Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 will be remembered by the blizzard that hit Kansas City on Christmas Eve and stuck around though Christmas day. Because so many in the family have 4-wheel drive vehicles, the blizzard did not change our plans. We gather Christmas Eve at Terri's parents as we always do. The only difference was that this year, Lisa and Terri did most of the cooking.

Mary, Terri's mother, is suffering from the effects of thyroid cancer, and is not able to cook as she used to. After our traditional meal of shrimp, chili and various sides and desserts, we held the "dirty Santa" gift exchange. Just as last year, I scored my pick by stealing from my son-in-law Jimmy. Last year I stole a knife and flashlight set. This year I pilfered a set of ratchet wrenches. I suspect somebody will be looking to even the score next year. Once gifts were exchanged, the family headed home through the ongoing blizzard. Driving was a challenge, but not especially dangerous if enough time was taken.

Christmas morning brought a thick layer of snow to Kansas City. Officially we received 9 inches, however the winds blew the snow into drifts of up to 2 feet, while other areas were blown clean. Terri and I travelled the short distance to Dan and Lyndy's home so that we could enjoy the Christmas morning with our grandchildren.

Christmas afternoon dinner was held at our home. The entire family was not able to attend due to difficult road conditions. Dan was absent as he worked a shift for Ideal plowing and sanding parking lots. I was able to capture a couple of grand kid pictures I wanted to share.

This one could make next year's Christmas card.

It is not hard to get a good picture of my grandson Coleton. What a happy kid (most of the time).

I hope that you have similar happy memories of the past Christmas.

Obama Approval

In previous blogs, I predicted that Obama's negatives would become greater than his positive by the end of 2009. While stubbornly close, it has not happened. The RealClearPolitics.com "average of averages" poll indicates Obama's approvals at 49% and dis-approvals at 46%, roughly the same level as my last inaccurate prediction on December 9th. I obviously over-estimated the public relations impacts of his health care plan, support for Cap and Trade, and record deficits. So I wonder if I can conclude that at least one of the following statements are true:

1. 49% of the populace do not pay attention, or
2. 49% of the populace don't understand the issues, or
3. 49% of the populace believe that Obama will provide them with free health care, or
4. 49% of the populace are willing to pay a sky rocketing cost of living just in case man is really causing the planet to warm, or
5. Printing money won't have any negative effects on our future economy, or
6. It is fine to let the benevolent Chinese hold the majority of America's debt

In reality, I suspect the real answer is some combination of the above. I suspect the combination would include items 1,2 and 3.

Several years ago, I felt that we were an apathetic nation. Now I think we are an ill-informed nation. Government power will be anointed on candidates and parties that can tell the best story, and manufacture the best sound bites. Facts are no longer meaningful, only feelings.

If I feel heath care should be a right, then passing laws to enact health care is okay. If I feel that polar bears are cute, then we should reduce our energy use by dramatically increasing the cost. If I feel that war is unnecessary, then we can cut and run with no consequence. If I feel that I deserve more from the government, then it is okay to take loans out that our kids will repay.

I think I liked apathy better.

Management Woes

Don't get me wrong, I lead a great team. The types of problems that are deposited on my desk range from simple to extraordinarily complex. Regardless of how difficult the issue, I find that I always have a competent and qualified expert that can tackle it. My biggest challenge is understanding what success looks like, fitting the task appropriately into the priority stack, setting the correct expectation with the requester, and elegantly delegating the task to the correct subordinate. That is what I see my role as.


But this time of year, I do very little of that. Instead, I commit myself to performance management. It is the most difficult aspect of my job. Several months ago I blogged about the interim performance reviews and how time consuming they are. This time of year is twice as difficult. I have 27 direct reports. I will spend 30 minutes preparing for each review, which will take one hour. So reviewing 2009 performance for 27 direct reports requires an entire week. Then we start planning and communicating 2010 objectives. That will take at least another week.

So that is 2 weeks of work devoted solely to performance management. My voice will not survive the abuse of doing all 27 reviews one after another. I will commit 4 hours a day to the process until complete. That stretches the 2 weeks process across 4. My January is planned out.

It wouldn't be so bad if we could just focus on performance management for the entire month of January. But we cannot. Normal business activity does not stop, so either I cram the normal 8 hours of work into 4 or something gets delayed. But I will get through it ... sometime in February. Then interim reviews in July, followed by final reviews next January. Oh well, that is the life of a manager.

Winter Drearies

The holidays are over. No more long weekends until Memorial Day. Memorial Day seems like an eternity away. We are currently stuck in the dog days of winter with the worst of winter's wrath still ahead of us. The skies are gray, the air is frigid. The cold seeps into the house through invisible cracks. The forecast calls for a few more inches of snow over the foot and a half already on the ground. Temperatures are expected to hit -10 before the end of this week.

For me, this is the worst stretch of the year. Days with bearable weather are few rare, and cabin fever is knocking on my front door. The cars are covered with salt and road grime, and it is too cold to wash them. The grimes seems to find its way into the house by hitching a ride on the bottom of our shoes.

The start of the new year brings tax season. Where did I put all those receipts for deductible expenses? How much did I pay in taxes? How much more do I need to send them?

At work most of my time will be spent doing performance reviews for my 27 direct reports, and then setting 2010 objectives for each. I feel like a human resources administrator until this completes around the end of February.

You might have noticed a negative tone. I hate January, but don't let me keep you from having a nice day.

Outrage!

Okay, I have been good through the holidays. You know, peace and goodwill towards all mankind. But seeing what was going on in Congress, I had to stifle myself several times. I want to scream when I see our elected representatives acting criminal. It was more than just the health care obamanation coming out of the Senate.

• The Senate Democrats moved unilaterally, and without the support of a majority of citizens to get a health care bill passed before Christmas even though it is not planned to go into effect until 2014 at the earliest. What was the rush?


• Democrats have the gall to claim passage of the health care obamanation was a gift to America.


• Nobody in Congress has even read the 2 separate bills that have now passed each legislative bodies.


• Harry Reid spends $100 million of other people's money to bribe Senator Ben Nelson for his vote on health care.


• Senator Ben Nelson puts a sweet heart deal for Nebraska ahead of America.


• A quality bill was never considered. It was given that the bills were deeply flawed, but would be fixed in conference. So nobody really knows what the final bill will even be.


• Congress votes to extend the debt ceiling on Christmas eve so that it would go "under the radar".


• Congress exempts itself from coverage of the health care bill it passed.


• Republicans timidly suggest fixes that would solve most problems with health care, but Democrats rejected each, then claimed Republicans had no ideas.

Holidays are over. I am done being without rant. It is time to spew.

I am mad at Democrats. The Democrats have abused their power like never before done by a majority party. They are giving the finger to half the country and simply imposing their will.

I am mad at Republicans. The Republicans have been completely ineffective at articulating an alternative to the Democrat's socialist agenda. Not only have they not provided alternatives, they have not called out the Democrat's heavy-handedness in any meaningful way.

I say enough of them all. It is time for America to declare open season on all Congressional incumbents. My thought is that a green rookie Senator or Representative is far better than what we have now. We need new blood in Congress, people that have a clue about how real Americans feel. Unfortunately, most of America agrees with me, but only in relation to every other Senator or Representative. Because of the pork brought home to their constituency, most Americans are satisfied with their own Senator or House Representative.

There is only one option that is good for America. Vote them all out. If party affiliation is a big deal to you, vote against the incumbent in the primaries. Only a clean house will fix what is broken in Washington.

My voting scheme for 2010 is simple. Even though I like my Senator (Pat Roberts) for his conservative record, he too is part of the current Washington problem. If a cocker spaniel runs against Roberts in the primary, I will vote for the cocker spaniel. If Senator Roberts beats the cocker spaniel and he runs against a liberal Democrat that has never served in Congress, I will hold my nose and vote for the liberal Democrat. Only if he runs against another congress person will I consider voting for Roberts again.

All of America must take this approach or what has happened in 2009 will only get worse in 2010 and beyond.

New Project

Terri and I have committed to a new home improvement project. We decided that a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a fully furnished man cave is not big enough for 2 people. So the remaining unfinished portion of our basement is being converted to a fourth bedroom and third bedroom.

I took the week off between Christmas and New Years to begin the projects. First, I had about 200 sticks of lumber delivered. Since we have nearly a foot of snow on the ground, the lumber was dropped in our driveway. So my first task was to move all 200 sticks from the driveway to the basement. That required a couple hours of labor.

Then I started the frame carpentry. I was able to complete most of the work in 2 days. I still have a day of details to finish before the walls and ceilings are ready for sheet rock. I am sore. Surprisingly, the sorest part of my body are my forearms and hands. I guess all that keyboarding I do doesn't keep the muscles strong.

Over the next couple weeks, brother in law Steve will to do the rough in electrical. A rough in plumber will be called in to get the bathroom water and drains in. I will cut the new doorway from the man cave into the addition, as well as get everything sheet rock ready. I may try to do the duct work myself although at first glance it seems to be a skinny guy job that I am not qualified to do.

Once all that is done, the torture of sheet rock begins. It starts with the delivery of 65 4x8 sheets delivered to my driveway. Moving that to the basement will be much more work than the lumber was. Then each will be cut and installed. Taping, mudding and smoothing will take several weeks. I hate sheet rock.

Once done, the end is near. Trim carpentry, paint, tile and finish should complete before Spring.

I will post pictures once there is more that studs to show. Who will be the first to use the new second master suite? Any volunteers?

Resolutions for 2010

Most of us find at least one thing about ourselves to improve in the coming year. I think the intent of a New Year's Resolution is to clean up the big problems in your life. Theoretically, the older you get, the fewer big problems there are to clean up. I know this is true with me. I am having a difficult time coming up with a single improvement opportunity this year, so I focus on little things that I can do better.

I could resolve to lose weight, help the poor Pigmy's in Africa, be more giving, serve people, blah, blah, blah. Instead, here is my list of resolutions for 2010.

• Accept more back rubs from my wonderful wife
• Notice how clean the house is more often, and complement Terri on her excellent work
• Renew my effort to visit every BBQ joint within 20 miles
• Read more books, listen to more music and watch more TV

Whoa! What would be left to do in 2011?