New Ride

For the past few months, Dana and I have been looking at cars, and for those of you who know us, you know we can't agree on much of anything when it comes to vehicles. That all changed Monday night when we went to Boose Chevrolet in Brookville and fell in love the 2009 Chevy Impala SS. Look at the photos and judge for yourself. What's not to love? 5.3 liter V8 engine (yes, V8 and still front wheel drive), 18 inch rims, low profile tires, gray leather interior. Oh, and did I tell you it's fast? You won't see it in your rear view mirror much, we'll be past you before you get a second glance.

We just picked it up this evening. We had them add the paint protection and Scotch Guard the interior.

Check out all the photos on my Flicker Site by clicking here. Click on any of the photos here to enlarge them.

Junior High Band Concert

Pictures Around The Office

Bob Crosen and Summer Bair - 2-26-09

New Camera - Finally

Stopped at Best Buy on the way home this evening and got my new Canon PowerShot SX10 IS. Totally cool! 10 megapixel with 20x Optical zoom.

Monday Again

Feeling a bit under the weather today. Everyone at work has been sick, so I guess it's finally my turn.

Our team won the sales contest, woo-hoo!!! More cash rewards soon to be added to our pockets.

Today's photo is from my office looking out from the third floor towards the corner of 741 and 725. When it snowed, it was really quite beautiful to look out on.

Saturday Morning

Dana got up and let me sleep in a little while and tried her best to keep the dogs out of our room, but Holly decided to sleep in with me. Dana took this photo when she came to get me up. Holly must have heard her walking down the hall.

Team Sales Contest - Day 3

We shoot, and we score the Hat Trick!!! For 3 days in a row, we have won our groups team sales contest. It's been fun, and we are getting a lot of positive energy going on the floor.

I will post pictures of the winning team each day. Friday is the last day for this contest. Come on Bair Team, Alicia, Lawrence and I are getting tired of having our picture taken.

Team Sales Contest - Day 2

Recognize the smiling faces from yesterday? That's right, we won again.

From left to right, we have Lawrence "Clicks Package" Long, Alicia "Big Money" Leeper, and me, "Internet Bundle" Davison.

Will we get the Hat Trick for Wednesday's sales? It's looking good so far.

Team Sales Contest

Our team of 9 members broke into teams of 3 this week for a sales contest. Monday's results are just as I thought they would be, we won the day Monday, and looks like we took the lead today as well!

We're #1! We're #1! We're #1!

Why Don't We Laugh More Often?

I know the economy sucks right now. I know Wall Street, Bankers and the Politicians are all a bunch of crooks that only care about saving their sorry selves right now. But does that mean we shouldn't laugh often and loud on a daily basis?

Everyone has stress in their lives. I usually deal with mine by laughing or trying to make others laugh. I know people are suffering every day out there, but tell someone a good joke now and then when they are down, it may be enough to take the focus off of their problems, if only for a moment.

OK, I'll start. Did you hear about the perverted Plastic Surgeon? He "Hung" himself. If you don't get that one, you're probably too young to be reading my BLOG anyway.

Root Cause of Poor Software Design

Been a while since I posted, and of all things, I'm going to rant about software.

I was discussing a software issue with a few folks the other day, and we started talking about how such a seemingly small fix could make the lives of so many users easier. Having spent part of my life programming for a living, I think most were shocked when I said it wasn' the fault of the programmer, but internal political BS that kept progress from being made. So sad, but unfortunately true.

I spent the better part of 3 weeks on the road in the late 90's traveling all over the Southern part of the country, as well as the Eastern seaboard talking to users of an order entry system we had rolled out, asking how to make it better, easier, and more acceptable to how they did their jobs. Most users were supportive of the system if we could make improvements, make certain tweeks here and there. I was young and foolish enough to believe the company would actually do what we were telling folks our mission was about. 2 other teams did the same thing in different parts of the country. I was pumped up about making the system better for everyone.

Some suggestions were crap, people who just wanted to moan about changing to a new system vs. an old system they had used for more than a decade (on mainframe terminals no less). These people would still be cranking their cars to start them if they had their way. But for the people who were showing what the systems potential was, and were documenting issues were the ones we were most excited to work with because they had embraced the change and wanted the same thing we did.

OK,a month later, after endless miles on the road, probably no less than $100,000.00 (I'm probably underestimating this number) it's time to meet with all the division heads to present the results, prioritize, and start making the progress we just told the end users about.

First off, pricing feels threatened because of some of the changes we want to make. They can't wield the kind of control over sales and manufacturing they previously had, so they dig in and kill every attempt to change how we do things concerning pricing. Next, manufacturing does the same thing. If we can automate some of these processes, jobs are probably going to be cut, or people may have to move to other areas of the company. No, manufacturing isn't going to be helpful about this at all. It's now time for sales to chime in, and they're pissed off the most. We have made the old manual pricing and order placement system they have manipulated for years into an automated system with pricing that is fair across the board. No longer can they shop their work to our plants, or subcontractors just to put more money in their pocket, the system routes work to the correct plant at the correct price. This won't do for them either. How are they going to buy a new Mercedes next year if the can't manipulate the list price of their orders and put the money in their pockets? My god, don't these computer people know how much a Mercedes costs?

So what has happened to this multi-million dollar system the company has spent the past few years working on? It's a mediocre piece of shit that had the potential to have a significant impact with proven cost savings that could have helped the company thrive instead of being on the edge of oblivion. It will never be more than a glorified order taker.

So, the next time you think about how poorly something works, just remember that someone probably has had a good intention of fixing it, but the political atmosphere is preventing it from happening. Most programmers want their code to work, but don't stand a chance against the managers and directors of the people that actually use the systems. They are the real obstacles with software design and implementation.

Maybe that's why open source systems work so well. Makes you really think.

Ski Trip Update...

...I had a BLAST! I will absolutely do it again, hopefully at least once more this year if time permits. I had a few spills, but nothing serious. After lunch I was swooshing down the intermediate slope and having a great time. I'm including photographic proof that I don't have a cast on any part of my body.

Ski Trip to Perfect North

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day. For everyone who made their quota last month, our victory party celebration is going to be held at Perfect North Slopes. I have never been on skis in my life, so this should be exciting and scary as hell. I grew up ice skating, but somehow have never tried snow skiing. We have a choice of skis or snowboards. Tubing is allowed, but not until after 4:00 PM through the week. I'm driving one of the 4 vans that we are renting, hope I'm not too sore from all the fun when it's time to go.

Haven't posted for a while, I know. Life has been busy. I have started Twittering again, so you can see what I'm up to on there by following http://twitter.com/davidadavison

I'm going to promote Whole Wheat Radio again by saying that my wonderful wife Dana got me one of their coffee mugs for Christmas, and I love it! It was one of my favorite gifts this year. Jim even sent me a few CD's and a Talkeetna bumper sticker that is proudly displayed in my home office. I have been playing around there, tagging songs and getting my feet wet on their Wiki. Pretty cool once you get a feel for it. I've been downloading Jimbob's podcasts (er, audio-magazines as he calls them) and listening to them on the commute home from work a few times a week. His rants are great, if you haven't listened to one you should check it out. And if you haven't listened to the music, you really should check it out. Great music on a non-hype internet radio station that's more of a community where friends gather. Yes, even an aging Metal-Head like me can enjoy it.

OK, time to get all my clothes ready for tomorrow.

New Years Day - 2009

With Kyle, my nephews Raymond, Billy & Jesse. Getting ready to go eat pizza at Marions in Englewood.

Early Present From Kyle

Kyle got me this book for Christmas, "How to Raise a Jewish Dog". He and Dana saw it on one of our weekly trips to Barnes & Noble and knew I would enjoy it.

Kyle does his best Bootsy Collins Impersonation

Another Friday night jam session. Somehow, when we wear sunglasses, we play better. Seriously. Also, who looks better in the hat, me or Kyle? Vote now by leaving a comment! I think Kyle wins, hands down, but I thought I would throw it out there to the folks that actually read this BLOG.

Oh, notice Holly winking at the camera? She's wishing she had some drums to join in with us.

Updating Whole Wheat Radio WIKI

OK Jim, you wanted more people to update the WIKI, I'm accepting the challenge. I'm taking a little time each day, usually in the early morning before leaving for work, but here's photographic proof of me tagging songs. As I figure out more about the WIKI, I will do more.

More photos with no price increase to you...

Photos from Saturday.

Kyle is 14 today!

Some photos of our dinner at Red Lobster to celebrate and Kyle with his new Jazz Bass setup.

Friday Night

Not a lot going on today. Went to Fiesta Charra in Eaton for dinner and they were crowded. Then we came home, watched a little TV, then Dana and I headed to our repective home offices. I upgraded NeoOffice on my Mac systems while listening to Whole Wheat Radio.