Tuesday Meanderings

Tonight was a city council work session on the library project. We invited all the new council members who will be getting sworn in next Tuesday to join us behind the council bench for the presentation by the architect. We might have postponed the meeting until the newbies were sworn in and seated, but we need to send the project out for bid around Thanksgiving - which is less that two weeks away. We're adding about 5,000 square feet to our existing 11,000 square foot library and making over the interior at the same time. I think it was important for all the council members to understand what the project is and will cost (~$3.2 million), even if we are the ones that got all the money gathered up and said go for it.

It was probably good to have had the meeting for other reasons as well. I needed to sign off on an FAA application for the airport runway extension project so we could get it sent in. We've only been working at getting all the OKs needed for 4 years now. But if all goes according to plan, we should see ~$4 million from the FAA for us to match with ~$100,000. I could only wish that everything worked that way!

In any case, all us lame ducks were told to be there next week since we need to open the meeting and then set the swearing in process in motion for the newbies. In addition we are to get a surprise. My guess is either a service plaque or maybe a cake party. What's your guess?

It is going to seem strange in the morning not to mosey down to the radio station for my Mayoral Midweek show. Although it will be kind of nice to sleep that extra hour. I still have a mayor related meeting at 10am and then have to journey over to city hall to sign a set of documents for the notaries. So far as I can see, that will be the last duty other than opening next weeks meeting. I still haven't really decided how I feel about the end of my (term limited) three terms as mayor. I think that in and of itself says that it is time for me to go.

Time to watch a late night movie tonight since I don't have to be radio ready in the morning.

That Season

I can't believe that the <quote>Holiday Season<unquote> barrage has already started. My email box overfloweth with absolutely unwanted and unneeded ads and promos. It is not just the spam-a-lot and no-name crowds either. Some is from top level tier-one merchandisers. They are desperately flooding my email box and my snail mail box.

Just to pick on one, HP has started adding their <quote>Holiday Season Specials<unquote> to all the other email they send me. (The result of me  delusionally letting my name be added to a mailing list to garner some tech support info long ago. I suppose I will have to drag my poor frazzled mind through the underground maze that is the un-subscribe option.) I don't want a list of tech gizmos sorted by price. I really don't care what I can get for under $300. I'd just as soon gargle live fire ants.

I find it interesting how this blizzard of stuff starts coming earlier every year. It is also interesting how the various strata of retailers adapt and market. The class C merchants like Unknown-Products-You-Never-Heard-Of send tons of junk mail and catalogs urging you to come buy at their website (since they don't list all the products in the junk mailer because, heaven forbid, that costs $$$). Buried amidst that flood is the same thing from better known merchants like Brookstone. It is interesting that this level of marketeers no longer go for the "spam the universe" via email approach like they used to. In the middle, you find companies like Dell that sends both a blizzard of snail mail and enough email to border on spamming. Finally, you get the upper tier marketeers that email every email contact that they may have collected over the years but seem to avoid paper and U.S. Postal Service like the plague. Makes me think they may have done a cost of converted sales study and ...

Most of this stuff goes in the trash, usually before torturing human eyes. But you know what makes me sad? That the one such catalog I used to enjoy reading just to see what truly outrageous items would be pitched each year is no longer with us. I refer of course to that fun place of absolutely senseless consumerism: Sharper Image.

What now extinct harbinger of the season do you miss most? What new harbinger would you like to see cease to exist? Are you beginning to be bombarded with such materials yet? Inquiring minds want to know.

Odd Facts of the Day

First, the NWS got it partially right. We had a few inches of really wet flock snow overnight. But, it warmed up to the 40s during the day so about 80% of the stuff melted, leaving wet and mud to run rampant. Now this evening, the temperatures are already in the low 20s, so I expect the morning to be an icy slipping and sliding affair. On to more interesting fodder.

Here are three trivial questions featuring the odd facts of the day. They were brought to my (rather odd) mind by the plethora of factoids presented by the announcers at tonight's New England Patriots versus Indianapolis Colts football game. Do you know the answers?

• NERF (as in Nerf Ball fame) is an acronym for what?
  

• The very first American 911 system call was made on February 16, 1968. Who made the call and who answered the call?
  

• An average person typing an average text corpus in English uses one hand more than other, which hand is used more? For extra credit, what is the percentage of characters typed by each hand? (You can assume a standard typewriter layout - no Dvorák or other special keyboard.)
  

(Answers are in the first comment so you can check yourself. But be honest and no fair Googling!{*grin*})

Cleaning Saturday

It seems that weekends are either ugly or great at this time of year. Since it never did snow last night nor this afternoon as I cleaned, the National Weather Service deemed fit it should happen tonight. From the sounds of things, it will be an ideal evening to curl up with a cup of soup and a good book, pull the covers over the legs and escape into a different world.

Thanks to L arriving with a few books last time she was here, I have a selection of good books to read. My soup is already on the stove; Molly is burying here nose in my lap wanting her doggy treat. (After all it is dark and so it must be that time, right?) So it is time to settle in and enjoy the moment.

As I prepare to settle in and read, I'll leave you with the words of the NWS for the evening:

Issued by The National Weather Service
Denver/Boulder, CO
4:46 pm MST, Sat., Nov. 14, 2009

... WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 5 PM MST SUNDAY...

A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 5 PM MST SUNDAY.

SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE WARNING AREA THROUGH THE EVENING AND CONTINUE INTO EARLY SUNDAY EVENING. SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES EARLY SUNDAY MORNING THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FROM THIS STORM WILL RANGE FROM 5 TO 10 INCHES.

(Maybe I just neet to stop reading the weather alerts!)

Dreary Friday

What a dreary day it turned out to be. It was sunny early and then the dull gray cloud bank rolled in with the falling temperatures. Tonight it is hanging just above freezing and drizzling with a chance of turning to snow around midnight. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold all day. I want my sun and heat back!

I went over to mom's for supper tonight, which was a real treat since it didn't involve my own cooking. Not only that, it got me away from an ailing computer so I didn't feel the need to put it out of it's misery. In fact, this post is being written on it even as I ramble on into the darkness. So maybe abscence does make the heart grow fonder - at least as far as ailing computers saved from mercy killing goes?

Think kindly of me vacuuming and cleaning tomorrow. The amount of Molly fur on all the floors has gotten to the point where even I cannot stand it anymore. So tomorrow is the day to have a cleaning and vacuuming and clothes washing frenzy. I might even have to wash the kitchen floor.

So what are you doing Saturday?

Five Experiences of Today

Time once more for

Five Experiences of Today

• Low barometric pressure fore-running the storm and cold rolling in tomorrow.
  

• Weather with 58 degree warmth after dark due to the above. (Thus was actually pleasant!)
  

• A special joint meeting of the city, county and rural fire district wherein the group calling the meeting had no prepared agenda.
  

• Sinus headache.
  

• Dryness. With the change in the weather my nose and mouth and eyeballs are dry. You know it is bad when your tongue sticks to your upper palate and your eyeballs hurt.
  

A cold front is supposed to roll through tomorrow evening possibly bringing snow and wind and ... It has already brought falling barometric pressure as witnessed by my goose neck barometer:

Notice the blue fluid almost running out the top of the tube. A sure sign that the barometric pressure is really low and that all my joints are screaming. What fun!

The Final Word

This week's Writer's Challenge from Mama Kat tickled my fancy with the topic:

3.) Tell a story about a moment in time when you were so happy you were you and not someone else in the room.
(inspired by Baby)

This tale harks back to a time more than a decade ago. One of my tasks as CTO of a certain company was to advise the CEO and Chairman of the Board, Mr. S, on the soundness of proposed technical acquisitions. Mr. S was a self made billionaire and had quite a few quirks and oddities. In addition, once he made up his mind, nothing on this earth was going to change it. (This is the same person I once accused of having "the brains of a kumquat" during a meeting.)

I had been tasked to look at a couple of possible acquisitions with related technologies in an emerging market. Company A was in Toronto and Company B was in St. Louis. So after visiting both companies and spending a few days going over their technologies, I came to the conclusion that the ideal would be to acquire both of them and combine their technologies. Company A had a more automated and user friendly approach to solving the problem; Company B had a much more complete solution but had almost no automation or end-user tools. Put the two together and one had a great solution that could capture what was then an exploding market. But knowing Mr. S and his strong belief in consulting rather than package solutions, the choice for him was going to be clear.

Sure enough, Mr. S decided that we would visit the St. Louis company and see if they were amenable to being acquired. (Given that the company was broke, there was little doubt in my mind that they wanted to see a cash infusion, the question was were they realistic as to amount and conditions.) We arrived at Company B and spent several hours in the general touchy-feely sizing up before getting down to work. A couple of offers and counter-offers were exchanged. Finally Mr. S pulled our VP and me out of the room for a heart to heart about the value we put on the technology.

So standing in the hall outside the meeting, I opined that I thought the base technology with the continued employment of a couple of key people was worth about $5 million and up to $8 million if all the current employees came along. The VP with us agreed and felt that joined with the consulting arm of the company, a couple of hundred million dollars a year of revenue could be generated. 

Mr. S said little, but we all walked back into the conference room interested in seeing what Mr. S. was going to do. On the other side of the table sat the three principals of Company B, all anxious and hopeful. The financial position of their company pointed to desperation.

Mr. S. took a piece of paper, wrote a number on it, and slid it face down across the table with the words "This is my number. What is your answer?"

The three guys from Company B huddled and then made a major mistake. They thought Mr. S was still open to negotiation and tried to come back with yet another counter-offer. Mr. S simply motioned to us to go and walked out of the room. My last view of the Company B guys was with the utter look of shock and devastation on their faces. It became complete as it sank in that Mr. S would not be saving the company and that they would be out of business by month's end.

That was the moment that I was extremely happy to be me and not one of the three guys form Company B.