“Here’s your confirmation code for your vacation. Are you ready?
It’s 11I1O00OOI1OO01Il.
Bon voyage.”
– Comedian Brian Regan
We have a new benefits plan at work. Like all medical plans, it’s accessed online. I’m in IT. I’m used to copmuter systems. My lovely wife is also (former) IT. She’s the one in our house that does all the bills.
She has been trying to get logged into the new medical system since the start of the year. Today she finally asked for help.
I need you to log into the new medical plan. I’ve been trying and so far I can’t even get to the webpage. It tells me, “This site might be for sale.”
Here’s what the letter we got from the insurance company said the address was.
Here’s what I typed into my browser,
https://WORKTERRA.1h1ondemand.com
Here’s a secret about web addresses, also called URLs, they are rarely case sensitive. Technically web addresses are never case sensitive, but sometimes a URL will include additional information about the subdomain. When that’s the case, it sometimes is case sensitive.
But, the above address is not, should not be case sensitive. When I typed in the address directly as written my browser couldn’t find the page. If I went with “http” instead of “https” I got a web page, but as my lovely wife said, it claimed it was for sale.
It’s never a good idea to log into an insurance site that is also for sale. That wasn’t it. I assumed that maybe whoever typed the letter might have made a mistake. I tried variations on my company name as a subdomain. Finally, like my lovely wife before me, I asked for help.
I reached out to our HR rep.
Did his URL look the same as mine? I mean other than the information after the .com? It looked that way to me too. But, if I clicked on his link I got to the insurance company login page.
And that’s when I spotted the difference. By now, you may have spotted it too, depending on the font your browser uses. The first character was a lowercase “l” not the number 1.
Here’s the funny thing. There was no reason to use the capitalization they did in the letter. The following URLs are all equivalent.
- https://WORKTERRA.lh1ondemand.com
- https://WORKTERRA.LH1ONDEMAND.COM
- https://workterra.lh1ondemand.com
- https://workterra.LH1ONDEMAND.COM
Even the “https” can be done with different cased,
- HTTPS
- https
- Https
The issue that had been frustrating my lovely wife was that whoever decided on the company web address didn’t really give much thought to the fact that regular people would need to read and type their URL. In fact, my HR rep didn’t type in the URL. He copied it out of our online manual.
To the computer 1, I, l are each unique characters that are no more similar than 2, J and m. The computer uses the following codes to represent letters.
- <alt> 49 = 1
- <alt> 76 = I
- <alt> 108 = l
Okay, technically, the computer is going to represent them by digital 1 and 0, and hexadecimal representations. But, you can manually type in the ALT codes to create each letter.
The point is that to a computer there is no ambiguity. To people, on the other hand, who actually need to read and then type characters, a 1, I and l all look similar. The same goes for 0 and O.
The lesson in all of this? First, I can still sometimes come to the aid of my lovely wife, and second if you are going to have a web address that real live people need to type into their browser, don’t use 1, I, l.
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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The start of a new year is the chance to set new goals and new resolutions. Like many people, especially those of us who have seen a few more Januarys, we want to get in better shape.
Everyone knows that January is a terrible time to go to the gym. It’s like Yogi Berra used to say,
That place is so crowded no one goes there anymore.
Gym’s have an interesting business model. Especially when it comes to Gym memberships. You sign up for a gym membership so that you can go to the gym whenever you want. The Gym takes your membership money, and that of your fellow weekend warrior athletes and uses it to buy equipment. The more members, the more membership dues and the more equipment they can buy. But, here’s the catch. The more members, the more crowded it becomes. The more crowded, the less people want to show up. The fewer people, the less dues. The less dues, the less money to buy more equipment.
So, the gyms want lots of people to sign up and then few people to actually show up. Is it any wonder that they want you to save money by signing that two year contract?
I have a gym membership, I guess. We have a family pass for the community rec center. It has all the amenities, basketball courts, weight sets, indoor track.
I don’t go often and definitely not in January. It will be mostly cleared out by mid February.
But, I do have “get better” resolutions for 2020. And while I didn’t plan it, I ended up planning them all in January. Maybe it’s an insurance, use-your-bennies card, impulse, I’m not sure.
My get well resolutions started with that unpleasant exam that men over 50 are supposed to get. They discovered a benign polyp and removed it.
You might experience some soreness
Yeah, like getting punched in the gut from the inside out.
Then, there was the hearing test. (Huh? What Was that?) My hearing is fine. Maybe a few too many shooting sessions as a kid with no ear protection.
Next up was the dentist. My dentist has been treating me for periodontal disease. It’s a gum disease. And the dentist has been working on it for about 18 months. My last dentist appointment was 9 months ago. I kind of got off their “Come see us every 4 month” schedule.
Well, not only were their no cavities, but the periodontal issue seems to have cleared up too. I’m back on a regular six month “brush and floss more, even though you had no issues” schedule.
Next up is an eye exam next week. It’s been a few years since I last sat for the “Which is better this or this” test. Technically, the eye exam will be in February, so I guess I didn’t get them all done in January.
Maybe after my eye exam in February, I’ll try out my Rec Center pass. The crowds should be cleared out by then.
Did you make any New Year resolutions? How are you doing on them? Remember, it’s not about the destination. The success is in the journey.
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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How old are you?
Are you Berlin Wall Falling old?
Maybe you are 9/11 old.
Maybe like my dear mother, you are Moon Landing, or Kennedy Assasination old.
I’m Reagan Assasination old and just slightly older than Challenger Explosion old.
There are moments that are so galvinizing, so shocking that they sear themselves into our memories. We remember every detail, or at least tell ourselves we did. Historians and psychiatrists tell us that’s not actually true. That, while we have vivid memories, they are not neessarily true memories.
It doesn’t matter. The memories are real to us. Today is the 34 anniversary of the Challenger exploding. I’m not sure “anniversary” is the right word, but I’m not a good enough writer to come up with a better one.
Thirty-four years ago I was living in Orange County California. I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My companion, Elder Scott and I were “sign language” missionaries. We were renting a room from a local member of the church.
It was the start of our day. Missionaries aren’t allowed to watch television. We were in our room getting ready. The woman who owned the house was in her room ironing. Weird that I can remember her ironing but I don’t remember her name.
She was watching the launch. We hadn’t sent a lot of shuttles into space. It was still new. And being new it was full of hope and promise. The shuttles were making space travel seem to be something that anyone could do. Trips to “outer space” were right around the corner.
In fact, it was so common that NASA was sending a civilian, a teacher, into space. Christy McAuliffe. Millions of childer were let out of school that January 28th, in 1986 to watch “America’s school teacher” ride a pillar of flame into orbit.
It was therefore so much more tragic when, 73 seconds into the launch, Challenger exploded killing all aboard. It was not only the death of McAuliffe and six others, but it was our first death of astronauts in flight. We’d lost the three man crew of Apollo 1 on the launch pad. But, this was the first time, they died in flight.
We as a nation were shocked and then we grieved. The investigation took months. Eventually, they discovered that the unseasonably cold weather in Florida the night before cause a failure in a rubber seal. Fuel escaped thorugh the seal and blew up the orbitor.
I don’t remember everything about that day. I cannot tell you if we went out or stayed in glued to the television. I have one more memory of that day. Again, I cannot remember if I listened to it that day, or only heard it later.
You can hear it here. It’s President Reagan’s speech. He spoke the words that we didn’t know we needed. And I know he was an actor, but it didn’t sound like acting. It sounded like all of our hearts breaking together.
We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”
How old are you? Today, I’m this old.
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Here is the entirety of President Reagan’s address
Ladies and gentlemen, I’d planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering.
Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we’ve never lost an astronaut in flight; we’ve never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we’ve forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle; but they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we’re thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, “Give me a challenge and I’ll meet it with joy.” They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.
We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.
I’ve always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don’t hide our space program. We don’t keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That’s the way freedom is, and we wouldn’t change it for a minute.
We’ll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.
I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: “Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.”
There’s a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, “He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.” Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake’s, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God.”
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Some people are famous enough that they only have one name.
Cher
Madonna
Jesus
John
Paul
George
Ringo
Bono
Kobe
But, there are people even more famous, more well known than the one name people. Those are people known by a number.
45
44
43
42
41
39
These are the only ones still alive. It’s shorthand for presidents. Tump is number 45. He’s the 45th person (so far all men) elected president of the United States of America.
I’m not sure when it started. Did they call President Lincoln 16? Did they call President Washington 1?
There have been several presidents who shared the same last name. We had
President Andrew Johnson 17
President Lyndon Johnson 36President Theodore Roosevelt 26
President Franklin Roosevelt 32President John Adams 2
President John Quincy Adams 6President George H.W. Bush 41
President George W. Bush 43
Presidents Johnson were only distantly related through the 1st Earl of Somerset who lived back in the 15th century. Presidents Roosevelt were 5th cousins.
The Presidents Adams and Presidents Bush had three things in common. First both presidents had the same name John in the first case and George in the second. The second thing they had in common was that the first Adams/Bush served a single term. The third was that they were both fathers and sons.
Famed historian David McCullough who wrote what many consider the definitive history on President Adams 2, lamented that President Adams 6 never wrote anything concerning his father. It’s a unique perspective. Who knows better than a son, the issues the father dealt with as a chief executive? Who better than a son who followed his father in the loneliest job in the world?
George W Bush decided he was not going to let history repeat itself. The book 41 is George W Bush’s reflections on his father’s life.
I read President George W Bush’s book, Decision Points. It’s a fairly typical presidential memoire. It’s literally full of points during his presidency when he had to make a decision, the results of which had world-wide impact.
This book, 41, isn’t like that. It’s well written. And the younger Bush’s folksy Texas voice that we heard so much of during his presidency, comes through loud and clear. But, where his previous book was a reflection on policies, this book can best be described as a love letter to his father.
George W. Bush clearly loves and admires his father. That is evident throughout the book. He loves the man and wants us to love him too. And, given his relationship and the shared job experience they both had, he, of perhaps anyone in the world, is uniquely qualified to tell his father’s story.
What I Liked
The book is a joy to read. I’ve followed politics closely for years. The events that George Bush recounts his father going through are events that I also lived through. I watched the elder Bush during his time in office. The first presidential ballot I ever cast was for President Reagan and Vice President George HW Bush.
George Junior gives us stories of world events (his father throwing up on the Japanese prime minister’s shoes, the events of the first Gulf War, and many more.) He also gives us a personal look behind the headlines. The stories of what it was like to grow up in the household of a man who became president.
What I Didn’t
The book’s strength is also its greatest weakness. This is not like watching a major motion picture. This is a series of home movies. . .if your home happens to be the White House.
At times George W. Bush gives up specificity for a good story. He also glosses over less flattering details. For example, when discussing his father’s Supreme Court appointees (David Souter and Clarence Thomas) Bush talks about his own appointments (John Roberts and Samuel Alito.) Bush Jr talks about the process necessary to select a nominee. He conveniently omits the fact that one of his appointments was White House counsel Harriet Miers. Miers was not qualified and Bush, clearly embarrassed, quietly withdrew her nomination and replaced her with Samuel Alito.
This is not a “Mommy Dearest” tell-all. No salacious tidbits are forthcoming about the man known as 41. As I said, this is more of a love story than a policy debate.
What It Means For You
If you are a fan of George H W Bush or his son, you will enjoy this book. If you are a fan of biographies, you will also enjoy hearing about multiple generations of people who helped shape our country over the past century. If you were unhappy with George W Bush as president, you will no doubt find this book simplistic and unauthentic. If you think the Gulf Wars were trading blood for oil, that Bush Senior was intent on instilling a New World Order, or that his son lied to justify a war of revenge in Iraq, I would be surprised if you enjoyed this book.
My Rating
Two out of four stars
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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A man was worried about his wife’s declining hearing. So, he decided to do a test. He had his wife stand on one side of the living room facing the wall. He then stood on the other side of the room.
“Can you hear me?”
No response. He walked to the middle of the room.
“Can you hear me, now?”
Still no response. So, he walked until he was directly behind her.
“Can you hear me, now?”
“For the third time, YES!”
My daughter was home from college over the Christmas break. I needed to ask her a question so I knocked on her bedroom door.
“Hey, do you have a minute?”
I knew she was in her room, but she didn’t answer me. I knocked again.
“Hey, I need to ask you a question.”
Still no answer. Like many young people her age, she owns a pair of Apple air pods. I knocked a third time. Perhaps a little more strongly this time.
Finally, she opened her door. Sure enough, she was wearing the white air pods.
“Still a house rule. Only one ear bud in at a time.
I wasn’t happy. I knew she wasn’t happy. But, I was wrong about why she was unhappy. My lovely wife explained it to me later.
“She answered you all three times.”
Oops.
Perhaps time to get my hearing checked. I don’t think I’m old. But, I do have 13 children and six grandchildren. Grandparents are old. . .sometimes.
I went to the hearing doctor today.
What brought you in today?
Sorry, what was that?
No, that’s not how the interview started. But, it might as well have.
Well, it seems like people are mumblings more.
Do you turn the TV up loader than your family likes?
We turn on closed captions by default. But, if the CC is off, yeah, I have trouble hearing it. Especially in a noisy environment.
So, I got to spend a time in “over-sized refrigerator” listening to beeps and whispered words like,
baseball
turkey dinner
face to face
enterprise
The beeps and words were in my right ear and then in my left ear.
It’s strange being in a soundproof box. You cannot hear anything outside of box. It’s amazing how much ambient noise we hear on a daily basis. Cars going by on the street. Heating fans kicking on and off. Heels clicking on hardwood floor. Children laughing down the block.
It’s called white noise. Background noise that is so pervasive we don’t even recognize it anymore. . .until it’s gone.
Sitting in the booth, I could hear my breathing. It was really loud. In fact, it was the loudest thing in the booth. I moved my arm and the sound of my sweatshirt rubbing against itself drowned out the rhythmic cacophony of air moving in and out of my lungs. (Okay, it was my nose. I was hearing the air in my nose, but I’m trying for some literary prose here!)
The voice of the doctor administering the test was a jolt through the headphones I was wearing.
Okay, Rodney, I think we got everything we need. I’ll let you out now.
In the end, my hearing graph looked like this.
The grey area is the area of human speech. My hearing is repreented by the red and blue lines. Anything above 90dB is considered deaf. Anything below 20bB is normal. As you can see the only frequency that I have any detectable hearing loss is in the 4kHz range.
Did you ever shoot guns?
Excuse me?
Target shooting, that sort of thing? Gunshots typically are in the 4kHz range.
Not really. The only time I’ve been shooting we used noise cancelling headphones.
So, in the end, the doctor told me, I didn’t need hearing aids. If my hearing has been worse in the last few years it’s what happens as we get older.
In fact, being able to hear down to 5dB, as I can in the 500Hz and 3kHz, is considered exceptional hearing.
I discussed the results with my wonderful wife when I got home.
The doctor said there’s nothing wrong with my hearing.
Well, that’s unfortunate.
What do you mean?
Well, if there’s nothing wrong with your hearing that can only mean one thing?
What?
It means all those times you claimed you didn’t hear me, you must have been ignoring me.
She was kidding. . .I hope.
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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When you find yourself in a hole, first step is to stop digging
I’ve been in a hole for about a week. Nothing major. I’m definitely not vaguebooking. But, when you struggle with anxiety, depression is typically on speed dial. The combination of anxiety and depression is like mixing drugs and alcohol. Either one by themself is bad, but together they are deadly.
So, I wallowed in my self pity for a while. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I smiled when I needed to interact with people. But at the end of the conversation, my face dropped down to where my mood was sleeping.
I cancelled my therapy appointment. That was a red flag for me. A sign that all was not right in Bliss-ville. I attended the meetings I had to. I cancelled the ones I could. And all the while I knew exactly what was happening.
It was like watching a movie. A sad movie. One that I had seen before. And yet, like a spectator at a car wreck I couldn’t stop watching. Scene after scene, hour after hour. The depression wrapped itself around me like the blankets I fell into each night when exhaustion finally overcame me.
And by knowing I was watching, I also knew I could stop watching. I think that’s the tragedy of many who suffer. Many don’t know they are watching. And the idea of stopping watching never even occures as a possibility.
But, I knew I could stop. But, it was 6:55 in the morning and I was warm in my blankets. I could get up. I just wasn’t ready to yet. I won’t say I enjoyed digging the hole. But, I didn’t care to stop digging.
Depression is like that. It will keep you working at it even when you don’t want to, just because it’s easier to keep digging than to stop.
The clock hit 7:00 this morning. And I finally grew tired of the warmth of the blankets. I decided to stop digging. Not only stop digging, but I took my shovel and turned it into a ladder.
The funny thing, if depression can be called funny, is that today’s activities weren’t that different than the days I was in the hole. I went to meetings. I smiled when I talked to people.
But, by the end of the day, when the conversations ended, my face didn’t fall. I even started on my next woodworking project.
And I finally turned off that depressing movie.
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Well, that’s an issue you have to take up with the Provision Support Team.
I think it’s actually an issue that your team should raise as an escalation.
No. It’s part of a team of new users. That’s what the PST team is for.
A classic “That’s not my problem” response. We’ve all heard them. Whether it was from an unhelpful customer service rep that is unhelpful, or from another department that isn’t interested in assisting you.
Typically, there’s not a lot you can do. However, it helps to understand your position and the position of whomever you are talking to. Everyone has things important to them just as you have things important to you.
When contracts are involved, each party has requirements and service level agreements that the other party has to meet.
Yeah, that’s all well and good, but what does it mean? It means that just because someone tells you that they can’t help you, doesn’t mean it’s true.
We recently had a call from our production floor. A group of our agents had completed their training, started taking production calls and then gone back for more training and then once again go back to production. Our agents taking home inspection calls had this weird “there and back again” training schedule. The client, had to enable their training IDs. Then, enable their production IDs. Then reenable their training IDs. Because they already had their production IDs, we didn’t have to ask them twice to enable the production logins.
Today our problem was that the agents coming out into production for the second time couldn’t use the YTK tool. It’s a tool that lists different types of inspections, home inspections, building inspections, etc. But, they couldn’t access vehicle inspection applications.
As outages go, it’s not a huge deal. The agents could still take calls. And they could handle every call type. . .expect vehicle inspection requests.
So, we escalated to the client’s IT team. It’s what we do. It’s in the contract. But, not every access issue is an escalation. For example, when our agents come out of training for the first time if they don’t have the right access, we don’t escalate.
If new agents don’t have the right access, it goes to the PST team. In fact, if I try to escalate an issue with new agents, the client will refuse to help. In fact, they will tell me it’s an issue I’ll have to take up with the PST team.
Just as they did.
Actually, these are not new agents. They’ve already been in production. They no longer have the access that they had before they went back to training.
If they are coming out of training then you need to create a dropbox request and get it to the PST team. I can have Dave call and explain it if you would like.
Here’s the thing. I understood the contract between our companies. I understood that these agents qualified for an escalation if they didn’t have access. So, I called Dave.
I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page with outage this morning.
Well, if they’re new. . .
No, that’s the thing. They have already been in production. They had to go back to training and now they cannot access their YTK tool.
So, they aren’t new?
No.
Oh, in that case, let me see what we can do to get their access back.
Dave called his teammember back. At least I assume he did since I got another call fairly quickly.
Yeah, Rodney, it looks like they got set up wrong when they went back to training. We’re working on that now and will hopefully have them resolved in a couple of hours.
Wow, that’s great. Thanks so much for your help.
Could I have gone with an “I told you so”? Sure. I could have made the other person feel bad. I could have explained that I knew the contract better than her.
But, what’s the point? What’s the goal? My dad used to say, “Do you want to be right, or do you want to be sergeant?”
Harry Truman said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
I’m interested in being sergeant and I want to get stuff accomplished.
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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Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
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LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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We lived close to each other. Not “Country Song” close. But, about 30 miles apart. My lovely wife and I met each other as teenagers. We were too far apart in age to date, but we were definitely interested in each other.
I worked in a TV store, as a delivery guy and her family didn’t own a TV. No, I didn’t secretely deliver one. But, I did think about how much she was missing out on. She missed the last episode of M*A*S*H, for example. Even my friend Kevin who didn’t have a TV came over to my house to watch it.
People without a TV missed all the sporting events. They missed cultural events taht were televised. My family lived in front of the TV. We followed virtually every sport. Not just because my dad was a professional gambler and sometimes had money on the game. We had HBO back when it was first launched. . .NO COMMERCIALS! We had MTV back when it played music videos.
I was convinced that TV, or lack of TV deprived a person of important cultural references and norms. (Yeah, I was a teenager.) And my lovely wife was one of the deprived.
It was that awkward moment when the nurse is prepping you for a medical procedure and you talk just to fill up the empty space.
Yeah, my son doesn’t even have social media. He just says, “I’m not interested.”
I thought, “Wow, that kid is going to miss out on so much. Like important cultural references and norms. . .” And then I remembered.
My lovely wife and I had a TV, or rather cable TV, for years. It wasn’t something we thought about much. We had it just like we had electricity, water and garbage service. (Okay, maybe a little too much like garbage service at times.)
Anyway, about 20 years ago we decided to cut the cord. It was financial reasons at first. But, then we figured out that we didn’t miss it. Oh sure, we missed watching the Olympics or the World Series. But, we were able to turn the service on for just those events and then turn it off.
My kids grew up without network television. We had plenty of VHS tapes and later DVDs, but no network service. When my second oldest daughter went to college she ordered cable. She called home after her first month or so.
What is it with commercials? They are SO boring and you can’t skip through them!
Welcome to network TV, sweetie.
We still don’t have cable TV. We have some services like Amazon Prime, ESPN+ and Disney+. But, we do have social media. I have this blog and the platforms listed in the signature block. My kids are active mostly on Snapchat and Instagram.
I thought about that nurse’s son. Would he be culturally or socially stunted if he doesn’t participate in social media? I don’t know, but I don’t think so.
My lovely wife hasn’t suffered any ill affects of not getting to watch Saturday morning cartoons, or watch Star Trek:The Next Generation or Knight Rider, or Magnum P.I. (And now we have those on DVD or Amazon Prime.)
Oh, and my friend Kevin? The one who had to come to my house to watch the final episode of M*A*S*H because his family didn’t have a TV? He’s now head of a major television studio. He makes the decisions on what series get greenlit. (Mad Men was one of his.)
So, I would imagine her son will do just fine without a Twitter handle or an Insta account or a Facebook page. Who knows years from now he may be running a social media company.
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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A few years ago I gave a speech about Dr. Martin Luther King. On this day I like to revisit his speech and my take on it.
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From Dream to Reality
(April 16, 2013 – Rodney M Bliss)
I want to take you back to August 28, 1963. It was a brutally hot summer that year. A summer that seethed not just with the heat of high temperatures, but high tensions. A summer wracked not just with conflicted politics, but with conflicted people.
On this day the national mall in Washington DC is crowded to overflowing. A crowd a quarter million strong, predominately Black, have come to Washington today. Come to hear a speech that will define not just a movement, but a generation.
Come with me for a few minutes to revisit that pivotal day and the remarkable speech that forever defines it.
A young Black preacher steps to the microphone,
“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. ”
He speaks for nearly 20 minutes and my poor efforts pale next to his soaring oratory. He shares both his condemning view of our past and his prophetic hopeful vision for our future.
His voice spans the nation, telling us to
“Let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.”
“Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.”
“Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.”
“Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado”
“Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. Not only that, but let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia and Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.”
He tells us
“the Negro will never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believe he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
He has no way of knowing about a young Black boy growing up in Honolulu, Hawaii. A little boy who had just celebrated his 2nd birthday. The son of a white mother and a Black father. A boy who would someday not only gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities, but would gain lodging in a house that while less than a mile from the spot where he stood, must have felt as inaccessible to that preacher as the surface of the moon.
Rather than walk the streets of slums, this boy will tread the halls of power. Rather than question for what to vote, he will be the one for whom they vote.
For over 150 years the Black man had waited for the nation to honor the promissory note that all men are created equal. But less than 50 years later, the first Black president would stand on the shoulders of these giants to reach the heights of achievement. Dream indeed.
You are no doubt familiar with the most famous lines from the speech that day,
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.”
Great as this sentiment is, it’s the next paragraph that makes this speech particularly personal, poignant and inspirational for me.
“I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor’s lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.”
Each night as I look at the faces of my children gathered around our dinner table, or kneeling with their heads bowed to pray, I’m grateful that my little Black boys and black girls can join hands with my little white boy and white girls, as well as little Asian boys and Asian girl and walk together as sisters and brothers. Dream indeed.
We still have a long way to go as a nation to recognize and realize Dr. King’s dream. But for me and my family, his dream has become my reality.
Thank you
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A video of my speech is available here.
The full text of Dr King’s remarkable speech can be found here.
The video of his entire speech can be found here.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, blogger and IT Consultant. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife and thirteen children, three of whom are white, three of whom are Asian and seven of whom are Black.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or contact him at (rbliss at msn dot com)
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Triangle: A three sided figure. Also, how my family communicates
Growing up my family was pretty dysfunctional. Don’t assume by that, that we didn’t love one another. It’s just there were marriages, divorces, adoptions, siblings, half-siblings, five schools in the fifth grade.
Anyway, one of the ways we learned to cope was by communicating. Or, ratehr not communicating. We avoided direct confrontation. If I didn’t like something my mother did, I’d wouldn’t mention it directly to her. I’d tell my brother. And then he’d tell her. If my sister was annoyed with me making too much noise in the bathroom in the morning as she tried to sleep in, she’d mention it to my brother who in turn would talk to me about it.
Come to think of it, most of us talked to my younger brother.
Anyway, we got really good at that three-way communication. In fact, we got so good that I didn’t even realize it wasn’t normal until I married my lovely wife and my methods of communication kind of screwed up our marriage for a while. Eventually, I figured out how to talk to her. And even to talk to my family.
But, like riding a bike, you never forget a useful skill, even a dysfunctional one once you learn it.
Our team has a big presentation to the client next week. It involves a dozen people and over two dozen slides. I’m the IT guy, so my parts of the presentation have to do with IT. It’s only a couple of slides. I didn’t even realize that they were waiting on things from me until a few hours before our online phone conference to review the slides.
My parts were pretty simple. The client meeting is really about operations. If nothing goes too wrong with IT, there’s not much for me to share.
During the call, I realized there was more information that the team wanted from me. The senior director was asking about it.
I think I saw Rodney on the call. Rodney, are you here?
Yeah. What do you need?
Can you see my screen?
Yes.
See this slide here? I need the data for this slide from last quarter.
Sure. I can probably pull that together before we get off the phone. I don’t remember seeing that in the email. Sorry if I missed it.
To be honest, I knew the request for more data hadn’t been in the email. After all, the information took less than 15 minutes to compile. I would have send it as soon as I read the email. But, you won’t accomplish anything by contradicting a senior director.
And, it didn’t really matter to me. I just wanted to be sure I hadn’t missed a different email, or more subtly, I wanted to let whoever asked for the data realize their mistake without calling them out on it.
It was a great plan except for Garry. Garry is one of the managers. Not mine, of course. I’m in IT, these people are all operations. Anyway, Garry wouldn’t let it go.
Yeah, Rodney, you missed it. But, that’s okay. The important thing is we caught it now.
No, that wasn’t the important thing. Well, it was, of course, but calling me out on it in front of the team was kind of a lousy thing to do.
The original email I recieved had come from Bryan. I opened a chat window with Bryan.
Did I miss something? Was that request in the email you sent me?
No. I was covering for Zeke and I didn’t know they wanted that information included.
Okay. Thanks. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing an email request somewhere.
No, you’re good. I let Garry know as well.
Really? Gee, I never even considered him. 😉
Of course I considered him. And I absolutely wanted Bryan to clear it up. And thanks to my dysfunctional family communication methods, I was able to get exactly that.
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) 2020 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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