This is my attempt at a comic strip. I modified an image I found online and added my own text. The fun part was trying to make the text fit the existing theme of the drawing in each cell. I hope you like.
My dad, Ronald Roger Burleson, passed away on Friday, October 27, 2006. Born in 1940 he had just turned 66 on October 14th.
Dad and me together, October 8, 2006
It wasn’t supposed to be like this and he wasn’t supposed to be gone this soon. But he never gave up and fought the cancer in his body all the way to end, telling me during our last visit together, “I’m going to beat this thing.” We spent our last visit together talking about the things we were going to do the next time we saw each other.
I always loved my dad and I was very proud of him. Our last night together I cried and tried to share my feelings with him. That wasn’t something that seemed to come easily to either of us. He told me he was proud of me, too.
So how do you deal with something like this? With Dad on the other side of the world in Southern California we spent precious little time together these last few years. When I saw him a few weeks ago and I knew the end might be near I found myself focusing on my long-term memories of him.
Dad grew up in Oregon and graduated from Reedsport High School. My grandpa owned an airport in Creswell so it wasn’t surprising that dad learned to flew at a very early age. It was probably his strongest passion and one that was constant throughout his life. I have many memories of flying with dad; looking down on the old blimp hangers in Tillamook, the first time I took the controls, going on a checkout flight and learning firsthand what a midair stall feels like (not fun!), and fearfully having to watch a gauge for an entire flight because one of the airplane parts was broken and if a needle went too high we’d be in big, big trouble. (Like me he possessed a devious sense of humor.) Unlike grandpa and dad, though, the flying gene must have skipped a generation and I never went on to get my pilot’s license.
The last time we flew together was a trip to Oregon a few years ago in dad’s Skymaster airplane. It was a four-seater with two engines; one in the front and one in the back. It was a “pusher and a puller,” like dad used to say, and was his pride and joy. Coming up from California with dad at the controls we went right by the Mount Shasta summit on a gorgeous, clear day. It was a once-in-a-lifetime view of the summit. It was stunning. After landing in Eugene for fuel, we continued west to the ocean then flew at low altitude up the Oregon coast. It was the flight of a lifetime as we proceeded to around the northwest tip of Oregon at Astoria and flew up the Columbia River before landing in Hillsboro. Dad really loved to fly.
Another passion of dad’s was scuba diving and it was one that I shared as well. Growing up in Forest Grove I remember the 10-minute air tank he had given me when I was still very young. Dad taught me how to scuba in Haag Lake with that little tank and, like him, I would eventually become a certified scuba diver. Even though dad was a diver his whole life, he never made it official and there were times he had to borrow my dive card in order to buy air! I have vivid memories of when I was younger of dad catching crabs off the Tillamook coast and throwing them in the boat while my sister and I yelled in fright! We’d cook them on the shore and it was all you could eat! Years later my dad and I finally dove together just off the coast of San Diego and Tijuana at the Coronado Islands.
I often wondered if dad was disappointed in me. He had little interest in computers but they were a passion of mine. He built a marine construction company but I had little interest in boats or learning to tie knots or cranes. He was gifted at working on mechanical things like cranes and engines; I was not. It was obvious early on that I would never be the right person to fill his shoes and take over the family business, but he never once expressed disappointment in me for that.
My earliest memories of dad include cranes. Dad was a crane operator on the Umpqua River and up and down the Pacific Coast. At times we lived as far north as Washington and as far south as San Francisco. But mostly we lived in Oregon. He’d take me to work with him and I’d sit on his lap and help him run the cranes. It always seemed to me that he was a very important guy while running those cranes. To this day many of the jetties found up and down the Pacific Coast were built by my dad.
Eventually dad gave up the cranes and became a realtor and we moved to Forest Grove. He excelled at real estate and did this for 10 years or so. Then he switched gears and moved to San Diego to start his marine construction business. Fresh out of the Army, I went with him. I would not return to Oregon for another 19 years. Dad stayed in Southern California and used his expertise in cranes to build a company that was a major player in the marine construction arena in the Los Angeles area.
It was during this time that dad started to make his dreams come true. He owned two airplanes and a house on a private airstrip. His goal was use his plane to commute to work! And he never gave up on his dreams, either. Right up to the end he was chasing them, including a helicopter he had just recently acquired. Learning to fly that helicopter was the next challenge on his list.
Dad at work, October 8, 2006
I’d often talked with dad about my opinion that he should slow down, work less, and try to enjoy the successes he achieved. He could have retired many years ago. But he liked to work. Just three short weeks ago he still refused to shut his company down, running projects in between trips for treatments.
Some other random memories:
I guess the thing I remember most is that dad just wanted me to be happy. It was something he talked about a lot. Thanks to my childhood and his loving fathering, I think that is one of the most important things he ever gave me. Thanks for everything, dad. I love you and I’m very proud of you.
I’ve recently rediscovered backgammon. It’s a game I’ve played for years and I always considered myself quite good. Then I downloaded backgammon software called JellyFish for my Windows computer. It plays tough - it is very humbling.
JellyFish Light 3.5 is freeware. You can play JellyFish on 7 different levels at no charge. The interface is intuitive but sparse in graphics. The concentration here is on gameplay, something that JellyFish does exceedingly well. After a few games you may suspect that the game cheats. (I wondered.) To prove it isn’t cheating, JellyFish even lets you enter your own dice rolls. (Found on the menu: View | Settings, then click the “Dice” tab.) I was amazed that even when rolling my own dice JellyFish continued to humiliate me.
Next I found Hardwood Backgammon (for Windows and Mac). This is a commercial product with much improved graphics and supports online-multiplayer games. There is a trial version you can download and the full version is only $24.95. On the more higher settings the game is seemingly just as tough as JellyFish. If you get this game, let me know. I’ll be happy to meet you online for a game. Online play has the added bonus of maintaining your “rating” which works similar to the chess rating system. You start with a rating of 1500 and try to work your way up. The online players are tougher than I expected, however, and my rating is currently in the 1350 range. Ouch.
I was talking with someone the other day and mentioned how conservative we are here in Josephine County. This person seemed surprised and said, “It doesn’t seem all that conservative.” That got me curious.
The source for the data I used in this graph is official election results that can be found on the Elections History page on the Oregon Secretary of State web site.
This is a graph I made that attempts to answer the question: How conservative is Josephine County, Oregon?
For my methodology I have relied upon votes cast by political party during primary elections. This is an approximation only since not all registered voters participate in primary elections. It is kind of like a sample of the population. The graph above is based on official results in primary elections in Josephine County since the year 2000. In 2000 and 2004 I used vote totals from the presidential election; in 2002 and 2006 the gubernatorial elections were used. The totals used to compute the graph are the total votes cast for any candidate during the election based on political party.
I think this safely answers the question. Yes, Josephine County is a pretty conservative area. Other than that, I don’t draw any striking conclusions from the data I put together. It is interesting to note that based on the scope of this graph our county was at it’s “most liberal” during the 2004 election of George. W. Bush. But since that time we have apparently returned to the normal range (based on the scope of this graph).
Hello everybody. I am now surfing the net with my shiny new installation of Firefox 2.0.
It downloaded fast. Even better, it installed amazingly fast.
Firefox 2.0 was released to the world today at 5:00pm Pacific Time. That was about an hour ago. I’ve had fun surfing and absolutely no problems of any kind since then.
I encountered absolutely no hassles during the upgrade. Even my NoScript extension made the move with no problems, so I can still block javascript when I want to.
And, hey! Look at that! As I type this post misspelled words are underlined in red. How cool is that?
Are you still reading this? Go away! Download Firefox 2.0 now.
First things first. Thanks to The Doc Is In Blog I have learned that Microsoft has released a new version of Internet Explorer. Microsoft calls it version 7.
The bottom line: IE 7 was Microsoft’s one chance to leapfrog ahead of the competition, but the company has only barely caught sight of the current front-runners. For more features and greater security, switch to Mozilla Firefox.
That’s good news for a Firefox lover like me! Even when getting ideas for new features from open source software the richest software company in the world still fails to get it right. Amazing.
Already there is buzz on the net about security “flaws” in IE7. But they may be over-hyped. Firefox has three flaws with the same level of security rating.
To add to the confusion I can’t figure out how to download IE7. I tried Windows Update without success. I admit, however, that I didn’t try that hard.
In other news, Firefox 2 will be released next Tuesday. Exciting.
I originally switched to Firefox because of security concerns. In addition to Firefox I’m also an avid user of Ad-Aware SE Personal and Spybot-Search & Destroy. With the addition of an anti-virus package and regular use of these free tools, I feel fairly secure as far as web browsing goes. (Always make sure to check for updates before scanning with these tools. I’ve noticed that Spybot in particular is updated much more frequently than it was in the past.)
However … it used to be that Ad-Aware and Spybot would only be reporting “critical objects” and tracking cookies if, for some reason, I had to briefly open Internet Explorer. Lately, however, these objects are getting into my system - even while surfing with Firefox.
I did some research and took the following extra steps to make my browsing safer:
First, I highly recommend an “extension” for Firefox called NoScript. This vital addition to Firefox gives you the power to restrict javascript code embedded on web sites. In the hands of a malicious web site operator, javascript can be used to harm your computer. When you do need to enable javascript functions for a legitimate purpose, you can do so on a site-by-site basis. Javascript is way over used on the Internet and NoScript will help protect you.
The next thing you need to do is check your privacy options in Firefox. On the Tools menu select Options, then click the Privacy icon. Once there, click the Cookies tab. I recommend these settings:
After you first apply these settings you will be prompted about cookies … a lot. Go ahead and “allow” for the sites you trust and “deny” for sites you don’t trust. If you aren’t sure, allow for the “session only.” (Cookies are required by many shopping carts. If you can’t add items to your cart, you may need to enable the cookie for that particular site.)
At first, “allow” of the cookie requests may seem like a lot of hassle, but in the long run your browsing will be a little bit safer and your privacy will be more protected, too.
You’ve Got Pink Slip
by Tim Burleson
I’ve long planned to write about technical issues. Now seems like a good time to start. Today I want to talk about computers and the workplace.
Most of us by know by now, for example, that nothing we send via email on our employer’s computer is private. You did know that, didn’t you? Courts have ruled that there is no expectation of privacy on company-owned computer systems. None. It’s the company’s computer.
Your boss (or his authorized agent) can read everything you send and receive electronically on company-owned equipment while at work. Everything.
You did know that, right?
I heard today from someone who lost their job recently for sending “inappropriate” emails - to a family member no less. (At least that is the reason the company gave the employee.) The email in question was a joke of a “sexual nature.” The punishment? The end of employment.
Wow. The end of employment? What ever happened to warnings? In today’s world, however, that kind of result for that kind of transgression is quickly becoming the norm.
Stop for a moment and think about it. This employee wasn’t divulging company secrets, surfing porn, going online shopping, sharing insider trader information about stocks or saying nasty things about the boss. Some jokes were passed along to a family member and someone got fired.
Who is affected by what goes on in email? You might be surprised. According to the The Charlotte Observer, an email from the CEO of Boeing cost him his job. “Last year Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher’s e-mail disclosed an affair with a subordinate. Although the e-mail itself didn’t violate company policy, his conduct with the underling led to his removal.” Even a CEO isn’t safe from email being read.
The point here is to treat your computer at work like just another piece of office equipment. Always remember that everything you say or do on that work computer is probably being monitored and maybe even recorded.
Is this limited only to email? Of course not. Don’t forget about that chat program you use all day. Besides being convenient, it also makes another trail of bread crumbs that can be used against you. Once again, there is no expectation of privacy.
Ever hear of a program called eBlaster? No? Well, that doesn’t mean it isn’t on your computer at work. eBlaster and programs like it are designed to capture and report on everything you do. The software captures everything you read or write while at the computer, including every single keystroke. Their motto? “Knowing EVERYTHING They Do Online is as Easy as Checking Your Email.” Without alerting the user, the software generates an email that documents email activity, chat transcripts, web site visits, what software was used, and every keystroke.
The American Management Association (AMA) performed a study of American companies recently and found that 75 percent of those surveyed monitor web surfing. More than 50 percent said they review and retain emails and 30 percent said they track keystrokes. 80 percent said they disclose monitoring policies to employees. Up to 20 percent of workers may not even be aware they are being monitored.
It is highly recommended that companies that choose to monitor have both an Acceptable Use Policy and an employee monitoring policy. Federal law, however, still allows, for example, employee phone calls to be monitored unannounced.
Think your anti-virus or anti-spy software will let you know when you are being monitored? That’s not going to happen. Programs like eBlaster have a deal with anti-virus and anti-spy software makers that they won’t signal the user that the program has been installed on their workstation.
OK, so now we know that doing anything besides work while at work might have serious consequences. That’s not too surprising, though. After all, you are paid to work, not send personal emails, surf the net and do your online shopping.
Does it stop there? No.
What else could there be? Well, do you have a personal web site, a blog, a page on MySpace.com, or have you ever posted on internet discussion groups or bulletin boards? If so, your personal time activities on the internet could still cost you your job.
Let’s look at the phenomenon of blogging. Can you be fired for what you do on your blog, even on your own time and away from work? Yes, apparently you can.
Mark Jen, an employee at Google, was fired for his blog. “Jen’s departure comes less than a month after he joined Google as part of a wave of new hires and began recording his impressions of his new employer, including criticisms, in his blog.” Apparently Google, home of the “do no evil” mission statement, doesn’t like to be criticized. On Google’s top ten list of “things we’ve found to be true” is #6: You can make money without doing evil.
Microsoft has also fired a blogging employee. “A Microsoft contractor lost his job last year after he took some pictures of Apple G5 computers being unloaded onto the software company’s campus and posted them to his blog.” Incidentally many companies now have policies restricting camera phones at work.
In a case involving the popular service MySpace.com, a sheriff’s deputy in Florida was fired due to his personal page on the service. Officials in the sheriff’s office said the deputy’s page “crossed the line.” Part of the page included a profile with “sexually frank” answers. The page also included an image of the deupty in uniform.
The page was discovered when the Youth Internet Crimes Unit monitored MySpace.com for possible predators. “While Strow said Quinn does have a right to ‘freedom of speech,’ by posting a picture of himself in his deputy’s uniform on the Web site instead of civilian clothing, many could have associated Quinn’s comments as representing the Sheriff’s Office. After Quinn’s termination, Strow said the agency sent out an edict to all its employees — don’t involve the Sheriff’s Office with any personal Web site.”
With all this monitoring and potential for disaster, what can you do to protect yourself?
First, don’t conduct personal activities while at work. Don’t surf web sites that are not work related. Assume every email will be read and archived for the rest of your life. (They probably won’t, but still assume that they will.)
Be careful about what you say in email and chat programs. Don’t forward or respond to emails that are not work related. If there is any doubt, don’t do it. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Unless, that is, you suddenly find yourself bored with your job.
Find out what your company’s policies are regarding “acceptable use” of computer systems and the electronic monitoring of employees. When possible, get the policies in writing. If you are told there is no policy, still assume you could be monitored at any time with no prior notice.
If you run a web site, write a blog, have a page on MySpace.com, or even post comments on a message board web site, ask yourself, “How important is it that this content is associated with my real identity?” Many services allow you to participate anonymously. Take advantage of that. You can face much less risk of losing your job simply by avoiding the connection between you, your content and your employer. Remember, however, that what seems to be anonymous today may not be anonymous tomorrow, especially if you provide too many clues about who you are. If you want to complain about your work life, do so in general terms and without identifying the company or your coworkers by name.
Computers in the workplace have had many impacts, one of which is the possibility for more ways to be fired than ever before. If you apply some caution and common sense, though, you should be able to avoid nasty surprises and hang on to your job.
This article will self-destruct in five seconds…
Sources for quotes used in this article:
Reach reporter Tim Burleson at 761-0195 or tim@grantspassclimate.com
Copyright © 2006 Grants Pass Climate
I have to admit it. My wife and I eat out more often than we should. We like trying new restaurants, going back to our favorite ones, and even, sometimes, giving restaurants on our personal “ban list” another try to see if they’ve improved.
I’ve been thinking about tipping. Not just at restaurants, but in general. For example, in Oregon, we are not allowed to pump our gas. Every gas station is essentially “full service.” I’ve often wondered, are we supposed to be tipping the attendant? Remember when they always checked the oil and cleaned the windshield? Both of those seem to be becoming lost arts, especially the oil check. I can only remember being asked once in last few years. Still, I don’t know if I’m expected to tip.
Expected? Who makes the rules on this, anyway? A waiter or waitress must be tipped, but my job is not. Seems like it’s always been that way. The person who cuts my hair? Of course. A dollar a day for the housecleaning person at the hotel? I’m not so sure. Don’t they only do that in Las Vegas?
And how much am I supposed to tip and why? Is it a reward for good service or just something I’m expected to do? Lately I’ve caught myself tipping 20 percent, even for average service. In some cases, when there has been something specific that bothered me, I’ve dropped the tip “down” to 15 percent.
Am I even doing this right? I just don’t know anymore.
At Cornell University there is something called “The Center for Hospitality Research.” Well, I guess everything needs to be studied, right? Anyway, they did research on the question, “Do restaurant tips vary according to service quality?” They studied 2,645 dining parties at 21 different casual dining restaurants and found an average correlation of .11 between ratings of service and tip percentages. They determined that how service was rated was only responsible for two percent of the variation in tip percentages. (Source: Cornell University.)
So I’m left to wonder, what’s responsible for the other 98 percent of tipping variation? Their study didn’t answer that question, but I’d guess it has something to do with conditioning. When we are a customer in a restaurant we just “know” it is something we are expected to do. It’s the norm. You might say it’s something we’ve been trained to do.
How often do we really stop and think about how much we are tipping and why? Is it only the service? Or do other things like ambiance, quality of the meal, screaming children nearby or even the prices we are charged make a difference?
Something new I’ve been noticing is that on the credit card authorization slips they bring at the end of the meal, more and more often I find that they’ve included little pre-calculated percentages. At first I thought, “how thoughtful and convenient.” No more do I have to go to the actual hassle and effort of trying to figure out the tip amount all by myself. Here is everything I need printed right on the signature slip!
15 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent…
What? What a minute! Who tips 25 percent? For that kind of tip I’d expect something very special, like my meal served by hovercraft or something.
All of the sudden 15 percent is the “minimum?” Who decided that? I guess the people who printed that little piece of paper AKA the recipients of said tips.
This really made me stop and think. It lead to all of the pondering and questions I’ve written above. Am I really ready to accept 20 percent as the “average” tip for an “average” experience?
Last night I had dinner at a local restaurant. The selections on their menu were not cheap. Then, when ordering, I was presented with choices. Would you like soup, salad, or an “upgrade” to French onion soup or Caesar salad? Would you like to “upgrade” and have cheese and bacon on your baked potato?
When was it that every aspect of the meal became subject to a detailed pricing schedule, anyway? It used to be you’d go out to a nice restaurant, order a steak, and get whatever you wanted on your potato. It was part of the meal.
So, in summation, we’ve been conditioned as consumers to tip a certain amount regardless of the quality of service we receive. In the meantime, meal prices continue to rise, not including the fact that stuff that used to be included is now all priced individually as “upgrades.” And, on top of that, there is a new effort underway to condition us to accept that 20 percent is the new standard for average service.
I have to admit it. I now think that maybe, just maybe, I might need to eat out a lot, lot less.
It sure is good to be back home in Grants Pass. Tammy and I just returned from Reedsport, Oregon, to attend the funeral of my Aunt Dixie, who passed away on February 9th. She was 61.
Dixie was diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer last year. Recently she had been on a liquid diet, fed intravenously, and was barely able to digest even that very limited source of food without becoming very ill and experiencing extreme pain. She also had lost a lot of weight.
When the Supreme Court of the United States recently affirmed Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, I never imagined it would hit so close to home or quite so soon. My aunt made the decision to take advantage of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act to end the pain and control the manner of her passing. This law, approved by the voters, is currently unique in these United States.
Per her wishes, the funeral was held at Reedsport High School, where she had graduated and later was the driver’s education teacher. (Both of my parents graduated from Reedport High School, too.) It was a touching ceremony that she had actually helped to plan, right down to the inclusion of some of her heavy metal favorites like Pink Floyd, Guns and Roses and Metallica. The memorial was held in the theater auditorium and it was amazing to see the number of people there who’s lives she touched and the memories she shared.
I’m grateful that the Death with Dignit Act was available to my Aunt Dixie and that she was able to peacefully end her pain. I thank the Supreme Court for affirming Oregon’s law.
This week some politicians in Washington DC went ballistic on companies like Google, Yahoo, Cisco Systems and Microsoft for how they offer services in China. (Of these four, the only one you might not know is Cisco Systems. They make “networking and communication devices” that are used to make the Internet go.)
“This value-free excuse truly sickens me,” said Rep. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, who accused the four corporations of a “nauseating collaboration with a regime of repression.”
The problem? It seems they are accused of collaborating with China’s “regime of repression.” Some lawmakers have pledged to fast track legislation that would make such collaboration illegal.
Neat idea.
Meanwhile, in another neck of the woods, news reports as recent as February 10, 2006, paint a slightly different picture. On that date the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the international deficit in goods and services trade reached a record level of $726 billion in 2005. That represents an 18% increase over 2005. (Source: Economic Policy Institute.)
The growth of the trade deficit with China, which reached $202 billion in 2005, was responsible for the entire increase in the United States’ non-oil trade deficit.
To quote Steve Martin, “Wow! All I can say is wow!”
I guess the question for me is, do we really care about human rights and freedom of expression in China or not? If we do, then we should put our money where our mouth is. It seems to me we can’t take the high road and still have it both ways. I mean, just how important is it to us to have access to plastic toys that are cheaply made pieces of crap? (Pictured above: The Google Marble Maze toy that I received as a present this Christmas. I wasn’t surprised at all to find “Made in China” on it.)