The morning was a bit rough trying to figure out what I missed on the day off. Weeded through the email for the important items. Went through the ticketing system to find any quick wins. Took care of a few items before the weekly UX touchbase meeting. The afternoon was more of the same — quick tickets, a meeting for search and product discovery on the site (yes — information architecture and taxonomy are integral to that process!), followed by a company leadership monthly meeting. I can’t tell you what went on in that meeting because it’s James Bond-like — if I told you, one of us would have to perish in some odd turn of events. Ok, not really, but it’s still confidential information.

Picked up Triumph of the City from the Zappos library to read this week. Ended up making it through 3 pages before falling asleep. Did I mention how tired I was?

Wednesday started out about the same, but a 9:30 meeting. The meeting went well, especially considering I’m trying to normalize the taxonomy so that no items are duplicated (one home — and only one home — for items). Worked out a work flow for this team which will help everyone out in the future, so a win first thing in the morning. Followed that up with a quick quality assurance test on a new feature for our in-house taxonomy tool. Found an error, and worked with the fab developer to get it fixed so that it might be released tomorrow.

After lunch, it was time for the weekly data sync, where the UX team, customer service people, analysts, and project & product managers get together to put everyone on the same page. I really like those meeting since there’s a lot of good information exchanged. The three o’clock crash then happened, where I felt like I needed a 2 hour nap. Acquired an Odwalla bar and some green tea to pick up my energy again, and pushed through another few tickets before the end of the day. Tickets ranged from taxonomy additions to search items that needed to be cleaned up or redirected to a taxonomy based search rather than a raw text search. That’s always an interesting vetting process since it’s a bit balance between search (the broad gathering of products) compared to taxonomy (the narrowed gathering of products), especially since you never want to assume what your user is thinking or for what they’re searching. They’re annoying little fights at time, but they’re what keep the job exciting day after day.

Oh, yes… and over the past two days we set up a new fish tank. The old one decided that it would be fun to short out on Friday. Smoke and everything. Glad it didn’t fry the lone tetra in the tank! But now fishy has a clean new home, and seems quite happy in his new digs.

Photo: Back To Work… by Richard Holster and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.

Since I was already in SoCal, I decided to visit with friends I haven’t seen in way too long. Even information workers need time to recharge their batteries and reconnect with those important to them!

• Finalized a classification system for books at /usr/lib. Promptly helped to open the place as well.
• Worked. A lot.
• Trained. A lot.
• Cooked a 16 lb. turkey.
• Cooked for three potlucks.
• Ran — and finished — my first 12K race. Promptly finished last in my age group.
• Ate a lot of turkey left-overs.

You’re probably thinking right now, “Yeah, so what? It’s a list of mundane monthly tasks.” True. So, what did I learn?

• Writing takes time. I’m a chronic procrastinator, so the task probably won’t get completed anytime soon if I don’t have a deadline. Midnight rocks for that reason.
• Brushing the turkey with a liberal coating of olive oil creates the perfect golden turkey and helps to lock in the juices. But baste, baste, baste!
• After these three half marathons, I need to do something else for a month to let my legs & heels heal. Plantar fasciitis is not fun. And my cats tend to steal my therapeutic tennis balls. I might find one of the four tennis balls any given day.
• People have a hard time understanding the tasks and skills of Information and Knowledge workers. There’s still the 1930′s librarian stigma, even in corporate America. Been thinking about ways to change this.
• I seriously suck at answering emails. In fact, answering some emails is akin to talking on the phone: not something enjoyable for me to perform.
• Good blog posts hit once or twice every month. The rest is drivel and fluff that doesn’t tend to serve to better society, but instead calls out our narcissistic ways.

And that, my friends, is the end of NaBloPoMo. See you in January (and maybe before) for the next round of Library Day In The Life.

I feel like I could use another few days off to fully recover. Using a prompt today because I’m tired and it’s already time for bed!

What is the last thing you do before going to bed?

Besides the obligatory teeth brushing, I drink a glass of water, call the cats into the bedroom, plug in the cell phone, and check to make sure my alarms are set. Yes. Alarms plural. I can sleep through them easily!

Some nights the ritual includes packing running clothing for the next day.

Generally it’s fairly boring. Run-of-the-mill tasks. Nothing very exciting.

Photo: Toothbrush 2 by FotoGraph-Zah (Flickr user name) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

… like they used to.

About every other year, I need to replace my jeans. I pretty much live in jeans since I work at job that allow me to dress comfortably.

Denim is generally a fairly tough material, but the past few years the manufacturing has become chintzy. It seems like designers are more worried about the whiskering and worn, broken in look than the actual quality of denim. Which… well… leads to pretty severe degradation of the fabric. Two years ago, the jeans I had for 3+ years actually wore at the hip area where I used to carry keys. That’s to be expected.

But I had a pair of Lucky Brand jeans that I purchased in February that just magically got holes in the butt area. Glad I was at home when they appeared! I would have at least expected the jeans to hold up for a year and a half, but nope. Done. Kaput. The denim was soft and worn. I guess too distressed to hold up. Definitely not worth the money paid for them. I had another pair of Lucky jeans purchased around 2003 that held up for 4 years. I wonder why their manufacturing quality standards changed?

Needless to say, I’m sticking to my Levi’s from now on. The last 2 pairs I purchased (six months before the Lucky Brand) still look decent, minus the cuffs which are starting to wear. If I want distressed jeans, I’ll do it myself.

Photo: BLUE – Jeans by Marianone (Flickr user name) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.

It’s that time of year for persimmons. Right now I have approximately 20 pounds of them in my kitchen thanks to Jeff.

If you’re like many Americans, you’ve never seen — let alone tasted — a persimmon. See that little picture off to the left? Yep. Kind of looks like an overgrown, mis-colored roma tomato. But the taste when ripe? Sweet, much like a mango or apricot. You can eat them raw once they’re ripe (think an over ripe tomato consistency — soft like a water balloon but not dripping mushy). Very tasty!

Being as there are way too many of them in my kitchen, it can only mean one thing: time to make persimmon jam! I need to find my canning tools and brush up those rusty skills. Making the jam isn’t so bad, but the canning part is what takes the work and is way too easy to screw up.

And the left over persimmons? I’m hoping a few co-workers and friends help to take them off of my hands.

Photo: persimmon by ttaengi (Flickr user) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

Time changes events so quickly, so today I’m giving thanks for the people who positive influences in my life, enough food on the table, a roof over my head, a workplace that employs me, two strong legs and two strong arms to get things done, and all of my mental capacities so I can think.

I have more riches with those items than 99% of the world. Everything else is just icing on the cake. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Photo: Be thankful by amboo who? (Flickr user) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license.

I always love beta testing items, primarily because I find bugs. A lot. Repeatable.

When I worked in live entertainment (read: theatre and concerts), ever show I did I would rent one ‘unknown’ piece of gear that I had never used. A new type of automated light most of the time, but sometimes a console. I remember a new year’s eve event, which was pretty much the event from hell. My gear list was all messed up because the project manager ordering the gear thought that another person had designed the stage and used his equipment preferences. I ended up with two types of lights I had never used, along with a brand-spankin’ new console (controller) that had been on the market for all of 2 months. Not only did I need to learn the capabilities of the new lights, I had to figure out how to program a new lighting console.

This is not an easy task for a one-off event.

I ended up with blue-screen-of-death (yes, the same one Windows used to display) on the console the second night into programming. Wiped out about an hours worth of work. Restarted. Tried the last keystroke combination again. Blue screen. Third time? Same results. Panic!

Hello, bug. I guess I’m not doing that idea.

That day a sewer pipe also broke and ran under the stage area. All the cables and dimmer racks were covered. It stank. The hosers came out to wash the area down with clean water. We hoped for nothing to short out since water and electricity make very volatile friends.

The event turned out okay. I reported the bug to the console manufacturer.

I find it exciting to test out new things. Mostly because I can intentionally try to break software or sites or gear — and give ideas on how to improve it. Which is why I’m happy to be part of the T-Mobilizer program through T-Mobile. I occasionally get to test out new phones, and give feedback on them and the service received. The best part? T-Mobile wants the positive and negative. Rock. ON.

Besides, who doesn’t like having their voice hear to make something better?!?

Disclosure of Material Connection: A smartphone will be loaned to me from T-Mobile for two months for review purposes, and for free. I am an existing T-Mobile customer, and will continue to pay my monthly service fees during the review period. The opinions I express are my own and — since I’m only human — can be flawed and in no way reflect the views of T-Mobile, the phone manufacturer, or other affiliated companies. I am not required to write a positive review. For more information or a full list of phones and services provided by T-Mobile, please visit their site, visit your local store, or call their customer service line. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Photo: oops_5642 by This Amuses Me (Flickr name) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

Not that I’m a wolf all of the time, but hey… I like being different. Even though I’ve struggled with topics on occasion for this blog challenge, I used the proposed topic exactly ONCE since starting 22 days ago. I think BlogHer is a great site, but for really getting into the type of blogging I like to do, the proposed writing prompts in many ways could lead to way too much fluff.

Substance. More substance.

I’m a big fan of getting beyond the surface. What makes people tick? Their backgrounds and experiences? Stories that they tell. How it all comes together to make them who they are now. And many people aren’t willing to share that in person to even their closest friends.

Which is why many times blog prompts turn to fluff. It’s difficult to look vulnerable when being strong is touted as the way to get work done and gain friends. It’s also rare that a person truly knows and recognizes their true self. Some topics require this knowledge and courage to really cover well, exposing parts of the self which may show weakness or desire to improve their idea of self. In the short view, weakness may come through; but long term, this type of post requires more cahones and growth than most people want to put on the line.

I say go for it.

Photo: The Road Less Travelled by Ann Douglas and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

So, I was updating events and going through people submission on the VegasTech site, doing maintenance (uh, changes) on the /usr/lib classification, and almost completely forgot to create a blog post for NaBloPoMo!

The thing is that I enjoy doing those things. Someone asked me today how contributing to those things doesn’t seem like work. It’s the passion and the knowing that it helps someone that keeps me going until midnight (or beyond) on maintaining them. If you really enjoy something, it isn’t the drudgery of work on which you focus, it’s the pleasure of doing it that drives you.

Besides, who ever said that work couldn’t be fun?

Photo: Bee Birth 1 – Chewing her way out by Max Westby and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.