Holidays And Education

Years ago, my employers paid for my courses. When I finally became a software engineer  at Digital Equipment Corp — June 1985 — DEC picked up more of my education costs, because my courses were directly related to my job, programming.

I do not like wasting my time, so I learned everything I could, and did the best job I could on the mostly programming homework. Also, failed courses were not reimbursed.

When I took my last course required for graduation from Harvard University Extension School — Anatomy and Physiology of a Computer — Mrs. Highpants took my rough circuit diagram drawings and drafted them, so all the wires went were they should (that kind of help was allowed in the course). However, Mrs. H. was very glad when four years of coursework was over.

Last Summer, I signed up to take an on-line course on a 5 year Lisp dialect, called Clojure. The course was supposed to start in September, but depended on a book that was not released until November. So, the course started on December 5th.

If you want to ruin your holidays, go ahead and do something like this. I was naive, and did not reschedule. All in all, I’m glad I’m taking the course; we are now about to start week 5 of 6.

However, I get nervous when my beloved spousal unit Mrs. Highpants cuts me slack on household chores and responsibilities, even though she is both impressed and shocked about the amount of work this course is taking.

When I’m freed up from my duties, there is always the worry that yet undiscovered chemical Slugazine might be released into my system. Even though I was born in the 20th century, it might as well have been in the 19th as far as who does what and when. Let us just say I had to undergo civilizing and I am glad for it.

So, to those of you who want to self improve, please try to avoid taking courses that span December or other times of the year when major holidays occur. You might be happier.

Elwood P. Dowd, Philosopher

I do not believe in New Year’s resolutions. You make them, and then the harsh reality of Winter and daily life sets in. Your resolutions are usually up in flames or at least badly tattered. I will however, muse on something for the 2012, specifically one saying, and in general, a movie I’ve enjoyed for all the years I have seen it, Harvey.

From the movie’s memorable quotes there is this:

Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be” – she always called me Elwood – “In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.

There are those things in life, often the most perfectly obvious things, and you might wonder why they are there or even why they are not fixed. Why does that annoying event happen over and over again? Why does not someone change “it”?

If change refers to a person, what you are really saying is you want them to change. At work, that means you wish the person would be disciplined, reassigned, fired, or otherwise would disappear altogether. If change refers to a process, when presented with a problem like that, I am sure Hercules would have preferred to clean the Augean Stables.

I had one of those why is this the way it is moments over vacation, watching the same pattern unfold that has unfolded for several years, and I got drawn into it almost with the same results. But, this time, having seen Harvey over the holidays, I remember Elwood P. Doud’s quote about being oh so pleasant, and I was.

I could not remove the problem vortex into which I had been pulled, and behaving other than pleasant was going to make others miserable. So, I followed Elwood without even realizing it.

This is not a declaration of avoiding problem, far from it. Instead, it is a declaration of how to respond and not ignore those problems and keep one’s dignity.

Happy New Year!

A Holiday Tradition: Printing The Property Tax Bills

I get all sentimental at this time of year. We can enjoy the holidays once recap is completed. recap is the proposing of the new property tax rate through excruciating digestion and overall combing over of the town’s finances, which are then submitted to the state and the rate approved by our Board of Selectman all for DOR’s approval. Then finally the real-estate tax rate can be set.

What follows bears a striking resemblance to Festivus especially the airing of grievances and feats of strength. What actually happens is as follows:

We get the new tax data.

Then we check the data first to see if it looks good.

Once all that is done, my colleague in the Treasurer/Collector’s department and I run a test billing run to make sure everything works; you know, kind of like a dress rehearsal.

Finally, we transfer everything to the live production system; run the bills; and our department (IT) prints the bills on a thirty-five copy per minute duplex printer.

You would think the whole thing would be go off without a hitch, well, it’s Smooth as Silk (at 2:20 ). There is always some minor problem that needs fixing, and then it’s over and at 9:15 in the morning it’s not Miller but breakfast time.

Finally, we are done.

Lightening Up

First, this post The Pros and Cons to Being 27 and Living With Your Parents cheered me up. And reading a few of the posts in that blog made me re-realize something. As much as I love water meters, endpoints,  and programming in general, not everyone wants a daily dose of sleep aids, especially if they did not request them.

So, once our Recapituation is done (that’s the ritual of preparing the 3rd quarter real-estate tax bills — often more stimulating than sleep inducing), I’m pledging to turn over to a less boring leaf, if possible. An until then, may you have a wonderful holiday season along with some laughs.

New Home For Zephy Lovebird

Zephy The Lovebird @zephylovebird is nesting in my blog now. We’re tightening our belts economically, and maybe this will give me incentive to post more about here and her antics.

Hong Kong Water

Today, I received some interesting links to how water is handled in Hong Kong. My friend, the same one who sent me Uncle Chuck’s quote after the US stock market went up, sent me some links on water. Our town has just finished a major water project to automate reading people’s meters.

These articles are on flushing toilets using sea water, cracking down on water theft, and a better solution to prevent water theft.

I hope you enjoy these.

 

 

Uncle Chuck And The Debt Crisis

A friend of mine sent me a humorous, fictitious email this morning titled “Canadians To The Rescue”. The email had to do with the recent rise in the U.S. stock market, and decisions made by world’s central banks to ease the debt crisis in Europe. However, instead of an official quote, the email said “Message from the central banks (including the Canadian Central Bank)” followed by this quote from Uncle Chuck, which goes like this:

Relax; take it easy; have a cup of coffee; everything’s going to be all right.

Uncle Chuck is a figure cloaked in mystery, who I am told lives in Wisconsin. To imagine his speaking this quote, you would have to imagine this being spoken by a very relaxed guru, in which the speaker’s voice alone would relax anyone listening.

I have never met Uncle Chuck, but would like to, if for no other reason than his quote, which we use a lot around the municipality where I am employed. I would even pay good money to get Uncle Chuck’s voice on an MP3 for stressful times, like the one we are entering.

That is because we are entering, along with the Christian season of Advent, another season, called recapitulation or recap for short. It has to do with Massachusetts cities and towns setting their property tax rate. Things get very tense around here, until recap is completed.

So, Uncle Chuck, wherever you are, I salute you.

The Grain Hawk

A lot of people do not get how birds work. It takes a lot of fuel for us to fly, build nests, and just to exist, especially in colder weather. We have to eat often. We are not like dogs or cats.

Peachy, an emerald-backed peach faced lovebird who preceded me, was such a good flier, that he could fly upstairs following the staircase. That’s flying upwards at a 45 degree angle. Peachy was a fast flier. But after a flight, he would seek out food.

Pookie (the Cockatiel) and I get a varied diet of mash (cooked grains), Avi Cakes and Nutri-berries (from LaFebre). But, I never miss the opportunity to bulk up on grain. My favorite is rice. I do not fly a lot, but it takes a lot of energy to fuss and keep things the way I want them.

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Lovebird Hawk Closes In On Not So Wild Rice

 

How Eddie Haskell Can Save The Day

You remember Eddie Haskell from Leave It To Beaver, don’t you? Played by Ken Osmond, Eddie always behaved very politely in front of Beaver and brother Wally’s parents, June and Ward Cleaver,  but revealed his true, punky, trouble-maker self in the absence of authority figures.

Well, Eddie Haskell could save the day for you, because instead of describing someone’s constantly changing behavior with carefully worded dialog to avoid seeming to be a whiner, you can instead describe the behavior by saying that person is Eddie Haskell.

Do you know someone who is polite, cooperative, and seemingly would go to the ends of the Earth for you, but only in front of the boss? Then, when the boss is not around, behaves differently?

Well, when explaining to the boss why things are not going as planned, because the seemingly cooperative person really isn’t, you can say you are working with Eddie Haskell. Eddie’s funny image will hit home, before your boss rejects your argument because you are criticizing someone.

Besides, for those who do not follow science fiction, comparing someone’s behavior to Eddie Haskell is easier than explaining the behavior is more like the HAL 9000.

So, for those of you who do not see the value of 1950s/1960s sitcoms, I’ve found another reason to point out why they are helpful.

Introducing Mrs. Highpants

Almost twelve years ago, it was Mrs. Highpants who convinced a middle-aged man to dress up like Cupid to deliver flowers and candy to six lucky WBOQ listeners whose Valentine’s Day poems won the Valentine’s Day contest.

And now, after years pursuing her arts and crafts passions after Toll painting, hand producing greeting cards, and many other things, Mrs. Highpants has finally entered the blogosphere.

Here it is: Mrs. Highpants’ Blog