Today is the six year anniversary of my going to work for Uncle Sam. Like every other recent milestone lately, I’ve been struck by how quickly it came up. Six years isn’t one of the normal milestone years that end up being divisible by five, but it does mean that I am basically one fifth of the way through my career and that I’ve now spent more than twice as long doing this as I spent doing what I was studied to do in college (which also seems like a long, long time ago by the way). I’ve had a good run so far, which is a tribute more to the supervisors and colleagues I’ve had more than to my own native abilities. For anyone who followed my blog on MySpace and now here, you’ll know that I haven’t always been happy with it and I’ve often left the office fuming over some perceived slight or professional failure. Though it’s not always plain from the outside, I can honestly say that despite it all, I’ve always been proud of the job I’ve done. Hopefully the next six will be even better… Although a little less time on the road would be ok too.
Author Archives: jdtharp
Breaking up is hard to do…
Since October I have had the opportunity to own three of the leading smartphones on the market today. My typical preference for BlackBerry led me to the Bold and, briefly, to the Storm. My abject love of all things new and shiny led me to the iPhone. Having carried a BlackBerry device for the last five years, and it pains me to say this, my friends in Waterloo just are not keeping their devices terribly fresh. The handsets themselves are leaps and bounds over the old models, but their underlying operating system, web integration, and ability to add features just don’t hold up. By contrast, the iPhone is a remarkable piece of equipment. Its web browsing and the availability of 3rd party applications put it in the top tier of handhelds. It doesn’t handle a large volume of email as well as a BlackBerry and the lack of cut/paste functions can be irksome, but I kept coming back to how smoothly integrated the entire device seemed to be.
After carrying all three and living with each of them as my “daily driver,” my final decision is to keep the iPhone. It was a bit of a long goodbye to RIM while I gave them every opportunity to wow me with their new flagship handsets. I won’t rule out having another berry in my life someday, but they’ve got some work to do to earn back my business. As for now, I’m going to have some lightly used phones for sale (suitable for jailbreaking) once I cancel their contracts. I can’t quite shake the feeling that I’m breaking up with a long-time steady… or am I trading her in for a newer, sexier model?
Uninspired…
I’m just not feeling it today, so I’ll be phoning in this post. I’m not sick and I don’t really feel bad in any way other than having no motivation at the moment. Seriously, I can’t think of a remotely interesting thing to say tonight. If I were to make a swag, I’d say that it’s probably got more to do with not getting enough sleep as I probably should be so far this week. Time was when getting four or five hours was enough to keep me running hard all day. This week it seems like that’s just enough to barely let me scrape by. Maybe I’ll take my own advice and crash early tonight… but lord won’t I feel lame trying to go to bed before 9:00!
Attention Petsmart shoppers…
Dear fellow customers,
He is an English Bulldog. He is not there to have your two year old try to pull on his “cute little tail” or for your little tike in the stroller to kick in the face when she gets excited. He’s not free entertainment. He was bred to grab a bull by the nose and stay there until it was dead. If he weren’t as easy going, that could have just as easily been one of your little darlings learning how powerful a bullie’s jaws can be. But he didn’t do that. He sat and let your children molest him; quietly enduring the indignity of it because that is what I have taught him to do. Sadly you haven’t taught your human children the same manners. At the very least you, or they, could have asked my permission before squealing their way over to him. That he didn’t bite them was a tribute to his remarkably laid back nature.
I understand he’s quite the charmer and most people don’t see a bulldog often. At the same time, I didn’t walk up to your wife and start fondling her sweater puppies because I thought they looked good. It’s called having some slight modicum of self-control. He may not have bitten you, but I was seriously tempted to do it myself. Asshats.
Very sincerely yours,
Jeff
A thought about the new year…
I live in a pretty standard subdivision and the houses are probably 15-20 feet apart. Can someone tell me how the hell someone would think that was a good venue to set off bottle rockets? I was out with the pups last night around 11:30 when some jackass up the street started popping those things off. I’m guessing the launch platform was their driveway because the flashes were coming from the front of the house. Sadly, by the time I got the dogs herded into the kitchen and got the garage door up, the brilliant individuals who were doing this were nowhere to be found… Which is too bad, really, I was in just the right mood to raise all kinds of hell.
Everyone things the new year means a new beginning. That’s crap… it’s just another year of tolerating the same morons because it’s illegal to kill them. Happy New Year, friends.
When did that happen…
Somewhere between Lexington and Bowling Green, Kentucky yesterday it occurred to be that I today was the 2nd anniversary of closing on my house here in Memphis. I know it’s a true fact because I pulled the stack of paperwork out of the file this afternoon and checked because it didn’t seem quite possible. Add to these two years the addition six months when I was spending three weeks of every four in a hotel here and I’m at a bit of a loss to identify where, exactly, the last 30 months have gone. I know I’ve been doing stuff but the two year mark kind of snuck up and surprised me. If you would have asked me five years ago where I would be living, Memphis wouldn’t have even shown up on the list. Ask me where I’m going to be five years from now and I wouldn’t even want to hazard a guess. For the time being, I’ve found myself to be reasonably happy to knock around down here. Ask me again in August when its 110 degrees and I’ll probably give you a different answer, though.
Road dogs…
Traveling with two dogs create all sorts of new and interesting challenges but no regrets. First among them is having no real time to sit down and blog properly. It will have to suffice to say that the pups have been doing famously and are taking all the new scenery well in stride. Even my mother, who is no fan of dogs has warmed up a bit to having them around. Our holiday is coming to an end with the drive back to Tennessee on Saturday but it has been leave well spent and one of the most enjoyable Christmases I’ve had in recent memory. I hope everyone has had as good a christmas as I have. I’ll be back on a more regular writing schedule in a few days when I’m back to work and into the routine.
Out…
That’s strike four and they are outta there… Asshats.
Cover…
Two Saturdays ago I went to the local truck accessory store and ordered a tonneau cover for the Tundra. It’s one of the flip models that still gives access to the bed without dragging the entire cover off the truck. At $900 installed the price wasn’t awful and the salesman doing the ordering said they could have it there on Tuesday. Not wanting to take a day off to do the installation, I scheduled the appointment for last Saturday, thinking that would allow plenty of flex time in case the parts were delayed in transit. And of course that’s where the plan went off the tracks.
I show up at 9:00 on Saturday for my appointment that should have taken about an hour to finish up. At 9:45 I see the truck back in the parking lot – without the cover. The sales guy comes over with that “yeah, we’ve got a problem” look on his face and tells me that the warehouse only shipped the box of hardware and not the cover itself. Strike 1. I’m annoyed by this point, but he promises that he’ll have them overnight ship it on Monday and they would be able to do the installation on Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday rolls by and at noon I call to make sure the second box has actually arrived. No way I’m driving halfway across town for no good reason again. This time, the story was that their truck from Texas had been stuck in the overnight ice storm, but that they were expecting it any minute. At 5:00 I called back and was told that they still hadn’t located the truck, but that they promised they could do the installation today at 1:00. Strike 2. I call back at noon today and ask about the missing truck and now get a story that my second box is actually on a truck in California and it probably won’t be in until next Monday. I’m steaming by this point and at times like this that it’s good telephones haven’t evolved the capability to let callers reach through the phone and bitch slap people on the other end. Explaining in as calm a way as possible that I was leaving on Saturday morning for the holiday and that I would just find a dealer in Maryland and have one waiting on me up there next week, I told them to just cancel the order and recommended hiring someone in their warehouse who knew something, or anything really, about warehouse or inventory management. Strike three and they’re outta there.
At 5:30 this evening, the store manager called back and really, really promised this time that they would have the item on Friday and could install it in the afternoon and that they’d knock $100 of the cover and $50 off the installation. They only thing I’m holding my breath for at this point is strike 4. Here’s a tip, don’t try to cry the blues about how hard it is to manage a warehouse in December to someone whose job description at one time included “Serves as a senior supply manager.” I’ve been doing it for almost six years and to be honest, logistics just ain’t that hard.
All puppy all the time…
I’m beginning to feel like I’m turning into an all-puppy-all-the-time blogger and I suppose that’s been true lately. Keeping up with Maggie hasn’t left all that much time for anything else. Free time essentially becomes an opportunity for a nap and I try to indulge in that as often as possible. In keeping with the theme, I’ve been told by my new puppy guru that I’ve been approaching the entire housebreaking too much like a dumb human and not enough like a smart dog. So at her advice, it’s back to the drawing board with special high intensity crate training, no more roaming the kitchen during the day, and way more treats for doing her thing outside. As far as the poo eating, I’m promised it’s just a phase and sweet Jebus, I hope that’s true! The plan now is for me and Winston to wear her out so if you’ll excuse me, I’d better get back to my second job…
If anyone is interested, Maggie is has a pretty good grip on “sit” as long as there is a treat involved and started working on “down” tonight. I’m taking my comforts in the small victories at the moment.
JEFFREYTHARP.COM 