It’s like de ja vu all over again...

Yes, I love that line from Yogi Berra (rest in peace) as well as most other of his famous non sequitor lines. Today it is appropriate as I find myself on an early morning NJ Transit train heading from Hamilton Station to NYC.

It’s been almost five years since I stopped doing that daily 4+ hour commute by car, train, subway, and foot. I don’t miss it but going to NYC is still special. Nothing like it for people energy.

But I am only traveling up for the day to be on-site at the Workday Empire State Building office. It doesn’t make sense to come regularly as I don’t interact with others normally and I spend my day on Zoom with colleagues and customers. Home office is great for that.

The biggest news lately is that I took delivery of a Tesla Model 3 on Friday and welcomed myself to the future. It really is an amazing engineered, designed, and built mobile technology platform. About 30 minutes of driving I really never want to drive an internal combustion engine powered car again. It is that good!



Nice looking, too, right?

And yes, I chose white with white interior. Even more futuristic looking. The minimalistic interior, AKA no gages, disks, knobs, or switches is accented by the stark monochromatic colors. Just white and black.

As far as where In headed today, this is the view



All four sides of the Empire State Building. Not bad for a company aspiring to become a great company.

And here is photo taken from the train just before going through the tunnel.



Empire State Building is behind the tree.

OK, going to post this lest I get busy and don’t get back to finish. More tales to come...

So heading back home on the train. Here is a picture from the 49th floor of the ESB looking south to downtown with Statue of Liberty in the harbor.

A little hazy but a beautiful view. Pretty inspiring just to work in that building for the day.

Now it’s dark so the only thing I want to see is Hamilton Station followed by my home, family, and Maddie dog.

Here they are in turn.

Goodnight.

I have a Competitive Advantage, do you?

I’m wondering if I should share my competitive advantage. Wouldn’t that allow others I may be in competition with a quick way to close the gap? After all, if you have an idea for a product, say “the Carpoon” for example, won’t someone else try to exploit it?

But maybe by sharing my competitive advantage I’d encourage others to follow suit and gain by that.

I’ll ponder it a little more. Feel free to provide your thoughts on the matter.

New Tech - iPhone X

Just got an iPhone X as a Christmas gift. I didn’t expect it but my iPhone 6 was getting slow and the battery problematic.

I’ve been enjoying the setup and transition of my apps handling most of it manually to do a little housecleaning rather than wholesale transfer.

I can say that I like the new features, the size, and the images provided by the new device.

More to come as I put it through it’s paces with the start of the new work year.

New Blog Installment Theme - Pursuing Architect

New installment based post category to start the new year and to reinvigorate my writing more regular blog posts.

Parking the idea here for now, more like stopping briefly in the Loading Zone rather than long term parking.

Read "On Writing" for Steven King's thoughts on waiting for the muse to come before just sitting down to write.

Also read "Drive" to discover Dan Pink's approach for self- and other- motivation.

Enjoy!

Dave

Fun flies when you're doing time...

That was a mis-quote from a prior colleague, I believe from my Superconducting Super Collider days. That would make it over 20 years ago as that was the last place I worked prior to moving to New Jersey. I can't remember the particular persons name, but I do remember him talking about being a guest ice guy at Dallas Stars hockey.

The quote comes to mind since I haven't posted to this blog in over 3 1/2 years. The fact that was when I stopped working in NYC and so lost my train commute time for writing. Since then there has been a lot that has transpired in my work life and life in general.

Those are topics for future blog posts, if I am able to break out time to write, that is.

Being that it is Christmas Eve and New Year's is coming after with it's opportunity for resolutions. We'll see...

Merry Christmas, 2017, and Happy New Year, 2018!

Dave

Visual Project Planning Method using Mindjet and MS Project

I have developed what I think is a novel approach to do project planning particularly when involving a group of people. Many people balk at being effective during a group planning session when using MS Project as the planning tool. The very nature of it

Decision Analysis - Part 1 - MPG versus gas price

Gas mileage comparo for my daily commute:



Seems the VW turbo diesel is still in the lead.

Next I will factor in price difference and cost per year.

Car options are:

Diesel: VW passat, VW jetta

Gas: Mazda 3

Electric: Ford Fusion Energi

and base comparison is the VW eos using premium gas (Andy)

Still Rocking the 1st Generation iPad

Why is that? Because it just works for most of the things I want and need to do with it. Of course I am missing having a camera on this model as you know I like to blog with photos. Yeah, I could blog from my cell phone but don't really like the one I have.

There may soon come time to upgrade my tablet device, particularly in that this one can't be updated to the new OS. Until then, this is my device.

Enjoy the gear you have.

1st Post of 2014 - On Walden Pond

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Happy Birthday Golf Man

Basecamp from 37 Signals vs Project Director from Mindjet

I am going to do an evaluation comparing Basecamp collaboration tool versus the new offering from Mindjet called Project Director. I like the simplicity of Basecamp and have been a user for more than five years but I also like the ability to mindmap in a group setting that MindManager has allowed me equally as long.

Mindmapping is also the basis for the planning approach I have developed called Visual Project Planning Method (VPPM) and that is not well supported in Basecamp since it is more task based rather than project plan based. MindManager's integration with MS Project and other MS applications is also a plus.

I will provide more direct evaluation results in an update to this post. If anyone has something to offer related to this topic please post a response or send a direct email.

Poor Sport or Bad Loser

I was playing online chess on the train commute this morning. A good game matched against an opponent only two points separating our ranking. We were into the end game and I managed to get a queen against his remaining rook. I then trapped his rook and was ready to finish him off with my queen and king to his lone king.

Rather than take his next move he offered me a draw three times. Since I had the advantage to win I declined each time. Rather than move (I would have been able to check mate in 3-4 moves) he let the time run out. I was awarded the win based on time but this seems like an approach of a poor sport.

He could have resigned or played for a stale mate draw but to offer a draw when you are behind is insulting.

Seems online games see more of that due to anonymity. Any thoughts?