The things everyone should be told about conferencing technology

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I’m preparing a presentation about conferencing. I’ve been doing it for a dozen years now, I ought to know something about it.

“They” say that managers spend 50% of their time in meetings. And every day I see meetings that are handled so badly. I would think, if I did something repeatedly and I knew I would keep doing it, I would want to get better at it.

Interestingly, there is not a lot of information about the subject. Me and my colleagues are constantly seeing ways our users could improve their experience. But nobody asks. I don’t see any books about it.

So…once i get my thoughts organized for this presentation, I may expand the topic and make a reference book. Perhaps there are some people out there WISHING they could get better at this thing, but no one is there to teach them.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

Ta dah!

7:25 and all’s well

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Tonight I plan to finish my book Liberal Fascism. It’s a very good book, and I highly recommend it.

But it is sooooo depressing.

It feels like there is a lot to be depressed about. The economy sucks, and while we are trying to cheer up over THAT fact, the sad state of our health insurance is on replay in the media.

Chris reads me the news and there is just bad news after depressing news.

I’m not in the mood for it. I don’t want to be uncertain right now. I want to feel as if I had a handle on things and a good idea about what is coming next. I don’t feel that way right now.

Of course, the reality is that even when I do feel that way it is an illusion. Who of us ever really has a handle on things?

Which is another depressing thought.

Well, here is what I know. I and mine are well. My new baby daughter is asleep and healthy in bed, and all is well.

I should count my blessings.

Pulling up my socks

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John Wooden was a great basketball coach at UCLA, and he is well known for his successful tenure. The teams he coached won a record number of championships.

 I heard him on TV, when he was talking about being in condition to win. Even little things matter; in particular he focussed on shoes and socks.

 The very real fact is, when you practice your game the way you need to to WIN your game you will sustain blisters. Blisters are such small insignificant little annoyances, right? Just the cost of doing your business.

 But the little things matter. And if you are hampered by something as small as a blister, you might not make it to your championship goal. John Wooden paid attention to all aspects of the game, and he found a way to prevent blisters. Basically, pull up your socks. Don’t let them bunch up so that you can’t be at your best.

 

Be careful in the little things. As I look ahead to a lot of chaos and changes in my department’s infrastructure, I am shaking in my boots a little. How are we going to manage these many many changes that haven’t happened yet?

 

I know how we are going to manage. I am going to pay attention to all the little things. I am going to do my best to make sure that our stuff–our game plays–are in the best condition I can make them. That way when all the changes come, our documentation and equipment will be ready.

 

Happy Halloween

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That’s my halloween decoration. The only one I have.

The real focus of the holiday is this little flower child:

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Of course, the dog loves her too.

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The flower is too small to eat candy, and also too small to be awake during the trick or treating hours.

The dog, however, is extra vigilant because the flower is small and helpless. When the doorbell rings, she will bark as loud as and long as she can. Therefore, the dog is in exile at the grandmother’s house. Flowers need their beauty sleep.

Don’t Cry!

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Went to the grocery store yesterday, and of course I brought my daughter with me. She’s been frustrated a lot this week, and cried a lot for indeterminate reasons.

I thought a trip to the store would give her other things to think about. It worked for a while, but then she started fussing. I had to hold her, and try to push the cart. But that wasn’t working so well, because the cart was too heavy.

I fell back on an old trick. When she started to cry, which usually included some sort of yell, I’d yell with her and try to match her tone. Whatever key she was crying in, I would chime in. I’d done it before and it seemed to interest her. She would stop crying, and just concentrate on yelling with me. It was  kind of fun.

So instead of her crying in the store, we rolled around yelling in unison. I am not sure what the other customers thought, but it amused me.

Here is a demonstration of what I’m talking about:

Local conflicts

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Driving to the Long Beach Hilton yesterday for a convention, I saw a line of picketers in front. I was driving past to find the parking, but they seemed to be listless, and all the signs were professionally printed.

Hired picketers, I thought. I was early, so I wanted to go speak to them to see what they could tell me about their cause. Not much, I figured, if they were temp workers hired by the union to hold signs.

As sign holding gigs go, this one would be less taxing than the one where the guy has to hold the arrow ON SALE sign and dance while waving it around.

But by the time I got to the picketers, they had turned up the volume. Literally. There was a bullhorn in use, and some marching that could be interpreted as angry. Now I felt too intimidated to go up and talk to them.

Two people were standing in an alcove to take a better look so i joined them. The woman there said “What do those signs say? What are they protesting?”

My thoughts exactly. “Unite!” I answered her, reading the signs. “But that doesn’t tell us anything. What’s the deal?”

I looked over at the second person in our alcove, and saw he was a cop. He sighed, with his thumbs hooked into his belt.

“The Union wanted the workers at this Hilton to unionize. They had a vote and the workers didn’t want it. Hilton doesn’t care; a lot of their hotels are union already. But they don’t think the workers should be forced to unionize if they don’t want to. And we are caught in the middle.”

Didn’t expect that answer. “But…They are being pretty loud…Can they do that? I’m not feeling very peaceful. Perhaps they are disturbing my peace?”

Policeman said, “That’s why I’m here. Caught in the middle.”

Hmm. “Don’ t they have a red line? I mean, when I lived in an apartment, there was a limit to how high I could turn the volume up before I got in trouble.”

Apparently the city of Long Beach does not have red line legislation.

October?

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And not only October, but halfway THROUGH October.

I’m glad. This year will end, and I will be there to see it. It began rather tumultuously for me, but It’s fine now.

I’m making progress on a lot of things I want to accomplish. In fact, I’ve been living much more in the moment.

Which mean, I haven’t got a lot of brain cells to float on whimsy and deep thoughts. My blog has suffered.

As a matter of fact, I am wondering how this new me will accomplish writing. I still want to write, but the mental space is a lot harder to come by.

Maybe when I finish a project and put a bow on it, I can trust time enough to let go of the ticking seconds and slow down enough to float.

I’m close to being done with One project:
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more fair photos

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A day at the fair!

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She was very excited to pet the sheep:

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okay, technically that is a goat. Here she is reaching for a sheep:

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She could have stayed there much longer, but she is getting too heavy to hold that way.
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The sheep were gentle.
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Or maybe I should say, they were disinterested in us.

I hope I can take her to another petting zoo soon.

By the end of the day, tho’, she was tired:
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Me too.

Adventure

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We went to the fair today. I love the fair.

I was so looking forward to it, and I really wanted Veronica to meet the animals. But I was nervous; she’s never done anything this adventurous. She’s only 8 months old, and want to make sure I don’t ask more of her than she can do.

There was a missed nap we’d have to negotiate, not to mention the huge amount of overstimulation that is the essence of the fair.

Long story short, we went for 3 hours. She was great!

She pet a lot of critters, including an alligator:

I got to visit the pigs:

We also visited a dinosaur exhibit. It was pretty realistic for a county fair. Some kids were brought in and started screaming.

Veronica was cool with it:

In fact, she was pretty cool with almost everything. She had big huge eyes and wanted to see everything. She did want to be held pretty often, but she was cheerful.

She slept in the car on the way home, but when we got home, she had a lot of thoughts to think.

For her, the thinking had to do with jumping up and down and playing with a lot of toys.  I could just see those new ideas marching across her little baby brain.

“There is such a thing as a goat. I must jump! There is such a thing as a sheep. I must kick!”

The world had gotten bigger for her. When she was seeing all the new stuff, she took it calmly with big eyes. But coming home, she cut loose and got all excited.

There will be more adventures.