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Today I met my younger daughter and only granddaughter at the Arizona Mills Food Court to have a SUBWAY veggie sandwich and to (maybe) ride on the Merry Go Round. This was a first for the 3 of us together. We had our meal, and watched the large mechanical beasts from afar. Once 2 year old Ashlyn got the concept that people were getting to take rides, she led us all over and picked out her horse (yellow is her favorite color and thank goodness there was exactly one yellow horse). Lindy didn’t trust the “horsebelt” and wisely stood next to her little one, so I got astride a pretty nice looking zebra that was right next door. During the 20 laps we took I noticed several people gawking and laughing at the 50 year old man with black wingtip shoes, button-down shirt, and tie, riding the carousel on his lunch hour. Wooooo hoooooooo.

I have a separate little blog for commenting on books and music, but I’ll place this comment here in the ‘copa area. Just finished a thought-provoking book, What got you here won’t get you there by Marshall Goldsmith. He talks about characteristics of successful people: they know they have been successful, they “know” they are now successful, and believe they will be successful in the future. For the most part, a very good recipe for continued success. But frequently what makes you great at X and Y doesn’t make you equally great at X and Y and Z.

Goldsmith is an executive level coach that uses 360-degree feedback to create personal coaching for successful execs. Usually the CEO has called Goldsmith in because George Successful has a glaring flaw that makes him unpromotable. So the book highlights 20 habits that people may have formed that stand in their way to advance. It might be (not) listening; it might be taking the credit that subordinates deserve; it might be playing favorites; it might be 17 other things.
I read the book once and found lots of reason for introspection. I will definitely read it a second time. Gratefully, it isn’t just a book about how people can get off track; it’s also very explicit in describing what a stymied person can do to get unstuck. I am recommending this book to colleagues that feel stuck, stymied, or want to take their career to the next level. It will benefit those that are willing to take a look in the mirror.

This past week my 86 year old uncle passed way. The funeral is going on right now in Orem, Utah. This morning I read his online obituary — a full and blessed life — and took advantage of the opportunity to see his a picture of his smiling face and sign the virtual guest book. How cool! Not only can I express my wishes for the family, but I can also read what others have posted.

It makes me wonder about a few things. How far will the web go to eventually take away our need to travel? I don’t think it will change the urge to go to the 25th year HS reunion, but what about quasi-obligatory trips like funerals or nursing homes or parent/teacher conferences? The other pondering is about the changing nature of posting almost anonymous comments to sites on the internet. Guestbooks and blogs. My obituary guestbook was purportedly reviewed before it was posted. I wonder who did that, and how it was done? Was it oursourced to India? Or did a computer scan it for spam and profanity? Or is someone working in Salt Lake City over the holiday? I’m not electronically mischevious by nature, mostly because I believe in something like karma, but what if a person wanted to invent scandalous memories about my Uncle Jack and post them? Is it only civility that saves us?
One last thought… has anyone else noticed that the East Valley Tribune no longer appends comments directly to their articles? I thought it was awful that a supposedly researched article could be twisted into pure propaganda by someone posting their “comment” to the article to be read on the same screen. Now there is a comment link on most articles. If you care what someone else has to say, click away. But if you doubt the true worth of some habitual crankypants people, then you can now avoid it. This makes me hopeful.

Uncle Jack was born in 1920. Phoenix was not the largest town in Arizona. Bisbee was a busy hub of commerce. Tempe was not much more than a flour mill and a ferry across the Salt River. Things worked themselves out. Happy Memorial Day.

I stumbled on a site that offers to transform a photo that is uploaded. Check it out here. It let’s you see an uploaded face transformed to be older or younger, of a different ethnic background, or in the styles of two or three distinctive artists. The site has a disclaimer that it is just for fun. The photo above used to be me and now it is a “Modigliani” version. Kinda cool and easy to use.

 
Into the Wild covers the story of a 23 year old that either had a death wish, or simply wasn’t wired in a way that let him participate in what most call normal society. It is a reconstructed story based mostly on the journals and letters of the young man. It made me think about the role that noncomformists sometimes play in moving society. And related to that, is the story of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. As documented in Unforgivable Blackness, he stretched the prevailing society to its limits and never once apologized for living his own life his own way. The most startling part of the book is the language and attitude that mainstream newspapers used in referring to blacks. So, on one hand, things have changed a lot. On the other hand, we still have muslim clerics being escorted from planes being denied passage on US Airlines. The book is a little too meticulously reseached… reading the notes and sidebars interrupts the flow of the story.

November 1st marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I tried it last year, and found myself ill prepared to do anything cohesive or intelligent, so I just typed away. I lost steam at about 12,000 words as I remember. On one hand, it was tremendously liberating to just write and not worry about word choice, sentence structure, or ultimate audience. On the other hand, the outcome was awful and I wouldn’t have shared it with my cat, or even a June bug.

So this year, I am preparing a bit of an outline, and may structure a plot and/or some characters in the two weeks before the start. Then I’ll try again, and be a bit more selective with what I do. If I succeed, some June bug somewhere may have some reading to do in December. Who knows?

Here’s a lovely image of the plant of the season, the hyacinth bean vine. The pods are purple as they can be, and the seeds are a distinctive black and white. I can’t wait to see if they will “winter over” and come back strong in the spring.

I’m reading from a varied stack right now:
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
The Laughing Sutra
Never Check E-mail in the Morning

The first book is doubly interesting. It is a readable account of a professional team being brought together, and it is a book handed to me by Maricopa’s Chancellor. I can’t help reading wondering if there is going to be an assignment or at the very least a discussion.

The second book is a novel, so far very Indiana Jonesish, set in China with a Buddhist backdrop. Recreation at its finest, with the potential for some insights along the way.

The third book is a set of nine competencies to help anyone improve their productivity in our always on, always accessible, Blackberry-in-one-pocket-Treo-in-the-other world. The book contains a pretest, so you can skip the competencies that you have under control. I recommend this book to all. By the way, one of the lessons of the book is in the area of keeping your work/life balance. The author’s admonition is to figure out what your no-brainer short cut is to find joy. Find your short cut, and use it. Often. For me, it’s music. There is an deep tradition of people singing harmony that for me is simply transporting and smile making. Peter, Paul and Mary — Bob Dylan — James Taylor — Roger Clyne — Jayhawks — BoDeans — Redbird.

Also on the nightstand is something by Anita Shreve, and a brush up on Emotional Intelligence. More soon…

One time my dad called, with a proposal that I buy $100 phone cards from him, sell them to people in my network, and he got the commissions, and added MY name to the list of people that get money. (Ponzi scheme? yes.) He said “it’s all about people helping people.” If you know my dad, you know he really meant it.

Well, sometimes, it really is about people helping people. There are some people that helped me get my football tickets, and in plenty of time so I could buy a NEW maroon and gold shirt and go to tonight’s Northwestern game. If you are reading, thanks a bunch for helping a fellow sundevil. I also have a pretty good feeling that NO technology was involved in this improved situation, by the way. Just good people.

Sparky will reward you, I betcha.

While pruning a front yard tree this morning, I had the ironic thought that one good thing about tree trimming is that you almost always get to work in the shade. Of course, in Tempe on Labor Day weekend, it is 100 degrees in that very same shade. And it is similar to the plight of someone that works with information technology. “How so?” you say? “A bit of a leap.” you say? Read on.

I’ve had occasion to feel like a hard working tree trimmer since I left the employ of ASU in October 2004. In some data systems I am an early retiree, in others I am an alum, in others I am parent of a student or alum, in others I am a holder of an e-mail account, and (sometimes) get bulletins about why my ASU issued Blackberry isn’t working, or about a traffic jam caused by the ever present construction on Tempe campus. As an information technology person, I fully understand that different parts of ASU don’t really know what to make of me right now. It is complicated, as life often is. It is mainly complicated because I want to interact with ASU, and ASU wants to interact with me, but the rules of interaction depend on what kind of person I am in ASU’s eyes, and they look at me with different eyes depending on their information technology systems.

A case in point: I have had season tickets to ASU football and basketball for 20 years, as an employee. This year, so far, I have been bounced around and have been unable to obtain my football tickets, despite paying for them. My first interaction came when a fund-raising person called to ask what kind of tickets I held, and did I know about the opportunities to donate to the school (I assume had made the Alumni list for phone contact.) I tersely turned down his request, believing that an adequate information system would let him know that I had been a long time employee, and if I did get a phone call in the middle of dinner, I’d like to talk to someone explaining whether I can retain my season tickets. So, my second call was (seemingly) much better, where I talked to an understanding person, and he said he would make a notation in my file, and all would be fine. (I could here the keyboard clicking, so I felt grand). Then I got a letter from the ASU Foundation/Sun Angels saying that I had not paid a ticket premium for either football or basketball tickets, but they didn’t know which sport, so I should pay what I should know that I need to pay, or they wouldn’t mail my tickets. (I thought, “I must be back on the alumni list, not on the retiree list… just one little flag in the system, no doubt..”) So, I called the ticket office, and another understanding helpful person told me “don’t worry about what the foundation says, I am looking at your record now, and we will mail your tickets.” I procrastinated until this week, and then tried in vain to get through to the ticket office (I am sure they are gonzo swamped with the Temple game, and the awful circumstances surrounding the LSU game this upcoming Saturday.) I could not reach a human being (i did get to listen to a 45 second version of the fight song, which depending on my mood could be a dubious use of technology). I do not have my tickets, but the Devils do have their first victory of the new season. I might be gonzo frustrated if I didn’t realize that the underlying problem is that there are lots of different systems, with my name, rank, and (some kind of) serial number — and they don’t have a category that sums me up. I have a relationship with ASU, it is changing but we both want it to continue, and I am willing to pay whatever is fair for any of the services that ASU is willing to provide.

So, I am pruning in the garden of ASU. Enjoying the shade of my friends, diplomas, colleagues, career, sports memories, and e-mail. Thank you, ASU, for all that you do for me. But won’t it be nice when it isn’t so hot under this tree?