Take Your Child To Work Day

Andrew at Dad’s Desk working hard

Take your child to work day came and went this year and my company opted not to have the “traditional” program that they have been having for years.  The e-mail that I got from HR said that it was becasue of the current economic climate.  That, I guess is understandable, but I had a bigger problem that needed to be tended to.  I have a son who has been waiting for three years (since he was five) to come to work with Dad. 

Now at then end of his wait, my company has decided that they were not going to do their custmoary “Take Your Child To Work Day” program.   Well , for me that posed a problem.  Now I had a problem that I was not going to be able to keep. 

Andrew and “the boss” Arnie

Being a dad, there was just no way I was going to let my son down if I could do something about it.  So…. the gears started  turning and and I went in to talk to my boss.  I explained the sitution to him and asked him if he would mind if I brought Andrew in for his own take your child to work day.  He had a blast.  I won’t steal his thunder and give you all of the specifics because he has written a report that you will be able to view on his website once he has it ready.  So what follows is a picture essay of  the day (kinda sorta) in the order of when the picutres were taken and people were met.  Enjoy!

Dad running through the early morning checklist

 

Yes? Can I help you with something?

 

Andrew hard at work

 

Dad’s snack bin, a little bare today

 

The famous “SNOOPY” corner

 

Andrew and Venky Rao

 

Andrew and Lance Hagen

 

Andrew and Tony Baxter

 

Andrew and Lashaun Ijeomah

 

Andrew and Dennis Phipps

 

Andrew and Alex Bloyce

 

Andrew and Curtis Orpin

 

Andrew and Kim Ross

 

Andrew and Mike Wright

 

Dad’s unshod feet. “Comfy” at work!

 

Arnie and Andrew investigate a bug

 

Dad and Andrew testing software

 

Andrew and Rob Hadaway

Dieting again…..

Well, I would say that I am going to try this diet thing again, but I am not going to try, I am going to do it!  However, I am not using the Imponderable One blog to track the progress this time.  I have started a blog that is geared specifically for my weight loss.  So please visit my weight loss blog often! 23 pounds or more in 4 months is the goal.  And then the goal is maintain that weight with a 5 pound margin of gain allowable, as long as I keep going down.  Your comments are not only welcome, but much desired.

Grace’s Birthday

Well its that time again in the Rolle house.  Of course, as big as our house is “that time” comes 8 times a year!  “That time” is Birthday time.

Grace, our oldest daughter turned 11 years old today!  So far it has proven to be a very interesting day indeed!  It all started last night when my wife asked me to make  a birthday card.  That was going to take a big chunk of time out of what I had planned, but some things just have been sacrificed for birthdays.  Soooooooo long about 1:30 in the morning (after all, I did have to wait until it was her birthday) I started making “the card”  I made a card with a picture of cows on the front and the inside read:  “Have an udderly wonderful day.”  Then it was time for the next step……

In the dark of night (OK, well morning) I went out the shed where Grace’s brand new Bicycle with hand brakes had been hidden amongst the other adult bikes for two days!  I walked that up the patio and hid it behind a wooden house that we have on the patio (Note:  There will be a post coming about the three day construction project on that house soon.).  When we were done with breakfast, I told Grace she had to go out on the patio and over behind the house so that I could “get things ready” inside for her surprise.   Well as daughters who really don’t want to do something are prone to do, she tired talking me into different options:

• Can I sit on the glider (on the deck) and read
• Do I have to put my shoes on

she just wasn’t getting it and was just a bit sour…. Hee Hee.

Finally, she got her shoes on, though reluctantly….. probably thinking, Oh boy…. what a birthday.  They’re making me go outside.”    Well as she rounded the side of the play house she saw the bike and began running back!  You’d have thought somebody or something scared her—but no!   She had to come back and retrieve her bicycle helmet.  Not only did she have a brand new bike with hand brakes, but she got an added bonus of 18 variable speeds!  If you lived in Woodbridge, VA you would understand just how necessary those are.

Here is a movie of Grace riding her brand new Bike:  I think she likes it.

I got a few still shots too.

Well, not to be left out, Andrew and Charity had a surprise for her too!  We only had one quick rehearsal, so when they didn’t get the ending of t he song quite right and Charity took it among herself to correct Andrew and then they did the ending over again…..Here is the video of that for your enjoyment.

You can’t see what’s in the bags, but they each gave her 4 Reeses peanut butter cups.

Now Grace and Mom are upstairs and in the process of making her Birthday cake!  Can’t wait until tonight after dinner (Which Grace has decided will be subs from Subway) so that we cut into the cake.  I might add another picture or two tonight with the cake cutting, etc.

Quality Assurance is so much fun!

I test computer software for a living.  I think it’s a lot of fun because I actually go to work for the sole purpose of breaking something!  What a way to get your frustrations out, huh?  Well no, not really.  In fact, sometimes it can make you that much more frustrated.  But then there are days like today.   Here I am, Mr. QA, trying to test the search functionality of my product.  I type in a search (not realizing that I had a typo in my search).  The search had to pull up all documents that contained each of these words:  health education AND welfare.  Well, I was typing so fast that I did not realize that I had a typo.  I left the “L” out of the word “health.”  So my search had to find documents that had the words heath education and welfare.  Well, the funny part of all of this is that I got 5 hits!!!!  Amongt the hundreds of thousands of documents that were searched, there were actually 5 documents that had education and welfare spelled correctly; AND the health spelled incorrectly as heath!  Here I was having a slow morning and not finding any errors and the Lord directed my fingers and showed me five at one time to make up for the day!

Paper Tray Empty

This happens to me so often that I just had to put a blog entry in about it.  God has arranged with my company that my cubicle is the one that is just outside of the copier/work room.  Pretty covenient, huh?  Well yeah, when I want to grab something off of the copier or when I need office supplies from the work room.  So, wherein lies the problem?  Herein lies the problem…… everybody thinks that I am the  copier administrator.   Is there such a thing?  Yes, where does he sit?  On the OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOR.  Ridiculous, right?  Well not exactly, there is a carbon copy of the copier/workroom on his side of the floor too, but he is responsible for both.

So, anytime anyone has any problem with the copier machine, guess who they ask.  And, of course, I have nothing else to do except to work on my latest multi-million dollar project (shame I don’t get commission—I’d even take 1%!).  So I get up and leave all of my files open and unsecured while I go and help them solve the latest problem.  Who do I wind up helping the most?  People who get paid 2 – 3 times more than I do.  You got it– the managers.  Yep, the folks who run the company can’t run the copier.

Today’s incident is one that really blew me away.  I went back and forth in the copy room to get my output for my project.  I can do this because we have two copiers in each room:  The Big fancy, shmancy, do-everything-that-I-need-to-my-copies-and-do-it-quickly machine, and then the older, a little smaller, not much slower, but not as fancy machine.  Only 7 people on my floor use this copier–I know because I get to setup the users since nobody else can figure out how–No not even the copier administrator!.

When I hear people having problems with the big fancy copier, I direct my output to the other one.  It’s a bit fun watching folks turn their heads as I go and get my out put and leave.  Most are too proud to ask for help, so I eventually offer it—eventually!   Today I enjoyed hearing them discussing the message on the mahine that said “Paper Tray Empty–Load Paper.”  It blows my mind how many people don’t read the whole message or how many people just don’t use logic.  Today they were saying:  “Paper Tray empty?  The paper tray is full.”  If one is full, wouldn’t it stand to reason that there is an empty one somewhere if that is what the copier is indicating?  Well, I let this go  on for about 10 minutes before I offered the bailout (No nothing like the 700 Billion dollar gov’t bailout for the financial industry—that might be another post if I can get over the nausea and write it).

I went into the copier room…

ME:  “You know, if you get enough people in on of these rooms you can solve just about anything.  I’ve heard people work through Einstein’s theory of relativity in here!  So what’s the problem?” (as if I didn’t know).

Lady #1: “it says (notice the copier being personified) paper tray empty.  The paper tray is not empty.  We (I’m sure it took them both) just put 1,500 sheets of paper in it!”

ME:  So, I replied….”Hmmmm, you know the problem with these things is that copiers these days are made with no less than a gazillion paper trays.  Which one does it says is empty?”

Lady #2: “Which one?”

ME:  “Let me have a look….Oh OK, the message reads:  Refill paper tray 1.”

Lady #1:  “How am I supposed to know which one is paper tray 1″

ME:  “Don’t take  it from me, but I think it has something to do with these numbers that are on the paper trays.  Looks like you put 1,500 sheets in paper tray 4.”

I opened paper tray one and, sure enough, it was empty!  Imagine that!  So we (thats the collective we now–more like ME) put paper in paper tray one and the copier thanked everybody  and went about its business of doing what it was told to do—–now that the stupid humans did what they were requested to do.  So, the next time you walk into a copier room and you see a bunch of people stading around the copier dumbfounded….just go ahead and ask….. “Paper tray empty?” But be careful, you might become the copier administrator!

We now return our regularly scheduled multi-million dollar project.

Amazon it? Give me a break!

Come on folks!  Give a dude a break!  Most of you who have been reading the content of my blog know that I have a pet peeve about people who turn words into verbs when they are not (Google for example.  See my post on that one!).  Or changing the name of populare or house hold names (like Xerox to mean copy or Kleenex to mean tissue.)  Well just when I least expected it another such term cropped up on me yesterday.   When is it ever going to end?

I was had just gotten off of the bus and was walking with a friend of mine who works in the same general area and frequently sits next to me on the way home.  He was trying to tell me about  a book that he was reading that he thought that I would be particularly interested in.  Sure I said.  What’s it about.   So he proceeded to tell me about the subject matter of the book— nothing bad, but definitely NOT up my alley — and as we parted (he turns right and I go on two more blocks before my turn–though you neeed to know that ) but as I was saying… as we parted he told me that if I was interested in getting the book I could look up the author (and he gave me his name) and told me all I had to do was Amazon him!   ARRRRRGH, how my skin began to crawl when he said that.  Amazon IS NOT A VERB!!!!!!  I’m sorry, it might even be a household name at this point…. but it IS NOT a verb!  I don’t care if Merriam Webster decides it is, just as it has decided with Google.  Amazon is not a verb.  Did I happen to mention that Amazon is not a verb?  Oh, OK, I didn’t want to forget.  So, at least for me, I would like it to be said that I am never going to be “Amazoning” ANYTHING; particularly because Amazon is not a verb!  I will go to Amazon, just as I would to Google, and I will search for products—and perhaps even buy something.  But I will not “Amazon it.  In closing I would simple like to say, and have it know; in the event that I have not been to clear in expressing it….. Amazon is NOT a verb.

Bagel Widda Shmear!

I grew up in New York City.  That allowed me to have some singular experiences, particularly in the area of ethnic-related incidents.  I have always had a very large appetite for bagels with cream cheese since my early teen years.  Now there are some place that really go heavy on the cream cheese and I don’t care for that!  A nice medium layer will do for me — thank you very much.  But I was reminded of all of this because I am sitting here eating my Bagel with cream cheese (OK, I admit its the second one this week) right now.  Things are so much different now.  Now you walk into the store, buy your bagel, cream cheese, and, if you choose, your beverage ( a pint of Tropicana OJ, Home style with some pulp for me!), you toast it yourself, put on your own cream cheese and off you go.  (Well I do all of my prep at the office, not the store).

I can remember walking into one of the Jewish Deli’s in downtown New York and ordering a bagel with cream cheese.  The person taking your order would turn around and yell (this was before orders were computerized) “Bagel widda shmear!”  I never really knew what it was that they were saying, but I always got what I wanted.   Of course that was when a bagel was a plain old bagel too!  Now you have Onion, Garlic, Cinnamon Raisin, Pumpernickel, Blueberry, Everything (which has some of everything on it!)…. the list goes on and on!  Oh yeah, and if you desire… Plain!

Well, one day I was in one of my favorites Delis with a Jewish friend and when he placed his order he said the same thing as they did:  “Bagel widda shmear!”  So, seeing my opportunity, I asked, “What in the world are you saying?  I understand the Bagel part, but what kind of language is “widda shmear?”  Well, he informed me that it was all in English.  The literal translation is ‘Bagel with a smear of cream cheese.” beccause they take the cream cheese and smear it onto the bagel.  I had just been educated.  Imagine the looks I got when I ( a young black teen ager) walked into my Delis and (accent and all) ordered, “Bagel widda shmear!”

The reactions were priceless!  Well, just something I remembered from my past that I thought I’d share.

Canceling Superpass

The ONLY reason I’m putting this on my blog is because I know that every now and then Google picks up tid bits from blog and they are searchable on the internet (a configurable option.  You DO NOT have to have this turned on if you don’t want to).

My wife asked me about a charge on our bank statement from RN Superpass.  The Lord had allowed me to see exactly what superpass came from the night before while I was watching something using Real Player.   So at first, I didn’t know what she was talking about and starting to get bothered because of something else I was going to have to track down.  Then the Lord brought the information back to mind.

Now I knew what I had to cancel, but you won’t believe how hard it was to cancel it!   The more you try to cancel the stupid service the harder they try to sell it.  My download and start of the service was inadvertent.  I picked it up when I put real player on my “not so new anymore” laptop and, most likely, forgot to check/un-check a box somewhere.  Since this is still the middle of the billing cycle the rep told me I had $10.00 in free downloads I could still use.  My thought:  “Great!  I’ll see if there is anything worth downloading.”  BUT!!!!!!!!!! Then I would have to reply to his cancellation e-mail to let them know that I really wanted to cancel it!  Of course, we argued back and forth until I realized that the real issue was the $10.00 in free downloads.  So I said,  “Listen.  I want the service terminated with THIS call.  I don’t want to have to do something else AFTER I get off of the phone, so keep your $10.00 in downloads.  Don’t you know he tried to push even harder!!!!   I almost lost my testimony over this one.

Finally, although it was against his will, I got him to see eye with me.  CANCEL NOW!  No matter what language you spoke (and no, his first language was NOT english…..are you surprised?) the message should have come across clearly in that two word statement.   So I got to get a laugh out of the whole thing because he puts in the cancellation request and takes off the $10.00 in free downloads and it STILL does not take effect until the beginning of the next billing cycle!  But I don’t have to do anything else and no other charges will show up on my bill.

Are YOU having problem canceling your Super Pass subscription (That you probably didn’t know you got?)  First:  Go to this URL:  http://service.real.com/contact/help.html?product=subs

Second:  Scroll down to the bottom middle and follow the instruction in the Cancel Subscription box.

Third:  When you get a rep online, don’t fall for the sales pitch, just cancel, cancel, cancel now!

Good Luck to you!

You know? Right? Know what I’m saying?

Have you ever had a conversation with somebody who continually questions you through out the entire thing?…and I mean the ENTIRE conversation; instead of just saying what it is that they have say.  Its not like you have to agree with everything that they said.  If you’re standing there having a conversation chances are very good that you hear them.  At least most people who don’t hear you will tell you they don’t…or ask about something if they need to.

There are three of these little sayings that bother me the  most and I will briefly expound on them (Ha!) for you in my own unique way.  The three phrases are You know? Right? and Know what I’m saying…or sayin’.  well, here goes nothing…actually something……

There are these three sayings, RIGHT?. And I just wanted to tell you about them today because they really drive me crazy, YOU KNOW? Yet it seems more and more people are using them these days because…..well, I’m not sure why.   I guess that they just want to have a conversation with themselves, KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN’? I was just having a conversation yesterday, RIGHT? I mean you do agree with what I’m saying, RIGHT? And the person that I was talking to kept going on and on and questioning me after almost every sentence, YOU KNOW? I was really getting tired of it, KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN?

It reminded me of when I was in college, YOU KNOW? I had this teacher, RIGHT? His name was Mr. Facos, RIGHT? And he was the instructor for my impromptu speaking class, YOU KNOW? Well, he made us count OUT LOUD every time somebody said UHHHH or UMMMM while they were speaking, RIGHT? If you have ever spoken in front of any sized group that can be nerve racking, KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING? So you stopped saying UHHH and UMMM just so that people didn’t interrupt your speech, YOU KNOW? RIGHT? KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN?

I Don’t want to brag, KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN’? but I was one of those people who just did NOT use the UHHH and UMMMM word much after my first speech, RIGHT? It is a learned behavior, YOU KNOW, and you can unlearn it, RIGHT? Especially when you have some incentive, KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN? Well if I was taking his class in our present day and time I’m sure he would be counting how many times people say YOU KNOW? and RIGHT? KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING? You don’t?  What do you mean I wasn’t saying anything?  You can read what have typed, RIGHT? (whoa that one might be legit!).  I hate it when I do that. KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN’? Anyway, “Back to the ranch.”   He always got side tracked; Mr. Facos used to say that all the time, YOU KNOW? So, like I was saying…This guy that I was talking to kept throwing out these little questions and finally I asked him…Hey!  Jim (name changed to protect the guilty).  You’re not having a conversation with me.  You’re interrogating me.  KNOW WHAT I’M SAYIN? You’ll have to talk to me later.

People can have a conversation without adding a question to the end of every sentence, RIGHT? I sure do hope so because it really drives me crazy to have to listen to, YOU KNOW? Perhaps they need to look in the mirror and run the conversation by themselves before they go and talk to somebody else.  That just might lessen the amout of questions (at least by one or two) that they ask when talking to someone else.  KNOW WHAT I’M SAYING?

Starting Over

Well, its been a long time, but I’m back.  I have found out that I am fighting a battle with my medication over the weight issue.  So, I’m starting over from my current weight and taking it a little slower and giving myself time to cave every now and then.  Not an impossible battle to win, but a difficult one.  On top of which with some mild to intermediate depression (that doesn’t always come through because I fake it well) and I just don’t care if I lose the weight or control my choloesterol or a host of other things.  Well, I’m trying to work my way out of all that but its a long road.  I’ve started writing again so that is a good sign.   Check my writing blog in a bit for some updated material.  Pray for me…the road is uphill and there are many battles yet!