Tired of Hearing It

Have you noticed how much more profanity is allowed on TV nowadays? Maybe you have, but have you noticed how our daily language is also devolving, whether it is profanity or even using the Lord's name as a curse? Yeah, I decided to use that as today's comic springboard. Will people at work take offense? I don't know. I don't care. This is my comic. They asked to be on the distribution list and they can ask to be removed it anything offends them. Here, see what I wrote today.

D'oh. I forgot to leave my frequent eater's card at home for Kathie to use when the girls go out for brunch this morning. This place (The Good Egg) only allows one punch per card per person, so if I don't take the cards to her, she has to start new ones and that could delay our free eats in the future. 'Tis a puzzlement. I'll need to decide in the next hour.

I am already out of comments for today's post? That has got to be a first. And I am feeling...somehow...off. I don't know. My pulse feels normal (it is 70bpm). It's kind of an anxious, tight in the chest feeling. Weird, huh? I guess I need to know out a few of my deliverables for today in case I don't stay here all day. You don't need to stay and check on me. I'm a big boy. I'll be fine. Thanks for offering, though.

Will You Miss Me? Will You Even Notice?

I will not be posting with regularity next week. And even when I do, there will be no Clarity of Vision cartoon. I use Microsoft Visio to create the strip and I do not have that on my personal machine. I would tell you to check out Dilbert instead, but I fear you would then never come back. I have an idea. Maybe go back to early 2006 and reread some older comic strips that you have forgotten about. Some of them are funny.

Speaking of CoV, here is a new one. It might be funny.

Speaking of funny, I sent Dad a note yesterday asking him to check out some geocache sites. I also suggested we should play Bananagrams soon. He did not see my email until later because he had been checking out some geocache locations yesterday morning, but took a break after Mom came in with Bananagrams and they played a few games. Weird, huh? They say that you become your parents, but I did not think it would be quite so literally.

Today, I need to drop a note to the director of the Chorale. Yes, I did direct it Tuesday night, but there are a few spots we did not have time to fully clean up. So, I will point those out and leave it to him. He was at California Baptist University at a conducting clinic that he attends every summer. Since I was directing the group and had a captive audience, did I try to be funny? You know me too well. Of course I did, a little. I poked some fun at the director and told the joke I sued in CoV a few days ago about a stolen drawing board.

It got a little warm in the office yesterday. I am sure that A/C units here in the Valley do struggle during these 110F+ days, but it is a little hard to focus on work when the temp inside is too high. I hope it is regulated a bit better today.

OK, I am getting hot under the collar thinking about it, so let me be productive before I overheat. You should be productive, too. Until tomorrow.

Docs on 5, Hold the Mayo

Did you notice the title of today's post? 'Docs on 5' sounds like dachshund 5. Isn't that funny? And 'hold the Mayo' sounds like a line from Airplane. Isn't that funny? Aren't I funny?

The 'docs' in the title is because I have a Dr. appt today to see if my cholesterol is better. The 'Mayo' is because our company offers an annual physical at the Mayo for free. I called to schedule it yesterday and they are already booked up through late Sept. I have to look at the list of tests for old dudes to see what they will do. Sure, I like getting to the senior discounts at restaurants and stuff, but words like colonoscopy and aortic ultrasound do not please me.

For sure, I could not play rugby. It is a rough game anyway. I get winded changing the channel between sports events on TV. I can, however, write a cartoon that involves rugby. And I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

My buddy Pat has been out on vacation for a week and a half. She just came by and talked for a few minutes. She had a good time at a famous casino up in Connecticut with her college roommates. That's good for her, but I will take the family and the Rockies over that any day. It's almost time for my vacation.

Well, this looks like four paragraphs of nonsense already, so I will stop for today. I will have additional stuff to say tomorrow, but I won't know what until I get there. If you meet me then, I'll tell you what I am going to tell you. You know what I mean. Bye.

Leading the Way

I'll admit I may not be leading the way, but I will be leading the East Valley Chorale tonight at rehearsal. The director is away at his annual directing seminar at California Baptist University. He attends every year, and asks a couple of us to direct while he is out. So, as always, he has asked me to lead the songs where we need some technical work, and the other guy leads those where we need to work on pronunciation and phraseology (a word that makes me think of The Music Man).

Speaking of phrases, here's a familiar one.No robberies took place to set up this joke.

Interestingly enough, I am struggling with what to tell y'all today. So, rather than have you sit around while I decide what to say, let's just end early and we can all move on with our lives. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will have reengaged my brain and creativity and can regale us all with ephemera and epiphanies. I cannot think of anymore related words that start with 'e', so I'm finished for real now.

Daddy's Day's Done

How was your Father's Day? After church, we met Dad and the family for Chinese food. Unfortunately, Dad had not made reservations, so we waited. And waited. The owner was apologetic, but she had to work through all the customers and honor the existing reservations. We have been going there for over 20 years, so the owner fit us in as quickly as she could. We did get to hear her rags-to-riches story, so that was fun. The food, as always, was delish. And we had a good family visit. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

KLIK got back from a wedding in Denver. So, Molly ended her visit with us last night. She is really settling down and feeling comfortable with us. Well, she is a little scared of Ali after Ali got mad at her for having an accident (well, a couple) on the couch. She does bark a bit, but I think that is only when egged on by our dog, who barks a lot.

No, that is all the story. I am not trying to conceal anything. Speaking of conceal...

Let's see. Three meetings today scheduled to last five hours. Gross, right?

I ended up not doing any studying for my CAPM cert this weekend. It was Father's Day weekend. I deserve to take some time off. I did not take time off from car problems, though. Luckily, it wasn't my car this time. The Jeep needed tires before vacation. There were no treads at all on the front tires.

Mom and Dad are back from the family reunion. They had a great time and everyone went crazy over a Walker family history genealogy book that Carey has been building. I'll have to check it out next time I go over to the folks'.

I think I want to knock out a couple of things before the day begins. If you guys can step out of the ring while I put on my gloves....

The End of VBS and the Week

Sure. It is a Friday in June. All across the nation, VBS is ending at churches either today or maybe last night. For the rest of us, it is a Friday halfway through June. Teachers and students are watching as their brief break draws towards its close. Workers are counting down days until their vacation. Retirees? Well, they are probably doing whatever it is they do all the time.

So, jobless claims are a bit higher again. That led me to write about hearing that jobs fell again last month.

I think we are going to check out the new X-Men movie this weekend. We'll also probably go over to Dad's and wish him a Happy Father's Day. After all, he was out of town last weekend during my early Father's Day celebration, so I haven't seen him in a couple of weeks. Oh, and they are giving double stamps at The Good Egg all weekend. so we'll also catch brunch. And we are being introduced as new members at our church, too.

It is probably painfully obvious that my daily ramblings are just that, ramblings. I usually have one or two ideas I know I want to convey, and then, I just see where my thoughts take me. Well, take us since you are reading this. Unless you stopped after seeing the Clarity of Vision, in which case it is where my thoughts take me. However, I don't want to go on too long or both of us might get bored. Unless you stopped reading, in which case only I am getting bored with a long post.

So, that means it is time to stop before I write another paragraph like the last one. Thanks for taking a look and making it this far. I'll have more to say next week. No, let me restate that. I will say more next week, even if I do not have anything to say. See you then.

AWOL and Belated Birthday Wishes

Yes, I know that I was absent without leave yesterday. No, I was not sick. Nor was I on vacation. I wasn't even sitting around being lazy. I started off the day with a doctor's appointment, so I came in late. Then, I had to prepare the agenda for a late morning meeting. At the meeting, my boss gave me another assignment that ate up the rest of the day. I had actually even already written the Clarity of Vision on Monday, so it was ready. Oh well. Let's not cry over spilled flavored milk since it has too much sugar to be offered in LA schools.

Let's go ahead and see this alleged cartoon allegedly written last alleged Monday.

As the second half of today's post title mentions, I wanted to wish Kyle a belated birthday. Well, it is belated only here in the blog. We actually held the joint party last Sunday, but I did not mention it here. Happy Birthday, Kyle.

Kathie and I are happy to announce a new addition to our household. Well, it's really just for the weekend. And she's not really new to our house, just a new visit. Yep, Molly is back in Chandler. She looks so unbelievably like a dog we used to have when the kids were younger. It is crazy. So, now Morris and Molly will have obnoxious barking contests as each tries to establish dominance. And we will have yelling contests to try to be the one to quiet the dogs. It's craziness, I say.

The sister of a lady at work had a baby some twelve weeks before her due date. So, they have nothing ready in their nursery. Luckily, we have a baby bed, high chair, and stroller that we were going to give to Goodwill. And we have the Dora bed that Bella used that we can give to the lady, who will soon have a daughter ready to move out of her crib. I like that we can help someone specific rather than just give it all to Goodwill.

Now, we come to the part of the post that you look forward to the most. The end. Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow as expected. Hopefully for me, anyway. I cannot know what you are thinking. I hope we see each other then.

A Day With No Party is like...every other day

Wow. After the excitement of my early Father's Day celebration on Sunday, yesterday was anti-climactic. Just a regular work day. How humdrum.

I did decide to write another work-related Agile-related Clarity of Vision. However, I think even you non-techy types will find something it it to enjoy. Some fun memories that will make you smile.That wasn't too bad, was it? Plus, it is now out of the way for another 24 hours or so.

Just one meeting today. However, as details on our upcoming reorg start to be announced, I need to do some data gathering for my boss. Still, I would much rather have stuff to do than to be searching for work. That is especially true right now as jobs are being reevaluated and realigned.

What's that you say? When is my summer vacation coming up? Am I going back to Ouray, CO? Why, yes, I am. We'll be there just before July 4. I'll let you know, but do not look for any blog updates or new CoVs. That is really a useless announcement, however, because most of my readers will be with me. So, you'll have to deal with me all the time, 24x7, face to face. You'll be looking forward to me getting back to my blog just so that you'll get a break.

We've got an East Valley Chorale concert tonight instead of practice. So, I will be gong home and putting on shirt and tie instead of jeans and tennies. Then, next week, I've got to direct for half the practice. Yes, when our director is out, he splits the conducting duties between two of us. He assigns me the technical directing so I can clean up rhythms and sightreading stuff. He assigns the other dude the songs we know well and just need to sing through and maybe focus on pronunciation or dynamics.

Nobody is here yet, but I still need to get some stuff knocked out, maybe before my 8:30am conference call. You were looking a little tired anyway, so I'll let you go get your first cup of coffee. Thanks for your patience.

I Thought It Was NEXT Sunday

You are correct, of course. Father's Day is next Sunday. However, since KLIK will be at a wedding in Denver next weekend, we held my Father's Day celebration yesterday. It included all the special things that I love. Granddaughters. Swimming. Pizza. Lyndsay's cupcakes. Games. Gifts. Yeah, baby. We had a great time. Thanks to the fam for yesterday. Which games, you ask? Ahem. I said "you ask...." Thank you. They gave me Jenga and we played that for a while. We also played Clue Suspect card game and Monopoly Deal card game.

Speaking of games, our primary activity in the Agile training class we took last week was to create a game about learning Agile. My team created SCRUMopoly. There was also SCRUM Pursuit, SCRUM-boo, and SCRUMmy. It was a fun exercise. Today, though, it is back to the grindstone.

Two and one-half hours of meetings today. This first is not until 12pm, though, so I've got some catch-up to do before then. I want to get everything finished so I can study for the Study Group meeting, plus, DUH, I want to be a winner.

Speaking of winners and losers, here is today's CoV. Congrats to the Mavericks and their die-hard fans (can you say Justin?).

OK, we've had our little fun, and I do mean little. Now, let's do a little work, but I don't mean little. Let's go, people. See you soon.

Who's Agile Now?

Well, I am working on becoming a trained Agile ScrumMaster. That is the training course we are in yesterday and today. However, since it does not start until 9am, I come in for a bit each morning to catch up on some stuff, including CoV.

Did I mention that my Altima is back in the shop? It was having trouble shifting into reverse, so I feared it was the transmission. Luckily, it was something else (I cannot remember what right now). What I can remember is it is another $900 worth of doing something. I hope the little guy keeps running for at least a year to make these investments worthwhile.

Can you believe it is already Friday? That is great news. Do I have plans over the weekend? I think we are having a swim party/early Father's Day activity on Sunday with KLIK. That should be fun.

Anything else? Now see, that's the problem with stuff like this training course. I am already thinking about it and the activity that we started yesterday and will continue today. So, it's messing up my normal morning routine and making me think work-type thoughts. Don't you hate that? I guess I will give in to my evil side and leave you fun-loving partiers behind. Remember to choose a designated driver before you have too much fun.

Who's A Scrum Master?

I guess I will be after classes today and tomorrow. It sounds as if a Scrum Master is a Project Manager for Agile projects. Agile is a methodology where you build a releasable product in less than two weeks. If the customer is looking for a lot more, you string together a number of two week "sprints" to ultimately provide the final deliverable. I guess I will know more when the class starts at 9am today.

One good thing. I only have one meeting today and one tomorrow. Sure, each one is 9 hours long....

Since it does not start until 9am, I decided to come in and get some stuff done before class. One of those things is a Clarity of Vision. I dipped into my idea log and fished out today's topic.

Sometimes, doesn't it seem like "when it rains, it pours?" My little 97 Altima is in the shop again. It feels like the transmission is slipping when I put the car in reverse. Yes, I suppose I could try to never park the car in a place where I have to back up, but I want to make sure I don't totally break down somewhere. It was just last week that I spent $2K to get an air flow sensor and a couple of other things replaced. I hope I don't end up spending enough that it would have been cheaper to replace the car.

Well, I need to fill out some annual Professional Development Plan material before class, so I will politely ask you to show yourselves out. The last one out should lock the door, OK?

An Answer To Prayer

Before I move into today's praise, let's get the lighter stuff out of the way. I hesitate to say funnier stuff since many of you may not consider ti such. Anyway, let's look at the Clarity of Vision cartoon.

OK. Hey, I don't think that I mentioned that Kyle is staying in the same job, did I? After all the negotiations, and much prayer, Kyle was convinced to stay where he was. The president of his company came and spent over an hour with Kyle, discussing how important Kyle is to the company and he promised to review Kyle's package and see if they could work something out. As you can tell, they did and Kyle is excited.

Why do we wait until we lose something or almost lose it before we say anything? This seems true both personally and professionally. Find someone today and tell them how important they are to you. Praise those around you freely. And of course, you can go to God in prayer about anything in your life. Give Him you concerns, give Him your praise, give Him some time each day.

On the other hand, how easy is it for us not to see the good in those things around us? Things with which we may have become accustomed. Look for blessings around you. Look for anything for which you can be thankful and Praise The Lord.

The director of the East Valley Chorale told a story about our concert this past Sunday and why we have this ministry. A man in a wheelchair had looked as if he was bored or asleep throughout the concert. Bruce had written him off as someone to whom we were being a blessing. Afterward, the man came over and talked to Bruce. He said he was Jewish, but had not really been practicing for many years. He married a Protestant woman and together, they drifted away from any church. He said, "You really got to me today. I am going home now to write a letter to my son, with whom I have not spoken for over 8 years. I want to tell him that I forgive him." Yes, that is why I am in this group.

Listen, I may not be posting for the next two days as I am offsite in training. Do you think you'll be OK without this blog? Sure. You'll do fine. I do expect to be back on Monday. Still, maybe you should check each day. You never know what I will do.

You Call That Heat?

We have had an unusually mild Spring and early Summer. Hopefully, talking about it will not jinx us going forward. In fact, we continue to have below normal temps this week, only cracking 100F once. Our normal temp for the week is 103F. Luckily, it is a dry heat and that does help. Still, you people in other states, don't be trying to top us when it comes to heat. by the end of September, we are mighty tired of the 110+ days.

Speaking of getting tired of something, here is today's CoV. That's right. The cartoons continue. I'm trying to reach that elusive mark of 20 funny ones out of all of them. OK, you're right. I'm actually going for 10.

While waiting on the house to cool down last night, we went and walked around at Ikea. They certainly have lots of affordable ideas there. We are thinking about a couple of 2x4 Expedit units for the middle bedroom. They are just $69 each. Right now, though, we are still just thinking. I am certain I will not customize the unit like this guy did (although that is cool looking). My design tastes are not quite so modern.

As usual, we have our Tuesday 8:30am call coming up. I generated the agenda yesterday, but need to verify it and publish it. What about you? Anything to accomplish this morning before the heat and pressures of the day mount? Well, get to it. We can always visit another day.

Turn Out The Lights. The Party's Over

Oh yes, we did have a Harry Potter-themed party this weekend. It was for Kathie's and Kyle's birthdays. We had lots of delicious Lyndsay food, people dressed in the color combinations representing one of the houses in the story, and ended with cupcakes and cookies covered with Harry Potter fondant items that Lyndsay made. We did find time to play some games, but I did not bring any of mine. We played Monopoly Deal (I did not win any), Pass the Popcorn (I lost horribly or even worse), and Smart A$$ (I did win some of these). We had a great time.

Speaking of Potter, let's see if I had any inspiration for today's Clarity of Vision. Nope, I guess I didn't.

Today is one of my usual heavier load days. I have four meetings taking up four hours of my day. Tomorrow is only two meetings taking up 1-1/2 hours. One of today's meetings is the CAPM study group, and I did not really study the material like I should have. Maybe I can take a little time this morning to prepare?

We attended a new member's class last night at church. We are joining a Baptist church, but it is part of the Baptist General Conference and not related at all to Southern Baptists. Mostly, though, it seems like we are just putting a dress on a pig. They still are based in the same beliefs we are comfortable with, so we said we wanted to join. The pastor said he can ask for our letter from our current church, even though they do not commonly request transfers of letters. I just thought it would include the dates of kid's baptisms, etc.

I cannot think of anything else that would hold your interest. In fact, you may have quit reading this earlier in the post, or maybe even last month. No, I guess not or you wouldn't know that I even wrote that. Anyway, I will stop before I start rambling. Oh, too late. Let's take this up tomorrow when we have more time.

Can You Tell I am Running Late?

Yup. I did have the alarm set, but drifted back to sleep for an extra 30 minutes. So, I am running a little later than normal. In fact, there was already a person in the office before me, and another just came in. Usually, I have that 30 minutes alone before anyone else shows up.

Luckily, I had already created today's Clarity of Vision before I left yesterday afternoon. So, I made up some of my time already. Maybe you are reading it earlier than normal, too, which would mean I've made up the entire half hour? Well, go ahead and check out the CoV, even if it is not earlier than usual.

It's almost Harry Potter weekend. We are attending a joint birthday party for my wife and my son and we are supposed to dress in the colors of our favorite Hogwart's house. I will be Huffenpuff (something like that) because I have stuff that is yellow and black. Happy birthday to both of you.

I had car trouble the other day and got it fixed yesterday. Well, almost fixed. They called and said come pick it up. When they test drove it, though, they found that the air flow sensor they replaced was cracked, so I did not get the car yet. Repairs cost me $2000, so I hope I made the right decision to fix my old car. I think that, if it last over one year, it was a good choice. I don't mind the old girl. She's a good car. It's a '97 that I bought in 2000 when we came back from Mexico. She's got arthritis in her odometer somewhere, and her joints are cracking a bit when she goes over bumps, but she still carries me places and her A/C is fine. No CD player, but I am more of a talk radio dude during my commutes anyway. Does she have a name? No, I never got around to that.

Only one two-hour meeting today, so I can work on the vision statement for the team in the new org structure. And a couple of metrics that I need to finish. I'm ready for today. Are you? See you next week.

Hangover, Too

Yup, I am thinking about a hangover this morning. Oh no, not that. I don't drink. I was just noticing that my expanding muffin top is hanging over my belt just a touch. I need to get more exercise. Now that it is swimming season again, I need to take the time to use our pool. Sure, I could also eat a bit healthier, but let's not introduce too many changes at once.

Speaking of hangovers and kids, when someone says "Senior Trip," what do you think of? Well, that is not necessarily what I think of.

KLIK and Kathie got back from Disneyland last night. I have avoided mentioning that Alison and I were cleaning up and painting the middle bedroom. Kathie has wanted me to get that done for a while. So, now that she has seen the results (and was quite pleased, too), I can mention it here in the blog. We painted two walls a chocolate brown and two are beige. I hung a few posters of Ricardo Alarcon photos on a couple of the walls. We will put up a few of my photos on the other wall, with one one wall being blank because it holds the closet doors and the room door. Previously, this room held a crib, a child's day bed, and a high chair. With the GRANDS growing up, we don't need those anymore. I guess we will give the stuff to Goodwill.

Here is an example of one of Alarcon's shots. I think I hung this one on the outside wall facing the door.

I only have two meetings today. One is the usual 8:30am conference call, but the second is from 1-4pm. I hope it is interesting.

I can always tell that I am finished writing in my blog when I sit at my desk for more than two minutes thinking, "What else do I want to talk about?" As long as my writing is free-flowing, I type it in and don't look back. Right now, though, the creative well has run dry. Rather than make you sit there while I think, I will bid you adieu and let you leave before we are all bored. See you soon.

The Price of Puppies

I am keeping Molly, KLIK's puppy, while they are at Disneyland. Whew. I forget what a puppy is like. She is everywhere at the same time. Jumping up on me, chasing the cat, chewing Morris' toys, trying to retrieve things under the couch, wanting in and out and in again. I'm tired, and all I am doing is telling you about it. Luckily, she is a good puppy, so no mischief.

Kathie is at The Dis with KLIK. She said the upgraded Star Tours is really cool, and that somehow, they featured Bella as part of the program. I'll have to find out more when they return. I also need her to get my routine established again. Usually, she sets the alarm, so I forgot to do it last night. Luckily, the dogs woke me just after 6am. It did mean that I had to fight rush hour traffic that I normally avoid.

It is already June. Sure, the thermometer shows we are entering summer, with today's high reaching 100F. It is amazing, though, how quickly the year is passing. And because it is June, there could be junehem in the air. What? Read this.

I have a conference call around 9am, but I do not need to do any prep for it. I have a meeting at 11am that I do have some prep for. And I need to do a little CAPM reading today. Plus, generate the weekly metrics. So, I june be back tomorrow, Lord willing and the crick don't rise.