Dave Mancuso dot Com

As I finished the last Denny’s entry on the back room strip-o-gram, Whose Line Is It Anyway on the television presented Wayne Brady with a sketch involving what else but a strip-o-gram?

Huh. Weird. That’s synchronicity for you.

This post just tests Frequency’s ability to post to MovableType.

Hey, it works! Frequency rocks yet again.

Well, my experiment with the weblog writing tool Movable Type proved more successful than I anticipated. I’ve used Radio Userland since I began this weblog in early 2002, but I’ve always been open to other blogging tools. Blogger showed promise, but MT has everything I want (at least so far).

Last night I exported all of my posts from Radio and imported them into my Movable Type system. Now everything is in Movable Type–I brought the system live just after midnight, and you’re reading it right now. It was that easy. I thought it would take a few days or weeks, but boom–it’s done. You may not notice much of a difference on the surface, but under the hood, everything’s changed.

The only real glitch in the move was that all my posts came over dated as 1902 and 1903 entries. Wow. It was a little surreal to see that I apparently posted to this weblog one hundred years ago. I had to correct them before I went any further. Go figure.

Welcome to SplitFocus on Movable Type!

I love my job, and I honestly look forward to work each day. I do have one minor rant about it, however. My technology systems are so integrated into virtually everything the district does that my team is involved with almost everything in the district. Even worse, we’re thought to be involved in things for which we have no logical (or actual) responsiblity.

It’s become a sad fact that people who have dropped the ball on a project will sometimes try to blame the technology involved. I then have to go on an “obstacle clarification operation” to point out the true flaws in someone’s project. They kick and scream all the way, because it usually exposes their own balldropping. I also have to do this in such a way that they can save face and get back on the job to get the thing done right (like they should have done in the first place instead of blaming technology). What a weary waste of my time!

Technology seems to be the mystical force of this age. People blame it for things like they used to blame the rain and thunder gods for storms. It’s become the automatic scapegoat and whipping dog for poorly managed projects everywhere. Can’t people just own up to their own actions? Hey, I make lots of mistakes, all the time–just ask my wife. But my secret weapon seems to be saying I’m sorry, fixing it, and moving on. I kid you not–people are at a loss for words when I take responsibility for something and apologize. It really deflates them and takes all the argument out of them. Moving on from there and fixing things is easy then. Why don’t more people try it? It’s a big timesaver, believe me.

The other problem in my organization is the drive to define everything as technology. I get you a computer. Then I’m supposed to get you a power surge protector? OK, I can see a justification for that. What? You want a table for the computer? That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? What? No we don’t buy you a chair to go with that. No, I wouldn’t define that as technology. No, I don’t buy you paper for the printer. Paper is a warehouse item that they’ve stocked for forty years–you can get it from them. No, it’s not considered technology. Really.

Why is my department responsible for almost every initiative in the district, no matter how mundane or unrelated to technology? It’s actually true that someone once thought we were accountable for the copy paper the district supplies for printers. We have nothing to do with consumables.

We would probably be held responsible for toilet paper if someone could tie it to technology.

Dave Winer on Scripting News wrote about his realization that weblogs weren’t inherently better than professional publications.

I’m not sure why this was a surprise to him. It isn’t to me. I like weblogs because of their immediacy and intimacy. I feel like I get more of the people behind the print with weblogs. I would never, however, blindly trust a weblog more than a professional publication. Frankly, I wouldn’t trust either of them without filtering the news myself and checking multiple sources.

The act of reading does not relieve us of the act of critically thinking about what we have read.

I see as much bias in a weblog as I see in other publications. I think the best thing about weblogs is that I can more easily identify an author’s particular leanings. Try comparing Talking Points Memo to The Daily Dish, to pick two random examples.

Slashdot has a good newsbit and discussion over the possibility of smart phones replacing PDAs.

I think this is likely. If I can get a phone to replace my PDA, I will go for it in a minute. Why carry two devices when I could just carry one?

The Slashdot conspiracy group has a good time with this one–“I will never put my information on a device that can be spied on by the outside world every time I make a phone call!”

But here’s another pic. Drew had a good time at music class with Dad this spring.

(Just to prove I will use anything to keep my kids in line…)

As I was getting ready for work yesterday, Drew made an observation: “Daddy, you have a BIG–FAT–HUGE–TOE!” (no, it’s not that big–well, maybe in comparison to Drew’s little toes it is)

“Really, Drew? I guess so…” I said. Then I had an idea. “Drew, you need to get dressed now–we’ll be late.”

Drew resists.

“Drew, if you don’t get ready now, the Toe will be very disappointed. It may be upset. I can’t vouch for the Toe. It may come after you.”

Drew expresses disbelief. I wiggle the “Toe” and move it closer to him.

“I’m telling you Drew, you need to get dressed now! I can’t control the Toe! IT’S COMING FOR YOU…”

Drew screams and giggles, and more importantly scurries into his room and gets his little butt dressed.

Mock my parenting “skills” if you wish, but they get results. My kids had better behave–they never know when the “Toe” may come back to keep them in line…

While I was driving the kids home from day care, my wife Denise called me on the cell phone. As I sometimes do, I passed the phone to Alyssa (my five year old) and let her take the call. The conversation went like this:

Alyssa: Hi, Mommy!

[More conversation]

Alyssa: Mommy, we have some treats to eat! They came from Kayla for her birthday! They’re round and full of sugar. They have LOTS of carbs. [they were LifeSavers]

Denise: [Asks Alyssa how she knows about carbs]

Alyssa: I figured it out, Mommy! Daddy can’t eat carbs, and he can’t eat sugar. Sugar is carbs!

[Conversation continues, ends]

Me (Beaming over my little girl and how I “taught” her about carbs): Alyssa, you learned about carbs from me?

Alyssa: Yep, Daddy.

Me: That’s great, Alyssa. You know–

Alyssa: I learned it from you talking waaay too much about it.

I guess my next low carb meal will be humble pie.

Ran across this pic today–Drew last Christmas at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lisa’s (he got happy again later…):