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Adventure in Detroit
One of the many complaints about Detroit is it's lack of mass transit. Some people blame this on Detroit's historical emphasis on the automobile, but I think that poor urban planning is probably just as to blame. Saturday morning I drove my son to compete in a Yu-Gi-Oh card game tournament at Cobo Hall downtown. The drive was a white-knuckler, with snow accumulating on the freeways, and after paying ten bucks to park, I was not much interested in just driving off. The tournament room was already hung with the scent of gamer funk, recognizable by anyone who has ever attended an event with a large number of young males in an enclosed area. Several parents were sprinkled about, hunkered down for the day with their lunch bags, laptops, and books. After getting the kid situated, and finding out that nine rounds, each lasting an hour were planned, I decided to ditch the car and strike out alone, and on foot, in the Motor City.
My daughter is staying on campus at the College for Creative Studies in midtown Detroit so I decided to see if she was interested in going to lunch. Too far to walk, especially in the relentless snow so I asked Cobo Security how I might get there and they said that buses run along Woodward Avenue that will take me there. I slogged my way along the river-front to Woodward. Plenty of buses, but which one do I take? No buses routes posted anywhere. Heading north on wet sneakers I came to a nice skating rink in Campus Martius with many skaters and blaring Xmas music. I went across the street to the new Compuware building and checked out the Hard Rock Cafe, and the Borders bookstore. The cashier at Borders told me that I need to take the route 53 bus. Back outside the bus came quickly but I didn't know how to ride it. The other rider had bus cards. I tried to hand the bus driver money and she pointed at a device next to her that eats money, much like a soda or snack machine. Feeling like an idiot, I couldn't figure out where to insert the money and the bus driver had to help me.
I got off the bus in front of the Detroit Institute of Arts where they were setting up for Noel Night and walked to CCS to round up my daughter. She wanted to go to the Cass Cafe so we walked though the wind and snow whipping between buildings, had some tasty vegetarian fare, and then headed back. We put up some Xmas decorations in the dorm and I found the missing breaker box and reset a breaker. She had schoolwork to catch up on so I went to the Detroit Public Library to explore and read some periodicals, then caught the southbound 53 back to Cobo. From there I rode the People Mover for fifty cents to Greektown where I checked out the big new Casino, and then headed back on the PeopleMover to Cobo, and my car.
For the mass transit needs that I had, I found the Detroit system very adequate. It was clean and efficient, and it wasn't at all scary. It would have been nice to has some bus routes posted. It was a good adventure.
I quit
After months of playing defense, trying to keep my job in the midst of a massive restructuring and outsourcing initiative, I finally came to the realization that I wasn't interested in the work that remained in-house, so I took the offensive. I floated a few resumes and followed up on a few leads and ended up finding an excellent position with a large IT company. My last day was September 30. I have mixed emotions about quitting. After 14 years working there I've made many good friends and I will miss them terribly. From a career perspective it seems like an excellent move, away from a failing automaker to a technology company that can put my skills to much better use. I think I've made the right decision and I am enthusiastic about starting my new job next week.
Simms Elementary School Reunion
I was contacted recently by former classmate from my elementary school regarding a class reunion for the sixth grade class of 1970. What a great idea! My elementary class probably had maybe 80 students, and after seven years I knew all of them. In comparison, my High School class had over 800 students and everyone was just another number, broken into those petty cliques that exist only in the strange microcosm of American high school. Last night about 20 former students met for pizza at Sila's pizzeria in Berkley. Here's a picture from Saturday's beach event.
Washington D.C.
We were in Washington D.C. recently for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Congressional Art Awards. Southwest paid for the airfare and we found a very nice hotel in Georgetown which was close to the subway and made getting around town suprisingly easy.
Polly Ann Trail Ride
Orion Township bikers and hikers are blessed with easy access to two extensive trail systems, the Polly Ann Trail, and the Paint Creek Trail. Today I rode my bike from my home in Orion Township, north through Oxford and Addison townships, and up into Lakeville. I took an alternate route home, around the other side of Lake Orion, that took me through the downtime Village of Lake Orion. I've posted a few pictures from my three hour tour to Flickr.
MediaWest*Con 28
MediaWest*Con is large SF/Media fandom gathering in Lansing Michigan. What makes MediaWest*Con unique is that everything is organized and presented by the fans themselves. I was able to attend all day Friday, and for a couple of hours on Saturday, due to an unexpected trip to pick up a hedgehog (yes, a pet hedgehog) in Lansing. Some highlights include the cleverly decorated hotel room doors, and the impressive fan made videos. I suppose the best thing was hanging out with like-minded media geeks and a magical feeling that I belonged there. I'm looking forward to next year and hope to attend the full four days.
Flower Fair
The annual Flower Fair festivities were in full bloom downtown yesterday. I finally broke out my bike for the season and braved the gusty winds and occasional sprinkles to enjoy all the art booths and activities. One of those rare times where Lake Orion still feels like a small town instead of a suburb.
Knowledge Acquisition and Transfer
The outsourcing initiative at work consists of three phases - Knowledge Acquisition (KA), Knowledge Transfer (KT), and Steady State. KA and KT sessions are each followed by Playback sessions where the providers recite back salient information and are graded on their ability to do so. Last week I completed the KA, KT and Playback sessions for several of my responsibilities with Deepak and Narasimha from Tata, and Bharathi from Convansys. I expect some job shadowing to start soon.
Outsourced!
Surprisingly the automaker that I work for is sending all database administration offshore. The work is being split by function between two providers. Tata will be taking anything that deals with SQL or DDL, and Convansys will be handling all of the operational functions, backup, restore, production support, etc.
Sleeping Bear Dune Climb
Here's a video of me and the twins hiking on the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes in Leelanau, Michigan last summer. The teenagers were obviously reluctant participants, but I had fun providing the narrative anyway.