Retirement?

I love to think about retirement. What will I do (write), where will I be (????), what else will I do? 

I love watching what other people do when they retire. Hell I love watching how other people live and thinking about how I might be able to live like that.  

Last week I saw a post on Twitter from a guy who rolls around in a trailer/RV all year every year. He goes to RV parks and other camping spots sets up, and stays there for months. He homeschools his kids, he works (as a software developer), he takes his calls via zoom via wifi at the site. He feels he is blessed, and I agree. 

Lately, I've been thinking about where I might end up. Twitter guy has a good idea. Get the kids out of this house, get a PhD, set up a consulting business in Instructional Design and Training, and boom I'm outta here. I'm in the trailer or camper and I'm all over the place. Actually, it's a bit more nuanced than that. 

Will there be a camper? Maybe. Maybe for a few months I'll give it a go. but I foresee a bunch of leases and Air B&B's. How cool would it be to lease a place in the Carolinas, and enjoy that area for 6 months, then boom, off to the pan handle of Florida living on the beach for a 6 months. Then boom, try a camper in Minnesota or Michigan for 6 months, then BOOM! Over to Oregon and live on a bay and watch the sunsets for a half year. 

Here's one too . . . (these pics I've been posting). Costa Rica, off the grid living for six months. This might be the home base where I lease it out and when it's not leased for six months or longer we come back and live there until we find another long-term lease. 

I look at these pics and you know what I see? I see places to write. I see novels I can write. I see solitude and silence and the ability to focus. Ahhhhhh! Sounds wonderful!  I see kiddos coming for vacay, and I see friends coming for adventure. How awesome does that sound?

New Book Club

Started a new little book club and the first book is one of my faves. Agatha Christie novels are always among my favorites, but Death on the Nile holds a particular place in my heart. I think it was the first Agatha Christie novel that I ever saw, then read. 

Rule of 3 Pics

I got a chance to spend some time at the bay this weekend. Super fun. For the whole family but also for me. Got to start a new Agatha Christie which was awesome, and got to hang out and do Bay things. 

I know in the past I’ve written about orange and blue in movie posters. Although I can’t find it. Go look up orange and blue movie posters and you’ll find yourself stunned by how many movie posters use orange and blue as their primary color schemes. You’ll never see movie marketing the same. 

I was talking to our designer about this the other day. He is a great designer. I was surprised that he had never heard about this orange and blue prevalence. I know, I know, they’re complimentary, but other complimentary colors aren’t used as much as orange and blue. I took some time to show him and he was blown away . . . Natch. 

I also remember reading about photography and the rule of threes. Use the view finder to ensure you have a middle and two sides to every picture, and that there is a foreground, mid, and background in the picture as well. Then merge the two so that the three frames that make up the picture and the foreground, mid and background are all working together. 

I took these three pics while at the bay. I like them. I tried to use those principles in my pics and I think I pulled it off. I’m quite pleased with them. I think it’s interesting that when you know these principles and start using them that pictures that use the principles come naturally. You start moving the view-finder to make these aspects appear and work together. The pic of the dock was the first I took of that series. The pic of the sunset was the last, and it was the one where I got down lower. The pic of the balcony and doc was the second. The first was portrait mode, this one is landscape. 

I think compared to my designer, they’re not bad. What day you guys think?

Media-lish

Yeah, sorry, I tried to merge “media” and “english” in the title, and I don’t think it worked. Won’t try that again. But, I’m all riled up about the media and the way they use the language. 

My neighbor gets riled up constantly. And truthfully, she’s better about getting riled than I am. Eventually I get to a logical dissonance and just give up on the argument. I think she burns with a long hot raging fire. This makes it fun to rail against the world along side her, but often she goes off on tangents without help and often times it’s fun to watch her go off like a rocket. 

Today it was me who got in the first hit. I saw a meme. I’m not going to go into details, but basically, it was a screenshot of a Snopes fact check. When I read it I didn’t believe it was real. There, in this meme, was the Snopes fact check next to a video of the event that Snopes said was false actually happening. It was straight out of 1984!!! Newspeak! Snopes wrote, “This is False! This person may have said this but they didn’t mean it so it’s False.”

Completely unreal. So for me, today was the day I kicked things off!

First, it was riots that were called “Fiery, but mostly peaceful protests.” Then it was a riot that turned into an “insurrection” . . . Hardly meets the standard. Then there was this just last week. A small riot in LA that was decried as “overly enthusiastic celebrators” and the truckers in Canada who haven’t hurt anyone and who have been a bit of a pain, are nevertheless classified as “terrorists.”

I don’t know what to do! As a lover of the English language I can’t stand the high jacking of the language for political purposes and obfuscation. I can’t wait for the next rant and rile with the neighb!

Crazy Bosses

 Bosses are crazy arn't they? I know . . . I am one. 

I have had a ton of experience with unfufillable demands or projects that can't be completed in the given timeframe. Hell, not only have I been on the receiving end of those projects, but I've delivered them. Ranger School, RIP, Battalion, Pre-Scuba, they're filled with missions that you aren't supposed to be able to complete. 

SEAL PT, where I was an instructor, we constantly gave our clients workouts that we knew they couldn't complete. "Run to the end of the parking lot, get wet and sandy, run back as a group, and form up right here in two minutes." There was no way they could do it in two minutes, much less four. But we did it to see how they would respond, or how they perform. 

I remember when I first got genuinely and truly frustrated about this side of business life. My CEO at the organization I had worked at asked for the moon, and usually, I delivered, but after a while, I started to see what he was asking was unreasonable. In some cases, it was that I didn't have enough people. In other situations, the problem came about because I have a hard time thinking more strategically for the organization. I have an easy time thinking strategically for a department or even several departments, but for an organization? That's where I run into problems.

Now I am the boss who asks too much of my direct reports. I had trouble before thinking strategically for my department, now I'm coaching others to do it. I had trouble with all of the multiple demands, now I'm the one giving them. 

I am an independent sort. I've mentioned that before on this blog. I like working alone much more than in groups. If I see the need to hire someone, I find the right person and hire them. I don't wait for permission. Now, I have to not only ask for permission but I have to justify and defend before asking. It's killing me, but I get it. 

It's hard being a boss, not because of the people you lead, rarely is it the people . . . usually it's the demands. I've done it to the bosses under me, and my boss does it to me. The trick is realizing that your boss who is giving you impossible to accomplish projects is being given his own extensive list of impossible to accomplish projects himself. 

Fender Bender (Or Bumper Basher)

I bought a new car when I got out of the Army. Well . . . the last year I was in the Army. That was the last new car I've ever bought. I've had five or six since. All used. All workhorses.  I was a Jeep Wrangler. Loved that car. So fun. Patriot blue. Rag top. Chrome wheels. Offroad tires. Standard transmission. Fun, fun, fun. 

I broke down and bought a new car again . . . last month. My vehicle clunked out on the road. The transmission just stopped working. That's a pretty big warning sign. So I got it working enough to get it to a car dealer and bought what they had on hand. Thought I had a good deal too. Loved my new, new car. 

Well, had a bit of a fender bender today. I wasn't driving. I was teaching someone to drive and I might have pushed him into something he wasn't ready for. That being said, there were external circumstances that lead to the chain reaction that resulted in the wreck. A guy, a pedestrian, was walking toward the road and the car in front of us had to come to a screeching, sudden halt. I know my driver tried to stop in time, but instead, WHAM!

Both airbags deployed. Crumple zones in the car we hit crumpled, and our hood got smashed up something terrible. 

I feel bad for the driver of my new car. He's taking it hard. He feels really bad that he knows I loved that new car. Less than 4 thousand miles on it and now,  . . . I'm hoping it's not totaled. The wrecker guy AND the auto body repair shop thought it probably was.

I think in my next novel, I'm going to write a lot more feeling into the car wreck. No, not sunset perfect. The one about the gal in the mountains at the B&B. Chapter 1, she's in a car wreck. Now, I'll have a bit better perspective. 

As for my student/driver . . . well, hopefully, he's gotten it out of his system and he'll be a better driver because of it. 

Workouts 2022 Edition

So I finished P-90X2. My review: it's not bad. It's not as engaging as the first P-90X, but the work on core muscles is actually pretty fun. 

Those of you who follow this blog will remember that I had a goal of doing P90X (see HERE) then P-90X2 (see HERE) then P-90X3 as my newest workout goal. I'm two-thirds through.

This all started with reading a tweet from a former NFL lineman who rode his bike everyday for 100 days. I tried it too. Sadly, a trip to Alaska ruined that streak. I think I was twenty-something days in. 

Then I tried to run everyday for 100 days (see HERE). That one I completed. The next was to lift weights for 100 days. That one failed. Shoulder surgery side-lined me. But this P-90X one is going well so far.  

As much as I hated the core work, which was extensive . . . I do feel as though my core strength is substantially stronger. 

Additionally, I'll say that the upper body workout and lower body workouts were some of the best there were when you take out the stretches in the middle and you throw in some extra strength training. The other thing I didn't care for about this workout? Was that you had to buy so much equipment to support the moves. Also, there were very few "old guy" modifidiations. They were doing some tough moves and they were just,  . . . keep up. No moves for the old. Of course I also added in jogs just about everyday, but all in all I recommend it highly. 

So, why not go straight into P-90X3? Well, because I think I jacked up my shoulder. I was able to knock out 10-12 pullups at a shot in the first series. Now in the second, I'm barely getting three at a time. So, I'm giving the shoulder a break. 

Is it a Fact?

 So I ran into this meme the other day, and I have my doubts about it's validity.

Why? 

Well, I highly doubt that Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is sitting around all day wondering what it would be like to live with me. But you never know!

Locked Doors

Another for this new series I'm starting up (see HERE). Again, it's not the best yet, but since I've closed the EE series, it has to go somewhere, and I think it's only a matter of time before it takes shape. Regardless, these resonate with me, so why not keep em.

More Coffee

Since the end of my Evershade series, I've been struggling to find a spot to put those mote juste that come across my life path. Those quick lines, those memorable memes, those terrific one liners that when I see them I realize my fancy has been struck. 

Last week I wrote one that was on coffee (see HERE). So, I'll follow up with this one I suppose, and maybe we'll have a series dedicated to the Columbian bean juice. 

Politics for Just a Moment

I try to steer clear of politics for the most part. I posted about a slight political moment with my classmates and professor the other day when I sent an opinion article to my class that discussed experiment design. 

I'm going to take a moment to discuss unions. It was inspired by an article I read this morning in the WSJ (see HERE). 

One of my earlier experiences with unions was in a class on American History and Unions in college. I know I was raised in an area where unions are not prolific. I see the historical value of unions, and the usefulness of unions, but I think that unions are essentially a bit out of place in today's society. If you don't like your working conditions, there are too many social freedoms that would allow you to find a better job. I know that's an oversimplification, but that's my thoughts. I think unions slow innovation and are an unecessary burdern. I'd rather the free market keep businesses in line rather than a union leader. 

Apparently the NYT has similar thoughts. They feel that unionizations of their technology workers would stifle their ability to react and cost too much. A funny view from a source that I'm betting advocates for unions in other areas of life. 

I remember there was a press for unionization of our craft workers in California when I showed up to train one week years ago. Wow, must have been 12 years ago now. For some reason the young kid who was advocating for unions during breaks asked me what I thought. I remember telling him that as a young guy he should not be advocating for unions. Unions, in my experience, do not help young workers but rather are a help to older, already established workers. In terms of safety, the safety systems we had in place were more than sufficient to keep him safe provided he used them appropriately. In terms of money, a union would not help him advance, but rather would take from his paycheck. 

Unions are a part of the past and a nice lever to be able to pull if the free market loses it's potency. But what galls me is the hypocrisy of the New York Times who will advocate for unions in other organizations but when it comes to their own, they eschew it. I'll take unions over hypocrites any day. 

VR in the ER

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I do a lot of work with virtual reality tools and equipment (see HERE). It's fun to see how VR can play a bigger part of our world and in the industry I support. 

I read an article this morning on VR and how it can lead to injuries (see HERE). 

It's interesting this disconnect between the real world and the human mind and how it can lead to the trainee hurting themselves. We've seen this in our own work. Our learners sit at a desk to take training. In the middle of training they are asked to put on a headset and take a VR exercise. Even though we have designed our training so that they won't have to move around much, we still have people who hit the desk or sides of the desk. 

It's as if they lose sense of their surroundings to such a degree that they forget where they are. This is a good thing in terms of development. It's not a good thing in terms of our safety record. Still, I see what some of our partners have done and I'm more and more glad that we decided to take the route we did. 

Opinions in Class

Invariably I am the most conservative person in my PhD classes. Most of my colleagues in class are academics. They are all trying to become professors or administrators and they tend to live in the Northeast or Midwest. I've yet to have a class with anyone else who lives as far south as I do, or who is in an industrial field, much less in oil and gas.

With that being said, I like to poke at my colleagues and professors just a bit. I never know how much is too much, and there is an argument that I went too far this last time, but it was just too good an article and too timely to pass up.

We were talking about strong and weak experiment designs in our class lecture the other day. What makes an experiment design strong? What factors automatically make a design weak? 

One of the samples that the professor brought up was having an over-subscribed class. Meaning, that too many people wanted to be in the class. This allows the experimenter to accept some and take from the excess to create a control group. I read an opinion article (see HERE) that brought up that very design so I sent it to the professor. The problem? The opinion aspect of the article is heavy-handed and counter to the prevailing politics and paradigms I've seen from my colleagues and classmates traditionally.

The good news . . . the professor agreed with my comments on the article. She didn't share it with the class as is common, but she loved the example!

2022 Goals

One of the goals I've been given for this next year is to further establish myself as a training subject matter expert in my field and in our industry. 

Sounds a tad ambiguous doesn't it. How does one go about that?

Well, one thing I'm doing is speaking . . . a lot. 

The picture above is of a community college in Pasadena where last week I was a "featured speaker." That's not a bad start is it?

It was a speech to about twenty to twenty-five students at their technical college. I thought it went well. It was supposed to be a bigger crowd, but having a smaller group allowed for me to "work the room" a bit. To walk around, to call on people, to be a game show type presenter. I think it was a success. Question and answer time lasted about half an hour. Then when it was over the organizer asked me to come back next month and do it all again. Being called back for a second act is a good sign, right?

It was really just a warm up act. 

I have to give two major speeches this week. One is to an organization filled with safety professionals. It's on our virtual reality work and the studies we've done. Some of what I spoke about at the technical college will come into play, but there will be a lot more depth to this one. 

The other day I wrote about the book I'm reading about the P-38 Lightning and Race of Aces (see HERE). The authors contention is that the P-38 changed the air battle landscape and added to the winning of the war. I'm going to reference that in the introduction of my speech. 

Another thing I'm going to discuss . . . the primacy recency effect (see HERE). This adult learning theory about attention was a huge hit with the students. I think I'll use it again with the safety folks. 

I also have ANOTHER speech later that same evening, this time with a bunch of painting, coatings, and insulating organization representatives. What am I discussing? Innovations again. Gonna use just about the same presentation as I used for the safety folks. 

Lots and lots of speeches . . . that's a pretty good start at establishing my credentials, no? Feel free to join! I'm always happy to have more smiling friendly faces in the audience!

Team vs Squad Leader

One of the best jobs I've ever had was as a Ranger Squad Team Leader. It was fun, full of bravado and challenges, and far too short. I was promoted to Squad Leader and it was far less fun. Instead of being the tip of the spear, which is what the Team Leader is, the Squad Leader has to pull up the rear. Sure the Squad Leader is in the middle of things but mostly they are reinforcements incase the teams get in trouble, he's a communications node as well, relaying messages back and forth to command, and the person pushing the stack forward. But as the primary shooter? Nope. Primary radio and map guy, maybe. 

Why is this coming up now?  Just as I hit that stage in the Army where I went from a vital part of the machine, the most fun, and most active part of the organization, to becoming just a communicator and passive leader, . . . I've hit that phase of my current work as well.

This past month our organization released two major courses that came out of my departments. One was a new leadership course which based on the reviews so far is absolutely phenomenal. A true transformative learning experience. The second is a revolutionary new and innovative computer based safety training that we hope will be a world rocker in our community. So far, it's looking very good. 

How much did I have to do with them? 

Not as much as I'd like. I feel so out of the loop. Both of my managers are so competent that really they don't need me except to say, "Hey, what do you think of this . . ." or "Can you approve this expense?" That's what I do. I approve expenses and communicate. There are my managers being the hard-charging Ranger Team Leaders and out there doing great things. Here I am following along behind with the stupid map and radio, trying to keep up, trying to keep control, falling behind constantly. Ugh. 

C'est la vie right? That's the nature of business. The fun jobs are taken over and performed by those below ya and you move up to the non-fun jobs. Still, good to see those two leaders being such extraordinary tips of the spears for our group!

Analogical Scaffolding

When I was in Ranger School I learned about several words I never knew existed. Cellulitis? Rubber Neck? (see HERE). Never knew these were words until Rangers School. And I guess for the most part, my life would have been fine had I never known about em.

Not so with the words I learned lately. 

First there is Connectivism. I've written about this one before (see HERE). I love connectivism. The idea of blending networks into something more useful. It was a task I was a part of at my old organization, before I embraced the non-profit world. What I find interesting is that we were doing it, but we didn't call it "connectivism." We were on the path of calling it "connected worker" but it's a forward looking concept I hope I can touch on more. 

But Analogical Scaffolding is a new one for me. I had the opporutnity to look into this over the past few months. We are building a course that uses analogies to help people understand more the complexities of work refineries by linking it to something they already understand. This is called  . . . apparently . . . analogical scaffolding. 

Makes sense. Scaffolding understanding through analogy. 

What good are analogies?

First this from Celik et al "Treagust, Harrison, and Venville (1998) summarized the importance of analogies, which are powerful learning techniques, in science teaching:

• Provides a clear understanding of the concepts from different perspectives.

• Enables learners to gain real-world experience.

• Helps to teach the concepts clearly from a different perspective.

• Summarizes topics in an easily-understandable form.

• Motivates learners by attracting their interests.

• Provides difficult information for learners and teachers to see their mistakes easily.

• Facilitates access to information, concept development, and problem solving.

• Makes unknowns compatible with logic by improving creativity."

Then this from Keri and Elbararny, "More than 70% of the students indicated that these analogies were useful in understanding the anatomical structures and physiological functions. Over 60% of students applied these analogies while studying. Eighty-eight percent of students found that analogies were engaging and made the lecture more enjoyable. We conclude that well-structured and purposeful analogies have positive impact on students’ learning of science courses during undergraduate nursing studies."

So, now that we will have our own training that includes a ton of analogies, I'm looking for ways to study it. How can we determine if analogical scaffolding is any good? What is the comparison? Is it just qualitative? 

I would hate not to take advantage of this opportunity. 

 

Çeli̇k, H., Kirindi, T., & Ayçi̇çek Kotaman, Y. (2020). The effect of the computer-based analogy used in science teaching on learning outcomes. Journal of Turkish Science Education, 17(1), 73–93. https://doi.org/10.36681/tused.2020.14

Keri, Z., & Elbatarny, H. (2021). The power of analogy-based learning in science. HAPS Educator, 25(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.21692/haps.2021.003

Coffee

My god!

I fucking want you.

The thought of waking up,

making you hot,

then tasting you on my lips.

Totally consuming you

only to do it again and again and again . . .

because one cup of coffee is never enough.