Author: The Timedok

The case of the password vs insanity.

We have all heard that the definition of insanity is: doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. This was not lost on me when recently my password on my home PC was no longer accepted.

Imagine logging in to your own PC, that no one else touches, and the password no longer works.

I cannot tell you how many times that I tried the password that I know that it is supposed to be, and then doubting my sanity, trying every other password that it might be “just in case I changed it” without remembering I did.

The only reason there was a smidgeon of a doubt is that recently Yahoo forced me to change my password. They would accept nothing less than a strong password which by the way is so strong that I have trouble typing it while looking at it, and there is not a chance of remembering it.

No longer are the days of the family pet or address or birthday acceptable as passwords. Imagine having to type a password like this T4^s#hg^9? every time you logged on to your computer!

While the home PC’s password was not quite this strong, there is more than room for error. This led to a rather frustrating afternoon as one might guess.

The trouble shooting process was difficult as Windows allows little room for error and certainly not much for diagnostics. My first guess was the keyboard had to be messing up in some way so I changed the batteries. When that did not bear fruit I hooked up a hard wired keyboard to the USB port and still nothing. “Incorrect login name or password.”

Google produced nothing relevant other than an ad for some company that sells some software to recover your password. Microsoft was no help. If I were in a decision making role at Microsoft I would make some sort of option on the login screen that would allow for one to make certain that their keyboard is typing the correct letter and that the caps is on or off. Wireless keyboards don’t have any LED on them to tell you about “num lock” or shift lock and , the screen was not giving me any hint of this either although it normally would.

Windows 7 offers a way to reset the password, but you have to plan for it first and oh yes, it requires the “A drive, a floppy.” This too needs to be re-thought as few computers today have a floppy drive.

Somewhere in the process of trying to boot into safe mode I get an error that says “keyboard failure.”

At this point I try the wired keyboard into several different USB ports with the same results. I then installed a usb card thinking that maybe that would work, nope same results.

I could do things in Bios but not in Windows. The thing that would have helped is a way to check the keyboard, in Bios. My guess is that Bios is not as picky about what it sees from the keyboard and since you are only using limited keyboard functions, curser movements, enter and tab, one would not have guessed that the USB was having issues.

I just happen to own another machine of identical configuration, so a swap of the hardrive to the other machine rendered a machine that worked with my password that worked all along.

I can only conclude that there is an issue with the USB controller on the motherboard.

I am considering clearing out the Bios on the old board and trying a re-install of the software just to see if that fixes it. There may also be some sort of update from Dell for that Bios.

For you hardware junkies out there, this is probably standard fare. While I could have purchased a new machine for the $$ wasted in time to diagnose this, I have a new found empathy towards those who just use the machine and have no clue how it works.

Can you imagine Joe Q User out there that really looks for the “any key” having an issue like this?

If I was frustrated (and I have been at this when DOS 1 was new,) I cannot even fathom what something like this would be like for others who have less experience than I.

I hope that this helps someone somewhere possibly saving some time and frustration as this type of bugaboo should not happen.

Best to you and those that you care about!

Disasters Big and Small

As a Disaster Recovery Specialist, I walk into many companies that are one step away from disaster. Some of them have been living on a wing and a prayer for a long time and are absolutely oblivious to the precipice on which they are perched.

One of the largest challenges one faces in this line of work are people. By that I mean more specifically egos. People are threatened by someone that “knows more than they do.”

Let me tell you a secret. This is a Jack Palance type secret, (from City Slickers) “This is the one thing” that will save your keister as well as change your attitude.

I worked for a man who owned this business that was very successful. I was a young guy fresh out of school and this guy saw something in me that I remember to this day. As time passed he took me under his wing and helped me knock some of the rough edges off of my “perception” of the world as it was. He took me out one day to JC Penny and had some sales clerk measure me for a suite and then he picked out a couple of them. We went to the shirts and he purchased a few of them right down to the shoes. While these were not super expensive, they were not cheap and his generosity never escaped me. The only thing that he did not replace were my shorts! Some might have taken offence to this but I am no creature of fad or style and while I would not qualify for a candidate on “what not to wear,” I did know that style was not my strong suite. “Knowing your limitations” is good advice, but not the secret.

Later he had me take over the service manager position in one of his branches which came with a company car and credit card. This was before the tax laws changed. He told me to use the car as I wished and if I took it on vacation to at least “pay for some of the gas myself.” He took me over to the office which was a good drive from the Dallas office. He regaled me with stories of advertisement and marketing. He told me the story of the sign with the waterfall on it by downtown Dallas. Back then it was a Pearl Beer sign. This man was pretty close to deaf. He was from Georgia and his accent was still very thick. It turns out that he was a tank commander in WWII. He told me that the secret to survival is to “surround yourself with smart people.” That not only applies to war, but business and oh yes, life in general. If you want to be successful, surround yourself with people smarter than yourself and learn to humble yourself. It is only by this step of humbling yourself will you realize the advantage of being around these people. I have never forgotten this and to this day I still practice this.

I offer this advice to all IT people in that “you are not the end all be all.” You cannot know it all even though you think that you do. We become focused on what interest us and then the rest of technology passes us by. Learn to control your ego for it is your enemy. No doubt you have heard the phrase “you are your own worst enemy.” Think of the truth of this statement and then marry it, own it and then change it. When someone starts talking to you about something which you think you know about and you feel that “anxiousness” start to well up inside, recognize this for what it is, you’re undoing. Squelch the feeling, take a deep breath and listen to what this person has to say. It may be worthy of hearing or it may be total crap. Before long this will be habit and you will have trained your ego to stand down.

One of the first steps in the DR process is an AUDIT. In order to prepare for a disaster one has to know what one has. This is done by an audit of the technology, how it is configured and of course managed. We look at policies and procedures and just really get into your business in a big way. The more you work with us the more you will get out of it. Conversely the more truculent or evasive that your staff is, the more it will cost. This is a “by the hour” service and time is money.

Audits are never fun but necessary, in that no one is perfect. Audits uncover the “dirt” so to speak and no one wants to acknowledge that they have dirt. Nobody wants to look bad so they are either un-helpful or become very defensive and blame the guy before them and so forth. No one in their right mind would welcome an IRS audit because of this. You know that you are playing by the rules but the rules are thousands of pages long. What if? Individuals should budget for an accountant for this reason. Companies should have more than one accountant “even if it is a small company” in that they can check one another. (another story for another blog)

While IT audits wont land you in front of a judge, it could have an effect on the bottom line in that deficiencies could be uncovered which could end up in with un-budgeted expenditures. Having an up to date DR and BC plan will not only prevent this but, will keep your IT department on their toes and up to date. A fresh set of eyes looking at how things are done contrasted against your business processes and needs, often bear fruit in that there may be a better way to do things. Personally I subscribe to “best practice” methodologies and policies.

Some companies don’t take IT seriously and look at it only as a necessary evil. An attitude which must be changed as IT is much more than a necessary Evil. IT is a resource which ties the entire company together. This department is the glue that binds most departments together as well as the interface between the customer and the company. In looking at the want ads occasionally one might notice ads for IT people with the following “PC Wizard” needed. Really? Does this person come from over the rainbow? The simple facts are that some HR people are totally bereft of any ability to interview for this position and the company as a whole does not take the department very seriously. I would liken this to the “audio visual club” at school. Know this all you who mock them, the nerds will inherit the earth. I digress..

If you really look at the way that your technical infrastructure touches every person in your company and your customers; your attitude on this matter might change.

During the process of a disaster recovery plan, this becomes very clear in that one of the pieces of this plan is a Business Impact analysis. It is during this process that the lights turn on in the CEO’s, or CFO’s head. I have heard the question posed to the CIO or CFO on many occasions “why hasn’t anyone told me this?” The simple facts are that the CEO’s job is to run the company, not the IT department. He or she depends upon the CIO to look out for the company on all things IT and a DR plan is simply one small part of it.

Simple programs like asset management and S.A.M. “software asset management” are not only not in play, but not even thought of. How can one budget for new stuff if one has no clue what one will need down the road? A complete Asset management program should be SOP in any company. This program accounts for hardware from the cradle to grave.

The same is true regarding software. Often time’s, companies pay way too much for software as it is installed by policy on computers with users who will never use it. Users may bring in their own software and install it, leaving a liability for the company to contend with should there be a software audit and it is done by the SBA.

While there are no good surprises in business there are certainly no good surprises after an event has been suffered by a company. A fire in the data center could take the entire company out of the marketplace for good.

Fire caused by poor cable management practices.

Human error accounts for a large percentage of the events which caused companies to fail. Doing a root cause analysis on failed companies who suffered a disaster you find that they did not value such a thing as “it will never happen to me.” You don’t have to suffer a Sandy or Katrina type event to bring your business to its knees. A simple mistake from some employee, working for a company without a business continuity or disaster recovery plan can ruin your day, if not your career.

It is at this time many companies wish that they had spent the money on such a plan. Too Late… If you fail to plan you plan to fail.

You can purchase insurance which will assist with the closing of the company but, that is not the way to go out of business, with a whimper, because you failed to plan.

Updated documentation of your infrastructure otherwise known as a “living document,” should also be SOP. IT folk absolutely do not like documentation, more specifically creating it. There are many schools of thought on this reason, but I suspect that laziness along with a “need” to have proprietary information so they are not expendable weighs somewhere in their decision. If the latter is your reason for not doing what is right for the company you need to re-examine your life.

If you are taking the paycheck you owe your employer the best that you can offer. If you managers feel like you have people in your department who are not expendable you need to address this post haste! One rule of preventing a disaster is avoiding single points of failure; and that means people as well.

Part of disaster recovery is averting disasters to begin with! Through solid best practices in policies and procedures, a large percentage of disasters can be negated.

One last topic on the subject that comes up from time to time. “Do I have a legal obligation to have a DR/BC plan?

The answer is not as clear cut as one would like. The interesting thing however from a legal perspective is that there is legal precedence whereby companies were held liable for failing to provide a more error tolerant system. They in fact were found to be negligent and case law purports to award large sums of cash to the plaintiff. These cases not only hold the owners of the company negligent but any and all officers of the company are liable. Think carefully about that promotion and VP title.

While companies are apathetic towards spending the money on such a plan, doing so is not only moral, it is strategic and most likely a legal obligation. As Billions of dollars are spent annually on technology to maintain a competitive edge “standards of care” and due diligence are required of all corporations both public and private. Not having such a plan violates the fiduciary standard of care.

-Best to you!

staylor@guard-protect.com

www.guard-protect.com

Trust Me

It never ceases to amaze me how people will blindly trust “in this case” the government.

People continue to surrender their rights to privacy in exchange for safety. How safe are you?

Here is an article I found most disturbing. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/us/14explorers.html?_r=1&

These are kids playing soldier. Does this not look eerily reminiscent of this?

The government has deals with cell phone providers to get anything that they want detailing your account and activity. My guess would be that they can also tell what you watch on TV and where you have been on the Internet, all without a warrant.

Bush opened this can of worms and Obama is just capitalizing on it. Do you know that once you surrender your rights that you will never get them back? Again, looking at history; it will take a war with our young men and women fighting each other to bring about some sort of government that is not so “corrupt” if we don’t start now. It will be that or the word “free” will have a whole new meaning. With each new law you loose some freedoms.

We learn that they have supercomputers which break your passwords and security algorithms (most probably using brute force) and that too is done without oversight from a governing body.

In months to come your complete medical history will be available online. That includes notes about your confidential conversations with your mental health provider. If you are prescribed any type of medicine for anything, big brother will know about it and most likely profile you in some sort of slot.

It would seem to me that they should tie this profile to a unique number. There would be no names in it that could identify the person to whom the medical information belonged. Until you provide them a number either by telling it to them or producing a card with it on it would they have access to it. I realize that it will take hundreds of thinkers in several states and committee meeting after committee meeting to think the process through and come up with this idea but, you can have it for free; and save the tax payers billions while you try to come up with it. Oh, and use a hexadecimal numbering scheme so you have lots of numbers.

We have many companies out there providing backup services to companies and individuals via “The Cloud.” Now how much would you care to wager that the same cloud that houses your encrypted data also provides a shadow over a less than honorable sector of our government? “all in the name of safety of course.”

Their reasons for originally doing this may seem honorable but with absolute power comes absolute corruption. If you doubt this, try reading some history. It happens to be rife with such events although the internet was not invented then..

We in fact are following cyclical history and we don’t ever seem to learn from it.

Like the frog in the boiling water, we just never saw it coming…

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Rant for the summer…Enjoy

I have not written in a while. I have received multiple e-mails asking me about it.. So, here is my most recent rant… Hope you enjoy it or at least it gives you something to talk about with others.

With the upcoming elections in 2014 the spin is in full swing in the media. Create a schism or perceived schism between anyone and everyone is the end goal. They must have Americans divided on all issues so they, the democrats can make the conservative groups look like the bad guy in some form or fashion. Instead of looking for things that we have in common and building a relationship on those things they seek to divide everyone. That in and of itself is a travesty of everything that America stands for. To promote hate and discontent among Americans is well, Un-American!

Hollywood is complicit as well. When you are a “celebrity” you have a responsibility to watch what you say. To guard what you say as truth and not to put forth an agenda for political parties. Too many times we see celebrities “actors” acting as if they know something. They don’t and if you listen to them you will see that they are speaking to people who don’t read, don’t care but recognize them and if they say what to do, they do it.

This week CNN released two articles; one pitting blacks against whites and one pitting rich against poor. The articles were pure opinion and crap! Simply not true but, some people will read them and agree with this “writer.”

Somewhere women’s rights issues will rise back up and it wont be about killing 5 month old babies but somehow giving women some perceived right to not be inconvenienced with a child! What did Obama say, “I would not want my child to be “punished” with having a baby that she did not want.” He talks about pregnancy as if it is a disease like measles. Teach your daughters about safe sex Mr. President. Teach them that there are consequences to your actions. Sometimes those result in an unexpected pregnancy and sometimes, in some sort of STD or worse. When you say things like this your “character or lack thereof, is showing.”

We as a nation have drifted away from the simple fact that our actions have consequences. We are in fact held accountable for them, and should be. We as a people especially mothers protect their young from any and all harm. It is instinctual. Is there a safer place for a child than in its mother’s womb? What kind of people have we become that we would allow some “person” to suck the brains out of our 5 month old child crushing its skull and then rip it out of the womb because we are too busy to be bothered with a child? Those actions bespeak of a monster; both the person who would allow it and the “person” who would profit by doing it.

The ends do not justify the means. To further divide this country, manipulating everyone in the process is nothing less than evil. They cannot run on morals as they have none. They cannot run on character because theirs is corrupt beyond hope. So, they paint the republicans “or the other guy” as the bad guys.

A large majority will not pay any attention to the facts. They will in fact take the bait that celebrities, news outlets and others are spewing out to divide the country on any lines that they can. We have a complicit news media that I cannot figure out for the life of me why? Why are they in bed with this administration? What happened to journalistic integrity? What happened to reporting things objectively, as they are? Today you really have no idea if the news is actual news or some fantasy that is made up to sell subscriptions, or air time, or simply to pander to the current regime in order to get one on one interviews in the oval office, or possibly first question in the morning press meetings.

The political system today is a complete farce. We have law makers who make laws for us that don’t pertain to them. We have law makers that use your money to make money for them selves by manipulating public companies and practicing insider trading. They do this so they can live in opulence, while you and I barely scrape by. We have an administration that is crippling 50% of the country by not teaching them to fish. (Metaphor) We have an administration that wants to corrupt the voting process, so people of ill-repute can vote multiple times. They cannot win in a fair contest so they manipulate the votes, use the IRS to screw conservative groups, and who knows what other evil lurks. What other Chicago politics are under the surface?

We have people who call you a racist if you don’t agree with, and step in line with the thinking of the current administration. If “Stupid” is a race Mr. President; than I am proud to be a racist! We are being held hostage by those that scream political correctness at every opportunity! Screw that! We need to call it what it is and not sugar coat it so someone who has done some real stupid things doesn’t get their feelings hurt!

Every day we read in the news of corruptions within our government, corruptions that got Nixon impeached, today are child’s play. Where are the checks and balances?

Every issue turns into a political football. The game that they play is true brinksmanship, at its best. The result of their posturing and actions could very well put Americans at risk not only in this country but abroad.

We really have some dangerous, serious issues today and we should be focusing on dealing with them instead of winning yet another election. There are laws that need to be changed and they should start with restricting the power of the government. They have obviously forgotten that they work for us.

Certifications a good idea or bad?

Is the person with the most certifications the best hire? Maybe yes, maybe no.

The history of the certification for IT really started with Novell. Novell used to charge computer manufacturers to “certify” that their equipment was compatible with their software. This was no inexpensive proposition. Somewhere around the release of V2.15 there was the invention of the CNE or Certified Netware Administrator.

Back at this time this was no easy certification to obtain. Proficiency in hardware, DOS, NetWare, Networking equipment and topologies, datagram’s, IPX XPS, NetBIOS and the list went on.

As the certification idea took off, adaptive test were created. If the test found a weakness, it would give you more questions around that weakness which may very well be your doom. These tests were not inexpensive. The study material was not cheap and when you boiled it all down, unless you are really good at taking test; you had to have the experience and knowledge the back it up.

So in theory this was a good idea and should have given employers an excellent way to gauge someone’s level of expertise.

What changed?

It is human nature to cheat. I am beginning to think that making ones way through college was in part, how good you were at gaming the system.

This is true of the certifications today for the most part. There are too many websites and groups dedicated to giving out information to the applicant, that we really have no idea how much the person knows. That is why it is paramount that you, the hiring manager know the technology and not just look at his or her pedigree.

We don’t like to take test and I appreciate that. As a professional I want to know that I know the material. Would you want your doctor or Pilot to “game the system?” Why would we hold them to a higher standard; other than the obvious of the life and death thing?

Do we not put the company at risk if we are not qualified? The people that you hire absolutely can make bad decisions and as one who sells disaster recovery, that is one of the things to consider, “an oops.” I have seen this happen more times than I would like to say and it is never pretty. (No, it never happened on my watch.)

After my company hired a person on their credentials alone, I soon learned that you had better know more or at least as much about the subject as that person who you are looking to hire. The person was a paper certified pro meaning he could take test, not actually do it.

I look for someone with a good track record in the field that they want to pursue, a solid work history and lastly I consider their certifications. I need to know if they can do the job and not just take a test. I also check their references and backgrounds if they make it past the first few hurdles.

Technology is an extremely liquid entity. The books and materials that you buy today may not be salient tomorrow. Spending thousands of dollars on classes, books and test is only good for such a short time, before you have to hit the books again.

Your “technologist” the CIO in most cases should understand technology better than anyone else in the company. He or She should have a very in depth background and not only understand the nuts and bolts of things but, should possess enough business acumen to know what products or services are relevant for their company; and those that would have a poor ROI or high TCO not to mention poor application.

All purchases and changes to the architecture should make sense. Anyone that you hire to administer that equipment should not only grasp the equipment or technology, but also the company’s vision.

In short, I am not given to looking solely at certifications. Can they do the job and how did they do it before? Were they successful? Are they willing to go to classes if the job requires it?

The trick to committing to obtaining a certification is to determine the viability of the company or product, and if that product will take off or die on the vine? That is the rub in that I have seen technology come and go. Xerox had the best of the best, 30 years ago and had their marketing been better, and they not try to recover their total development cost with the first few sales, Bill gates might still be working out of his garage.

Xerox had the GUI and the Mouse before Steve and Bill. That is another story.

If you are looking to the information technology field as a career I can tell you from experience that the length of your job at that company will only take you until you have maxed out on the salary that they want to pay; or they find a way to outsource what you do. There are fewer and fewer indispensible employees any more as most CEO’s or owners have figured out that everyone should be replaceable. If you are one of the people who have stayed in one place for a long time you are either underpaid, or the company does not have the guts to replace you with a less expensive alternative. Keep doing what you are doing as it is working for you and for the boss, get real; nobody is indispensable.

It is therefore paramount for you the job seeker to keep your resume up and current, analyze trends in the market to see what company is doing what, and who is using them. Most of us will get into the rhythm of our jobs and get comfortable. This can no longer be the case, as very few companies have any loyalty to their employee’s . Employee should empower themselves to become even more marketable. Accomplishments are a great thing to put on your CV especially projects with dollar figures or some other quantifiable metric. “saved the company $13 million dollars a year by changing the way that they did business.”

It is up to you the worker to maintain your marketability through skills, career choices, education and even personal appearance plays a role. I cringe when I see these young people today with piercings and tattoos. I personally see this as not a real bright decision and a possible impediment to getting a good job as I know that most serious business people feel the same way. You now will have to go with some young company that is really out there like Google or Microsoft or, find a way to cover up your decisions… I don’t mean to sound critical but, it is a shame that youth is wasted on the young.

These are pearls from me to you…

-Best to you and those that you care about!

Dot Zero

After 30 odd years of being in the field of Information Technology; one might have guessed that I had picked up a thing or two.

When a project does not go as planned something called a root cause analysis needs to be performed. Basically why did the project fail? Was it poorly planned, poorly funded, poorly thought out, were the deliverable s too much or too little?

There are a host of things that should be considered before embarking on any project. One really needs to play the “what if” game. We are not striving for analysis to paralysis here but, we do need to know that everything is well thought out and a fallback plan is in place.

Is the project necessary?

What are the driving factors for the project?

What are the deliverables?

What will the TCO (total cost of ownership) be?

What is the (Return on investment), ROI?

How long to implement?

What impediments to business will the project cause, if any?

Are those impediments accounted for with workarounds?

What are the risk?

Are the milestones clearly defined and; expectations set with all members of the project?

Are the tasks clearly defined and assigned?

Is there a test plan to determine feasibility as well as to determine a baseline?

Is adequate documentation of the project occurring?

Are key players involved through a process like a change control committee?

Will training be necessary and if so; has that documentation been planned for and prepped?

If tweaking was necessary, what was it and why?

Did the project perform as expected, if not why not?

Did the project come in at or under budget? If not why not?

Some manager’s think that upgrading to the newest latest greatest is the thing to do and press on. I for one, have learned never be on the bleeding edge of technology. I always wait until a service pack has been released, especially if Microsoft is any part of the equation. Never load Rev.0 into a production environment, unless you really don’t like your job or company as you will most certainly have to explain why as it most likely will fail. As the sysadmin you really have to be able to tell your manager “no,” and back it up with sound logic and reasons. Some will ask for the .0 not realizing the inherent dangers that go along with that. You will be the one with the arrows in your back from the users, and the owners / manager and CEO. They wont see the software bugs as the issue, they most likely will blame you and or your staff, or anyone that had their hands in it.

The hallmark of a PM is to be able to communicate every aspect of the project with everyone involved. To be able to manage their resources in such a way as to not have any wasted dollars or time. The project should be on track and on budget at each and every milestone. Having a good Gantt chart, or at the very least a good plan of the project in excel will help to keep you from getting off track. There are no good surprises in business and hardly ever any good surprises with projects!

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Ego and Widgets

I have never met anyone that was puffed up by their ego that could be objective about anything. When we get a case of the “by gods” we loose ourselves to anger, arrogance, and objectivity.

Seeking that which would validate your opinion vs. looking for the truth; no matter what it is, is by nature our folly. We are so prejudiced by our “feelings” to the point of severing ties with people that we care about who happen to see things differently. We will go so far as to sever relations with those who think differently than us, because of pride.

There is strength in diversity. A bunch of like minded people will convince each other that they are correct and everyone else is a fool. We see this all over the globe in all sorts of situations. Once we make up our minds about something, we for the most part stop looking for the truth and will vehemently fight for our particular slant on the facts. When facts are provided that would disprove our opinion we tend to argue the validity of the facts and even question things like the scientific method.

The early church did this with Galileo. They believed that the sun revolved around the earth and the earth was the center of everything. As the early church was the de-facto authority for any questions about any subject; anyone who dared to disagree with them may very well face the noose or the sword. They were the government, the school and of course the one and only way to heaven. Very prideful people which reminds me of a story…

There was this fellow that built a business. He built it by the sweat of his brow, constantly honing it, making gentle course correction to achieve optimal penetration into his particular niche.

A lot of the employees were either impressed by him or alienated by his sometime brute force approach to problems. When the business became too much for one person to manage it was decided to bring in an assistant. The board members (people who provided the seed money) insisted as they were looking out for their investment.

For a while things were rocking along nicely until the two disagreed over policy or procedure. One person being stogy, and rigid, and self righteous; while the other person wanting to try something new or different. Words were said that should not have been said and the lot was cast when forgiveness was not asked for or offered until it was too late. These facts were not told to the employees but they all knew something was up, as one of them would be gone for long stretches at a time. The product was not as radiant as it once was, and the customers were really not getting what they were paying for; as the quality was lacking. The machine in fact was broken because of arrogance and pride.

The Board of directors, keeping up with the P&L, took stock of these numbers and were very much concerned that their investment was going down the tubes. Having absolute power over the main players, they decided to get rid of both of the managers, as neither one was capable of getting past the events that had transpired. While they were there; neither one was doing their jobs with any alacrity, so they were handed their hats and asked to leave.

The value of the stock was slipping and the competition was picking up new customers as people are not only apathetic but fickle. We are quick to judge and form an opinion and then act on it, with virtually no facts, no truth, just hearsay.

One of the leaders started over again, and the other just simply left as he knew that his actions had damaged the company, their product and the satisfaction and trust of the customers.

The Board of directors looked long and hard to replace the leaders but the niche market for these widgets is narrow and hard to find qualified people who understand this particular widget and all of the intricacies that go with it.

In the meantime the employees picked sides and when the leaders were let go, many went and looked for other employment with other companies as they did not trust the board of directors or agree with their actions. Some stayed however as they were not there for the leaders, but the product, and how much the customers needed and enjoyed the product. They were of course saddened to see the managers leave but the true focus of the company was not on the men that started it; but the widget!

In time the company got production going again. They hired new employees and found new customers to buy the product. Some of the old employees were unhappy with this and sent terrible hurtful letters to those that stayed, because those that stayed were not willing to strike and walkout like they were. The people that stayed were looked upon as “scabs” or strikebreakers. The employees that left were truly angered by those that crossed the picket line as their battle should be everyone’s call to action (or so they thought). Those who crossed the picket line cared for the greater good, the customer and the survival of the company. They did not want to see another Hostess episode after all.

The widget factory survived because the majority of the people trusted the board of directors and knew that the widgets must be made and sent out on time.

The employees that left still had bitter feelings toward the company and those people that stayed behind, relations were severed. I think that they even took a dislike to the widget which they once were very fond of. When they saw one another in the street, they snubbed their once fellow co-worker. Had they trusted in the “board of directors” and not given their allegiance and “faith” to a single human being, the widget factory would never have experienced this loss of production, hence lack of profit and the customers would not have had to go look for widgets of unknown quality elsewhere, and relationships that were built over years and years would not have been destroyed.

When ones ego gets too inflated, it pops. When it blows up, there is lots of collateral damage, innocent people get hurt. When you use the nuclear option to settle an argument with your neighbor, you may very well take out the entire city.

Your perception of the facts may be inaccurate. You were not there when the original “event” went down, so you really don’t have anything but conjecture and hear say to act upon. For some that is enough. Before you kill off Little Debbie by your willingness to act on few facts, please keep in mind that like Hostess, that company has been around for years and has graced the lunch box of many children for generations. What would the world be like without Little Debbie, or the Widget?

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Man of Steel

This film did not disappoint. The effects were great, best seen in 3D.

Amy Adams is always a thrill to watch, talented young lady. It was also a treat to see Kevin Costner. I am glad that they found a way to bring Russell Crowe into the movie on several occasions.

The plot was predictable and really no big surprises. Special effects and cast make this movie worth seeing. Special kudos to the writer with the sense of humor, regarding the sign with number of days without an accident.

I give this movie a thumbs up, if you like lots of action this movie is for you.

The World Today

As a hiring manager for the best part of the 90’s and well into the 2000’s I could not help but notice a difference in the candidates that would walk through my door.

I would put on a suit and tie, make sure that my shoes were polished as well as the rest of the personal hygiene in check if I were interviewing. I was surprised by those who did not. If they did not respect me or the company enough to try and look respectable, what would they look like and or act like if I were to hire them. There is this whole etiquette thing involved in obtaining a job, and it starts with how you look. You only have one chance to make a first impression.

With Mom and Dad both having to work to make ends meet, generation “Y” was most likely raised by “Big Bird,” or an older brother or sister, or possibly some retired family member. The TV with hundreds of channels made a great baby sitter; and then there was the “game boy.” This generation is addicted to “screens.” While I appreciate “screens” as well, I also enjoy a good book, a walk in the park, watching the ocean, talking with friends and family on the front porch and going to a baseball game. There is nothing wrong with FaceBook or World of Warcraft, it is simply a matter of balance and not a way of life, or substitute thereof.

While negative attention is better than no attention, I suspect that many who pushed the envelope did so for attention. “Look Ma, I am doing drugs! Don’t you care enough to even slow down to talk to me?” From drugs they may turn to self-injury, or getting some sort of tattoo, or some of this wonderful body jewelry “through their nose.”

They in fact must have never heard the words “self effacement.” “I suspect that Hubris has taken the place Humility.”

We have shows on TV glorifying “INK.” We have celebrities who have more ink than skin. Our kid’s role models are broken people. When your kids look up to “broken people” where do you think that will lead them? Your kids should be looking up to you, not Madonna!

It is my opinion that many are drawn to “ink” and alike purely for the sake of attention. If they cannot get the good attention they need at home; mutilating ones body will certainly draw a crowd at school, the mall, and of course with siblings. And it most certainly will draw that negative attention from your guardians or other authoritarian figures…

There is another school of thought; these folks are insecure and again “ink,” mutilate, or act out audaciously, in an effort to get people to leave them alone as “they are bad.”

I also think that there is a subset that does it, purely to spite their family or friends and peers either at work or school or what have you. These are the folks that are so insecure that they are giving their-selves a rhinectomy. “I will show you, I will cut off my nose!” In the end they are only really hurting themselves currently and in the future as well as some of these things are really quite permanent!

Once these folks are disfigured, they drastically limit their options for employment and possibly a choice in friends and or spouse. If you present yourself for employment with visible body jewelry that is “out of the norm” there is a high probability that your “resume” will be trashed the second you hit the door.

I would guess that the same could be said for over the top tattoos. My thinking and I am certain most hiring managers thinking would be, if they make these types of decisions for themselves, what kinds of decisions are they going to make for me?

Unless your aspirations for employment are to work your way up to busboy, or maybe become a tattoo artist, I would strongly suggest keeping the ink under cover; at least from 8 to 5.

There is a group which I have not mentioned that may very well be so artistic that they want this “Art” on them to wear into perpetuity. The problem with that my pet, is simply this; as we age we loose collagen. Our young looking skin gets wrinkled and becomes thinner and pretty soon the artwork looks like a used painter’s pallet, instead of the masterpiece that you paid for. Think about it this way, do you own an outfit that you would wear everyday, day in day out for the rest of your life? I know of no clothing that I would want to wear everyday, and night; forever!

If you make bad decisions with permanent outcomes in your youth; those will have an effect on you as you mature. Some if these decisions lead to depression, and eventual suicide as they cannot live with what they have done, and the guilt overcomes them. Addictions often end in self destruction as they practice the addiction and then deal with the guilt for what they have done. To get rid of the guilt they do more of the addiction and spiral downward; until they either become outcast and wake up in the gutter or decide to end it all. Very few “see the light” and decide to choose not to do what they have been doing. Society tends to let these folks slip away which is probably normal programming.

If one were to follow the lives of the “rich and famous” they would quickly discern that with their lifestyle comes a price. When these people admit that they have been strung out on recreational chemistry, why are they not investigated criminally? Dealers are so bold that they don’t even try to keep their deals under cover. I was at the gas station the other day. In the next lane there were two people in a car, motor running taking up one of the spots to purchase gas. Before I finished a women pulled up behind them, got out and fussed at them for making here come “all the way over here.” They transacted their business and then both were soon gone their separate ways. I would imagine that the rich and famous get delivery, much like the Pizza guy delivers food and they don’t have to go to the gas station.

This culture is invasive to our way of life. Along with all of the other trappings that seem to come with this entitled generation, recreational chemistry seems to be one of the trimmings that not only effect the rich and famous, but the not so rich and famous.

All addictions are chemical. What many fail to realize is that all addictions are chemical in nature. When we smoke or drink, chemicals are released in the brain which we find appealing. Recreational chemistry is not only externally chemically induced but also causes a release of chemistry in the brain so in fact, one might get a double dose of “feel good” chemistry. I suspect that is why Cocaine is so addictive. Pornography can be a chemical addiction just like chocolate or food. If whatever you enjoy releases these chemicals, you can become addicted to it, and not know why or even know that you are. One of the most common addictions is adrenalin. We have rides at amusement parks which cause the release of this chemical as well as speeding or racing a friend, to even fighting in school. If we were to really study the kleptomaniac, we might learn that is a chemical addiction as well and we might treat the condition differently than simply locking them up. Other criminal endeavors like car jacking or what have you, may not only serve the purpose of obtaining money; but the perpetrator might very well enjoy the high from the release of adrenalin. I suspect that many of the “crimes” that people do today like flashing, or being a peeping tom, or simply being an exhibitionist, might very well be because of the release of some hormone or endorphin.

My guess would be that the BDSM community would also fall into this category.

Criminals are not the only people to enjoy this “high,” as I suspect firefighters, policemen, fighter pilots or even bull fighters might very well do this, because they are adrenalin junkies, and may not even know it. If you have ever listened to the police scanner when there is a chase going on or perhaps the firefighters when they are fighting a fire, you can hear it in their voice.

If I were to guess why middle school is so tough, it would be that this is typically when (puberty) hormones are released in abundance and young people experience this and really don’t know what to do with it. Male dominance may break out (and be manifested as fights) as young men try to establish their place as the “alpha” male. Young ladies also have their chemistry issues and those manifest mostly as sniping, spreading rumors and trying to become the “queen B.” We are not so different from the animal kingdom and those that think that we are simply are fooling themselves, as they don’t like the idea of being related to “animals.”

Pain can be an addiction. Endorphins are released with pain so cutting, burning or other forms of self-injury could not only be a cry for attention, but also feeding an addiction.

Extreme forms of chemical release are also practiced by some but, usually not for long as it kills them. One form is autoerotic asphyxiation. David Carradine was most certainly the victim of such an act. I say victim because he was under the delusion that he could do this safely. There is no safe way to strangle one-self. I cannot imagine what drove him to do this but I suspect like all drugs, it takes more and more to achieve the same “high.”

There is a saying among the pilot community that states, “There are old pilots and bold pilots, however; there are no old bold pilots.” I suspect the same could be said with some exceptions for the “addicted among us.” When a pilot gets into trouble such as flying into a cloud bank without the proper training, he is taught to get on the radio and confess what has happened, so air traffic control can assist him back to clear air. Without proper training there is this condition called spatial disorientation. Basically your eyes and senses do not believe the instruments, and more often than not the pilot will fly the plane right into the ground or “auger in.” If you are reading this, and you happen to be addicted, get help before you too, auger in. There are few people, if anyone that can handle an addiction without eventual self destruction. We witness this daily with our celebrities as well as their deaths from overdoses etc. There is no “winning” with addictions.

The other issue with Generation Y that puzzled me is “sagging,” tell me what the hell satisfaction one gets by wearing their jeans down to their crotch, walking around with one hand holding them up so they don’t fall down the rest of the way? We all know where the trend started and somehow adopted and glorified by the hip-hop crowd but really, you think that we want to see your underwear? I watched a young man run across the street to catch his bus. He tripped over his pants that were falling down the rest of the way and did a face plant in the middle of the road in front of the bus that he was running to catch. Either this kid was trying to prove that Darwin was correct or he was trying to prove how stupid it actually is to do that. Does this trend bespeak of letting your peers know how cool you are or the rest of the world know how stupid you are? Had the bus driver had a little slower reaction time, those sagging pants would have cost that person their life. He quite literally would have been thrown-under-the-bus.

Like “ink” I think that “sagging” is just one more way of young people expressing their objection or rebellion to the main-stream mores of the day. Instead of getting an education and working to change the system to make it better, it is much easier and simpler to call people’s attention to you underwear. The trouble here is that most people will not see past how lame you look, and that will be as far as it will go. And ladies, we really don’t want to see your “wale tail” either.. Underwear is just that, clothing that stays under other clothing. It can be audacious as you like, but keep it your secret, “really…”

Our youth is mesmerized by shows like American Idol. Millions of people watch that show. How many do you think imagine them-selves doing it, winning the top spot? We have become so egocentric as a people, that narcissism seems to be a way of life. “I made it through school, now where is my corner office and how much are you going to give me to sit here and look pretty?” Not really exaggerating too much here.

You can decide to be one of the leaders of tomorrow, or live in the shadows of society; it really is your choice. Many will blame their circumstances on where they are in life, but if they were truthful with themselves, they would know and admit that their lot in life in most cases is their own doing.

There are too many rags to riches stories all through history. Look up how they did it and see if you cannot apply some of their techniques. Or, you can learn how to stay warm by using discarded newspapers as insulation; it really is up to you. If you are reading this; you have at your fingertips all of the information that you could ever need to do anything that you want to do. Any subject that has ever been invented is here. Knowledge is power, and while that cliche may seem tired, trust me it is more salient today than ever before.

Figure out where your talents lie, or what you are passionate about and than search through history and see how others that did what you want to do, managed to do it.

I would not have “win the lottery” as my retirement plan, I also would not put all of my eggs in the rock star basket, or country star, or movie star. The odds are very much against you.

Before you spend your hard earned money on ink, or permanent jewelry, you may want to think about the future just a little bit. The hiring manager will most probably not be sympathetic to facial jewelry or ink. There are millions of folks looking for employment. If you and another are equally qualified but the other person has adorned him or herself with accouterments, most likely you will get the job. Is that fare? Nope, life is not fare, get used to it and live with it. The system is what it is, either work to modify it by legal and moral means, or adjust your way of life into the system. Rebelling against it by wearing your pants around your ankles, or getting every inch of skin inked or pierced is your problem; and society will pass you by.

-Best to you and those that you care about.

Patriotism 101

Recently I attended a high school graduation. The person leading the pledge missed a couple of words here and there and the person leading the Texas pledge either froze up or simply did not know it.

The worste part of this is that the audience did not know it either (for the most part.)

So here are both, with an explanation of what the words mean.

“I pledge allegiance” (I promise to be true)

“to the flag” (to the symbol of our country)

“of the United States of America” (each state that has joined to make our country)

“and to the Republic” (a republic is a country where the people choose others to make laws for them — the government is “of, by and for” the people)

“for which it stands,” (the flag means the country)

“one nation” (a single country)

“under God,” (the people believe in a supreme being)

“indivisible,” (the country cannot be split into parts)

“with Liberty and Justice” (with freedom and fairness)

“for all.” (for each person in the country…you and me!)

The pledge says you are promising to be true to the United States of America!

“Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.”

-Best to you and those that you care about.