J.A.F.O.

Uggh...

2008-08-28T12:48:00.002-04:00

One of the things I really struggle with in my professional worlds is dealing with people's personalities and emotions. I tend to think that I can handle most other aspects of business fairly well. I've got good logic and organizational skills, and I do well at prioritizing tasks. But, perhaps it is the engineer in me that makes it hard for me to understand and fathom at times how emotions and personalities play into it.

The one that gets me the most is "it's not fair!" In my "for-profit" world, I have a unique skill set that I bring to the table. Among them is a good sense of working with customers directly, in a courteous and professional manner (something rare among engineers). Add in a lot of experience in my industry from both customer and manufacturer points of view, willingness to travel and work odd hours, and I think I am a valuable asset to my company. Senior management thinks so, too. But several of the other engineers in the company just don't understand. They think that since I am not sitting at the drafting board at 7:00 in the evening, that I'm not pulling my fair share of the load. Of course, these are some of the same folks who complain about everything and refuse to do anything to better themselves - but that's another topic for another day. I'm sorry, but life is not fair. There are plenty of folks that have different job responsibilities and perks than I do. Instead of complaining that I am not getting treated the same as them, I make sure that I am meeting my responsibilities and make the best of my own situation. So far, it's worked pretty darn well on my end. But the other engineers are increasingly making their sour-grapes voices heard, which makes me feel like I'm earning a bad repuation through no fault of my own. And I just don't know how to deal with it effectively.

The other thing that I can not deal with is stubborness. You know what I am talking about: you tell the same person the same thing day after day, week after week, and they refuse to "get it." I have a particular situation where, in this position, I have a view of the "big picture" of everything that is going on. This big picture, as it turns out (like most things), is comprised of a whole lot of smaller, unique parts. Each part has its own unique function, and together these parts make a well-oiled, successful machine. But one of these parts thinks they should be able to do what some of the other parts are doing, and that seriously upsets the apple cart. And, no matter how many times you tell this "part" what the goals and assignments are, this part continues to do its own thing and that of the others. And I just don't know how to deal with it effectively.

Maybe this is why I'm losing my hair...

This Isn't Good...

2008-08-19T20:29:00.002-04:00

It's happened again. I've managed to misplace some important paperwork, and now I can't find it.

This time around, I misplaced the notes I took at the last Atlanta Boxer Rescue Board meeting. I took notes back on the 7th. I placed them in my briefcase, and managed to see them all last week. I had every intention of writing up the meeting minutes this weekend, but that never came to be (too much other stuff going on). This morning, when it looked like I might have a free moment during the day to write the minutes, I dig into my briefcase only to find that the notes aren't there. So when I got home this evening, I looked in my ABR files. Nope - not there either. The notes from the ABR Fundraising meeting are there, but not the Board notes. I looked through every possible pile and place in the house I could remember possibly being in the past few days, and nothing.

Relatively speaking, this isn't the worst thing I've lost this year. That would be my brand-new passport. I got it in February and, like the minutes, put it in my briefcase. Then, I switched briefcases. A month or so later - no passport. I seem to recall in the back of my mind thinking something like, "I should put this someplace safe besides my briefcase," but I am yet to find what that "safer" place might have been. I actually fear that I placed the passport on a stack of newspapers, and then threw out the whole stack with the trash. So now I have to go and report that original passport missing and apply for a new one.

I can't believe I would have made the same mistake with the meeting notes.

All of this frustrates me to no end. I like to think I'm a pretty organized person (though my house is a disaster zone, I usually have a pretty good feel of what is in each pile). At work, I am ultra organized, almost to the point of being OCD/anal about everything. And I honestly can't remember losing things like this in past, especially so frequently. Of course, if I can't remember where I put the papers from a week ago, I probably can't remember much.

I sure hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

Saturday Afternoon

2008-08-16T17:17:00.000-04:00

After a very busy and hectic 2 weeks, it's nice to pause for a little
while. And what better way to do that than some barbecue pork and
Bluegrass? This is the scene at the Decatur BBQ & Bluegrass Festival.

Truckin' Answer

2008-08-10T15:38:00.002-04:00

Holy cow - not only did new blogger SuperDave answer my question correctly, he did it in less than 18 minutes! Welcome, SuperDave to the JAFO party, and thanks for commenting. I hope you'll find my entries interesting enough to stay reading. Just to recap, this strange object is called a Nacelle, and it is the housing for the generator and other equipment in a wind turbine. The large, round opening is where the bearings to support the propeller are mounted. Thanks to all of you who responded, too!

On The Border

2008-08-07T13:19:00.000-04:00

Stopped for a moment on the drive back from Montreal to Vermont.

Truckin' Trivia

2008-08-02T18:18:00.005-04:00

Over the years of driving around Atlanta, I have often encountered flat-bed tractor-trailers driving around Atlanta's I-285 Perimeter Highway carrying an interesting cargo. These pictures don't do it total justice:
At first, I thought they were shells for motor homes or RV's - complete with a roof hatch and A/C unit. But they are really oversized, about 12' wide. And the round opening on the end is like nothing I had ever seen on an RV. Usually, there are 2-3 of these units being transported, and they always come from the west side of town, across the top-end of the city, and north on I-85. They're always the same gray color. One other thought I had was that this was some sort of storage tank, laying on the trailer on its side. Nope. The A/C unit wouldn't make sense for that, and I finally got behind one and saw inside - there are shop lights mounted to the inside.

So - what is it? Anybody have any ideas?

I finally got my answer about a year ago, watching a show on Discovery Channel called "Really Big Things." Here's a hint - they are made for a product sold by General Electric (GE).

I'll give y'all some time to think it over and comment, and then I'll post the answer after I get back from my trip to Montreal this week.

Milestones

2008-07-22T13:15:00.004-04:00

So in the adventure of posting snippets from my trip to North Carolina last week, I surpassed the "100" mark in blog entries. Specifically, this entry is #103. Wow! I have certainly learned a lot about myself, my friends, and my world by keeping "blog entry" in the back of my mind. Of course, I probably "should" have hit 100 months ago, but, like everyone else, I've hit dry spots along the way. One thing I can certainly be thankful for with this blog is the "blog family" that it is / I am a part of. For those of you outside this circle, the BF is a group of us that are all linked to each other through our blogs here in Atlanta. Some of my closest friends started out as hyperlinks from someone else's blog. In fact, I'm in the habit these days of almost dropping the "blog" from the "blog family" and simply referring to them as my "Atlanta" family. Funny how life turns like that.

Another life turn started a few weeks ago, took a sharp left on Sunday, and is currently quite muddled in its resolution.

I have been a member of my church for almost 8 years. I started out working with some friends on their Habitat project, and eventually decided that I felt comfortable and called to become a member of this particular congregation. Over the years, a great portion of my life has been shaped by events at this church. I became a Youth advisor, which led to being a chaperon on their annual trips, which led to my large-group cooking adventures. I served as an elder, committee chair, and committee member. I was part of the search committee for a new Youth Pastor. Several times, I considered myself to be part of the inner church leadership. I met many great people, found great friends, and found out just how small my world is.

During the reign of "The Evil Empire", I fell away from my church. The Ex-Girlfriend was terrified that my friendships with people at my church might take my focus away from her. And she had other issues...with my church, too. Anyway, for about 8 months I was absent in all form from anything related to my church. One of the most fulfilling events after the breakup was returning to the congregation. I quickly (I thought) jumped back into my old role, even taking on a new role as part of a planning team for an evening contemporary worship service.

Here's where the turns started. A few weeks ago, I began to realize that I no longer have a peer group at my church. The few folks that are close to my age are married with kids, and focused on their families. Everyone else that had been part of that group has long since moved away or found other congregations to be a part of. And the age gap between me and the Youth has finally reached a point where I don't have a connection with them (heck, I'm the same age as some of their fathers!). On top of it all, I can not think of a single person in the congregation with whom I have any sort of friendship or connection outside of the church. All of this led me to start thinking about my role at this church, and whether or not I should think about moving to another church.

We've had some turmoil in the church staff lately which has not helped my thoughts and opinions. Unfortunately, some of the turmoil became personal with some of the folks, and they felt it necessary to, instead of exiting quietly, drag the remaining staff and leadership through the mud on their way out. It hasn't made thing easy. Especially since our Senior Pastor has been on sabbatical since May and not due back until mid-August.

While in NC last week, I came to the point that I would let things ride until the Pastor returned in August, following which I would plan to sit down with him and lay out what I just did above, hoping he might offer me some guidance or insight.

And then Sunday came. About 2:00 in the afternoon, I received my copy of a mass e-mail to the congregation from the Pastor. At first, I thought it might be a letter of healing to address the recent turmoil and ensure that we were still moving forward. Nope. This e-mail was instead his letter of resignation, announcing his intent to step down two weeks after he returns from sabbatical in order to answer a call at another church outside the metro area.

Wham!

Sunday evening, I went to a "board game" party with some friends. The host of the party is actually the Minister of Education (and unofficial Associate Pastor) at another church. A church where a majority of my friends and acquaintances are members. He and I started talking - he wanted to tap my brain about my experiences with the contemporary service and how it might help them as they think about starting their own contemporary service. Hrrmmm. Maybe this is the "sign" from above? Maybe it truly is time to move to another congregation, and this new contemporary service might just be the perfect platform for me to switch to a new church - one that I already have connections with - and jump right into service and leadership. It certainly does offer another element to my thoughts and opinions.

Just to be sure, I've sent off notes to my current Senior Pastor and the Youth Director expressing my concerns. I also plan to visit this new church in the next few weeks. Hopefully, between the anticipated replies from my current church, and the reaction at this new church, I might be able to discern a direction for my faith.

Strollin'

2008-07-15T22:06:00.001-04:00

I took some time this afternoon to wander through the main part of
Black Mountain. I grabbed some munchies at the bakery, visited a pet-
supply store (to get some neat Boxer stuff) and an antique store, and
wandered the aisles of an authentic general/hardware store.

Of course, the "small town" bliss only lasted a few hours, then it was
back to the house to cook dinner. So far this week, we've had burgers
and hot dogs, roasted chicken, and a "build your own" burrito bar. And
I just finished prepping 20 pounds of pork roast to become pulled-pork
barbecue tomorrow night. Thursday is spaghetti, and Friday is
leftovers. Yum!

Hope all is well on your end!

Load 'em Up!

2008-07-15T15:03:00.000-04:00

So do you wonder what it takes to feed 30 teenagers and 5 adults for a
week? How about $1000 worth of groceries from Sam's? Enough to fill an
Xterra!

But it works out to only $2.20 per person per meal - not bad!

Cheers!

View From The Top

2008-07-14T07:27:00.001-04:00

So here's what my first morning in Black Mountain, NC looks like. We had a lot of rain on Sunday, hence the fog and low clouds. But the forecast is for nice weather for the rest of the week, and the morning is certainly shaping up to be that way.

Hope you have a great week!

Random Thoughts

2008-06-22T21:03:00.003-04:00

All along the way this weekend, I collected some random quotes and had some random thoughts. There is no order to these, and the quotes have NOTHING to do with the thoughts. And for what it’s worth, remember that these quotes are totally out of context, so let your imagination run wild.

"I'd switch"

Today is my birthday. Although I didn’t do anything special today, I did manage to fill my weekend with some great time spent with amazing friends. I got off work a little early on Friday (after working very late Thursday night), and got together with several folks for dinner at Joe’s on Juniper, followed by a “concerts in the garden” performance at Atlanta Botanical Gardens featuring Shawn Colvin. Saturday, the TNT group got together at Don and Comella’s (Dianne’s parents) house on Lake Arrowhead for a great day together. In addition to boat rides, kayaking, swimming in the lake, playing Rock Band and Apples-to-Apples, laughing, chatting, and having a great time together, we also feasted on Don’s amazing smoked pork, Brunswick stew, spinach-and-artichoke dip, baked beans, and cauliflower salad for lunch, and grilled chicken, roasted veggies, green beans, and a salsa/salad for dinner. And dessert was a tower of cupcakes, topped of with a candle for my birthday. Awesome!

"....and it only has THREE bedrooms!"

I find it incredibly satisfying whenever I realize that I’ve helped create an environment where others around me are so comfortable that they feel like they can do or say whatever they want. For example, one of my cats, Itchy, has discovered what every good dog knows: NOTHING in this world beats a good tummy rub. “Big deal,” you say. But remember that cats are very, very skittish, and their stomachs are where they feel most vulnerable. So for him to roll over and let me rub his belly means he trusts me unconditionally. I’ve found the same thing when I’m around my friends. They are comfortable enough to “be themselves” around me, without fear of judgement or recourse.

"Eric's a big, burly guy."

I’m finding it harder and harder to let go and clear my mind. In the middle of the concert, my mind is racing a thousand miles an hour. What do I need to do in the morning? What is on the schedule for next week? How cool is that sculpture? How could I make one of those myself? How do we get more funding for Atlanta Boxer Rescue? Why does the City of Atlanta so badly want the Dogwood Festival out of Piedmont Park? When do I have time to come back and take pictures? Do I have enough money in my savings account to buy a new camera lens? And so on... I think a “brain purge” is on order soon.

"Talk to the fan"

My company is about to issue a policy prohibiting the use of cell phones and electronic devices while driving on company time, unless a hands-free unit is used. Hooray! Since I got my iPhone, I’ve been using a hands-free headset as often as I can. And I feel so much more comfortable with it. I really wish more companies would follow suit (and maybe a few state governments...). Have you noticed that just about anytime you see somebody interrupting the “flow” of traffic - either by driving too slow, cutting in at the last moment, making a wrong turn, etc. - that they are almost always talking on a cell phone? The situation is getting out of control!

"As a matter of fact, I'm having root canal that night."

I can’t believe the year is already half-way over. Seems like we just had winter and the beginning of the year. Whew. I had a mental “to do” list for some things I wanted to accomplish this year. I don’t think I’ve completed a single thing on that list. I’ve had some fantastic experiences, mind you, and I wouldn’t do it any differently if I had to do it over. I’m just amazed at how quick things have been moving lately.

"This weather certainly brings out the skimpy dresses"

I can’t begin to tell you how blessed I feel to have the friends around me that I do. There was a time, not too long ago, that I was really in the pits and in a bad situation. Among the casualties was the long-standing friendships that I had built up over the years. Thankfully, over the past year or so, I have been able to rebuild some of those old friendships and, more importantly, create some new friendships. Some of the new friendships are stronger and deeper than any that I had before, and I am eternally grateful for that. As much as I love my family and am thankful for them, geography keeps me from spending as much time with them as I want to. Thankfully, my friendships create a second family for me. Thank you!

"Isn't this how those horror movies always start out?"

Friday was one of those rare days where my old career came together with my current career. My old company, where I was a Senior Facility Engineer, is a customer of my new company, where I am a Senior Design Engineer. We have been working lately to grow our business within our existing customers, including my old company. Since I have a lot of experience and knowledge of this company, it made sense for me to be part of the team that was working on growing this business. On Friday, we had the chance to make a sales presentation to that company on one particular product line, and it was successful. Hopefully, that success will translate into sales.

"Chillax"

Atlanta Boxer Rescue is getting out of the starting blocks. On Friday, we began our insurance coverage, and on Saturday, we rescued our first Boxer! We have had some very generous folks make donations over the past week, including some of my friends and family (thank you!!!!). We still need more support, so if you feel so inclined, please go here to help. And thanks for listening to my public service announcement...

"This is along the lines of your 'chunky underwear'"

I hope all is well on your side of the screen. I know I haven’t been as diligent about posting and commenting as I have been in the past. I aim to get caught up here as soon as I can.

Ahhhh!

2008-06-18T14:37:00.002-04:00

Hey folks!

Sorry I haven't posted lately. In a gross understatement, let's just say I've been busy. The changes at work that I mentioned a few months ago have resulted (at my own personal direction) in me being much busier than before. That's a good thing, and I've managed to continue to steer my job description in a direction that I want. I don't know too many other people that can say that. And I've even gotten a few "work-from-home" days scattered in there, too. Throw in some travel to Boston and Pittsburgh to with all of that.

Of course, all of you that read this regularly have probably heard by now that Atlanta Boxer Rescue is now officially launched. We have had a good fundraising effort so far, but we need to continue to push. Unfortunately, we can not begin to rescue dogs until our insurance is in place, and we can't get insurance until we have some coins to pay for it. Any chance you can help?

Part of not posting to my blog also means I haven't commented on your blog, either. I'm sorry! Believe me, I have saved all of your new blog entries in my RSS feed, and at some point in the very near future, I'll read and comment on all of them.

Thanks for putting up with me. Talk to you soon!

Backstory: Heroes

2008-05-26T10:13:00.004-04:00

Today is Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor those folks who have given their lives for the protection of our country. I thought it would be an appropriate day then to give you the backstory of one of my favorite images:
My friends, Joe and Beth, live in Montgomery, New York. It's a small town up in the Hudson Valley, about an hour north of Manhattan. Every year, on the weekend after Labor Day, the town hosts 'General Montgomery Day' (GMD) to honor their founder. It's a great celebration full of all kinds of small-town events: soapbox derby, carnival rides, arts and crafts, and one of the best parades you could imagine! You see, in the Northeast, the public safety tradition runs strong and deep - generations of fathers and son (and daughters, too!) choose to serve their community as firefighters and police officers. And the parade is the perfect time to put on the Class A uniforms and show their stuff. Almost every firehouse has some sort of antique fire apparatus, and they polish it up and bring it out to the parade.

My first GMD parade was in 2001 - September 8th to be exact. I spent the weekend with Joe and Beth. Thoroughly enjoying myself, it was time to head back to Atlanta. So on September 10th, 2001, I boarded a flight from New York and returned to Atlanta. Of course, we all know where we were the next day. For the guys in the picture, they were quietly hanging out in their firehouse in one of the small towns around the Hudson Valley when the call came in to head to Manhattan and help their firefighter brothers and sisters. When it was all said and done, 343 brave souls lost their lives in the line of duty - many of whom came from the small-town departments.

Fast-forward one year, to September 9th, 2002. It's time again for another GMD parade. The mood is obviously more somber, though much more patriotic. Virtually every firehouse gets a standing ovation worthy of the honor. I tried in vain to capture as many images as I could with my digital camera. After getting back to Atlanta that year, I took some time to review what I captured. And I found these two guys. Dressed in the same call-out gear they wore into the Twin Towers, in scorching end-of-Summer heat, they proudly marched with their flag about 3 paces ahead of their firehouse. You see, they were the survivors of their house - everyone else was new with less than a year of service.

There's no doubt that the men and women of our Armed Forces deserve Memorial Day for all their sacrifice. The men and women of our domestic public safety - firefighters and police - deserve the day, too. So the next time you see a cop or a firefighter, thank them for all they do.

Happy Memorial Day.

Two NEW Words...

2008-05-26T10:12:00.001-04:00

1) Friends
2) Rock!

Two Words...

2008-05-21T07:07:00.001-04:00

1) Dating
2) sucks

Backstory: Eye of the Tiger

2008-05-08T15:36:00.007-04:00

When I started getting into all of the various social networks, such as Facebook, Meetup, Myspace, and so forth, I decided that my profile picture should be something unique. You might be familiar with the image I chose:

Although I have shared the story of this picture with some of you, lately I have had a couple more questions about it. So here is the story behind the picture.

Between 1998 and 2001, in addition to my full-time engineering job, I served as Resident Caretaker for Autrey Mill Nature Preserve in what is now John’s Creek, Georgia. I provided maintenance and handyman services for the facility, as well as security at night. I also helped out with logistics and set-up for special events.

One event in 1999, in particular, was called Wild Weekend. It was a national program aimed at showcasing nature preserves and animal reserves. One of the folks the helped organize Wild Weekend was also very active at Autrey Mill, and arranged for Autrey Mill to become the focal point of the Wild Weekend program. With that, we began preparing for a festival that would ultimately include presentations of numerous small wild animals. The presenter would be none other than Jim Fowler, of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom fame. He would show off animals such as snakes, bobcats, raccoons, and others provided by Chestatee Wildlife Sanctuary in Dawsonville, Georgia.

In preparation for the show on Saturday, I took Friday off to help with set-up. Just before lunch, we received a phone call from the trainer at Chestatee. He had been in the city that morning with his animals, helping Jim with some media appearances, and wanted to know if he could come by on Friday and drop his trailer for the night. Shortly after that, we got a second call letting us know that Jim and some of his associates would also come by to take a look at our set-up and begin preparing for Saturday’s show. About an hour later, the coordinator showed up with his trailer. He expressed concern that he needed to clean the compartment where the lion cubs were, and he inquired if we had a place we could secure the cubs. I suggested our Star Pond courtyard, which was fenced in. He turned the cubs loose, and we soon stopped our set-up work to watch the cubs play. They appeared to be hungry, so the coordinator put together some food for them. But instead of he taking the time to feed them (since he had to clean the trailer), he handed me the bottle and pushed me into the courtyard! I was a little worried at first, but he told me not to panic – the cubs were used to being around people and being bottle-fed. They knew what to do. The panic turned to joy and excitement:

After a while, Jim Fowler arrived with a couple of his press and media guys, as well as his son and daughter. They toured our facility, being impressed with what we were doing on such a limited budget. After some strategizing and planning for the Saturday show, Jim made a comment to the Chestatee coordinator about this being the perfect time to get the publicity shots done. The coordinator agreed, and they proceeded to lead out this HUGE Bengal tiger from the trailer! Not being one to pass up a prime “Kodak moment”, I raced inside and grabbed my camera. I was going to get my own “Jim Fowler publicity shot” even if they did not Jim and his folks took turns posing with the tiger while the media guy took their pictures. I stood off to the side, taking my own pictures. All of a sudden, the media guy turns around, grabs my camera, and tells me “it’s your turn!” And before I knew it, I had this tiger climbing all over me! What a total thrill! I ended up with two good shots that day, the second of which is:

And in addition to the tiger, we also posed with a full-size black bear. I can’t find that image at the moment, but I’ll look for it. This bear, when standing on his hind legs, was at least a foot taller than me!

It was truly a memorable experience. That night, the cubs, tiger, and bear stayed in the trailer, while the snakes found comfort in my living room (they were secured). And Saturday’s show went off without a hitch. Of course, when they brought out that Bengal tiger, all the folks there jumped back in fear at the sight of such a beast. If only they knew that just 24 hours prior, he was nothing more than a cuddly kitty-cat looking for a bottle!

P.S. As a side note, when I meet people at Meetup events and they want to know my contact information, I simply tell them that I’m the guy feeding the tiger – and they all instantly know who I am!

P.P.S. Look for more "Backstory" posts in the future. If it is a slow "news week" I'll write some more posts giving the history and background of some of my favorite pictures.

'cue Indulgence

2008-05-06T10:53:00.003-04:00

A few years ago, I found myself being a "regular" over at Williamson Brothers Barbecue. I had gotten to the point where I no longer ordered main platters or sandwiches, but rather made a meal from several appetizers. One of my favorites was 'Barbecue Nachos'. They took a bed of tortilla chips; covered them with sauce, pulled pork, and cheese; and baked the whole thing until it was gooey and bubbly. Yum! One time, I ordered a dish called 'Barbecue Bean Cheese Fries', which was their thick-cut steak fries covered with baked beans, barbecue sauce, and cheese. It was pretty forgettable. EXCEPT that it spawned a creative idea: could they put the pork and sauce and cheese from the nachos on top of the steak fries instead of chips??? Why, yes, they could! Woo AND hoo!!!

And so it became that, for the rest of the time I was a regular, I would order "off the menu" and get pork nachos on fries instead of chips. It was bliss...
One evening, at home with a mess of homemade barbecue, I thought I might recreate that personal dish for myself. Except that I didn't want to go shopping and all I had in the freezer was a bag of tater tots. Wait a minute - could this be higher bliss??? I baked off the 'tots according to the package, piled on the barbecue, drizzled some sauce, and covered the whole thing with cheese. Oh. My. Gawd! Such a simple concept, but, yet, such a wonderful result.
And so Monday evening rolls around, and I again find myself with a mess of homemade barbecue (leftover from the Blog Family birthday party on Saturday night). A quick run through the local mega-mart yields a bag of 'tots, and in a short time, I find myself with this:

It might look like something straight out of the White Trash cookbook, but I assure you that it is a taste sensation! And there are plenty of leftovers for another meal this week. Yay!

Thanks for the Meme-ories

2008-05-05T15:02:00.002-04:00

I’ve been tagged for a meme by Blogicalinks (and Sheeple, and Dianne,...). A meme consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. You've no doubt gotten e-mails where you fill in lists of information about yourself. That's one example.

Here are the rules for this one:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Since I'm doing this at work while taking a break, you unfortunately get subjected to one of my Engineering reference books. I will tell you that the first book I picked up (the closest to me), is titled Architectural Graphic Standards, but it didn't have enough sentences around page 123 to work. So my second book was Human Factors in Engineering and Design, and here's what it has to say:

When symbol displays might be used in various circumstances by the same people, the displays should be standardized with a given symbol always being associated with the same referent. One example of such standardization is the system of international road signs. A few examples are shown in Figure 4-19. The National Park Service also has a standardized set of symbols to represent various services and concepts such as picnic areas, bicycle trails, and playgrounds.

Are you sufficiently dazzled now? Regardless, if you've read this now, consider yourself tagged!

I Need Monday to Relax!

2008-04-27T21:55:00.003-04:00

What a great weekend!

After a roller-coaster ride of a week, I finished up with a very good workday on Friday. So on the way home, I treated myself to a pizza and some garlic rolls. Yum! Then I headed to the grocery store to buy some stuff for barbecue. A couple of my friends have birthdays coming up in May, and we decided to the Blog Family together for dinner. I offered up that I would cook some of my barbecue if someone else would host. Now, the party is not until next weekend, but Saturday was proving to be the best day to devote to the smoker. So I swung by the store Friday night and picked up a 6-pound pork loin and 10 pounds of chicken. Got home, and put a dry rub on the pork loin and made a wet marinade for the chicken.

I managed to get a good night's sleep Friday night, and got up bright and early. The pork went into the oven for an initial roasting, and I headed out to the cable company. I returned with a brand-new HD DVR for my cable system. If you aren't sure what a DVR is, think "TiVo." I can't wait to put it through its paces! Anyway, I got it connected just in time to fire up the smoker. A nice bed of coals and a mix of hickory and mesquite created the perfect home for the pork and chicken to spend 5 hours bathing in smoky goodness. While the smoker did its magic (with a lot of my personal attention), I worked on cleaning the kitchen, playing on the computer, cleaning out the inside of my car, and a few other chores. Once the smoker was done, it was time to do a little pullin'! The resulting mounds of pulled pork and pulled chicken were vacuum-packed and put in the freezer - to be enjoyed by my friends on Saturday!

Following another great night's sleep, I got up early for another adventure. I picked up my friends Donna and Karen and the three of us headed down to Vidalia (pronounced "vye-dale-yuh) Georgia for the annual Vidalia Onion Festival. Why in the heck would the 3 of us drive 3 hours to an Onion Festival??? Because the highlight of the festival is their air show, capped off every year by an aerial demonstration by the absolute best flight team in the world - the United States Navy Blue Angels! Of course, there was lots to see before the Angels took to the air. In fact, I managed to shoot 566 pictures throughout the day! Wow - a new personal record! Keep in mind, though, that I was using the motor drive on my camera and snapping away dozens of pictures as the planes flew by each time. So I have a lot to sort through to weed those 566 images down to the "best of the best." But to give you some idea of how the day was for us, I leave you with one of my best formation shots of the Angels on a fly-by:

I am SOOOOO loving my new lens!

Have a great week!

Pardon the Interruption

2008-04-22T17:30:00.003-04:00

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog programming, already in progress:
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...and there you have it - all of my secrets to easy, award-winning barbecue. I hope you give it a try!

Have a great week!

Better

2008-04-21T21:08:00.002-04:00

Today certainly turned out a lot differently than I expected when I woke up this morning. I don't get emotional challenges like this very often, so I think they tend to hit me like a ton of bricks. And as possibly incoherent as I think my ramblings were, writing the blog entry earlier today gave me direction to think. And I came to realize that it's not just one particular situation that has me frustrated. On several fronts, I have found that I have created these "fantasy" worlds in my mind of how I would like things to be - work, hobbies, DIY projects, relationships, etc. And the moment something doesn't fit into one of these fantasy molds, I get the hee-bee-gee-bees. Today, most of those things came together in a perfect storm. Situations at work, an instance with a friend, financial issues, and a few other things all wreaked havoc with me. Somehow, I've got to separate fantasy from reality, and be more realistic in my approach to the situations in front of me.

The biggest challenge for me right now is the lack of a romantic relationship. I have some amazing friendships that I am truly blessed with, but even these strong, loving friendships do not provide all the same elements as a romantic relationship. I don't know the right way to find that romantic relationship, but I'm confident it will come at some point.

I definitely have a better perspective on things this evening than I did this morning, so I guess that's good. Thanks for your thoughts and support.

Outside Looking In?

2008-04-21T13:57:00.002-04:00

You might recall a blog entry I had back in December in which I talked about the diversity in my life, and how I found myself typically the only person in the crowd of a specific type or character. Generally speaking, I embrace and celebrate this variety.
But that world sort of came crashing in on me today. Without getting into all the specifics, I became aware of a situation in which I was pretty much TOTALLY ignorant. And when I tried to "process the facts" as best as I knew how to, all I got was further and further confused (and isolated). And like a snowball so emphatically does in cartoon land, the emotions grew and grew and grew until I felt like I was standing in the middle of the desert, shouting "Hello? Hello? Anyone there?"
I started to take inventory of things going on around me, and it became increasingly apparent just how much I don't know, and how much goes on around me (by things and people who I have direct contact with) that seem to be isolated from me.
I've been bouncing through a HUGE range of emotions over the past few weeks. Situations with friends, work, health, and volunteer stuff have run the gamut from exciting to nervous to stressed to envious to longing to painful to confusing to hopeful to angered to disappointed to calm and collected to scared to frustrated.
Frustrated. That says a lot to me. I have in my mind an image of something very desirable. Something that seems so impossibly close to achieving, but yet in reality is probably as far away as anything else I can imagine. And I find myself totally confused as to how to deal with this 'thing.' When I do think about dealing with it, all those same emotions seem to come swarming back again.
So maybe that's it. Maybe my frustration manifested itself when I tried to process my ignorance. Maybe I read WAYYYY to much into everything surrounding the situation, and my mind raced forward with some illusion, dragging all of my emotions along for the torture.
And then it seemed to become evident that, despite the 'army' of friends, family, coworkers, and associates, I'm missing that "significant other" to share something with and to be needed by and to have on the "inside."
Who knows. I know that I should be thankful for all the bounty I've been blessed with. And I should be thankful for all that surrounds me. And I should accept present life for what it is and realize that it's very-most-likely not going to become what I think it will. And then either live with that acceptance, or move forward to change things. Easier said than done?
I don't know. What I do know is that this is probably a serious rambling of thoughts that probably doesn't make sense. And if I tried to give you all of the background that got me to this point, I'd probably get the award for the longest post in blog history - and alienate a few people along the way. So I'm just going to settle for this being a "don't worry about commenting" post that serves only as a way to vent some thoughts before I explode.

Epidemic - UPDATE

2008-04-18T22:11:00.002-04:00

I have mentioned before, if not specifically in a blog post but in e-mail and conversations, about things I come across in my RSS reader. For those of you not familiar with this, RSS is a system that allows you to subscribe to the regular updates that are posted to a particular website. These regular updates are called RSS feeds, and the most efficient way to read these feeds is with a reader, such as Google Reader. This allows me to categorize the feeds by topic (friend's blogs, news, gadgets, etc.) and read them at my convenience.

Anyway, in catching up on the headlines today, I noticed an image that just ABSOLUTELY ties into my "epidemic" post a few weeks ago about the strollers and lazy moms.

Now, I'm the first one to really want a Segway, though I haven't tried one yet. I'm convinced that my work at the Atlanta Dogwood Festival would be orders of magnitude better on a Segway...but that's just me. But this woman has GONE. TOO. FAR!

I imagine the next thing we'll see is a remote-controlled stroller so you can wheel the rugrat from point A to point B without getting off your lazy butt.

Hrmm....patent idea?

Failure to Communicate

2008-04-14T09:44:00.003-04:00

I heard about this on the radio this morning, and found the clip on YouTube. Unbelievable! Grown adults - elected officials - "model" citizens - acting like babies!

Good to see politics at work....

FYI - this is my first video embed, so I hope it works!

My Aching Back

2008-04-13T12:20:00.002-04:00

Ouch. That's the best word I can figure to describe the pain I've got. On Wednesday morning, as I was getting ready for work, I somehow twisted myself around and either pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in my back. The pain is mostly focused on the outside of my left shoulder and in a straight line across my shoulder blade to my spine/neck.
It hurts the most whenever I lie down, which makes sleep next to nearly impossible. I can't seem to find a position where I don't have a throbbing pain. I'm running less than 4 hours of sleep per night since then. Grrr.... That made for a very unproductive weekend, as I tried to catch up on my sleep when I can (and when the Aleve kicks in). And I had to back out of a Habitat workday and a church committee meeting.
I've tried stretches, ice packs, Ben-Gay, pressure-point massage, and more. And they all seem to work for all of about 5 minutes. Then the pain comes pouring back. Crud.
Dianne put me in touch with her chiropractor, and I have an appointment with him on Monday afternoon. I sure hope he can pop me back into place. I don't know that I can take much more of this.