What the Jeff?

Books ... check em out!

2009-01-05T22:30:00.001-08:00

I was reading Myke's blog, and was overwhelmed by the bookworm he has become. Does anybody else feel guilty when they don't read for a while? Can you actually feel the apathy set in when you open to page 1 of 300? Then you start trying to calculate the hours of TV/Movie watching you do and the self-loathing only builds ... it can be quite depressing.

This has been my remedy of late, courtesy of John and Kari:

TV that makes you smarter! Here are 3 reasons to watch the John Adams HBO Mini-series:

1. Paul Giamatti - I seriously love this guy. How he has not been in more significant roles I have no idea. Solely on the merits of Cinderella Man and John Adams he has been catapulted into my favorite actors list. He played a great Santa in Fred Claus to boot. There's really no way to know if he does a spot-on Adams, but I love the way he represents him;

2. Mini-series - Far and away the greatest form of video entertainment. You get the depth, breadth and character development of a series, but you get the finality and conciseness of a stand-alone movie. Less unanswered questions, no killing people off because the actor got a DUI, no dragging plots, no episode count speculation, no awkward actor switches (like the two Mrs. Banks on Fresh Prince - are you kidding me?), and at least 5 solid hours of entertainment.

3. Do you know who John Adams is? - I never really thought about how underrated Adams is. The second President of the U. S., father of the 6th President, was at the forefront of the Continental Congress - yet the man isn't on any currency, he's not on Rushmore, he's probably less widely known than his cousin Sam Adams. And as they say "behind every great man is a great woman. Martha Washington was a hip, hip, hip lady." Except we're talking about Abigail Adams.

Overall, an awesome story about their family interaction and sacrifices for liberty in America. I highly recommend it. I leave you with a famous John Adams quote:

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

Got Friends?

2008-08-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

dit dit dit dit There is hope for us ...

Keeping up with the Blogses

2008-07-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

I kept thinking I had to storm back into the blog world with a historic post, but Chelsea has advised me to take it slow. So...I just wanted to share my favorite find so far from the "free" section of Craigslist (special thanks to my home teachees for alerting me to the most entertaining part of Craigslist).

Here's the link...enjoy.

The bitter strings ... the Jealous Sound

2008-03-08T22:54:00.000-08:00

OK so maybe February wasn't the best blog-month for me. Let's just say that the majority of my free time was spent reading the Ender's Game books (the Bean collection - Speaker for the Dead will be my next conquest), and I am primed to blog on that soon.

I've been sick this weekend and decided tonight to scour "the Nets" for any rumblings of the Jealous Sound, who mysteriously disappeared after entering the studio in late 2005. Apparently their new record was supposed to be released on a new label called The Militia Group and the label has supposedly continued to say that the record WILL BE RELEASED.

Here's a link to a message board saying that the record will be released sometime in 2008. Could this really be true? I'm a little scared to get my hopes up, but what else do I have to go off of at this point? There is hope for us...

John M. Fluke

2008-01-29T21:51:00.000-08:00

Since Myke couldn't wait any longer, I guess it's time to post again. Speaking of Myke, everyone out there should really petition him here to blog about his recent dream where Carl Winslow from 'Family Matters' tried to eat him. I know I want the details.

I am now two weeks into my life as a corporate cog, and I thought I'd share a little about Fluke Corporation, the company I work for. Maybe the "fluke" jokes are already forming in your mind, but just for the record the company was started a long time ago by John M. Fluke, so it's not just a clever name.So what does Fluke do? They make electronic testing and calibration equipment. This here is the PS320 Fetal Simulator, which apparently simulates signals that a fetus sends off so nurses and doctors can be trained on how to detect problems, twins, etc. Yep. The 'ole PS320. Alright, I admit I know nothing about this stuff. But it's mildly interesting right?

Reality Bites!

2008-01-03T14:14:00.000-08:00

This is about right vs. wrong. This is about the entertainment industry. This is about calling America to action. This is not about Global Warming.

This is really about "Reality" television and America's fascination with it. C'mon people:

1. Dating Shows - Are you serious? How can you listen to the Bachelor or Bret Michaels or Flavor Freaking Flav spoon feed crap to the camera about their romantic feelings? How many 'magical' moments have you had with a camera pointed at you (no specifics please)? I saw headlines when that Tila show was on that said she was still dating whoever she chose. Then after the finale aired, headlines came out that they broke up, so she would have to do another season. I'm sure money had nothing to do with that. It is all so contrived it is ridiculous, and yet, America continues to watch...

2. "Real Life" Shows - This one I really don't understand. The Hills, Newport Beach, Real World, etc. I'm assuming you've all picked up on the fact that everything on the show is set up. Every feeling you have towards any person depicted is based on how the editors and story line people want you to feel. They obviously give lines to some of these kids. Wait, this sounds familiar - storylines, scripts...oh yeah, it's a regular TV show! Isn't it way more interesting to watch fake actors on a made up show? I mean at least you can have some deaths, pregnancies and comas to keep things interesting. If their story lines were done by fake actors, NO ONE would watch the Hills. Yet it's more fake than real. So why do people watch it?

Some shows like Cops or Man vs. Wild might fall into this category but are actually somewhat legit. I also don't harbor any bad feelings against the couple with the sextuplets. I'm enough of a dad/husband to know there's some legit stuff on there, and I'm all for getting them rich. I'm just not for getting rich O.C. kids even richer or facilitating a furnished luxury apartment for 6-7 college kids to drink and fornicate in for months on end.

3. Competition shows - kudos to Project Runway here. I have to say it's the one show that actually puts more importance on what's being made rather than the drama involved. You can actually see the results and form your own opinion about it (as opposed to Top Chef, you can't taste the food!). The winning designer might actually be more well-known than some of the judges.

American Idol, The Apprentice, America's Next Top Model (Tyra Banks must be stopped) and all these other crap competitions are more about the drama involved and the showboating of the judges than the competitors' accomplishments. No winner on any of those shows will ever be more famous than the judges. And honestly, does it insult anyone's intelligence that they continue to make the third judge have an English accent?

All in all, game shows like Deal or No Deal (Can we bring back Hollywood Squares?) are probably the least of my worries when it comes to "reality" TV. These have been around for a long time and will probably continue.

So can people please stop watching this stuff? Don't Grey's Anatomy and Gossip Girl provide enough trashy drama to go around? We can do this!

Nickronyms

2007-12-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

We live in a world of acronyms. N.B.C., H.O.A., L.D.S., S.C.U.B.A.

They save us from having conversations like,

--"so what channel is Lost on?"

--"I think it's on the American Broadcasting Company channel."

But sometimes the acronym just isn't short enough. In our continuous human effort to facilitate our own laziness (see The Clapper or The Self-Stirring Coffee Mug), we sometimes have to come up with an even simpler expression.

This is when what I call a "Nickronym" is born.

I noticed that I subconsciously started replacing D.V.D. with "Divid" in my own vocabulary. Also, B.R.B. has sometimes become "Burb". Look at all those syllables I'm cutting out of my life! Of course, a nickronym could be any acronym nickname, it doesn't necessarily have to be shorter - maybe just funner to say:

Mesa Community College --> M.C.C. --> "M.C. Squared" or "McCollege"

If you have a nickronym, please share!

Supply Chain Management

2007-12-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

Last week I graduated from ASU's business school. For more on those festivities check out Chelsea's blog. One of my college FAQs I get is people asking about my major. Let me give you a rundown of how that usually goes:

"So what's your major?" - interested or polite person

"Supply chain management." - Jeff

(awkward silence and confused look)

"Business." - Jeff

"Ohhhh. OK" - interested or polite person (who is now wondering why I didn't just say business in the first place)

Occasionally someone will press me for a definition of SCM (Supply chain management, in case you weren't following) which usually leads to me stumbling over my words and adding to the confusion. In my defense, even my teachers at school have difficulty giving a definition of SCM in layman's terms. So my goal here is to lay it out for you as simply as I can.

First, the Wikipedia definition: "Supply chain management (SCM) is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain as efficiently as possible."

Which then begs the question, what is the supply chain? Every product you buy has one. It basically is the chain of people or companies involved in making every product what it is. From origin to consumption. Or from 'cradle to grave' as some say. Here's an example for 100% cotton T-shirts:

Raw Material Supplier >> Manufacturer >> Distributor >> Retailers >> YOU
(Grows and harvests cotton) > (Turns cotton into shirts) > (sells shirts to retailers) > (Walmart, Target, etc)

That is the most traditional view. Some companies actually even look beyond the "YOU" phase of the SC when they plan for returns or facilitate ways for you to dispose of the products safely (like cell phone companies offering $10 off a new phone if you bring your old one in to be recycled in an environmentally-friendly way).

So why do companies care about SCM? Because what happens at the beginning of the supply chain affects others' products and brands. For example, say Target sells a toy that gets kids sick because the Manufacturer used a cheaper paint with lead in it. Now the cost-cutting measures of the Manufacturer cause Target and everyone else in the supply chain to suffer as people stop buying their toys. The point of SCM is to get companies to realize that they're interdependent on one another within the same supply chain, and to get them to cooperate and collaborate together.

Why do I like SCM? I enjoy finding the most efficient way to do things. I believe in continuous improvement. I like it when different people/companies collaborate to accomplish things that they couldn't do by themselves.

SCM is all about tradeoffs. Time vs. cost. Quality vs. cost. Here's a few examples of SCM decisions that people make all the time:

Buying a giant jar of peanut butter from Costco vs. a normal-sized jar from Fry's
Flying out of town vs. driving out of town
Buying a newer, more reliable car vs. an older, cheaper car
My joy watching Suns-Spurs vs. Chelsea's scorn for missing the annual temple lights date

I've probably over-stepped my explanation bounds. If you've been bored to death, my condolences to your family and friends.

Hot Sundae

2007-12-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

Every morning we go through the same routine with Petra: 1) Listen for the usual waking up noises; 2) Get a bottle ready; 3) Change her diaper while she drinks; 4) Let her watch her ritual of Playhouse Disney cartoons while quite-effectively eating applesauce with her hands.

But yesterday was different. When I turned on the television, the station was already tuned into one of the greatest "Saved by the Bell" reruns of all time. Petra watched attentively as a caffeine-pill-hopped-up Jesse Spano tackled the challenge of achieving the academic success necessary for Stanford while at the same time landing a big record contract with her exercise-dance pop group Hot Sundae (For you 90's TV connoisseurs, Fresh Prince did pretty much exactly the same episode with Carlton, minus a Hot Sundae equivalent - why do we love watching smart people crash and burn?). We all watched the infamous scene together when Zach goes to wake her up for their performance at the Max and she melts down with the "I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so...scared" line. Then Zach comforts her with the story of when they snuck out to go see E.T. and they were riding home on their bikes in the dark. "We we're scared then too." Classic. This was truly one of those moments of Zen where you share a special time as a family, and your child is able to see the greatness of your generation. It will probably be a similar feeling when I tell her she is the heir to my Pog collection or introduce her to Harry Potter for the first time. I'm just glad that she hasn't learned how to tell me I'm lame yet. For now, I'll enjoy it.

What's harder - naming a blog or a child?

2007-12-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

Bienvenidos a mi blog. I've never done this before, so let's just take it slow. I guess I will take this introductory post to discuss the difficulty of naming a blog (although I just figured out you can change the name whenever you want). I hope that "It's raining Jeff" doesn't come off as pretentious as it sounds to me, but invokes comedic thoughts associated with the Weather Girls song. Also, we're moving to Seattle, so I thought it was appropriate.

I was really torn over this name and the runner-ups; "Predictive Text" (thanks Chelsea) and "Doctor Stocktopus" (that's Stocktopus - not to be confused with Socktopus, which is a commercially-successful homemade octopus sock-puppet made from old sweaters. It's real - Google it). Why is putting two words like that together just so great? Does anyone know if there's a technical term for that? "Socktopous" "Tarantulove" "Cankles" "Batmannequin SkyWalker Texas RanGerman Infantry SoldJury Duty". The fun never ends.

Anyway, I will aim to keep those who care updated on my life. I really do like writing, I just don't get around to it often enough. I hope anybody who has comments will post. I think the more interactive stuff like this is, the better. Plus, it boosts my self-esteem.