Sick again

Started feeling bad Friday night, another weekend ruined. The cold started when I was in a meeting with my boss and she coughed about every 5 minutes. Bummer. I'll be doing the same when I go in tomorrow. There has to be a better plan.

PMO talk by Thom Pryor- Notes

Background:

• EDD PMO (IT)
• 6 PMPs, 10 staff
  

Comment: Wow! That's a lot of staff. Why does BOE have so few IT staff in comparison?

He recommends the local MPA Association.

PMO must prove value of PMO staff and for PMO methodology
Methods should be scalable both up and down
Only need to use what's helpful
Enhance org's PM capability

Comment: We struggle with these same issues in our PMO

Tools and Maybe Stuff to Steal?

What's the context to frame portfolio reports?
They have MS Project 2003 and have some training.
He's going to CHP
Customer Service Eval of the PMO help as part of lessons learned
He loves ESI

QA
How many schedules can a scheduler handle? 2 to 4. A large project is 3000 lines

Governance? Yes. It's new. Ha ha. Same story. Execs want control for others but not for their pet project.

Lessons learned DB? No but working on it

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standing on the lake it looks like water but it is ice in the shade of the mountain behind ready to head back wow fabulous sunny weather snow is a little soft trail is great though

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Google Earth

My world has been rocked and is forever changed! I bow down to our new Google Earth overlords!

Thermodynamics

0. If A and B are in thermodynamic equilibrium and B and C are in thermodynamic equilibrium then A and C are in T.E. Well, this isn't such an exciting law if you ask me.

1. Conservation of energy: can be transferred, can't be created. Mass and energy related.

2. Entropy increases and heat only flows one way (from hot to cold): clocks wind down and you have to add energy (wind them back up) for them to work again.

3. Absolute zero: Remove all kinetic energy from particles and they are at A.Z which is 0 Kelvins. Who was Kelvin?

Brings back some fond memories!

I did find a hint to remind me.

Happy

Finally got my new DSL up and running so I can waste time on teh internets faster.

My brother will be so happy.

Sad

CNN's list of the soldiers killed in Iraq since the war began. Very, very sad.

Thrilling day so far

I've had coffee, breakfast, and have killed brain cells reading fark.com. I SHOULD be doing some other things (snowshoeing, fixing my curtains) but I have yet to motivate myself to move.

Yesterday went to a dog mobile at the fairgrounds at the KCRA Health Expo. We took Dixie and Sargeant. Although I gave Sarge many, many opportunities to relieve himself, he chose to do it inside on the carpet. It was a little runny, very smelly, copious, and he's one of those dogs who walk around while dropping it so it was arranged in a somewhat deranged semi-circle.

I did my best picking it up with my plastic bags, but it was hideous. I apologized profusely to the staff but was too chicken shit to avoid taking the long way past the small army of people scrubbing the carpet on their hands and knees later. I may never go back!

Power still out

The trees are still down on Elvas. My power is still out and I'm at Tupelo's coffee shop on Elvas because they have free wireless. Yeah.

I've been trying to find out how long the power will be out and I'm not having any luck. SMUD, KCRA, and sacbee have no information that isn't old. Oh well, I can only assume it won't be too long.

I also have to say, it is just too fuckin' cool that I can just boot up and click my browser and *boom* I'm on the net. This kind of thing makes me wish I was born now instead of then.

Sacramento storms and power out

Fortunately my phone line still works. The power has been out most of the day. I left around noon-ish (give or take a couple of hours) and came back around 630-ish and it's still dark. Across the street it's fine.

There are many branches down from the eucalyptus trees on Elvas. Apparently there's a levee break on Twitchell Island in the delta. With no power, I don't know much more about it.

It's cold in the house with the heater off, and I'm a little afraid to go to sleep with the candles lit.

So that's the news from Lake Sacramento.

Last snowshoe trip of 2005

There are huge storms forecast for No Cal and it's been raining almost non-stop for all of December. It's all been a warm rain, so there's not too much snow yet and it's mostly above 6000 feet.

I went last weekend to Yuba Pass and it was okay, not great. With a few more feet of snow the boulder fields and clear cut areas will be fun. Also, there was still plenty of liquid water in the meadows so until they freeze over, access is denied.

This weekend I went up to the snow park on Highway 88 where the Mormon Emigrant Trail road meets 88. There's plenty of snow, maybe 3-4 feet and it's wet and packed. Unfortunately, it was raining fairly heavily. I went for a short hike, but it's not as fun when all you can hear is the patter of rain on your hood.

I will give props to my gloves. I bought them at the end of last year in Soda Springs and they are great! They aren't too puffy so I can do some work with them (like fastening my snowshoes), although I can't operate my car key buttons with them. My one hand was aching with cold and both gloves were pretty wet just from getting ready. Within about 10 minutes, my hands were warm as toast...almost so warm I was tempted to take my gloves off. I think the brand is Seirus or something like that. Great buy!

I'd like to go up again and probably will, but it's more fun when it storms during the week, leaving nice fresh snow for the weekend. Also sun, don't forget to mention that the sun is nice too.

Holiday coffee art

Once again, Infusion makes my day.

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Drain going the opposite way

Apparently my drain is having some gender identity issues because instead of draining, it's spewing. Well, that's a tortured metaphor, but I like it anyway.

I'm sitting at home waiting for Roto-Rooter to arrive and flush all of my troubles away.

Ha, ha, ha. Geez, I'm cracking myself up here!

"Terrorism" bad

I was driving home from work last night around 6 pm-ish. I'm approaching an intersection which is very small retail on one corner, a small office building on the other corner, a park, and an office duplex with some kind of medical office. There's a big white delivery truck (like a UHaul) in front of me. He pulls to the curb and I find it a little irritating because he's blocking the right turn lane which means I might have to sit through the light waiting for the left turners. It's a small street so there's no left turn lane.

I sort of wonder about the truck because it's a little late to be making deliveries. The driver gets down out of the cab and hurries around the front to the medical building. I'm right next to the truck, to its left.

Suddenly I get this bizarre thought. What if the truck contains a bomb and the driver is getting away before it goes off? I realize that it's a stupid idea because there's really no one to kill here and no particular infrastructure damage to be done. Still, I actually feel a rush of fear and (it's safe to do this) I immediately turn left into the small retail parking lot and then out the other side to the cross street.

No explosion, just some guy trying to make a late delivery.

Sigh.

I'm not even sure what to think. Was it stupid to have turned left? Isn't it a good idea to act on your gut instinct? I read other stories about people panicking because of some "stupid" fear and I think they're lame. Of course, usually they're still frightened days later. I had a rush of fear that left almost instantly when there was no big bang.

Still. Was I stupid? or did I demonstrate good survival skills?

Snowshoe at Donner Summit Redux-dux-dux

There's finally enough snow on the ground to snowshoe so I geared up and headed up 80.

I stopped at Cisco Grove again but the road was too bad for my little sedan. A higher clearance vehicle (and maybe one with snow tires) would have been fine.

I looked briefly at the Lola Montez trailhead, but I just wasn't up for a steep climb.

So I drove to Donner Summit and did my usual route from the sno-park to the entry to the Florence and Aloha lakes area. Castle Crags were fabulous with a dusting of white snow in the sun.

I didn't even really need the snowshoes for most of the trip because the trail was so packed. Still, I hate falling through a hole and the grippers kept me from slipping on some of the icy sections.

I also wore my new water proof overalls from Cabela's. They were great! I was toasty on the bottom for a change and it was nice to be dry at the end of the trip. I could have used an extra sweater on the trail (I had one in the car) but as long as I kept moving it wasn't too, too cold.

I'll be back though because this is a pretty hike.

NBA Kings and SPCA Dogs

Last night took 3 dogs to the King's game for one of our very popular mobile adoption events. This evening was special because it was hosted by a very generous Adriennne Maloof and her Camp Kindness sponsorship.

I must confess I'm not much of a basketball fan but the Kings do put on an exciting game and the fans are always generous when we attend a game.

So, it's all good!

See the photos of the pups in the posts below.

Soko

Soko is a 6 year old rottweiler mix male who is shown here in his favorite pose...lying down getting a belly rub from adoring humans. He's relaxed and mellow and gets along well with humans and canines. He needs a home so hurry to the SPCA if you need a furry couch companion!

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Rocky

Rocky is a 3 and 1/2 year old german shepherd chow mix. He is shown here wondering when I'm going to give him the treat in my hand while simultaneously enjoying some ear stroking by a smitten human. He's waiting to be adopted and lots of people were ready to take him home!

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Besse at the King's Mobile

This is my favorite picture. This is Besse, a 1 and 1/2 year old female boxer. She's looking up hopefully waiting for me to give her the treat I'm using to get that soulful look from her. She's lively without being too hyper and she just might be going home with a lucky guy on 1/4 acre who was very, very interested. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

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Lola Montez Again

Drove up 80, took the Cisco Grove exit, crossed over the Yuba River and turned left at the Forest Service road. There was about 2 inches of snow everywhere with some mud and runoff. The road was good and my Jetta had no problems except when I had to stop on an uphill for some ATV riders. I just canted the front wheels and kept spinning till I got traction and then was on my way again. There's a turn off to Lakes Sterling and Fordyce and I parked there. The road to LM was just not as good as I could have like and I decided I'd dared the elements enough.

I hiked up the S and F road and up is the operative word. Still, I love snow and the elevation. I just took it slow and stopped often. The ATV riders passed me twice as did a white pickup. I hiked for only about an hour and a half and that was it.

Very relaxing, cleared my head and reminded me how satisfying I find the outdoors.