August 27, 2008
Dear Everyone:
Last week I (finally!) spent two days in a class to
learn how to use the new Software that is supposed to solve all our
problems. It won’t, of
course, solve all our problems.
In fact, it has caused so many problems that users will not be
required to use it. Instead,
they will be encouraged to “adopt” it.
However, in order to encourage people to use it, we need to be
able to show them how it works.
Hence the two-day class.
The instructor, who works for another company that
is contracted to do the training, freely admitted that the class
normally takes four days.
But we only had two days, so she went through the materials at
Warp
Speed. Consequently, I’m
still not sure what to do or how.
But I’m willing to take a shot at it.
Especially since our work group now has its own “Site”.
A Site is actually a web site with special tools
for handling things. You
don’t have to be a Webmaster to create a sub-site; in fact I’ve already
created two sub-sites in an effort to illustrate how the Enterprise File
Plan (EFP) that we spent the last two years developing will work in the
Software. And I have a
really big 3-ring binder filled with instructions on how to do other
things, like document workspaces, and Team Discussions and, of course,
wikis and
blogs.
(By the way,
for anyone who doesn’t know what “blog” means, it’s short for “Web Log”.
People started writing routine reports on their web sites about
what was going on and “web log” contracted into “blog”.)
In other news…
Back in early June, when I was coming down with a
nasty cold, the handle on the upstairs
toilet broke.
I heard something hit the floor (and later found it with my foot)
and suddenly the handle, instead of being in a horizontal position, was
sort of pointing at the ceiling.
However, it still worked, with a little extra
effort (you had to hold it down until the flapper fell back into
position so the chain wouldn’t get caught under it.)
And I wasn’t feeling well, so I let it go.
Then my back went out and I wasn’t about to try
anything that might require leaning over for several weeks.
Then the infamous incident involving a certain
two-and-a-half-year-old kid and “classic viral Stomach Flu.”
Somewhere along the way I did stop at the Big
Hardware Warehouse Store and get a replacement handle.
I just didn’t get around to doing anything with it.
Until last Sunday, when the excuses ran out.
I got a pair of pliers and figured out what “counter-clockwise”
was supposed to mean. Once I
got the old, broken, handle off, it was ridiculously easy to replace.
And ridiculously difficult.
The instructions read simply, “Replace the chain.”
What the instructions didn’t say was, “Make sure your thumbnails
don’t get too wet or they won’t be strong enough to hold the catch open
while you stand on your head trying to get the chain over the hole in
the end of the arm.”
Nevertheless, the toilet is fixed.
Score one for the homeowner.
Love, as always,
Pete
PS.
Programming Note: I’ll be on
vacation next week. I’m
driving up to meet some friends in
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