In the last few months I have learned a few things. Politics and personal interaction are not easy, so as I navigate through the mine fields I have made a checklist of things that I feel are the keys to personal interaction. In the interest of sharing here is my list. Feel free to comment or use this list for yourself.

1. Don’t talk.
2. If you have to talk, say as little as possible.
3. You don’t have to be right.
4. You don’t have to have the last word.
5. Listening is preferred over talking.

To me that is oppression and a violation of our first amendment right to free speech. Our world is not a better place when people are chastised because they want to express their feelings. Everyone is different and we are not all going to agree with what others have to say, but to stifle an opposing opinion because it hurts your feelings or you consider it hurtful is wrong. I may feel that your opinion is hurtful but you press your issue and voice your opinion while tramping on my rights to oppose your opinion with my own.

Our country is divided more than ever, not because of the right to freedom of speech, but the special interest pandering that our freedom of speech hurts them and we have to be Politically Correct. If you don’t like my opinion, don’t read it, listen to it or otherwise engage it. I ignore your opinion until it infringes on my freedom and invades my space.

Throughout this post I have not expressed what has brought this writing about because I know as a reasonable person that anything that I say about current issues, whether political, religious or mainstream media will be held to the PC standard. I am a reasonable person and the evils of being Politically Correct have made me sacrifice my freedom of speech rights for the freedom to not be harassed by PC monitors. That is something that our whole country should be ashamed of. There are a lot of others that feel the same way and are not expressing their opinion for fear of reprisal. 

Today I pray for our country to find the wisdom to become a place that actually follows the Constitution of the United States of America.

Joe Paterno Passes Away

While on Google+ Saturday night I saw a post in my stream from the Huffington Post that said that Joe Paterno had passed away. They were also saying that CBS Sports was reporting the passing also so I immediately did a Google search with no success on his passing. I also opened a few tabs and went to all the major web sites for news and sports. All of those sites were still reporting that Paterno was in serious condition, but still alive. This made me think that this was a false report from media journalist again trying to get the jump on a news story. The Huffington Post report this news right around 9pm and retracted at 9:17pm.

Jay Paterno tweeted at 9:21pm “I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight.”

At 10:13pm he then tweeted “Drove by students at the Joe statue. Just told my Dad about all the love & support–inspiring him.”

I feel that it is poor journalism to report on something just for the sake of getting a headline. There are a lot of journalist that I converse with and have a lot of respect for, but it is the blood sucking major media moguls that want the money and the scoop that give the rest of the media a bad name. The same thing is going to happen as we get into the election season with the different Networks giving their political slant on what they want you to believe.

Paula Deen Diabetic and Unaware

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I am diabetic and have had a hard time controlling the disease until just recently when I actually put my mind to it and started eating right and exercising. I know from experience that you can control your diabetes, but you cannot eat the food that Paula Deen cooks on her Food Network shows or puts in her cookbooks.

Paula Deen announced on the Today Show this past week that she has had diabetes for 3 years, but hid that fact from the world. All that time she has still been cooking the high sugar, high carbs, high fat foods on her shows as before she was diagnosed. To me that is morally wrong and deceiving to people that watch her. She even had the nerve to say that it’s okay to eat a piece of that cake that has so much sugar and butter in it that you would raise your blood sugar to coma levels, just don’t eat the cake. I am here to tell you that it is NOT okay to eat just a piece of that cake. As a diabetic you need to control intake of sugar, carbs and fat very carefully and that 1 slice, guessing here but probably close, has 400-500 calories and 40-60 grams of sugar/carbs in it. That is multiple days worth of sugar for a diabetic. The calories in that one piece of cake can be split into much healthier foods over the course of a day that are just as tasty.

At the same time Ms. Deen has been hiding her diabetes and cooking unhealthy food, she has become a spokesperson for a diabetes drug manufacturer. Doesn’t that smack of being hypocritical? It’s not the drugs that keep your numbers in line while eating all that unhealthy food. It’s eating right, exercising and getting the proper rest that brings your diabetes under control. The medication is there as a support to what your body can’t do when you do the right things with it.

Paula Deen, you owe an apology to your fans, and all diabetics worldwide.

Final Thoughts and Kudos

I mentioned above that I follow the Food Network Judges from Chopped. I enjoy see what they have to say, the tips and recipes that they share. But, it is again the thing of sometimes sharing the decadence of a scone that is 500 calories, but never sharing a fresh healthy choice that makes me wonder if people actually understand that diabetes is one of the leading killers in the world.

I do want to give kudos to the newest Iron Chef Geoffrey Zakarian for his honest, helpful, tweets. He also gives all perspectives, including his asking his followers for suggestions for a kid friendly dish that he developed just recently. If you want to follow someone that is a chef and is willing to give you great information you should be following Chef Zakarian:

Chef Zakarian on twitter

Chef Zakarian on Facebook

An example is Firefox Sync. You have to jump through hoops to get it to work. Once you set up the username and password you setup a pass key too. Okay, that’s not bad and good security, but wait until you want to set up Sync with a new install of Firefox on a different computer at a different location. You are in for a headache when Firefox asks for 3, three digit codes that you to enter on the original machine. If it is not around you need all your info or are asked to reset the pass key. Too much work to just sync my data.

The easy way? Migrate to Google Chrome. Yes Google has THE easiest sync setup, just sync with your Google account. It takes all of 2 minutes after entering your credentials. While there are folks that don’t like the big bad Google, the ease of integration is a major advantage.

One Firefox extension I would like to give ease of use kudos to is Xmarks. I have had an account with them for a while and it has made transferring Firefox to another computer quite easy. It is an extension that you do have to install after finishing the Firefox setup, which adds steps and complexity. That problem is Mozilla’s fault not Xmarks.

If you aren’t writing you apps or making your site easy to use, you are losing business and will eventually be left in the dust by an upstart like Google or Facebook. Remember they were not the leaders in their fields right away. They got there by ease of use for the average user.

To sum it up with an age old saying: KISS.

First off, I have been reading a lot about the Mayans and some prediction that the world ends this year. If they had that great of an ability to predict the future, why could they not stop their disappearance as a civilization? Now, I don’t think they vanished completely, but there isn’t even a population or mention of them after their supposed vanishing.

Second, the US political year is heating up for our Presidential election this November. But it is a totally muddled field for a decision. Four years ago the Democrats swept into power because the Republicans would not compromise.

Then, not yielding to history new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi goes on a power trip and doesn’t compromise. That leads to the loss by the Democrats in the midterm elections to the GOP and their ultra conservative Tea Party wing.

Now, you would think that this would teach the GOP leadership that working together was the best solution to keep your advantage and increase your chances in the 2012 elections. But it seems that shortsighted leadership by new Speaker John Bonner and the new Tea Party congressional members has led to the same inability to work together until backed into a corner.

The recent payroll tax fight is the best example in the recent month that has hurt the GOP. Of course add to that fact that none of the GOP Presidential candidates has shown that they can lead with all the great fumbling and bumbling of different candidates each week. There is a new leader and new scandal each week to make the GOP look inept and at the same time increase the probability that President Obama will be elected to a 2nd term in November, while the Democrats will gain seats back in Congress. They may even win back the House of Representatives.

Lastly, I have been watching the Florida Governor Rick Scott flip himself on funding for education. He is trying to save himself in his bid for reelection in two years, but unfortunately for him he also thought that compromise was not necessary and he has damaged his reputation with the people of Florida to the point of no return.

He has alienated his own party in the legislature and that is not good for him or his future in politics. Thankfully his moves have shown the people that voted him into office what a mistake they made and he will be gone in the midterm elections.

Well, I wish everyone a happy new year. If you want to see my thoughts on other predictions for the new year, stop by Beyond the Rhetoric for Michael’s 2012 predictions and my comments.

I give my best everyday to make sure the customer is taken care of, to make sure they are happy. I take it personally when they are not, but I know I can’t satisfy everyone all the time but I still try. It is important to make sure things are done right and the end users are taken care of. By doing my best to get things right, then making sure that it is right for that user with a personal touch or acknowledgement of their concerns.

That is why it amazes me that a company or head of a company will have a presence on Twitter, Facebook or Google+, then not provide the smallest of responses to support an issue. I have two examples just recently that stand out. The first is a recent purchase I mad from Dell for a Sony HDTV. I called support after the purchase because my wife read from a link on the web site not related anywhere in the purchase process that the person on the invoice had to be the person to sign for the delivery. That doesn’t work for me because I work two jobs, sometimes 3 and would not be able to schedule a time to be home.

When I called I got a support person that did not speak English well that I could barely understand. I explained and he was not very helpful. I ended the call and then sent a personal message here to Michael Dell because he seems to post weekly to explain my concerns. I don’t expect my problem to be fixed by the founder, but I would expect him to be concerned enough to write back to that effect, if only a one line response that he had read it and would send it to someone who could help. That is poor response.

To top it off, I got an email the day before Thanksgiving telling me that Dell Support had tried to contact me about my order (2 day after I received it) and had not gotten a response to the call on my phone. That is not true because my phone number they quoted in the email was the correct one, but my phone has no record of the call or a voice mail. 3 days later I did receive a voice call from Dell Support, again a Non-English speaking person. Because I have already received the TV and was able to solve the issue of delivery with the 3rd party shipper via a phone call I no longer need to speak to Dell. The customer service for Dell has dropped considerably since my first purchases years ago.

My second support issue came last night when I was trying to recommend a product that I use myself, but had not realized that a feature, Word Count, was not ported to the iPad version. Such a simple feature not in such a good product that can be in the iPhone or iPod touch leaves me scratching my head. But what gets me is that this company has a twitter presence and is continually tweeting about their product. They also have a “help” account on twitter, so that to me would mean that they want to “help” you via that account. Because it is a holiday weekend, I am not naming them yet, as I want to give them until tomorrow to respond. But, their regular account is on auto tweet for Sales and being mentioned as being nominated for Most Useful Tablet-Based App in the Mashable Awards. Whether or not it’s a weekend or holiday, you should have at least one person watching the “Help” account to respond.

Customer perception drives sales just as much as good prices, sales or good looking stores and web sites. If you don’t give good support, you are hurting the rest of your business. it is a fact that an unhappy customer will talk about that poor experience exponentially more than someone who is happy. You need more happy customers to to make a positive presence.

One bad apple spoils the bunch means a lot in business.

from Ray Ebersole – Google+ User Feed

A parking lot cart attendant at a major retail store decided to create a petition to stop his retailer from opening earlier than normal on Black Friday because it cut into his time at home on Thanksgiving day.

So, in the whole scheme of things his day is messed up because he had to sleep a little differently and go to work late at night. Did he think about the men and women in the military who are away from their families for Thanksgiving in a far away land defending our country and could lose their life at anytime doing that? Did he think of all the homeless people or the people who do not have a job like he does? Did he think of the people who are working two jobs to pay the bills?

My thoughts? This guy has a very small view of the world. He needs to spend some time at a volunteer line, delivering meals and toys to the homeless and less fortunate. His eyes are shut, they need to be opened. Be thankful for what you have, because someone else is doing something or in worse shape than you. We are nothing more than a speck of sand in the whole scheme of the world and the universe.

boffinry?

This is called a writer and editor using a term no one would use and that is not even in the dictionary in the form used just to make the article look technical and smart. When I come across terms like this I scratch my head. In K12IT we have a lot of acroymns, but at least they are shortened initials for something. This is a just the use of an obscure term for no reason.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

boffinry The word you’ve entered isn’t in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search bar above

Now, the word boffin exists, but it is chiefly British, its origin is unknown and its first known use: 1945. To top it off, the example they use only uses the plural boffins so it brings to mind why did the author even try to use it? Furthermore did they even proof it or go to school to learn how to write?

There are a lot of levels in K12 education and K12IT is modeled just the same. We have Elementary, Middle and High School levels with each one have similar standards, networking and policies. But each level also has it’s own specific programs for the students learning needs.

So, how do you take care of each level the same way and different at the same time? You need to communicate between levels. I am a district zone tech, so I see each levels needs, while there are techs at each school that see their own specific needs. If we don’t communicate, we become our own little islands. That is not what we need, we need to be able to provide the same experience, or learning path for all students no matter where the attend school.

There are times when we have to “just get it done” so that the student can continue to learn. But after they are taken care of we can then communicate what happened and what needs to be done so that the problem doesn’t reoccur somewhere else. It’s a two step process, they are not separate when you are working as a group.

Get it Done + Communication = Positive Success

from Ray Ebersole – Google+ Post Feed

https://plus.google.com/116971187524635952368/posts/HHrdcxfj8Ug

I normally don’t Speed Link unless I am linking k12IT sites, but the last few days I have been reading about a lot of stupid things that famous people have been doing that make me roll my eyes. I have written before on Education & Technology aboutAthletes Not Being Good Role Models, but tonight I thought it was worth rehashing.

Just a few days ago NASCAR driver, and I use the term loosely, Kyle Bush intentional wrecked another driver after a caution flag had been raised for racing contact between the 2 drivers on the Texas Motor Speedway. That’s intentionally, and head on into the wall at a high rate of speed. If any of us had done this on the road we would be in jail facing charges, but all Bush gets is a weekend off.

The next thing that happened this week was the indictment of a former Penn State Assistant Coach on sex abuse charges. This one really upsets me because this person was in a position of authority, and trusted by parents to take care of their children. Instead he abused them and took away their innocence, trust and self worth. I have 2 kids and another one on the way, so you have to pardon me if I hope he he pays dearly.

Lastly, Tiger Woods former caddie Steve Williams stuck his foot in his mouth and made a racial comment/slur about Tiger. Now, Williams has always struck me as not the brightest light in the box, but this is really low and shows what type of person he really is and maybe why Tiger dropped him. To add to this, his new boss Adam Scott saw nothing wrong with what Williams said.

All three of these things strike me poorly, making me think again about why parents need to be the role models for their children. If we as parents would try our hardest, give our best effort and really understood that our children ARE OUR CHILDREN, not someone else’s to teach morals and life to, maybe we all would be a little better. Maybe we would not be wondering what is happening to the youth of today. Do you spend any time with your children?

Please don’t tell me you don’t have the time, you need to make the time. It doesn’t matter if it’s just reading them a story or helping them with a homework problem. It’s the small things they will remember. It’s just the listening when they maybe don’t want to talk. Just sitting with them, taking a walk, going to the park, or grabbing a cheeseburger with them.

If you don’t make the time for them, they are going to go look somewhere else. Do you want one of the above people being someone that your child becomes attached to, that they look up to?