A Day in the Life of a Nobody: Children, and The Joy They Are!

A Day in the Life of a Nobody: Children, and The Joy They Are!: Well it's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of spending time with my grandaughter. She is such a joy to be with, and, alth...

Children, and The Joy They Are!

Well it's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of spending time with my grandaughter. She is such a joy to be with, and, although I know many, many of my friends have grandchildren of their own, and feel pretty much the same way as I, when it comes to spending time with them, I can't help but feel she is the best of all of them, as I am sure they feel the same about theirs.

It is quite an interesting observation when you watch and observe, over time, a child develop and grow their own unique personalities, how they change from a baby face to a face that really distinguishes them from all others, and how they mature as they learn new things, especially things that you have trouble understanding and learning.

Recently, I was at a Christmas party the building was hosting for all of the tenants. One of the families that came down from the 35th floor was a mother and her three young ones. Two girls and a boy. The oldest daughter, about ten, was dressed so elegant for a young lady her age. Not overly flamboyant, but just enough dressiness to attend a party. But the really interesting thing about this family was the young boy. He was about three. He was being held in his mothers arms as she straddled him on her hip, and in his hands he was holding his mothers smart phone.

I watched with interest as he cradled it, while prodding its face with his tiny little fingers. He tapped and swiped, searched, and swiped some more, and then all of a sudden he was watching a video of Sponge Bob, on HULU. Simply Amazing! Three years old and already he had mastered a device that when relating to me, my own grandson posted on his Facebook page, "Is it illegal to give a Smart Phone, to a dumb person" as he humorously poked fun of me, when I first got my Blackberry, and was having trouble using it.

So it was with no surprise that when my Grandaughter, seven years old, came over and took control of our Nintendo Wii game. I observed the mastery of knowledge that the youth of today possess. She first created a unique caricature of me, she called it a Mii, and to her own amusement, and without any effort, she started to unlock games and find new, that I didn't even know were there. And you know what? While she did this, she took the time to explain the inner workings of the Wii game and how it worked. It was like attending a seminar for the Wii, being led by a seven year old, as lectured to two people in their sixties. SIMPLY AMAZING, AND A LOT OF FUN TOO!

Then to top it off, she showed us how we could get Netflix videos on the thing, how we could get the weather reports and news, and a host of other features, we didn't even know existed. While she was talking, she started one of the bowling games. She told us we needed "Numchucks" for certain games, like tennis, and when showing us the features on the bowling game, she showed us how to put spin on the ball, angle the shots, and stylize our approach when delivering the ball for the shot. SEVEN YEARS OLD!!!

WHAT NEXT? Well how about lessons on how to use your new HTC Smart Phone? Yep, she then started to show us how to do different things on that too. I think the difference between adults using all of these new technologies, and children, is that they are not afraid to fail, while we are afraid of screwing something up, or breaking something. The one thing that they have come to learn, it that all you have to do is shut it off, and reboot........ Wouldn't it be wonderful if the mistakes you made in your life were that simple, I.E. all you have to do is shut down and reboot, and everything would go back to the way it was before?

Pretty soon it was time to depart, time to regroup her with her mom until we meet again the next time. I look forward to seeing what surprises she'll bring with her? What new things will she have learned? I simply cannot wait. This child has a bright future ahead of her. I just hope old grandpa sticks around long enough to see it all unfold........... I love you MAC!

HOMELESS!!!!

In my last blog, I talked about my observations of the "Cup Guys". But since then I was seriously thinking about what it must really be like to be "Homeless". I mean just think of it. What if you were at a friends home visiting, it was time to leave, and YOU had nowhere to go? No home to go to, no furniture, no apartment, no personal items except what you could carry on your back, and certainly NO mailing address, no TV, no heat, no electric, no shower, no bathroom, nowhere to wash your face, brush your teeth, NOTHING!!!

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? A better question would be what goes on in your mind. How do you cope? How in today's world did you get in this dilema in the first place?

I know a lot of folks might think that when they see a homeless person, there is something wrong with the person, a mental deficiency, they must be criminals, alcoholics, or druggies, PTSD Vets, etc. OR....... could it be as simple as they are the byproducts of today's poor economic times????

I really think today's sociologists are collecting the wrong data. In other words, what percentage of those that are homeless are simply because they lost their jobs, looked and looked, but meanwhile their unemployment ran out, they could no longer pay their bills, lost their homes, and are now out in the cold, as opposed to the other reasons previously mentioned above.

Even among the homless we have a couple of social levels of hierarchy. What are they you might ask? Well..... there are those who might have a car, or those who still have a job. How can someone be homeless and have a car or a job? Because when they became homeless, the car was an asset that was already paid for, so they already had it before the travesty hit them or they were downsized in the workplace with a cut in pay. Are they more better off that those who don't have a car or a job.....well somewhat. How so, you state? Because it provides them with some mobility, provided they can put gas in it, insure it, etc. Now if we are talking about the person with a job, it might provide them with some perks like insurance, dental, or other benefits, but not enough income to provide enough financial stability. Remember, homeless might mean that one does not have a home, but it does not necessesarily mean they have no income whatsoever.

There are the elderly who might be on Social Security. They get a monthly income, but it's not enough to afford an apartment or room, or there are others who might be on SSI, but it still isn't enough to completely make ends meet. Did you know there are those who lost their homes due to the simple fact that their income has not kept up with the economy cost of living increases, or real estate taxes, food costs, mortgage payments, etc.

This evening, while in the car, I was listening to one of Chcago's Alderman on the radio. He is running for Clerk of the Courts. It was interesting to note that one of the things he was saying was that in his Ward there are 56 forclosed and vacant home in a four block radius. There are many instances of four to six families living in the same apartment. Is this what America is all about, he said? He also said one of his main goals was to enlist the aid of the community to help out and get these homes occupied. Otherwise the neghborhood will certainly be reduced to decay. When that happens crime increases too. Is this what America is all about? Certainly not! But right now, it's what we have to deal with.

So what can we do? It has become appearant to me that, there might be less homeless in other cultural societies where they have very strong family units, and strong family ties. They would think nothing of taking in their kinfolk and providing them with shelter. They would not ask themselves whether it was a long term or short term committment they are making, they just do it, and don't ask any questions when asked to commit. However, conversly it also seems to me that in some third generation American family units, that concept, of making that family sharing committment, seems to have eluded them. Although they might sympathize with the plight of their relative in the beginning, they would never share their home with them on a long term basis. Evntually there would be the development of stress on th, who might become homeless, e head of household, or other members of the original family unit, and the new family tenant would simply have to go.

There is no real solution to the points that I bring up. At least not at this time. All I can do here is to try to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless and how you might be able to help members of your own family if the situation should arise. I am hoping to get you to think differently about making the committment to helping a family member out, if there ever becomes an opportunity for you to do so, and you would be one of the champions of helping to avoid another person from living on the streets........

The Cup Guys

Well here it is, Christmas Day 2011. The hustle and bustle of all of the holiday shoppers along Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" has subsided, and as I look out the window, overlooking the Water Tower's Plaza, with all of it's lights now extinguished as the early morning sun rises, I can't help but wonder, "Where have all of the Cup Guys gone".

Who are the "Cup Guys" you might ask? Well they are the ones who are scattered throughout the downtown area, shaking their cups, hoping some passer buy will put some spare change in it. I nick named this group of individuals because of how interesting they are to watch. Oh, please don't misconstrue what I am writing herein, I am not trying to make light of someone who is down on their luck, but I am a student of human behavior and I have made some interesting observations.

There is one enterprizing fellow who does not really ask for money, he asks for cigarrettes, and/or a lighter. Once he has enough of these, he sells them to the other Cup Guys for a quarter. Four cigarretts is a buck, and a pack is five dollars. At the end of the day he might have fourty or fifty dollars in his pocket. He'll also ask for a penny so he can make up the difference he needs to get a cup of coffee or a sandwich. Usually people don't have the penny, but will give him a dime or a quarter.

There is another fellow who lays out cardboard on the sidewalk of a busy intersection, and puts up a display of pictures of his family. He seems to be in his late twenties, and he says he has two daughters, is out of work, and needs to feed them. But while waiting on the corner for a friend of mine, and idly watching him, I noticed an interesting thing. It seems that each Cup Guy has his OWN territory that is NOT invaded by other Cup Guys. This fellow with the daughters (pictures and all), all of a sudden neatly folded up everything and left a note that read......Pete, I am going to Wendy's, be back in five........There is no comment I can make about this, you'll have to judge the behavior for yourself.

On another corner was a lady in a motorized wheel chair. She had her cup in hand and was sitting in front of the Dunkin Donuts. Next to her was another motorized wheel chair. It was empty, but had a fresh dozen donuts, next to the empty cup, on the seat......I wondered, "Where did this guy go? Did he walk into the donut shop to get the coffee?

Further down the street is another lady in her sixties. She patiently sits on the curb of the church parking lot, pleasently greets each and every passer by with her cup in hand, gently giving it a shake as people approach.....but I also noticed that she received a call on her cell phone and answered it with much excitement, entering into deep conversation. Can cup donations support a cell phone bill?

And finally there is the Crown Royal Cup Guy. I call him this because as you walk buy he will pleasently greet you, wish you a great day and ask you if you want to donate to the Crown Royal fund....now the interesting thing about this guy is that there is no cup shaking activity until you start to approach. The closer you get the more he shakes. As you pass him buy the shaking subsides the further you get away. He is there daily.

Now it should be noted that the Cup Guys adhere to set schedules according to the shopping traffic. Being in a downtown touristy area, people are more populus during the week in the late afternoon and early evening, but on the week-ends, Friday and Saturday nights it seems to be a more productive time to ask people for money. And the cup guys are there rain or shine, no matter what the weather. There is no attendance problem to this job, and in some ways it is a job. I guess what I am saying here is that although it is sad that some folks have to live this way, they do work for that meager existance that they are able to scratch out.

Sometimes a family will walk by a "Cup Guy", and pass him by. The children utter something to their parents, and shortly thereafter the child will scurry back to him and place a dollar or two into his cup. As they walk away there is a smile on the childs face. As if to say it felt good helping someone else less fortunate that they.

One sad note though. While walking through an alley the other day between two high rises, I noticed a lot of groceries strewn about. There were canned goods, bags of staples like rice and beans, noodles and the such, and an empty box of cookies and chocolates. I did not know what to make of this until I realized it was a distribution from a food pantry....such a waste, when you think of the time, effort, and charity that was expended to make it available.

I wish I could say that this behavior is having some positive effect on the lives of the individuals who participate in this activity. I wish I could say that I saw some sort of productive result, bettering the life of the "Cup Guy" and his family, but sad to say I really don't.........

A Day in the Life of a Nobody: FACEBOOK........UGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

A Day in the Life of a Nobody: FACEBOOK........UGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!: Among some of the things I learned teaching business courses at two universities for the past fifteen years, is that nine out of ten custome...

FACEBOOK........UGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Among some of the things I learned teaching business courses at two universities for the past fifteen years, is that nine out of ten customers will not complain about your product or service. If they are unhappy, they will simply go somewhere else. Another and more important thing in business is that humans are very resistant to change, and if they do not like a product or service, they also will go somewhere else.

Yes, there are many progressive people who embrace change, but they do not represent the mainstream, who only embrace change when there is a reason to do so. People are creatures of habit. They like for things to stay the same. They resist efforts that force them to exert energy to try new things, and to do things differently than the way they are use to. So with that in mind, FACEBOOK now has an obligation to listen to their users/customers.

However interesting it is that users of a service, (that is provided free of charge, and can only be obtained by subscribing to it) would think that they have any rights to voice opinions to the provider of the service. How dare they object to changes in how the page should look; what the features should be; or when it is available to them. The nerve of them!

But lets face the real facts. Users of FACEBOOK are really customers. Customers who are expected to look at and read the commercials that FACEBOOK puts in front of them, as they use the FACEBOOK social network which is provided to them free of charge. Now keep in mind that FACEBOOK charges those advertisers fees that increase or decrease according to the readership and audience numbers. Not much different than how a newspaper, or television performance generates revenue for their owners. The advertisers are making an investment that those readers or viewers will purchase their products and services.

Now with that in mind, does FACEBOOK have an obligation to its users? It would appear so. Recently FACEBOOK made a drastic change to how users use its service. It was so radical that almost all of the news media made comment on it. It made such an uproar in the user community that it forced its creator, Mark Zukerberg, to make public comments about it. However, as a FACEBOOK user, this morning I did notice some additional changes, changes that addressed some of the users concerns. Such as two additional buttons, one that says "Top Stories Since Your Last Visit" and one that says "More Recent Stories".

Now I question myself......were those buttons there yesterday and I did not notice them, or are they new additions? I simply cannot recall. I certainly did not notice them before. But does it really matter? They are now there, and provide me with some relief in my anger and resentment to the initial changes. Did the people cry out, and the provider respond? I'll never really know the answer to that question, because I simply cannot recall whether those buttons were there or not. But does it really matter? Because it is also a known business fact, that in the IT world when there are changes, resistance to change is initially displayed in the beginning of the change, and as the users get used to those changes their anger subsides, because the user has no choice but to use the new system. Pretty soon the user simply forgets about the changes and proceeds as normal........as if nothing really happened at all.

FACEBOOK is a pretty good predictor to what people will do, react to, and how their subscribers use their service. These changes did not take place overnight, but were more than likely in the planning stages for months. Soon the uproar will be gone, and the users will be plodding along as usual........myself included.....

And then it finally hit me as to the real reason for the change. A simple business reason.....free up more space on the screen. The more free space, the more advertising that can be put in front of the users. The more advertisements, the more revenue for FACEBOOK......hmmmmmmmm, I thought! The rest is simple. Just you wait and see.

If you like this article and opinions expressed herein, please share it with your friends and neighbors. The more readers and followers their are, the more incentive there is to providing you with opinions, insight, commentary.

Feeling Stupid?

Ever feel stupid? Recently I did, big time! It's 2AM as I lay here in bed. Just staring up at the "pop corn" ceiling above me. Wondering just how it could have happened. How could I be so stupid? Some might think that I am being too hard on myself, but I don't think so, because I should have known better. But even I know that sometimes, the answers are right in front of you........but you just don't see them. My technical skills and training tell me to simply walk away for a while and come back to the problem later, and rethink it.

But then there are times when the answers are right there in front of you and you just don't see them. You just don't see them, that is, until you stop looking. What the heck am I talking about, you might ask?

Well, the other day I went to log on to my small note book computer, and after waiting for it to boot up, the only screen display that came into view, was a black screen, with white letters, stating there was a problem and I should start it, "in safe mode". However, when I tried to do that, it just kept reverting to the same screen, over and over. So I simply shut it off.

"I think it needs a rest", I thought. "It was plugged in for a very long time, and it must be tired."

However, when I came back later, and tried it again, the same thing happen......

"Was it over heated," I thought? Nope, the same results happened.

Now what was I going to do? I need my computer. I am tethered to cyber space and cannot live without it, or so I thought. It is the computer that keeps me in touch with the outside world. It's what lets me know what is going on in the lives of distant friends and relatives as well as the local ones. It keeps me informed as to what is happening in the world. Why, I have been in contact with friends I have not seen in over 45 years, but we're still friends, and still in touch with each others lives. It's also the device that lets others keep in contact with me.......no matter where I am. Any place, and at any time of the day or night. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO??????

"I know", I thought? "I'll simply use the other one until I get this one fixed."

Now keep in mind that I have an ASUS Notebook, and an ASUS Lap Top. I'll just use the Lap Top until I can get the Notebook into the guru's who work on such guizmos. So I disconnected all of the cables from the Lap Top. Put it on my "Lap" and there I was, back in business. It was refreshing, when I logged on. Here was the cyber world, welcoming me back, and telling me how much it missed me......yuck, yuck!

When I was done, I simply put the Lap Top back on the desk, and reconnected all of the cables and turned it back on. But there seemed to be a new problem......the Lap Top screen was now black, similar to the Notebook problem.....I simply could not get a display. Holy Crap, as Peter Boyle would say.

"Did I just get infected again and my info wiped out", I thought? "I am now in a real pickle now, the internet will be looking for me. My friends will wonder what happened to me. THIS SIMPLY CANNOT HAPPEN!"

I tried over and over, but ended up with the same results. I finally gave up and the next morning, I took both of them to the "shop" for the geeks to take a look. After placing both of them on the service counter, the technician looked at the Notebook first, and sure enough, it was fried. They would need to do a more complete diagnostic testing to see if it could be fixed. So a repair ticket was written and my little Notebook was reluctantly handed over to him to fix. It was really hard letting it go....as if it was some sort of puppy. In my mind I wondered,

"Would they take good care of it? Would they give it the care and attention that I would?"

Funny how we become attached to things. I probably should have named it. Perhaps something like "Info" or "Textie", after all some people give names their cars or boats, why not their computers too? Anyone remember ENIAC 1?

Next up, the Lap Top. The technician turned it on, and it booted up right away......no problem.....What the heck, I thought? "OK, then I'll just take this one back with me." I told the tech. Whew, it was a relief to know it was working after all. And now for the long ride home. Me and my Lap Top, side by side. Me looking out the window, and the Lap Top beside me on the front seat, comfortably resting.

When I arrived home I put the Lap Top down on the desk, and turned it on. It booted right up with no noticeable problem. I then started to connect all of its cables. First the power cable, then the external speaker cable, then the internet cable, then the printer cable, then the HDMI cable. It was when I connected the HDMI cable that all hell broke loose. The screen display went black..... So I disconnected it, and the screen display came back on. I did this a few times, with the same results. I could duplicate these results over and over.

"What could the problem be?" I thought.

It's time to walk away and think about it. But then I remembered. Many years ago, when I was teaching at the University, I used to use a Lap Top computer connected to an overhead projector to give Power Point presentations, etc. When I connected my Lap Top to the over head projector, and if I hit the "Function" and "F8" button, the screen on the lap top would go blank, but the over head projector would receive the signal and project the display. If I did it a second time, then the Lap Top would keep the display and so would the over head projector. Could this be what was happening when I plugged in the HDMI cable? I went back to the Lap Top to give it a try, and sure enough, that was the problem. A simple pressing of the "Function" and "F8" keys at the same time, would replicate the problem. It would put the display on what ever screen I wanted it to be on, whether it be the Lap Top, the TV, or both. You see the HDMI cable is connected from the Lap Top to the TV in order to play all of those great movies I get from Netflix from time to time.

So the answer was right in front of me all of the time. I should have seen it, but didn't and that's why I was felling so stupid! I guess my only advice should something like this happen to you, is take your time, go over all of the possibilities before you jump to conclusions......... Good Luck!