I’ve found at least three things. Only one though that paid what I thought the job was actually worth.
Fixing, building, welding and/or painting vehicles was definitely the first thing I loved getting paid to do. . . and I did that with great enthusiasm until about 1979. I loved (and still do) the way a project car just 'comes to life' as the last nuts and bolts are tightend.
After that I found I loved getting paid to teach, and it really didn’t matter what the subject was, what mattered was seeing that ‘light’ go off in a students head. . . and knowing I got paid, was earning a living, to get the joy and satisfaction of seeing that happen.
While I loved both of those jobs, neither paid close to what I felt the skills were worth.
My teaching career lasted until 1985, when with the computer business booming, I got hired to bring my computer skills (I'd become quite interested in all thing computer while teaching) to teaching customers how to use computers, and more specifically to use things like WordStar, Lotus 123, Wordperfect and dBaseII. . . That very quickly morphed into building systems, from simple Lotus 'macros' to full on accounting applications.
For the next 20+ years I’ve loved the work of being in the computer business. I’ve been in, and out of virtually every aspect of it. Most of the things I got involved in however were simply to help me keep doing the one thing I really loved, designing, and then building, business software applications.
From the moment I delivered that first business system to Bill Beck, my future was cast. That look of surprise on the office manager’s face, the smile on Bill’s face, told me all I needed to know. This was not only something I was good at, enjoyed doing and found challenging, it was also something that paid pretty well, and that customers were (almost) happy to pay for.
This was not a ‘luxury’ like a custom paint job, these were mission critical business tools. Not only were they less likely to be ‘cut’ if times were a bit lean, there was actually a real possibility projects like theses would be stepped up to build competitive advantage in lean times.
So what made it ‘Ok’ with me, made it seem reasonable to alter this seemingly wonderful career path I’ve been on?
I think there are a lot of small, yet contributing, reasons, but, the one that keeps coming back to me is the ‘design’ aspect of development.
It’s always been the design piece I really loved, building something in my mind, writing it up, drawing it out and conveying that dream to someone else as we set about to build it.
So, today, in my new role as a business analyst, drawing up those business needs, drafting that requirements document, and then conveying not only the words but the spirit’ of those words to a development team *is* my job. I’m responsible for seeing that the application becomes a useful tool, ties into the overall vision of related applications, and the over all business plans of the company. All of this while still meeting the very real business needs of an entire industry. . .
Pretty cool stuff the more I think about it.
The more I think about it, the more I realize I’ve just made a natural transition.
Back in the day, there wasn’t ‘specialization’ we were all generalists. We had to do a little bit of everything as there was not enough work (or enough people) for someone doing ‘just one thing’. I watched many startups come and go who claimed they were going to alter the business model, stick to strictly development, or only do the design work. I modeled my operations more like a ‘Design/Build’ construction business. (I’m sure it helped that I had a half dozen or so customers in exactly that business).
Today, with ‘offshoring’ and now (can you believe it?) ‘OnShoring’ becoming such a large part of the development environment, there’s less and less opportunity for the ‘design/build’ generalist. We’re in an age of specialists when it comes to things computer…
I had a choice I guess, continue to try and find those few projects that required a generalist who could do a little bit of it all, or, find another way to stay gainfully employed for the next decade or so…
When this chance came along, I’m not sure I really saw it for what it is. It’s a chance to continue to design software, design it in a way that makes a difference to the company, the user and the industry. I’ve always been a ‘business guy’, I just wore the “puter guy” hat because it let me do something I loved, and get paid to do so.
That’s what I’ve been doing, the real difference is, that now, once I’m done with the design, I can watch it being built, and make necessary adjustments (hopefully small ones) in the process as the product materializes.
Maybe it’s true… do what you love, everything else will fall into place… any thoughts?
Technorati Tags: Work - Comfort - Decisions - Development
-IceRocket Tags: Development - Decisions - Comfort - Work
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
It’s Father’s Day again. . .
Every year around this time I find myself thinking back, and thinking about my Dad specifically.
It’s often hard for me to write about him. Not because there isn’t anything to write, but, because just thinking about him often brings home how very much, I still miss him. I find myself, at times, as I write, actually having to stop, to wipe away tears that make it hard to see.
My Dad was a great guy. He had faults, and I, at one time or another triggered every one he had I’m sure… if I didn’t, it sure wasn’t for a lack of trying on my part.
I spent many, many, years trying to get out “from under his shadow”… I’d give anything today to have just that shadow cross my eyes one more time.
I do wonder sometimes though how he would have faired as this country shifted into a nation of people offended by every little thing… He was a man disposed to action, not talk, and swift action, or maybe better yet, reaction when things went awry.
Years ago, as in almost 40 years ago, in the fall, about the time the first snow fell in Upstate New York, the store he managed would experience what we called the “Tire Rush”.
It seemed every car owner in town would show up that morning and line up to get a pair of “snow tires” (anyone else remember those?) put on.
I remember this one year, I had to be 17 or 18, we were in the middle of this ‘rush’ which was so crazy we workers didn’t get to break for lunch, instead he’d send out for burgers and cokes and we’d all work and grab a bite between cars (I’ll bet you don’t see much of that any happening these days either).
One of the standard things on the work order in those days, was a note indicating what the customer wanted done with the ‘take offs’ (the tires you removed from the rims to install the snow tires). Many customers would have us pull the front tires, put the new snow tires on those rims and rotate the back tires to the front, so these instructions were clearly spelled out.
(In the days of rear wheel drive cars, most folks had the best tires on the driving wheels.)
Some people had us throw away the old tires, others wanted them put in the trunk to use again in the spring (remember cars with a trunk large enough for two full sized tires?)…
Anyway, back to the story. We pulled a car in, and it stated clearly on the work order this woman wanted the tires placed in her trunk. However, in the heat of battle, the tire buster (that’s the guy who actually removed and installed the tires on the rims) had some sort of brain fart and tossed the tires on the cast off pile instead. No one noticed what he’d done at the time, and as there were two of us balancing and removing and reinstalling wheels on the cars while he put tires on the rims, it wasn’t hard to miss.
An hour or so later though, the woman returns to the store after discovering her tires were not placed in the trunk as requested. I remember Bernie Zanowski, the tire salesman came out and talked to the guy who was at the tire machine, an argument ensued and ended with Bernie exiting the garage and slamming the door.
Now as a little background, Bernie was one of those guys who could sell ice water to a drowning man… I once saw him sell a refrigerator to a man who didn’t have electricity… and he was a very hard worker as well, and had been with the company for probably 20 plus years… He also had a very loyal clientele, people who came to the store year after year, and asked for him by name. He remembered every one of those folks too. If Bernie sold you something, he’d remember you forever.
So back to the story…
About 2 minutes later, Bernie, the customer and my Dad come walking into the garage.
There’s about a 45 second conversation, and the next thing I know Dad’s got this guy by the collar and the belt, and literally tosses him into the used tire pile (which by the way is like ten feet high and 20 foot around at the base).. along with the admonition “… and don’t come out of there until you’ve found this woman’s tires!! Come see me when you’re done.”
I was instantly promoted to tire changer (tire buster), my buddy Mark moved up to the balance machine and one of the other stock boys got shown how to use the air wrench.
The beat went on… snow tires continued to get installed…. Barely a blip in the action…
Eventually the guy found the woman’s tires, we loaded them in her trunk and she drove off. The guy went in the store to talk to Dad, he never returned to the shop that day, or any other day for that matter.
Justice was swift in Dad’s domain. This guy was fairly new, less than a month on the job, and he’d broken the two fundamental rules:
1. The customer is always right
2. Do NOT argue with the boss
I wonder today how that would have to be handled.
A week or so before that happened, on the way home from work one night I’d mentioned that this guy was working pretty hard, my Dad’s response was “A new broom always sweeps clean”.
He went on to explain that anyone can handle the normal days, it’s the crazy days (like the tire rush) that sorts folks out… it certainly sorted this guy out.
There was the other side of Dad’s coin too… I also remember Christmas Eve (that same year I think), it was probably around 6:00pm, we’d locked up the store, made the bank deposit filled out the reports, etc. and were headed for the front door and home when the phone rang.
Uncharacteristically, Dad answered the phone, thinking it might be Mom wanting him to pick up something on the way home.
It wasn’t Mom though, it was a customer and the guy on the phone was panicked, he was supposed to have picked up his kids Christmas toys from Lay-a-Way on his way home (remember Lay-a-way?) but, he’d stopped off after work for a couple of holiday beers with his co-workers and had lost track of time.
He was obviously drunk, but said that he could be at the store in 30 minutes.
Now Christmas Eve was one of my Dad’s favorite nights. It not only signaled the end of the shopping season and six weeks of 12 hour days, but, it was “family time”.
At our house, Christmas Eve meant all the kids were home, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, friends and even shirt-tail relatives came over for the evening, and around 11:30 we’d all go to “Midnight Mass” after the get together… He truly looked forward to this night all year. It continued every year I can remember until he died.
I watched his face as he talked to this guy on the phone, listened as he explained *he* had a family waiting for him too… but in the end, he told the guy to come on over.
We waited, for nearly an hour before the guy finally arrived, got him his stuff and after we helped him load his car, headed home, late, ourselves.
On the drive, as usual, he explained why he did what he did. I don’t recall asking, but he was prone to just saying what was on his mind as we drove.
“I was thinking about the kids” he said to me, “and their faces tomorrow morning if there were no toys. I just couldn’t stand the thought of those kids being disappointed.”
He went on to explain to me, that while a man has to be able to go out, have some fun, and drink a cold beer with his friends, he can never forget his obligations, his promises.
“Billy” he said “It’s not always so much what you *do* that will define you as a man, but, often, it’s what you don’t do because you’ve already made another promise that will define you.”
That, my friends, is why I don’t make promises I can’t keep.
Happy Father’s Day Dad!! You are still very much missed.
Technorati Tags: Dad - Comfort - Decisions - Life
-IceRocket Tags: Life - Decisions - Comfort - Dad
It’s often hard for me to write about him. Not because there isn’t anything to write, but, because just thinking about him often brings home how very much, I still miss him. I find myself, at times, as I write, actually having to stop, to wipe away tears that make it hard to see.
My Dad was a great guy. He had faults, and I, at one time or another triggered every one he had I’m sure… if I didn’t, it sure wasn’t for a lack of trying on my part.
I spent many, many, years trying to get out “from under his shadow”… I’d give anything today to have just that shadow cross my eyes one more time.
I do wonder sometimes though how he would have faired as this country shifted into a nation of people offended by every little thing… He was a man disposed to action, not talk, and swift action, or maybe better yet, reaction when things went awry.
Years ago, as in almost 40 years ago, in the fall, about the time the first snow fell in Upstate New York, the store he managed would experience what we called the “Tire Rush”.
It seemed every car owner in town would show up that morning and line up to get a pair of “snow tires” (anyone else remember those?) put on.
I remember this one year, I had to be 17 or 18, we were in the middle of this ‘rush’ which was so crazy we workers didn’t get to break for lunch, instead he’d send out for burgers and cokes and we’d all work and grab a bite between cars (I’ll bet you don’t see much of that any happening these days either).
One of the standard things on the work order in those days, was a note indicating what the customer wanted done with the ‘take offs’ (the tires you removed from the rims to install the snow tires). Many customers would have us pull the front tires, put the new snow tires on those rims and rotate the back tires to the front, so these instructions were clearly spelled out.
(In the days of rear wheel drive cars, most folks had the best tires on the driving wheels.)
Some people had us throw away the old tires, others wanted them put in the trunk to use again in the spring (remember cars with a trunk large enough for two full sized tires?)…
Anyway, back to the story. We pulled a car in, and it stated clearly on the work order this woman wanted the tires placed in her trunk. However, in the heat of battle, the tire buster (that’s the guy who actually removed and installed the tires on the rims) had some sort of brain fart and tossed the tires on the cast off pile instead. No one noticed what he’d done at the time, and as there were two of us balancing and removing and reinstalling wheels on the cars while he put tires on the rims, it wasn’t hard to miss.
An hour or so later though, the woman returns to the store after discovering her tires were not placed in the trunk as requested. I remember Bernie Zanowski, the tire salesman came out and talked to the guy who was at the tire machine, an argument ensued and ended with Bernie exiting the garage and slamming the door.
Now as a little background, Bernie was one of those guys who could sell ice water to a drowning man… I once saw him sell a refrigerator to a man who didn’t have electricity… and he was a very hard worker as well, and had been with the company for probably 20 plus years… He also had a very loyal clientele, people who came to the store year after year, and asked for him by name. He remembered every one of those folks too. If Bernie sold you something, he’d remember you forever.
So back to the story…
About 2 minutes later, Bernie, the customer and my Dad come walking into the garage.
There’s about a 45 second conversation, and the next thing I know Dad’s got this guy by the collar and the belt, and literally tosses him into the used tire pile (which by the way is like ten feet high and 20 foot around at the base).. along with the admonition “… and don’t come out of there until you’ve found this woman’s tires!! Come see me when you’re done.”
I was instantly promoted to tire changer (tire buster), my buddy Mark moved up to the balance machine and one of the other stock boys got shown how to use the air wrench.
The beat went on… snow tires continued to get installed…. Barely a blip in the action…
Eventually the guy found the woman’s tires, we loaded them in her trunk and she drove off. The guy went in the store to talk to Dad, he never returned to the shop that day, or any other day for that matter.
Justice was swift in Dad’s domain. This guy was fairly new, less than a month on the job, and he’d broken the two fundamental rules:
1. The customer is always right
2. Do NOT argue with the boss
I wonder today how that would have to be handled.
A week or so before that happened, on the way home from work one night I’d mentioned that this guy was working pretty hard, my Dad’s response was “A new broom always sweeps clean”.
He went on to explain that anyone can handle the normal days, it’s the crazy days (like the tire rush) that sorts folks out… it certainly sorted this guy out.
There was the other side of Dad’s coin too… I also remember Christmas Eve (that same year I think), it was probably around 6:00pm, we’d locked up the store, made the bank deposit filled out the reports, etc. and were headed for the front door and home when the phone rang.
Uncharacteristically, Dad answered the phone, thinking it might be Mom wanting him to pick up something on the way home.
It wasn’t Mom though, it was a customer and the guy on the phone was panicked, he was supposed to have picked up his kids Christmas toys from Lay-a-Way on his way home (remember Lay-a-way?) but, he’d stopped off after work for a couple of holiday beers with his co-workers and had lost track of time.
He was obviously drunk, but said that he could be at the store in 30 minutes.
Now Christmas Eve was one of my Dad’s favorite nights. It not only signaled the end of the shopping season and six weeks of 12 hour days, but, it was “family time”.
At our house, Christmas Eve meant all the kids were home, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, friends and even shirt-tail relatives came over for the evening, and around 11:30 we’d all go to “Midnight Mass” after the get together… He truly looked forward to this night all year. It continued every year I can remember until he died.
I watched his face as he talked to this guy on the phone, listened as he explained *he* had a family waiting for him too… but in the end, he told the guy to come on over.
We waited, for nearly an hour before the guy finally arrived, got him his stuff and after we helped him load his car, headed home, late, ourselves.
On the drive, as usual, he explained why he did what he did. I don’t recall asking, but he was prone to just saying what was on his mind as we drove.
“I was thinking about the kids” he said to me, “and their faces tomorrow morning if there were no toys. I just couldn’t stand the thought of those kids being disappointed.”
He went on to explain to me, that while a man has to be able to go out, have some fun, and drink a cold beer with his friends, he can never forget his obligations, his promises.
“Billy” he said “It’s not always so much what you *do* that will define you as a man, but, often, it’s what you don’t do because you’ve already made another promise that will define you.”
That, my friends, is why I don’t make promises I can’t keep.
Happy Father’s Day Dad!! You are still very much missed.
Technorati Tags: Dad - Comfort - Decisions - Life
-IceRocket Tags: Life - Decisions - Comfort - Dad
Sunday, March 25, 2007
What Have I Been Up To? . . .
Since the last post?
Well, primarily I’ve been working for the Railroads, my workload there has been, well, let’s just say, overwhelming, this month. There were several tight deadlines, and some areas of responsibility that were fairly new to me as well.
Those combined with my “Not a problem, I can handle it” attitude got me in some trouble around mid-month… I know, me, Mr. “I deliver on time”… finally got himself in trouble and missed a deadline… that may not be a big deal to some of you, but, it was a big deal to me.
I’m happy to say the team I work with, really, and I mean really, stepped up to the plate to help me bring this one phase in, and get the project back in the green. For someone (me) who has had little success in getting help from others (with a few notable exceptions) this was a wonderful turn of events.
In another phase, I’ve completed a data model and an application in VB.Net to allow folks to analyze what they’ve been working on. It’s comprised of one basic form, with a tab control, thirteen tabs each with various views of aspects of the data model. There’s even a context sensitive column search feature that’s activated on a right mouse-click.
How did I get that done, with everything else on my plate? One word, “Infragistics”.
These folks have a slogan “Powering the presentation layer”… from where I sit, they definitely do! If you’re involved with .Net, and are looking for a controls toolbox that functions in Windows, or Web, applications check this company out, for my money they’re definitely the real deal.
In my spare time, I’ve been working on, believe it or not, preparing a commercial VFP application for delivery. A very well known paint company contracted with me to help them with this project earlier this year, but, things didn’t really start heating up until mid-February, and then got very serious, when, in the middle of my other crisis.
Just this past week I worked over 50 hours for the RR’s and another 30 on the project for the paint company… my entire month of March has been a series of 70-80 hour work weeks. I’m not complaining mind you, just recognizing that old saying “When it rains, it pours!”
In talking with some of the other team member on the paint project, I’m pretty confident we have a shippable product now. We’ve converted the application to VFP9, added a software licensing process, altered how some internal password functionality is derived and in general done a decent ‘cleanup’ on the product.
Again, great team, excellent communications and hard work by everyone got this pulled together in time.
My friend Ken Sheldon (remember Ken?) and I had been planning to get together this weekend and hit a bowling alley, roll a few games and, in general just catch up with one another. On Wednesday, as I was looking at some additional tight deadlines (changes to the RR application for a Friday demo, and the fast approaching shipping deadline for the paint company, I was seriously considering postponing our plans.
At some point however, I realized that I always do that, let the work interfere with my personal life. I’ve been doing it for 25 years, Ken would have understood, he knows me and my dedication… about that same time I decided that four or five hours out of the weekend, to enjoy some time with an old friend (Ken and I have know each other 20 years, this year, and we’ve worked together at 3 different times over those years), was something I definitely needed to do.
So at about 8:00am on Saturday he and I headed out to Buffaloe Lanes in Cary. (Yes, that’s how they spell it… as Ken would say, from the Dan Quayle school of spelling).
When we got there, a youth league was in full swing, all 32 lanes in use by kids in the age range of 5-10 it appeared. Well we stood around and talked, and watched the kids bowl for an hour or so, and decided we’d reserve a pair of lanes for when the first pair freed up. As we were talking to the folks, one of them said “No one showed up on 27/28, let them have the pair”
So we were off and rolling (literally).
I’m happy to report that Ken has finally beaten me in bowling; in fact he gave me a sound ‘thrashing’… I averaged about 146, he averaged 198… The only other time he and I bowled together it was in Liverpool, NY.. I had probably the best three game series in my life, he had one of his worst… and I’ve hung on to that victory for over a decade… I’m just so glad that we got out again, and he won, it gives an excuse for a rematch!! Hey, he’s a great bowler, I’m just glad he’s not embarrassed to be seen rolling with me!
So what do ya think folks.. a strange month for sure… I’m neck deep in both VFP and .Net, Microsoft announces the end of VFP yet I’m working like a mad man to keep up…
Two lessons here for me…
1st, you should always make time for friends and family.. It’s worth every second of the time
2nd, hard work, and great team members can accomplish amazing results, especially when you let the team know you need their help.
Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - .Net - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - .Net - Visual FoxPro
Well, primarily I’ve been working for the Railroads, my workload there has been, well, let’s just say, overwhelming, this month. There were several tight deadlines, and some areas of responsibility that were fairly new to me as well.
Those combined with my “Not a problem, I can handle it” attitude got me in some trouble around mid-month… I know, me, Mr. “I deliver on time”… finally got himself in trouble and missed a deadline… that may not be a big deal to some of you, but, it was a big deal to me.
I’m happy to say the team I work with, really, and I mean really, stepped up to the plate to help me bring this one phase in, and get the project back in the green. For someone (me) who has had little success in getting help from others (with a few notable exceptions) this was a wonderful turn of events.
In another phase, I’ve completed a data model and an application in VB.Net to allow folks to analyze what they’ve been working on. It’s comprised of one basic form, with a tab control, thirteen tabs each with various views of aspects of the data model. There’s even a context sensitive column search feature that’s activated on a right mouse-click.
How did I get that done, with everything else on my plate? One word, “Infragistics”.
These folks have a slogan “Powering the presentation layer”… from where I sit, they definitely do! If you’re involved with .Net, and are looking for a controls toolbox that functions in Windows, or Web, applications check this company out, for my money they’re definitely the real deal.
In my spare time, I’ve been working on, believe it or not, preparing a commercial VFP application for delivery. A very well known paint company contracted with me to help them with this project earlier this year, but, things didn’t really start heating up until mid-February, and then got very serious, when, in the middle of my other crisis.
Just this past week I worked over 50 hours for the RR’s and another 30 on the project for the paint company… my entire month of March has been a series of 70-80 hour work weeks. I’m not complaining mind you, just recognizing that old saying “When it rains, it pours!”
In talking with some of the other team member on the paint project, I’m pretty confident we have a shippable product now. We’ve converted the application to VFP9, added a software licensing process, altered how some internal password functionality is derived and in general done a decent ‘cleanup’ on the product.
Again, great team, excellent communications and hard work by everyone got this pulled together in time.
My friend Ken Sheldon (remember Ken?) and I had been planning to get together this weekend and hit a bowling alley, roll a few games and, in general just catch up with one another. On Wednesday, as I was looking at some additional tight deadlines (changes to the RR application for a Friday demo, and the fast approaching shipping deadline for the paint company, I was seriously considering postponing our plans.
At some point however, I realized that I always do that, let the work interfere with my personal life. I’ve been doing it for 25 years, Ken would have understood, he knows me and my dedication… about that same time I decided that four or five hours out of the weekend, to enjoy some time with an old friend (Ken and I have know each other 20 years, this year, and we’ve worked together at 3 different times over those years), was something I definitely needed to do.
So at about 8:00am on Saturday he and I headed out to Buffaloe Lanes in Cary. (Yes, that’s how they spell it… as Ken would say, from the Dan Quayle school of spelling).
When we got there, a youth league was in full swing, all 32 lanes in use by kids in the age range of 5-10 it appeared. Well we stood around and talked, and watched the kids bowl for an hour or so, and decided we’d reserve a pair of lanes for when the first pair freed up. As we were talking to the folks, one of them said “No one showed up on 27/28, let them have the pair”
So we were off and rolling (literally).
I’m happy to report that Ken has finally beaten me in bowling; in fact he gave me a sound ‘thrashing’… I averaged about 146, he averaged 198… The only other time he and I bowled together it was in Liverpool, NY.. I had probably the best three game series in my life, he had one of his worst… and I’ve hung on to that victory for over a decade… I’m just so glad that we got out again, and he won, it gives an excuse for a rematch!! Hey, he’s a great bowler, I’m just glad he’s not embarrassed to be seen rolling with me!
So what do ya think folks.. a strange month for sure… I’m neck deep in both VFP and .Net, Microsoft announces the end of VFP yet I’m working like a mad man to keep up…
Two lessons here for me…
1st, you should always make time for friends and family.. It’s worth every second of the time
2nd, hard work, and great team members can accomplish amazing results, especially when you let the team know you need their help.
So how has your March been?
Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - .Net - Decisions - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Decisions - .Net - Visual FoxPro
Monday, January 15, 2007
Working in an art museum….and other tidbits…
I had the good fortune to be able to visit the corporate headquarters of BNSF Railway in Ft. Worth, TX this past week.
I say good fortune because, well, the place is simply amazing. Every wall, in every area of the building I saw, is decorated with American art, old paintings, drawings, photographs and pieces of American railroad history. Their lobby/reception area is adorned with museum type glass cases that are filled with over 150 years of railroad artifacts.
I was told, the collection that literally covers every common wall area in the building, is second only to the Smithsonian in size.
In my career, I’ve been to 100’s of corporate offices, many that held large, expensive pieces of art…. But nothing, anywhere I’ve ever been, compared to this.
We spent several days this trip at the Texas Motor Speedway, and those of you who know me, also know, that to a motor head like me, that, in and of itself would be a real treat. However, the few hours spent at the BNSF Railway headquarters on Friday were definitely the highlight of the trip for me. I was, and remain, amazed at what I saw there.
I don’t know if they allow visitors, or give tours, but if you’re in the Ft. Worth area, I’d suggest checking on the possibility if you’re even remotely interested in this sort of thing.
On an entirely separate front, those of you who check out the comments pages, may have noticed the first comment on my Dog Whispering post. It was supposedly from one of the producers of the show who was also co-authoring Cesar Millan’s new book.
I’m sure you all thought exactly what I thought… “Yeah, right”… or something to that effect. I’ve certainly gotten all sorts of, shall I say ‘interesting’ comments, in addition to the ones my regular readers leave. I responded politely, and did send a follow up email.
I remained skeptical however, until Saturday morning.
On Saturday I received an email from the executive producer of the Dog Whisperer show, letting me know I’d be seeing a release document this week, thanking me for being willing to let them use my post, and so on.
This may, or may not, lead to anything further in my dream of writing for a living, but, if it all works out, being noticed by Melissa (a very accomplished writer in her own regard) and being included in the book’s success story section is fairly flattering!
Stay tuned, I’ll definitely keep you posted on both the progress, and on the release date for Cesar’s new book.
Work-wise, things are pretty much, situation normal… no change in employment status, but I continue to work, and be billable, one week at a time. I am looking into a gig in New Hampshire however. It’s a ways from home, but, it’s a FoxPro focused gig and pretty decent rates as well. I’ve submitted all of my info, and now we’re in the wait and see phase.
In this phase, while the company is checking out my skills and experience, I check out the cost of apartments (furnished) etc and what sort of costs I’ll incur to take on the gig. If everything works out, as in a total “win-win” situation, I’ll earn more, after expenses than I am now, and, my skills will match their needs fairly closely.
Stay tuned on this as well. I’ll definitely keep you all posted.
Other than traveling, working, and attempting to relax in the time I’ve had off, not all that much else has been going on. Maryan continues to get better, Lulu has become a wonderful member of the household and, in general, life is good and I continue to feel lucky despite some speed bumps along the road.
Then again, regardless of how lucky I might be feeling today… I’m thinking these guys are feeling even more fortunate!! (The pictures were emailed to me, they are definitely NOT mine! I do not know who actually took them.)
Thompson River Derailment
More Info
One More Story
There are a lot of opinions about railroads, and railroad safety. I’m pretty sure about this however; CN developed a new cab design, that involved ‘Armor Plating’ the front of the cab, in order to better protect the crew in the cab in the event of an accident. I’d say, from these, and the other photos I’ve seen, as well as the fact that neither of the crew men were seriously injured, that the design worked very well!
Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Trains - Pets - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Pets - Trains - Visual FoxPro
I say good fortune because, well, the place is simply amazing. Every wall, in every area of the building I saw, is decorated with American art, old paintings, drawings, photographs and pieces of American railroad history. Their lobby/reception area is adorned with museum type glass cases that are filled with over 150 years of railroad artifacts.
I was told, the collection that literally covers every common wall area in the building, is second only to the Smithsonian in size.
In my career, I’ve been to 100’s of corporate offices, many that held large, expensive pieces of art…. But nothing, anywhere I’ve ever been, compared to this.
We spent several days this trip at the Texas Motor Speedway, and those of you who know me, also know, that to a motor head like me, that, in and of itself would be a real treat. However, the few hours spent at the BNSF Railway headquarters on Friday were definitely the highlight of the trip for me. I was, and remain, amazed at what I saw there.
I don’t know if they allow visitors, or give tours, but if you’re in the Ft. Worth area, I’d suggest checking on the possibility if you’re even remotely interested in this sort of thing.
*----------------------------------*
On an entirely separate front, those of you who check out the comments pages, may have noticed the first comment on my Dog Whispering post. It was supposedly from one of the producers of the show who was also co-authoring Cesar Millan’s new book.
I’m sure you all thought exactly what I thought… “Yeah, right”… or something to that effect. I’ve certainly gotten all sorts of, shall I say ‘interesting’ comments, in addition to the ones my regular readers leave. I responded politely, and did send a follow up email.
I remained skeptical however, until Saturday morning.
On Saturday I received an email from the executive producer of the Dog Whisperer show, letting me know I’d be seeing a release document this week, thanking me for being willing to let them use my post, and so on.
This may, or may not, lead to anything further in my dream of writing for a living, but, if it all works out, being noticed by Melissa (a very accomplished writer in her own regard) and being included in the book’s success story section is fairly flattering!
Stay tuned, I’ll definitely keep you posted on both the progress, and on the release date for Cesar’s new book.
*----------------------------------*
Work-wise, things are pretty much, situation normal… no change in employment status, but I continue to work, and be billable, one week at a time. I am looking into a gig in New Hampshire however. It’s a ways from home, but, it’s a FoxPro focused gig and pretty decent rates as well. I’ve submitted all of my info, and now we’re in the wait and see phase.
In this phase, while the company is checking out my skills and experience, I check out the cost of apartments (furnished) etc and what sort of costs I’ll incur to take on the gig. If everything works out, as in a total “win-win” situation, I’ll earn more, after expenses than I am now, and, my skills will match their needs fairly closely.
Stay tuned on this as well. I’ll definitely keep you all posted.
*----------------------------------*
Other than traveling, working, and attempting to relax in the time I’ve had off, not all that much else has been going on. Maryan continues to get better, Lulu has become a wonderful member of the household and, in general, life is good and I continue to feel lucky despite some speed bumps along the road.
Then again, regardless of how lucky I might be feeling today… I’m thinking these guys are feeling even more fortunate!! (The pictures were emailed to me, they are definitely NOT mine! I do not know who actually took them.)
Thompson River Derailment
More Info
One More Story
There are a lot of opinions about railroads, and railroad safety. I’m pretty sure about this however; CN developed a new cab design, that involved ‘Armor Plating’ the front of the cab, in order to better protect the crew in the cab in the event of an accident. I’d say, from these, and the other photos I’ve seen, as well as the fact that neither of the crew men were seriously injured, that the design worked very well!
Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Trains - Pets - Software Development
-IceRocket Tags: Software Development - Pets - Trains - Visual FoxPro
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Welding Project. . .
Ok.. so I know I've continued to be a very bad blogger... long absences... but honestly I've been very busy.
Work has been absolutely crazy busy. We're deploying the second phase of a year long development effort next Tuesday. This is an application used across the rail industry to not only track but to also aid in maintaining the health of all of the 1.8 million (that's right *million*) pieces of active railroad equipment on the tracks today.
Testing this application, identifying issues, suggesting improvements and writing the user guides has pretty much occupied my every waking moment for the month of November.
I'm doing web casts next week to demonstarte all of the new features to our customers as well as running internal demonstrations and training for our customer service folks. So I had to develop all of thos scripts this month as well.
Now I could have started earlier, but the application didn't exit development until the 9th and I wanted to include only the most current screen images in the documentation.
So that's my excuse for not blogging... but, I did take about a day and a half out to build myself an 'extension' for my welding cart. (Hence the title of this post)
Anyway... when I got my new MIG welder a couple of years ago, it came with a small cart. It was nice that they included it in the 'package', but a couple of things have always bugged me about that cart.
First, while it rolls quite easily, there was no handle so it was always an adventure navigating it to where I wanted to use it in the garage.
Second, there were no built in 'hooks' to hang the various cable and cords, or the welding helmet from.
So, when I recently acquired a used Plasma cutter (I traded a woodsplitter I had for it) I decided that instead of getting a separate cart for the cutter, I'd build an extension for the existing cart, and, while I was at it fix the two things that always bugged me.
Before I started in on this project the cart looked like this...
The first thing I did was to build the outside frame rails. The trick here was to make them exactly the same size, with perfectly square corners and such that the top edges were level to the rest of the cart.
Once that was done, I added two cross braces. One in the front, and one in back. The only real trick here was keeping the outsides aligned and making sure I had room to open the side access panel on the welder so I'd be able to change the wire without removing the welder from the cart.
In the second picture below you can also see the difference in the length of the front and rear 'legs' of the frame rails. While having these unequal sides made aligning everything a bit more difficult it allowed me to better balance the additional load of the plasma cutter on the cart.
Then I added a handle. I angled it forward about 30 degrees, to ease access to the front panel of the plasma cutter, and just to lower the handle height a bit.
After I had everthing tack welded and lined up, I attached the 'legs' to the existing cart and finished welding all of the seams. Securing the legs to the cart helped keep everything aligned during this final welding as one of the problems in welding up a 3D object like this is the tendancy for the tubing to warp as it's heated and cooled.
I also added the 'pan' that the plasma cutter will sit on.
Once everything had cooled, I removed the new frame from the cart, ground the welds, cleaned and sanded all the steel and painted it a satin black to match the rest of the cart.
In these next two pictures you can see the four 'hooks' I added to allow me to hang the cables and cords when they're not in use.
Once the paint had dried overnight, I reassembled the frame to the cart and began storing the cable and cords on the 'hooks' I'd installed.
So there you have it... one customized welding cart...
Interestingly enough though, I hardly had it all put away before I started thinking about a couple of other 'enhancements' I should have made!!
Oh, and lest you think I'm so talented that this all went together without a hitch... the truth is it took me two tries, the first try warped during the final welding as I'd forgotten how steel will do that if it's not prevented from doing so byt being held in place!!
I've missed you all and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! With any luck, starting towards the end of next week I'll have time to blog on a more regular basis.
Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Welding - Tools - Home Shop
-IceRocket Tags: Home Shop - Tools - Welding - Visual FoxPro
Work has been absolutely crazy busy. We're deploying the second phase of a year long development effort next Tuesday. This is an application used across the rail industry to not only track but to also aid in maintaining the health of all of the 1.8 million (that's right *million*) pieces of active railroad equipment on the tracks today.
Testing this application, identifying issues, suggesting improvements and writing the user guides has pretty much occupied my every waking moment for the month of November.
I'm doing web casts next week to demonstarte all of the new features to our customers as well as running internal demonstrations and training for our customer service folks. So I had to develop all of thos scripts this month as well.
Now I could have started earlier, but the application didn't exit development until the 9th and I wanted to include only the most current screen images in the documentation.
So that's my excuse for not blogging... but, I did take about a day and a half out to build myself an 'extension' for my welding cart. (Hence the title of this post)
Anyway... when I got my new MIG welder a couple of years ago, it came with a small cart. It was nice that they included it in the 'package', but a couple of things have always bugged me about that cart.
First, while it rolls quite easily, there was no handle so it was always an adventure navigating it to where I wanted to use it in the garage.
Second, there were no built in 'hooks' to hang the various cable and cords, or the welding helmet from.
So, when I recently acquired a used Plasma cutter (I traded a woodsplitter I had for it) I decided that instead of getting a separate cart for the cutter, I'd build an extension for the existing cart, and, while I was at it fix the two things that always bugged me.
Before I started in on this project the cart looked like this...
The first thing I did was to build the outside frame rails. The trick here was to make them exactly the same size, with perfectly square corners and such that the top edges were level to the rest of the cart.
Once that was done, I added two cross braces. One in the front, and one in back. The only real trick here was keeping the outsides aligned and making sure I had room to open the side access panel on the welder so I'd be able to change the wire without removing the welder from the cart.
In the second picture below you can also see the difference in the length of the front and rear 'legs' of the frame rails. While having these unequal sides made aligning everything a bit more difficult it allowed me to better balance the additional load of the plasma cutter on the cart.
Then I added a handle. I angled it forward about 30 degrees, to ease access to the front panel of the plasma cutter, and just to lower the handle height a bit.
After I had everthing tack welded and lined up, I attached the 'legs' to the existing cart and finished welding all of the seams. Securing the legs to the cart helped keep everything aligned during this final welding as one of the problems in welding up a 3D object like this is the tendancy for the tubing to warp as it's heated and cooled.
I also added the 'pan' that the plasma cutter will sit on.
Once everything had cooled, I removed the new frame from the cart, ground the welds, cleaned and sanded all the steel and painted it a satin black to match the rest of the cart.
In these next two pictures you can see the four 'hooks' I added to allow me to hang the cables and cords when they're not in use.
Once the paint had dried overnight, I reassembled the frame to the cart and began storing the cable and cords on the 'hooks' I'd installed.
So there you have it... one customized welding cart...
Interestingly enough though, I hardly had it all put away before I started thinking about a couple of other 'enhancements' I should have made!!
Oh, and lest you think I'm so talented that this all went together without a hitch... the truth is it took me two tries, the first try warped during the final welding as I'd forgotten how steel will do that if it's not prevented from doing so byt being held in place!!
I've missed you all and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! With any luck, starting towards the end of next week I'll have time to blog on a more regular basis.
Technorati Tags: Visual FoxPro - Welding - Tools - Home Shop
-IceRocket Tags: Home Shop - Tools - Welding - Visual FoxPro
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