Carol H Tucker Passionate about knowledge management and organizational development, expert in loan servicing, virtual world denizen and community facilitator, and a DISNEY fan
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beladona Memorial Be warned:in this very rich environment where you can immerse yourself so completely, your emotions will become engaged -- and not everyone is cognizant of that. Among the many excellent features of SL, there is no auto-return on hearts, so be wary of where your's wanders...
Okay, I will admit that although I have made fun of the use of percentages in weather forecasting, it probably is more representative of the accuracy of what they are telling us. But come on -- a 50/50 chance isn't even a good guess!
I really really REALLY think this comes under the category of "too much time on someone's hands" but check it out for yourself.
Now this is what fall should look like! Around here the trees are going almost straight to brown for the most part, it has been that dry.....
I was once told that if polyamory was easy, then everyone would do it. Interestingly, there are some societies/cultures that have structured their inheritance laws to take into account the needs of the poly family.
An interesting article on the future of retail as a result of trying to buy a skillet. When was the last time you actually went shopping? Is the mall the first place that you head or do you check things out online? I find that with Amazon [in Chrome at least] giving the ability to add anything from online to my wish list, folks are tending to check that wish lost very quickly around holidays and birthdays.
Since when is education expendable? Disney World is a big place, it is very expensive and I agree that it is much better to go when it is not as crowded. I don't like waiting in lines anymore than anyone else, especially in the hot, humid Florida sun! But recommending that you take the kids out of school so you can enjoy the parks? Just... no.
Well now here is a news flash for all of you watching the debates -- the spectacle says more about our culture than it does the candidates! I know, shocking neh? I hope you were sitting down when you read that one.
CEO fires 16% of the company, arranges the layoffs to happen while he is out of the office, then calls a mandatory employee meeting to unveil his vision of the future for the company -- and gets surprised when he doesn't get a response. Puh-lease!
"NASA Kennedy / KSC @NASAKennedy#Atlantis was ready to roll to the VAB, when a rain shower appeared. The team is waiting for the shower to pass before moving from the OPF." the shuttle can fly through space, but a little rain stops the move from one building to the next?!
And so the week starts to wind on.... is it really only Tuesday?
I am still not very sure about this Twitter thing. Years ago I had signed up and then decamped when my daughter argued vociferously that she needed at least one social network where her mother was not active. Recent events have tempted me to go back, but I was not happy to find out that "beladona" had been taken by someone else! How dare they? That has been my online moniker since 1994 and was my original Twitter handle as well! But I signed up anyway and if you want to follow me, try @CarolHTucker.
I find it interesting that many medical practitioners do not want to take responsibility for patient satisfaction. I rather like that Medicare is starting to ask the patients how they feel about the service that was received. Everyone else is held responsible for how they interact with their customers, why not hospitals and doctors? If long waits leave patients grumpy, then maybe the ER needs to overhaul their processes and procedures to manage the waiting time, neh?
The slow crawl of the Enterprise through the streets of LA was strewn with controversy as trees were felled and signs removed for the passage. Can anything show more clearly that the shuttle belongs in space instead of on the ground?
Do you agree that making a bike out of cardboard is a game changer? It certainly would make it easier to take upstairs in an apartment building like mine! And speaking of changing the rule, when was the last time you gave it that Hallmark touch? I used to buy cards by the dozen and I couldn't tell you when the last time I was in a card store!
He was stiing in front of the Starbucks, in a chair at a table close to the edge of the curb. The first thing that I noticed was the huge boom box -- man I haven't seen on that big in ages and ages. Upright and in perfect condition, metallic and shiny, it looked almost as big as glass table top it rested on. He had it playing light jazz, his long blond hair bobbing as he smoked and swayed to the music, tapping one painted shoe.
If he hadn't been watching everyone so closely, I would've taken his picture. There was a challenge in the way that he gazed about -- was he waiting for someone to comment on his deliberately scuffy appearance or the boom box or the playing of the music? Altho the hair was long and the jeans artistically tattered, he looked rather clean-shaven and very concious of the picture he presented.
I grinned at him and walked away, getting into my car. He watched me pull out of the parking lot, so all I have taken with me is this mental picture that now I have shared with you.
This was a landmark birthday – she has lived longer than both of my grandmothers and beaten the statistics as well. According to this site [SOURCE:American Community Survey 2004] – Maryland ranks 28th in the country with 1.2% of the state's population falling in this category
But what does hitting that landmark birthday mean? She is old and wandering in her mind. I sent flowers, but did not call or write or go and see her. In fact? I haven’t seen the place where she was relocated a year ago. I haven’t seen her in two years [when the picture was taken], when I tried to go and visit. Before that? No contact since that horrible Thanksgiving weekend. Margaret has her POA and her affairs well in hand, and her kids stop by and see Aunt Pete now and then so I know she is being cared for, but I haven’t talked to Margaret since the transfer to Ivy Halls because Mom’s dementia and weight were becoming problematic. The memories I have of my mother throughout my life are all of her telling me in varying stages of fury that I was both inadequate and expendable. When she said that she was sorry that she listened to Frank and permitted me to have contact with her again, I broke.
It isn't that I hate her or that I don't realize that I am not being a loving and forgiving daughter. I don't know how to explain it other than the link is broken. "Mother" means to be the woman who stood still and slapped me again and again "because I would not listen". "Mother" means the woman who told me she wished she was childless, then didn't speak to me for 15 years. I am probably proving to her, the family, myself, the world that I am a very bad horrible person and I am probably accumulating karma at a vastly accelerated rate that will have to be paid .... But I just cannot reach out again.
When I was younger, I wanted to write. Never knew quite what I was going to write, but I was going to write and get published and folks were actually going to READ my stuff. Nowadays I write interactive stories in Second Life, different ones with different people.
Books opened my imagination to different worlds....
I find it comforting that in the midst of all the politcal advertisements, the inevitable international crisis, and other such drama, someone devoted their life to the succesful completion of a proof. I don't quite understand the dumbed down explanation, although I get the gist of it, but apparently this is quite an advance in the world of mathematics and the name of Shinichi Mochizuki is going to be very famous and most of us won't have more than a vague notion of why....
The idea of utilizing "lost space" to create friendly and inviting green areas is really alluring -- but it will only work if there is plenty of protection from the predators of the asphalt jungle above....
We need new definitions of privacy -- webtracks are pretty potent and you had better think about that before you post that next status update....
All this talk about reducing debt and giving more money for rich folks to invest -- didn't we learn ANYTHING from the 1930's? You cannot save yourself out of a recession; Herbert Hoover tried that. I keep waiting for someone to talk in terms of actually putting people back to work -- the country's infrastructure is tottering with over-burdened legacy systems badly in need up repair and improvement. This [and education] is the real reason we pay taxes, the real purpose of government, Isn't it? I don't believe that the 1% or the small businesses are going to embark on a Depression era style work program anytime soon.
Sometimes those email streams that get forwarded and forwarded make you think. This one [thank you Bonita!] sent me off on a trip down memory's lane....
The news came across Tuesday morning -- another small community bank, formerly a thrift, was to be sold. It was a sobering moment for me for I had worked there -- hired by the President to help them work out a Supervisory Agreement -- and it was agruably the high-water mark of my career. Now it was fading away....
It made me stop and reflect on my career path -- so many changes in the past 30+ years! In that time, I have worked for nine different employers, such is the existance of a knowledge nomad. All of my employers were small businesses that intimately knew their staff and their customers, with strong ties to the communities around them. The longest time I stayed in one place was 12 years; the shortest time was 9 months. My average time in the other jobs is about 2 1/2 years.
As a side note: Nine employers and not one offered a pension plan. Not all had employer contributions to their 401K, two did not have a 401K program at all -- which explains why after working for 30 years retirement is still very far away for me.
After I started part-time in retail at Mother Goose Shoes, I moved into banking . I started out on the teller line at Equitable Bank, and then moved into he Loan Departmet at C&F where I filled every possible position except collector, but landed in Loan Servicng. So the small community banks have been the bulwark of my career and I have worked at six different organizations, followed up with a non-bank commercial SBA lender and now a CUSO [credit union servicing organizations].
The sizes of the organizations varied but they all qualify as small businesses -- the largest only had about 160 employees and the smallest has four. And what does it say about the perils of small businesses when of the nine? Only TWO remain in business today. Two.
One community bank remains and the CUSO where I am currently. The other seven? The stores that sold good from the factory up in Western Maryland closed after the factory was shut down -- the company didn't survive the retirement of the founder. The bank where I spent 12 years? It was acquired after 65 years of community service. The other community banks were bought or merged with yet other community banks who themselves were sold to yet another bank. The two organizations that were start-ups -- one bank and the non-bank lender? They have now disappeared as well, absorbed by larger organizations.
After 12.07.1941, the question was: Where were you when you learned about Pearl Harbor? After 11.22.1963, the question was: Where were you when you learned about JFK's assination? I was in class at Middle River Junior High After 09.11.2001, the question was: Where were you when you learned about the tragedy that hit in NY, in PA, in DC? Frank and I were watching the Lion King show in the Animal Kingdom.
I actually had a post written, but my PC locked up and it was lost during the reboot. I guess I could go back and re-create it, but I prefer to think of it as a sign that it wasn't all that important to share in the first place....
This study questions how the kids who implemented social exclusion feel about that, but after all those years of being the class cacciatore from third grade right through high school, I would really like to know what it was about me that singled me out for this.
Why do people out and out lie? This study claims that it is when you are short on time and long on reasons.
There is an art to asking questions. There are different kinds of questions, different times to ask questions, different purposes for the questions. Ask the wrong question, and the answer you get may be totally factual and completely misleading.. I have been told, and agree, that when you don't like the facts, you cannot alter them -- but you can be aware that what is "fact" shifts with your persepctive especially if you are ego-centric....
True story:
I walked into a job and on the first day was told that my first task was to fire the file clerk. When I asked why, the CLO told me that she didn't know how to file. Fair enough. I asked the file clerk what was going on and she told me that she didn't understand where to put things. I asked to see the instructions that she was given and they were clear. I asked her if she understood the directions and she said yes. I checked with HR and was told that because English was not the clerk's native tongue, it was believed that was the problem.
At that point, I should've been done. I had been directed by the head of the department to resolve the problem and the problem was that the file clerk failed to understand the basic concepts of her job. But I asked one more question -- I picked up a piece of paper and walked over to the files. It was a SIF [security interest filing -- in MD when there is a lien on your vehicle, you still get your title but the lien is perfected with this second document] that belonged to a commercial customer -- a simple straightforward filing job.
Except I couldn't figure out where that piece of paper went. Fifteen years working in Loan Servicing in all aspects of sales and service including documentation and credit analysis, and I was stymied. Quite simply, the files were a mess. It took months and literally thousands of dollars to fix what was the problem both in the files and the corporate culture.
Two and a half years later, after that bank came off the C&D, had shrunk, and I was leaving because my job was done, on my last day I went down to say goodbye to the file clerk. Through all the changes of personnel, she was the only person left from the original Loan Department. She smiled at me and picked up a document and told me that she knew where it belonged. And I hugged her and walked away. Once a book goes out of print, especially a niche or genre book, it can be very difficult to find. This bookshop is working on resurrecting old titles and re-publishing the works as e-books. You can subscribe here.
Having a three-day weekend just means that Monday gets pushed off a day. We call it "Tuesday" but trust me, it is still Monday.
There has been an ongoing discussion over whether or not $L is an actuall currency or not, whether virtual money such as CW cash and WoW tokens can be used as money-laundering, and of course, whether or not income earned in virtual worlds is taxable. Now Bitcoins are being accepted as campaign contributions and the debates will heat up I think. And speaking of WoW -- there is a new study that shows even violent games tend to encourage and promote cooperation.
The state of our battlefields is in question. How do we balance the needs of today against the history of yesterday? This is an important decision -- once the sites are damaged or lost, they cannot be restored.
Okay, I do not like to clean -- no news flash here. I went through my Susie Homemaker phase and left it behind me decades ago. And I am a pack-rat, which means clutter. Right now most of my clutter is contained in the Disaster Area, just waiting for me to address it. But something about this article about Mindful Simplicity is enticing in a way that I didn't expect.
I embarked on my first long distance relationships back in 1965, courtesy of the Parker Pen Penpal exhibit at the World's Fair. Over the years, through college I wrote reams and reams, sending/receiving pictures and keepsakes to a total of eleven kids across the world, most of whom I don't even remember their names anymore. But from Lucia who lived in Rio de Janeiro to Robert Winstanley, the second Robert in England, I gathered the friends that I did not have in my day-to-day world. Slowly they all vanished -- Enrico in Italy only wrote once, the girl in Turkey never replied after the earthquake and I can only hope she was too busy, the guy in Belgium was older and got into politics, Robert joined the RAF, the others just .... stopped. Life, what we call "RL" -- the day-to-day physical world -- took over for all of us.
The second set of LDRs were as a result of folks I knew in high school going away to college. "Write me" we all called at the last yearbook party, and some of us did. That was how Kit and I cemented our relationship actually. We had been friendly, but not close throughout high school, but when we wrote to each other we found that we had much more in common than was apparent on the outside. It was my first taste of being heard without the preconceptions of the roles we play in our everyday life, the power of being able to actually be the person that I really am, and I have never forgotten the impact. of that insight. It explained so much, and for the first time I felt a relectant admiration and empathy for John Adam's Abigail.
The third set of relationships were online, back in 1994/5 when I joined the Knowledge Ecology Network as it came to be called. Here I met thought leaders in the field of knowledge management, here we discussed organizational change and development, here is where I shaped my own concepts of stealth KM and management that encompassed what we now call social networking. Frank called the people that I would talk to online in asynchornous conversations my "imaginary friends" and was dumbfounded when I insisted on meeting some of them in person when I went out to speak in San Diego. Maybe dumbfounded isn't a strong enough word for just how upset he was to learn that I was going to stay with someone who's last name I didn't actually know... Mihaela was a wonderful hostess and those days with her in San Jose are a hightlght of my traveling times. When Frank was struck down during a trip to Williamsburg, I gave my daughter my user ID and password so she could log in and let them know what happened to me. I met many of these folks through the years in person, but some I have only followed from one online community to another.... Smith-Weaver-Smith, MetaNet, BrainStorms, Chautauqua, and others. I remember each person we lost, including the one who got so upset that we weren't supporting him after 9.11 and left in a huff, including those who have passed away, including those like me who have all but fallen silent.
Now I am in Second LIfe, and online relationships seem to have gotten much more complicated....
In the category of "places I am going after winning the lottery": Finding books to give a voracious reader was always difficult for my family, but now and then my mother would hit the nail right on the head. One year when I was in elementary school, I got a copy of Thor Heyerdahl's Easter Island, and developed a life-long fascination with anthropology. Kon Tiki wasn't a bad book, but it was Easter Island and the fate of that civilization that fired my imagination.
I am really looking forward to The Hobbit release in December, and I enjoy the little tidbits that come our way ahead of time. Here is a glimpse of Thranduil, Legolas' father who rules in Mirkwood.
Not a bad pishing attempt -- except for the misspelling and the fact that I don't have an account with Wells Fargo...
"We have received many complains regarding your account. For the safety of your account and your information we have decided to lock your account until we hear from you. To solve this issue continue reading here: http://blog.przemekmalysz.pl/traseu/l.php />Thank you"
And last? While you are contemplating the formation of the moon, know that tomorrow night is time for all kinds of unusual things to happen, the kinds of things that only happen once in a blue moon....
Mira is 8 years old and has been 8 since she rezzed 2 1/2 years ago, in SL you don't have to grow up if you don't want to. She was formed to play with other kids that I had come to know in world, and even after they stopped logging in, she would still go in world now and then to wander about the Disney sims. Mouse World was the greatest and I still miss their dark rides that were so well done, but there are two in world now that are good fun with parades and storytelling and a park to wander about in. She has been in world a lot lately, spending time with her family, especially the two sisters, Lyssa and Lyric. Unfortunately the parents are splitting and the girls are coping the best that they can with the resulting melodrama.
Why 8? That was the year that everything changed for me. I was in third grade. That was the year my mother got tired of my whining when she was trying to wash and brush my hair -- trust me, she had no patience with tangles and it was not a pleasant experience -- and despite my father's protests, my hair was cut very short. That was the year that I started wearing glasses. That was the year that the cliques and groups formed in the class, and I acquired my "outsider" label. That was the year that I realized no matter how hard I tried, I never would be able to see the world from another's POV, I was trapped behind my eyes and couldn't look out of their's. That was the year that my mother stopped trying to read everything that I read. And that was the year I made a choice in a dream....
Mira, like me at that age, is pudgy and reads voraciously. And she is a dreamer, an idealist who believes that there is magic in the world and that mankind is inherently good.... As she settles down for the night, curling up on the daybed instead of actually going to bed, the twinkling pictures above her remind me to believe, to hope, and that there is always love in the world...
Do you really believe that a person only has one soul mate? What if speculates -- what if that was true?
This actually doesn't seem to be news -- don't most apes eat veggies? I am not sure how I feel about showing a picture of a chimpanzee as an illustration for a story about ancient man, however.
Curious about the hype when it comes to gamification? There is a free course you can take online that explains it all.
So when you think about and/or appreciate music, you are actually using a different part of your brain? No wonder having music in the background while working or studying doesn't distract but actually seems to help. But if you have an extensive collection in your iPod, you had better give someone else the password or it will all be gone. Now when it comes to books, I need to work on loading some files to the Kindle manually -- but I am not sure what happens my digital library when I am gone.
Shout out to Neil who started my day off with a giggle/snort: Bic has pens for women. The product isn't all that fascinating, but oh the comments and reviews!
Project Runway is one of my guilty pleasures and it is hard to believe that I first stumbled on it ten seasons ago! But ever since Austin's famous cornhusk dress, I have been a fan. Each season they have one episode where the designers have plus-size real women instead of models that they have to deal with and each year someone just goes bonkers trying to wrap their heads around the concept of women who have busts and buttocks and flab. But this season, one of the designers really got nasty with his model, and she is demanding an apology for his bullying. There is a ground swell of folks who think he should've been sent home for his attittude, but in truth, the outfit he made wasn't the worst on the runway that night.
I wish that I was of an age that I could join the MarsOne venture and actually help colonize another world in 2023.... The pictures that Curiosity continues to send back are simply stunning:
The jury is still out -- did Lance Armstrong lie through his teeth about taking performance enhancing drugs or not? Is refusing to fight anymore indicative of an admission of guilt? Since when? Going back and taking away his title does not change the fact that he wone the races, neh? Are all the other contenders so squeeky-clean? There are no winners in this battle methinks.
Disney had quite the impact on the look and the setup of amusement parks, a statement that should not surprise anyone who remembers attractions prior to the advent of Disneyland..
Frank had every single one of the Mort Kuntsler ornaments to date when he died -- all of his War Between the States collection went to his nephew. I wonder if David kept up with the ornaments? This year's is a stunning piece of art
OMG! remember life on a dial-up??? And yes, like so many others, I started out using AOL to connect .... Guess I got really active online around 1994 or so, long before I became convinced that there weas a Metaverse. Fleep sure opened up the door with her very thoughtful post -- many bloggers have been jumping in with their thoughts.
From the Banc Investment Daily for 08.27.12: RISK MANAGEMENT LESSONS FROM 13 OCTOBER DAYS:
Back in late 1960, newly-elected President Kennedy was briefed on the Bay of Pigs operation that had been in the planning stages under the Eisenhower Administration. Not having enough experience or political footing to stand up to the likes of Allen Dulles (CIA Director) and others, President Kennedy reluctantly approved the plan with little rigorous review and without challenging key assumptions. Unfortunately, as we all know, the results were disastrous. A year later and 50Ys ago from today [Monday, August 27th], the Kennedy administration verified that Russia was installing nuclear missiles in Cuba, capable of striking the US. Being in an untenable situation, Kennedy gathered his best and brightest minds in the Administration and set to work on a resolution. To his credit, Kennedy learned from his Bay of Pigs mistakes and put a different decision-making process in place. The fact that Kennedy proactively decided how to decide before hand has gone down in the Hall of Fame annals of leadership and critical decision making. Understanding his team's shortcomings with the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy provided for the rigorous challenging of assumptions, open conflict and constructive problem resolution. The result was the successful handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
One technique that Kennedy employed was the "potential failure analysis." While many bankers are familiar with a post-mortem analysis (also called "Lessons Learned," a "hot wash" or "after action report"), a potential failure analysis occurs before the event or strategy is implemented. In order to stimulate divergent views and bring risk factors out on the table, Kennedy gathered a list of all options available to America. He then had his working group brainstorm each option, laying out the pros and cons of different alternatives such as working through diplomatic channels, putting a naval blockade around Cuba or conducting a preemptive bombing raid. He then asked the group to imagine failure in each case and the reasons that might have caused such a failure. Then, working backwards, he had the group highlight those factors that materially contributed to each failure and then asked how to mitigate each risk. After vigorous debates and analysis over all options and assumptions, Kennedy's team then ranked the alternatives lowest to highest risk and decided to try each in quick succession (starting with diplomatic channels, then instituting a naval blockade and then conducting an aerial assault). The result, of course, was the successful execution of the naval option and the removal of missiles from Cuba.
What is the purpose of SL? Fleep nails the excitement we felt. I met her in person during the two SLCC that I went to and worked with her a bit in world. How I envied those who were able to work in world! I actually interviewed a couple of times, but never even made it to the final applicant pool. Now this could make things interesting, but I am not sure it is something that would be helpful for an immersionist.
In this day and age when it seems that being "nice" means being expendable, when being just supportive doesn't seem to be enough, there is a gentle reminder that sometimes, it is your kindness that counts. And yet, while this story makes headlines, think about all those who quietly do things and never get noticed their entire lives or noticed when they are gone for that matter.
Ahhhh, memories of being SO PROUD that you could rattle off: M I S S I S S I P P I.... The river that inspired Mark Twain is still pretty important for commerce in the US.
Speaking of memories, I remember vividly how delighted we all were with malls -- the ability to stroll around different stores without worrying about the weather was just a great idea. If they have failed, I think it had to do more with uniformity and the economy rather than the planning, but most places are going back to the box stores it seems. Is a step backwards as far as I am concened! Laurel Mall is gone....
Ending with another great photo, this one courtesy of Webby Daily Hunor
The National Geographic photo of the month just struck me as the perfect poster for August....
Now will someone kindly explain to me where in the devil summer went to? I remember some boiling hot days and oppressive humidity. I remember the folks in the office going on vacation. I remember not having to deal with school buses on the way to work, but isn't there another month of it still coming????
CEOExpress
I find it comforting that in the midst of all the politcal advertisements, the inevitable international crisis, and other such drama, someone devoted their life to 
The 
As a side note: Nine employers and not one offered a pension plan. Not all had employer contributions to their 401K, two did not have a 401K program at all -- which explains why after working for 30 years retirement is still very far away for me.
The sizes of the organizations varied but they all qualify as small businesses -- the largest only had about 160 employees and the smallest has four. And what does it say about the perils of small businesses when of the nine? Only TWO remain in business today. Two.
One community bank remains and the CUSO where I am currently. The other seven? The stores that sold good from the factory up in Western Maryland closed after the factory was shut down -- the company didn't survive the retirement of the founder. The bank where I spent 12 years? It was acquired after 65 years of community service. The other community banks were bought or merged with yet other community banks who themselves were sold to yet another bank. The two organizations that were start-ups -- one bank and the non-bank lender? They have now disappeared as well, absorbed by larger organizations.
