January 11, 2007
Dear Everyone:
I actually managed to declare a couple of projects completed during my last two weeks at work in December. Or at least my part of them. This is good because there is a huge project starting up now. It’s called GIL3.
GIL stands for “Global Information Link” which means, more or less, that we are a global company (53,000 people in 183 countries) linked to each other by means of information. Specifically, linked by computers.
The first GIL project, simply called “GIL”, was intended to standardize the computer world at work. Everyone would have the same kind of machine. Anyone could sit down at a computer anywhere in the world and the machine would be just like the one back at their office.
Everyone would have the same “core bundle” of software applications. Everyone would have the same email system, the same version of Word, Excel, etc. And no one would be allowed to just install anything they wanted on their computer.
Almost everyone, myself included, said, “It will never work.” Too many mavericks who just have to have some special application that won’t be compatible with the “core bundle”. Not to mention the cost of junking thousands of virtually brand new computers to be replaced by the GIL machines.
Nevertheless, it did work. It worked so well that a few years later (following the Another Company merger), they did GIL2. This incarnation concentrated on stabilizing the network throughout the company. Again, working machines were scrapped so that everyone would be using the same type of servers (specialized computers that make the network work.) And, again, it worked.
So now we’re doing it again. Everyone will get the same machines, with the same version of Windows and the same “core bundle” of software applications. GIL3 is going to concentrate on how people will manage their electronic documents. Up until now, most everyone stored their Word docs and Excel spreadsheets, etc. on those servers that GIL2 provided.
And therein lies the mess. Back in the days of paper records, you sent your stuff to a centralized file room and people who were trained filed it for you. When you needed your stuff, you contacted the file room and they found it for you. Now it’s every person for his/herself.
Some people recognized the need for organization and that’s why we have electronicdocument management systems. But a lot of people just stick things out on the server and can’t find them when they need them. (“Let’s see. What did I call it and where did I park it?”)
GIL3 will address this problem and I’m on the File Plan team. We’re the ones who (supposedly) will come up with a filing system that will fit everyone’s needs, globally and locally. Doesn’t that sound like fun?
OK, enough of that. Movies…
“Jeannie” and I saw
The Holiday
the Saturday before her birthday.
Cameron Diaz
and Kate Winslet
play fabulously wealthy women with man troubles.
Amanda (Diaz) makes trailers for
They decide to swap houses over the Christmas holiday. In no time, Amanda has fallen for Iris’s brother, Graham (Jude Law) and Iris is making friends with Miles (Jack Black in a surprisingly appealing performance) who composes music for movies. Iris also makes friends with her temporary neighbor, Arthur (Eli Wallach at 91), who was a screen writer back in the day.
Of course the whole thing is completely predictable. It’s a pleasant bit of romantic fluff and I expect it’s not in theaters anymore. So add it to your list of movies in the “romantic fluff” category the next time you want to rent one.
Night at the Museum. Many, many years ago, Mother told me about a book written by Thorne Smith, the author of Topper. In it, a museum would come to life at night. I thought this movie might be a (very) loose adaptation of that, but it’s not. It’s based on a different book written by a different author.
I also knew “Jeannie” would not want to see it, so I went by myself. Ben Stiller plays Larry, a divorced dad whose many attempts at employment always seem to fall through. Stiller’s mother, Anne Meara, plays the employment agent who sends him to the museum of natural history.
When he gets there, he finds three old guys, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs, who he will replace as a cost-cutting measure. They leave him with some tattered pages of a “manual”. They don’t really warn him what’s going to happen.
Due to some ancient Egyptian curse, all the exhibits come alive at night. Robin Williams plays Teddy Roosevelt, complete with horse, who fills Larry in on the secret. Stiller is entertaining as he tries to cope with the situation, as well as with a remarkably inarticulate museum director.
In desperation, Larry spends his days hanging out a the bookstore, reading books like The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Attila the Hun. But he catches on quickly and things get lively. It’s a fun film and the kids would probably like it, even if they’re not sure who all the historical characters are.
Love, as always,
Pete
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