The Occasional Blog

I’ve been a manager now for little more than a year. It has been the most interesting and challenging experiences of my career. However, I often worry about whether I’m doing the right thing or not for my employees, my manager, and my company. I know that some things I do well, and other things I do poorly but what really concerns me if the things I do well are the unimportant ones (and vice versa).

I’ve said it before, but I’ll state it again for the record; I have the best team I could hope for. They are truly skilled, professional, and are ultimately focused on providing the best solutions for our customers. Staying out of their way is probably one of the best things I can do.

…you might as well look back even further.

I liked my previous post comparing 1999 to 2009, but the interesting thing was while I was finishing it up, the family and I have been watching the original Star Trek season 1 via streaming from NetFlix on the PlayStation 3. New tech to watch old tech. Honestly, I was never much of a fan of the original series but they were interested due to the recent MythBusters episode where they tested the hand-made cannon that Capt. Kirk used against the Gorn (“The Arena”, s1 ep 18).

It’s fun to look back. It’s also good to give the kids some perspective on such an influence on modern science fiction.

Created by Online Education

I saw a review of Waze in a blog post by The Unofficial Apple Weblog and while they were a bit cool on it as a navigation app, it is free and has an interesting take. I picked up a Kingston windshield mount which replaced where I had my GPS so am in the market for a GPS app for my iPhone. The reality is, however, that in spite of my frequent time in my car, it’s really just to and from work (all 500+ miles per week). Obviously, I know how to get to work so I can’t justify a significant expense. Since Waze is free, it was a clear choice to give a spin.

The program uses a map that is fed over the phone’s data connection and is community driven. Anytime you drive on a road that hasn’t been traversed before, you “munch” dots much like Pac Man which verifies the geometry and your speed and is uploaded to their servers which is then fed back to others as traffic information for routing alternatives. You can also point out specific traffic problems, speed traps, or even just “chit chat” which can be viewed by other users. As you munch roads, provide updates, or just confirm traffic, you get points and your points determine your ranking. I never thought that driving around would count for anything.

The website allows you to view your routes or edit the dynamic map (presented much like Google’s) to add new roads and update other aspects (house numbers, name, road connections, etc.).

The downside, is that currently the maps have some trouble with accuracy but that presumably will improve as more users use it and especially if they update it from the website. The navigation app is a little rough as well with its presentation but that’ll hopefully improve as well.

It’s a decent little app and a creative service. Back to road munching. I wonder how many points are needed for an extra life?

I have a fall routine that I enjoy. After dropping off my bag in my office, I go to the kitchen, I mix a packet of hot chocolate with about 1/3 C of hot water and then top it off with steamed milk from our espresso machine.

Today, the milk had turned bad over the weekend. Wanna know what hot chocolate tastes like when made with sour milk? No, really, you don’t.

Three years ago when I got my car, I purchased a iPod integration from USA SPEC which I wrote about at the time. When I recently upgraded and got my iPhone 3G S the integration still worked but it no longer would charge my phone while connected. Unfortunately, while the original iPod and most subsequent revisions were charged by FireWire and later ones charged by either FireWire or USB, the iPhone 3G S has dropped FireWire compatibility for charging (it’s never worked for data).

I contacted USA SPEC and ordered a replacement cable that basically moved the pins providing power from the ones used by FireWire to those used by USB. The problem came when I replaced the cable. It worked initially and just when I was going to clean up and put the tools away, there was the distinct smell and vision of the magic smoke. I quickly disconnected my phone and killed the ignition but the damage was done. Both the integration and the phone recognized they were attached to each other, but audio only came out the built-in speaker on the phone which one could hardly consider “integrated” with the stereo.

After another call to USA SPEC and the tech identified that most likely a resister was fried and that I needed to send both the unit and the cable for repair. Since it was long out of warrantee, it would cost me to fix it but he was unable to provide an estimate without seeing it first. I got an RMA number and shipped it out. While waiting for them to contact me with an estimate, I was stuck with using some cheesy battery-powered speakers. That was fun.

A week later, I got email confirmation that it had shipped back to me. No call, no communication, no fix? It arrived yesterday and was in-fact, a replacement unit. No invoice. I installed it today and it works like a charm.

I am always impressed with companies that dispense with “the rules” and are willing to do something nice to truly serve the customer. If you are looking to hook up your iPod/iPhone to your car, consider USA SPEC. They deserve it.

Gryphon's flagship program

In a few hours I’ll be going to a reunion party for a company which was my first job out of college. I first started at Gryphon Software in 1992 and worked there officially until 1998 but continued working with many of the folks until I left for RedZone in 2000. It’s a bit of a long story that I may write up sometime.

The reunion was the idea of my old boss and one of the founders of Gryphon after a group of them saw each other at the memorial of another employee that died earlier this year. Whenever you are in a situation like that, someone will often say “we should get together” but it rarely happens. I’m happy that Duane made the effort.

I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and acquaintances. I suppose it’s like a school reunion without the awkwardness of having old girlfriends or boyfriends in attendance. I’m sure will comment on how we look the same “but older” and how big our kids have gotten as well as talking about the “good old days.” They were good, you know.

A colleague at work shared this and I just had to pass it on. Craig Ferguson nailed it with this routine:

Life has been busy for me at work. In fact, I can’t remember being this busy ever before. Sure, I have a position open that will help with the load but that has been proving hard to fill so things won’t be improving anytime soon. I also have been trying to keep myself organized so that I can manage all the tasks I have to worry about. David Allen‘s Getting Things Done method makes a lot of sense and I have been using The Omni Group’s OmniFocus which has kept me sane as I don’t have to sorry about forgetting things (if I’m good about capturing them).

The problem is that there is so much to do, too little time, and enough unexpected things that come up, my productivity is seriously disrupted. It gets so bad that the due dates I set on tasks to try and keep priorities set are becoming past due more and more often. What does one do? Do I simply keep pushing the due dates forwards until they start stacking up and becoming even more useless? Do I drop drop due dates from anything not truly essential and risk not ever getting to it?

There are several blog and forum posts on strategies that I’ve been meaning to read, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t made the time. Perhaps I have to take the time to make the time.

I’m not overly into music but I do have bands and artists I enjoy, both past and present. However, a few recent events involving two of my favorite ones have been quite curious and has me asking “what is a band?”

Early this year, Steven Page, one of the founding members of Barenaked Ladies left the group to persue a solo career. His contribution to their catalog of songs and their sound is without question, as is both his and their future. The four remaining members released a live album recorded in March with Keavin Hearn stepping up his vocal efforts along with Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, and Tyler Stewart as well. They are all talented musicians so I have no doubt they will be able to develop a new style and voice and look forward to the fruits of their labors.

Separately, one of my favorite bands, Information Society, set up a Twitter account (along with the rest of the globe, btw) to communicate with their fans on upcoming events and other info. Personally, I think that kind of use for Twitter is quite valuable and I follow several sources who use Twitter similarly.

The part that got weird is the fact that “they” followed me back. That is normal etiquette in Twitter but it was a bit surreal when I received notice that I was being “followed” by a “band” I have enjoyed for over twenty years. It’s a strange fusion of old and new. Of course, the account is managed one of the members (my guess is Kurt Harland) but it’s still a bit odd. Now if I could only get them to come out here since I haven’t seen them in concernt since 1987 at Disneyland grad night at the Tomorrowland Café.

So, is a band a brand and is only measures by their product or are they identified by their individual members and creative contributers? Will BNL still be BNL without Steven? Of course. Was InSoc the same group when it was just Kurt and Paul Robb had moved on? Yes (albeit with a different sound). I will say their newest album, Synthesizer, which marked the return of Paul Robb and James Cassidy, is my favorite and I blogged about it before. Ultimately, I suppose it doesn’t matter. I’ll most likely keep following both of them no matter what (or who) they’re made up of.

Update: In my old post that I referenced, I said that I saw InSoc in 1989 and not 1987. I went to grad night both years (once for my graduation and once for Becky’s). It must because I’m 40, but I’m not not sure which year it was. Was it even them?