The Animal Farm

     Way back in May I wrote a blog about Wilsonville, Alabama.  That link is here, if you would like to refresh your memory.  I left you with one other noteworthy item unfulfilled.  It just so happens that my memory still functions at times(when the cell phone rays bounce in the opposite direction).  So I thought I'd rewind a little and finish that thought.
   
     Lets say you're driving east on highway 25 from Columbiana, approaching Wilsonville.  As you reach the only major intersection, put your blinker on to turn right.  After turning right, you'll cross the csx railroad tracks, and take the next left on Hebb road.  Then turn left on Brother's Ave and start looking...
   
      In the pasture on your right is an odd farm.  You just never know what type animal you'll see next.   The owner seems to have a passion for exotic ones.  The only thing missing is a very large boat sitting right in the middle of the pasture.  That would get people talking!

      The close-up emu shot was taken at a different time.  I figured you'd notice the grass wasn't green.

    I'll close with the mention of one other item which we've been interested in lately...   There is a nice little wedding chapel on highway 55, just outside Wilsonville, if you are in need of one.  I've heard it rents for $400.00/three hours.  Again, just in case you need it...  Free commercial adds!  Wow, what a blog.

 

    

The Presidential Weigh In

     The 2012 presidential campaign is still in it's early stages, but I though I would weigh in on the Republican candidates.  There is a long list of declared and almost declared.  A GOP website listed the following and I'll give my opinion about each.

Michele Bachmann - Good Tea Party member.  Conservative views and very pro-life!  Not an extremely good speaker but OK.  She needs to get rid of the handler who mixed her up on Elvis Presley's birthday.  Her husband Marcus is a clinical therapist.   Maybe he could help counsel Democrats if Michele is elected.  They have five children and have provided foster care for twenty-three others.

Herman Cain - I like Mr. Cain.  He is a great speaker and very conservative.  He is the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza and has a radio show in Atlanta, Georgia.  Listen to his speech at CPAC here, it is excellent!  He is pro-life and pro-family!

Newt Gingrich - There was a time I thought Newt should be president, but not any more!  With his resignation in 1999 of his Speakership and congressional seat, he carried his presidential hopes with him.  He was even having an affair with a House staffer during the Lewinsky scandal!  His sister is a major gay rights activist, so I would worry about his views.  My advice for Newt would be to quit and go home!

Jon Huntsman - A devout Mormon who has worked in the Obama administration.  Very liberal in several views and an advocate for gay civil unions.  He is the former Governor of Utah and past Ambassador to China.  I don't feel good about Mr. Huntsman!

Ron Paul - My favorite until Rick Perry joined the contest.  Ron is plain speaking and exudes common sense.  His ideas are radical and would be unacceptable by a government bureaucracy entrenched by years of wasteful spending.  His views on finance and education are right-on and I would consider him a true statesman!

Mitt Romney - A Harvard business Grad and former Massachusetts Governor.  Mitt is a venture capitalist and former CEO of two companies.  He is an active member of the Mormon church, even serving as a missionary for 30 months in France.  His views have grown more conservative over the years, even changing from pro-choice to pro-life.  I just can't get excited about a Romney presidential run.  Sorry! 

Rick Santorum - A lawyer and former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.  Excellent conservative views and a track record for standing up for his beliefs!  Rick is a great guy who would make a great president.  He and his wife Karen have seven children and are devout Catholics.

 Rick Perry - Texas Governor and my current #1 pick.  Conservatives are fed up with Republicans who go to Washington and just blend into the woodwork.  We're sick of candidates taking Christians to the dance but leave them sitting alone while their attention is placed elsewhere.  Anyone who would threaten Washington that His state may want to secede from the union is my kind of candidate!  Let's face it, the Tea Party wouldn't exist if Republicans had a little backbone!  Go Rick!

What about the rest?
Buddy Roemer - No chance!
Tom Miller - No chance!
Jimmy McMillan - No chance!
Thad McCotter - No chance!
Andy Martin - No chance!
Fred Karger - Gay Rights Activist - No way!
Gary Johnson - Again, No way!
Vern Wuensche - No chance!
John Bolton - Stop already!
Rudy Giuliani - NO!
Roy Moore - Great views, but no chance!
Sarah Palin - Undeclared, no comment yet!

Tim Pawlenty - I liked T-Paw.  He's a great Christian politician.  The media didn't give him a chance so there was very little coverage.  Sad that he bailed, but there has to be money to run a machine.

     There's my early thoughts on the candidates.  It will be interesting when the field gets whittled down to the winner.  Who do I think can beat President Obama?  Anyone on the list and actually anyone not on the list!

MSOC vs. the Bradford Pear Tree

     Hi, I'm an employee of AT&T and the following is my opinion! 
And my opinion of MSOC is that it was, and is a tremendous waste of our stockholder's money.  Our company landscapers spent all their money on Bradford Pears instead of the good stuff.  Let's face it, whoever was in the meeeting when this monstrosity was purchased needs to man-up and fall on the sword.  As a company, we've got major problems on our hands and MSOC seems to be at the root of it. 

     The problems are numerous.  First of all, like all the people who push Bradford Pears, most tech's lie to make their numbers!  Yeah, it's true.  Some managers even tell which codes give you more time.  Remember, our numbers are our manager's numbers too... they want them to be good!  Management ratings depend on it.   They become tyrants to people who don't go along with "getting results up". 

     Bradford pears won't grow well in many soils.  MSOC doesn't work well with an outside telephone environment!  How can MSOC "know" how long it should take me on a noisy telephone trouble with a copper line three miles long?  You say, "it all averages out".  No, it doesn't, and if it does, you adjust the bar higher so we can't clear it next month!  Solving a trouble issue on a customer's line is akin to a detective working a crime scene.  Sometimes, the culprit is holding the gun upon arrival.  Other times, it takes repeated trips and interviews to give the customer justice.  Those are called repeat reports in the telephone industry and they hurt your numbers.  We have techs who keep up with whether or not their repeats or "no accesses" are high as to which they can use to close a trouble.  If they don't have many repeats, they close out the trouble report and let the customer call back later.  If their repeats are already high, they will no-access the trouble and let someone else close it out.  Here's an old fashioned concept... what about just TELLING THE TRUTH!  Again, like a Bradford, it looks good, but you REALLY don't know what's going on.  The inside is full of rot.

     Bradford pears can't stand bad weather.  They tend to break apart.  MSOC is similar.  We were told after the recent tornadoes, those numbers would be thrown out.  The system just couldn't handle the storm.  We have the same trouble with DLC systems in trouble.  The repeats kill our numbers for months...  you know, weakness in the limbs cause a big cleanup!

     Bradford pears are maintenance intensive due to bad soils, stormy weather, and disease.  They are time and money consuming.  The same goes for MSOC!  Think of all the managers both direct and on staff whose time is spent trying to manipulate MSOC data.  It would be nice to know, how much total money is spent maintaining this flowering tree.  Add to it, all the meetings and scoldings where our focus is on MSOC and not just "good customer service".  We had a tech recently whose numbers were bad and he was under pressure to pick up the pace.  Finally, some genius discovered his GPS unit was not reporting travel time correctly.  You guys should really be ashamed for pushing this on us!

      Bradford pears constantly sprout new growth all around, adding to the tree mayhem.  Those little buggers come up everywhere creating new problems.  It's a constant fight to keep it under control and alive.  I finally gave up with the one in my front yard last year.  I put gas and oil in the chainsaw and in just a short time my yard was reclaimed.  It looks really good... GONE!

Press the Reset Button

     I know, I know, haven't written much lately...  In my line of work, we often clear a trouble on a telephone line and then the DSL modem won't sync back up.  It usually just takes a reset to let it clear it's head.  All you have to do normally, is just kill the power and put it back.  That's what I did for myself several weeks ago.  If you were looking at me, I probably showed a little stress.
    
     We've been working a lot of overtime here in Alabama from all the tornado damage back in April.  We were working on average thirteen days at work then one off, and you would start back again with another straight thirteen days at work.  It gets old.  I finally got to my scheduled vacation week in July, and the first day was sick as a dog.  Actually, I shouldn't be so hard on the dog, anyway...I was miserable.
I had a friend steward my account in Realm of Empires(facebook game) for a few days while I recovered, then went right into replacing our kitchen floor.  A "not so difficult job" that went pretty well.

  After that, I realized I didn't want to go back to being an emperor again, so I bailed out of my facebook game and felt great about it!  It was suddenly like, what else can I give up?  I decided to have a "computer fast' for a while and that worked out well too.  I discovered I can do without all of this if I so desire. 
    
     I'm working on a new project to increase my digital TV reception, so I can disconnect DirectTv later this month and save some  bucks.  It's funny how giving up unimportant things can make your day seem longer.
    
     It's very easy to get priorities out of order.  There is probably a good lesson in Biblical fasting here somewhere...

     I must confess that my day with AT&T didn't go well.   I decided to sit down and blast management as usual but realized I owed an explanation for my recent absence.  Management venting can wait another day!  If they only had a reset button...