Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Where everything that doesn’t have a category goes…

Done with classes!

Last Monday was my last graduate class and it was a relieft to just come home tonight and have no class work on my mind. It is hard to believe that I have jumped through all the hoops, written the papers, taken the tests and done all of the presentations necessary. I remember how daunting the task seemed back during those first two classes. Those first two classes really indicated how things were going to play out, as well.

Strategic Quality Management – awesome class. We learned that there are frameworks for evaluating organizations and this provided a lot of perspective over my company and career. Assigments in this class were thought provoking and challenging. The cemented my desire to experience the entire program and I knew I was in the right place.

Supply Chain Synchronization. What a freaking snoozer of a class! The professor just sat up front and read us the book, we did projects that were only mildly interesting and sickeningly boring to present the rest of the class and I managed to fit my entire final paper onto one page that earned me an A. I only learned the curriculum through my reading of the book during class.

It was about 50/50 for these types of classes and the challenging ones made up for the lack of challenge presented by the others. I am also very critical of classes and can spot missed opportunities much more accurately than I can quantify the value of a class. I would still recommend the degree to anyone, but I will and have been very vocal to others about the classes to take and the ones to skip. Oddly enough, the required classes were mostly very solid and the optional ones were mostly weaker. Interesting how that works out, eh?

WOOOHOOO for being done! 🙂

–Nat

A realization…

During my time at St. Thomas, it has seemed at times that I have been “picked on.” This mainly consists of being held to seemingly higher standard for input than other students and being pushed back upon when turning in assignments. Now, I am aware that I may have some paranoia around how others perceive my performance so I have just written it off based on that up to this point. In a couple of my classes, however, even the other students remarked on it and I started thinking that there might just be something to this perception.

Last night I stayed a bit after class to discuss my final presentation that I had just given with the professor and we got off subject a bit to where he revealed that I am known as one of the “kids” in the program. Going on to explain further, this is not because of my age, which is somewhat unique, but rather that I come to these classes ready to learn and get value. “Bright-eyed” was the defnition, I believe. This is the same professor who last week pulled me aside and gave me some tips on presenting better. At the time, I took it as simple criticism.

Reflecting on this, I think that the professors and adjuncts of my classes have pushed me harder and given me more feedback is that they believe that it is a good investment of their effort. Rather than feeling picked upon, I should be greatful that I am getting more attention and bang for my buck, so to speak, than my peers.

In the moment it is hard to appreciate, though. I have to work better at not reading every criticism as negative.

–Nat

Posting to the blog…

There are interesting enough things to post to the blog – but I am running dry on something… I can’t say its motivation or ambition that is in short supply… just some sort of doldrums. What I want to write about just doesn’t seem that interesting to me, its just easier and safer to keep reading content from the internet and defer creating any. Frankly, I am afraid of boring y’all so badly that you won’t come back. What do you mean that you get tired of reading how great I can rush void rays in Star Craft 2? 🙂

I think what tends to be really frustrating is that I feel like there are so many things in life I would like to be spending time on, and here I am grinding out hours of my life behind a desk doing work I am pretty “meh” on. Thankfully, my masters program includes a portion that helps throughout the course of the program to give direction on this matter. What is clear is that it takes some fumbling around to hit your stride and even then that is likely to be a temporary fix. Every astronaut gets grounded and all that jazz.

Perhaps being a professional blogger is not my calling either, but I do enjoy writing and I really appreciate everyone that takes the time to read these words. Don’t worry, I track you through Google Analytics (by geographic region, not by name or anything…)

Faithful reader, thank you 🙂

–Nat

That said, look at some of the quality spam a blog collects:

Comment:
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What does that even mean?  Allocated the expression, that’s just classy.

Man vs Stairs (and exercise equipment)

Yesterday was a big day for the Juchems Blaine household.  Not one but two new pieces of exercise equipment made their way in as Kristin and I vow to take care of our health through the coming sedentary winter.  We (I) wore out our $500 Sears Pro-Form elliptical (see it soon on CL!) over about two years of pretty regular use.  It seemed like we got our investment out, as the purpose of the thing was to make a somewhat minimal investment and see if it got used.  It also had a 225 lb weight limit that I was sorta, kinda, on most days under so its destruction was something that was taken for granted.

Anyway, more expensive fitness gear also tends to be heavier.  The elliptical we bought from Smooth Fitness was their new space saver model which is 150 lbs and 5 feet long vs the one I really wanted but couldn’t justify that weighed in at 300lbs and eight feet long.  After the freight guys nicely put it in the garage, I managed to get it heaved up into the house and then down the stairs into the basement without drama, all by myself.

Kristin and I went out last night to Wal-Mart to pick out/up a treadmill.  For entry level stuff, Wal-Mart has great deals and a cheap warranty plan along with some actual variety to pick from.  We ended up with the entry level Gold’s Gym model and the $35 2-year all encompassing, in home warranty.  If we use that, I will be sure to let you know how that works out.  Anyway, this was about 160lbs and about a foot longer than the elliptical.  It barely fit into the CR-V but all was well until I tried to take it down the stairs.  Kristin wisely remained far away at the bottom, making sure the door stayed open and no cats made a break for it.  After getting the box down on its side, I was working at the top of the stairs, concerned that sliding it over the wood floors and the top wood lip might result in deep scratches.  This allowed the nose of the box to get well out of my reach and when it started sliding due to gravity and such I made the decision to slow it down as much as possible – I think I knew I couldn’t stop it.    I looked up at Kristin long enough to see the “0h-****” face and then I went head over heels down the last few stairs, landing with a smack on top of the treadmill coffin box.

Besides a couple of nicely rug-burned forearms (how did that happen?) and some odd sore places today I am not too much worse for wear.  Tonight will be the bigger test as the equipment gets un-boxed and we get to see if everything still works.

Moral of the story?  Don’t let your wife distract you when moving boxes that are roughly your size and 2/3rds of your weight.  Clearly this should be done when you are home alone and without your cell phone anywhere near.  That’s a recipe for success.

–Nat

The Role of a 2 Year Technical Degree in the U.S.

Dear blog readers, I need your input.  In my capstone class, a partner and I have to answer this question:

What should be the role of 2-year technical education in the U.S.?  What should be done to increase its effectiveness?

What are your thoughts or opinions?  We need to be able to talk for ten minutes (TED style) and then lead a ~50 minute discussion on the topic.  Some angles we have thought of are: are technical degrees looked down upon by those who have more education?  Are teachers paid/rewarded enough so that quality teachers are attracted to this area?

Personally, I think that these type of degrees can be quite valuable and should perhaps be the minimum we expect of our next generation-in-progress.  Just graduating from High School (even though so many don’t!) isn’t enough for those born and raised here in the U.S. who have the ability to learn at that level. 

Please feel free to email me your thoughts, even if they are just bullet points, or post them in the comment section below.

Thanks in advance 🙂

–Nat

Taxes & Such (politics on the internet!)

I had the opportunity to read an article from the Star Tribune that was talking about one of (the?) the Democratic candidate for Governor of MN.   The reason of this article existences was to deplore this candidates commitment for increasing the taxes on the “wealthy” in order to help cover the cavernous $5.3 Billion (?) budget deficit facing the state.

On the one hand, I understand the basics of his argument.  He says that income does not equate to wealth.  Fine.  This candidate wants to hit those with moderately high income ($150k couple) somewhat harder and those that make more than a million a year much harder.  The contention is a classic one – the rich paying for benefits for the poor.  The rich getting robbed of their due income because the state government is too needy.

OK – I got it.  Call me a liberal (I like to think of myself as a moderate) but I think that if  paying a 2-3% higher income tax when you make a million vs $100k and your personal economy breaks, or if you really even notice the difference, then your ability to manage your income is suspect at best.  To put that in perspective, lets paint that as 3% on a million dollars different.  That’s what a teacher makes in a year and its a whopping 3% of our millionaires take home income.  The utility of that money to the millionaire is tiny compared to what that money means to that teacher.  Personally, I think that as a wealthy citizen of the U.S. you are obligated to help fund the system and society that made you that way and to keep it working well for those unborn generations of U.S. citizens.  In a rational debate, I think that many could agree this is a reasonable way to view our system of taxation and why those who can be inconvenienced a little but provide much should be for the benefit of all.

On the other side of the higher taxes argument is, what I think, is giving the “Tea Party” conservatives so much momentum.  Where is all this tax money going?  How is there not a clear and public breakdown of this?

Continuing on with my opinion piece, it is necessary for us, as citizens to completely layout and reach agreement on what we expect from our government.  Clearly, we want roads and education – yet these are exactly the places where money is being pulled from for “other things.”  It is just extremely frustrating to not have a clear picture of the state, and countries, commitments and understand where all the extra lard is going.

The fact of that matter now is that if you cut taxes, you lose something that the government provides.  We have huge groups of people clamoring for lower taxes and we need to understand what will be the ultimate outcome to the government and its spending if we do so.  “Big Government” is here and now and has had a good century of so of build up and a century of U.S. citizens becoming dependent or at least accepting the activities of big government as absolute.  One election cycle won’t change much.

With that, I urge anybody with good sense not to knee jerk react and vote for rhetoric this cycle.  Vote for the intelligent candidate who will do the best job of making this best of the mess the economy has gotten us all in.

–Nat

The drive home…

Sometimes, coming home from work can be complicated.  For instance, last night on the radio we heard about massive delays on 35W by Roseville, so we decdided, somewhat on the fly, that we would take some back roads to clear it and then get back on north of the issue holding up traffic.

As backed up as 280 was, I thought this was the case.  So, we tried to get back on at County Road D and I am glad we had the ability to see the interstate before we turned – evidently this is where the stop and go really started.  The helpful lady on the radio said it would take at least and extra twenty minutes to get by the accident area.  So we crossed over 35W meandered by an awesome looking park on Lake Johanna, got on Snelling, went north a ways, and then crossed back over.  Kristin picked up her CR-V and I took back roads the rest of the way home.

From leaving work (~20 minute walk to the car) to walking into the house, it took about an hour and twenty minutes to go what should have been ~25 miles.  Sheesh!  At least it gave me an opportunity to try embedding a Google Maps thing into the blog…


View Larger Map

–Nat

Youtube Management Fodder

Reading an Ars Technica article about how researchers have turned protein mapping into a game where humans can quickly overcome difficult challenges that baffle computers, I found a reference to this video in the comments.  Basically, it analyzes how rewards motivate workers.

Based on similar discussions in my classes at St. Thomas, this is actually quite a problem.  Paying people money is easy, offering them autonomy is hugely challenging and takes great managers.  I don’t want to sound like a whiner, but I find myself wanting more than a paycheck, too.

–Nat

Adventures in Craigslist Land

Craigslist is an interesting place.  I compare it to the John Deere swapsheet, for those of you who might be familiar with that.   Its a place to find treasure for the price of junk, junk for the price of treasure and everything in between.  It can be critical that you move quickly or take advantage of ambiguous wording while at the same time seemingly reasonable deals show up week after week.  Kristin and I have sold more than we have purchased on Craigslist on the whole of it which I count as a good thing.

For Sale

Yesterday I put up an ad for some paintball gear with a price I thought would encourage a quick purchase, as it seems you either price it right or sit on it.  Turns out that my price, $20, was way too low.  I had a taker about seven minutes after the posting went live, which should have clued me in.  I agreed to that and I had a deluge of other people wanting to buy it, ranging from the typical “hay u want ur gun” one liners to very eloquent and polite offers up to $50 for it.  I agreed to sell it to some guy from clear across the cities for $20 and he was going to pick it up at 9:00 PM.  It’s 9:15 now and I am hoping he doesn’t show so I can move on down the line to the guy that is going to give me an xbox 360 controller and $20 cash.

I’ve got some wheels for sale too, but they haven’t been quite as popular…

–Nat