Tract Computing, Inc - My days in computer retail

 

Back in 1989, I worked for a retail computer company called "Tract Computing." The operation had two locations: one in the Potomac Mills Mall in Woodbridge, VA, and the other in an office complex in Alexandria, VA. I have tried to research information about the company since, but have come up empty.

What I do remember, however, are a few of the things that I will probably never forget. They help lay the foundation for some of my core beliefs regarding business and handling employees. In this post, I'll share some of the things I remember (which may or may not have anything to do with business practices, but are rather memories).

• I worked with several guys at the store. There was Rick and CJ (I cannot remember their last names to save my life). There were at least two other guys as well. The place was managed by a woman named Karen (I believe her name is/was Karen Williams, but that could be wrong). The company was run by a man named Alex and his wife (also named Karen, I believe). Alex's brother did the books, but I'm afraid I cannot recall his name. Their last name was either Nassif or Nassir, perhaps.
• Alex had a vanity license plate with "DOS EXE" on it. So appropriate for the late 80's/early 90's.
• One of the guys had an Amiga 1500 or perhaps 2000. We would go to his house to mess with it and eventually cobbled together a very cool PC/Amiga hybrid. I don't remember the details, but we used an IBM-PC bridge card from the Amiga with a ribbon cable that led to an AT chassis where a separate board served to add expansion ports to the PC side. That was crazy.
• One of my most memorable moments came by way of a woman who came into the store one day. She held a computer mouse in her hands, and she approached me asking if we happened to sell just the balls that went into the computer mouse. In those days, we didn't have optical mice. Mice had a little ball that rolled around inside for movement. When I told her that we only sold complete mice, I asked her why she just needed the ball. She opened her hands and showed me a computer mouse that had been marred and scarred with a cable that looked like it had been chomped on for quite some time. She said, "Well, you see, my cat was playing with my mouse, and I think she killed it." Truly one of the funniest moments I've had. We sold her a replacement mouse.
• Another stand-out situation came by way of an older couple. The woman had come to the store early in the day, picked out some software, then asked if it would run on an IBM-PC. I assured her that it would and she bought it. Later that day, she came back with her husband. Her husband was angry about something. When I asked what was wrong, he barked, "Are you the one that sold this (holding up the box) to my wife?" "Yes, sir," I said, confused. "Well, it will NOT work on an IBM-PC! This has five and quarter inch disks and we need three and a half! Where's your manager?" I tried to explain that the software WOULD work, but that I was not told the computer only had 3.5" drives. Didn't matter. He found the manager and proceeded to tell her how incompetent I was (using pretty colorful words to do so), and that I should be fired on the spot. She got him calmed down. One of the other guys copied the program to a 3.5-inch disk and sent the couple on their merry way. The manager got my side of the story and we decided it was a lesson learned - one I still practice as best I can to this day: ASK ALL THE QUESTIONS, ASSUME NOTHING. From that day on, I have tried to ask all the possible questions I can when given a task or a project.
• Even though I couldn't find information online regarding Tract Computing, Inc, I do recall that the company had folded not long after I left in 1990. I was offered a manager's position in late 1989 as an enticement not to back to college (I was out for a semester, taking time off). They offered me a decent amount of money, but in the end, I thought it better to get my degree and return should the opportunity and offer still stand. By the time I graduated, they no longer existed. Plus, I wouldn't have gone back by then anyway. Life had taken me in a different direction.

In those days, we sold everything from hardware including PCs, Amigas, C64s, all kinds of peripherals. We were basically like Computer Shopper magazine in a little store. We weren't anything like Software, etc or Babbages or the myriad of other computer-related stores, but we were one of the few in the area. Sometimes, just being there is enough to have a moderately successful business. 

Shortly before I left, the manager was fired for allegedly stealing money from the company. Apparently, she wrote company checks to herself, which she signed, and then she endorsed on the back. The bank raised a few questions after the check amounts continued to grow, and things spiraled from there. Note: this is the story as I heard, so if facts are askew,  I am not making any accusations nor legal claims here. Nor am I trying to slander/libel anyone.

Anyway, I thought I would write this post in case any of the folks from back in the day started poking around looking for info about Tract Computing. Thanks for reading.

Labor Day and Religious Beliefs

It occurred to me today, this Labor Day, that we are seeing more and more stories of people refusing to do certain aspects of their jobs in the name of their religious beliefs. I figured I'd toss my two cents into the Interwebs for no good reason other than I feel like doing it. I think my take on it can be summarized in two sections, so I'll start with that and we'll see where things go.

First: Doing your job. You know, the funny thing about most jobs is that they change over time. If you are a seasoned worked (or are retired and looking back), think back to when you first started your job. Are you doing EXACTLY the same thing(s) you were doing when you first hired? Sure, the core of what you're doing may be the same (and, perhaps maybe not), but other duties have come and gone during your career(s). I would venture that some of those things have been great additions to what you had been doing, while some things have been added that you absolutely loathe. Jobs change. Jobs evolve (or devolve) over time. There are new rules, regulations, technologies, etc. All of these combine to make the job you were hired to do different than the job you may be doing now. For that matter, if you have been promoted over time, the nature of what you do has also changed. Change is a part of how the world works. Like it or not, sometimes, those changes mean you will be doing things you hate doing. At that point, it becomes an issue of personal choice: You choose to keep working there in that position or you choose to find another job, start your own business, move, whatever.

Oh, I know, people say all the time, "I can't just up and move my family!" Actually, with the advancement of today's transportation technology, you can do that precisely. Heck, my in-laws used to up and move from Arkansas to Oregon and back every so many years, depending on the logging industry (if memory serves, it was logging). They did it before our modern conveniences, but really, it wasn't all that long ago - my mother-in-law was a kid when her family did this. Today, one can up and move with truly little effort.

"But, I don't want to uproot my family or what if the cost of living is higher or .. or .. " Yeap. That's all part of the choices we make. We must weigh what is important.

Now, there is a slight difference in taking a job where you KNOW what you are required to do as part of the job (say, serve alcohol on a plane). You know going in that is part of the job. If that goes against your religious beliefs, then you don't take that job. Yeah, it's that easy. It's called foreknowledge. Look it up.

When the rules change after you are already working somewhere, that's a little different, but not really. Why not really? Because the fact is you were hired to do a job. Jobs evolve, as mentioned before. If you don't like your new roles and responsibilities, your duties and your requirements, then you leave the job - for whatever reason. They may be religious, they may not be. But, you leave if you feel that strongly about the changes.

Second: Your religious beliefs and where your God wants you. I did not "grow up" Christian or any religion for that matter. In fact, for a long time, I didn't believe in any kind of spiritual beings. Over time, I examined various religions. What I found was that many religions tout their "god" or "God" placing people right where they needed to be for particular reasons and/or for particular seasons of life, certain events, etc.

If the rules and roles of your job change that go against your own religious beliefs, is it possible that your God has put you in that spot at that time for a particular reason - a purpose, if you will? Maybe you are supposed to be there to serve as a witness to those you encounter. Let's take that one further.

So, you are there to be a witness, and example, to others. How are you reacting to the changes in your duties? Are you accepting them graciously, praying that your God give you the wisdom and insight as to how to handle things? Are you reaching out to serve as model version of what you believe your religion says believers should be? Are you raising a raucous and condemning? Are you refusing to perform your new duties as an outward protest as a means to show just how loving and accepting your religion is (if, in fact you belong to one that is - I know not all are devised in such a manner)?

Perhaps, if you stay in the position (see the section above about moving), you are there for a reason. Maybe your God wants you right there, right then to show what it means to be a member/believer in your religion. So, what example are you setting? Would YOU want to be a part of your own religion if you saw someone acting "ugly' (as they say)? Would that make you want to draw closer to their God?

Just some food for thought.

Welcome to Summer

Last week started "Summer Hours" at the office.  For most employees, it means working 730a-5p Mon-Thu with Friday off.  For me, it meant working those hours plus hanging out on Friday for a disaster recovery workshop with various Superintendents, Tech folks, etc.

One of the Supts requested the workshop and Friday was the only day the computer lab was available *and* the presenter was available.  When a Supt asks, we do what we can to make sure those requests are met.  In this case, the fact that this is a mandated function (disaster recovery plans) helped ensure that it took place in a timely manner.  The result of this workshop birthed a request for a follow-up workday so that schools would have time to enter information while the folks that know the most about the software and the requirements stand at the ready.

As the workshop progressed, I received a phone call from the city employees working to install our telco conduits.  As what has become status quo, the gentleman on the other end asked me several questions to which I not only had no answers, I barely understood what was being asked.  That means that Monday will see me phoning my contacts to follow up.

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Summer also means time for the annual "Chicken and Egg" festival in Prescott, AR.  I'm sure in days-passed, it lasted three days.  Nowadays, we get a Saturday.  It's a day of food, fun, music, and friends.  This past Saturday, "Pail" played, and local Trey Johnson provides the lead vocals.  They are on Facebook and MySpace.  They play a little country, rock, blues, and a combination of everything.  Well, maybe not everything.  Though, they did a southern rock version of several rap songs and a blues-rock version of "Billy Jean."

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Of course, the best part of summer: VACATION!  This year will be unlike most for us.  We usually have a whole crew that go on vacation together.  This year, it's only the four of us.  We're heading to Atlanta, GA.  Why would we go there?  Because we've never been.  Well, not outside of the airport anyway.  Our vacations are almost always within a day's driving distance, and we try to go places we have never been.  Of course, there are exceptions like San Antonio. We've been there several times.  Likewise, Memphis TN.  Emily has not been to San Antonio that I can remember, and Tyler was very young.  I would love to go back again and take Emily and Tyler now that they are older.

We have tickets to see the Braves in Atlanta and we plan to visit Underground Atlanta, World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium and more!  Of course, there will be swimming, dining, and general craziness!  Of course, we'll be blogging our (mis)adventures!

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Daily Photo (My Desk at Work)

One corner of my desk at work

The mundane, the banal, the not-so-extraordinary shot above came from an inspirational spark as I tried to figure out just what to do for today's photo.  Upon closer examination, however, it reveals more about me than I realized.  Though what one would do with such information eludes me.

First of all, let's talk composition.  As things move from left to right (that is also the direction in which my computer rests), things more packed in, more compressed, leaving less and less "white space."  Also notice the amount of yellow in the photo.  In the scheme of office-based photography, I'd venture to say it's a lot of yellow.  Sure, one is a Wendy's cup, but still, one cannot deny the placement of the cup was not as random as perhaps even I had first thought.  Move from yellows to a splash of blue on the water bottle (unopened, by the way) to the red and white of the Christmas candies (which I won at the company party before the break).  A touch of chrome on the thermos-thingy behind the box, and of course the big brown box in front.  Yes, that is the same box shown in my post from yesterday describing the first day back after break.  The viewer's eye is drawn across the photo from left to right (if you notice space first) or right-to-left (if you notice the clutter first and move toward open spaces).

Next, let's talk objects: 

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  A drink cup - probably ubiquitous in office environments - with the straw pointed in my general direction even though I would certainly pick up the cup in order to take a drink. 
  
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  The highlighter with built-in sticky-note things.  That would suggest I was organized and interested in details.  Perhaps.  Or maybe my daughter played with it before the break and I forgot to put it away.  Whatever. 
  
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  The Legos - colorful and arranged in some kind of random shape - suggests playfulness within constraints.  That one I would say is dead on. 
  
  
  
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  The Hand Sanitizer?  Like most things on my desk - unopened!
  
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  The unopened water bottle?  Yeah, I can't even explain that one.  I am not a big fan of water.  Water tates like... well, nothing.  And that is my problem with it.  If I remember, I'll grab one of the add-in flavor packets from home and turn it into something not quite unlike Kool-Aid.
  
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  The holiday mints?  As I mentioned above, I won those at the company party and just opened them on Monday.  So far, John is the only person that I know of to actually have taken a few.  Now, if those were chocolate, we'd have a whole different picture.
  
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  The chrome thermos-thingy?  You can't see it in the photo, but it has an Intel logo on the side.  It was a prize I received at a conference one year.  Before the conference, I was sent ONE white tube sock.  in order to claim my prize, I had to take that sock and match it to another sock at the conference.  I did, and the cool thermos was my prize.  Like the bottle of water, the thermos has not been opened that I can recall.  It looks cool. 'Nuff said.
  
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  The box contains two of the five iPod Touches it is supposed to have in it.  Evidently during shipping and handling, someone decided to open the box (breaking the factory seal), help themselves to a few Touches, then reseal the box with way more tape than Apple uses.  Apple is getting us the replacement units and they are dealing with the handlers.
  
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  That thing behind the thermos?  That is a Dacal CD holder.  It's USB-powered and comes with a database.  You look up the DVD you want, click the number, and the unit spins around to spit out that DVD.  Fun, right?
  

Back to Work, People!

Welcome to the first Monday at work of 2010. For many in the state of Arkansas, the winter break was extended by a snowfall that shut down many school and business north of the Little Rock area. For those of us living below the Saline County line, however, it was time to brave the cold, dodge snowflakes, and get to work.

I started the day at the office by setting up my boss's new computer, which came with Windows 7 Professional installed. She is the first at our place to have Windows 7 as a primary OS, so it will be interesting to see how things go. Having played with it a little and getting her set up, I have to say, I am ready for the change. Win7 has some neat features like Live Preview (which shows you live screenshots of running programs, like an installation running behind other windows for example). The system also automatically detected and installed her printer which blew me away compared to the nightmare that was Vista.

Once that was out of the way, I began revamping the co-op's web site (http://etsp.k12.ar.us). It still has work to be done, but it is getting more color, actual photos, and will eventually be more user-friendly (er, I hope anyway). We are also changing our corporate logo and the samples I've seen (being done in-house by Gina, one of our Teach Center workers) are lookin' good. I can't wait for us to choose one and move forward into the next phase of what SWAEC will bring to the schools of Southwest Arkansas!

Speaking of the site and photos, John and I grabbed the camera and jetted over to the site of the new building to take a couple shots and see how things were progressing. I have to say, seeing a slab there suddenly makes the project appear to be much further shead than when it was just piles of dirt with pipes sticking up!

Before Christmas Break, we had ordered 120 iPod Touch units as part of the TIE program we host. Well, due to a mix-up in processing, we had 100 shipped instead of 120. One of the conditions of placing the order was that the units could not be received during the holiday break. The day after we placed the order, I got an email listing 20 boxes heading our way for delivery on December 23. Umm, you see a problem here? Well, I was able to get those diverted and delayed until after January 4. Rather, it turns out, they were scheduled for redelivery *on* January 4th and they came in today! Normally, that is great news. Unfortunately, it seems someone put their hand in our candy jar:

This box only had TWO units in it, even though there are FIVE serial number on the box. You may also notice that the factory seal appears to be broken and then resealed. That was some serious eagle-eyeing by John on that one! I had overlooked that little piece of info. I took pictures of the box (luckily I had opened the box from the bottom by mistake!) and sent them to our contact at Apple. We'll see where things go from there!

Seriously, is it quitting time yet?

The end of another long Monday

I was supposed to go visit a school today. I was supposed to meet their new technology coordinator. As you have probably guessed by now, those things didn't happen.

Turns out, I have been assigned the duty of serving as backup to the backup of the backup person for our target testing scanner. I feel like the fourth runner-up in the Miss America contest. Basically, if four other people can't scan tests, then I get the call. I'm a lot like what Brett Favre *should* be these days.

The plan was that the group from our new testing software company would come in and show us how to scan tests. Easy peasey. Wrong! They came in and had problems getting connected to the data they needed in order to get the scanned results to the correct schools and teachers. Not a problem. We were told it would about 20 minutes and then we'd be good to go. This was around 9:00am.

Fortunately, Jeff (the tech at a local district) came by to shoot the stuff with me for a while. We talked about various projects and project ideas, the state of educational technology, cloud computing, and various other topics. It's always a good time when Jeff comes to visit because I never know what he'll come up with next. As he said when he walked in the door, "I've got some new material..."

At 11:30am, we had lunch, and were told that after lunch, we'd be ready to scan. After lunch, we were NOT ready to scan. "Just a minute or two" we were told. Wrong! About 30 minutes later, we were finally sitting at the computer where the scanning was to take place.

The training was over in 10 minutes.

Yeap, that was it. Click here, pick that, hit scan. Seriously? Seriously. But, at least I now know the procedure should I ever be called upon to fulfill my role as the backup's backup backup! :-)

After the training, I took a drive over to Jeff's office to finish our conversation and to start up a few new ones. Ironically, the one thing he wanted to show me (something new he was doing on his servers), never came around to discussion. Guess we'll save that for another day.

I left after about an hour or so and returned to my office, where the afternoon training had already been concluded. All I can say is that I am glad I wasn't in on that training, though it couldn't have been too bad, since it only lasted about an hour, right?

The rest of the afternoon was killed off by several minor things like answering e-mail and helping a co-worker get her Google calendar to show on her departmental page on our web. It's a very easy task with SharePoint, and we integrated her Google calendar with Outlook, too! Very cool stuff.

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Have you ever wondered what a detailed teacher's web page might look like? I have. And, it turns out that I was given the chance to see one that is laid out very nicely. The instructor teaches English and Comp Lit in Oregon, and if I am ever in the position to teach, I would lay my site out a lot like his. Here is his web site, if you are interested.

I like the idea of having separate pages for the different subjects, then a place for resources and biographical info. Each page also has a link to the syllabus and student work, so the current students can get an idea as to what is expected of them.

Nice job.

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This past weekend, Shan and I headed to the church to help paint the Children's Church area. It is very outdated with wood paneling on the walls, so we have been helping to revamp it. The new theme is going to be Noah's Ark, with animals on the walls that line the steps and each room representing a different group of animals. The colors in the rooms POP and each room has one central color. For example, one is a very deep, dark blue, another is a BRIGHT yellow and the room Shan and I painted is a glowing-green color. It is not quite the color of a highlighter, but it's not far off either. The green will serve as the background for vines and trees and other greenery for the jungle room.

We have lots of work to do. Eventually, every room will be repainted (there are about 8 or 9 classrooms), the hall will be painted, the stairwell and the downstairs hallway as well. It's a big project, but should look pretty cool when it's all said and done. I should have taken a camera with me to document the progress. I will be sure to carry one with me for now own, though!

I'll keep you updated on the progress. I usually update my Twitter and FaceBook regularly as to what we're doing, but I can "expound and extrapolate" on here. :-) Not that I've really done much of either as of yet.

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I've decided to send some of the lyrics I've created over the past years to one of those songwriter sites. I figure one of two things will happen: they'll accept them and I'll hear my songs on the radio one day, or they will laugh hysterically and politely decline my submissions. Either way, it should be entertaining. I'll keep you posted.

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Getting it done.

Wednesday was a very good at work. I had to run to Blevins in order to look over their layout for digital signage. In plain English, that means they have two flat screen tv's in the hiigh school, two in the elementary building and one in the main building at their Emmet campus.

The tv's in the high school and elementary building are pretty far apart, so we will use two devices that will convert the computer image to data over a network wire, then convert it back to display on the tv.

While I was there, the technology coordinator told me that his web site was down and that his email system would not allow users to view their webmail. After messing with the server for a bit, I started looking online for possible solutions. As it turns out, the solution was to create new server certificates. It mainly has to do with SSL (like when you are shopping online and you see the lock in the address bar or near the bottom of the screen). Once that was done, everything worked like a champ.

As it turned out, the Emmet campus (about 30 miles away) had the same problem. I ran over there and sure enough, the same fix cured them, too! Excellent!

Fast forward to Thursday. While in Fouke, I met with the Supt about some upcoming projects he's wanting to implement. They are about to become one of the "turn-around districts of the year" with all the advancements in technology he is hoping to put into place.

after that meeting, though, I took on the task of trying to get their Netware server to run a tape backup. They've had a lot of trouble with tape backup units in that computer. At one point, Dell had installed a newer version of the backup software than the district was licensed to use. So, after 60 days, POOF, no more backups. Dell them rolled back to the old software, but the tape drive never worked correctly again.

Today (Thursday), after a conversation with the state field tech, I realized that I might be able to find an old driver for the tape drive. It was worth a shot. And, it worked! The drive finally showed up in the software again, and we did a quick backup of one file. And, it worked! wahoo! The technology coordinator there and I whooped and hollered about it. Yes, we techies get excited about some strange things, especially from solving a problem that's been nagging for MONTHS!

Fouke also had a weird issue with certain laptops not showing their video on projectors. After some fiddling, I realized they had to set the output by using the display properties rather than the toggle switch on the laptop. Why? I have no idea. The key is that it worked and the techs know what to do in order to keep things running smoothly on that front.

Thursday evening, Shan mowed the lawn (she likes to ride the riding mower) and I grabbed the rake to clean up the shavings. Tyler followed me around and put the shavings in a rolling cart then dumped them over the fence.

Not a bad couple of days.

Steaks Up!

Pictures from the cookout at work today:


Floyd is our Workforce Education Specialist, and served as the Master of Grilling for today's activities...

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Here he is slingin' steaks on to the grill!

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As you can see, we are an equal opportunity "other duties" assigner! Gina was recruited to marinade the steaks and help sling 'em on the grill.

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John (left) and I get caught on camera... We were TOLD only the plate was being photographed... See if we ever trust Gina with the camera again!

It's Grillin Day

For the past few days, the education service center where I work has been hosting an "Administrator's Institute" - a 3-day intensive focus for Superintendents, Principals, and other administrators. There have been somewhere around 70 or so admins from our schools and from schools in other co-ops.

Today is the 'big day.' we will have around 90 people in the conference room, plus there at least two other workshops going on with 12-25 people each, PLUS staff that work at the co-op, PLUS people who come by to have things done as part of the daily routine of co-op business.

What does all of this have to do with grilling? Well, you see, under "other duties as assigned," the three guys that work for the co-op have been tasked with grilling roughly 90 steaks for lunch. I suddenly feel like that guy on Dinner: Impossible, but I don't have any culinary experience....well, unless you count my grilled cheese and my general failures to successfully cook spaghetti as 'culinary experience.'

I also volunteered myself to be the 'Chief Easter Bunny' (as one of the presenters called it) for a geocaching workshop we are holding today. Basically, in my infinite wisdom and lack of understanding just how many people were going to be here on this day, I volunteered to hide various caches for the geocachers to find. No big deal, right? Wrong. Every cache location was selected because of its proximity to the co-op. It's a short workshop (3 hours) so I made everything close by.

I have a feeling the caches will be found without the aid of a GPS unit simply based on the law of averages that says, "if you put 125+ people in one small place, some are bound to find 'hidden' geocaches simply by walking past them." Yes, it's a law, I looked it up, or read about it, or it fell out of the space between my ears. Hey, we're losing focus here... The point is, I am not sure the trinkets I am hiding will actually still be there by the time the geocaching workshop starts! Oy!

I'll keep ya posted. In the meantime, I've got to get dressed in my dress-code-approved work attire. And then go grill steaks in slacks and a polo. This should be interesting... I'll take pictures, and if I end up with as much on me as I serve, I'll have someone take pictures of me. But you never know, I may come out clean as a whistle, as they used to say.

Am I brilliant or what?

One of my 'other duties as assigned' came in the form of setting up three Wii's that we are using for summer workshops this year. Yes, teachers are learning how to use the Wii in their classrooms as a teaching tool - VERY cool stuff!!

Well, one of the items required is the Internet Channel. On the Wii, you have to 'buy' the channel for 500 points. Of course, you don't get any points when you buy a Wii, so you have to purchase points to spend. Points cards can be found at Wal-Mart, target, etc, or you can buy directly online through the Wii itself.

In my brilliance, I opted for door number two. I used the company credit card and bought 1000 Wii points (the smallest increment available). I assumed that at some point, I would be prompted for my email address in order to get a copy of the receipt. WRONG! The only receipt available was on the screen. So, in order to show the bookkeeper that I paid for the points, I grabbed my handy dandy phone and snapped a photo:

(pertinent info blanked out for legal reasons)

To put it mildly, the bookkeeper was *NOT* impressed. But, what else could I do at that point, right?

Other duties as assigned

At approximately 11:00 on Thursday morning, my Director called to tell me and John that she thought it would be a good day for us to go get the free pallet of paper we have waiting for us. Might as well put my HEMI to use, right?

John and I get the hitch from one of the clerks, then head to the hospital to borrow their flatbed trailer. Although I have towed my 30-foot travel trailer a few times, I am in no way anywhere close to knowing what I am doing when it comes to trailer manipulation. We asked the guy at the hospital to get the truck and trailer out of the tight-squeeze gate. Done.

Since we were told that we could not pick up paper between 12p-1p, we opted for lunch. After lunch, we had to take some parking lot shortcuts, runabouts in order to get ourselves in a position that I felt comfortable getting into traffic. Having to cut across 3 lanes of heavy congestion while making a left turn with a trailer is not my idea of fun, thanks.

Getting to the paper mill was uneventful, but once we got there, the antics kicked in full swing. Our first stop? The guard shack. as soon as I saw the guard's face, I knew that she knew we had no idea what we were doing. She was polite, though, and guided us to the main entrance. Evidently, the large sign reading "ENTRANCE" was not meant for us.

I pulled the truck around to the main entrance and had to go to the security desk. They verified that I did have paper to pick up. Once the inspected our vehicle, they opened an electric gate and we pulled through. I had no idea paper was so security-weary.

Now, I was told to "Make a right around the building. Drive passed the trailers, then turn right again." I was told I would see the shipping office and then could turn in to get to the front door. So, I drove around the building, drove passed the trailers and turned right. Nothing looked like a (or said) Shipping Office, so I kept on driving. Oh, I forgot to mention John and I were handed a fluorescent jersey and safety glasses. Yeah, totally rockin the fashion there. So, I drive... I pass several buildings, hoping to see a 'shipping office' sign. Nope. I eventually come to a stop at a warehouse where a guy is on a forklift. I get out, don my cool uniform, and head for the warehouse. When he spots me, the guys says, "You're lost." There was no denying it. "I'm looking for the Shipping Office." He smiled, shook his head, and said, "You missed." Then he gave us directions back the way we came.

The woman inside the shipping office was very helpful and directed BACK the way I had just come from! UGH... I have never done so many u-turns in my life, let alone while towing a trailer. We waited. Eventually, a guy with a pallet of paper and a forklift came down a ramp and loaded the paper on the trailer. The forklift could not get the paper close to the middle of the trailer, so the driver grabbed another pallet and pushed the first one closer to the center. As he did this, he set the second pallet on the trailer and the back of my truck nearly came off the ground! we thought the trailer would pop out of the hitch for sure, but it never did. Eventually, the paper was set and we put ratchet-straps around the pallet to keep it in place.

Rather than take the paper down the interstate, I opted to go down the old highway that runs along side. It's like driving Route 66 instead of taking the Interstate. And we bounced the whole way back to the office.

Once at the office, the Keystone Cops showed up and we all unloaded the trailer using a myriad of carts, dollies, and brute strength. I remarked to my Director, "This is why I got my Master's..." I don't remember her reply, but I would venture to guess it was something like: "Yeap!"

SMILE- you're on...camera! and a sad (NOT) goodbye...

Okay, so everyone watching Idol last night saw Simon roll his eyes just as Chris was expressing condolences to the VT victims and families... We thought it was rude, but then never thought anything else of it... Turns out, the world screamed "foul" and Fox had to do damage control... As it happens, Cowell was rolling his eyes at what he was talking to Paula about - Chris' statement that he purposely sang his song nasally... The camera caught Simon rolling his eyes, and the rest is history.... Wanna read more? Here ya go...

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Coach Houston Nutt received a ton of flak over his $1000+ text messaging bill. He says the messages were to his friend and colleague, and his wife wrote a multi-page rant about the whole thing.... Guess we need to do our part to make sure no one forgets about Arkansas, huh?

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Here's one for the record books, Afghan officials said they received a lot of phone calls from worried citizens... Worried about what? A virus that causes your nose and ears to bleed if you accept a cell phone call from a 'strange number...' Are people really this....naive?? Here's the story...

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So, I rode with Shan's Supt today... We had a great time, lots of conversation, and nothing about Shan's job until the way home. I was assured that she is "this close" (holding her index and middle fingers about a centimeter apart) to inking a deal that would get Shan out of the Special Ed classroom.... Guess we'll see, huh?

During the ride, Mrs. Deon told me a tale of her early days in Arkansas. Turns out her husband decided to get some cows. One day, he was out, and Mrs. Deon was dressed up, ready to head for school (she was not the supt at this point, this was at another school). She saw the cows got out of the fence. Not having a clue what to do, she looked around and spotted Mr. Deon's pickup truck with a bale of hay in the bed. She started the truck, drove down the driveway, turned around and led the cows back into the pasture. She had seen her husband dump the hay many times, but never actually asked HOW it was done... Using her powers of deduction, she slammed on the brakes. Rather than having the hay fall out the back, the hay rolled FORWARD, spilling over the roof, the hood, etc... Not quite sure what to do next, she thought for a moment.... Then, she realized the goofy cows were eating the hay right out of the truck! Problem solved! She left the truck right where it was, locked the gate and went to work! :-)

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And, because I'm in a weird mood, here is yet another "Here's Your Sign" moment... Apparently, two people looking to buy drugs misdialed a pager number... They dialed 911... Good place to call when looking to score some blow.... You just have to read it to believe it....

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Did you hear that Miss Mexico had to retire her DRESS? Why? Too violent... Yes, you read that correctly... Too violent... Evidently, it is bad taste to wear a dress with a bullet-laden belt and depicting hanging scenes from the Roman Catholic uprising in Mexico.... Whodathunkit?

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I heard on the radio that a mother smacked her daughter because she lost a soccer game or couldn't recite some rules or something. When the daughter told her mother to pull over and let her out, the mother complied, leaving her daughter stranded on the side of the INTERSTATE... DUH... Another teammate saw the girl and pick her up.. The radio said the mother was being charged with negligence.... cane we add stupidity and bad-parenting? Just wondering....

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FINALLY, Sanjie is going home. I admit, for a brief moment, I was sad. Remember, this kid is only 17 years old.... Okay, that's enough. He is OUTTA here... Practice, get some lessons, whatever.... Other very talented folks were sacrificed because of the hoopla to keep Sanjaya around... Of course, votefortheworst will now shift their focus to another contestant so they can say "See, we told you so-and-so sucked..."

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More and more information pours out about Cho and just how sick he was... It does amaze me, now after we keep seeing so many additional records/reports/etc just how this kid slipped through the cracks enough to cause such travesty.... I feel for his parents and family, but there is ZERO compassion for that wack-job from me....

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Emily said she was glad the 'white girl' made it safe tonight... It is interesting to see how kids view the world.... If the need arises, we'll explain mulatto to her... I think it's important that she understands people are not just white or black or any other single color....

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I have heard several different radio commentators suggest that Blake is bi or gay. Frankly, I don't care one way or the other. But, I do have a feeling it will become the topic of choice now that Sanjie is gone....

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Stick a fork in me..... I'm done....