It doesn't matter what you do...

I'm cooking lunch for my coworkers this week. I asked who would want to join because the number of responses would dictate what I could and couldn't make here at work (or prepare at home the night before). There were enough positive responses that mandated something like soup. when I sent the menu I received two replies:


1. You guys are great!!!!
2. I’ve changed my mind

I think the second response is likely tongue in cheek (I've omitted the smiley face), but I wonder how many other people feel this way truly. There is a frame that you can't please everyone all of the time, and in my experience this has been true. No matter that I am doing something nice for the people working between Christmas and New Year's, there is someone dissatisfied.

is faster really better?

I work in software development and we are constantly being asked to do things faster.  This doesn't sit well with me.  Let me explain.

There are many things we can think of that you (yes, You) don't want to do "faster".  Take a minute and think of a few.  The first ones I came up with are (in no particular order):

• sleeping (imagine someone telling you to sleep faster. you would laugh at them.)
• driving to work (the policeman may not like this)
• taking vacation (woo-hoo! we took that vacation in record time!)
• eating (besides the nutritional downsides...)
• breathing (please, please do this)
• playing games (whew, another speed round of cards.  now get back to your electronics, kids.)
• writing a blog post (wait, what?)

There are more, I am sure.  the point is: when did it start making sense to develop software faster?  It seems that we are over-learning our days in track and field where faster/farther wins the race...I can also see when the product you are developing is directly affecting the bottom line of the company insofar as the competitor may be working on the same product and being first in the market is important.  Otherwise, it just drives me crazy.  Without substantiation, not all software should be developed faster. 

I would even propose that faster is not better in 99% of all cases.  Make it correctly and be efficient.  Minimize waste.  Maximize the work not done.  But faster just appears to me to be the moaning of someone not in tune with mature software development.

And what does faster mean?  Aren't we doing this fast enough?  Would you prefer more defects or shoddy code faster, if faster is all you are interested in?  Why aren't we asking for fewer or (gasp) zero defects?  Why aren't we as coders demanding well-formed code?  We should be creating something we are proud of, are you?  And if you ask me to do it faster, you strip me of my pride in my code.

I did it

The goal was to ride my bicycle from my garage to St. Charles in 2 days.  AND I did it.  As we rode and took breaks, I set texts to my sweetheart and my mom.

The first day went something like this:
September 6
8:39 am
Just left the house.  At Scott blvd, waiting for Brock.  Updates to follow...boy howdy it is cold on the bike!  :)

9:44 am
Passed coopers landing and it's warm enough to shed the extra shirt. :)

10:30 am
In hartsburg and we are having a snack.  It's really peaceful and quiet on a Tuesday....oooooo! and it is Brock's birthday!

11:24 am
Arrived in Jefferson city.  taking a break and having a snack.  It is very nice to have the wind at our backs!

12:25 pm
Now in Tebbet's.  Starting to feel like a real ride!  :)  47 miles down.

1:08 pm
Reached Mokane.  Resting and eating a bit.  Just 25 miles to get to Hermann.

2:02 pm
In Portland, MO.  This is the last stop before we get to Hermann.  Darn, my legs are tired.
BTW - that's 62 miles so far!  :)

7:40 pm
Made it to Hermann at 3:30.  We've had dinner and wine.  Now it's time for bed.

September 7th
10:12 am
Just rolled 100 miles on the odometer.  Left Hermann and have been riding for 16 miles and still no break.
Just found a stop and taking a break.  Still feeling good. Trelor is the stop.  :)

11:13 am
Stopping in Dutzhow.  34 miles to go, setting a goal of 2 pm arrival in St. Charles.

12:46 pm
Today seems to be going better...it could be the sorter distance or the fact that the end is in sight.  We are in Weldon Spring Site and only have 16 miles to go.
Thank you mom and Jacque for the words of encouragement and your willingness to listen to me prattle on.  I love you both.  :)

2:05 pm
Just reached St. Charles.

You know what to do

Where I have been:

What does the diet industry make every year?  Way too much.  Everyone knows what they should eat, how much of it, and what it takes to be healthy.  Why are so few people doing this?  Have we grown accustomed to the sedentary lifestyle?

My girlfriend and I have started talking about living healthier to the end of our days.  What does your health outlook appear to be?

good health

I just had my yearly physical and received another A+.  The weight has stayed off, the blood work was good and generally I am in a happy mental place.

There is a new book for me to read

The Happiness Advantage.  My current VP where I work has read it and highly recommends it.  He has a great feel for new ideas or thinking about old things in new ways.  I need to go get that book, read it and review it. 

I want to ride my Bicycle

I love to ride my bicycle.  Since I began riding more frequently last year, I have put over 2000 miles on my Cannondale M500.  It is a 22 year old bike that I still like to hop on and start cranking the pedals.  It hasn't ever been fitted for me just ridden enough to be really comfortable.

Should I get a new one? Maybe.  It wouldn't be the same...I really love that bike.

Are there any bad TED talks?

There is lots of bad information out on the internet. Have you heard any TED talks that were bad? I haven't.

It seems that you could sink a bunch of time watching/listening to the talks in the conference.

Which are your favorite?

I love learning new things

In my last post, I talked about loving my job...among other things. Because I have a new role, there are lots of new things for me to learn. This happened when I started teaching mathematics to college students. It also happened when I was first hired at my current company being a database administrator. Now it is happening again because I am an agile coach/leader. I learn much about psychology and human interaction in my investigations and think about how to apply this new knowledge to make the working environment better.

The latest interesting topic I have stumbled upon is the Fundamental Attribution Error. Don't know it? Neither did I and found it fascinating. It opens my eyes to see that behavior is too often driven by environment, not character traits. This makes me wonder what behaviors we are driving...inadvertently.

It's something else I need to learn. :)

It's been a long time

I just happened to look back at this blog and realized it has been more than 2 years since I wrote anything at all in it. Is that procrastination or something else?

When I first started the blog, I felt like I needed an outlet to talk to myself about things and would hopefully generate insight from the few people who actually read this stuff (thanks Mom). At the time, it seemed that I had plenty to talk about and this would be a way to get it out. It would help me write better and sort out how I was thinking about the things going on in my life. I realize now that I stopped submitting posts because sharing some of the intimate details of who I was and how I felt would have appeared to others as being self absorbed. (Is that really true?) I didn't want to write about politics, religion or my crumbling marriage. I wanted to spend some time writing about positive things and didn't have any experiences to share.

Now, though, I feel like rambling: My life is in a good spot.

I'm divorced...thankfully. There are many aspects of my life that were squelched (by my choice) because I spent much of my energy trying to keep the marriage together and trying to discern what would make it better. In the end, leaving the marriage was a great choice. It made me a better person.

I'm a flexitarian. I choose to eat mostly plants and fruits. Meat that stood on legs or traversed the earth doesn't appeal to me any more. Fish is still good and sushi is wonderful. It amazes me still the reaction of most people to this lifestyle choice. To those vegetarians of any form, I apologize to you if I reacted poorly to your culinary choices.

I love being a dad. I place great responsibility on myself to be a better dad and because of my divorce, my kids and I have a different relationship. These are tumultuous times and there is so much potential in each of my children. They are super smart and witty.

I have been promoted at work and I love my job. I was hired to fulfil a coaching role for 4 teams. (I don't want to put my place of employment in this post since someone from work could find it...strange how we believe privacy works.) It has been more than a year in this spot and it is a privilege to work beside the wonderful people we have.

My girlfriend and her daughter are moving into my current house. There is plenty of room and it's a little weird living with people who aren't family...but I think it will work out. There is a bit of nervousness, but nothing too major.

Last year, I made a decision to be more physically healthy. I shed 30 lbs by riding my bicycle over 1,800 miles (April thru December) and have kept off most of it: 23 lbs up to this point in time. The bicycle is still in good order and I have begun riding it again with the goal of losing 15 more lbs before the end of the year. The new fitness goal is riding from my garage to St. Charles, Missouri. The total trip is 130 miles and I am going to do it in 2 days. Wish me luck.

Lastly, I have a wonderful girlfriend. She is smart, beautiful, funny and enjoyable to be around. We talk a lot and I am lucky to have her. She calms me. She listens to me. She loves me. I love her, too.

Life is good.