SPEECH! SPEECH!

This is the weekend I begin my graduate studies. I'll be getting a Masters of Engineering in Construction Management from the graduate program at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. To kick it all off, we are having a "boot camp" this weekend, eight hours on Friday and eight hours on Saturday. Included in the schedule for Saturday is a 3-4 minute presentation from each student to introduce yourself and tell everyone a bit about you, and give you the chance to learn about the others that you will be studying and working with over the next 18 months. I've been writing down notes on what I want to say, and now that it is time to start putting it all together, I thought that this would be a great time to post the draft here on the blog.

I want to include a bit of interaction. Since this is a short presentation, I want to do it right up front. So, I plan to begin in a standard way by giving my name and where I'm from. At this point, I plan on asking if anyone has heard of the town. I'm counting on two things here; 1) that we are presenting to the whole group and not smaller sub-groups and 2) that a good percentage of the people have lived in this area for a bit and that a few like to vacation at the beach. Usually, in a crowd this size (25-30 people), there is at least one person that knows where I'm from because it is on the way to the beach. ...and they have gotten a ticket driving through there. Even if no one has heard of it, it gives me the opportunity to engage the crowd and it is still a bit of trivia to start out.

After some feedback, I think moving the hobbies to here is the right thing. So I will begin the quoting of what I want to say here, and then break in after the hobbies for more commentary on the setup of the next part.

"Now, to tell you a little bit about what I like to do. Whenever I have to write out my hobbies on a form of some kind, it usually goes like this: video games, computers, softball, guitar, Mustangs. And that is about how they stack up in order of my current involvement. My main recourse for r&r time lies in video games. It is something I enjoy and can pretty much be done on an anytime, anyplace basis. It started back in the 70's when my parents bought a Pong console for the family to play. My current recourse is my Xbox 360 and Xbox Live, coupled with all of my online friends that I have met through the site: geezergamers.com. I also enjoy tinkering with computers and have a home network setup with a home-built file server that we use to store all of our media; pictures, music, videos, etc. I've recently gotten back into softball, only to realize that I'm getting way old! But I still enjoy it as much as ever, and will continue to play until my body won't let me anymore. I have a few guitars kicking around the house. My favorite style is the Fender Telecaster, of which I own 3, along with two acoustics. I can't play all that well (strictly bedroom picker), but it is great relaxation. I just recently sold my Mustang, a 1970 Mach 1 with a 351 Cleveland and 3 speed automatic. I may buy another classic someday, but for now I am content to ride my motorcycle when I miss the 'Stang..."

Next, I plan to tell everyone that I have a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Alabama. Following from here, I want to type out (in quotes) the version that I hope comes out while I am talking. :)

"Now, I would like to tell you that engineering was my choice; a product of my own free will. My parents, however, will tell you that it was destined to be. My mom likes to tell the story of how I argued with my 3rd grade teacher over a math problem... and won. Not on the answer, because she had it right, but on how she performed the math to get the answer. I don't remember that incident, but I'm sure it didn't help me when I lost the argument later in the year that 'David Copperfield' was not a fictional character, but a real person; a magician in fact. I suppose she wasn't going to let an 8 year old win two arguments in one school year. Not long after, around Halloween, I was in my room with the door closed, and called for my mom to come in under the ruse that I had a question or something. As she opened the door, she was greeted by a ghost falling down from the ceiling right in front of her face. I had taken a yard stick, some screws, hooks, nails, and a bit of fishing line and created a linkage connected to the door that would lower the ghost in front of the victim as they entered my room. It was at this moment, she will tell you, that she knew I would become an engineer.

My dad's story is a bit different, but along the same lines. His first clue was when, around the same age, 8-10, I completely gutted 4 CB radios that he had laying around his workshop. Now, if you don't know what a CB radio is, do NOT say anything, because then I will really feel old! He will swear that I did this to learn how they worked, and part of that is true. I took the first one apart to try and learn its inner workings. The rest I took apart because I found magnets in the speakers of the first one! :) For my dad, the certainty came a few years later, around age 13 or 14. My parents had decided to put in a swimming pool. Before ground could be broken, we had to remove several tall cedar trees from the area. When my dad, one of his older brothers and my mom were all consulting and waiting on me, the 13-14 year old to tell them where and how to cut to make each tree fall in the desired direction, and not onto our house, was his a-ha moment.

So for me, I had high aptitude for both math and science (specifically biology), probably equally, but my passion was in biology. I loved it! So when the time came to go to college, I knew what I wanted to do; become a marine biologist! So I began researching, and there just weren't many opportunities in that field at the time, and the compensation left a lot to be desired. So, I decided; engineering! :) So, I guess my parents were right, because in the end, it was my analytical mind that led me to the engineering path. Ironically, I chose mechanical engineering for the sole reason that it was the only one that did not have a public speaking class as a requirement in the curriculum... So, by the time college graduation rolled around, engineer hiring was at the lowest point it had been in probably 10 years, meanwhile, environmental awareness had boomed, and a marine biologist could write his own ticket, and get to live on the beach of their choosing anywhere in the country. Obviously my destiny wasn't in fortune telling...

Despite the down turn in engineering upon my graduation, I was able to become gainfully employed. I went to work in the coal mining industry for Jim Walter Resources in Brookwood, AL, a subsidiary of Walter Industries in Tampa, Florida. I had a great career there for 10 years, moving up from a draftsman at the machine shop, to the resident engineer at #4 Mine. While there, I had the opportunity to learn many aspects of business management by being involved in engineering, budgeting, business planning, and construction projects. I felt, upon leaving, that I had been involved in, and responsible for, some pretty big construction projects.

...then I went to work for Southern Company. I entered the company a few years ago in my current role of Quality Engineer, involved in vendor surveillance on capital and new construction projects. A few weeks in, I was asked to visit one of the construction sites to look at some structural steel that had just been received. What I saw when I got there was beyond belief. When I say acres, it just doesn't do it justice. I want to use something that sounds more grandiose, something biblical almost. There was an equipment/material staging area there that was hectares (since it is bigger than an acre, sounds impressive, and I don't know any biblical units... :) ) of land partitioned off and filled with ...stuff... and I thought, "What have I gotten myself into!" So, the desire to learn more about the management of these large construction projects along with the opportunity to open up further career paths within Southern Company leads me to be here today. I look forward to working and learning alongside all of you and being apart of helping everyone here reach their goals."

I'm going to do a few run throughs tonight and see how long it is. I hope I don't have to cut anything, and I seriously hope it doesn't run short. :)

Let me know what you think.

Long Hauls and Close Calls

Above photo courtesy of ihasahotdog.com. Hope they don't mind...

OHAI

It seems I came to face the harsh reality that sitting around, typing on the laptop after spending all day at work isn't all that fun... But, here I am back for more. (Mainly because I'm a little caught up at work at the moment and don't have to type on the laptop at home... *cough*)

Anyway, I figured I would jump right back in with an extended rant about my fellow drivers. Surprising, right?

I grew up watching 'The Bear' coach football at Alabama. I understand that defense wins ballgames, ok? I drive defensively. Now, before old-man Slinger images start popping into your head, let me essplain. No, there is no time, lemme sum up. I watch what the cars ahead of me are doing... not one car ahead of me (you know who you are), but as far ahead as I can see on the current stretch of road. I constantly check the lanes around me. I even keep watch off-road to the sides; just to keep tabs on anything that might dart out into the road. I will let up on the accelerator if I see brake lights way ahead.

Those are the things I consider defensive driving.

However, even with a great defense, you ain't gonna win the game without scoring some points. When somebody fumbles, you gotta be able to pick up the ball and run with it! And, a good defense is there to give your offense the chance to control and move the ball. So these drivers that insist on giving the ball back to the other team and never going on the offensive just perplex (and aggravate!) me. And to be honest, I feel that they can cause dangerous situations just as often as someone being too aggressive.

Following are a couple of examples that I can think of:

With the obvious exception of cloverleafs, interstate highway on-ramps offer you the opportunity to accelerate up to highway speed before trying to merge into the flow of traffic. Then, all it takes is a slight tap of the brakes or a slight increase in speed to find your spot and merge over. Why, oh why, do people insist on coming to a complete stop at the end of the on-ramp before continuing on and trying to merge? I'm fairly certain that your '86 Buick LeSabre can't go from 0-70 in the 6 seconds you need to get out in front of that 18 wheeler. Luckily, these people seem to be fading away for the most part, but I still encounter them with regularity. While on this topic, though, I was shocked and appalled while visiting Portland, Oregon to discover that they had installed traffic lights at the end of some on-ramps to the interstate. WTF, Portland? There are no lights on the interstate to regulate that traffic, so how in the *frak* does making people stop at the end of the on-ramp supposed to help the flow of traffic on the interstate? IMHO, it just causes extra delays because people aren't up to speed when trying to merge in, causing those drivers already on the interstate to have to slow to allow people access. One unrelated note about on-ramps. Goodness gracious people, quit using your turn signal on the on-ramp! We all know where you are going... you only have one choice. I live in an area where the blinker is the most under-utilized tool for driver communication, yet there are tons of people here who feel the need to signal to me that they are merging onto the interstate at the end of the on-ramp. Well, no der!

My next piece of advice... ok, I realize I'm not giving advice, I'm ranting, but humor me, sheez. TAKE CHARGE! That's it. I hate to get behind someone that can't pull out from a side street or parking lot, especially when turning left. If it's a busy street in a large city, you aren't going to have an open road with no signs of oncoming traffic in either direction. This is when I start screaming to the driver, TAKE CHARGE FOOL! I'm not saying endanger yourself, but it should only take a few minutes to figure out a safe distance for entering the highway by judging oncoming traffic speeds. Plus, committing and going has got to be safer than hitting the gas, then suddenly changing your mind, risking getting hit by oncoming traffic as well as whatever poor soul is behind you waiting for his/her turn. Also, use all of the resources available to you. Assuming you pay your taxes, your money went to add those nice dual-direction turn lanes where there used to be only grassy medians. When traffic clears from the left, pull out into the friggin middle lane. Sure, there is always going to be a jackhole that doesn't think you have the smarts not to pull on out in front of him, or doesn't have the smarts to figure out what you are doing, and he is going to honk his horn at you as he goes by because you had the audacity to make him pay attention to what the traffic around him is doing. But you aren't breaking any rules, so let him honk and forget about it.

Let's see, what else? I know there are more examples, but quite frankly, I'm getting tired of typing. So there. Remember, a good defense is only half of the team you need to be successful. One thing you learn by riding a motorcycle is that the brake is not always your only, or best, option.

Just a little tip from your Uncle Slinger.

Boy, I feel better. Can you tell someone ticked me off on the drive back from lunch today?

Candy! Popcorn! Peanuts! eh?!

Last week I traveled to Toronto, Ontario for an equipment inspection. It was a pretty nice trip, except for when I got waved into immigration at the airport. I've flown into Canada twice, and both times I got the wave. So, I'm either really unlucky, or I look highly suspicious.

Anyway, while there I got to tour Toronto a bit. Downtown, there is an area with two theaters, and on the street that runs in front of them, they have created a Canadian Walk of Fame. I took this picture of John Candy's plaque, but didn't get any other pictures as not to hold up the others with me. I did see stars for William Shatner, Dan Akroyd, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Rich Little, Michael J. Fox, Jim Carrey, and Ann Murray.

We also got to visit Roger's Center and watch the Oakland A's battle it out at the Blue Jays. It was a good night of baseball. The Jays took the lead early with a 3 run homer in the first. In the top of the 7th, the Jays were leading 3-1 when Oakland loaded the bases with nobody out. The pitcher made a good play to the plate on a swinging bunt to save a run. Next batter grounded into a double. Then in the bottom of the 7th, the Jays were threatening with runners on 2nd and 3rd. They put the squeeze on, but the batter fouled the bunt back. They ended up scoring with a ground ball and a good slide at the plate. Jays went on to win 5-1. Also, a Backstreet Boy walked by me to get a hot dog. Seriously. Also, the best looking women in Toronto are baseball fans. ;-) Rogers Center is nice! The dome was retracted and the weather
was perfect. Mid to high 70's and breezy.

Cool gadget that you don't need

I was going to make this topic a mini rant. Those are the things that I originally created this blog for, but haven't actually written any since inception. I hate to come back from a hiatus of over a month to rant, but here goes.

I found this on the FatMatrix blog which I subscribe to in Google Reader. It's a cool gadget someone installed on their car that lets you know when someone is in your blind spot. From the description: "In the presence of any approaching vehicle these high intensity pulsed beams get reflected back to the vehicle and is detected by Infrared sensor TSOP 1738.Whereas in the absence of any approaching vehicle no reflected Infrared beam is present and output of TSOP infrared sensor is High. It should be noted that output of TSOP sensor is high when no infrared beam is present and become low in the presence of pulsed (36 KHz) Infrared beam. Thus Software continuously monitors the output of both TSOP sensors and generate alert if there is change in the output of any TSOP sensor. User has option to choice alert on LCD only or user can go for voice alert too."

Cool! Just not needed... just like those goofy little "blind spot" mirrors sold at autopart stores and retailers. I try to explain this concept to people all of the time. If you set your mirrors correctly, you shouldn't have a blind spot. (I'm assuming here that you are not driving some kind of convertible or sports car with little to no rear window visibility, of course.) Before leaving your driveway, follow this simple exercise. Adjust your rearview mirror so that you see out of the rear window. Next, adjust the driver's side mirror so that the last thing you see in the left side of the rearview is the first thing you see in the right side of the driver's side mirror. I don't know why people have a fascination with looking down the side of their vehicle in the side mirrors. THIS DOES YOU NO GOOD! Next, do the same with the passenger's side mirror. This is not as critical since most of these are made for wide angle viewing anyway.

Now, when you are driving down the road, and someone is passing you on the left, you will notice that as they approach you and the front of their vehicle disappears in your rearview, it will appear in the side mirror. Now you can see their rear in one mirror and their front in the other. As they continue to pass and the front of their vehicle disappears out of view in the side mirror, TA DA!, it is now visible through the window next to you in your peripheral vision. No need to ever crane your neck around to check beside you before you change lanes...

That's how your mirrors are supposed to work. Use them. :)

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for extra safety, and I think this a cool gadget that could be incorporated into new vehicle designs cheaply. The bad thing is, people would become even more lazy in adjusting their mirrors and using their best sensory input; their own vision.

Parks closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya.

Time for a major update! Well, just a long one, I guess.

We had a pretty good holiday weekend. We slept in on Friday (of course). That evening we drove to the inlaws for some supper and fireworks. Glenda's mom and dad had fixed quite a spread! There was a big pan of grilled ribeyes, a big pan of grilled chicken, baked beans, squash casserole, loaded baked new potatoes, chips with bean dip, and garlic bread. I stuffed myself silly. Then to top it off, we had homemade vanilla ice cream with Oreo Bon Bons in it. Awesome! Afterwards, we watched the kids shoot some fireworks and then headed home. I can't remember if I played some xbox that night or not. I wanted to try and finish GTA4 this past weekend, but I fell short.

Saturday we slept in even later than Friday. I called the neighbors to see if they wanted to come over and eat dinner with us. They have 3 boys, 1, 3 & 5 (I think) and they all came over to eat and hang out. I grilled some burgers and some bacon-wrapped scallops. We also fixed some garlic pasta, mac & cheese for the kids, and some french fries. Then we fired up the Wii for some Wii Sports action. Reg and Danielle were playing baseball, and Danielle was batting. At one point, she swung the WiiMote to hit the ball, and the oldest boy walked in front of her at the same moment. She nailed him in the back of the head and he went down flat on his face! He was ok, but I know it hurt for a few minutes. It was one of those where you know everyone is ok, and then you can't help but laugh but you try not to. They took the boys home to put them to bed, and then Glenda and I went over to their place for some Taboo. We got home about 1:30am, and I played GTA4 until about 4am.

Sunday we slept in even later... then we got up for a few hours and then went BACK to bed. I finally got up around 7:45pm, and didn't go back to sleep at all. We watched "Deja Vu", I played GTA4 for a bit, and I set up my ARCHOS 705 media player with the plug-in to download my DVR'ed shows from my DishNet receiver via the USB port. I copied about 20 hours worth of movies and shows over to it, so it will be ready when I travel this week.

So, I should crash early tonight since I am running out of steam already and it's only 3pm.

I see where the buyer of my Mustang has upped the selling price on his website. I hope that means that he will soon be leaving me positive feedback on eBay since he hasn't bothered to do so yet.

On a sad note, my neighbor Reg sold his motorcycle. While I'm glad for him, because he kept it over a month and made money off of it, I hate it because we had some nice rides together. Three out of the last four Sundays, not counting this past one, we took a night ride. No traffic to dodge, nice and cool compared to the heat of the day, just relaxing all around. I hope he will be able to buy another one soon, but I think he plans to take care of some bills first so it may be a while before I have a riding partner. My other neighbor Justin sold his also, but he is getting ready to move, so I would not have him as a riding buddy much longer anyway.

No need to thank us. Really.

So I mentioned in my last blog that I now have a flexible spending account credit card that was forced upon me. I realize that at this point I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth because I've had to have some dental work done will be able to use the card for that, but still, I did not choose to participate in a flexible spending account.

When I changed jobs, we looked at the benefits from my new employer and Glenda's employer, and taking the family plan from her employer was much cheaper. They had no restriction that spouses must take their employers insurance if it is available to them (my last employer had this stipulation). One good thing about doing this is that my company reimbursed me a bit of money every month as an incentive.

At the beginning of this year, I get a letter welcoming me to our flexible spending account plan. I'm like, whiskey tango foxtrot people, I didn't sign up for this. I've been blessed in that I've had no major health problems, and I rarely get sick enough to visit a doctor. My only real medical expense that I could claim would be contacts and associated solution. Glenda participates in a FSA because she has a lot of expense associated with her diabetes supplies, so it makes sense for her. A few days later, I get a letter at home explaining that, as a cost saving venture, I would no longer be reimbursed on my paycheck every month, but that a FSA was setup for me and the balance of the year's reimbursals would be added to the account and that I was free to add more pre-tax money to it as I choose.

So, at first, I was really upset that I was being forced into this, and in a way, I'm still upset about that. But, after contemplation, I can see where I should probably start adding more to it each month. I'll be using this year's balance for my dental bill, but Glenda usually ends up spending all of hers by mid year. If I actually contribute pre-tax money to mine, then she can start using it when hers runs dry, effectively saving a bit of money each year.

But still, even though it is overall something I needed to do for myself, I'm kinda ticked off that it was forced on me. I'm like that, though. :-)

Swallet: "It's all good."

For about 5 years now, I've been using a Swallet instead of a wallet. "What is a Swallet?" you ask? Well, it's basically a round piece of neoprene wet suit (or maybe dry suit, I don't know) with a smaller width piece of neoprene with a slightly larger diameter to fit around it. The idea, or rather the idea for me, is to force you to take a minimalistic approach to what you carry around in your wallet, cutting it to basics to make it more convenient and comfortable to carry. It's also great to use for sports and activities, and that is probably the main purpose for it. It floats in water, and the rubber exterior makes it difficult for it to fall out of loose fitting pants pockets.

My longtime friend stumbled across one when a person he was working with was selling them. He bought one and like it so much, he bought me one and gave it to me. Like him, I was skeptical, but willing to try it. I had a bunch of crap in my wallet, and it was hard to come to terms with the fact that I didn't need it all. What wasn't hard to dispute was that the bloated wallet was very uncomfortable to sit on and a pain to carry around. I finally whittled my contents down to my driver's license, 1 credit card, my debit card, insurance card, and some cash. I moved anything else I wanted to keep to my checkbook, and I don't carry that with me much. It took a bit of adjustment, and then I knew I'd never go back.

Well, with my current job, things are a bit more complicated. Added to the Swallet were my business credit card, business calling card, flexible spending account credit card (forced upon me by my employer, which I need to make a blog post about...), & annual safety training card used when I visit plant sites. I've also added about 3 gift cards that I put in there because I kept forgetting them at home and need to use them. This has made the thickness of the Swallet grow too much, and it is getting to the point of feeling like my old wallet.

So today I went and ordered a 2nd one (actually I ordered a few, to either keep as backups, even though this one has lasted and doesn't need replacing, or to give away to friends who want to try one out). My plan is to separate some of the work stuff into the second one and try keeping it in my backpack, or in my left pocket, since I don't put anything in there usually.

So, if anyone is interested, they are only $7 plus shipping. Worth a try, and if you don't like it, you ain't out much. When I called today, he offered me the option of buying 3 for $19.95 and getting 2 free, which I did.