Summer's Almost Here

How can you tell when summer starts? Is temperature the signal? Once it reaches 100F, is it summer? Well, we have a cool front approaching and by Wednesday, our high will only be 79F. Is it by vacation scheduling? We've still got over four weeks before ours happens. Is it by date? Is it June 1? Is it the end of school, whenever that falls? For us, with so many teachers in the family, I would say it is the end of the school year. So, less than two weeks before we reach summer.

So, would you buy one of those cheap cruises you see advertised? I don't think I would feel comfortable doing that? If something happened, we'd be out some serious bucks. Today's CoV explores the world of grey products.

No Chorale concert this past weekend. That is two weekends in a row. There is one coming up this next weekend, though. Still, it was kind of nice. However, I had to work on my upcoming CAPM Study Group presentation. I have to present it to the group leaders on Thursday. I am not yet decided on what fun activity will work. I have heard that the Jeopardy format is available, but I don't know how Quality Management flows for that.

Four meetings today, so I may not have time at work to decide on a game. Hey, speaking of games, we did have a Game Night at KLIK's house on Friday. We did not play Waterworks because it looked complicated and time consuming. We did not play Ticket To Ride, either. Again, we started late and so, wanted something a little shorter in duration. We played some Picture Perfect and then, Clue Suspect, the Hasbro card game. And I performed an inventory of our game closet and found we have 54 games right now, 34 of which are card games. I need to work on the list and rank them based on family preference. I would say that, overall, Bang! The Bullet might rank as # 1, although that is more fun with several players and when you have time. Right now, Monopoly Deal and Clue Suspects are the most frequently played.

Did you watch the shuttle liftoff this morning? We did, too. Did you watch the Survivor finale last night? We did, too. Did you watch the season finale (series finale?) of CSI:NY? Well, we didn't yet, so don't tell us about it. Did you hear that next year may be the series finales of House and Chuck? That's what Alison told me.

I hope that none, or at least only a few, of our relatives in central Louisiana are impacted by the Mississippi flood this week. Dad heard that Uncle Poo's "fish camp" will probably be flooded out. That was such a fun place when we visited last summer.

OK, between talking about games and thinking about my presentation and a couple of questions from coworkers, I am already getting distracted. And you know, with my b-r-a-n-e power, that does not take much. So, stop by tomorrow for more useless chit chat.

Gone But Now Restored

Google's Blogger has been down all day with a technical issue. According to the blogger status page, they lost the previous 24 hours of updates and were working since 4am to restore them. They are back, and they have reopened the site for new updates. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Even though I could not put today's CoV up earlier, I did write it this morning as usual. I already published it to the work team, and now, I'll inflict it on you. That was worth waiting for, right?

Game night tonight. Yee haw. I always like them. I'll let you know which ones we play. And Lyndsay is making homemade pizza. Double yee haw.

I am working on preparing for the CAPM study session that I lead a week from Monday. I don't really have any clever ideas yet. The Sr. Manager guiding us wants to see my presentation next Thursday. The pressure is on. I'll let you know if I find a clever way to help us all learn about Quality Management.

Here it is after lunch, so my brain is already impaired with work thoughts. I'll go ahead and shut 'er down for the week. Well, the blog, anyway. I'll keep going on work stuff since I meet with my boss in 30 minutes. Y'all have a great weekend. Bye now.

Five Hundred And Counting

We made it, my friends. Today marks the five-hundredth Clarity of Vision cartoon. Remember back when we started? I downloaded the Visio cartoon template thinking I could do it for a week or so. Sometimes, I have ideas that are hard to do because I am not an artist and must use the stock figures in the tool. Sometimes, I have no ideas and am scrambling to create that day's comic strip. However, I don't think I have missed writing one when I am in the office. Only when I am sick, or on vacation, or whatever else might keep me away from the office. I only have Visio available when I am in the office on the company network.

Hey, check out #500 right now.

I was excelling all day yesterday. Well, sure, I did excel in what I was doing, but I was also using Microsoft Excel to do it. Notice how I used the same word to imply both concepts? Don't you wish you were this creative?

Let's see. Two meetings today, one of which is the usual Thursday 8:30am. In that meeting, we discuss why some project milestones are overdue, what will the Project manager do to get them completed, and what impact is there on the project Due Date and the organization as a whole. Sounds fun, right? Yeah, it is not the best way to start off each Thursday, but it does show them that management is watching what we do.

A friend sent me a clever church sign this morning. Honk if you love Jesus ... Text while driving if you want to meet Him! Well, I thought it was funny.

Did I mention we played some Clue:The Card Game on Sunday? I think either Kyle or Lyndsay won every hand. Casey and I were skunked.

I know that some of you struggle to stay with the post if I write too much, so let's stop while you are ahead. Come on. You know I will say more again tomorrow. See you then.

Back to Abby Normal

No headache today. Whoo hoo. So, I am back to normal...or at least as normal as I get. And saying that reminds me of Abby Normal. Do y'all remember which movie that is from?

I missed Chorale practice last night. Too bad. I always enjoy that time each week. Just sittin' and singin' and worshipin' and fellowshippin'.

As I was telling my clarity-of-vision blog readers, I woke up wanting to remember a couple of things, but lost those ideas when this cartoon came to mind. I ought to study those remembering techniques of picturing things with a bun so they rhyme with one, with a shoe for two, etc. Maybe I would have remembered the other stuff then. Or maybe, I'd just remember buns and shoes and stuff.

Anyway, this comic strip popped into my head this morning and demanded to be written. So, here it is.

I have not yet delivered the management training on the new functionality yet. I think the material was mostly approved, so I'll check with my boss to see if I should start scheduling it. I feel I am ready for the documented material, but since I do not have the same privileges and cannot do the tasks myself, they might ask some unanswerable questions. We'll see, right? I said, right? OK, thank you.

One of my teammates brought in a new photo book about his motorcycle trips during 2010. It was well written and had some nice photos and interesting trail descriptions. Pretty cool. I may do this year's Ouray book more like that model. We'll see, right? I said, right? OK, thank you.

I am only 10 days or so from having to teach my chapter on Quality Management to the CAPM Study Group. I need to really focus on that to help both them and me to learn the material for the certification test. There are three primary concepts: Plan Quality, Perform Quality Assurance and Perform Quality Control. Yep. I just wrote that from memory and checked it against the book and I am right. Now, I just need to create an imaginative way to teach the details of each.

Tomorrow is #500.

OK, my friends. Our time has come to cease talking of many things. I mentioned shoes, but not ships nor sealing wax, nor cabbages nor kings. Do you know what that's from? OK, enough trivia and trivialities. See you tomorrow.

Missed Me Yet?

That's right. I was incommunicado yesterday. I somehow got a migraine-ish headache Sunday night and it was still raging yesterday morning. I say migraine-ish because I am sure it was not as bad as a true migraine, but it was pretty painful. Light hurt. Sound. Moving. Today, I only have a mild headache. So, since I am so far behind, I came on in.

No blog entry also means I did not write a CoV yesterday. And on my commute this morning, I did not hear anything noteworthy (or lampoon-worthy). So, I dug back into my idea log and pulled out this little germ of an idea.Get it? "germ" of an idea for a cartoon about germs? Today is only a two meeting day, so I can get some real stuff done.

I have not decided about attending Chorale practice tonight. If my headache does not improve, I think I will not go. Yes, of course I took some medicine to help.

Monday is not a good day to miss work. I have five standing meetings, one of which is the study group for the Project Manager certification. Oh well, what can you do?

One of the things that I do on Mondays is to generate the agenda for the 8:30am Tuesday meeting. Since I was out, that has not been created yet, so I am dropping off early. Thanks for spending a few minutes with me. I'll have more to say (or at least, I will write more even if I have nothing actually communicate) tomorrow.

Nine Hundred Fourteen

Yup. I have written my thoughts down in this blog 914 times as of today. And I think some of you have read them all. Some posts were uplifting. Some were negative. Some were too weird to categorize. They were all comments on my life as it happens. Cathartic? Maybe. Catholic? I don't think so. Catatonic? If you read too many at once? Yes.

Speaking of negative, I have some comic comments on that.

Did you decide anything about Mother's Day yet? We will be having the annual KLIK Mother's Day Brunch after church, then I will certainly swing by to see my own mommy for her day. I know this day will be emotional for Kathie as she remembers her mother (who, Praise God, is celebrating every day with our Lord) and for Rick and Denise as they go through their first Mother's Day without one of their children (who is also celebrating every day with the Lord, Praise Him).

That reminds me. Can you imagine the sense of loss for those who do not have Jesus as their Great Comforter? I admit that I cannot.

Another one meeting day today here at work. I gave a draft of a presentation to my boss yesterday, so today, I want to tweak it to make it more maintainable. I also need to finalize the training deck I released and schedule management training. If I get time, I need to do some research on how to teach my chapter to the CAPM Prep Group. One lady said she was not going to use the Jeopardy game format, so I could do so, if I want. Yeah, maybe. I need to think and get going, though. I've got two weeks, well, maybe three at the most, so I need to get my lessons started. Do you have any thoughts? Well, I mean, I know you have thoughts, but more specifically, I meant about a good way to engage my class and teach them the concepts in the chapter.

Look, I could take you through my thoughts even longer, but, just like those in my study group, I see some of you nodding off. Tell you what. Take the weekend off and come back refreshed on Monday. Be sure and reach Chapter 8 so you will be ready for my class.

Mommies

Mother's Day is coming up quickly. What are you going to do for her? After all, where would we be without her?

Speaking of mommies, here's one still dealing with a five-year-old's logic. Thanks to LMW for sharing it.

Another day with only a single meeting. That's great. So, I've got some prep work, but I should be able to get caught up on some other stuff today.

Boston Rob is still hanging on in Survivor. Who'd a thunk it?

I just looked at an AP story about the bin Laden raid. In it, the article said, "Mr Panetta also revealed that the US Navy Seals made the final decision to kill bin Laden rather than the president." What? They thought about killing the president? Who do these Seals think they are. It reminds me of what Jay Leno said about the killing the other day. He said they told George W. about it, and Mr. Bush said "What? We could have used seals?"

OK, it seems I might have lied to you while ago. (By the way, I will miss the TV drama Lie To Me. I really liked it, especially when they would mention a facial expression that means something and then show actual photos of famous people with the same expression). I actually have two meetings today because I forgot about my standing Tuesday/Thursday 8:30am meetings. So, I still need to create the agenda for today.

I should have worn tennis shoes because I need to run. You guys finish your warm-ups and then hit the road. We can meet up again in the morning.

A Shocking Wednesday

Well, the day itself may not be so shocking, but the device mentioned in today's CoV certainly is.And yes, I did hear that exact quote on the radio this morning. They said she started throwing parties "after two stalkers forced her to buy one." Hilarious quote. I started laughing when I heard it.

Someone asked me yesterday how I get anything done when I attend so many meetings. I guess it balances out with days like today, where I only have one. It does require some preparation, though, so I will do that first before I update some department slides the boss needs by the end of today.

The batteries in my mouse died a couple of days ago, but they have not provided new ones yet. No, I am not going to bring in my own. I will teach them a lesson and continue using the old Dell mouse. Ha ha. The jokes is on them.

The new accompanist was at Chorale practice last night. She did really well, since much of the time, she was sightreading. Hey, that's a funny word. I mean, what are the alternatives to reading by sight? Braille? I guess maybe you can read a book by listening to a book on tape. Anyway, she is Albanian and had quite an interesting story, although it did not include mention of a conversion experience. I hope the choir can help her see the need for Christ in her heart. She grew up speaking Albanian, so how is it that she plays the piano in English?

Kathie has decided to get some new glasses. Hers are not displaying things as clearly as they used to, and since it has been four years or so, it is time. Maybe we can have cute little matching glasses?

Well, folks, my mind is tired after that stream of consciousness paragraph above. I am going to let it cool off while I do my regular work. It'll be recharged and ready again tomorrow morning, so check back and see what nonsense I publish then. See you.

Toasty Tuesday

Well, it is not supposed to be the hottest day of this week. Tomorrow is. Still, 97F is getting up there. Our average high for today is 90F. While we do not often have the types of storms that have been rolling through the central plains, we pay for it by getting so stinking hot.

I have long wondered what made people colonizing the country stop here. they must have come though in Jan or Feb when it is so comfortable and not too cold. Speaking of lessons learned from our forefathers.

I am already thinking that I may have to increase the monthly amount of texts we can send. We are finding that one text sent may then have two or more replies by the time you finish covering the original topic. I chose the 250 texts per month plan. The next level up allows 500 texts per month for another $5.

Did I mention that I had to work in the nursery with Kathie during church on Sunday? We were in the 1-2 year old room, although they allowed Kendall to stay in there with us. Whew, that girl can talk. So, I mostly played with her while Kathie watched the other four.

Four meetings today in three different buildings. That means that I will lose my covered parking spot when I go to the first offsite meeting at 10am. Boo.

I ordered some batteries for my Apple Magic Mouse, but they have not come in yet. So, I have to use my old Dell corded mouse for now. If they are going to make me use this Mac Pro at the office, at least they should keep my tools functional, right? And no, I have not made a decision yet about a computer at home.

Well, I learned from my forefathers that anything worth doing is worth doing well. So, I need to get ready for the 8:30am meeting so it will flow well. You should get ready for your stuff as well. I hope everything is going well for each of you. That's enough usage of the word 'well', don't you think? See you soon.

Dream On

First, let's take a look at today's Clarity of Vision.Now, I will admit that most (probably including me) think of Aerosmith when they hear the song title "Dream On." However, I am also reminded of the Gaither Vocal Band song of the same name (from the New Point of View album). Ah, that was back in their pre-Southern-Gospel phase. I really liked the early stuff.

I got a text from my son over the weekend. He texted "Welcome to the future." OK, so we were either in some kind of Back to the Future remake, or we upgraded our cell phones to QWERTY-keyboard models and added texting to our plan. I will let you decide which is more likely. However, my daughter commented that he should have texted "Welcome to the past" since regular texting is now so passe and we should have gone with smartphones. Whatever. Maybe in a few years. My main reason for not doing so is that I did not want to add $30/month to the cost of our plan.

Yesterday's concert went very nice, although we were a few minutes late. I was waiting for Dad to pick me up and he was waiting for me to come by for a ride. As we entered the church, the director was just announcing the first song, so he told the congregation to welcome us and asked that we walk down the middle aisle and join them for the first song.

The cool weekend was refreshing, especially in the face of reaching 103F by the middle of next week. I hope all of you took advantage of it.

No comments yet from the team about the training that I spent last week completing. So, I have not yet scheduled management training in case I missed something or was not clear in some explanations. I also did not include speaking notes. So, how do I interpret their silence? I am not sure, and that is why I did not schedule the classes yet, even though my managers wanted the classes scheduled for this week.

We saw The Lincoln Lawyer this weekend. We really enjoyed it. You should go see it. Go on. I'll wait.

I suppose I should start writing the speaking notes for the slides. I expect that I will be doing the training, so the notes are more for when someone else reviews the deck than for my class. I did spend way too much time animating the slides so that each point comes flying in from the left to help draw their eyes to the appropriate screen shot.

Listen, you guys should go flying our to the right so you don't get hit by the flying text. I'll count to three and you hurry out. I'll distract them on the left. Until tomorrow, then.