Monday, July 29, 2013

Lead, Follow, Or...

Although it may be rare, there are times when a leader needs to get out of the way...

A few years ago, I was working as the overall project manager where a significant portion of the project was being manufactured in Shanghai, China.


Image courtesy of thepathtraveler at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
 
We had an onsite project manager (who went by Peter) with an engineering background who was very knowledgeable and helpful over the phone and by email. Eventually, my customer wanted to visit Shanghai and check on the status of the project. We scheduled a visit for a week and a half, with the intent that I would show the customer around.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Wacky Wednesday - Angry Birds

If only I ran across this in a store... I think I would be willing to be banned, and I know my kids would.

George Takei's Facebook Page

Monday, July 22, 2013

BLUF



No, the title isn't a misspelling.

In this case I am not talking about a geological formation:

from www.maine.gov


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Wacky Wednesday -

Well, sometimes it's something thin that separates a meal and danger... or maybe it's just keeping you from your meal...

From George Takei's Facebook page

Monday, July 15, 2013

Vacation - and Lessons Learned

Well, as I posted the day before Independence Day, I was in a location with spotty internet. I was on vacation and traveled to see my in-laws; in Denver, Colorado.  I didn't want to post online, for security reasons. There was internet access, but I ran into internet firewall issues, and then no connection at all. We spent the first couple of days at the sister-in-law's house, then camping in the mountains, to return back to the house and then home to Houston. If you want to see some cool pictures, go to my wife's blog: Erin's Creative Energy. But here is a quick family photo:

wife and kids
It was the kids first camping trip, and they had a blast.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Spotty Internet

Well, I hate to admit this, but I am currently having to deal with very intermittent Internet access, hence the lack of posting. Here are some quick lessons learned from this experience:

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. I typically write posts on the Sunday before the week. I now realize that I should build some posts in advance and schedule the release in order to ensure that there is new content on my site. I will shoot for a 4 week library, in order to ensure that you don't run out of at least some content again.

2. Internet is not uniform where ever you go. I was working off a new service provider, and ran into two issues: a firewall issue when connecting to a VPN, and an issue with the reliability of the network. End result was that in order to do some of my regular work, I needed to find a local provider different from the common provider of the area, because the firewall appears to be universal for that provider. After hitting a variety of fast-food restaurants, I sat outside a Starbucks and finished my critical work (although there is always more to do).

So, I will explain what happened in my next blog post. Otherwise, have a great 4th of July, enjoy the weather if you can, and I'll talk with you again next week!