. I watched as the first 2 rescuers went down and the first 2 miners came up. I checked again this morning when I woke up. I keep checking to see how many are above ground. I am amazed at all of the tools that have been used to make this happen. The drilling was apparently very technical. The wheel looks simple. However, I know that is not a rope but a cable and very strong. I know it is being controlled by people and machines. It is a great tribute to all of the people around the world that helped with this.

The courage of the people of Chile is also being seen. A great example is that first rescuer. I do not know if I would have been brave enough to get into that capsule and go down in that mine. If those were my colleagues I guess I would not even think about it – just go.

The families have endured 69 days and now this. I heard the woman in the US say that the 4 days on one here seemed like weeks. I would like to hear more about how they have lived before the cave-in. It would help to explain where they get their strength and may contain some great lessons for all of us.

Most of all are those 33 miners. I went for my walk this morning and one neighbor commented on that capsule only being 2 feet wide. I said what is 2 feet for 15 minutes when you have been trapped so far down for 69 days? I think these men serve as a great example to all people all around the world in showing their strength.

At this writing 14 are up. Thank you to the government of Chile for letting us all see this.

Valuing Time

2010-10-06T07:05:00.001-07:00

During a luncheon yesterday, one speaker announced that it only took 15 minutes to get from downtown Charlotte to North Mecklenburg. At the time I did not think about it. After supper, the comment hit me. That is true only if the Interstate 77 is running and it does not count the time to get to and from the interstate. That is just the time on the interstate.

Then I began thinking back on the responses to comments that I had made about the travel time. I realized why they were discounted. A number of people apparently do not count travel time.

When I am looking at attending an event, I count the time to get ready and travel as well as the length of the event. Depending on events, that can add minutes or hours. Those minutes and hours add up.

I did not always count them. I started that the other year. I began realizing how much time one volunteer activity was taking. That is when I began looking at a lot of tasks. I began cutting back. I also began working on simplifying some areas.

I have always been one that ran multiple errands at one time. I make a list of where I need to go and then figure out the best way to get them all done. It saves travel time and I get more done in less time. I guess that I am one of the few that does that now that I think about that comment.

Breakthrough at 10,000 Hours

2010-09-24T08:29:00.001-07:00

I was listening to some webinars that Eric Lofholm made available to people on a call with Robin Robins. During one of these he made the statement about it taking 10,000 hours and then you get a breakthrough. That has stuck with me over the past day. I have also realized that it is not one hour repeated 10,000 times or a few hours that keep repeating. It is an accumulation of hours spent progressing on something and moving upward or to completion.

Being a math person I have worked some numbers. In a 365 day year, there are only 8,760 hours. Since I need 8 hours of sleep each night, the hours reduce it to 5,840. I then checked 365 times 8 hours and got 2,920. This now makes more sense about being in jobs for 4 years and then ready to move on. It also explains the reason that things take longer. It also explains the need for persistence.

I also thought about school. When I went it is grades 1 through 12. I did not get to go to kindergarten. For each grade there were 180 days and 7 hours from start to finish. However, I think I have to remove lunch and play time. That leaves 5 hours and gives 900 hours. Then if one adds some time for homework, one gets over 1000 hours. Every few years, I advanced from one type of school to another. Consider it another breakthrough.

I am also thinking of it with this business and learning marketing. Yes, I have been reworking this business for 6 years now. However, I had a family illness come up and take lots of time over several years. It is now ending and I am getting more time on the marketing. I realized that it seems to progress with each move over a 1000. When I have gotten to the 10,000 in anything that is where there was a big breakthrough.

This idea gives hope and encouragement. It also has me wondering where I stand in

NCSU Cincinnati Game

2010-09-17T12:58:00.001-07:00

Last night I attended the NCSU Cincinnati game. I enjoyed the part that I sat through. I especially enjoyed watching the warm-up/practice before the game. Now I know why someone said that seeing that gave them an idea of the game play. I also know why someone said they like seeing the play formations from the end zone. I see the details better.

The only problem is that today I am tired. I left during the third quarter since it was after 10 PM. I listened to it on the way home and also heard the post-game report. The only problem is that I got home at 1 AM. When I was younger that was fine. Now I need more sleep. This morning I have drug through the chores.

If they want me to sit through the entire game, they are going to have to speed up the game. I propose that they quit stopping the clock for incomplete passes. They do not stop the clock when running plays do not go forward so why stop it when passes do not work? There are 4 quarters that are 15 minutes apiece and a 20 minute halftime. I think that within 3 hours the game should be over. I heard the finish shortly after 11 and it had started at 7:30 PM.

I did like the halftime salute to the troops. I also liked the card display after the 1st quarter. We just need to play the game faster. Everything else in this world is speeding up and so should ballgames.

Gaining Half a Tree

2010-09-09T07:42:00.000-07:00

This week I have learned that I am gaining half of a tree. One of my side neighbors is building an addition on the side of the house next to mine. This required that the lot be surveyed before building can begin. The surveyor came Tuesday and marked the yard. My yard gain starts with a few inches in the back and increases to over 2 feet by the time one gets to the street.

I always thought that I was just to my side of this big tree. The neighbor thought I was a little further over. It turns out that I own half of that tree. Because it is so close to my house, I would like that tree down. The neighbor seems to want to keep it.

There is a natural area that is mostly mine in the front. This tree and one other that is definitely his sit in it. Also there is a utility right of way in his front yard at this area. I have suggested that the two trees come down, he plants grass to the line and I keep the natural area with a border. That way we will know where the line is. His natural area in the back serves as a border guide now and that is why that area is only a few inches off.

I am hopeful that at least the tree in question will come down because it may interfere with his addition when one thinks about the roots and canopy. This should get interesting over the next few weeks.

Newsletter is Printed

2010-08-26T08:05:00.001-07:00

I have known for some time that I need to have a newsletter for the business. But where is the time? In June an ICCA (Independent Computer Consultants Association) colleague, Tom Warfield, contacted a group of us to see if we wanted to pool resources. He was looking for a new source. I jumped in.

For the June/July issue I took a document that I had and worked it into an article. That issue is on my hard drive. That is as far as it got.

July flew by. So I paid for August since I did not submit an article. I received the August publication. Last Friday I finally got a print quote. I went to work on the editing for my business. I got it printed yesterday. I even had the 2 alternate articles printed. They were too good to pass up and I wanted them for potential marketing ideas.

I have figured out how to word that it is my newsletter but I my not be in it sometimes. I am going to word it to show the contacts in this industry since I am a one-person company.

Now I need to check distribution. That means making sure it gets through the mail all right. Then I can distribute full more widely.

Also, I want to go to a Microsoft Publisher class or study that help more. The editing that I needed was easy for the most part. The others I think I got around the area.

I have submitted a September possibility and am working on the next one.

My Ancestry Family Tree

2010-08-20T07:36:00.001-07:00

At a meeting on Tuesday one person commented that they had found a lost cousin when they did their family tree on Ancestry.com. I decided that it was time to transfer what I have to there since I am already paying the monthly fee.

I started putting it out that afternoon. I quickly realized that I need a plan. My plan is to stick to direct lines and their siblings for now. Otherwise I will get bogged down in the details and not get as far back as I can. As I find “Ancestry Hints” I can add those.

I started gathering this information in 1994 when my mother was diagnosed with cancer. I was especially interested in her line. Years that would indicate cancer deaths did not show in her line. However, my father’s side seems to show it on the female spouses. That got my attention. I wonder if couples should share tree info before marriage. Some may change their minds.

In the 1990’s I had to go to the Mormon library located in the southern part of Charlotte. I read the microfiche files to find the information. I bought copies of the tree charts and added information on the back. I was doing all right on both sides but other items took attention.

I had also added some info to my notes from Ancestry.com that I had found over the last few years. I have found my maternal grandfather’s World War I draft registration card. I even found the younger brother that my mother never spoke of but one of her brother’s had. He was born when she was 3 and died the next year. I guess she just never thought to mention it.

I like this online method for the family tree. It has places for notes and other information. It also tells me if others are out there with my family member on their tree. Apparently none of my cousins are doing one yet. My father showed up on 2 trees. They are from families that I have not heard of and will investigate.

Well, I am off to add some more.

New Eyeglass Frames for Me

2010-08-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

I had my annual eye exam on July 1st. My contacts did fine but my glasses needed new lenses. I take the contacts out each night to clean them off and give my eyes a rest. I put them back in the next morning. Since I only use the glasses at the beginning and end of the day, I agreed to just get new lenses for my frames. The fun began.

The lenses came in almost two weeks later. They did not fit. I had to go back and have them grind them down. Then they still did not fit. The frames had to be measured and new lenses sent for. At least I did not have to pay for the second set.

The second set came in a week later. Back I went for another hour.

They lasted one week. Somehow I caught the frames and the screw popped out of the hole and the left lens fell out. It was put back in with a better screw and another hour was gone.

Tuesday morning the left lens just popped out! Back I went. This time we realized the frame was bent. Turns out that I had ordered those glasses in 2005 and the frame was discontinued in 2007.

I looked over again at those new glass frames by Silhouette that do not have screws. They looked nice. I am getting new frames and lenses. I pay for the frames and the lenses are free. I will try the new hinge mechanism and see how it works.

This is the first time that I had tried new lenses in old frames. I will not do that again. It has taken too much time. From now on, this girl will buy new frames to go with new lenses.

Temporary Pet Home

2010-08-06T06:35:00.001-07:00

Wednesday and Thursday morning my home was the temporary home for my sister’s cat, Bentley. He is a pretty cat with long hair and a long tail (about 1 foot). Last week my sister had asked if she could bring him over the 2 mornings when the roofers would be at her house. I agreed. After all that is what sisters are for. It was originally suppose to be Tuesday and Wednesday and I had morning appointments out. It became Wednesday and Thursday.

First I had to cat-proof the house. This meant that before Bentley came each morning I had to shut the doors to the study and the extra bedroom. I had to put some things in cabinets because I did not want that big tail to knock them off.

Wednesday morning went fine. I had things ready and went for my walk. They were here when I got back. I was able to check emails and change to go to my meeting. Since I did not get back home until after noon, they had left for home.

Thursday was a little different. They just got here as I was coming back in. I had to take a shower and run errands. I had to make sure the cat was not under my bed. Fortunately he likes the guest bedroom and being under that bed next to the wall. When I came back I had the groceries and had to remember to put the garage door down before opening the kitchen door. I did not want to chase a cat through the neighborhood.

I finally got to the study and stood it for a little while. With the heat wave the study was getting stuffy. I got done what I needed and decided I would do the rest later. Because the day was clear and the roofers were going to finish, my sister stayed a little longer. Then she had trouble getting Bentley out from under the bed. It took about 1 hour to get him out and into the cat carrier.

Yes Bentley was sweet. When he checked out the dryer area, he cleaned behind it for me with his big tail. However, I have realized the chores that go with a pet. Sometimes it would be nice to have one but for now I just do not need the chores that go with it. I like my house back this morning.

My First "Mayberry" Visit

2010-07-30T07:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my sister and I took the day to go to Mt. Airy. We went to see “Mayberry”. I grew up watching The Andy Griffith Show. His hometown has “Mayberry” attractions. It is about a 1 hour drive up Interstate 77 from my house. We just had to hunt the visitor parking a bit and then we got started.

We began at the Visitors Center. The parking is just behind it. That turned out to be a great place to start. The guide told us about the different attractions and had a better map and guide magazine.

Since it was about 11:30 we went straight to Snappy’s Lunch. We had the famous pork chop sandwich. Neither of us had eaten one before. It tastes delicious and I highly recommend getting it all the way. Just be prepared to lick your fingers and use some napkins because the slaw and tomato make it messy. Also, I used the plastic fork and knife to finish it off.

Floyd’s Barber Shop was closed so we had to miss that attraction. We walked to Wally’s Service Station. We took the squad car ride. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS! I got to ride in a squad car like they would have used in the show. I did not know that huge granite quarry was sitting in Mt. Airy. The guide said they can see it from the spaceships and after seeing the size I think they can. It also explains all of the granite buildings around the town. The guide pointed out a number of sites including Andy Griffith’s boyhood home, the crossing that Andy tells Jerry Van Dyke’s character to go help with, and where the school was and now the museum is.

After the ride we walked back up to the Andy Griffith Museum. It is small but growing. Among the items are Barney’s salt-and-pepper suit (remember it was just right for the dips when dancing). It has a number of pictures and other items from the show. It is worth the three dollars to get in.

We then walked to the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. There are 4 levels to this museum and it is worth the admission price. The main floor starts with an exhibit of the settling of the area. In the back is an exhibit about the railroad and resort hotel that used to be in the area. This apparently brought in many people. The second floor has some items from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. There is also some NASCAR, Donna Fargo, Siamese Twins, and of course Andy Griffith items there since all of this impacted the Mt. Airy area. The third floor had some beautiful quilts. Also it has the entrance to a stairwell that one can go up just one floor and look out over the mountain area. The basement had the fire trucks and told of the big fire that burned the nice hotel in town.

It was hot! However, I will go back again. I would like to see a performance in the playhouse and maybe get to meet Betty Lynn when she signs autographs at the museum (she played Thelma Lou and now lives in the region). Oh yes, I want another pork chop sandwich.

Walt Disney Bio Lessons

2010-07-21T12:16:00.001-07:00

I finally finished reading the Walt Disney bio by Neal Gabler on Sunday (I had finally started it in February). I bought this book at Disney World in November 2007. I was there for an AAII conference and took time to tour. I remember being amazed at what all a mouse had built. While reading this, I found 4 lessons were continuously coming back to me.

The first lesson is to keep control of what one has. Disney had created a cartoon character before the mouse. However, he gave up control of the character during some of the negotiations on distribution. This brought back my decision to place my backyard fence more like a courtyard and keep control of my entire yard. I am glad that I decided on that placement.

One must always invest in themselves and keep learning about their specialty. The book gives great details about the people that surrounded Disney. It tells what he learned and how he experimented with color in animation and later television. It also tells how he kept learning how to better ideas. Yes, he had some other investments but his biggest was always the company.

One must look for multiple streams of income from the main source. Disney met the right person at the right time to learn to merchandise the mouse. He then took that to new levels with television, Disneyland, and Disney World. The book also explains how his company created some of the exhibits for companies at the Worlds Fair in the 60’s. These later became attractions at the parks.

Last but not least, I think is to give credit to others for what they do. From the book, I get the impression that he did not do this as well as he could have. This may have caused some of the problems, especially after he died. I remember that one head of General Motors made less than someone else and clearly said it was because that person knew his specialty so well. I think this helps to keep highly skilled/intellectual people surrounding you. That is certainly what I want.

It is time to pass the book on and start another one.

Caregivers are Aging

2010-07-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

While I have been walking early each morning this week, I have witnessed a few homes where one person is taking care of another. The different illnesses are in various stages and require different amounts of attention. I have been reminded of what it took to check on my mother and father in their last few months and years. I wonder what this is going to mean to the national healthcare system. Are we ready? I do not think so.

We now enjoy a longer life in this country because of our medical advances. I remember when people did not expect to live past 70. Now it seems the norm to plan to live into the 80’s and plan for 95. I had never heard of dementia and Alzheimer diseases when I was a child. Now I see and hear about families dealing with these illnesses. People that are mentally disabled now live into adulthood for a number of years.

All of these and others require someone to look after the person. Much of this care has been able to be handled at home. With the post World War II Baby Boom (those of us born between 1946 and 1963 or 64 depending on how you count it), now starting to turn 65, how long can this keep going on? I know that it was hard for my siblings and I to monitor our parents and we were in our 30’s, 40’s and early 50’s. I can only imagine how tough this is for someone in their 60’s or even 70’s. What type of illnesses is this going to cause for the caregiver? Will they have time to recover before other illnesses begin to appear?

This also brings up questions about house designs and items in the homes. The first is guns. I know it is a big debate in this country about the right to own a gun. One area we may need to think about is what happens when a gun is in the home, the caregiver is not watching and the other person uses the gun? Could they use it on the caregiver without realizing what they are doing? Could they use it on someone else coming to check without knowing who that person is? I can see this tragedy playing on the news worldwide.

We may also need more single story homes. These homes will need to be designed for easier mobility. This means wider doorways, bigger bathrooms, and ramps instead of steps to the outside. They may require different types of handles, locks, alarms, and appliances. My alarm sounds when a door opens. Appliances may need a code to keep someone from incorrectly using a device and causing a fire.

A few years ago I heard the following stats on dementia: 1% of those 60 years old have it, 2% of those that are 65, 4% of those that are 70, 8% of those that are 75, 16% of those that are 80, 32% of those that are 85, 64% of those that are 90 and by 95 everyone has some form of it.

We need to realize that the playing field for old age has changed. We need to face reality and plan for it.

Mecklenburg County Sales Tax

2010-07-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the news reported that one of the county commissioners is proposing a vote during the November elections to increase the sales tax to help with the libraries and schools. It was also noted that we already pay the highest sales tax in North Carolina.

I am not against schools and libraries. However, I am against raising this tax. I want changes in our expenses. Times have changed and we need to review all of the areas before we just tax some more.

First we need to look at the schools. I grew up in the next county. When I went to elementary school it was grades 1 through 7. We had one principal and a secretary in the office. I think we had 20 classrooms, one custodian, and a cafeteria head (several people reported to her) that worked at the school each day. The principal may have had a masters degree but no higher. The only school with an assistant was the high school. There were few people in the administrative office.

Now I know that times have changed but so has technology. I am not sure that we need all of these people in the school doing administrative functions. I think it is time to look at reducing these managerial lines. It appears that the more degrees these people have, the more people they need reporting to them.

My second concern is the library system. Yes, it is nice to have these small libraries in each county town or area. Again, times have changed. We need to review all of this as well. Some of these branches may be needed but do they have to be in a prime business location? Can they not be one block back? This way the prime business location could be used for a business that pays property taxes and therefore adds to the revenue for the cities and counties. When looking to locate some of these non-profits and government buildings, we need to think about the property taxes that may be lost.

Finally I want to know why I only remember votes concerning schools or other public concerns but never for a government office building.

Staying Cool in the Piedmont

2010-06-25T08:01:00.001-07:00

I live in the Piedmont section of North Carolina. We suddenly went to a full summer hot spell last week. It is continuing this week. I have had to go back to adjusting the air conditioner, schedule, and house to the heat.

First the air conditioner temperature gets set a little higher so that it will cut off periodically. I have a two-story home cooled by only one unit (developer cut costs that way). It is too hard to correct so I have left it that way. At night and in the early morning I can cool the house to 73 or 74 Fahrenheit. During the day I let it go up about 5 degrees and cool then. The AC can cool to that but not below during the heat of the day. At least it takes out the humidity and stirs the air.

I have curtains on the east side shut now. I will shut the one on the south side (fortunately only one window) by noon. Then this afternoon I will shut the ones on the west side. This keeps the hot sun from shining directly in and helps keep the house cooler. At least I feel that it works.

I have also had to adjust outside activities. I am doing my exercising in the mornings when the schedule allows. I ran errands this morning after a business meeting. I sit on the patio after the sun gets over the house since the patio is on the east side.

I grew up in this area so I should be used to it. This year just came so quick and after a cool period. One day was pleasant and the next was hot and humid.

Huntersville Garbage Service Changing Again

2010-06-18T06:58:00.001-07:00

I rolled out both containers last night. I plan to leave them out by the road. Hopefully I will have new containers before I need to clean out waste baskets early next week. Yes, Huntersville is changing the garbage service again.

I have a garbage container and a yard waste container. The instructions for the switch have been printed as information ads in the two local papers that come each Thursday. My understanding is that I am to leave the containers from the current service company out. Someone is to come along and pick them up. Someone is also to bring me ones from the new service company. The new company begins service on July 1. I presume that in between I am to use the containers from the new company with the current company emptying them.

I am to get 3 containers from the new company. One is for garbage. One is for yard waste. One is for recyclables. I wonder what they are going to do about all of the leaves in the fall. Nothing has been said about that. Anyway one switch is that recyclables will be collected every other week, not every week.

When I moved here 23 years ago, the garbage service was handled by the town. They also vacuumed the leaves and picked up anything else left out by the curb. Since then the town has outsourced the garbage pickup. Then we began the cutbacks on what is picked up. At some point leaves had to be bagged and the vacuum truck disappeared. Then we were told only 20 bags per week would be picked up.

I am getting ready for more cuts. With revenues not increasing, I figure that it is only a matter of time before the town starts charging for excess trees in yards. Some are nice but an excess causes either a lot of bags or piles left in yards. The piles in yards create leaf mold, mildew and snake homes. I have been bagging mine for years and getting them out as fast as I could. I do mulch what I can but my yard can only handle so many. Also, I have neighbors that just blow them into natural areas. The leaves blow back out and sometimes they blow into my yard. I think the neighbors wait on that to happen because they know I will bag them and get them out. Last season I was down to 120 bags since I cut out some trees and the leaves did not blow around as much.

I am planning to have the last 2 big trees cut down this summer. I was waiting for the school buses to quit running since the cutting will need big vehicles in the road. It will be interesting to see how many bags I have do this fall and what the collection policy is going to be.

Is Business Still a Numbers Game?

2010-06-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

The speaker at the Tuesday morning meeting made the comment that business is still a numbers game. This got my attention because Wednesday morning was a four hour class on Social Media. As I sat in that class about YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, I kept thinking about the Tuesday comment.

For those that do not know the old rule of business contacts and numbers I will repeat it as I remember it (please chime in if your memory is different). To get one prospect you must meet 20 people. You should get one sale out of 20 prospects. That means that you have to meet 400 people to get one client!

With Social Media and the Internet, I think we still have a numbers game but it has changed. First we are able to research people and groups before we even attend a meeting. This may not apply to small groups but for large organizations it does. Also, the majority of people are on the Internet somewhere. I like to “google” myself periodically and see what is out there. Sometimes I will see what is out there for other people with my first and last name (yes, they exist).

We are also able to research after attending events. With Social Media we can even find if we have common acquaintances. Then we can check the people further and make sure of what we were told. This can help qualify a lead and save us time.

I think we still have the numbers game. I am just not sure how the numbers are changing. I think Social Media and the Internet are saving time when used correctly.

Is BP Amoco Changing Our Thoughts?

2010-06-05T08:04:00.000-07:00

I am unaffiliated in North Carolina with any political party (NC does not recognize Independent). I get my national and international news primarily from the Wall Street Journal and the Economist. Some nights I have time to catch some news on CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC (depends on who does not have guests that are yelling at the other guests).

Last night I opened my Journal and got to read an ad from BP and then on the editorial page got to read a letter from Tony Hayward. I admit that I have not been tracking the oil spill in detail for days and have been monitoring when time allows. However, I was disappointed that with it taking this long he has only learned 3 lessons. I would think by now he would be in the double digits.

I learned on CNN last night that Hayward obtained a “Ph. D” when he was 22. That is interesting even after one takes into account the British education system that college starts at 16 and not 18 as in the United States. However, I am beginning to wonder if it stands for “piled higher and deeper” (this comes from what the BS means that one first earns) and in this case that deeper may be appropriate.

I have decided to start my own lessons learned.

First, I have learned that not all Democrats rush to spend money. The US President at first waited for BP Amoco to handle this. Either Obama is not a Democrat or our debt situation is worse than we thought. I think it is the latter.

Second the Republican Governor of Louisiana cannot wait to spend federal money. I thought Republicans did not like federal spending and used it only as a last resort. Either Louisiana is at last resort or the Governor does not want to spend federal money unless the problem is in his front or back yard. I wonder if he would want federal money spent if the oil was coming on shore in North Carolina since Governor Perdue is a Democrat.

Third, the Tea Party actually wants the federal government to get in there, spend money and do something. I thought they were for the federal government getting out of the way.

Fourth, Mr. Hayward apparently does not understand that he is paid the “big bucks” to handle a crisis, not to enjoy perks. He needs to learn this. If he cannot lead in this, he needs to remember the old saying of “lead, follow or get out of the way”. In any of the pictures that I have seen of him, I do not see one person holding a gun to his head to make him work as the CEO. He has the right to quit. Maybe his board can help him.

Fifth, the board of BP Amoco is great at disappearing. Maybe this is why they cannot help the CEO. All I hear about is this CEO, some Marketing/PR people, and of course the technical people actually doing the work to handle the crisis. They do have a chairman that is not the CEO and there are members on the board. This is one of the best disappearing acts that I have seen!

Sixth, the BP Amoco website team is great at finding clean beach pictures to put on the website. I noticed that they do not have any showing lots of oil. Also the people “cleaning the beach” do not seem to be working very hard. Speaking of the website, I also noticed that they include beach reports for several states. This makes the advisory list for Louisiana look small.

Seventh, the oil rig personnel were not prepared to handle this explosion. This became evident when I read the 2-part report in WSJ last week. They did a great job of writing it so that one was not laughing before one finished reading. Go back and read it in time sequence. If it were not for 11 people dead and many injured, the evacuation of the rig would be the biggest comedy scene of the year. I still want to know if alcohol was being served at that celebration just before the explosion.

Eighth, our government does not take time to understand changes. Read the articles that talk about how the MMS gave approval to changes within minutes. How much could they understand? Either they wanted to finish and do something else or they are more brilliant than we thought. I think it is the first one.

Ninth, oil companies have a limit of 75 million on the payouts in the US. This came from the Valdez incident. No wonder BP Amoco appears not to have been overly concerned about some safety issues! This is a “drop in the bucket” for them.

Tenth, larger companies are no more prepared for disaster handling than small ones. One would think they would be but this one seems to have a hard time coordinating the different areas. Maybe it has to do with them being a British headquartered company. Maybe they also need to learn that summer vacation in this country is beginning whereas the summer holiday in Europe is primarily August. People expect to be going to the beaches and put on suntan lotion – not oil.

Display Ad in Place

2010-05-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

I got the display ad ready and installed at the Lake Norman Chamber/Visitor Center today. When I did the presentation on May 11th for the LKN Business Works, I received a certificate for a free display ad for one month. I gave the person at the chamber a chance to get through some busy events and caught up with her last week to see just what this included.

It turns out that the display ad area is part of the business display area in the Visitor Center. It includes a “window” area where one can display an ad that is about 8 by 11 behind a glass, about 50 business cards in a holder, and some brochures in a brochure bin that is just over 8 by 11.

Over the weekend I began thinking about it. I had signed up for Copydoodles® at the Robin Robins Bootcamp in April. I checked the comics on the site and decided to upgrade my membership and use one for the ad. Since it would take some time for the membership to process I decided that Tuesday morning was a good time to try to access the comic. It worked! I got the comic downloaded and placed on the page. I determined that a piece of my business stationary would work fine since it is a very pale green and they use black pieces of paper as background behind the glass. I added the black and white comic. Then put in some words. I have defined what a business technology analyst is. I also used dark green and dark teal for the colors and made it more like a conversation. It also added more color. I also included wording to tie into the questions in the bin (see next paragraph).

I then took a page of questions that I have for a handout and modified them. I used the title from my talk, added an orange Copydoodle® to the handout and created 150 to go into the bin on the business stationary.

I will be interested to hear what people think that see it. One problem is that there is no way to get feedback from a direct display ad unless someone directly tells me, calls, emails, or uses slow mail. I can monitor for one month and see how it goes since it will be easy to stop by and check the card and one-page supply.

Charlotte Region Air Quality and Me

2010-05-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

I attended the Lake Norman Chamber Focus Friday this morning. Dave Franchina is chair of the Regional Air Quality Board and he spoke about our air quality. Charlotte and surrounding counties have been noted for the poor air quality for some time now. He explained what is wrong and ways we can help.

First it takes sunlight. Last year we met the goal primarily because we had a lot of cloudy and cool days last summer. The sunlight expands the nitrogen oxides and the volatile organic compounds to create ozone which consists of 3 oxygen elements hooked together. Volatile organic compounds come from vegetation and some mobile sources. This program focused on the nitrogen oxides. They expand when the sun is shining and break up during the night so the amount of ozone goes down at night.

The majority of nitrogen oxides come from mobile sources. This is cars, trucks, buses, etc. The other comes from non-road mobile (industry motors, etc) and some area and stationary. The non-road has pretty much been handled. Now it is up to us.

We all know about walking more and taking mass transit. Dave pointed out some other actions we can take. When filling up the gas tank, nitrogen oxides are released into the air. If one fills up in the morning these oxides have all day to expand into ozone and stay in the air until evening when they tear apart. By filling up in the afternoon or evening I can help reduce the ozone.

Operating motor equipment in the evening rather than the morning helps. That means mow the yard in the evening. That is fine since it is cooler then.

Driving at 45 miles per hour seems to be the optimal speed. Higher speeds burn more gas and idling is terrible. This means drive when I do not have to sit in traffic. Also I realized that I have been helping when I wait for traffic to get out of the lot after an event before I start my car. I am known for standing around after NCSU home football games and the Broadway Series Light performances to let the traffic get out of the lots and decks. I have been doing it because I hate sitting in a stopped car. Now I can feel great because I am helping the environment.

Presentation and Colors Document

2010-05-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Today I gave the presentation “Are You and Your Technology Compatible?” at the Lake Norman Chamber’s Business Works meeting. I created this 30 minute presentation to help people determine the technology for them. It does not discuss specific technologies. It starts with a discussion about how people have different backgrounds, perspectives, educations and time priorities. I then move to the different types of data, storage, data communication methods, and usage. Then I end with protection of the data. This area discusses the physical threats and cyber threats.

I also included a document that I have created. It is titled “Color Usage with Computers”. I discuss the different colors of the rainbow and some of my thoughts on what they mean. Then I give an example how the 3 primary colors may be viewed in a graph. The idea of understanding colors and perspectives came from a paper on Visualization that I received last year and a meeting about colors and what they can mean in business.

I think the presentation went well. I even had some good comments said after the meeting ended.

It has been a good day. Now on to the next task.

Saw Nashville before Flooding

2010-05-03T08:59:00.001-07:00

I had been through Nashville one time (I do mean rode right through on I-40) and my LA to Charlotte flight stopped at the airport in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo changed the plans and I got put on a flight to Atlanta. So when the Robin Robins Bootcamp was announced for April 14-17, I decided to attend. Since the event started on the evening of the 14th, I decided to drive on the afternoon of the 13th. I decided to attend the Grand Ole Opry on the 17th since the event ended at noon and I could come back on the 18th.

I have followed the flooding this weekend. First I was in the Renaissance Hotel. It is in downtown Nashville on Commerce Street between 6 and 7. It should be high enough up the hill to not have water coming in. However, I wonder how the water and sewer system is holding up. I like to make sure toilets flush.

On Wednesday the 14th, I drove to The Hermitage. I think it is far enough from the river but it has some creeks and streams. They have to be over the banks.

That afternoon I caught the trolley ride and 2nd and Commerce. They were fixing a water main problem from the ice storm that winter. I guess now it is all under water. Some of the areas that I saw on the trolley near the State Capitol may also be underwater. The pictures that I see do not have titles and the announcers are not showing the areas that I toured.

After the trolley, I went into the Charlie Daniels Museum from 2nd Street. I went downstairs to buy some ice cream and a soda. I took it out the 1st street door and went over by the river. I sat on one of the concrete barriers and looked toward LP Field and the river. It was nice! From the shot of LP Field that I saw last night, I guess where I sat is under water.

During the event, I ate dinners at some of the restaurants and I am wondering just how high has the water gone on Commerce and Broadway. Maybe I will see that later today.

On the 17th I went to the Grand Ole Opry. I toured the Museum, ate at the Aquarium Restaurant in Opry Mills and saw the 7PM show (I already had a ticket at Will Call). I read this morning that the hotel was evacuated. I am wondering how the aquarium animals are doing. That restaurant had live animals swimming in there and I enjoyed seeing the stingrays through the glass. They would swim by sideways and I got to see that they have faces on the underside.

The museum was excellent and I hope the exhibits are all right.

My other thought has been about all of that moisture from the Gulf. I wonder if that oil spill added to this rain. What effect does that have on a Low Front pulling moisture out of the Gulf?

Web Based or Not

2010-04-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

I have been deciding between two customer marketing systems this week. One will run on my desktop and the other is web-based. I have watched demos and checked costs. I had to get both sides of the costs since this is not comparing apples to apples. This is comparing two totally different sets of costs.

The system that can run on my desktop will allow me to control the input and output better. It is also cheaper. However, I have to make sure it is backed up.

The web-based system will need to be hosted at the seller. It will have a monthly cost. However, backup will not be my problem. Getting my data back will. I will have to pay for a file to be created.

I made the decision a few minutes ago. Even though web-based sounds nice and modern, I decided to go with the one on my computer. I have already checked on the off-site backup and will just need to set that up. It should not take long. In the end it got down to what fit my business. That included costs and data availability.

I am just waiting on the paperwork now.

Is the I-85 Corridor Misleading?

2010-04-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Last week this time I was driving through Tennessee on I-81 on my way to Nashville. I noticed that Tennessee was more rural like South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia on a lot of their interstates. I noted the trend continued when I changed to I-40.

I realized that I am used to I-85 in the Piedmont section of North and South Carolina. There is very little rural area. Every few miles there are exits for gas and food. My mind made the connection to the northern part of the country where I-95 runs and is very urban.

We have had a number of people from the urban parts of the North and California move to this area. I have wondered why they thought the area was so urban and why they are so shocked at the rural elements that show up. I think they made assumptions and did not take time to learn the history or look deeper.

This region was small farms that apparently did not make much money. Because of the rivers, industries came to the small towns once electricity could be created on the rivers and sent over the wires. We had a lot of one-company towns created. They happen to be located close to I-85.

Maybe this is a good example of why one should take time to ask questions, get a broader view, and stop to think.

Statistics Lessons on a Saturday

2010-04-12T06:58:00.000-07:00

I spent Saturday afternoon at Scope Academy. I learned about the statistical studies using observation versus random sampling. I learned how the banks and power companies missed the housing problem because of the statistical models being used. Then I heard about the direction of research in this country.

First the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at North Carolina State University hosts this event. Being on the Alumni and Friends Advisory board I got to help great the attendees and find their folders and nametags. It was a great way to see the diversity of the attendees.

Then I had the opportunity to intro the first speaker that I wanted to hear. I got to hear Stan Young explain the difference between the observational studies and random testing ones. This talk explained the need to continue to ask about the data in the study. Understand those numbers. It takes me back to what I have always said. I want to see the numbers, know how they were obtained, and how studied. I prefer the median or mode to the average any day. This talk reminded us all again about the Type 1 error. That is where you just happen to get a positive test by accident.

Second I was able to hear about the statistical models that banks, utilities and other companies are using. I came away from this one with the following understandings: the bosses only want to hear good news, the models do not handle social changes well, the models handle engineering facts well, and that maybe I should liquidate any stock holdings where the companies must deal with changing lifestyles of the customers.

The last lecture was by Neal Lane. It was excellent! I learned so much about the funding of the R&D in this country. The government has taken over more of this area as companies have reduced their research to meet investor demands. Now if the government has to cut the funding, we have to ask ourselves how the research is going to be funded that keeps the United States moving forward. We have a lot to decide. We have to decide if to think long term or short term.

Lessons from "Jersey Boys"

2010-04-05T06:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday I got to see the play “Jersey Boys”. For those that have not seen it and remember the singing group “The Four Seasons” GO SEE IT! For all others that have not seen it, go anyway.

As I watched it I enjoyed clapping to the songs and remembering the times. I found what was going on behind the scenes more interesting. I loved hearing how the songs came about. At the end they told where the 4 are now.

Driving home I began thinking about what the story also told. It is a great reminder that nothing stays the same. No matter how good or bad, the situation will change. Something will happen. It may be caused by someone directly involved or forces outside. In the play, changes happened because of the personality of the four guys, the environment they grew up in, and the industry they were in.

Persistence paid off. They kept plugging away until they hit the big time. How many people give up too soon? They also had to make some tough choices. They did not get everything they wanted. In one case, a family broke up and kids were hurt. For the most part they appear to have come through it all right and better off than if they had not chased the dream.

Mistakes will catch up sometime and consequences will be paid. Their lives show this before, during and after their singing success. There were some arrests, and apparently one is permanently in one city (remember they are from Jersey).

It is great entertainment. It is also a great example of the business lessons that we all keep hearing.

Females and the Computer Industry

2010-04-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

This week I heard a recorded radio show discussing the low percentage of females going into the computer industry college majors. Gloria Townsend was discussing her work in researching this. The numbers are going down and not up. Yet the percentages are going up in other scientific fields. The reason appears to be the nature of the work. The work appears to be shut off from others.

This caused me to remember why I left the corporate world the other year. I got tired of sitting in a cubicle staring at the computer screen and the cubicle walls. If I looked out the cubicle opening I stared into another cubicle. Then there was that pager. It is still the reason that I do not like to turn on the cell phone. That device is too much like that pager that went off one time too many.

I am task oriented – not people oriented. What that means is that I see the task before seeing the people if I am not careful. I need an environment that allows me to see beyond the task.

I like my office at home. I look past the computer screen to windows and can see through the shears to the trees and sky. I can see out more windows when I go to the kitchen for more water. Lunch at my dining table allows me to look out those windows and to not worry about getting paged back to a task.

I will take a break in a little while and meet a former co-worker for lunch. I do not have to be concerned about getting paged, getting stopped before I go for some work related problem and even having to cancel for that. That does not mean an interruption cannot happen but the work related ones are gone and it is a stress reducer that is very nice.

If the computer industry and the college majors for it want to attract more females to the field, they are going to have to change their expectations. Yes, I like making the computer work. However, I and other females do not want to do it all of the time at expense of relationships.

Water Heater is in

2010-03-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

This week began with getting a new water heater. The old one had not gone yet but I think it was about to go. Ten years is past the time to replace. When the plumber was running the water through the rust came through that was in the bottom of the old tank.

I did some home improvements with this change. I went from a 40 gallon to a 50 gallon tank. Because of some safety code changes since my last water heater was installed, those were added. Should I ever sell the house, this should be a plus.

I thought about tankless but those hook to the electricity except there is a new style out that may not. Anyway, I like having hot water if the power is out (that has happened when Hugo came through in 1989 and for some ice storms). Also, I did not want to venture to the newest and find all of the bugs. I have enough to deal with.

I also went ahead and changed one toilet to a new style. This one flushes with less water. I have 3 toilets. I learned that plumbing is the first thing to go. I also learned that one needs to use all of the plumbing in a house periodically to keep the lines going. That makes sense. I also learned that toilets have a life span of 30 years or so. Since the house is 23 years old, that means the other 2 will need replacing sometime. I think I can schedule the other 2 at more convenient times. It was just that the inside workings were vibrating a lot when I flushed it. Rather than replace the insides, it was time to go to something else. This new one uses less water and is suppose to be better. I am adjusting to it.

The rest of the week has been catch up and deal with a sinus infection. That is now going away and I am almost caught up.

Adjusting to Daylight Savings Time

2010-03-20T07:31:00.001-07:00

This week my excuse for being tired, late or anything else that is not right is that one hour that I lost on Saturday night. I am not the only one. I continually hear people talk about the one hour that is missed and everything it seems to mess up. They may be right.

This is Saturday morning and I had a little time to think this morning. I realized that the body has needed to adjust to darkness in the morning and that daylight much later at night. The body seems to do fine with the daylight changes when they occur a minute or so each day. This one hour seems to affect.

When I was growing up I remember that we went on this the last week of April and came off the first of October. I think the adjustment was better because the daylight at that time coincided more to my schedule.

Getting up in the dark this week after being used to getting up with daylight has been difficult. I have had to force myself to get up and make meetings. I noticed that I was not the only one not their usual self.

Right now I am thinking that maybe travel the week before is the answer. I just have to determine if I should travel east, west, north, south or a combination.

Maintenance Mondays

2010-03-15T07:21:00.001-07:00

I realized over the weekend that I like “maintenance Mondays”. Since I work from home, I like having Monday without any meetings on it. Sundays are now more enjoyable because Monday handles all of the mundane tasks. I can get dressed in old work-around-the house clothes.

Monday is the day to clear all of the emails that came in since I was on the computer on Saturday (I take Sundays off unless there is an urgent need). I can also send emails that came up over the weekend. Then I can handle any maintenance on the computer that I need to. Also it is a great time to do those small information searches and get those off my list.

For exercise, I clean my house. Monday is a great time to handle the basic housecleaning and begin that special project. Since the first of the year I have been using Mondays that are clear and not cold to wash a few windows. I am getting that chore done room by room. I am almost through. I plan to handle the living room and kitchen windows in a little while. That will complete the downstairs and leave just one area. Yes it spreads it out but it is better than trying to do them all in one day. By starting on Monday, I get the rest of the week to put things back. The shears can be washed and put back in hours. The curtains go to the cleaners. I am not messing with them because they are too bulky. I can take them either on Monday or Tuesday and get them back by the weekend and finish up.

We went on daylight savings time this weekend. There are some leaves and sticks that need to be cleaned up and placed in the yard waste bin for pickup on Friday. I can do that before or after supper tonight.

I take my blood pressure each morning. This morning with the new thought on Monday it was normal. The stress of Monday is gone. I LIKE MONDAY.

Networking Too Much?

2010-03-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

Is it possible to attend too many networking functions? Is it possible to meet too many people but not really get to know them? Is it worth the time and effort that it takes? How many meetings can one attend? How many different programs can one hear? How many times can one hear the same topic?

These are the questions that I have started asking as I am reviewing my calendar. In the past couple of weeks, I have started being more selective about the number of meetings that I am attending. These meetings can be just meeting someone for lunch, a social networking time, or a formal program meeting.

Just saying no to one has given me today back. I have time to tend to some errands that I cannot do tomorrow and would take way more time on Saturday. It will allow me to get more work completed today, tomorrow and Saturday. I will also have time to enjoy the beautiful weather that is forecast for this weekend.

Maybe this is why the “good old boy network” formed. Maybe they got tired of hearing the same programs and meeting people only once and never getting the chance to talk with them in more detail.

Maybe this is why I am now looking at mastermind groups more closely and seriously considering one.

Fence is Up!

2010-02-25T07:53:00.000-08:00

After finally getting all of the data, I decided on the fence and it is now up. At first I thought of fencing in the entire back yard. I decided against that when I realized that I wanted to keep control of my yard. I have a ten foot utility right-of-way on one side. I did not want to be bothered with them having to take down sections or me having to put up a double gate for them to go through.

Also, I wanted to be able to control what is on both sides of my fence. I did not want someone to hook on and cut me off from cleaning around all of the sides. This meant that a courtyard look was more appropriate.

Then I started looking at the utility lines that run to the back of my house. I realized that was going to be a problem to get over at some places.

I also realized that I would like to see through the fence and therefore a privacy fence was ruled out.

I then thought about all of the trees that my neighbors still have. That meant limbs can fall in bad weather. It had to be sturdy.

Then we had the snow in January. I do not know how people up north stand all of that white. I ruled out a vinyl fence (even beige and tan was too close to white). I wanted something that stood out better.

Charlotte Fence Builders had a bronze aluminum. It is what went up. When the sun hits the fence, it looks almost the dark green colors of my shutters. It just fits the house. It only took them Tuesday and a few hours on Wednesday.

Now we will see how it does with the winds this afternoon. The next few weeks I have some landscaping to do but I will get it done.

Consistency is Key

2010-02-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

Last week in a marketing presentation I heard about being consistent. I have been thinking on that for the last week. I have realized that consistency is the key to a lot of things. It sounds better than maintenance anyway.

Last week they were calling for a snow/ice storm starting late Friday. I realized that I needed to get the leaves away from the patio door in case I had to use that one to get out. Sometimes that is easier than raising the garage door or trying to go out the front and down the brick stairs.

As mad as I was about having to clean the leaves up that are not mine and blew over from my two neighbors’ yards on Wednesday, it only took ½ hour. I decided to clean the rest of the yard and got it all done before the storm started. It took 2 hours but was done. That was because I had been keeping it cleaned up when needed and did not let the leaves pile up for long.

Consistency allows me time to get things done. Yes I had the house inspected and yes I have things to get done but they are not urgent. They can be done in a timely manner that fits my schedule.

Consistency allows me to practice more, think things through more, and understand better.

Teaching Junior Achievement

2010-02-12T07:49:00.001-08:00

Today I am teaching the second lesson in the 5th grade curriculum. I have already taught the first class and will go back shortly to teach the second class. This is the first year that I have had a teacher that has two different classes during the day. Since the local JA is always asking for volunteers to fill slots, I went ahead and volunteered to teach both groups at the same time. I am finding this easier than going back later in the year and teaching again. I just prepare once and teach twice.

The 5th grade curriculum has been 5 sessions since I started in 2001. I have 5 classroom visits of 45 minutes each. My prepare time is about 1 hour per week and some time to think on it while I do some mundane chore.

When I first started, we had the students thinking of a business and pretending to run it. Then they changed the course to have them concentrate more on the different sections. Now we still have 5 sections but they changed to a game or activity to better teach the lesson. These get the students back involved more like when I first started. They and I enjoy the activities.

The first session taught the basics business types. This week they are learning the basics on resources – natural, human, and capital. They are also learning about opportunity costs and scarcity.

In these two weeks I am seeing awareness in the students about areas that they do not know but need to learn. They are waking up to how the business world works.

Huntersville Snowstorm

2010-02-01T07:13:00.001-08:00

On Friday evening it started snowing. When I woke up Saturday morning we had about 3 inches of snow. It looked nice outside. Growing up in this region, this is a lot of snow for us. Also the temperatures were very cold for us. Naturally I had plans that had to be postponed. I did not have to go anywhere and opted to stay home. I will drive out on Tuesday. I may be known to shovel the drive this afternoon when the temperatures get in the 40’s.

What I did enjoy was watching who was going out of the neighborhood. I live on a main street in the subdivision. My dining room faces the street. I enjoyed eating my lunch and watching the few cars that went by on Saturday and the increase on Sunday.

After watching so many cars on Sunday, I decided to go for a walk and see what the conditions were like. I walked a short distance into the subdivision from my house and noted the icy streets and driveways. I also noticed that some driveways were cleaned off, and the ones that had tire tracks. It seems that most that were cleared off are the ones that keep up the yards and had to get out. The ones with the tire tracks mostly belong to the ones that do not keep the yards up. I think they just could not stand to stay home.

This led me to walk toward the entrance and see how the main road that we turn onto looked. It was icy! No way could the school system go today. Since we do not normally have this type of weather, we do not have the budget for salt, etc. We spend the money in other areas. We also had plenty of warning so people had time to get essentials.

I understand that some have to get out. I just wonder what is so wrong at home that the others cannot stand to stay there.

Atchoo!

2010-01-28T08:26:00.001-08:00

Well, I cleaned the study up this week. Monday night I finally got through the papers from the ICCA San Francisco Conference in November. Then I hit some of the marketing papers and updates. When I finished I had a bag of trash and so down it went to the rollout.

On Wednesday I decided to finally clean the desk drawers out. This is because I had not cleaned the files for almost 2 years and it was getting hard to get anything in them. The dust flew! The shredder overheated! I decided to put the full back that I had in the trash and have lunch. I finished cleaning and shredding after lunch. I had another full bag of trash. The dust was flying again, so I took a break and let it settle. Then I dusted where needed.

Now the drawers are cleaned up and I can move forward with filling them back up. The garbage is ready to roll out tonight and it will be full.

H1N1 Shot and Privacy Policy Statements

2010-01-20T07:02:00.001-08:00

This week I realized that I had the perfect time to get the H1N1 shot after a meeting on Tuesday morning. I was not sure if I was starting Junior Achievement classes this week or next but thought the shot would be good. Also I figured that the flu had subsided because the extreme cold weather was keeping people indoors. Since I did not have any meetings that I have to attend for 2 days, I got the shot Tuesday. I was able to sleep extra last night and so far so good. All I have is a little cold feeling but I also feel protected.

In the meantime I am finalizing the wording on my 3 business benefits and checking privacy policies. I was in a class last week that explained why my website needs one so that has now become a task for this week. So now I am off to check on privacy policy statements for websites.

Hearing Multiple Times Helps

2010-01-15T07:15:00.001-08:00

This week I have spent 2 days in a Search Engine Optimization class. It was primarily about Google but included other social media and how they all interact. I have heard from 30 minute presentations to 2 hours on this social media in the past couple of years. Yes, I have been on LinkedIn for some time and just got on Twitter not too long ago. However, I was like why and where do I get the time for these others.

Sitting through the presentation, asking questions, hearing questions from the other participants it all finally registered. I came away with a “to do” list a mile long. On Wednesday night I signed up for the business map on Google and a Google email. I also added myself to Facebook. I took last night off since I had other things to do. This morning I was overwhelmed with how to connect the different friend requests. I still have to figure out what happened to the business page that I set up.

I still have website changes to make and other things to add. It will take a couple of weeks to complete these actions.

It is like everything else. We are so bombarded with info that we have to tune some things out. I have heard recently that we have to hear something 5 or more times for it to register. It makes me wonder how much I have tuned out that I need to be hearing. How much selective listening am I doing?

Cold in North Carolina

2010-01-07T06:18:00.001-08:00

It is currently 24 degrees Fahrenheit here. That is warmer than it has been. We have been seeing lows in the 10’s and highs in the 30’s. Some may say that is good. For us, it is COLD.

Being a native I have seen one time below 0 and do not want to see that or anything lower than the teens again. I prefer winter to have lows in the 20’s and highs in the 40’s.

It would be better if we had some snow. They are saying that we may get some flurries tonight. That sounds like a hedge to me. I think they want viewers on all media.

I am keeping the faucets dripping, especially on the kitchen sink since those pipes are in an outside wall. I also keep the icemaker running at night. I figured that was an easy way to keep the water flowing periodically. Yes, I also have cabinet doors propped open and closet doors open where water pipes are.

I realized the other night that drains need to be more open so I took the drainer cover out of the kitchen sink and opened the dishwasher. Again, those are outside walls.

The good thought is that in 3 months it will be warm here. In 6 months we will be talking about the heat and humidity. The weather is always a topic in this region.

NCSU Bell Tower Chimes

2009-12-30T06:51:00.000-08:00

I played the North Carolina State University Bell Tower “Chimes” during my Junior and Senior years. That fact caused Ralph Daniel to send me an email several months ago. It turns out that he had played the bell tower “chimes” at while in school until he graduated in the early 60’s. He had written an article about his experience. It is very thorough. I commented that I had some information and would get it together. It is still on the “to do” list.

While at the last football game this season, I overheard the people behind me talking about the bell tower chimes not being played. Since I played the “chimes” from the fall of 1974 through the spring of 1976, I had to ask about it. That is when I heard about the campaign for the bells. I made a note when I got home but got busy getting ready for the holidays.

Last week I finally had time to read the autumn issue of the alumni magazine. It had an article about the bell tower and the campaign to raise money for the bells. I went to the website ncsubells.com and contacted them. I obtained permission to send Ralph’s write-up and did. I also plan to get more involved.

What Ralph, I and others played was a carillon and we were known as carillonneurs. I even have a plaque in my study that has the NC State University name, the emblem with the Bell Tower on it, and the writing of “University Carilloneur 1974-1976”. What we played was a keyboard located in the basement of Holliday Hall (under the Chancellor’s office). This keyboard was connected to steel rods that made the chime sounds. When we turned the dial to send out, the amplifier and the speakers in the tower sent the music out of the tower. If we left the dial to inside, we could practice.

In the first year, I played Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the school term at 5 PM. In my second year 2 others joined me so we played each weekday and I played 2 days instead of 3. The music was to last about 10 minutes and end with the alma mater.

Sometime after I left the carillon finally broke and was not replaced. Now money is being raised to finish the tower by obtaining the bells that were supposed to be in it.

Somewhere I have a cartoon from The Technician about the crazy bell player. Apparently people used to stand around the door waiting for me and others to come out of the tower. Also I have a note from a professor that was sent to the Music Department to go to whoever played because he heard a song from his childhood and ancestral country that I played. Now I need to go find the information and put it together.

Ready to Enjoy the Holidays

2009-12-24T07:23:00.001-08:00

The tasks that needed to be accomplished this week have been completed. I wrapped the presents on Tuesday night.

Yesterday I finished cleaning the natural areas. There are 19 bags of leaves ready for pickup at my mailbox. Yes there are still leaves in the natural areas, but the piles are gone. I have noticed that the leaves have mold under them and are wetter underneath than normally. That is probably all of this rain we have had. Plus I still have ice in a few places in the yard from last Friday’s weather event. (For anyone keeping track I have now bagged 107 bags this season and run the lawnmower over the yard a number of times mulching up the ones on the grass). I also put the yard waste container out with the sticks in it when I finished.

I gathered the trash this morning and put it out before I left for errands. If the trucks run through today I will go ahead and get the trash picked up. If not, it can wait out by the curb until Saturday or whenever.

This morning I treated myself to breakfast out. It was nice. There were just a few people in the restaurant at 8 AM. I finished there shortly after 8:30 and went to the grocery store. I got through just before the crowds started. Traffic in the store was starting to pick up as I was finishing. The traffic outside had also picked up a little after 9.

I have some things that I would like to get accomplished this week but I have today, tomorrow morning, and Saturday to do them. They will not take long and I will get them done sometime. Also, I may just watch “White Christmas” on TV. I saw where one station is running it all day today.

Now to enjoying the holiday weekend.

Trees are Down - Fence is Next

2009-12-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

Today I got the trees cut that I decided were in the way of the fence. I have determined that I am going to make the backyard more of a courtyard area. That means the fence will be in at least 10 feet from the line all of the way around. This will give me full control of my yard and fence after the fence is up. No one will be able to hook on.

I determined that all but one little dogwood needed to come down in the back. While I was at it I decided to have some other work done. While I was cleaning up the leaves in the yard the past few days (I am still not done with the natural areas), I looked at the other trees in the front. I decided to get rid of one scrawny dogwood. Also I wanted the one shaped up at the front door.

I also checked the limbs that needed to be cut off of a neighbor’s tree. I have a right to cut what is over the property line and these were getting too close to the house. The squirrels could jump over and chew into my attic. A couple of months ago I asked the neighbor about the limbs and he had only cut a few. Then he said that he could not reach the higher ones so I said that I would handle it when I had some other work done. I did today.

I have used Puckett’s Tree Service for some years (bought this lot 22 years ago and at one time had over 40 trees on this ½ acre). He came on Monday afternoon and gave the estimate. They showed up this morning and got the job done. They were out before 9:30.

I got a present. I now have my view back out of my kitchen window. I can view over to several rooftops and I love it. I just have to make sure that the fence will not block it.

I have some items to finish for business and Christmas and then it is on to fence items and the final decision.

What A Difference A Month Makes?

2009-12-10T08:30:00.000-08:00

Today it is cold. The winds blew yesterday and now I have leaves from mine and neighboring yards piled up around my house. I will try to get out later today and bag as many as possible since pickup is Friday. What makes it bearable is remembering where I was last month this time.

I was in the back of an SUV again. The group was heading to Monterrey, Big Sur and Half Moon Bay. Pep Cearnal of Allegro Private Tours & Convention Resources was our tour guide. I enjoyed the ride to Monterrey since I was able to view the businesses and sites on both sides of the road.

In Monterrey she rode us through the older area first. Then she let us out at the aquarium. We had 1 hour to tour this facility. I can still since that little sea otter that was floating on the water, appeared to be asleep and holding her toy (a little ball with holes in it). I got to see penguins and an octopus in another area. The jellies fascinated me. I had never seen so many different types. The ones that I normally see are lying on a beach. I met up with Gloria and we asked and followed signs to the seahorse exhibit.

Pep then drove us by some of the military area and then on to Big Sur. We had lunch at a hotel/restaurant that was on a cliff and overlooked the water. We then had time to go to Point Lobos State Reserve and take in the views from the Cannery Point. I took some great pictures that are still in the camera (I plan to download them later today).

Then Pep drove us through Carmel-By-The-Sea. It is GORGEOUS! I want to go back sometime and have time to walk around and shop. They appear to have a number of nice shops, restaurants, and places to stay. I was disappointed that I did not get to see Clint Eastwood and I think Doris Day lives there.

We then made our way up the coast and took in the sunset overlooking a beach. A number of surfers were coming back to their cars when we stopped. I think we almost got some other views as they had to change from wetsuits back to street clothes.

We finished the tour at Miramar Beach Restaurant in Half Moon Bay. I am the one that checks the entire menu and found the write-up on the back. Naturally I read it. The restaurant was a speakeasy during prohibition. They ran rum down the coast to this restaurant and had fake cabinets in the kitchen. Since the food is good I suggest that you go to read the history and see the area.

We were tired when we got back to San Francisco. At that time I had been out 2 days seeing all new sites and I was ready to begin sitting in a conference.

Front Yards and San Francisco

2009-12-07T06:42:00.000-08:00

We had another frost last night so I think that it is now “safe” to begin cleaning the leaves out of the natural areas later today. I will be careful because I do not want to get snake bit. The thought of cleaning the yard brought back the images from the touring of San Fran on November 16 and the thought that a number of homes do not have yards.

The ICCA had a tour on Saturday night the 14th of San Fran. We stopped at Fisherman’s Wharf for supper and touring, the City Hall, Twin Peaks and the Golden Gate Bridge for pictures. The City Hall looked more like a state capitol building. We also rode through several other areas.

Four of us had a tour of San Fran planned for Monday. After the ICCA tour we knew some items that we wanted to include. By the third tour I was getting good at getting in and out of the back seat of the SUV. Our tour guide was Rick Spear with Blue Heron Tours. He looked over our list and made a plan on how to get everything in. Three of us walked down Lombard Street. There are sidewalks and steps on the sides and we stopped to take pictures of the curves and landscapes as we made our way down to the vehicle.

We also took in the Beatnik museum. I kept thinking of the character Maynard from the “Dobie Gillis Show” the entire time. I enjoyed learning about these authors, the time period and how the term “beatnik” was created.

We also toured Coit Tower. The views from the top are great! Walking around it outside we got to see the green birds that inhabit the area.

We stopped for lunch at Pier 39 and got to see the sea lions in the daylight.

Then it was on to the Golden Gate Park. In riding through we saw the statue of “The Thinker” and we commented that there was that “Dobie Gillis” theme again (for those too young the show opened with Dobie sitting at a statue like this and thinking). We had time to tour the Japanese Tea House and Garden. They were lovely. There were several paths to follow and they were easy to walk. I did not try the special bridge that one can climb. I thought that getting up would be great but getting down might not be so easy.

We also went back to Twin Peaks. It was interesting to see it in the daytime. Last night I was watching part of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” I was trying to figure out where the patio scenes were filmed. I will have to view that movie some more. Oh we also got to see the house for “Mrs. Doubtfire” and the Haight-Asbury area.

Thinking back on it is nice. Now I better get the inside work done so that I can get the outside work done.

Cable Cars and Chocolate

2009-12-04T08:44:00.001-08:00

I am still catching up from attending the ICCA conference in San Fran November 13-15 and the touring that I did before and after. I also am trying to keep the yard cleaned up. I have the Christmas decorations up.

It is getting cold and cloudy and thoughts of hot chocolate have come to mind. That reminded me of the 13th in San Fran. We had interesting vendor sessions that morning and early afternoon. By mid-afternoon I needed a break. Gloria Metrick joined me in the escape.

Our conference was at the Stanford Court hotel that is located at the corner of California and Powell. It is easy to get a transportation map at the hotel and catch the cable cars. We got a full day pass and off we went.

We first rode the California car down the hill and then back up the hill and then back to the hotel. My main thought was this hill would be great with snow on it. One could start at the top and go KER-SPLASH right into the bay at the bottom.

We then rode the Powell and Hyde line. We got to watch them turn the cars around on the roundtable. We waited in line a while on Hyde. These hills were steeper and this was more like a roller coaster ride.

I also liked how they changed crews. The car stops in the middle of the intersection because that is where it is flat. Then the current crew gets off and the new crew gets on and prepares the equipment to go. I was sitting in the middle of the intersection staring at cars for several minutes. It was an interesting experience!

We rode the Powell line all the way back to Market. Then we decided to ride where we could catch a bus and go to a chocolate place that Gloria and her husband had visited on a previous trip. We got to Bittersweet – a chocolate café - and had delicious hot chocolate. Gloria then bought some chocolate to take home to her husband. I hope he liked it. I did not buy any because I did not want to pack it and risk it melting on anything in the suitcase. However, I have the website and plan to check out ordering.

I think I will have some hot chocolate with lunch in just a bit.

Muir Woods, Point Reyes, Marin Headlands

2009-12-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

When the ICCA announced that the annual conference would be in San Francisco in November of 2009, I decided to take some extra days to tour the area. My parents had always said that I went when I was 2 but I did not recall that trip.

Fortunately for me some other ICCA members also decided to do some touring before and after the conference. I am very glad that Jim and Arlene Watkins were among those because Jim arranged the tours for Wednesday, Thursday and Monday. All that I had to do was pay and get in the back seat of the SUV (you will hear more about this later and in later blogs).

Two weeks makes a big difference. Today it is raining here and I am leaving in a little while for an afternoon meeting in Raleigh. Last week was a funeral in the morning and an errand in the afternoon before holiday traffic got bad. Two weeks ago was a nice day to go see some sites.

Colin Sloan of Custom Nature Tours was our naturalist for the day. We started out riding through the Presidio area. My thought went back to the military housing that I saw in Panama and I then thought that the US Army had some great places to be posted (maybe I should have thought about ROTC in college and traveled some courtesy of the government).

We crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. I learned why it is called the Golden Gate. It has nothing to do with the bridge. I also learned how the mountains to the east impact the weather and make San Fran feel so cold.

Colin took us to Muir Woods. He found Bay leaves for us to smell. He pointed out numerous items that we would have missed. He also told us things to look for and one person spotted one of the diseases on the trees. I was thinking how much I was learning that I would not have learned had I just been walking on my own. I then bought a jigsaw puzzle of a redwood to work after the holidays.

We went up the road and had lunch at a deli. We got to sit outside and eat. That was different than most tours and nice. It also gave the 5 of us from the conference a chance to learn to know each other better.

We then went to Point Reyes. The most memorable item there was walking the earthquake trail and seeing the fence that split during the 1906 earthquake. There is a space where one can walk up and see where the rails stop on one side and then start on the other. I think there are 16 feet between and it sits on the San Andreas Fault. We also took in the exhibits. Colin asked them to run a special video for us. We then headed to the beach area.

During all of these times of climbing in and out of the back of the SUV I learned an important lesson about getting in. I learned to stay up until completely in and backed up to the seat. One time I was not completely in and slid right into the floor. I just started laughing. I think Jim was trying to look concerned but I think that he was laughing too. It was funny and I was not hurt. I am laughing telling about it.

We ended the day at Marin Headlands. We got to tour the hospital for the animals. Then we got to sit outside, watch the sunset and enjoy cheese and crackers. Thank you Gloria Metrick for buying those at the lunch deli and sharing them with the group.

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for another day of touring.

In a Book

2009-11-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

The book chapter that I wrote last month is now in a published book. The email announcement came yesterday and I read it today. What a great way to start the week! The book is “Born to Stand Out: Tips to Becoming an Excellent Consultant”. I feel honored to be pictured on the cover with the other contributors. They include Gerald Weinberg and Steve Epner whose names are well known in the computer industry and the speaking circuit. The other contributors are all ICCA members that I highly respect. It could not have been done without Bonnie Huval. She is the one that did the ICCA webinar in September on how to get a book published and then proceeded to demonstrate it with this book.

Now it is on to San Francisco for the ICCA conference later this week and more of the book’s debut.

Wires Underground at My Home

2009-11-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

This week the electric company was able to get the security light wire buried in my backyard. I wanted this done because the wire was entangled into the trees of the next yard and I was afraid that the wire and pole would go down if a tree goes down (some are leaning over).

During the digging process we learned that some lines are running in places where they should not be. Yes the electric company called for the lines to be located. The electric, phone and cable for the house were marked. However, a major cable feeder was hit.

I am the original homeowner. I bought this house 22 years ago. A few months later we began to have some robberies in our new neighborhood. I and the next door neighbor installed security lights in our backyards. The line ran from the transformer to the neighbor’s pole and then over to my pole.

Sometime after the security lights were put in, the local cable company finally came in and ran lines. We thought it was great to go to cable from antennas. Satellite TV was not in use at that time in this area. I was working in downtown Charlotte and not home a lot. I guess the cable company put the main line where it was easiest to run it. I would have thought that it ran from box to box. However, this find shows that it runs nearby and then branches to the box. I doubt that the current cable company knows where the lines are since we are talking 4 companies back and a local operation at the time.

I will take this into consideration as I determine what type of fence to get and how much of my yard to have inside the fence. I am now leaning to more of a courtyard area. Oh, I will also have to dodge the gas line in the backyard. It was marked but it is on the side and not the back area.

Home Inspected - Move Forward on Fencing

2009-10-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

Before I spend money fencing in the yard I thought that I better have the home inspected. I had an inspection 10 years ago and found out that I had 2 problems that had to be corrected quickly. That rescheduled some items so new flooring finally was completed in 2005.

Judy Abernathy came to do the inspection yesterday. She is A Lady Home Inspection Service and I thought that it would be interesting to get her viewpoint on my house. She realized that she needed to teach this homeowner a procedure to keep mold out of the drain pipe for the air conditioner. I did not know that when I stop using the air that I should put enough of a mixture of bleach and water into the drain pipe to fill the little crooked area so that mold will not form in it. I now have a note to do that.

I have cuthole (Judy called it a scutterhole) access to my upper attic. As many times as I have opened it to visually check the attic I have never thought about it not have any insulation on it. Judy pointed out that air is leaking through it even though it is in a closet.

At the end she went over what she had found. Nothing is urgent and that is a relief because now I can go ahead with my plans for the fence. It was a nice feeling last night as the heavy rains came through knowing that the roof was not leaking. It is also a nice feeling knowing that I can do things one at a time and some items to put together. For example, my water heater is 10 years old and so when I replace it I will talk with the plumber about the catch area for the gas particles and the pipe flashing on the roof.

Quality Time in the Yard

2009-10-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

In the past week I have spent 9 hours working on my yard. Yes, it is time for the seed and aeration again. Last Friday I got a break in the afternoon and spent 2 hours mowing and gathering acorns. I mow the yard in increments to get it down to next to nothing. I do not like mowing it down all at one time because it is just too hard to push through the mulch and I do not want to have to lift a heavy bag off of the mower and keep emptying it.

Last Friday I mowed the normal height. Then I gathered as many acorns as I could. I filled a garbage bag. Then I mowed again with the mower down 2 levels and gathered another bag of acorns. On Saturday I mowed one more time and gathered another bag of acorns. I am sick of acorns! I only have one tree making part of the mess. The other 2 trees are on the neighbors’ property – one on one side and one on the other.

Monday I came home and sprayed water over the yard and made it wet enough for the aeration. I had to do it quickly before it got dark so I just used the hosepipe and finger method. That was because I volunteered to help with the Chamber golf tournament all day.

On Tuesday they aerated the yard. Now I get to water it. I decided that I needed to water in the morning. I also decided that it was best to let the school buses run before watering close to the street and let the temperature go up a bit. I have spent about 2 hours each morning moving the sprinklers.

Since they are calling for rain the rest of the week, I do not plan to water anymore this week. Also, I want to get it dry enough and hope the electric company can come on Monday and bury that security light wire.

Took My Flu Shot

2009-10-16T07:37:00.001-07:00

I got my flu shot on Tuesday after a breakfast meeting. I did this because I am getting on a plane next month and I figured that this was better than nothing, especially if I cannot get the Swine Flu vaccine. Also, after the Tuesday morning meeting I did not have another meeting that I had to attend until today. That was a big consideration because the shot always give me a slight version of the flu.

I was lucky to get the shot. Walgreen’s® only had 150 left when I got there. Then I learned that this one supposedly does not help with the Swine Flu. I also learned that because of my age I may have some immunity to the Swine Flu. It seems to be bothering younger people more because us older ones had some type of flu in the early 60’s.

I have felt good all 3 days. However, I have slept a lot. I have slept 29 hours over the last 3 nights. That is why I am behind now. Hopefully I will catch up this afternoon.

Finding a Halloween Costume

2009-10-09T07:58:00.000-07:00

Last week I received an email telling me to look for a Halloween Party invitation. I realized that I will need a costume. Now I could make one. I do sew. However, that takes time. Extra time is currently taken up with some yard work that I am doing. I also thought that I could go shopping for one. That also takes a lot of time.

I decided to go online and order one. That was humbling. I realized that a costume needed a couple of requirements. First it needed to be reusable. Second, I need to be able to drive while wearing it. Third, I do not want to be embarrassed in it if I have to get out of the car before getting to the party or back home. Fourth, it needed to fit. Last but certainly not least it needed to look right.

A lot of costumes were ruled out. The hardest part was not ruling out the embarrassing ones. It was ruling out the ones that were very nice. They would have been great except that I am a little older and a few pounds overweight in the wrong places. I did not want to buy a costume that was suppose to be one thing and people think that I came as an accordion.

I ordered Little Red Riding Hood and the basket. If the dress does not fit at least I will have the cape and basket. Then I can put a black skirt, white shirt and sweater on to go with it. I can go buy a white apron or wear the black and white one that I have.

I hope it works all right.

Working on a Book Chapter

2009-10-02T09:11:00.001-07:00

I am working on a chapter for a computer book this week. One of the ICCA (Independent Computer Consultants Association) members plans to put it together and have it in time for the conference in November. This all came about the other week. At first I was not going to participate due to time. However, this week I volunteered to write the chapter on the organizations to consider. I realized that this is an always changing topic and will be old before the book is printed. She and I agreed to a more general format that is a how to find them.

I have the basics in place and just finished the second revision. I am now letting that go “cold” while I write this and then have lunch. I am to send it to her by Monday afternoon.

Are Houses and Yards Going Leaner?

2009-09-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

Recently I have heard those in the generation from 1927 through 1945 and the first half of the baby boom making the comments that I have been feeling. We want maintenance free houses and yards. We are getting tired of all of the different items that have to be maintained. We want freedom.

Maybe this is thinking back to Woodstock and the 60’s or maybe it is a recurring of what happened about 100 years ago. I remember seeing that houses and lots got bigger in the late 1800’s. Then in the early 1900’s these bungalows were built. I thought it was the recessions and depression. However, I am now studying a course that is talking about generational influences. It says that every so many years, we naturally take a breather from changes. Maybe that is what is occurring. Maybe we just want to rest a bit. We have had a lot of changes in the past 40 years and maybe it is time for slowing down and absorbing them.

Medicare and Baby Boomers

2009-09-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

I was born in the middle of the post World War II Baby Boom. We are those born from the start of 1946 until the end of 1963. We have been a force in every market that we have hit. Starting in 2011 the first will hit Medicare.

I mentioned this at an investor meeting on Saturday and asked the speaker what impact this may have on investments. She commented that she checks productivity and demographics. She stated that as long as we have strong immigration and high productivity we should be all right.

Still it is cause for pause. If 18 years is a generation, then there are 3 ahead of us boomers. The first one is finishing turning 100 this year. The second is completely on Medicare. The third finishes turning 65 next year. I understand that there are still 80,000 living in the US in that first group.

Early last week I realized that Medicare started in 1965. That is also when I remembered hearing a lot more about mandatory retirement at 65. This remembrance may be because people were living longer (remember that group turning 100 this year was suppose to only live 50 years – they should have been gone by 1965). It may also be that I was more in tune with the world. Anyway I thought that it was peculiar that this coincided with the boomers graduating from high school from 1964 through 1981. I wonder if this was to make room for the boomers in the marketplace. Move the old out, the middle up and the boomers in.

If we caused this much trouble in the mid 1960’s just think what we are going to do to Medicare.