This is not a post about race. Although, my best friend is black. We’ve been friends for nearly 20 years. He won’t read this. Despite being an IT professional with an impressive resume, including a decade at Microsoft where we met, he doesn’t have an online presence. No Facebook. No Twitter. He barely has email.
But, this post isn’t about him. The people this post is about are online.
I have a houseful of teenagers. They are fearless. They are indestructable and they are way smarter than you and me. At least they are if you ask them. I was talking with a friend about my home security system. I have a hardware based firewall system and a software based filter.
It’s not designed to stop my kids from getting to inappropriate content. Oh, I suppose I could continue to play whack-a-mole with their devices and the proxy servers they use to bypass my filters. It’s not worth it. They have cell phones with a data plan. There are numerous locations within a mile of my house that have “free” wifi.
No, my job is to help the kids who want to avoid the inappropriate content. If they don’t want to see sexual content, it’s not going to be randomly jumping into their browser while they are doing research for a school report. My kids still get frustrated with the limits. For example I block Snapchat. Most of them have, or at least had, Snapchat accounts.
Why won’t you unblock Snapchat?
Snapchat is one of the top ten revenue sites for porn.
But, WE won’t use it that way.
I would hope not! I’m not filtering to stop you from sharing. I’m blocking the other people.
They think that is a stupid idea. I’m guessing they will eventually figure out the reason. Hopefully it will be before someone takes advantage of them. Teaching them to navigate the internet successfully is an important skill. It’s like teaching your kids to swim. If you are around water, that could literally be a life saving skill for them to have.
Because not everyone on the internet is a bad guy, or girl. Figuring out who is genuine and who is fake is incredibly hard. Over the course of my career, I watched the internet grow. I was an expert on many aspects of the internet. I can’t say that I always figured it out. But, I do know that I have a couple of friends whom are the payoff for being willing to search through the online swamp.
David
David and I have been friends for at least five years. It might be as long as ten, but when you don’t physically ever meet someone, it’s hard to judge. We have very little in common. We met in a political discussion group. He’s very liberal. I’m very conservative. We’ve, at times, completely been disgusted with one another for some political post. Fortunately, neither one of us feels like politics is a good enough reason to abandon a friend.
We’ve both left the group where we met. We still talk politics, but we are just as likely to discuss theater (he’s an award winning playright) or geography. He’s travelled from his home in Illinois to Utah and this week he is retracing some of the trails through Southern Utah that we take our scouts on. Schedules won’t let me make the 4 hour trip to meet up with him in Cedar City, UT. But, he’s posted numerous pictures that I’ve been able to comment on. (Who knew that being able to identify Scrub Oak and Bristlecone Pine would be so useful.)
David and I may never meet. And yet, I grieved with him as his beloved wife succumbed to a long battle with cancer. He’s expressed similar kind thoughts as my granddaughter struggled for life shortly after birth. He is certainly a friend and I would count him a close friend.
Margit
I’ve known Margit for over 20 years. We’ve met exactly twice. Once when my family stopped to see her perform in a Renaissance Faire during a family vacation to California and then years later when I flew down to attend her wedding. But, our most memorable interactions have been online. We met in a writing forum dedicated to the writing of Orson Scott Card. The writing group eventually folded, but we remained friends. We reconnected on Facebook. I’ve continued the writing in ways she hasn’t, but recently she posted a story that she’d written that the kids at school where she’s a librarian asked her to share.
We’ll probably never see each other again. And I hope we remain friends for many years.
Mark
Unlike David and Margit, I have met Mark in real life. He is literally the friend I’ve known the longest. We met in the 5th grade as a couple of geeky 10 year olds. We were friends through Middle School and High School. I even stayed at his house for a few months after graduation. Like many friends in the pre-internet days, we drifted apart. We each got married, had kids and established careers. And then, Facebook reconnected us. We hadn’t seen each other for over two decades and all of sudden it didn’t matter.
In 2010 Time magazine chose Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder to be the Time Person of the Year. They chose him over Julian Assange, who had set up the wikileaks site and was shaking up the international scene with some of the revelations posted on that site. Mark thought it was a corporate sell out to pick Zuckerberg over Assange.
Well, Mark, I don’t know who will have a more lasting impact on the world, but we haven’t seen each other in 15 years and the only reason we are even discussing this is because of Facebook.
Yeah, I guess you have a point.
I’ve often considered what leads to an online friendship. Sure, Mark and I knew each other, but I met David and Margit online. I think it’s the same thing that leads to friendships IRL (in real life): common interests and developing a relationship of trust. While I’m a person who spends a lot of time online, there is a very clear seperation between what I share and what I don’t. It’s not because I’m trying to mislead anyone. But, the internet is forever. I assume that anything I post online will be available forever and to anyone who may not have my best interests in mind.
And yet, over the past decades, as these three friends have shown they will respect my privacy, I have shared more with them than anyone outside of family. As I attempt to teach my kids to be safe online, these three are examples of how it’s possible to build and strengthen online friendships.
I don’t have anything against online friendships. After all, some of my best friends are online.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
Actually it was two weeks. But, it’s not like you think.
There’s an old Twilight Zone episode called The Man In The Bottle about a guy who gets to make a wish. He’s clever though. He understands that genies are tricky so he makes his wish very carefully.
I want to be the head of a foreign country who can’t be voted out of office. But, it must be a major country. Well known. Not some poverty stricken third world place and not in ancient times either; in modern history. A fully instrustrialized country with millions of educated people, where I’m very popular and who can’t be voted out of office.
It doesn’t turn out the way he expected.
My job involves doing many different things; project management, change control, operations and dealing with outages. Some of the things are interesting and kind of fun. Some of them can become tedious and boring. Others can be pretty stressful. So long as they maintain a good mix, I enjoy it a lot. The last two weeks have not been a good mix.
We’ve dealt with multiple outages. Not complete outages that mean we can’t help customers. But, minor to major outages that make it hard for my agents to do their jobs. It’s my job to “run” each outage until the engineers can fix it. A long outage can take all day. I had one start the Monday after labor day and it’s still plaguing me 2 weeks later.
It would be one thing if it were a 100% blackout. But, it’s not. Certain tools stop working. And it’s not like they stop working completely. But everyday around noon, I’ll get a call.
Rodney? Yeah, it’s starting again.
And for the rest of the afternoon that’s what my job entails. Trying to figure out why the system is acting slow. And then about 4:30, like some office worker with a train to catch, the issue simply disappears. And my day is shot and I’m no closer to figuring out the issue. Next day around noon, the same thing. It’s no longer fun. It’s no longer a challenge. It’s beginning to really bug me. I have lots of smart people on my team working on the issue. In fact, I’m the least qualified to actually fix it. My job is just to make sure the smart people are looking at it.
Day after day. . .after day. . .after day, after day, after day.
It’s not always good to be the king, or the popular leader of a foreign country. The twist in the Twilight Zone story was that the man got his wish. He became Adolf Hitler on the day that he killed himself at the end of World War II. Fortunately, he had another wish left and managed to get his old dull life back.
Sisyphus wasn’t so lucky. Sisyphus was a Greek king. He was a clever man. That’s kind of what he was known for. He was great at his job of being king. People liked him. And he was king. It’s good to be king. Anyway, Sisyphus got a little too confident in his own cleverness. Eventually, Zeus, the Greek god, decided to punish Sisyphus for thinking he was more clever than the gods of Olympus. He didn’t kill him, because this is a Greek story. Instead he gave him a really big rock and he told him that he had to get the rock up to the top of a steep hill. Sisyphus worked all day sweating to get that rock up there. At the end of the day, the rock rolled back down to the bottom of the hill.
See you tomorrow, Sisyphus.
For eternity he had to keep rolling that stupid rock up the hill. I wonder how he felt after the first two weeks?
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
Well, you have to sign up for the draft, it’s called the Selective Service. . .and you can now write your own notes to excuse missed school days.
It shouldn’t make a difference. I’ve been through it five times already. But, this time is different. This time it was my son.
We had an important birthday at my house this week. My oldest son turned 18. As I said, I’ve been through this with his five older sisters. Some of them had their 18th at our house, some of them were already moved out or living other places. I’m not sure why this one was different.
Maybe it’s because he had to register for the draft. Sure, we haven’t actually had a draft for over 50 years and it’s unlikely his number will ever be called. But, you have to consider the prospect when a son fills out that form. My lovely wife informed me that NO, he did not need to go down to the post office and fill out a post card. Apparently the system has been updated since 1983 when I had to go through the process.
Maybe it’s concern for his safety. And yet, my second oldest daughter is actually in the military. She’s a 1st LT in the Army Reserves. As a future Army veterinarian it’s very doubtful she will ever be in harms way. But as an active duty officer she’s closer than my son.
Maybe it’s the fact that the state is willing to let him write his own notes. I remember my senior year. I skipped school more than I should. I once wrote a note excusing my absence because “Unfortunately, Rodney died.” The school wasn’t amused. My son is a great student who is enrolled in college classes as a high school senior. He missed a class today. He asked if we wouldn’t mind excusing it since he’s not even sure how to do it.
Maybe it’s just the idea that he’s no longer a little boy. In the eyes of the world he’s now an adult. And as he (and in the coming months and then years his brothers) makes the transition to adulthood, it changes my role. My my oldest daughter moved out and then turned 18 she asked me,
Does this mean you can finally stop worrying about me?
Doesn’t matter how old you get. Dads always worry about their daughters.
. . .and their sons.
It’s possible that one of the reasons this birthday affected me differently than my older kids is that just a few weeks before his birthday my son completed the final requirements for the Eagle Scout award. All requirements need to be completed by the time a boy turns 18. The Eagle Scout award is really important to me. Thirty-seven years ago I earned the Eagle Scout award. In the Scouting world, Eagle is not only the ultimate rank, it is always a rank that the recipient holds for life. Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout.
Throughout my career, the Eagle award has helped me get jobs. It has helped me bond with men across multiple professions. It was only recently that I quit including it on my printed resume. (It’s still in my LinkedIn! profile.) I promised my boys when they entered scouting that the first boy to achieve the Eagle rank could have the physical badge that was awarded to me almost four decades ago. As a collector, I have thousands of patches. I would have never considered trading that particular patch. Giving it away just seems like the right thing to do.
One of his sisters asked him,
So, bro, how’s it feel to be 18?
Pretty much the same as it felt to be 17.
I’m just glad she didn’t ask me. Because it’s not supposed to be about me.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
Any thing I don’t understand must be simple.
-Dilbert’s Pointy Haired Boss
Have you ever been sad? I mean really sad? Like someone you loved died? Maybe a grandmother. Did you get over it? Are you still distraught?
Depression doesn’t mean your sad. It doesn’t mean that you had a bad day. After your loved one passed away, you probably went through a grieving process. You are probably still somewhat sad when you think how much you miss being around her, or just knowing she isn’t in the world anymore.
That’s not depression. That’s sadness and grief.
I was talking with a famous science fiction author and his wife about a story set on a world where everyone is deaf. His wife questioned whether a deaf society would be more believable than, for example, a blind one. The author, Ben explained,
Our world is almost exclusively governed by sight. A deaf society would not be that different than ours. A blind person can function pretty independently in the world. A blind person not as much.
We tend to take sight for granted. Think of something as simple as crossing the street. A deaf person just watches for the light to change and then walks across the crosswalk. A blind person needs some sort of audio clue and then needs to identify even where the crosswalk exists. We treat the things we can see differently than the things we cannot.
We tend to approach “health” issues with what I call “the coma” test. If someone is sick with a condition that we can test for if they are in a coma, then we consider them truly sick. My granddaughter, for example, is just a month old. She’s spent that month in the NICU at Primary Children’s Hospital as the doctors tried to figure out what was making her sick. She had enlarged organs and a weak heart. Because it would stress her heart when she got anxious they kept her sedated most of the first few weeks. She wasn’t in a coma, but the concept is the same. They did multiple tests finally discovering she had a rare genetic blood disorder.
No one would assume that my granddaughter wasn’t actually sick. She came very close to dieing during the first week of her life. It was touch and go for a long time, but even after she was stable, the doctors could empirically test her condition. She passed “the coma” test.
Yesterday I talked about Executive Dysfunction and ADHD. These are conditions that can only be observed by how they make people react. There is no blood test for ADHD. Maybe an MRI on the brain might show something, but generally we simply have to base diagnoses on observation. ADHD doesn’t pass the coma test. If someone were in a coma there is no way to test for ADHD.
Why is the coma test important? Because some people think if it’s “all in your head” then it’s not really a condition or disease. Remember your dear departed grandmother? Those people also lost a grandmother. And they were genuinely griefstricken over it. But, (and this is the difference in their mind) they got over it. And, the expectation is “If I can get over it, so should you.”
I have friends and family members who struggle with mental health issues. Some struggle with mental illness, bi-polar, for example. Others, like my friend Rory struggle with less severe issues like Executive Disfunction, or my ADHD.
If your friend broke their leg, you would naturally take them to the doctor to be treated. No one would assume that someone should suffer with a broken leg, or try to resolve it themselves. And, if your friend said, “I broke my leg. It really hurts. I need you to help me get to the doctor,” you wouldn’t think he was being at all unreasonable.
And yet, when the situation shifts to the sickness we can’t see, when we fail the coma test, we don’t have nearly as charitable an attitude. “I suffering from depression. I need you to help me get to a therapist.”
“Geez, man. Suck it up!”
“Everyone has challenges.”
“Take some time and just focus on your own happiness for awhile. That should help.”
“I was really sad when my grandmother died too. You’ll get over it.”
All well intended, but ultimately harmful. We can recognize a broken leg. Or at least recognize the pain associated with it. But, the things we don’t understand? Those are a little tougher to acknowledge. I still get told that ADHD isn’t really a “thing.” It’s just an excuse that lazy parents use to medicate their kids rather than deal with being a parent.
Just because you can’t see it, or don’t understand it, doesn’t mean it’s simple. . .or doesn’t exist.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
My friend Rory posted a comment about “Executive Dysfunction.” I’d never heard of it and now I think I might have it.
In psychology and neuroscience, executive dysfunction, or executive function deficit, is a disruption to the efficacy of the executive functions, which is a group of cognitive processes that regulate, control, and manage other cognitive processes
-Wikipedia Definition
Rory and his friends posted more comprehensible examples:
“Executive dysfunction isn’t just for things you didn’t want to do. I’ve been meaning to go get ice cream for an hour now and haven’t.”
“I spent two hours the other night intending to watch TV and never did. This is the difference between executive dysfunction and procrastination.”
“It explains that time when my hand just opened and dropped a full gallon of milk on the kitchen floor because my brain got confused about what I was doing.”
“Or when you put your keys in the freezer or forget to get your kid out of the car on a hot day. Everybody has occasional executive function blips. But when you sense a pattern and it’s an issue in your daily life, it’s really helpful to have a name for it so you can seek out advice and information.”
After reading through their examples, I decided my issue is probably just ADHD. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult. You take a test to evaluate whether you might have ADHD. If you score 16 or higher, you might have Attention Deficit Disorder. I scored a 33.
It explains a lot. I was a gifted kid who had trouble applying myself. I was great at starting. Terrible at finishing. I got bored easily. I was very active. And yet, I could hyper-focus for hours at a time.
All symptoms of ADHD.
I consider myself lucky. As I’ve read more about ADHD, the failures seem to greatly outnumber the successes. Any article on the effects of adult ADHD will describe failed marriages, inability to hold jobs, lack of stable lives. I’ve got my issues, but my life is good. Great even. I have a lovely wife and a job I love. I have a house full of mostly succeeding teenagers. My adult children have gone on to careers and relationships that for the most part make me proud.
I am not a victim.
However, refusing to be a victim doesn’t change the condition. It only changes how I approach it. I do a lot of hiking and camping in the great Utah outdoors. Last summer, I got lost. I can tell you exactly what I did wrong. (Didn’t bring a map, didn’t hike with the group.) Someone told me that they would leave trail markers for me. There were no markers and I took a wrong turn hiking up Mount Timpanogos.
Was it the fault of the person who failed to set the trail markers? No. It was my fault for not being prepared. I refuse to be a victim.
Okay, great. I refuse to be a victim. I was still lost. I still had to deal with the fact that I was wandering around the side of the mountain with no idea how to find my group.
Not being a victim doesn’t mean you don’t have to deal with the issue. I have ADHD and at times it is nearly debilitating. Ever listen to the radio? Ever tried to listen to two radios? How about 15 radios all on different stations: talk radio, sports, hip-hop, country, jazz, newscasters, all talking and playing at the same time. That is what my ADHD feels like. I catch a brief bit of melody over here and head for the kitchen, but on the way, I hear the baseball announcer and it sends me to the bedroom but I realize the jazz station is directing me to the garage.
I just want to put my hands over my ears and shut it all out. But, I can’t. It’s inside my head. So, what do I do?
Caffeine. Seriously, stimulants help.
Lists. Today I made a list. The first item on my list was “make a list of errands.” My lists have lists. But, sometimes the music is too loud to even find my way to a paper and pen.
ADHD lets me do my job. And I do it fantastically well. I can literally hold two conversations at once. I have two phones and using the mute buttons, I can hold conversations on both at the same time, while also responding to Instant Messages and email. Normally, this is only needed during an outage. Unfortunately, we’ve had outages daily for the past week.
But, when the phone stops. When it’s time to say, “What should I do next?” That’s when the radios get the loudest.
Today, they were exceptionally loud.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
Rodney, this is John. I got an email this morning from the Senior Vice President saying that you complained you didn’t get help from my team yesterday.
Okay.
Why would he think that?
Because I didn’t get help from your team on a client issue.
I can’t believe you would say that! My team supports a lot of internal customers and we can’t just drop everything for you. And Sean joined your bridge even though he was not at all familiar with the issue and he told you he only had 15 minutes before he had to leave and he stayed on for 35 minutes.
John. . John, listen to me. . .
No. I’ve heard all I need to. If this is the response we get when we work with your client. . .I still can’t believe this.
John and I had worked together for four years. We both moved up in the organization. He was a manager in engineering. I’d worked with him and his team on countless occasions. In fact, his team was one of the most responsive teams.
He was absolutely wrong to call and yell at me. If he’d let me explain I could. . .well. . .explain it. His facts were correct as far as that went, but he didn’t know all the facts. I considered getting angry back at him. But, there was really nothing to gain from getting upset. I needed John’s team to help and I needed to use this conversation to build trust, not break it. So, I let him chew me out.
When he’d finally talked himself out, I explained why I sent the email. Sean, was a senior engineer and I’d drug him onto a call I’d been on for hours. Sean really only had 15 minutes before he needed to leave. I even set that expectation with the client.
Sean, one of our engineers will be joining our call. But, he can only stay until 5:30.
It’s probably going to take us longer than that to resolve this. We need your engineers for more than 15 minutes!
I know. And I’ll continue to work on getting another resource. Sean has agreed to join because I asked him. But, he really only has a few minutes and he’s happy to help while I continue to track down someone else.
Sean didn’t stay 15 minutes. He stayed more than twice that long. I tried to subtly get him off the phone after 15 minutes. “Sean, I realize you have other commitments and I want to respect those if you need to take off. I’m still working on getting someone else.” I really hope I didn’t spoil an anniversary dinner or picking up a child from daycare or something. Eventually, John joined the bridge and Sean took off.
But, what John didn’t know was that Sean wasn’t the first engineer I’d talked to about the client issue. Earlier I’d IM’d with James.
JAMES: The local Telco has finished their tests. The LEC tested fine. And earlier we tested our end and it was good.
RODNEY: Does that mean we still have an issue, but it’s with the circuit carrier?
JAMES: Yeah, the client needs to have the circuit carrier test this
RODNEY: Are you available to join a call with the client engineers?
JAMES: I’m not sure what for. Our equipment is getting a yellow alarm from bad signaling coming from the upstream carrier. There is nothing further I’d be able to do or provide
RODNEY: I think their engineers will have some questions about our setup
JAMES: I wouldn’t be able to answer that. I’ve given you all I have Rodney
RODNEY: Is ther anybody on your team that could join?
It was an awkward conversation when I got back on with the client.
I won’t be able to get an engineer to join our call.
What does that mean, Rodney?
It means I don’t have anyone who can join this call. . .I have someone I can reach via instant messaging.
Yeah, that wasn’t a pleasant call when trying to resolve a problem. The email was designed not to get James in trouble. But, I needed some immediate help on the call and then I needed John to educate James on the protocol for dealing with client issues. Eventually, I was able to explain all of this to John on our call. He got a little more calmed down.
Well, I’m sorry, Rodney. You’re right. James should have joined that call. I thought you were complaining about Sean.
I know. And it’s okay. Sean was awesome, by the way. He was a huge help. And don’t feel bad about your reaction. I’ve been a team manager in the past and I totally respect a manager that is willing to defend their people. I don’t blame you a bit.
That team probably still is a little annoyed with me. No one likes an email from a Senior VP. In fact, the SVP reached out to me the next day. I simply said, “John and I got it resolved. He has a plan in place to correct it.” I’ve had managers like John and his reaction is exactly why I like to work with him.
Defend your people. Own your mistakes, but don’t let another team disparage your team. If you later have to apologize because you didn’t have all the facts, at least your team will realize you put them first.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
I have friends in Irma’s path. Prayers for a safe weekend
Tell your friends about this!
There’s a town in Southern Utah named Hurricane. No, it’s not pronounced like that. It’s pronounced Hurr-i-kin. This post isn’t about Hurr-i-kin. It’s about a couple named Harvey and Irma. I’m not sure they’ve ever met, but they are both making me watch the scoreboard from Utah.
First, let me say that hurricanes are brutal. I understand that. And I have the utmost sympathy for those caught in the destructive path of either of these storms. May God watch over you and keep you safe.
So, how can hurricanes wrecking destruction thousands of miles away have an impact on me? You might be tempted to think that as a huge BYU football fan, I was inconvenienced at least a little bit by the fact that the BYU/LSU game had to move out of Houston. No. The trouncing that BYU received at the hands of LSU had nothing to do with moving or with the hurricane. If you plan to run the ball and you manage -5 yards rushing on 14 attempts. . .you don’t have anything to blame but yourself.
But, the hurricanes have had an effect. First, of course, is I have friends in Texas and Florida. My friends in Texas survived in pretty good shape. My friends in Florida have to wait and see.
But, from a purely selfish point of view, the storms caused problems for me. I am in the middle of a huge project at work. We are about 9 months into an 18 month project and I’m the leader. There are lots of moving parts in a big project. Many of my moving parts involve computers and network servers. I found out that some of them are in transit. And that transit runs right through Houston. I’m even hesitant to check on the status of my hardware. Who wants to appear that heartless?
Yeah, I know y’all are still mucking mud out of your houses, but you don’t by chance have an update on my computer parts, do you?
I can’t send a truck to get them, assuming they were retrievable via truck.
Oh, you sent a truck to Houston? That’s great. How many supplies did you bring in?
No, we’ll just sit quietly and wait for the important cleanup to take place and at the right time, we’ll find out out our computers. In the mean time, that portion of the project plan just gets bigger. Some things are more important that sticking to the project plan.
I was kind of surprised that Hurricane Harvey’s assault on Houston affected me. But, I was less surprised at Irma, about to chew up Florida. See, a part of my project involves bring up a new call center in Port St Lucie. . .Florida. We had a visit planned for next week.
Nope. Not going to fly INTO a hurricane zone.
We also pulled our construction crews off our project. There’s plenty for construction guys to do to prepare for a hurricane. My project manager wants to know when we will reschedule the site visit and resume construction. I tried to explain that it’s really up to Irma. If she misses our site and most of Florida, the delay will be minor. If worst case, she comes ashore at Port St Lucie (about 80 miles north of Miami) it could be months.
I’ll be watching the weather channel with a little bit more interest than usual this weekend. I understand my motivations are selfish. I admit it. But, my motivation line up perfectly with sparing Florida from devastation. So, I figure I can be slightly selfish in hoping that Irma spares Florida.
If you are in Irma’s path, or drying out from Harvey, may God’s blessings be on you.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
…they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine
“Doctrine and Covenants” Section 89:13
The above quotation is from a Mormon book of scripture. No, it’s not the Book of Mormon, which is a history of ancient peoples here in America. It’s from a book of “modern” scripture giving instruction for Mormons to live by. It was written February 27, 1833 by Mormon founder Joseph Smith. This particular piece of text is giving direction on eating meat. The text says it is not pleasing (to God) that they (animals) should be eaten. Or it says that it’s not pleasing to God that they not be eaten. The entire verse hinges on one little comma.
Within the LDS church, this particular scripture doesn’t get a lot of attention. It’s part of a larger revelation called the Word of Wisdom. This is the prohibitions to Mormons on drinking coffee and tea, and alcohol, and using tobacco. Those other topics get most of the attention, the meat one most people just sort of skip over. Because, honestly, it’s a little confusing. Strictly speaking, as written the instruction is not to eat animals except during winter or famine. But, if you take out that comma, the instruction is that you shouldn’t just save the meat for winter and famine, eat it more often.
When you consider that many of the punctuation marks were added to these writings by the printer, you can see where some might argue that God was advocating the Atkins diet. (Lots of meat.) This post isn’t about the proper interpretation of an obscure verse in Mormon cannon. It’s about the difference a single mark or word can make.
I was in court today. I spend a lot of time in court. Typically, it has to do with kids (mostly my kids) making poor choices. One of the lawyers was making a point to the court,
Your honor, my client doesn’t have those types of lapses in judgement. . .
If he’d stopped there, he is making an important point. He didn’t stop there.
. . .except every three or four months.
It occured to me that the later half of his sentence completely invalidated the beginning part. The first half said, “He doesn’t do that.” The second half said, “He does that.” Later I heard a conversation between a couple people involved in the case.
No, I don’t blame you. . .
And then the finisher.
. . .anymore
The last work completely changed the meaning.
Arthur C. Clarke was a science fiction writer. He wrote 2001: A Space Oddessy, and dozens of other books. But, I most enjoyed his short stories. Clarke was able to change the entire meaning of a store with the very last line. He did it brilliantly. So, if you read the first 20 pages of a story, you would have one impression of the characters. The 21st page, in fact the last line of the last paragraph on the 21st page would flip the story 180 degrees.
I love that about his stories.
I hate it in life.
“Never” is a very powerful word. So is “always.” In the movie For Love Of The Game, Kevin Costner plays a baseball pitcher who shows up late to warmups for the game. His manager is not pleased.
I’m not even gonna mention the fact that you’re an hour late, and I have been standing here trying to figure out who my starting pitcher would be if you didn’t show up.
Have I ever not showed? In the 19 years, have I ever not showed?
Well, that’s true of everyone until the first time they don’t show.”
Fortunately my little court visits have not involved any domestic violence. But, I think about the people who hurt those they love. It’s common to hear,
I will never hit you. . .
And if that were the case, life is good. But, if they go a word too far, it destroys the entire sentence.
. . .again.
Never is a powerful word. We should each work to include some “nevers” in our home and work lives.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
My 17 year old son had to work on Monday. For those of you outside the United States, Monday was the Labor Day Holiday in the United States. Banks, and government offices are closed. It is considered one of the six “big” holidays that most salaried employees get as a holiday. The others are
New Years Day
Memorial Day
Independance Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas
But, Labor Day is also a big shopping day. My son complained to me,
Why do they call it ‘Labor Day’ holiday when the people who have to work the hardest don’t get it off?
I took the opportunity to explain to him the value of getting a salaried position. The truth is, I had to work on Labor Day and I have one of those salaried positions. However, our offices were open to take calls and something broke. I spent about 4 hours on Monday working with our client to solve an IT issue.
The truth is, I didn’t mind it too much. See, I really like my job. I get to do interesting things. I work with great people. My company supports a product that I can feel good about supporting. I take great pride in my work.
But, it does get to be a lot of hours at times. Last weekend was one of those times. I had outage calls on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the Monday holiday and then another one on Tuesday. I try to balance it out by taking time for kid and family events when I need to, but the kids know that if Dad gets a call, he has to work.
I used to avoid the label of “workaholic.” But, I realized it in the same way an alcoholic might insist that he doesn’t have a drinking problem. However, I read something today that makes me a lot more comfortable with my work/life balance.
In today’s online version of The Wall Street Journal, there’s an article called “When It’s Ok To Be a Workaholic.” The point of the article is that working too much is bad for your health, unless you like your job. And in fact, if you love your job, there’s absolutely no danger to working longer hours.
The disruptive part of my job is the outage calls. We are a round the clock shop, so I literally can get a call anytime night or day. And the way our support model is set up, I’m the very first person that our operations teams call when there’s an issue. I’ve taken phone calls while on camping trips. I’ve taken calls while hiking up a mountain. (Great cell reception once you get above the treeline.) I’ve taken calls during movies, like at the movies. I’ve taken calls during church, during court appearances, you name it and I’ve taken a call. Yes, that includes middle of the . . .night.
And they are often inconvenient, but I don’t hate them. I enjoy them. I took a call in May while sitting in a beautiful mountain meadow. The weather was perfect, I had a gorgeous view of the mountains and a narrow line of sight to the cell towers down the canyon. It was honestly, one of the most enjoyable days of the year.
And according to the Wall Street Journal, I no longer have to feel guilty about liking my job. I do still feel guilty when my job conflicts with family time. But, they understand that the job pays the bills. And actually, I take my phone with me and we do whatever the event is anyway.
It’s a strange kind of relief knowing that it’s not been some grand delusion when I thought I was doing okay with an out of whack work/life balance. Turns out I was right.
And my boss has promised that they will work on getting me a backup so that for some things I can finally leave my phone at home.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved