Yes, I really am going to “review” one of the greatest books ever written. But, it’s a slightly different kind of review.
When I was in high school, my World Literature class read a book by John Steinbeck. We spent weeks on it. We read it. We analyzed the themes. We eventually wrote a paper on it. No, it was not Grapes of Wrath. It was Winter of Our Discontent. In my research I found where many critics considered Winter of Our Discontent his worst book. I mentioned that in my final paper. I got a C.
We didn’t read Grapes of Wrath. I’m still stunned by the fact that Mrs Hawthorn (her real name) would pass up one of the jewels of American Literature to give us Steinbeck’s worst novel.
I chose to read Grapes of Wrath as an adult because I owned a copy and I wanted to read it. I read it with my grandmother. That probably requires some explanation since my grandmother has been gone for these past twenty-five years. Grandma Venda was many things in her career. She was a television writer for awhile. She also wrote short stories and a Christmas play. And she was an Honors High School English teacher.
When she passed away, many of her things came to me. Among those things was her copy of Grapes of Wrath. It’s a cheap paperback copy published in 1964. The year I was born, incidentally. The book cost $0.95 when it was new. Now, with the brittle pages and the failing binding, it probably wouldn’t even be considered worth putting on the shelf at a discount store. I’m not planning to give it away. It’s priceless.
See, this is the copy of Grapes of Wrath that my grandmother taught from. It’s full of her notes. It asks interesting questions. It highlights sections that should be read aloud. It makes observations on human nature.
My grandmother, Venda Brown Bliss Castleberry was born in 1912 in Pocatello, Idaho. She grew up during the time that Steinbeck is writing about. While she never lived in Oklahoma, she was familiar with the Great Depression and the strain it put on families and on the country.
Steinbeck speaks to the reader from the pages. Grandma Venda spoke to me from the margins.
During the time I was reading through this, life was throwing my family a series of curve balls. My wife noticed me picking up the book for a few minutes each night before bed.
Why do you want to read that depressing thing?
Why indeed? I’d read it years before and while I had forgotten enough of the story to make it interesting to travel with the Joad family again, I did remember the ending was horribly sad. Something about the family being stuck in a flooded box car with a dead baby and all hope lost.
Not to spoil an 80 year old story for you, but that’s not exactly what happened. More on that in a minute.
It was hard to read. Especially since my own family was struggling with sick babies and wayward children, Steinbeck’s story sometimes struck too close to home for comfort. And yet, as I stepped back out of the story each night. I realized two important things.
First, my life could be much worse. The Joads were at the very bottom of the socio-economic scale and they were sinking. I’m doing pretty well. By comparison I’m doing fantastic.
Second, where there’s life there’s hope. As my granddaughter literally struggled for breath, I kept my hope going by reminding myself that where there’s life there’s hope. The Joads show that. As each setback pushes them further and further down, they find a way, often by pulling together as a family to get back up. Where there’s life there’s hope. My granddaughter is well on the road to recovery and a full life. Where there’s life there’s hope. That was the message I got from Grapes of Wrath.
The ending: I missed it the first time. I always imagined the family finally, after months of setbacks, giving up and quitting. They don’t. They reset their objectives. and in the final scene, they provide life for a dying man. Steinbeck didn’t make them lose hope. He gave them a rebirth. There was life and there was hope.
One other interesting bit thing happened while I was reading. I got a scene where the father of two Okie children asks a waitress for the price of piece of candy.
Is them penny candy, ma’am?
Which ones?
There, them stripy ones.
Oh – them. Well, no – them’s two for a penny.
As the dirt poor traveller exits with his two excited children, a truck driver says to the waitress,
Them wasn’t two-for-a-cent candy.
What’s it to you?
Them was nickle a piece candy.
I realized as I was reading that I’d heard the story before. But, not in a book. It was in a song: “Here Comes That Rainbow Again”” by Kris Kristofferson.
How much are them candies, they asked her
How much have you got, she replied
We’ve only a penny between us
Them’s two for a penny, she lied
Kristofferson apparently was so impressed with the poinant story that he turned it into a song in the 1970s. I realized again how impactful Steinbeck’s timeless story remains.
What I liked
The best part of this book is a part that you can’t share. It was getting to read with my grandmother looking over my shoulder asking questions, making comments. But, Steinbeck’s story is an important piece of American history. The amount of time between today (2017) and the story of the Joad (1930) is 87 years. Eighty-seven years prior to the events in the story, America was headed into the Civil War.
And of course, the writing is brilliant. The story is compelling and he helped me care about each of the characters.
What I didn’t
Grandma made plenty of notes in the first third. After the first test (I know where it was because she wrote it on the top of the page) she wrote fewer notes.
As for Steinbeck’s story? It’s perfect. And yet, not so perfect that it discourages me from striving to be a writer.
What It Means For You
If you’re a reader, this is a wonderful classic that is worth revisiting.
My Rating
Ha Ha. Four out of four stars. . .only because I can’t give it five.
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.
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Summer is not my favorite time of year. I love Fall. I love the change in seasons. I live in Utah, so we get lots of Fall color. I love the start of football season, and the baseball playoffs. I love the Fall holidays starting with Halloween, then Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday then New Years.
Summer is not my favorite. So, I didn’t expect to love Summer 2017. I didn’t. I hated it. Easily one of the worst summers of my life. Not quite as bad as being banished to the desert wasteland of Central Washington as a youth, but very, very close.
First, let me say that, I’m fine. No, really. Yesterday I took a slight turn through some introspective thoughts that gave you just a peek into my psyche. I don’t want anyone starting to worry that I might disappear or do something rash. Really, I’m FINE.
But, there are times. There were times this summer when I was definitely not fine. I’ll talk about just three.
Maxim #32: Anything Is Amphibious If You Can Get It Back Out Of The Water
Let’s start with the easy one. I wrecked my car. Drove it. . .actually crashed it into a creek driving up a muddy road in Spanish Fork Canyon. I was totally in control until my wheels lost traction and the car took on a mind of its own. All I could do was helplessly hold on and wait for the car to stop.
I wasn’t hurt. The car faired slightly worse. Hole in the front bumper. The actual steel beam that is the bumper was wrapped like a horseshoe. The radiator was trashed as well as the AC condensor. Cost $500 to pull it out of the creek and haul it back to my house. Then, $400 worth of new parts to get it fixed. I did the body work. My neighbor did the AC and his son did the radiator. I love my neighbors. I didn’t even have to ask, they just showed up.
You’d think a car accident would be traumatic. Or at least unsettlings. Nope. It was mostly just inconvenient. I kept waiting for the shock to set in. It’s been over a month. I’ve quit waiting. But, it was the start of worse things to come.
It’s Time To End My Pain
A close friend decided she’d simply come to the end. She texted her family and friends announcing her intention to end her life. She lives here in Utah but travelled to Arizona to confront her boyfriend before ending her life in a way that was “fast and don’t think I’ll suffer.”
One of the worst days of my life. We were all frantically texting her. We tracked her phone to Phoenix. But, she figured out what we were doing and turned off Location Services. We called Phoenix police, her boyfriend and anyone else we thought might be able to contact her. For 18 hours we didn’t know. We didn’t know if the next text would be someone saying they had found her body. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.
Call me! Or call your sister, or your mom! Call someone. Let us know you are safe.
It worked. Eventually, she realized that at 22 she has her whole life in front of her. She’s back in Utah and putting her life back together. But, we still worry.
Her First Helicoptor Ride At 3 Hours Old
My daughter had a baby this summer. That should be a happy coda at the end of string of bad experiences. But, there was a problem with the baby.
We thought we’d Life Flight her down to Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, but I think we need to send her up to Primary Children’s
I watched the paramedics load her tiny body surrounded by a cargo-hold full of medical equipment into the distinctive red and white Life Flight helicoptor. It lifted off from American Fork Hospital circled around the South end of the hospital and made a beeline for the 13 minute flight to Salt Lake City. I stood there in the parking lot and realized that once again, I was powerless. The attending doctor was with me,
She’s a pretty sick little girl. I hope they can figure out what’s wrong
They weren’t sure she’d make it through the first night. Then they were hoping she’d make it a week. And all the while they were telling us what wasn’t making her sick.
She’s better. She’s still in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU.) But, she’s now breathing on her own and best of all they figured out what was making her sick. It’s very rare. We’re not sure what that will mean for her long term recovery. But, for now, we are just enjoying the time we have and praying for the future.
My boss is one of those who believe that things happen in threes. I want to believe him. We have the normal stresses that affect all parents of teenagers. Life is good. It really is. Things could be (and in the past have been) so much worse. I have a wonderful lovely wife whom I adore. I have a job that I love doing. We planted 3′ tall bareroot Maple trees three years ago. Those trees are 20′ tall and look great as the leaves turn this Fall.
So, bring on the cooler weather. I’m more than ready to put Summer 2017 in the rearview mirror.
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.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I’m basically a lazy person. That would surprised a lot of people. My boss thinks I work incredibly hard. The other people I volunteer with in our scout troop would disagree. Even you fair readers, watching me post here daily since 2013 might not see it.
The fact is, I struggle. I struggle with ADHD. I was diagnosed as an adult. It explained SO much of my childhood. I was the “gifted but unmotivated” kid. I also suffer with various PTSD triggers. Fortunately it’s not as severe, nor as debilitating as those men and women who fought in the wars. Mine is related to abuse as a young child and some really horrible experiences early in my career. I also suffer with depression. It’s probably not clinical. But, if you have reason to be depressed it’s hard to tell the two apart. I’ve dealt with some truly horrific situations over the past 10 years. They continue on.
Okay, I’m starting to depress (and annoy) myself. What’s the point? Not that I need sympathy. Nope. I’m a grown up person with a family and a mortgage and a job I love and everyone deals with “stuff.” Mine is worse than some, but not as bad as others. And I own it.
But, owning it, doesn’t make it go away. It means that you acknowledge it’s there and can affect your life. That brings me to the topic of “not doing stuff.” I don’t mean avoiding drugs or alcohol or self harm. Those are things we should all avoid. I mean avoiding stuff I want to do. Stuff I even enjoy doing.
Take writing for example. I’ve always loved writing. I love creating stories. I love teaching people things. I love the ability to take a complex concept and lay it out into a logical pattern. I both like to write and as my one time mentor, Ben Bova says, I like to have written.
And yet, I have a research paper that I’ve been putting off for months. It’s a collection of blog posts about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN.) I’ve essentially written it, but I just need to polish it and send it to the folks waiting on it. Why don’t I simply finish it?
I don’t know.
But, I can find a thousands other things to do. It’s not even procrastination. It’s an active avoidance. I’m not sure which of my neurosis are responsible for my dreading finishing it. It scares me. The project, but also not understanding myself well enough to know why I struggle with it. When I get to this stage, the world becomes as wide as my imagination and as tiny as a keyboard. I sometimes fear I may be going mad. Would I know? Would I recognize it? Would my neurosis appear normal? If they don’t appear normal does that mean I’m not slipping into madness?Aren’t we all a little crazy?
My lovely mother is a brilliant woman, retired these many years. She built multiple successful businesses. And yet, the thought of sitting further back than about row 10 on an airplane puts her into a full blown panic. Yes, it’s all in her head. Saying that doesn’t make it better. She wasn’t always like that. I worry about my own mortality. Are the struggles I have motivating myself the normal process that people have who want to rest? Or are they indications of something more sinister?
So, if I struggle, what keeps me writing here day after day? Sometimes it’s as simple as muscle memory. When I sit at the keyboard, I can block out distractions. I can focus on a single word, a single sentence, a single concept. And for a few minutes, I’m not afraid of anything.
Probably not what you were expecting to be reading in these pages. That makes two of us.
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.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…THUMP
Maybe if I go faster?
THUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMPTHUMP….Argh!
No, it’s not a big deal.
But, it bugs me every time.
That stupid wheel on the shopping cart that has a portion shaved off: Turning it from a wheel into an inhuman torture device, designed to drive you slowly insane as you wander the aisles of WalMart.
I know how to avoid that aggravation. Okay, you could carry one of those organic cloth bags, and be eco-smart, but I have seven teenagers at home, five of them boys. There aren’t enough cloth bags to carry their weekly grocery needs. (Yes, you could avoid WalMart, but this life hack works for any store with carts.)
First, let’s talk about how they got damaged. My son works for WalMart. His job is to collect carts. That’s pretty much it. He’s also 17 and saving for a car, so I’m fine with him learning the value of minimum wage jobs. The cart collectors get big long lines of carts from the parking lot and bring them back to the store. Those big lines of carts don’t turn easily. In fact, they don’t really turn at all. So, when the cart collector needs to turn them, he (not sexist here, but I’ve never seen a female cart collector) grabs the end and forces the entire line sideways. And he’s typically doing the moving on asphalt. That parking lot chews up those hard plastic wheels pretty good. And as they are being muscled sideways, the wheel is getting an unneeded haircut. And that’s how it gets the bald spot.
Okay, but knowing why they have bald spots isn’t nearly as interesting as figuring out how to pick the one without a haircut. You might be tempted to pull one out and run it back and forth a few times to check for a divot. Ever notice that the entrance to WalMart is rough stone? Yeah, I don’t know if they do it to stop you from checking the carts, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Anyway, testing it on a rough stone tile is chancy at best.
The key is look at side of the wheel. Here’s a picture of a bunch of carts.
This one doesn’t have a flat spot on the wheel.
I know that because I used it today. Smooth as . . well, as smooth as grocery carts get.
On the other hand, this cart probably has a divot the size of a quarter on at least one of the wheels.
WalMart (and other supermarkets) don’t replace their carts very often, but they replace the wheels on a fairly regular basis. Just look for the cart with the new wheels.
Sometimes It’s just a matter of knowing what to watch out for.
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.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I have no idea.
Sorry. I’m not trying to do the click-bait. And, if you talk to people who’ve worked for me over the years, they will tell you that I’m good at inspiring loyalty. But, I have no idea how to do it. But, I’ve seen it. And I try to learn by example.
I was 23 years old and attending Brigham Young University. I joined the ROTC program. I wanted to be a soldier. (That didn’t work out, but that’s another story.) In addition to the normal ROTC duties, I volunteered for the competition team. It was called the Ranger Challenge team. Mostly, it involved lots of extra PT, and long runs in the early morning dark in and around Provo, Utah.
On our runs we had unmarked maps of Provo and at any moment the coach, Major Turbiville would stop and ask us to identify where we were on the map. I was a fast runner, so I was normally one of the first people he asked. Fortunately, I’m good with maps. Not this day. We were running through a neighborhood that appeared as a empty field on our 20 year old maps.
Alright, Bliss, where are we?
Ah. . .here?
Wrong. Drop and give me 20.
In my defense, no one knew where we were. All ten of us got assigned 20 pushups. Actually, for some strange reason the Army does a 4-count pushup. So, we essentially did 40 pushups each. And the major wasn’t waiting. He kept running. We pounded out the pushups and then rushed to catch up with him and hoped we’d soon run back into the section of printed streets on the map.
Eventually, we turned back toward the field house. We ran about 10 miles each morning, so the pace was fairly easy. Again, I was running at the front, just behind the major. He asked me for my map. I passed it to him and he studied it while we jogged through the early morning pre-dawn.
I was wrong.
Excuse me, sir?
About our last position. I thought we were farther East. We were actually just on the West edge of the field.
If it’s any consolation, sir, that still wasn’t the spot I picked.
The major was quiet all the way back to the field house. As we cooled down before hitting the showers, he called the team together.
I made a mistake. I messed up that last location. Now, I can’t take back the 20 pushups I made you do. So, the best I can do is match them.
We weren’t sure what to make of his admission. But, apparently he wasn’t expecting us to respond. Without another word, he dropped down and started doing pushups. And he kept doing them. He did 200. Twenty for each man on the team. You and I would count it as 400. Looking back, I remember it distinctly. He didn’t stop until he was done.
There wasn’t a man there who wouldn’t have run through a wall for him after that.
I’ve often thought of that lesson. If you’re the boss, do you hold yourself to the same standards you hold your team to? Do you look for opportunities to show your team that you are willing to do the hard things that you ask them to do? Do you admit your mistakes?
And yet, I’m not sure that answering those questions correctly will inspire loyalty. However, I know answering them wrong will destroy loyalty. Like I said, I try to learn by example.
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.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Incompetence: Failing to achieve the results you desire
Gross Incompetence: Achieving the opposite of your desired results
He wasn’t even a jerk. He was a fairly nice guy. He took his team to lunch once a month and paid for it out of his own pocket. He took the team out for people’s birthdays. He scheduled occasional “moral” events at places like Top Golf, or the local movieplex. The problem was that he was really, really bad at his job. His job was managing a group of highly experienced IT professionals. And he wasn’t very good at it.
Some other time, I might go into why I thought he was so bad, but today I just want to give one example. I’m not even sure if it’s the worst example.
There is a company called VitalSmarts. They publish a series of business books and trainings. (I reviewed their books Crucial Conversations and Influencer.) As you can see if you read the reviews, I really like their content. It just so happens that VitalSmarts is based in Provo, UT. That’s just down the road from my house in Pleasant Grove, UT. I learned about their products before I realized they were a local company. In fact, a good friend from my neighborhood works as a sales manager for VitalSmarts. He approached me about some training.
Rodney, we have a new trainer who needs to certify. We’re offering a “friends and family” class for Crucial Conversations. If you would like I can get you a seat.
Sure. I appreciate it. How much would it be?
Well, the class is normally $1500 for the two days, but since it’s a friends and family class, there’s no charge.
This seemed too good to be true. Training for a book that I already liked and it was free? Sign me up. All I needed to do was get the time off at work.
You should know that I had a very demanding job. I was essentially on call 24×7. It was not unusual to get a call in the middle of the day or night informing me that a system was broken and I needed to drop everything and work to get it back on up and running. My manager Alex, was my designated backup.
Alex, have you ever heard of Crucial Conversations training?
No. What is it?
It’s a training class that teaches you how to communicate in high pressure situations. Anyway, I wanted to attend a Crucial Conversations training class next Thursday and Friday.
Okay. . . .
I’ve ended up working every Saturday for the past month and I’ll be onsite over this coming weekend. Any chance I could take those days as training days?
We only provide training days for PMP training.
Just thought I’d ask. What about taking comp time?
We don’t really do comp time.
Okay, how about I just take a couple of personal days?
Well, we’ll have new hires on site doing training those days that I need to train, and I don’t really feel like I could properly back you up.
Okay, tell you what, how about I take personal days and if an issue comes up I’ll just step out of class and deal with it?
I’m not sure I could ask you to potentially work on a personal day.
Are you saying that if I request those days off, you will deny that request?
Yeah, I’m afraid I’d have to.
As a salaried employee, I didn’t have to request time off. I was only required to inform management if I took time off. And Alex seemed completely oblivious to the fact that since I was on call 24×7, I potentially worked every weekend. And we since didn’t have a comp time policy so I just ate those hours.
It wasn’t lost on me that I could have skipped the entire conversation, gotten “sick” for those days and been able to attend my $1500 two-day training class.
I had never seen someone not only refuse to provide training, but then actively sabotage training that an employee wanted to go and get on his own dime and his own time. But, if you had asked him, he would say that “training is very important to us.” Even now, years later, I still just shake my head at the gross incompetence of that decision.
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.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much — the wheel, New York, wars and so on — whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man — for precisely the same reasons.”
— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
Sadly, this is not a post about dolphins. But, we humans, especially modern humans think we’re pretty bright. We laugh at the quaint ideas and people of the past. Don’t get me wrong. We are starting to understand our world to a phenomenal level. I had a granddaughter born a few weeks ago. She was a very sick little girl. A few hours after being delivered by emergency C-section, she was on a Life Flight helicopter headed for Primary Children’s Hospital neonatal intensive care unit. She’s still in the NICU, but the doctors did genetic testing and diagnosed her with a rare genetic blood disorder. Maybe 300 people have ever been diagnosed with it. Had she been born at any time in history up to a few years ago, she most certainly would have died at childbirth.
Yes, we have made some pretty amazing discoveries. However, we sometimes tend to think we understand things better than they did in the past. I’m always amazed when we get it so wrong. That happened this week.
(Photo credit and story)
This is a picture of a 3700 year old Babylonian clay tablet. It was discovered about 100 years ago in modern day Iran. It was recently translated. That translation has transformed two disciplines: History and Math. This is a math table. It shows trigonometry ratios. That might not sound like a big deal. Except that according to history, trigonometry wouldn’t be invented for another 1000 years. And it wasn’t the Babylonians who developed it. It was discovered 1500 miles away in Greece. There’s even a guy who gets credit. Hipparchus of Nicaea is considered the founder of trigonometry.
We will have to rewrite the history books.
But, it’s not that big a deal right? Just a different guy, in a different country, in a different millennia, but math is math.
Nope. Not only does this little tablet change our understanding of history, it changes our understanding of trigonometry. We use a base 10 number system, of course. But, trigonometry is all about angles and circles. Trying to use a base ten number system to describe a circle, or a portion of a circle means you get weird looking numbers that are not exactly exact. Think about it, we don’t divide circles evenly by 10. We divide by 12 (clocks) or 360 (degrees.) You have to make a conversion between 10 digits and 12 points on the circle.
The Babylonians didn’t use a base 10 number system. They used a base 60 number system. At least they did for their trigonometry work. So, if you want to divide a circle by 60? Easy. The researchers estimate that this little table is the most accurate trigonometry table ever created. I’m sure my math friends will cringe at my simplistic descriptions of the finer points of trigonometric theory.
My point is simply that we don’t understand history as well as we thought we did.
Utah is going to get hit by a big earthquake. No one knows exactly when it will happen, of course. But, everyone agrees it’s coming. It will probably be a 7.0 on the earthquake scale. At that level, it would destroy a third of the buildings in Salt Lake City. One of the most prominent buildings in Salt Lake City is the Mormon Temple. It was built over a period of 40 years from 1853 to 1893.
(Photo Credit: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
The LDS Church was naturally concerned with the damage to this building in the event of an earthquake. A few years ago, the church decided to retrofit the temple to provide earthquake protection. They descended into the basement of the building and started to cut into the foundation. Fortunately, they didn’t get very far. They realized to their amazement that the early architect had built the foundation in a bowl. Rather than a traditional square and flat foundation, the early builders scooped out a bowl and then built the foundation curved to fit into the bowl.
The results were that in the event of an earthquake, the temple would slide back and forth in the bowl rather than be secured to the ground. The 150 year old design was simple, but also more secure than any modern retrofit could make it.
We have amazing scientists and researchers. The discoveries coming in the years ahead are nothing short of miraculous. However, just because our ancestors didn’t have many of the modern tools and resources, it’s comforting to be reminded occasionally, that they were pretty bright and we aren’t as smart as we think we are.
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.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2017 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I lied to my team today. Well, maybe not an actual lie, but certainly I indulged in a little wishful thinking. I’m a project leader. That means that I’m not responsible for the day to day workings of my project. That’s the responsibility of the project manager. Instead, I’m responsible for the overall project success.
We have a client imposed deadline coming up next month for our new location. We were planning to be all the way ready for them to do their testing on October 1. Instead the client announced they wanted to test network connectivity on September 15. The way network connectivity works, you cannot set it up for just one person. You pretty much have to set it up for the entire site. So, we have to have it ready two weeks early.
Can we do it?
That’s actually a question we cannot answer with certainty until September 16. We will either make it or we won’t. But, how we approach the next 3 weeks will have a large impact on our prospects for success.
This client is famous for imposing nearly impossible deadlines on us. And every time we’ve met the challenge. I was project manager for many of those projects. I’m finding it challenging to be the project leader and let my project manager run the project.
Rodney, our schedule isn’t set up to do network testing on September 15.
I know. But, is it possible to be ready?
Maybe, but only if we put other stuff on hold. Tell me again, why the 15th is so important?
Because the client set that date. Travel schedules are going to be crazy and September 15 is the only day before we launch.
Yeah, well, I’m gonna put it down as a risk and escalate that to my management.
Sure. Let’s just make sure we are driving toward the 15th if at all possible.
There are two approaches when you have a team and you are given an impossible task. First, is to make sure your team knows that the goal is unlikely. Let them know that it puts the project schedule at risk. Tell them the truth. Tell them, that the odds are we won’t be able to make the aggressive schedule.
The second approach is to lie to them. “It is going to be SO awesome when we bring this in on their insane schedule!” Sure, you have to do the normal project management tasks. You need to manage your schedule and be willing to make compromises. You need to overcommunicate. But, you need to inspire your team with the idea that you believe they can do the impossible.
A funny thing happens when you convince people that you think they are super heroes. They tend to stretch out of their comfort zone. And because you’ve already set the bar so incredibly high, your team will have the freedom to innovate and look for creative ways to get to the goal. They will start to believe they really are super heroes.
The worst thing you can do is tell your team that the task is probably beyond them. Even if you believe there is no chance you will meet your insane schedule, keep that to yourself. Your team doesn’t need your honestly right now. They need you to lie to them and convince them that you really believe they can fly.
It’s amazing how many of my teams have soared over the years. Yup, good leaders lie.
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.
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What day is it anyway?
Cruise ships are big. I mean really big. the Oosterdam, the ship we were on had eleven floors. That’s 100 feet more or less. Our cabin was on deck 8. Most of the food was on the Lido deck which was deck 9. Except the dining room was on deck 2. You either walked up and down a lot of stairs or you took the elevators. If it seems weird to take an elevator on a ship, you probably, like me, are used to boats.
I noticed two interesting things about the elevators. Most of them were glass walled and being on the outside of the ship, gave a great view of the ocean as you rode up and down to the food. There weren’t that many elevators, but I thought it was interesting that the ship named the elevators. The first one we rode on was named Monday. It was Wednesday before I figured out that they just changed the carpet in them each day. Seriously? We need to be told what day it is?
Yup. By Friday and Saturday I was starting to get confused.
What is our port of call tomorrow?
I don’t remember. What day is it?
Just a second, let me check the elevator.
I have a bad knee, so I appreciated the elevators. Except for the time I had to take it down to deck 1. As we watched the numbers count down from deck 8, we eventually descended to decks that did not offer a view of the ocean. I just want to say that wall papering the elevator shaft with underwater scenes was probably not the best idea.
No Cash, But There Was A Casino
The onboard casino wasn’t all that big. I don’t gamble because I studied statistics. Cash was banned onboard. Everything was tied to a smart card that each passenger had. My brother and my step father were willing to donate their money to the cruise line. Gambling is all about statistics. Gamblers are superstitious people, but it’s really about probability and numbers. “Luck” has very little to do with it. Still. . . I watched my brother and step father play the slots multiple times. My brother consistently lost. My step father consistently won. The example that made me doubt my stats model was when they were sitting side by side. My step father winning, my brother losing. Finally, my brother gave up and my stepfather took over the slot machine that had just eaten $10 of my brother’s money. . .and he won $20. Some people are just luckier than others.
Interestingly the casinos on the ship have windows. . .but they still don’t have clocks.
Too Literary
I love Clive Cussler books. He wrote Raise The Titanic, Sahara, and about 100 books, mostly about the sea. There are even a couple set aboard cruise ships. And they are adventure novels, so I spent a lot of time imagining the terrorists from one of his books were going to attack. The hallways were very long. During rough seas, it was funny to watch people stagger down the hallway like, well, a drunken sailor. I’m not sure if there was a reason for it, but none of the carpet had strait lines on it. They were all wavy or curved.
I’ve wanted to be a writer for a long time. I remember taking a cruise early in our marriage. I tried to think of how I could take advantage of the cruise to help my writing. Twenty-five years later, I realized that anything can be an inspiration for writing. It’s not about taking a cruise and using it as an topic to write about. It’s more being a writer and simply writing what you see.
Writers write.
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.
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I am in possession of about $800 worth of stolen goods.
- iPhone 6
- Apple Watch
- Nike backback
- Nike golf jacket
- Replica Captain America shield (it’s 3′ in diameter!)
- Captain America tie bar
- LG C410 Phone
I’m trying to figure out what to do with them. The thing is, no one is actually looking to recover these items. They were stolen from Walmart.com. I know how much they cost because it was my debit card that they were charged to.
I’ll go back to the beginning. About two weeks ago I got a call saying that there was suspicious activity on my debit card. Because I work for a company that handles credit card fraud, I immediately hung up and called my bank back. Yep. My card really had been hacked. There were a whole bunch of purchases at Walmart.com. I shop at Walmart, but I never shop at Walmart.com.
I reported the charges as fraud. My credit union did what every bank and credit union does, they refunded the cost. They also cancelled my card and I went in to get a new one. Interestingly, I was also reminded of the things I autopay. They all failed the next time they tried to bill my account. Oh, joy.
Anyway, we figured the issue was over. I spent some time trying to figure out where I could have been when my account information was stolen. I couldn’t think of any obvious examples. We assumed the issue was resolved.
Then the packages started showing up. Yep, all that stuff that was ordered ended up getting shipped to my house. And that’s when the “mystery” was solved. Everything came addressed to my 14 year old son. These were items from his Walmart.com Wish List. How they ended up getting billed to my card is still a mystery. But, at least I didn’t have to try to remember where I’d lost my account number. He doesn’t even remember hitting “Purchase” on those items.
But, we have a problem now. This stuff isn’t mine. Oh, sure, I’d love to upgrade to an iPhone 6 with an Apple Watch. But, I try to live an honest life. The stuff wasn’t mine and I needed to give it back.
First I went to my neighborhood Walmart. You can return stuff you bought on Walmart.com to your local Walmart.
But. . .
Walmart only knows how to give you money back for a return. They aren’t set up to take back merchandise without issuing you a refund. I don’t want a refund. I already got the charges reversed. If they sent me a refund, I’d just have money that wasn’t mine instead of stuff that wasn’t mine.
Next I called Walmart.com and talked to Frank.
Thanks for calling Walmart.com. This is Frank. How can I assist you today?
Frank, my name is Rodney and I can guarantee this call is going to be unlike any call you have had today.
I explained my problem to Frank. I have to admit, a part of me was hoping Frank might say, “Well, just keep the $400 iPhone.” Frank didn’t say that. But, the only thing Frank wanted back was the iPhone. The rest of the stuff was sold by other companies through Walmart.com. Frank gave me a long list of company phone numbers.
I’m now in the process of calling a half dozen companies asking how I can send them back their stolen goods. I’m sure at least one will say keep the shield. See, it’s made of cheap plastic. It cost $8 for the shield and $38 shipping. Pretty sure the company won’t want to pay that to get it back. But, it’s their stuff. I’ll at least ask them.
As for the person responsible? We are not planning to tell him what we changed his Walmart.com password to.
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