VOTING PRECINCTS
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Freeman J Dyson an English-born American physicist and mathematician said the most amazing thing to me once. He said “If you build a specific tool you will find it is useful for many things. Build a general tool and you will find it is not good at any one thing.”
Let me start by telling you I am not a close friend of this or any theoretical physicist. It is not that I dislike them, I actually really enjoy listening to them. We just do not tend to go to the same type of parties you see. But while I was attending TCU as a Computer Science student I was fortunate enough to listen to a talk he gave. It changed my view of the world of computers and other tools. The talk was about the 8 most useful things ever invented. One of which was the computer. The subject of the Superconducting Super Collider project came up, the project that was cancelled in the mid 90’s. He said he was not sure if we should build it or not. You see it was designed as a general machine.
General machine do not work as well as specific ones. Let take the knife as an example, a good kitchen knife is a very useful thing. You can use it for cutting food for long periods of time comfortably and if you are like me you have used them to open boxes, smash garlic, and even pound a nail every once in a while. A Swiss Army knife on the other hand is a general tool. It does nothing really well. You can use it to do what a knife, corkscrew, or saw would do but not as well.
In the computer world the same rule is true. Remember the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) it was going to be everyone left hand. You were going to write email, organize contacts, plan events and do everything you do on your computer. Sales of the PDA have sunk. Most companies are not shipping them to the US anymore. The reason was that the PDA did not do anything really well. Smart cell phones have taken over the role the PDA was going to fill. For those of you, who might say the smart cell phone is a PDA, think about where they are sold, in a PDA store? No.
Since that talk with Dr Dyson, I have become a fan of specific machines. As a biologist I know that animals that adapt survive. But, animals that find a niche as adapt to fill it do better then ones that try to compete in a general environment. Think about it.
I know the home owners out there are laughing at me. I know this. But here we go. House tasks today. Well I have a small leak somewhere that is ending up coming out of the ceiling of the garage. No big deal, it is a small leak, but it needs to be looked at. I think it may be coming from the up stairs shower. That means a plumber… or maybe a roofer, who knows.
I got the spa guy to come out and give me a hot tub care 101. This week will be spent cleaning out leaves and doing mad scientist work with vials and pool chemicals. By the way, our pool/spa guy is a hoot. I swear he can talk faster then anyone I have ever met. He was doing laps around the hot tub pulling things off and pushing buttons. All while ratting off a list of a dozen things I needed and options if I did not want to get those. So after work tonight… the pool store!
I spent the morning watching the cable guys bury a new line to my house. Once it was complete, we now have TV and Internet. Go us! But while I was waiting, I decided to take a look at the sprinkler system. I was surprised to find that there were well written directions on the automatic system. Within 7 minutes I had fully set the system for fall watering, but in the process found 2 broken sprinkler head that just poured water out rendering the system useless.
All of this and I still have not unpacked. I am kind of glad we are renting. Just think if I could rebuild the kitchen like I want to… the mind boggles.
Please note: This is a great house. K and I love this house. The people we are renting it from rock. These problems are natural part of moving into a new house.
It is kind of nice having a house verse being in an apartment. For example you do not have to worry about making too much noise when unpacking late at night. But there are problems as well. Like having to learn how everything works. When we moved in there the plug in the upstairs baths did not work. Being a reasonably smart human I checked the breakers and look for a GFI (ground fault interrupter). After not finding anything amiss, we called an electrician. Turns out the GFI for the upstairs baths are in the garage with the plugs for the outside of the house and sure enough it was tripped. Oh well, live and learn, and sometimes look like an idiot. Turn out all the plugs that are GFI protected are on one circuit. Who knew?
I am sure there are more of these lerking around... I keep you posted.
This was a very strange weekend. I attend both a funeral and a wedding shower. I Worked until 4 am, unpacked , went shopping for house stuff, built half a dresser, move more stuff from the apartment and still do not feel like I got anything done. Spent more time in bed then normal and got less sleep. So today is Monday, I have a huge amount of work to get done both at home and in the office and I need a weekend to rest. I feel like I need a vacation.
I am in DC this morning for work. Last night when I checked in I found out that my hotel does not have internet access. This is not the Motor Inn, I am staying at the Hilton. I would like to point out K had email almost everyday from little cafes in Germany. That a freind of mine emailed me from a boat that was docked in Auckland New Zealand. I am in DC... why don't they have the Internet yet? Yes, I am whineing.
Well after a very long 4 day weekend of packing and moving, K and I are in the new house. We are very happy. For those of you who have not seen it I will have pictures up on the site soon. It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2 story house with a hot tub. There is a nice kitchen for me and plenty of closet space for K. The best this of all though is on Sunday after moving what seemed like endless amounts of book, furniture, and boxes K and I came home to the same place.
BTW does anyone want to pick me up from the airport on Thursday evening?
Well after a very long 4 day weekend of packing and moving, K and I are in the new house. We are very happy. For those of you who have not seen it I will have pictures up on the site soon. It is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2 story house with a hot tub. There is a nice kitchen for me and plenty of closet space for K. The best this of all though is on Sunday after moving what seemed like endless amounts of book, furniture, and boxes K and I came home to the same place.
The weekend started with me trying to take Friday off so I could get packing done at my apartment. I had hopes picking up the truck and starting to move on Saturday. This was not to be. JB was doing a training session and wanted me to be there to help with people who where going to be joining for the web based session. Upon arriving at work I found out we were with out internet service. A big problem for hosting a web based training session, so we all packed out laptops up and headed to JB living room. With cell phones, dsl, and a cordless phone with a speaker we hosted a training session for about 25 people. This is the power of the internet.
After leaving the comfort of JB’s living room it was home to pack. I hate packing. It really is something I have to force my self to do. That night it was out to the haunt to work and round up some teenagers to help schlep boxes for Sunday. I got to work the line at the haunt. It is a job where you basically have to keep people entertained and but them in to groups to go though the haunted house. The attraction I was working let me be a hick version of drill sergeant. It was loads of fun. There was lots of “This crowd is so dumb, it reminds me a my family reunion”, and “You get that face at a tractor pull?” By the end of the night, I had 3 people to help move stuff and no voice left.
Saturday was all about packing. I had everything packed that I had hoped to pack and still had boxes left over. I saw this as a very good omen. Knowing the next day was going to be long, I was in bed by 11.
Sunday morning started with calling people to wake then up. Glen came over and gave me a ride to get the truck. Then breakfast with the guys that were going to help. I bought breakfast knowing that it would be a long day for everyone. We had two apartments both K and mine to move into one house. Both my apartment and the house have stairs. (stairs suck) K and I being in our mid thirties we have both collected a large amount of stuff. We filled a 15 foot truck 2 and a half times. We started at 10 and worked until past 8 that night. Four of use we very worn out by the time we were done.
After the boys left, I started building the bed K and I bought in Houston a couple of weeks earlier. My goal was to get the bed built and made before K got home with the cats. She had been in Houston working all weekend. When she got back into town she had to go back to her apartment and pick up the cats who now think I am the bringer of chaos. With the bed done and K and the cats showed up. I think I was running on pure force of will by the time we went to bed.
Monday I took off to be at the house for deliveries and utilities. I woke up before 9 to get the TV and Computer set up before the cable guys showed up. At 9:05 a knock on the door announced I was not going to get that accomplished. So while he checked out the lines out side I made a mad dash down to the living room to get the TV unpacked. I was still searching for the power cord when he came in and said I had ‘plenty’ of time to unpack. The cable leading to the house was damaged and needed workmen to come lay a new one. Sigh… So, no internet or cable at the house for a couple of days. The rest of the day was spent by K and I moving stuff to the room it was going to be unpacked in and dropping off trucks and picking up odds and ends we need to unpack. By last night I was sore, bruised, and swollen. We have everything still in boxes. Both my and K apartments still need to be cleaned. Now it was my turn to head out of town. I am flying to DC for work and will be gone until Thursday night. But, K and I got to sleep in our home together for 2 nights. So I am sore, busy, and worn out, but life is good.
BTW does anyone want to pick me up from the airport on Thursday evening?
Ok, I am once again dealing with utility companies. Calling their service department begs the question, “Who built these peoples system!”
This week I called 3 different utility companies all of which had to me input account numbers and what I wanted before forwarding my call to a person. Once the person answered they all asked me the same questions that the phone system just asked me. In most cases this included my account number, and phone number. Any one of these should be enough to pull up the grade I got in math in 3rd grade.
In one case I had to be transferred to different person who again asked me the same questions. The reason for my transfer was the person I was talking to could not set up all the services I wanted to use from this company. They had to transfer me to someone else, why?
In another case I had a bill that had to be paid. They had me call a different number, in the same company. Oh and that billing department did not take debit cards or credit cards. This makes me wonder what year it is… we are in 2004 right? Once I had paid the bill it will take 24 to 48 hour for the service department to know the bill has been paid. I can get a conformation number and call the first number again and talk to a supervisor… For a grand total of 5 transfers and 3 phone calls, and 4 times repeating the same information to move one account.
In all these cases, only one was open past 6 pm. None of these offered me a way to transfer service using a web page. All required me to talk to a person and a phone system. I wonder how hard this is for people with disabilities.
Dear Companies
I want to use your product and pay you money to do so. It is my understanding that you want this to happen. Therefore, I am offering you a deal. Make it easy for me to pay you, to request new product or move my service. I promise if you make it easy for me to do this, I will use your services, pay my bill, and not yell at so many of your hardworking employees. This would lower worker burn out rates, reduce costs, reduce accounts receivable ages, and grow sales. I think this can be a big win for both of us. What do you say?
Yours truly,
Dan
P.s if you are looking for some direction on how to make things easier, have all of your VP personally transfer their service to a new address using you phone or web systems.
Christopher Reeve has died aged 52. As an actor, known to many in his film roles in Superman and Noises Off, I was not a much of a fan. When he became a hero in my eyes is when a riding accident that left him paralysis from the neck down. Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana, worked to promote the understanding of spinal injuries. Christopher Reeve used his own treatment and hard work to further research.
Christopher Reeve endured a catastrophic life changes injury and became a hero, for me and so many others. He dislike comparisons between him self and the iconic man of steal he played in the Superman movies. The truth is he was not of a super hero then anyone, but he was a great man of courage and strength. The world is a darker place today
I hate moving... really hate it. If I were to make a list of things I really hate it would be on it. Packing suck, call utility companies sucks, not knowing where you live sucks... I hate moving.
Whoopee, lunch with multiple redheads. Even if some how I lost my boyhood. That sounds very bad…
A resent poll asked people if they thought all Muslims hated Americans, repressed women and wanted to destroy our way of life. Now I will get back to the subject matter in a minute but I wanted to highlight a statement made by the spokeswoman for the poll.
“I would like to think people are smarter then this, but the truth is that people just generalize too much.” – A representative for a Muslim group.
It is good that the person who took this poll understands that all generalizations are bad. If you are looking for the humor in this still, do not worry it is not you I am making fun of it is everyone else.
Now, on too Muslims and the American public, Muslims need a marketing campaign. Most American are like me, The plight of the Muslims is something we care about, it is just that we do not see much from their point of view. Your spokesmen are Yasser Arafat and guys with hoods on Al Jazeera with AK-47s.
One of the reasons Israel get some much support is we see the damage done to them. Last week I drove by the Bus 19 exhibit. The exhibit displays the shell of a bus destroyed along with 11 bus riders by a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. The exhibit has travel all over the country. When we think about Israel, we see victims of suicide bombing.
I know not all Muslims are terrorists, not all Israelis are victims, and not all Americans are stupid. Now that we are beyond the generalizations…
Wow, there is a lot going on.
This weekend Haunted House stuff started. I went out on Friday night to the Haunt. Allen and Pat were both in overdrive to get things ready. It was fun working for Pat. He is a good boss. He both has a plan and listens to other ideas. This is a good trait in leaders. He wants the people around him to look good and cares how the people who work for him are doing. On Friday night when it started raining very hard and most of the people who worked for him were taking shelter in a tent. Pat was out getting tools to repair things. As soon as it was clear things would not be clearing up, he sent everyone he could home and stayed out in the rain to get got help for people stuck in the mud.
This weekend was also spent with K and I going down to Houston to buy a new bed and pick up a table for the new place. We bought a new bed at IKEA. I might add at this point IKEA is a very cool place, but I cannot walk though the store with out thinking of the movie Fight Club. We move in to the new place in under two weeks. I think we are both ready to be in the house. It will be very nice to actually get to live together.
Other then that things are very busy. With wedding, moving, work, haunt, and other stuff, life is full.