And Another Thing

I'm moving the weekly job log posting to its own blog. And, to make it worth your time, I've modified the script to post daily instead of merely weekly. Just to make it worth your while. Joblintels.

Got It

When I go to grad school I'm going to pursue a PhD in Truthology.

Another Thank You

Thank you, Lucas Feiler, Nick Hemmesch, and my other good friend.

Updated March 23 Summary

Time at AMBS: 9h 7m 16s

Time working: 8h 18m 14s

Communication: 0h 0m 0s
Meetings: 0h 0m 0s
Research: 0h 51m 40s

Interrupt: 2h 47m 57s
Phone: 2h 39m 12s
Visit: 0h 8m 45s
E-mail: 0h 0m 0s
Planned: 4h 38m 37s
Tasks/Projects: 4h 38m 37s
House cleaning: 0h 0m 0s

Unspecified: 0h 0m 0s

Break: 0h 49m 2s
Personal: 0h 0m 0s

*** RAW DATA FOLLOWS ***

03/23/2007 7:51:53 AM,ar,"",0
03/23/2007 8:19:01 AM,re,"blogs",1628
03/23/2007 8:30:01 AM,ip,"asst",660
03/23/2007 8:48:57 AM,re,"blogs and tech",1136
03/23/2007 9:05:18 AM,ip,"asst",981
03/23/2007 9:11:39 AM,bk,"watere",381
03/23/2007 10:28:46 AM,tk,"spamassassin",4627
03/23/2007 10:47:49 AM,ip,"asst",1143
03/23/2007 10:53:30 AM,ip,"student printing problem",341
03/23/2007 11:03:21 AM,tk,"spamassassin",591
03/23/2007 11:10:20 AM,ip,"CRoViS (bane of my existence)",419
03/23/2007 11:18:53 AM,tk,"perlDBI",513
03/23/2007 11:40:43 AM,ip,"email at home",1310
03/23/2007 11:46:19 AM,re,"analytics",336
03/23/2007 12:05:11 PM,ip,"home e-mail",1132
03/23/2007 12:22:36 PM,tk,"schwarzy",1045
03/23/2007 1:01:00 PM,bk,"lunch",2304
03/23/2007 1:14:51 PM,tk,"email recovery",831
03/23/2007 1:59:55 PM,tk,"qmail and library catalog revisions",2704
03/23/2007 2:07:29 PM,tk,"puremessage",454
03/23/2007 2:25:06 PM,ip,"computer placement",1057
03/23/2007 2:31:45 PM,iv,"printing trouble",399
03/23/2007 2:33:51 PM,iv,"studasst",126
03/23/2007 3:42:02 PM,tk,"qmailtoaster",4091
03/23/2007 3:46:19 PM,bk,"rr",257
03/23/2007 3:54:13 PM,tk,"qmailtoaster",474
03/23/2007 4:36:02 PM,ip,"shop printer",2509
03/23/2007 4:59:09 PM,tk,"qmailtoaster and a verhuddelt system",1387

Weekly Work Summary for the week ending Friday, 2007 March 26

How to read this:

The summary immediately below neatly summarizes how I spent my time in the for the week indicated in the subject of this post. The raw data lists each specific task or activity. The categorizations assigned to a given task should be loosely held -- often multiple tasks were performed under one entry; often "interruptions" include not only the initial interruption but the time taken to resolve the related task; often tasks include activities that are not strictly task-related.

*** TASK SUMMARY FOLLOWS ***

Time at AMBS: 90h 24m 0s

Time working: 26h 9m 12s

Communication: 2h 14m 33s
Meetings: 0h 0m 0s
Research: 4h 34m 56s

Interrupt: 6h 23m 9s
Phone: 4h 30m 31s
Visit: 1h 46m 17s
E-mail: 0h 6m 21s
Planned: 12h 56m 34s
Tasks/Projects: 12h 3m 31s
House cleaning: 0h 53m 3s

Unspecified: 0h 0m 0s

Break: 736h 4m 51s
Personal: 0h 9m 57s

Average Daily Time at AMBS: 13h 16m 48s

Averagy Daily Working Time: 10h 16m 48s

*** RAW DATA FOLLOWS ***

03/19/2007 7:47:41 AM,ar,"",0
03/19/2007 7:55:06 AM,tk,"update ee",445
03/19/2007 8:28:00 AM,tk,"phone lessons",1974
03/19/2007 8:44:15 AM,ip,"ee",975
03/19/2007 8:59:35 AM,tk,"ee",920
03/19/2007 9:08:07 AM,iv,"hard drive",512
03/19/2007 9:15:12 AM,ip,"taskbar moving",425
03/19/2007 9:23:11 AM,hc,"inbox",479
03/19/2007 9:30:55 AM,re,"blogs",464
03/19/2007 9:34:51 AM,ip,"software purchase question",236
03/19/2007 9:38:57 AM,iv,"cable return",246
03/19/2007 9:59:05 AM,re,"news",1208
03/19/2007 10:20:00 AM,bk,"monday",1255
03/19/2007 10:50:38 AM,tk,"xpsp2",1838
03/19/2007 10:56:23 AM,hc,"email and phone",345
03/19/2007 11:17:43 AM,tk,"new schwarz",1280
03/19/2007 11:28:54 AM,tk,"new schwarz",671
03/19/2007 11:38:10 AM,tk,"notebook update",556
03/19/2007 11:41:57 AM,iv,"hard drive raid consult",227
03/19/2007 11:48:18 AM,ie,"timezone update",381
03/19/2007 11:55:34 AM,ip,"frozen application",436
03/19/2007 12:00:50 PM,iv,"scanning tutorial",316
03/19/2007 12:50:42 PM,bk,"lunch",2992
03/19/2007 12:52:00 PM,em,"CARES",78
03/19/2007 1:12:13 PM,tk,"student server",1213
03/19/2007 1:14:18 PM,ip,"seeking mail folders",125
03/19/2007 1:24:04 PM,tk,"windows search settings",586
03/19/2007 1:39:40 PM,tk,"student server",936
03/19/2007 1:51:05 PM,tk,"student server",685
03/19/2007 1:59:08 PM,iv,"more lost e-mail",483
03/19/2007 2:04:37 PM,bk,"rr",329
03/19/2007 2:05:48 PM,ps,"im",71
03/19/2007 2:09:52 PM,ps,"im",244
03/19/2007 3:14:02 PM,tk,"qmail-qfilter",3850
03/19/2007 3:21:47 PM,ip,"monitor overturned",465
03/19/2007 3:26:59 PM,ip,"fiberdyne",312
03/19/2007 3:30:00 PM,bk,"mail",181
03/19/2007 3:43:42 PM,iv,"printer offline",822
03/19/2007 3:46:20 PM,tk,"re troubles",158
03/19/2007 4:00:43 PM,tk,"shared object library",863
03/19/2007 4:03:56 PM,ip,"reg office",193
03/19/2007 4:13:13 PM,tk,"qmail",557
03/19/2007 4:14:00 PM,ip,"spouse",47
03/19/2007 4:28:30 PM,tk,"submit receipts",870
03/19/2007 4:36:05 PM,tk,"parser",455
03/19/2007 4:40:25 PM,hc,"end of day",260

03/20/2007 7:51:01 AM,ar,"",0
03/20/2007 8:16:37 AM,re,"blogs and tech sites",1536
03/20/2007 8:20:02 AM,hc,"email",205
03/20/2007 8:30:36 AM,tk,"new server",634
03/20/2007 8:43:00 AM,tk,"ner server",744
03/20/2007 9:47:06 AM,bk,"cares",3846
03/20/2007 9:49:10 AM,hc,"email",124
03/20/2007 9:51:48 AM,ip,"projector question",158
03/20/2007 10:04:34 AM,tk,"mac lesson",766
03/20/2007 10:37:02 AM,tk,"schwarzy",1948
03/20/2007 10:37:53 AM,ip,"phone setup",51
03/20/2007 10:53:46 AM,tk,"student server",953
03/20/2007 11:08:00 AM,bk,"retrieve spouse",854
03/20/2007 11:15:50 AM,iv,"phone info",470
03/20/2007 11:25:09 AM,hc,"email",559
03/20/2007 11:28:12 AM,tk,"parser",183
03/20/2007 11:45:16 AM,em,"conference phone",1024
03/20/2007 12:04:05 PM,em,"various things",1129
03/20/2007 12:45:00 PM,bk,"lunch",2455
03/20/2007 12:52:00 PM,tk,"pop3 ?",420
03/20/2007 12:58:24 PM,tk,"order cleanup",384
03/20/2007 1:20:48 PM,tk,"set up some tracking on ambs.edu",1344
03/20/2007 2:06:45 PM,tk,"mac attack",2757
03/20/2007 2:11:27 PM,ps,"blog",282
03/20/2007 2:29:30 PM,tk,"entourage tweaking",1083
03/20/2007 2:44:29 PM,tk,"check mailing",899
03/20/2007 2:59:52 PM,tk,"webpage work",923
03/20/2007 3:11:57 PM,tk,"student server",725
03/20/2007 3:21:54 PM,tk,"downloading mysql",597
03/20/2007 3:36:15 PM,tk,"library catalog",861
03/20/2007 3:44:59 PM,tk,"owa",524
03/20/2007 3:48:42 PM,tk,"library catalog",223
03/20/2007 4:13:50 PM,tk,"mysql on new server",1508
03/20/2007 4:18:35 PM,tk,"mail",285
03/20/2007 4:24:51 PM,tk,"google analytics",376
03/20/2007 4:27:07 PM,ip,"spouse",136
03/20/2007 4:28:42 PM,em,"analytics",95
03/20/2007 5:04:50 PM,tk,"mysql",2168
03/20/2007 5:06:26 PM,hc,"end of day",96

03/21/2007 7:45:00 AM,ar,"",0
03/21/2007 8:18:55 AM,vi,"analytics",2035
03/21/2007 8:50:00 AM,re,"univ business",1865
03/21/2007 8:55:24 AM,iv,"cd recording",324
03/21/2007 9:05:07 AM,hc,"email",583
03/21/2007 9:18:09 AM,iv,"logiforms troubles",782
03/21/2007 9:36:27 AM,re,"blogs",1098
03/21/2007 9:42:18 AM,tk,"analytics",351
03/21/2007 9:46:33 AM,ip,"student billing ?",255
03/21/2007 10:06:33 AM,tk,"authlib",1200
03/21/2007 10:09:10 AM,bk,"rr",157
03/21/2007 10:21:44 AM,tk,"courier",754
03/21/2007 10:22:04 AM,ip,"localweb ?",20
03/21/2007 10:26:56 AM,tk,"courier",292
03/21/2007 10:27:33 AM,ip,"password recovery",37
03/21/2007 10:29:14 AM,tk,"courier",101
03/21/2007 10:32:21 AM,iv,"ee",187
03/21/2007 10:34:54 AM,tk,"courierauth",153
03/21/2007 11:11:40 AM,tk,"ee & analytics",2206
03/21/2007 11:13:46 AM,bk,"rr",126
03/21/2007 11:19:30 AM,ph,"bb",344
03/21/2007 11:34:21 AM,vi,"ee",891
03/21/2007 11:39:34 AM,tk,"base64",313
03/21/2007 12:24:00 PM,tk,"maildrop",2666
03/21/2007 1:10:19 PM,bk,"lunch",2779
03/21/2007 1:27:59 PM,tk,"spamassassin",1060
03/21/2007 1:31:02 PM,iv,"printer failure (psnl)",183
03/21/2007 3:03:11 PM,re,"webinar",5529
03/21/2007 3:11:45 PM,em,"projector keylock",514
03/21/2007 3:18:53 PM,tk,"spamass",428
03/21/2007 3:23:49 PM,hc,"mail",296
03/21/2007 3:51:45 PM,tk,"spamassassin and other things",1676
03/21/2007 3:53:34 PM,ip,"ee",109
03/21/2007 4:10:03 PM,ip,"spouse",989
03/21/2007 4:31:48 PM,tk,"courier",1305
03/21/2007 4:32:03 PM,ip,"spouse",15
03/21/2007 5:18:33 PM,tk,"qmail",2790

03/22/2007 7:45:30 AM,ar,"",0
03/22/2007 7:48:48 AM,tk,"check webcam",198
03/22/2007 8:17:04 AM,re,"blogs",1696
03/22/2007 8:49:09 AM,tk,"schwarzy",1925
03/22/2007 9:06:27 AM,iv,"student asst",1038
03/22/2007 9:13:51 AM,tk,"schwarzy",444
03/22/2007 9:16:55 AM,ip,"disappeared taskbar",184
03/22/2007 9:35:00 AM,tk,"schwarzy",1085
03/22/2007 9:46:22 AM,bk,"d",682
03/22/2007 10:46:48 AM,tk,"schwarzy",3626
03/22/2007 10:47:27 AM,ip,"student asst",39
03/22/2007 10:58:06 AM,tk,"schwarzy",639
03/22/2007 11:24:37 AM,tk,"squirrelmail",1591
03/22/2007 11:28:33 AM,hc,"email",236
03/22/2007 11:32:38 AM,tk,"squirrelmail",245
03/22/2007 11:36:34 AM,ip,"back2back",236
03/22/2007 11:55:38 AM,tk,"collaboration data objects download/install",1144
03/22/2007 12:32:43 PM,bk,"forum",2225
03/22/2007 1:02:00 PM,tk,"made squirrelmail work",1757
03/22/2007 1:10:19 PM,tk,"squirrelmail work",499
03/22/2007 1:12:32 PM,iv,"psnl computer update",133
03/22/2007 1:14:03 PM,tk,"kitch bkp",91
03/22/2007 1:22:03 PM,tk,"spamassassin",480
03/22/2007 1:22:48 PM,ip,"asssistant",45
03/22/2007 1:28:32 PM,tk,"spamassassin qmail",344
03/22/2007 1:41:53 PM,ip,"deans office",801
03/22/2007 1:47:23 PM,tk,"clean up logwatch",330
03/22/2007 1:49:32 PM,iv,"evals",129
03/22/2007 1:58:23 PM,tk,"mysql",531
03/22/2007 2:17:02 PM,tk,"user acct",1119
03/22/2007 2:22:43 PM,tk,"dvd duplication",341
03/22/2007 2:57:35 PM,tk,"mysql",2092
03/22/2007 3:04:05 PM,ip,"asst",390
03/22/2007 3:21:13 PM,tk,"mysql",1028
03/22/2007 3:21:56 PM,tk,"check dvd burning status",43
03/22/2007 3:48:51 PM,tk,"mysql",1615
03/22/2007 3:52:48 PM,bk,"retrieve clothing from spouse",237
03/22/2007 4:02:58 PM,tk,"spamass",610
03/22/2007 4:06:58 PM,tk,"deliver dvd",240
03/22/2007 4:33:58 PM,tk,"mail::spamassassin compile errors",1620
03/22/2007 6:02:52 PM,bk,"ultimate",5334
03/22/2007 6:19:46 PM,em,"ltsp",1014
03/22/2007 6:35:35 PM,em,"educause followup",949

03/23/2007 7:51:53 AM,ar,"",0
03/23/2007 8:19:01 AM,re,"blogs",1628
03/23/2007 8:30:01 AM,ip,"asst",660
03/23/2007 8:48:57 AM,re,"blogs and tech",1136
03/23/2007 9:05:18 AM,ip,"asst",981
03/23/2007 9:11:39 AM,bk,"watere",381
03/23/2007 10:28:46 AM,tk,"spamassassin",4627
03/23/2007 10:47:49 AM,ip,"asst",1143
03/23/2007 10:53:30 AM,ip,"student printing problem",341
03/23/2007 11:03:21 AM,tk,"spamassassin",591
03/23/2007 11:10:20 AM,ip,"CRoViS (bane of my existence)",419
03/23/2007 11:18:53 AM,tk,"perlDBI",513
03/23/2007 11:40:43 AM,ip,"email at home",1310
03/23/2007 11:46:19 AM,re,"analytics",336
03/23/2007 12:05:11 PM,ip,"home e-mail",1132
03/23/2007 12:22:36 PM,tk,"schwarzy",1045
03/23/2005 1:01:00 PM,bk,"lunch",2625801
03/23/2007 1:14:51 PM,tk,"email recovery",2628831
03/23/2007 1:59:55 PM,tk,"qmail and library catalog revisions",2704
03/23/2007 2:07:29 PM,tk,"puremessage",454
03/23/2007 2:25:06 PM,ip,"computer placement",1057
03/23/2007 2:31:45 PM,iv,"printing trouble",399
03/23/2007 2:33:51 PM,iv,"studasst",126
03/23/2007 3:42:02 PM,tk,"qmailtoaster",4091
03/23/2007 3:46:19 PM,bk,"rr",257
03/23/2007 3:54:13 PM,tk,"qmailtoaster",474
03/23/2007 4:36:02 PM,ip,"shop printer",2509
03/23/2007 4:59:09 PM,tk,"qmailtoaster and a verhuddelt system",1387

Decided

Yesterday while rearranging the furniture my spouse and I decided that anything can be taken apart with sufficient patience and a rubber mallet.

Educause MWRC

Here's something that should interest Adam.

Last week at Educause, several librarians from Illinois presented a session about using RSS to provide library resources to students in Blackboard. A particular professor was interested in having the students get good resources, so he asked the librarians to find them and post them. The result was a section of the course that contained RSS feeds from various reputable news sites (say, MSNBC) so that the students could see headlines in Blackboard without leaving the course area.

Additionally, the librarians prepared library catalog searches, and included those links in the course. So when a student went to do research for the final paper, the student merely needed to click on a link of a topic of interest and the results would appear in the library catalog.

At the end of the course, most students said they would be more likely to use the library in the future as a result of their experience in the course.

During the discussion one member of the audience asked whether we should be concerned that students don't know where the information is coming from -- that they just click a link and there is the search. Another member commented that whether students know that the information is coming from the library is beside the point so long as the students get good information. The library is in the business of connecting people with information, and then getting out of the way.

My comment was something like, "I care a little. If the pastors that AMBS is training are going to be telling people what God is saying, I'd sort of like them to know how to get reliable information."

I'm struck, though, by the notion that students did, in fact, realize the library was providing the information as evidenced in the survey.

Job

As much as I don't want to be doing IT work for the rest of my life, and as much as I view my job as just a job (quite in contrast with many others at the seminary), and as much as I sometimes dislike what I'm doing ... I'm awfully grateful to be working.

Weekly Work Summary for the week ending Friday, 2007 March 19

How to read this:

The summary immediately below neatly summarizes how I spent my time in the for the week indicated in the subject of this post. The raw data lists each specific task or activity. The categorizations assigned to a given task should be loosely held -- often multiple tasks were performed under one entry; often "interruptions" include not only the initial interruption but the time taken to resolve the related task; often tasks include activities that are not strictly task-related. With these caveats in mind, have at.

*** TASK SUMMARY FOLLOWS ***

Time at AMBS: 18h 35m 23s

Time working: 16h 30m 50s

Communication: 0h 12m 36s
Meetings: 0h 0m 0s
Research: 0h 47m 43s

Interrupt: 2h 51m 6s
Phone: 0h 18m 48s
Visit: 2h 1m 32s
E-mail: 0h 30m 46s
Planned: 12h 39m 25s
Tasks/Projects: 11h 36m 18s
House cleaning: 1h 3m 7s

Unspecified: 0h 0m 0s

Break: 2h 4m 33s
Personal: 0h 0m 0s

Average Daily Time at AMBS: 9h 17m 41s

Averagy Daily Working Time: 8h 17m 41s

*** RAW DATA FOLLOWS ***

03/15/2007 7:40:00 AM,ar,"",0
03/15/2007 7:58:10 AM,tk,"post conference mailbox purge",1090
03/15/2007 8:13:02 AM,tk,"investigate student mail conx problems",892
03/15/2007 9:32:49 AM,tk,"responding to e-mail",4787
03/15/2007 11:08:42 AM,tk,"scheduling troubles",5753
03/15/2007 11:19:09 AM,tk,"student e-mail troubles",627
03/15/2007 12:32:56 PM,tk,"student e-mail troubleshooting",4427
03/15/2007 1:19:15 PM,bk,"lunch",2779
03/15/2007 2:01:34 PM,tk,"fix student e-mail troubles",2539
03/15/2007 2:11:33 PM,tk,"firewall configuration",599
03/15/2007 2:13:07 PM,ip,"explore printer",94
03/15/2007 2:13:42 PM,ip,"package delivery",35
03/15/2007 2:36:23 PM,tk,"firewall configuring",1361
03/15/2007 2:37:45 PM,ip,"mac question",82
03/15/2007 3:09:46 PM,tk,"firewall config",1921
03/15/2007 3:27:04 PM,iv,"indiana electronics",1038
03/15/2007 3:29:24 PM,em,"phone system",140
03/15/2007 3:33:38 PM,tk,"firewall configuration verification",254
03/15/2007 3:35:44 PM,hc,"phone messages",126
03/15/2007 3:38:51 PM,em,"phone system",187
03/15/2007 3:55:17 PM,tk,"jobcam",986
03/15/2007 4:00:24 PM,tk,"printer installation",307
03/15/2007 5:07:53 PM,tk,"crovis",4049
03/15/2007 5:14:33 PM,tk,"final close up tasks",400

03/16/2007 7:48:27 AM,ar,"",0
03/16/2007 8:07:58 AM,hc,"email",1171
03/16/2007 8:09:36 AM,iv,"laptop return",98
03/16/2007 8:13:12 AM,em,"podcasting quiery",216
03/16/2007 8:43:43 AM,re,"web",1831
03/16/2007 8:49:29 AM,hc,"cable coil",346
03/16/2007 9:42:55 AM,tk,"fix CRoViS",3206
03/16/2007 9:48:13 AM,hc,"email cleanup",318
03/16/2007 9:50:52 AM,ip,"spam quarantine troubles",159
03/16/2007 9:52:55 AM,tk,"educause",123
03/16/2007 10:02:38 AM,tk,"spam quarantine",583
03/16/2007 10:03:08 AM,ip,"spouse",30
03/16/2007 10:05:32 AM,tk,"spam quarantine settings",144
03/16/2007 10:07:17 AM,tk,"finish spam adjustment",105
03/16/2007 10:18:28 AM,re,"edaccess",671
03/16/2007 10:24:29 AM,re,"first monday",361
03/16/2007 10:30:34 AM,tk,"clarify phone issues",365
03/16/2007 10:31:35 AM,em,"sophos question",61
03/16/2007 10:33:53 AM,bk,"rr",138
03/16/2007 10:36:25 AM,em,"conference phone",152
03/16/2007 10:39:22 AM,hc,"cable coiling",177
03/16/2007 10:52:56 AM,iv,"setup outlook",814
03/16/2007 11:19:09 AM,hc,"cable coiling",1573
03/16/2007 11:59:40 AM,tk,"clamav",2431
03/16/2007 1:06:00 PM,bk,"lunch",3980
03/16/2007 1:19:47 PM,iv,"ee consultation",827
03/16/2007 1:21:03 PM,hc,"phone messages",76
03/16/2007 1:42:28 PM,tk,"setup traveling notebook",1285
03/16/2007 2:07:24 PM,iv,"student assistant",1496
03/16/2007 2:52:07 PM,iv,"travel computer",2683
03/16/2007 2:52:55 PM,tk,"outlook 2007",48
03/16/2007 2:55:47 PM,ip,"ethernet cable hunt",172
03/16/2007 3:14:55 PM,tk,"office 2007",1148
03/16/2007 3:24:11 PM,ip,"printer config",556
03/16/2007 3:29:21 PM,tk,"carrying boxes",310
03/16/2007 4:00:07 PM,ie,"update re",1846
03/16/2007 4:05:43 PM,iv,"student e-mail troubles",336
03/16/2007 4:21:03 PM,tk,"clamav",920
03/16/2007 4:30:39 PM,bk,"march madness",576
03/16/2007 4:38:24 PM,tk,"re repair",465
03/16/2007 4:49:17 PM,tk,"parser",653

It's Coming ...

The Blood on the Lintels joblog, a new and regular ('cause it's automatic) feature of lintels.blogspot.com. Here's the skinny (thanks, John David): every work day I keep a terse log of my activities, both work and otherwise. Every nightEach TWThFS morning a handy-dandy little perl script runs and parses the log into something meaningful. And every Saturday Monday morning another handy-dandy little perl script runs and parses the cumulative results for the week.

The parser works because of a regular set of abbreviations I use to describe my activities. Those you will see in the raw data that gets posted. The abbreviations are:

ar: arrive at work (one per log)
ie: interruption via e-mail
ip: interruption via phone
iv: interruption via visit
hc: housecleaning (listening to messages, cleaning office)
re: research (tech news, mostly)
tk: a task I initiate or have scheduled
mt: a committee or other meeting
em: an e-mail I initiate
ph: a phone call I initiate
vi: a visit I initiate
ps: a personal activity
bk: break

A word about the various interruption categories: this category counts not only the time spent directly with the person interrupting, but also the time spent on any task, related to the interruption, performed on-the-spot (so if someone calls and reports a paper jam, the call and the clearing of the jam all count as part of the interruption). If instead the interruption results in scheduling a task (that is, if the interruption does not represent something "urgent" ("urgent" meaning something like "this is an emergency that must be dealt with now," or "this is not an emergency but it will only take a few minutes and may as well be dealt with now")), and the task is performed later, then it will likely get filed as a task. Visits (vi), phone calls (ph), and e-mail messages (em) should be understood as somewhat of a subset of tasks (tk).

I have been doing this for about a month now, and the results are fascinating helpful. In general, though I spend a lot of time at work, I spend surprisingly little time actually, um, working. Something on the order of 9 - 9.5 hours there; 7.25 - 8 hours working. Which is likely not that different from most others at the seminary, I'm guessing, in terms of actual work performed in a day.

Several Things

1. On the way to the airport when returning from Houston we encountered a man wearing a bright orange shirt that had a picture of a chicken and said "Big Peckers." Classy.

2. On the SouthShore Line to Educause Midwest I headed to the restroom. Thinking that whoever may be in there would surely have locked the door I went in. "It's occupied. Try knocking." Turns out the lock was broken.

3. At the Educause poster sessions I was chatting with someone who had just overseen an implementation of wireless on their campus. A professor from somewhere (maybe Western Illinois University) approached, waited for an opportunity, and said, "This is f****n' brilliant." You don't tend to hear such things at seminary, and I can't recall hearing at any other conference I've been to.

4. During a presentation about an implementation of moodle a slide was supposed to say "housed." There was a typo: the moodle installation was on a "very entry-level Dell server hosed with UMC computing services."

Houston #3

Ah, the wedding.

Houston, in my limited experience, does not match up well with Google maps. At least, the directions were difficult to follow. Hence, a trip that GM thought would last about 35 minutes took more like 1 hr and 15 minutes. So we left at 3:00 to make a 4:00 wedding, arrived at 4:15, and were 45 minutes early. That's right. The wedding was on Ethiopian time.

After a 10 minute welcome, in both Amharic and English, everyone stood up and started applauding something the worship leader had said. I think the English equivalent must have been something like "let's stand and give God a big round of applause" or something like that. Then the singing. About 35 minutes of singing Ethiopian praise songs -- loud, with lots of dancing (which in this case looked a lot like jumping up and down), and some fascinating vocalizations that I cannot quite describe: something like saying "lalalalala" (trilling? ululation) in head voice. These vocalizations came at apparently random times. Of course, everything was in Amharic, so the only part I understood was "Hallelujah." Thank goodness for Hebrew.

A 30 minute homily followed. Fortunately there were bits of English interspersed in the homily, so this is roughly what I understood:

rock concert, day saving time, spring forward, she's talking to herself, minus 20, minus 17, only for one hour, lost luggage, Christmas tree lights, cheap, nine dollar, attention (this may have been something Amharic that I interpreted as "attention"), focus, distraction, this is just his first try, it's amazing, "she's only 10 minute, then he spend one hour", pound gorilla, don't worry, shopping center, be fruitful, get up and do something, this is what he's saying, "California, Malibu Beach," panaromic view, it's a historical moment, emergency, midwest, Ohio Valley, downstairs, basement, "Miami Beach. Wow. White sand. Blue water. Cuban music. Salsa.", Hurricane, it's not easy, FEMA, look at picture, set a mandate (again, possibly Amharic), Christmas tree light - is that really a value?, generation

I assume that the Amharic portions of the sermon were more enlightening. As best I can tell this was a sermon about false values, the danger of living anywhere (I assume that's the bit about Ohio Valley, California, Miami), and possibly the widow of Zarephath.

Oh, and the sermon was apparently funny at places.

Vows followed. Traditional as best as I could tell. Then the lighting of the unity candle, which the happy couple held aloft after lighting. And the kiss.

Finally, another part of the wedding I could understand: food. A lovely Ethiopian meal was had by all, including the guests that did not fit in the fellowship hall and had to sit outside. Also including, possibly, passersby who saw there was some sort of festivity happening and decided they too would partake in the meal.

Houston #2

I've heard rumors of something called "First Class." Prior to this weekend they were only rumors. Imagine my surprise when, as I was about to board, I was called aside and asked for my boarding pass. Then my spouse was waved through ... but, fortunately, she mentioned we were together. When we got our passes back we'd been moved to row 4, seats E and F. First class, baby.

So while all the rest of the poor schleps in economy class got to pay for their snack ($3 for a bag of chips), we got treated to being called by name, a continental breakfast, and any of the beverages we wanted.

That's the sort of thing a person could, but probably should not, get used to.

I'm always wearing a sport jacket when I fly from now on. That nearly offset the unpleasant TSA experience.

Houston #1

Three quick posts about a trip to Houston this weekend. Here's the first.

The TSA seems self-satirical, especially the 3-1-1 rule: no more than a 3 oz. container; all containers in one one-quart ziploc bag that is easily closeable; and only one bag per traveler. So we get to the airport and my spouse attempts to go through with a couple of containers, one that contains lotion and another that contains some sort of soap, both of which were in containers larger than three ounces ... but neither of which were even close to full.

"These aren't full."

"We go by the size printed on the container."

So out they went. I'm trying to figure out why they won't let obviously not full bottles of gel pass through. Initially I thought it could be because they thought all your terrorist friends may each bring their smaller allowed amounts and subsequently combine them into your mostly empty container. But, then, water bottles of nearly any size are allowed through the checkpoint, so long as they're empty. Can anyone enlighten me as to why an empty water bottle is somehow less threatening than a nearly empty container of lotion?

On the plus side, after tossing the bottles, they did let us and our one-gallon ziplocs through. So a nearly empty five ounce bottle is a no-no, but a nearly empty one-gallon ziploc is fine.

What's that tickling my taste buds? Oh, yes, freedom. Mmmmm ...

Wedding

Heading to Houston this weekend for his wedding. Should be fun.

Web 7.0

Just trying to keep ahead of the curve. And, no, I don't have any idea what Web 7.0 might be. Neither does anyone else. 2.0 is difficult enough to track.

Aarghy Blarghy Burghy

I hereby test my ability to post to my blog via e-mail. If this works it is conceivable that I would use e-mail to send other things to the blog -- like, for example, a weekly log of how I spend my time at work. Because I know every one of you is dying to know.

Sarah and Abe II

A few thoughts, not well thought.

1. Genealogy of Genesis 11 vs. Abraham's claim of Sarah's relation to him in Genesis 20;
2. Lot and his daughters vs. the sister/wife episodes;
3. Differences and similarities between the sister/wife episodes;
4. Nothing about Hagar (that's for next time).

Not much to say about these things, they're just a few ideas to get discussion bubbling.

Finally

After a week of troubleshooting workstations and installing upgrades, perhaps tomorrow I can accomplish something I intended to do.