You call this a Holiday Week

Seriously, for most people the holidays may be a stressful time. But for those people it is usually because they have stressful things going on in their lives or crazy family situations. They’re single and have overbearing parents, or are trying to please everyone but don’t have the resources to so. For these people though, there is normally some reprieve. Normally work is slack during the holidays, short weeks, extra time off, no dead lines, and not a lot going on. Well not for me, or any one else on my project. No we had the opposite situation.

My current client is one of those employers that actually shuts down operations for two whole weeks over Christmas and through the new year holiday. They’re whole pitch for there employees is how great of a place it is to work. Their motto (being a motorcycle company) is live to ride. Most people normally work 40 or less hours and get a lot of holiday time. They have good benefits and decent (though not great) wage. The main reason they stay on with the company is for it’s dedication to life style. That is unless you are signed on to the project run by the consultants. Though in our defense we didn’t pick the go-live date or create the schedule.

No on our project the two weeks of shut down were easily the busiest of the entire project. Most people were working 12+ days. Some people easily put in 60, 70, or even more hours. As the new system is going live Jan 2 there is no choice. The client employees got it pretty bad, but when they get poured on the consultants always get their share plus the over flow. Several nights I worked to 1am, 2am, or 3am. Every week I put in 6½ days a week. We did have short weeks though. We received Christmas Day off and New Year’s Day off. Unfortunately we still put in those 60, 70, or more hours! Just with only one less day in the week. So again I say “So you call this a Holiday Week?”

Now I really don’t feel sorry for myself. Nor do I really mind. I knew what I was signing up for when I signed on for the job. No the people I feel for are the client. Unlike most projects the majority of the project team was assigned to the project they didn’t volunteer. Second most of them are on salary so they aren’t even seeing any overtime out of the deal. Third they are loosing their 2 weeks of holiday and they aren’t getting any make up time. Finally they are putting in long weeks, have stress on their family lives, and the company has no plans to recognize their efforts. No extra pay, no awards, nothing but a small mention on the employee web page. What a joke; so much for “Living to ride!”

Farm Girl

So Christmas year was very nice, to say the least. We had it at my grandmother’s farm down in out state Virginia, nestled in the Blue Mountains. I met up with RB in Minneapolis and then flew into DC, got a car and drove the 3.5 hours down. The weather was nice all weekend except for the car drives to and from the farm. During those times it rained like nobody’s business. The rest of the weekend was warm enough for shirt sleeves. So that was nice. I was glad that both my little bro and sister could make out there. There had been a bit of an on going discussion over whether she was coming or not. I guess it’s just hard to be eighteen and not be a little goofy. But she did come; my mother, brother, and sister drove from Minnesota the 2 days down to the farm.

It wasn’t the first time RB had met my grandmother. They had met at thanks giving at my folks. I had already heard that grandma liked her but it was still nice that they got along over the holiday. We didn’t have a lot of time. We flew out Friday night, got in 1:30am, Christmas was of course Monday, and we actually drove up to DC Monday night so we could catch early flights Tuesday morning. Saturday was nice and relaxed everyone hung out and caught up with each other and we to town and made our final gift purchases. For the second year in a row I spent half the day in the McDonalds on the side of the highway using there wireless network to keep on top of my work. I did enjoy driving RB around Bedford and the country, not there are a lot of sites out there it is just a nice place to be. Later that night my dad flew in and everyone watched movies and chatted the night away.

The next morning we woke up and had breakfast. I skipped out of going into town to use the wireless for another day of work. Mid-morning I talked the GF into taking a hike around the farm. Now she is a pretty laid back girl for the most part and she didn’t mind walking around the farm, but I think it certainly was a new experience for her. Having mostly been in cities or the suburbs and state parks for camping this was definitely a new environment for her. As many people know farms are full of things you don’t run into in the cities or the burbs. Animals tend to leave their bi-products all over, there is strange equipment every were, the land is not graded at all and is used for grazing animals, or for growing crops. Though on this farm the only thing being raised anymore are cows; No more chickens, no more corn, no more tobacco, just cows.

However she was surprising; which is very often the case. With very little resistance and some enthusiasm we toured the majority of the main 100 acres or so. First I had to let her know a few things. Such as not to touch the fence (it’s electric and did get me once while we were out, how to climb over old cow gates, how to hope creaks, and the most import to watch out for cow pies (and what cow pies are!). Farms can be fun but they are defiantly not clean and easy places to get around. With in only half an hour she was jumping over the muddy banks of the creeks and moving along old cow trails and sometimes crawling under (though not without protest) the barbed wire fence. If fact she was pretty enthusiastic about it, when were resting on some rocks that sit on one of the hills in the front field we saw my parents car go by she started jumping up and down waving at them.

The rest of the weekend was nice; Opened presents, two holiday dinners, lots of videos, and good times with my grandma. She was thrilled to have everyone down at her house and I think we were all just as thrilled to be there. We drove back to DC Christmas day and stayed the night at a Holiday Inn. Then first thing in the morning RB caught a flight to Minnesota, and I flew back to Milwaukee to see the client. No rest for the weary this holiday!

Go-Karting for work!

To be completely honest one of the things I love best about my job isn’t the work at all. It’s the things we do to try to build a community from folks that, at best, see each other two or three times a month. There are charity drives, Friday fly backs, clubs and groups, planning comities and happy hours, quite a few firm sponsored events, and then events that we organize for networking on our own and are paid for by a partner. This is all that extra stuff, that while it does eat up a lot of time, make being a consult such a unique experience (ok maybe that sounds like I’ve been drinking the kool-aid but I have not). One of these events that we had recently was really fun. A bunch of grown people, with very professional jobs, got together and decided to go go-karting. I actually shocked at the turn out for the event.

I have to admit that I was the provocateur in this adventure. When I joined the firm a year and a half ago I was assigned to a group that manages and configures SAP a large ERP software. I went to training and have been on two SAP projects now. The practice in Minneapolis though is very small. There are only 10 SAP practitioners local and when I joined there were only 6, most consultants in the region are out of Chicago. This presents a problem as it is hard to find good opportunities for projects as there is not a lot of activity being driven in the local office. Because of this I and a consultant in the office have wanted to organize a local group and eventually get it connected with similar groups in other offices to raise our visibility. The first step for this is to get everyone in the office to know each other and network.

The first time we tried to get everyone together we tried the basic happy hour invite. Unfortunately the only people the showed up were myself, another organizer, and the two more senior people that had agreed to sponsor. So we needed something more exciting. At first we hoped for a basketball, football, or hocky game. We did get the use of the box for a Timber Wolves game but not for several months. So we needed other ideas. We thought possibly an indoor golfing event; but the simulator and driving range indoor domes really aren’t set up for large groups. We thought about a wine tasting; but there was already one on the calendar for another group. So I figured I had always like go-karting why not see if anyone else was interested.

Well they were. In fact we had the highest turnout of any event to date. I think that most consultants are adrialine junkies. I know other groups in the past have done similar events and things like paint ball or rock climbing. So now we know how to get peoples attention. Consultants get free dinner and drinks on a regular basis; you have to be more creative to get them to give up some of their personal time.

Now, we didn’t plan on going to a normal go-karting track. Instead we planned to go to a more grown up version. There is a company in the Twin Cities call ProKart. They own two tracks indoor facilities that boast high performance European built cars. We went to the track in the southern part of the metro and rented the entire track out for an hour of racing. Plus we had some sandwiches catered and a side room for getting together. The cars that this track uses are said to get up to speeds in excess of 4 miles an hour. They do not cages or role bars. Instead they are built very close to the ground and count on a long/wide wheel base and very low center of gravity to keep them from flying off the track. There are no seatbelts either. Here the cars count again on physics using a tight bucket seat and proximity to the steering to keep riders in the car. The track has 6 or so tight turns, steel railings, skid marks across and down the width and length of the entire track, and one long strait away at the end. To say the least the 3 heats and 2 warm ups we had were quite a rush.

What was also very interesting about this outing was just how aggressive everyone was. The first 4 people were in a dead heat most of the time. One drive had an advantage as he weighed 50lb less than everyone else. When he hit the strait away his car just walked away. It didn’t matter how you drove if you were behind him. The trick was to keep him from passing as long as possible. I am proud that in 3 races I came in 2^nd, 1^st, and then 3^rd. There were two funny scenes in all of this crazy racing. The 1^st is the fact that every one took liberties bumping into each other, and for some reason the only partner of the group got knocked around more I think than most. The second was two of the drivers that just could not keep up. One was really trying to drive as fast as possible and was just a slow driver; the other was having fun just going at their own pace and not caring. It was amusing because they would be past as many as 4 times during a race.

The racing was so intense that I was hit from behind on a tight corner. I was doing 20+ mph and the guy that hit me was probably going close to 30. The car hit the side wall so hard that we bent the frame and the car could not long turn anymore! I also cut my knuckle on a piece of plastic flaring but kept racing anyway. It didn’t hurt, I did get a bit of hear full for bleeding over my jeans that night, but that’s ok. All in all it was a great outing and accomplished its purpose. We had great participation, people got to know each other better and they are all looking forward to the next event.

Does anyone not Holiday Shop online anymore?

So while holiday shopping this year I go to thinking. Does anyone not shop online anymore? I see new studies every year talking about how much online shopping has grown and the growth expected in the next year(s). But what I don’t see are any studies saying how many people do and don’t shop online, and who these people may be. You would think that is would be a cut and dry issue, but then again I’m not so sure. Everyone I know always assumed Mac users were young hit up and comers. In fact the commercial comparing a with-it youngster with an out of touch business guy to push Macs is actually quite wrong. While recently a marketing survey actually found that most people that purchase Macs were seniors – with exception of iPods of course.

The study I mentioned above also reputed the supposed fact that seniors were not technically savvy and did not go on line very often. In fact the majority of this generation is quite computer literate and uses many online services. The real problem is that there are not as many services geared to their age group. TechDirt, a Blog I read quite frequently has had a few articles restating this assertion that it isn’t that seniors can not do it, there is just not any content that interests them at this time. I’ll have to agree with them as my personal experience is mixed. One grandmother won’t touch the computer, while the other and her husband use email and the internet but are scared people are spying on them when they are connected. However when I was a Microsoft rep. at the local Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA I encountered several older people that were as fluent as most of my friends in computers.

So if older people use the internet in similar and just as affluent ways as younger people – at least those in the study - what about online shoppers. Is it only the younger and middle-aged generations who venture onto the cyber shops? Is it still dominated by techno savvy geeks? Personally I gather the majority of my information online even if I don’t make the purchase there (though I do make a lot of online purchases). Thinking of the people I went to High School or College with I can’t think of anyone that hasn’t or doesn’t make routine purchases online. In fact I am forwarded a lot of links and ads for online. The first stop I make is online even if I don’t buy it there.

I can always find better prices online with only a few exceptions, and except for furniture, or large electronics I don’t need to go to the actual store to buy the item. It seems like a lot less hassle to have it delivered than pick it up. Beyond the actual purchasing I was also wondering about research, even if you don’t make the purchase online I can’t even begin to determine how difficult if would be to do research with out the internet. My first stop is generally to www.CNET.com or www.Nextag.com to read reviews and love to check out user comments at Amazon and similar stores. Even the information provided at Target, Circuit City, or Best Buy sites goes far beyond what is available on the tag at the store. So really why wouldn’t anyone not do a lot of there shopping – excluding furniture or clothing – online?

Dude wheres my flight?

8:10 Tried to check into my flight online and was told I must see a ticket agent to get checked into the flight.

8:15 Called NWA reservations to investigate the ticket. Was told I was a no show Monday for the flight from Detroit to Dayton. Curious as I am in Dayton right now and I flew a NWA Saab turbo prop in seat 1a that left Detroit – late I might add – from gate C16. But as I didn’t save my boarding pass the Reservation agent said there was nothing they could do… I wondered: why can’t you look in the system at the planes manifest? My name would be on it! But no! I have to contact my travel agent and maybe… Mind you MAYBE.. something can be done. She was polite, but that she seemed annoyed by the fact that I had even called in – with this problem – and insinuated that it was MY FAULT the gate agent hadn’t processed me correctly, really pissed me off. Oh yeah and she doesn’t care that I might now be stranded in Dayton, OH. D – A – Y – T – O - N O – H – I – O!!

8:36 I call my travel service through work. I try to be calm and explain the situation. Believe it or not they have heard of this before. Dave the rep. told me confidently that they had a SPECIAL contact at NWA and he was sure he could resolve the issue. He took all of my information and said he would call back…. We shall see.

8:45 Complained to everyone how crappy the service at NWA was!!

8:50 Complained to everyone how crappy the service at NWA was!!

8:59 Complained to everyone how crappy the service at NWA was!!
I had talked to 3 different groups about this slip up and the average response was ‘That’s why I don’t fly NWA’

9:15 Complained to everyone online how crappy the service at NWA was!!

9:25 Complained to everyone how crappy the service at NWA was!!

9:33 Complained to everyone how crappy the service at NWA was!!

9:50 Complained to everyone how crappy the service at NWA was!!

9:52 Complained to everyone how crappy the service at NWA was!!

10:13 Talked to James (the consultant I’m working with) he said I should call our travel rep again and press the issue. I said I would be patient and wait until 2 hours had past.

10:28 8 minutes before 2 hours is up Dave called back. He had fixed everything. He said NWA had messed up on Monday… Yeah I KNOW.

10:32 Checked into my flight for tonight… Still skeptical.

10:35 Looked into booking Continental or Delta for all of next year instead of NWA. Hope everything goes well tonight and they let me on the plane.

11:20 Wrote this Blog. Sorry Dad but your guys really gave me a time today! May have to fly Continental.