It doesn't get any better than this, baby (errr...wait...yes it does)!!!

We rolled into town about 9:30, found our hotel with some difficulty (which is pretty nice and has a fantastic freakin' view, as expected from the earlier pics). We couldn't check in yet because it was too early, but we immediately caught the free shuttle from the hotel to the con and sought out the line for registration. Up the stairs we went because that's where we saw the line, which was between a quarter and half mile long at this point (about 9:50 or so?). We ask one of the attendants if this is the line for registration and he lets us know that we're definitely in the wrong spot. In fact, we need to go back down the stairs and walk towards the performing arts center, about a quarter mile down the street.

Okay, cool. Quarter mile, no problem. But he was waving his arms like you would when you tell your receiver to go deeper for a pass and laughing at us. This was our first clue that we were screwed. We had no idea just how badly yet, though.

So we find the performing arts center and there is someone dividing a line into two lines - pre-registered folks, and not. "Hey, where's the end of this line?"

"Keep walking that way. You should see it. Eventually." Uh oh.....

So we keep walking down that same street and see the line loop around the aquarium, then back to the street. Keep going about 5 more blocks down the street, plus the two that went inland, and we're at about a half-mile. We finally see what we think is the end of the line at the corner of a parking lot, only to realize that the line then starts to snake back through the parking lot.

If any of you have been to Disney and waited through their queues, you know what I mean. You work through this queue only to turn the corner and see...another queue. Except this was about 1.5 miles in length. Litterally. And it's only 10:15 at this point. Registration barely started fifteen minutes ago. And we're in the sun with no sun protection. WHEEEE!!!

Oh, and did I mention there is no food or eateries on the street at all? Or even within a half-mile?

After three hours we'd worked our way to the point where we split into two lines. It took us another 2 hours and 45 minutes to work through the second line. Nearly six hours in line for day one. Neet. All we had energy for after that was food, and checking into the hotel. We never made it inside the con.

Registration was so screwed that they had to postpone a concert for two hours because people could register fast enough to get their tickets, and even then they were still GIVING tickets away right before hand because people were too tired to enjoy it. Sadly, this was supposed to be one of the headlines of the convention but they screwed the pooch bigtime.

Now, we still had fun. There was about ten of us that met up and we were laughing and people watching, etc. I made a little Black Ops trip to get some drinks for us. Folks were chatting on their DS's. Good times were defintely had. It just wasn't nearly as good as it would have been if we weren't tired and hungry and burnt and needing showers and ankle replacement surgery after standing on cement for nearly six hours.

He's off again

Off to Long Beach! I'm pretty sure I'll have net access over there but I'm not sure. I'll try to post updates as I'm able.

Take care, everyone! And if you happen to be heading out on vacation while I'm away, please have a good time and come back safely!!!

Until next time...

Just Cause

When I went to pick up my friend from the airport today one of the automated messages that was playing is this:

"The airport chapel is located in Terminal 4, 2nd floor."

Hmmm...what are they trying to say to us? Is there some reason we *should* be praying at the airport that we don't know about?

:-)

Transform your marketing, please

When I recently first watch The Island I noticed that director Michael Bay flashed quite a few logos - many of them GM products - in his film. Kinda turned me off, actually. I want to watch a movie, not an elaborate advertisement. If I see one or two logos in an unintrusive manner, sure, no problem. But the advertising in The Island felt very intentional, very deliberate, very labored to me.

Now with Transformers the cross-promotional machine between GM and Michael Bay is in full swing and it already makes me cringe. I actually may not even see the movie in the theaters because of it. The idea of me paying $10+ to watch advertising for two hours...ugh.

On an island

Every month I have 1on1 sessions with each of my staff. One hour off the phones and away from the office to chat about all sorts of stuff...a little leisure, a little business, a little randomness. These little sessions are vital to the successful management of my team, and are reminiscent of what I loved about teaching - just being with the students, talking with them, teaching them, and learning from them.

One of my employees today at the end of our time started commenting how she and her husband swap supervisor stories over dinner, and that based on how she spoke of me, her husband thought I was a pretty good one. She agreed. I smiled. She came from a team that technically had a supervisor, but there wasn't much supervision. By and large the prisoners were left to fend for themselves so for her to offer me such a compliment doesn't carry a great deal of weight - the standard I was being measured against isn't terribly high. Nonetheless, I was grateful. It's always nice to get sincere praise from an honest critic.

She then went on to comment about how it must feel kinda lonely sometimes since I can be friendly with the staff but can't really be their friend. Now I can certainly be friends with them away from work, individually. Heck, I've been friends with many of my bosses so I know it can be done. But I know what she meant, and she's right. They call it a captain's chair instead of a captain's loveseat for a reason - there's room enough for one. If we go out as a group after work for drinks and such, I'm still management. Friendly, but not friends. And on occasion, it definitely feels like you're on an island.

I remember being part of the crew, one of the rank and files. I loved being part of the closing staff because there was something good about closing up the shop and walking out at the end of the day, machines off, day done, balanced out. One shift started the day out, but we brought it home, cleaning up messes as needed. I liked putting the day to rest with the team. But now, even if I close, it's not like that any more. If I want to go out for drinks after a day well done and shoot the shit, I can't really do that with my staff. It would have to be with other management. I can hang out with my team, sure. But I'm still their manager if I do that, still on an island.

I may never be a rank and file again...I like leading, and I do think it's probably where I belong. There's something to be said, though, for being part of a hard working, highly functioning, tightly knit crew.

Honk if you want to be on TV

I'd like to be interviewed on a nationally televised major morning show or late show. I think it'd be kinda neat to have someone ask me questions, to which my answers are broadcast to millions of people. Just think about if...folks everywhere listening to what you have to say! I dig it.

The problem with this is I'm just a normal guy. No inventions, no fame, no infamy (yet). So I figure my best shot is to get onto David Letterman (which would be my preferred show, btw...I think Letterman is a very interesting man, and Paul Schaffer is freakin awesome) in his Stupid Human Tricks bit. How, you ask? No, not with my jig which - trust me on this - is a sight to behold. No, it would be for my honk.

That's right. I honk. Like a clown nose or bike horn. Except I don't have a squeaker installed in my throat (contrary to my boss' opinion). It's au naturale, baby!

Then, when I get on Letterman I'm going to ask him if he'd have me back to interview me as a regularly scheduled guest. I may be a regular guy, but I've got a feeling I would be one of the more memorable interviews he's ever had. Goodness knows that would be one of my most interesting memories ever.

I'll enjoy it while it lasts

Finally back in first place. It might never happen again this year (I still think we're a year away from the post season).

Team	W	L	PCT	GB
Arizona	44	32	.579	-
San Diego	42	32	.568	1.0
LA Dodgers	42	33	.560	1.5
Colorado	38	38	.500	6.0
San Francisco	32	42	.432	11.0

Forgive me

A good buddy of mine of mine got 4th row clubhouse box tickets to the Diamondbacks game today. Great seats, fun game. A couple of you even got a picture. Rarely do I get seats that good for anything so it was definitely a neat experience...they even serve you your concessions/food! Of course, they do charge you a 19% service charge on top of the already-inflated prices so I don't know if it's truly "service," but it's still neat.

Half way through the game, though, my buddy turns to me and says, "Not that I'm keeping score, but these tickets beat the crap out of any free tickets you've ever given me." He goes on to tell me that he and his wife joke about how bad the tickets were/are when he comes home from events I take him to, and further expounds on multiple instances where the tickets were too high or at a bad angle or too far from the glass or whatever.

Wow. Invite me to something cool only to rip on me. I'm sorry I wasted your time with tickets you wouldn't have bought or used yourself.

You know what...I don't have a six-figure income from a Fortune 100 company. I don't drive a luxury sports car or a gigantic black-and-chrome SUV. I don't have a big screen HDTV with surround sound and all the latest gadgets. And I don't have clients or partners that give me 4th row home plate tickets to games. The best I usually get is upper-bowl stuff. Either that's what the company gives me or that's what I can afford. I never had a lot growing up and I learned to live fairly simply. Digital cable and high-speed internet are about as luxurious as it gets for me, and I'm quite okay with that. Whatever I do have, though, I offer freely to my friends. Now the free stuff (emphasis on FREE) that I get tickets for is laughable? If what I have to share doesn't meet people's standards then they can...well, I'm sure you can finish that sentence creatively, with all such endings likely being appropriate.

Forgive me if what I can offer starts to no longer be good enough any more. I'll be enjoying it just the same. The World Series looks the same to me from the upper deck or behind home plate.

I'm not the only one

I love the fact that I'm not the only one that has sent text messages while drunk!!!

Return to the beach

This coming Friday, I'll be here. Long Beach harbor for AnimeExpo 2007! Bring on the freaks n' geeks!!! This will be the first time I've been to a convention in over three years where I wasn't working, and only the second time ever. Verrrry much looking forward to it especially after last week's long hours. This week could be a rough one, too, but it shouldnt' be as long as the last one. No eleven hour work days this time...there better not be, at least!

Vindication

Dateline, 1997 - I'm working in the call center taking my calls, serving the members, and listening to my bosses shout "We need you on the phones! Watch your Work time!" Ahh...there it is. Work time. The time you spend on After Call Work. Time NOT spent taking calls. Some people abused it, many didn't. Yet the combination of abusers and inexperienced formal call center management resulted in the chanting of that mantra, ad nauseum, ad infinitum. One day during a meeting there was some time at the end and management opened it up to the staff. "So what's going on in the center? Anything we need to know about?"

I decide to say something (note: the odds of my "saying something" turning out well for me up to that point of my life had NOT been good unless I was rebuking my Nemesis, yet for some reason I decided to throw the odds out the window in this instance), and it comes out like this - "I know we need to focus on taking the calls as efficiently as possible, but sometimes I get so sick of hearing 'Watch your Work time!' that I just wanna throw a shoe at your office window." Now I'm not sure where that falls on the Things You Shouldn't Say to Your Boss in Your First Six Months list, but I'm pretty sure it's in the top 20. And needless to say, things didn't go overly well after that.

Fast forward to 2007. My old boss is now my peer, but in a different call center within the company. We're in call center management training and the question comes up, "What do you do when you're busier than expected and you're not meeting your service objectives?" Of course the response about getting your agents on the phones was interjected, and was swiftly met with a firm, "No!" As she started listing off the steps to take, out of the top 5, tracking your agents down and ensuring they were actively servicing a phone call came 4th. I have no idea what the first three were, though, because I was too damn busy laughing at my old supervisor/peer across the way (who was also laughing, mind you) as we reminisced about all the times people were shouted at to get on the phones.

After ten years, vindication is mine!

(For what it's worth, I pledged to myself that if I ever found myself in her shoes, I'd never harp on Work time like they did. In two years, I've said it five times.)

What a long day....

As in, the longest day of the year. Booooo!

That means too much sun and heat!

Of course, that makes tomorrow one of the greatest days of the year, because tomorrow the days start to get shorter. Yaaaaay!

And THAT's when the fangs come out! :-[

I don't think I've ever done this on my blog

He couldve tuned in, tuned in
But he tuned out
A bad time, nothing could save him
Alone in a corridor, waiting, locked out
He got up outta there, ran for hundreds of miles
He made it to the ocean, had a smoke in a tree
The wind rose up, set him down on his knee

A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw
Delivered him wings, hey, look at me now
Arms wide open with the sea as his floor
Oh, power, oh

Hes.. flying
Whole
High.. wide, oh

He floated back down cause he wanted to share
His key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere
But first he was stripped and then he was stabbed
By faceless men, well, fuckers
He still stands

And he still gives his love, he just gives it away
The love he receives is the love that is saved
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky
A human being that was given to fly

High.. flying
Oh, oh
High.. flying

Pearl Jam
"Given to Fly"
aka The Ballad of Alexander

Fatherhood

All of my guy friends in the Valley out here in AZ have kids, as do many of my lady friends. I've seen kids raised from birth to as old as 9. All have said they addored their kids and the related experiences. I've often thought that being a dad would be cool but have also been extremely scared of it. I've often called it the coolest-yet-most-terrifying experience I can imagine.

Yesterday and today I listened to many fathers tell their stories about their kids and how much they love them, and after hearing their stories, I feel the same but to an even greater degree. I'm still not dead set on having kids, but there's a part of me that thinks it would be one of the best things ever and looks forward to it. Having a family is one of those things that's out of my control, though. Can't force it...well, I guess I could, but I wouldn't.

So here's to hoping for and looking forward to two of the things that I can't make happen on my own.

Happy Father's Day!!!