It's 10 o clock, and I'm nowhere near tired.
The sun set hours ago, but still the mountains are lit by the storm raging on the other side. Torrential rain to the south. Snow to the north. And a sweeping wind here, with a smell of rain on the air. I sit in a coffee house. Drinking a peaberry coffee from Tanzania. I love African coffee. Birthplace of a worldwide passion. My friend is dead. It hits me from time to time. I sit drinking and reading... listening to Mule Variations by Tom Waits. What a moving album. I so seldom sit and listen to a full work anymore. Very few of the destinations I'm required to visit are more than a half hour away. I don't use my headphones like I did in earlier years. I guess I'm required to participate in my world more now. This is how I want to write. This is how I want to think. I need this time. Time away. I think about Jim. How strong he was. I feel like giving a eulogy, but I know that there's no way to attend his funeral. And even if I could, I don't know that they'd let me talk. After all, I only knew him. Not his family. But all the same I wish I could stress how he died. How it was different than almost everyone else I see die. How he died on his feet. Jim died trying to live. Trying to regain a life that he let go of years before. He knew that Paula would've wanted him to drop his excuses, drop his fears, and make a mad dash for life with everything he had. And so he did. He committed. He went on a 30 day liquid diet, which had to have been one of the hardest things he's ever done. But the big thing that stands out to me is that he died standing up (figuratively of course). When he died, he fell. Like we refer to heroes. I'd never really thought about why heroes fall when they die. But it's because they were standing when they did. They had to be standing. Fighting. Forging. And Jim was. So many people die lying down. In many ways, Paula died lying down. And for that reason, I'm really glad that they died in the order they did. Paula would've been broken, and followed Jim into death. But Jim chose to honor Paula not with submission to death, but fighting for life. The life he knew she wanted him to have. And that is awesome. I have so much respect for the man, and I will miss him terribly. In many ways, I'm just starting to grieve. And in others, I feel as though I've reached a peace with what happened yesterday. It's just that I didn't want to see the story end this way. I wanted to see his new life. His new body. His new reality. But to ever see that, we'll have to watch it happen in our lives. His survivors. I would ask you to choose today to live your life like it matters. That change is not only possible, it's worth dying for. That if someone is willing to risk everything to make life count, it's impossible to simply muttle through another day aimlessly without insulting their memory. I sat in the coffee house reading "The seven habits of highly effective people" which, in my mind, has moved from self help book to recommended reading for anyone wanting to change their life. If you're having trouble even knowing where to start on the road to change, I recommend starting there. If you're a believer in Christ, I recommend the book "I really want to change, so help me God" by James MacDonald. They are both excellently written, and every page has value. Jim wrote something on his blog that really touched me last month. He said "If you are reading this, know that I love you." So on that note, I mirror his sentiments, and want you to know that I feel the same way toward you all. If this were my last post, I would want you to know. I would want to be standing. Fighting. Forging. I would want to "fall" in death. I'd want to be a hero like Jim.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
One of our own...
Well. I don't even know just how to do a post like this, but Jim V., our great friend who lost his wife Paula last year is fighting for his life right now.
After Paula's death, Jim made the decision to live life to the fullest in honor of her, and to do everything he could to get back to a healthy way of life. He underwent bariatric surgery on Tuesday, the tenth, and while his initial reaction was good, he hit a setback two days in, and had to go back in for surgery. Since then, he's been unconcious, and hasn't come out of it. His family is scared, and as a good friend, I'm pretty concerned. I mean, Jim is one of the strongest people I've ever met, so it's weird for me to hear about him being incapacitated... He's such a fighter.
So please keep Jim and his family in your prayers. If you know him, but don't know of his blog, let me know, and I'll send you the address. He updated it right up to the surgery, and his amazing sense of humor was still working overtime, even on a 30 day liquid diet preceding the surgery! Oi.
After Paula's death, Jim made the decision to live life to the fullest in honor of her, and to do everything he could to get back to a healthy way of life. He underwent bariatric surgery on Tuesday, the tenth, and while his initial reaction was good, he hit a setback two days in, and had to go back in for surgery. Since then, he's been unconcious, and hasn't come out of it. His family is scared, and as a good friend, I'm pretty concerned. I mean, Jim is one of the strongest people I've ever met, so it's weird for me to hear about him being incapacitated... He's such a fighter.
So please keep Jim and his family in your prayers. If you know him, but don't know of his blog, let me know, and I'll send you the address. He updated it right up to the surgery, and his amazing sense of humor was still working overtime, even on a 30 day liquid diet preceding the surgery! Oi.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Dead grandparents
Today is the anniversary of Sarah's grandma Jessie's death, and my grampa Hutchin's death as well. It's been 10 years since grandpa died, and Jessie passed away 8 years ago...
Please keep our families in your prayers as April 15th is hard for us. (not because we procrastinate on taxes...)
Please keep our families in your prayers as April 15th is hard for us. (not because we procrastinate on taxes...)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The world's longest post. Prepare yourself.
I used Windows Vista for the first time today. Brutal I tell ya. Brutal. It was like talking to one of my housekeepers. Except that my housekeepers want to understand me. Windows XP is the smart, if not very attractive girl who manages your bank accounts and business software well. She can be condecending, and is no help at all when you're not sure what to do, but she gets the job done. Unfortunately, she has like 900,000 hitmen hired to kill her, and I'm sorry, but no matter how careful you are. That's alot of hitmen.
OSX which runs on Apple machines is a hot girl with a black belt. (Apparently my reasons for marrying Sarah have just come out...) She's smart too, but alot better looking than Windows XP. She has a good sense of style, and while she will occasionally do something crazy, she certainly is very stable. She doesn't have anyone out to get her, but if she did, she'd be prepared.
Vista is a cheerleader with an overbearing boyfriend. Even if she did want to talk to you, which she doesn't seem to, her boyfriend wouldn't let her. Today, I tried to help a guest connect to our network in a room, which so far as I've seen, every windows and mac laptop have been able to do with little to no trouble. Plug in, and log in. That's about it. Here is a make believe transcript of the interaction I had with the Vista pc this morning.
_________________________________________________
Me: Good morning. Aren't you pretty!
Vista: Why thank you... I was just
Windows Security Manager: Don't talk to him!!!
Vista: But I was just...
Windows Security Manager: (addressed to me) She doesn't want to talk to you!!!
Me: Look. I'm working with her owner, and I just want to set up a network connection.
Vista: I think I can do that.
Me: Great. So let's try starting Internet Explorer 7...
Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Don't do it!!!
Vista: Oops. I forgot. What were we doing?
Me: Setting up a network. Is he bothering you?
Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Kill him! He's a virus I tell you!
Vista: You're a virus? (directed to me)
Me: He just said that to scare you. Seriously, this guy needs to get some work done...
Vista: I don't know...
Windows Security Manager: (hissing menacingly) Dooooooon't doooooo ittttttt!!!!!
Vista: I'm sorry, what were we talking about?
Me: AHHHHHH! You seriously just sent me back to that box again!?!
Vista: Hi!
Me: Ok. That's it. This is SIMPLE. Windows XP does this all the time. No problems.
Windows Security Manager: (addressed to Vista) If XP jumped off a bridge, would you?
Vista: (starts to cry)
Me: Don't cry. You're very pretty.
Vista: (sobs) Thank you.
Windows Security Manager: Get away from her!!!
And that's about it. I gave up and told him to try the wireless network downstairs. He might have better luck. He thanked me and said that he should've brought his macbook from home instead. Seriously. I'm not lying. He said that. But he did add that he brought the new pc because... Vista was so pretty.
I blogged before regarding the departments I'm in now. Life in both departments has been going very well, but I've definitely got alot on my plate now.
I was asked a few weeks ago to take on a new position at the hotel. It's a new position put in place by Hilton called a "journey ambassador." It's essentially a group of people who are proactive concierges. They actively seek out guests, and determine what their needs are. They of course go on to find ways to meet those needs, and basically take care of whatever the guest requires during their stay. They're "agents" of sorts.
Needless to say that while I could do the job, and would do it very well... I didn't want to do the job. It would distract from the program I'm in, it would put me back in the lobby, basically doing what I did as an asst. front office manager.
There was no benefit for me, and quite frankly, the hotel would lose me in other areas. The best solution I could find was for them to hire other people with potential, and have me train them. It would require much less time of me, and I would be able to make sure that they remained focused while at the same time setting goals, and promoting their needs in manager meetings. So I went to the General Manager, who had asked me to do it, and gave him my proposal in return. And to my pleasure, he agreed to everything I asked for. Even a $2.50 an hour bump in pay over what they had initially planned. My reasoning was that we want to create a "mystique" about this position. An exclusivity... to make it appealing to other employees, and give the Journey Ambassadors a sense of worth. To let them know we're behind them. Anyway. I now have my own department... which is pretty cool. At this point, I'm working on developing the program, hiring new Journey Ambassadors, and setting goals for the future. It's going well.
In other news, the director of housekeeping announced last week that he is returning to his previous hotel in Seattle, and his last day is tomorrow. Now, he is easily one of the best managers that I've ever seen, so it's a shame to see him leave. In many ways, he has been what I have looked forward to most about this training. I have, in the past several weeks learned a great deal from him, so there's no real loss... especially after the offer he made me a few weeks ago. He mentioned to me that he might be leaving for Seattle, but that the money there was much better, and the hotel was a corporate Hilton. There are only about 50 corporate Hiltons in the world, the rest are franchised. So the money put into those hotels is insane, both in salaries and upkeep of the building, but also in bonuses. In fact, the full bonus for a manager at the hotel, if they meet all of their goals, is 25% of their yearly income.
Before I get too far into things, I need to say that this isn't a done deal. They haven't even made a final offer. But my boss who is moving out there would be the one hiring me, and the one deciding the salary... so as long as he still thinks I would be good there, the offer should be on the table in the next month or so.
The income for the position they're hiring for is almost twice what I make now. But it's not just money that appeals to me. It's a union hotel, so instead of all the side work, mopping, and bed making that I do, I'd be mostly involved in the areas I've been able to have the most impact. Administrative management. Ah, it even sounds pretty.
But not because of what it is... That would be like saying your dream was parenthood. Parenthood is normally a very scary thing. Because we've all seen it done wrong. We've all seen some angry-yelling-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-fool carrying their screaming-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-toddler INTO an rated R movie... you get the picture. But when it's done right, it's the only way to manage effectively.
The idea of a manager who says they specialize in "administrative" things, usually means that they don't do any real work. On the other hand, the managers who are always working with their employees can in many cases win their workers' respect but in the end fail as managers because they were just another employee. With no general on the hill, the army flounders. It seems I've hit a point I'd like to make, so I will now begin to pontificate.
Managers who never dig in and help their employees are often the worst sort of managers. Because they're not doing what they should, which is make the employees' lives better. I have nothing against digging in. In fact, I enjoy it. But in the past few months of management training I have learned some amazing things, and among them, possibly most importantly, I have learned what I have the capacity to do and what it takes to help me do it well.
I've seen departments where the folks are happy with their pay, pleased with what's expected of them, and where valuable workers are acknowledged, and bad workers aren't pandered to. And those departments, with those people, are the best and brightest. The departments that everyone else is called to be like. I want that kind of department. I've been in it before. But I've never had it start that way... I seem to do best when I come into a department that is everything the one I described before is not. And I do what I can to make it different.
In little ways, in big ways, but all in ways that are so removed from the daily "shoveling" that some might be tempted to think that I'm one of those managers that removes themselves from the workers and does mystery work (aka "no" work)... But like I was saying, they might be tempted to think that I am too removed until their life starts getting better. One by one, hopefully their problems slowly begin to straighten out. Schedules fit their life better, they know more about the business they're in, they enjoy their job more, they have the tools they need, and hopefully they start taking an interest in the performance of the group as a whole in comparisson to the other departments, then competing companies, then the best competing companies, and finally against their own past outstanding performance.
I do pitch in when the laundry room floods due to a broken dryer, but simply burying yourself in the work of your people just makes you a really good whatever-they-are. And removing yourself from the work and disassociating yourself from the workers makes you a bad manager, not to mention a useless worker. A waste of money. Which is what most managers are. What I want to be is a good leader. Someone who fights alongside, but knows where we're going. And that is what appeals to me in the idea of a union hotel. I know that union crews often have their faults, but I am confident that like any other challenge, I could learn to motivate them, and make that hotel a better place.
ANYWAY... that's all just a possibility. But if it is indeed as good as it sounds, which they would fly me out to see... we may go that direction. For if we're making enough, visits can be more regular. And when one is flying, there really isn't that big a difference between Seattle and Colorado Springs to Chicago.
OSX which runs on Apple machines is a hot girl with a black belt. (Apparently my reasons for marrying Sarah have just come out...) She's smart too, but alot better looking than Windows XP. She has a good sense of style, and while she will occasionally do something crazy, she certainly is very stable. She doesn't have anyone out to get her, but if she did, she'd be prepared.
Vista is a cheerleader with an overbearing boyfriend. Even if she did want to talk to you, which she doesn't seem to, her boyfriend wouldn't let her. Today, I tried to help a guest connect to our network in a room, which so far as I've seen, every windows and mac laptop have been able to do with little to no trouble. Plug in, and log in. That's about it. Here is a make believe transcript of the interaction I had with the Vista pc this morning.
_________________________________________________
Me: Good morning. Aren't you pretty!
Vista: Why thank you... I was just
Windows Security Manager: Don't talk to him!!!
Vista: But I was just...
Windows Security Manager: (addressed to me) She doesn't want to talk to you!!!
Me: Look. I'm working with her owner, and I just want to set up a network connection.
Vista: I think I can do that.
Me: Great. So let's try starting Internet Explorer 7...
Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Don't do it!!!
Vista: Oops. I forgot. What were we doing?
Me: Setting up a network. Is he bothering you?
Windows Security Manager: (whispering loudly in background) Kill him! He's a virus I tell you!
Vista: You're a virus? (directed to me)
Me: He just said that to scare you. Seriously, this guy needs to get some work done...
Vista: I don't know...
Windows Security Manager: (hissing menacingly) Dooooooon't doooooo ittttttt!!!!!
Vista: I'm sorry, what were we talking about?
Me: AHHHHHH! You seriously just sent me back to that box again!?!
Vista: Hi!
Me: Ok. That's it. This is SIMPLE. Windows XP does this all the time. No problems.
Windows Security Manager: (addressed to Vista) If XP jumped off a bridge, would you?
Vista: (starts to cry)
Me: Don't cry. You're very pretty.
Vista: (sobs) Thank you.
Windows Security Manager: Get away from her!!!
And that's about it. I gave up and told him to try the wireless network downstairs. He might have better luck. He thanked me and said that he should've brought his macbook from home instead. Seriously. I'm not lying. He said that. But he did add that he brought the new pc because... Vista was so pretty.
I blogged before regarding the departments I'm in now. Life in both departments has been going very well, but I've definitely got alot on my plate now.
I was asked a few weeks ago to take on a new position at the hotel. It's a new position put in place by Hilton called a "journey ambassador." It's essentially a group of people who are proactive concierges. They actively seek out guests, and determine what their needs are. They of course go on to find ways to meet those needs, and basically take care of whatever the guest requires during their stay. They're "agents" of sorts.
Needless to say that while I could do the job, and would do it very well... I didn't want to do the job. It would distract from the program I'm in, it would put me back in the lobby, basically doing what I did as an asst. front office manager.
There was no benefit for me, and quite frankly, the hotel would lose me in other areas. The best solution I could find was for them to hire other people with potential, and have me train them. It would require much less time of me, and I would be able to make sure that they remained focused while at the same time setting goals, and promoting their needs in manager meetings. So I went to the General Manager, who had asked me to do it, and gave him my proposal in return. And to my pleasure, he agreed to everything I asked for. Even a $2.50 an hour bump in pay over what they had initially planned. My reasoning was that we want to create a "mystique" about this position. An exclusivity... to make it appealing to other employees, and give the Journey Ambassadors a sense of worth. To let them know we're behind them. Anyway. I now have my own department... which is pretty cool. At this point, I'm working on developing the program, hiring new Journey Ambassadors, and setting goals for the future. It's going well.
In other news, the director of housekeeping announced last week that he is returning to his previous hotel in Seattle, and his last day is tomorrow. Now, he is easily one of the best managers that I've ever seen, so it's a shame to see him leave. In many ways, he has been what I have looked forward to most about this training. I have, in the past several weeks learned a great deal from him, so there's no real loss... especially after the offer he made me a few weeks ago. He mentioned to me that he might be leaving for Seattle, but that the money there was much better, and the hotel was a corporate Hilton. There are only about 50 corporate Hiltons in the world, the rest are franchised. So the money put into those hotels is insane, both in salaries and upkeep of the building, but also in bonuses. In fact, the full bonus for a manager at the hotel, if they meet all of their goals, is 25% of their yearly income.
Before I get too far into things, I need to say that this isn't a done deal. They haven't even made a final offer. But my boss who is moving out there would be the one hiring me, and the one deciding the salary... so as long as he still thinks I would be good there, the offer should be on the table in the next month or so.
The income for the position they're hiring for is almost twice what I make now. But it's not just money that appeals to me. It's a union hotel, so instead of all the side work, mopping, and bed making that I do, I'd be mostly involved in the areas I've been able to have the most impact. Administrative management. Ah, it even sounds pretty.
But not because of what it is... That would be like saying your dream was parenthood. Parenthood is normally a very scary thing. Because we've all seen it done wrong. We've all seen some angry-yelling-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-fool carrying their screaming-senseless-jelly & poop-covered-toddler INTO an rated R movie... you get the picture. But when it's done right, it's the only way to manage effectively.
The idea of a manager who says they specialize in "administrative" things, usually means that they don't do any real work. On the other hand, the managers who are always working with their employees can in many cases win their workers' respect but in the end fail as managers because they were just another employee. With no general on the hill, the army flounders. It seems I've hit a point I'd like to make, so I will now begin to pontificate.
Managers who never dig in and help their employees are often the worst sort of managers. Because they're not doing what they should, which is make the employees' lives better. I have nothing against digging in. In fact, I enjoy it. But in the past few months of management training I have learned some amazing things, and among them, possibly most importantly, I have learned what I have the capacity to do and what it takes to help me do it well.
I've seen departments where the folks are happy with their pay, pleased with what's expected of them, and where valuable workers are acknowledged, and bad workers aren't pandered to. And those departments, with those people, are the best and brightest. The departments that everyone else is called to be like. I want that kind of department. I've been in it before. But I've never had it start that way... I seem to do best when I come into a department that is everything the one I described before is not. And I do what I can to make it different.
In little ways, in big ways, but all in ways that are so removed from the daily "shoveling" that some might be tempted to think that I'm one of those managers that removes themselves from the workers and does mystery work (aka "no" work)... But like I was saying, they might be tempted to think that I am too removed until their life starts getting better. One by one, hopefully their problems slowly begin to straighten out. Schedules fit their life better, they know more about the business they're in, they enjoy their job more, they have the tools they need, and hopefully they start taking an interest in the performance of the group as a whole in comparisson to the other departments, then competing companies, then the best competing companies, and finally against their own past outstanding performance.
I do pitch in when the laundry room floods due to a broken dryer, but simply burying yourself in the work of your people just makes you a really good whatever-they-are. And removing yourself from the work and disassociating yourself from the workers makes you a bad manager, not to mention a useless worker. A waste of money. Which is what most managers are. What I want to be is a good leader. Someone who fights alongside, but knows where we're going. And that is what appeals to me in the idea of a union hotel. I know that union crews often have their faults, but I am confident that like any other challenge, I could learn to motivate them, and make that hotel a better place.
ANYWAY... that's all just a possibility. But if it is indeed as good as it sounds, which they would fly me out to see... we may go that direction. For if we're making enough, visits can be more regular. And when one is flying, there really isn't that big a difference between Seattle and Colorado Springs to Chicago.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Florida is #1. Yet again at the expense of my Buckeyes...
Ow.
Florida University now holds back to back NCAA basketball championships, that sit next to their 2006 NCAA football championship trophy. They are a spectacular school, and have my admiration. I just wish they didn't have to beat my team to do what it is they do so well. Win.
Tonight's championship game was THANKFULLY nowhere near as humiliating as the football championship game was several months ago. In fact, OSU's star player Greg Oden, should've been the player of the game with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Not to mention the fact that he blocked, yes, blocked three dunk attempts. Not something you see every year, and he did it 3 times in one game. One championship game. This guy is total NBA, is 7 foot, leads his team... and he's a freshman... Oi.
All the same, the gators kept hitting the threes, and we didn't. Instead of a humiliation, this was a great game. But Florida proved decisively that they are the best team in the nation. They are the first team to ever win back to back championships with the same starting lineup. And no team has won b2b titles since Duke in 92... so that's not easy either.
What a year though. Our buckeyes go to 2 championship games and lose to the same school, and our Chicago Bears lose in their first superbowl in 20 years. Watch out Cubs! You're doomed to go to the world series and lose!
Anyway. I always say that I bleed Scarlet and Grey. Well... tonight there's alot of those colors all over the floor.
Florida University now holds back to back NCAA basketball championships, that sit next to their 2006 NCAA football championship trophy. They are a spectacular school, and have my admiration. I just wish they didn't have to beat my team to do what it is they do so well. Win.
Tonight's championship game was THANKFULLY nowhere near as humiliating as the football championship game was several months ago. In fact, OSU's star player Greg Oden, should've been the player of the game with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Not to mention the fact that he blocked, yes, blocked three dunk attempts. Not something you see every year, and he did it 3 times in one game. One championship game. This guy is total NBA, is 7 foot, leads his team... and he's a freshman... Oi.
All the same, the gators kept hitting the threes, and we didn't. Instead of a humiliation, this was a great game. But Florida proved decisively that they are the best team in the nation. They are the first team to ever win back to back championships with the same starting lineup. And no team has won b2b titles since Duke in 92... so that's not easy either.
What a year though. Our buckeyes go to 2 championship games and lose to the same school, and our Chicago Bears lose in their first superbowl in 20 years. Watch out Cubs! You're doomed to go to the world series and lose!
Anyway. I always say that I bleed Scarlet and Grey. Well... tonight there's alot of those colors all over the floor.
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