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10 row(s) meet your search criteria for March , 2008.

That's Just Not Right - March 27, 2008

During the winter, 35 degrees and raining, with an occasional snow flake doesn't get much attention. In fact, it's grounds for hope that maybe today will be a "snow day" and not work day.

But when it happens during Spring Break (as it did this morning) - it just sucks!

UPDATE: - While she is in Utah, apparently I'm not the only one horrified by the weather.

#  | 10:22 AM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Rant)

What Now? How about STOP STEALING? - March 25, 2008

There was a Call for Help over at LifeHacker today. (LifeHacker, despite the name, is not a site for true "hackers" - it has lots of content on making your online life better.)

I downloaded several movies and albums, perhaps 30 in all. Yesterday I received a letter in the mail from Cablevision (my ISP) saying that Paramount/Dreamworks had filed a complaint with them regarding my illegal download of one of their films.

While she wasn't being sued, the ISP was telling her that she could be. Scare tactics to be sure, but LifeHacker asked their community if people had seen this before and what happened.

218 comments later, many indicated that they had seen it before and it meant very little. But what surprised me, and I only browsed the first 60-70 comments, was how many people said something to the effect of "do it this way".

So this person got caught stealing, was given a warning, and an overwhelming majority of the advice do it better next time?

Why is it that the minority opinion is the one that encourages getting the content legally? Renting a movie costs a buck/night. Netflix gets me as many movies as I want for $14/month and I can keep them as long as I want.

When you get caught stealing, the answer should be to stop stealing, not find another store to steal from.

#  | 12:50 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Movies, News, Rant)

I'd Better Get Used to It - March 22, 2008

Sara displays that she is truly Marie's daughter...

Sara: Daddy, should I wear the purple one or the green one?

Me (not really caring as they were essentially identical): The purple one.

Sara: I think I'll wear the green one.

Me (under my breath): Glad to be of service.

#  | 07:24 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Funny, Kids)

Freedom from the Madness - March 20, 2008

For about 17 years I've been running a March Madness pool. It is a fun pool - rank the teams 64 to 1 and for each win you get the number of points you ranked the team with. For example the team you think will win the tourney gets 64. It does take a little more time to fill the brackets, and for many people who have played over the years, it was a little hard to understand. But for those who "got it", they said that it was much more fun than the standard "pick winners" type of pool.

But for years, the number of players has diminished, and my passion for NCAA Basketball, never truly there in the first place, has evaporated to next to nothing. Last year, somebody asked if I was running the pool again and I did.

This year, nobody asked. And as the first day of the tournament is completed, I have no interest at all. I do not have a single care in the world over who wins the tournament.

I'm free from the madness - and it feels good.

#  | 11:20 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Basketball, Ncaa, Sports-Pool)

1st Practice - March 19, 2008

The weather held up this afternoon to get our first baseball practice in. All but one of the boys showed up. We got sprinkled on just a little, and there was lots of squishy ground and mud on our shoes, but I think it went well.

It looks like we've got a pretty good set of kids. All seemed attentive, and eager for the season to start. I've got just about all their names memorized except for the brothers. They are not identical twins, but I struggled keeping them straight. I think I'll be bumbling a lot this year as I've got a Jack, Jake and Josh. Then there is Blake, Ryan, Nathan, Kyle, Garrett and Sean. Nine kids total, so we won't have any bench riding this year.

Fielding should be an interesting experience - as it usually is with 7/8 year olds. I've got some real work on three boys who seem to have forgotten how to throw. But that should be fun as you can really see the improvement from the beginning to the end of the season.

Hitting wise I don't think I've got much work to do - except to get out of the way! Several of the boys hit the ball really well today. Probably two of the younger boys will need some special help - but even they hit it hard when they did get it.

The exciting thing is that I actually have another Dad on the team who has volunteered to help coach. That's great except that now I have to communicate rather than just go off the top of my head.

I think the season is going to be even more fun than last year.

#  | 10:20 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Baseball, Kids, Murrayhill)

Duck and Cover! - March 17, 2008

We were told today that the IT department was laying off some "associates" today. I know of one person who was given "the box" today, and a rumor of 20 others also let go. An "All Hands" meeting is scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the new organization, but not until 4pm! So everybody make sure to get your work done before we give out the pink slips! Meeting was canceled.

This announcement comes on the heels of the "voluntary separation program" they offered long time employees. Today was the last day for those who took advantage of that program. So there were lots of folks packing up their personal belongings. Voluntary for some, not so for others.

I feel sorry for those folks who were let go. It is an expected, albeit ugly bi-product of the company being acquired. I'm sure this is only the first step in an inevitable long period of change for the company.

It's funny, but I joined the company to have some job stability. Two years in, it appears I'm headed for stormy waters again. I don't regret the move at all - stormy waters are a lot easier to handle in a nice boat, and I'm confident that I have enough life jackets on board to survive and crew for another captain.

It has made me think more about stopping development on all my personal "projects" that are fun but I know won't make any money and focus on improving and marketing the one that currently does.

Honestly, I'm not that worried about my job. Maybe it is my general optimistic view on the world, arrogance, or simple naivete, but I feel important and talented enough that I should continue to contribute to the organization - and besides that our manager has told us that we are not in danger - as far as he knows (he is in another 10x10 cubicle three down from me so I'm not about to go "all in" on that opinion).

I hope to know more about the future tomorrow soon. But for now, only those in the corner offices really know.

#  | 10:33 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Development, Work)

Little League Time - March 14, 2008

Spring is in the air and so it is time once again for Little League baseball.

Despite my reservations, I have once again volunteered to manage two teams - T-Ball with Sara, the "Coast" for Garrett ("Coast" is 1-step above T-Ball where the coaches pitch).

I did the same thing last year, and when the season was over, I wasn't sure that I would do it again. It was a lot of work. But in the end, I had to admit I enjoyed the experience. There were good games and bad, but I think the kids had fun.

This year however, I will be enlisting more parent help - almost requiring it. I understand why more parents don't volunteer - it is a commitment of time, but it works out to about 3-4 hours per week. Since I have two teams, its 6-8 hours per week.

One of the other things I'm going to use this year is TeamSnap.com. I found this site last year towards the end of the season and wished I had seen it earlier. This year I'm not making the same mistake. It hosts the team rosters, phone numbers, files, pictures, and the game schedule.

One of the things that is really neat is the "Availability" area where players can indicate which games they are going to miss. What got me grumpy last year is when people wouldn't show up for games, requiring me to adjust the lineup on the fly. Hopefully people will use this function on the site and not forget to tell me when they will be unable to play (or maybe I forgot that they told me - whatever). This way before the game when I'm making the lineup, I can just check the site to see who's going to show up.

The other thing that I will use is the "Refreshments" function. This is where parents can volunteer to be responsible for bringing treats for the aftergame feast. I will also use this for parents to volunteer to be the base coach for a game. So my policy will be that each family needs to volunteer for "treats" for two games, and must volunteer as "parent helper" for two games. That should give me coverage for base coaches for each game.

That's the plan anyway.

#  | 05:12 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Baseball, Kids, Murrayhill)

Competitive Nature - March 11, 2008

In days gone by, I was an athlete. While excelling at few, most sports I could play well enough for competitive recreational purposes. While Father Time and my expanding waistline have curtailed an active sport lifestyle, I still consider myself a competitor. Winning has never been the most important part for me - in fact I'm a good (and unfortunately experienced) loser - but trying your best is critical. I want to instill this competitive nature in my kids.

At our house, we play lots of games with the kids. Sorry, Life, Wii Sports, Yahtzee, etc. When we do, Marie will often let them win. I do not. I try to teach them strategy on how to win while they are losing. I also make sure they know I'm trying to win. When they do beat me, or when they make a good strategic choice in a game, I feel really good. When I win, I celebrate modestly. When they win I sulk a little for effect, but celebrate with them too.

I think a lot of parents are too easy on their kids these days. Especially when it comes to giving praise for a perfectly mediocre performance. I think too many kids have received this feedback all their lives and it prevents the child from striving to do better. Positive affirmation is important, but it has to be combined with constructive criticism and the encouragement for them to do better.

Garrett and I were at Bullwinkle's Family Fun Center this weekend, and while Garrett was off bumping in the Bumper Boat area, I was watching the miniature golfers. One woman caught my attention. She was probably in her late 50's, golfing with a pair of pre-teens. On this particular hole, the kids went first and left their balls well short of the hole. When this woman put her putt within a foot of the hole, she did the Tiger Woods fist pump, and a hushed "Yesssss" as if she was on her way to winning an event on tour.

#  | 08:49 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: Kids)

Too Many Frogs - March 06, 2008

Somewhere in my wife's recent past, she came across the saying "Eat That Frog". A little googling tells me that some guy named Brian Tracy wrote a book about it: Eat That Frog! -- 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, The "frog" is your biggest, most important task, and one that you are most likely to procrastinate on. The basis is a saying:

If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!

I seem to be surrounded by frogs at work right now. The problem, is that I also have a sweet tasty hunk of chocolate on my desk too that is getting all the attention.

Tomorrow, I'm going to hide the chocolate and eat some frogs.

#  | 10:30 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: )

Neglect - March 05, 2008

Hello my poor blog. It's been a while since my last post. January and February saw a single post.

One of the things that hurt last month was that I launched a new website - LegacyKLine.com. K-Line Trains was a company that manufactured O-gauge trains. I was a fan, and a customer. When the company went under, so did their website. LegacyKLine.com is the recovery of that website, with a bunch more stuff.

The site took about 3 weeks or so to build (more info on the About page), and launched on February 15. There was very nice initial load on the site, and my server performed very well. The first week saw over 25,000 page views on the site and I got a lot of emails and public accolades on the train forums for putting the information back online. I put a donate button on the screen and have actually received over $100 in donations from people I don't even know. That's been very exciting.

Show the rest of the story...

#  | 10:54 PM |  Comments Closed (0)  |  (Tags: )