We saw the "World's Largest Cross" in Effeningham, IL. (Check it out at http://www.thecross-photo.com/The_Cross_in_Effingham_Illinois.htm)
We drove 2,660 miles in 44 hours, averaging 60.5 MPH, and every miles was into the wind.
We slept in four states.
We were 250 feet from the National League Championship Series (NLCS) game last Thursday night. I thought we should have gone inside for the game. Sue didn't agree.
We saw our son/brother play nearly every down on defense of a high school football district championship game.
We enjoyed the soon to be Super Bowl Champion Viking's victory in person at the soon to be replaced MetroDome.
The view crossing over the Mississippi River from Iowa to Illinois in the Quad Cities was breath taking. The ride crossing the Missouri River into Nebraska at Rulo was frightening.
(The view of the Arch entering Missouri was pretty awesome as well. The view coming and going from Indiana and the view between Minnesota and Iowa and the Iowa/Nebraska crossings were very routine. At least nothing to blog about.)
But most of all we were inspired by a man named Nick Vujicic.
Mr. Vujicic was born without any legs or arms. Yep. He was born without any legs or arms!
We were given the honor of being able to listen to Nick speak as part of my daughter's college visit to Anderson University in Anderson, IN. He is truly an inspiration to hear from. Given his life situation you might pity him or wonder how he has coped with such a tragedy. The truth is he uses his condition to spread the message about how he is not to be pitied and how he rejoices with each new day. Trust me even rainy days and Mondays don't get this guy down!
It would be hard for me to type out a message that would do justice to his message. Instead I encourage you to go to http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/and see his story for yourself. (You can also find him on YouTube, he has over 275 million hits.)
My daughter's college visit tour was quite the trip and as you can tell we saw a lot but it was what we heard from Nick Vujicic that will have the longest lasting impact.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
List for One, Please
On a recent project visit to a project with only one person and when I asked the Foreman how his planning was going I was told it was "going well." But when I asked if the Foreman was doing task cards he said "no."
(Some of you might be wondering what a task card is and why it matters if one is filled out. A task card is used at Willmar Electric to make sure all of the resources needed to do a task are present and ready to go before a task is begun. A detailed list of all the manpower, information, space considerations, material, equipment and tools (MISMET) that are needed to complete a task are written down on the card. It also lists out the goal for the task and any safety concerns that might be present during the task.)
Some of you might be wondering why would a project with only one person needs to plan it's work?
Let me go in another direction for a moment.
Last week I went to see my Dad at his new job as the School Administrator at Community Christian School in Willmar, MN. When I walked through the door I notice him writing something on his note pad. For as long as I can remember my Dad has maintained a note pad with a to-do list. When he comes up with something that needs to get done but he can't do at that moment he writes it on his list. When he finishes something from the list he crosses it off the list. A very simple low tech solution.
When I notice was are out of something at our house. The process is pretty simple. Check the store room to see if we have any more on hand and let my wife know that we need more form the store. She then adds it to her weekly grocery list. At the Chapin house my wife goes to the store at most once a week but yet we are never out of anything we might need! (Wants are another question. We run out of Oreos and other unhealthy things from time to time. I am sure that has more to do with good judgement.)
When I am working on something at home by myself like replacing a pool pump, fixing the garbage disposal, or installing a screen door nothing is more frustrating then not having everything that I need on hand. Having the wrong tool, the incorrect size or coming across a missing part leads to another to trip to the garage or, even worse, a trip to the store makes we want to throw the tool in my hand the isn't working correctly at the wall.
I was given an article by a co-worker last week titled "The 10 Commandments of Project Cost Management" and commandment #3 is "thou shalt have a pilot's checklist when approaching a project." The paragraph goes on to explain that in order to be effective you need a written list. Keeping a list in your head is never as effective as writing it down.
My Dad could track his to-do list in his head. But I am sure that anybody that has done things that way or is currently using that method can relate to the process of forgetting something or somebody.
My Wife could track the grocery list in her head or just stroll up and down the aisles buying things as she came across them. But I sure that anybody that has done things that way can remember getting home only to have it hit them that they forgot something and are now faced with heading back to the store, calling their spouse to see if they can stop at the store or decide they will continue to live without the items they forgot.
I have never meet somebody that thinks keeping track of things in their head is more efficient that writing it down.
Of course writing it down is better.
Everybody agrees, right?
Even if it take a little longer the time saved by not having to stop, search and start over, not to mention the time it take to redo something, makes up for the time spent planning.
Let go back to my project without task cards.
Clearly my examples point out that I think planning is important. I understand that even if you have read this far you might still be willing to argue that planning isn't worth the effort. But you can't deny that I, David Chapin, think planning is important. (It's pretty clear what my opinion is!!!)
And in this example I am the boss. I run the company. The project gets judged in part on how it does it planning. I was sent to this project by the Project Leader to grade this Foreman. He got a failing grade.
Whoops!
I wonder if anybody's supervisor thinks that the employee is too organized? I doubt it.
I wonder if anybody's supervisor thinks that the employee should skip the planning phase? I doubt it.
I wonder if anybody's supervisor thinks the people working for them shouldn't write things down? I doubt it.
I realize that it isn't everybody nature to just naturally write things down or to detailed planning. But what if I told you your future promotions, raises and status depended on it? Do you think you would be organized, plan and write things down? My Dad and Wife do it and they don't even have that big of an incentive. (Clearly I am not in charge of them.)
(Some of you might be wondering what a task card is and why it matters if one is filled out. A task card is used at Willmar Electric to make sure all of the resources needed to do a task are present and ready to go before a task is begun. A detailed list of all the manpower, information, space considerations, material, equipment and tools (MISMET) that are needed to complete a task are written down on the card. It also lists out the goal for the task and any safety concerns that might be present during the task.)
Some of you might be wondering why would a project with only one person needs to plan it's work?
Let me go in another direction for a moment.
Last week I went to see my Dad at his new job as the School Administrator at Community Christian School in Willmar, MN. When I walked through the door I notice him writing something on his note pad. For as long as I can remember my Dad has maintained a note pad with a to-do list. When he comes up with something that needs to get done but he can't do at that moment he writes it on his list. When he finishes something from the list he crosses it off the list. A very simple low tech solution.
When I notice was are out of something at our house. The process is pretty simple. Check the store room to see if we have any more on hand and let my wife know that we need more form the store. She then adds it to her weekly grocery list. At the Chapin house my wife goes to the store at most once a week but yet we are never out of anything we might need! (Wants are another question. We run out of Oreos and other unhealthy things from time to time. I am sure that has more to do with good judgement.)
When I am working on something at home by myself like replacing a pool pump, fixing the garbage disposal, or installing a screen door nothing is more frustrating then not having everything that I need on hand. Having the wrong tool, the incorrect size or coming across a missing part leads to another to trip to the garage or, even worse, a trip to the store makes we want to throw the tool in my hand the isn't working correctly at the wall.
I was given an article by a co-worker last week titled "The 10 Commandments of Project Cost Management" and commandment #3 is "thou shalt have a pilot's checklist when approaching a project." The paragraph goes on to explain that in order to be effective you need a written list. Keeping a list in your head is never as effective as writing it down.
My Dad could track his to-do list in his head. But I am sure that anybody that has done things that way or is currently using that method can relate to the process of forgetting something or somebody.
My Wife could track the grocery list in her head or just stroll up and down the aisles buying things as she came across them. But I sure that anybody that has done things that way can remember getting home only to have it hit them that they forgot something and are now faced with heading back to the store, calling their spouse to see if they can stop at the store or decide they will continue to live without the items they forgot.
I have never meet somebody that thinks keeping track of things in their head is more efficient that writing it down.
Of course writing it down is better.
Everybody agrees, right?
Even if it take a little longer the time saved by not having to stop, search and start over, not to mention the time it take to redo something, makes up for the time spent planning.
Let go back to my project without task cards.
Clearly my examples point out that I think planning is important. I understand that even if you have read this far you might still be willing to argue that planning isn't worth the effort. But you can't deny that I, David Chapin, think planning is important. (It's pretty clear what my opinion is!!!)
And in this example I am the boss. I run the company. The project gets judged in part on how it does it planning. I was sent to this project by the Project Leader to grade this Foreman. He got a failing grade.
Whoops!
I wonder if anybody's supervisor thinks that the employee is too organized? I doubt it.
I wonder if anybody's supervisor thinks that the employee should skip the planning phase? I doubt it.
I wonder if anybody's supervisor thinks the people working for them shouldn't write things down? I doubt it.
I realize that it isn't everybody nature to just naturally write things down or to detailed planning. But what if I told you your future promotions, raises and status depended on it? Do you think you would be organized, plan and write things down? My Dad and Wife do it and they don't even have that big of an incentive. (Clearly I am not in charge of them.)
Friday, October 12, 2012
Do I want more or less?
Last night I watched the debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. I found it frustrating and hopefully I never watch a Vice Presidential Debate again.
As I watched the debate I noticed that both candidates love to throw out numbers that made their policies seem to be better then other guys. Often their numbers directly conflicted with each others. So what is a person to do?
Forget checking the facts and the rhetoric. If you check them out you will likely find out that nearly all of them are correct but the candidate is just using them to slant your views towards his set of facts.
Using another factor isn't really that reliable.
My suggestion is that you find out where the person positions are going to take America. Find out what the person's view on government is. Let me give you a specific example. Size of government.
Do you believe the government should get bigger or smaller?
One side Joe Biden clearly thinks the government should help people. If people are in trouble a government program can get them out of that trouble. Don't get bogged down in specific programs and actions. Those issues come and go. What doesn't change is Biden's approach.
Next year my daughter is going to college. College is expensive to pay for. Joe Biden thinks the government should do something about that.
On the other side Paul Ryan clearly thinks government is as big as it needs to be and you get the feeling that he would like to shrink it. He seemed to say if you are on a current program you should be O.K.. But if you want a new program he likely isn't going to help. I got the impression that might even get rid of some of the current programs.
Next year my daughter is going to college. College is expensive to pay for. Paul Ryan wants to lower my taxes so I can afford to pay more.
Obama and Romney's opinions match their running mates opinions.
During the Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton administrations taxes on all American including the wealthy were cut and the economy grew and revenues went up. In all cases congress passed the tax cut and the president signed them in to law. In the case of Reagan and Clinton congress was controlled by the other party.
So the issue of taxes is secondary to spending. It is the size of government that matters. Politicians will continue to play with the rates and the deductions. Few of us know what our tax rate really is. But whether or not you you like big government or want a smaller government it is pretty easier to tell the differences between the two sides.
Don't get me wrong. Both will try to make it sound complex and make the other guy seem to care less about you but the bottom line is one believes in government solutions and the other doesn't.
If you don't like the issue I choose to use in this comparison them feel free to pick another issue. You might choose to compare positions federal regulations for land use, education system, gun laws, ag policy or any other issue. I bet if you stop and think about you can figure out which side Biden is on and which side Ryan is on. It's not hard really.
Bottom line. Don't sweat the details, worry about the big picture. The issues continually change but the "solutions" or approach never does.
Please vote.
- Give up and get out of politics.
- Research the facts and see which one is correct.
- Use some sort of other factor to pick which guy you like better. For example use the persons style, mannerism, looks or humor to determine which guy is more honest or trustworthy.
You can't give up on voting. Too many people have died to protect that right for you.
Using another factor isn't really that reliable.
I would suggest a fourth method.
My suggestion is that you find out where the person positions are going to take America. Find out what the person's view on government is. Let me give you a specific example. Size of government.
So the issue of taxes is secondary to spending. It is the size of government that matters. Politicians will continue to play with the rates and the deductions. Few of us know what our tax rate really is. But whether or not you you like big government or want a smaller government it is pretty easier to tell the differences between the two sides.
Don't get me wrong. Both will try to make it sound complex and make the other guy seem to care less about you but the bottom line is one believes in government solutions and the other doesn't.
If you don't like the issue I choose to use in this comparison them feel free to pick another issue. You might choose to compare positions federal regulations for land use, education system, gun laws, ag policy or any other issue. I bet if you stop and think about you can figure out which side Biden is on and which side Ryan is on. It's not hard really.
Bottom line. Don't sweat the details, worry about the big picture. The issues continually change but the "solutions" or approach never does.
Please vote.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
It's Finally Over
This is a very short blog but I just want to point out that today is the final day of what has been a very long regular season in Major League Baseball. Royals, Twins and Red Sox fans can go back to reading the paper and watching the news without fearing they might see the day's scores.
Hopefully tomorrow brings the end of the Bobby Valentine ear in Boston. No life lesson this week. Just the joy of saying good bye to a bad manager.
Hopefully tomorrow brings the end of the Bobby Valentine ear in Boston. No life lesson this week. Just the joy of saying good bye to a bad manager.
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