The Vacation from the Vacation

The whole idea of a vacation is taking a break from the monotony of everyday life, and doing something a little different to slow down a little and do some of those things we don't have time for. That being said, I've been on a vacation for a few months, but am currently on a vacation from my vacation with my family in Florida.

For those who don't know, I lived in the Sunshine state for about 2.5 years during my undergrad days. I wasn't exactly an honor roll student in High School, and I bounced around at the University of Tampa and University of Miami before landing at DePaul in Chicago. I got to see most of Florida from Miami up through Tallahassee, but never went to the Panhandle, which is where I'm on vacation with my family.

We're located in a vacation community about halfway between Panama City and Pensacola, along the Gulf of Mexico. Technically, I think its Walton County we're in, and it reminds me of some of those sleepy beach towns you find along the Carolinas. If you're curious, here's a link to where we're staying; highly recommended if you'd like to get to warm weather but don't want to deal with the Miami/Ft Lauderdale ratrace. Given the year the family has had, its nice for us all to get away together, and we're behaving ourselves without getting in to the petty spats we endured as young kids on family vacations.

I've mentioned this before, but I think weather is a lame topic to talk about. For starters, no one really gives a shit. Well, maybe you do if you're Tom Skilling, or that guy from the Weather Channel who chases Hurricanes, but most of the world doesn't care what the weather is like in another part of the country. But if you're curious, its hot down here. It hasn't stopped me from getting out the golf course, and I've played a few crappy rounds of golf at two really nice golf courses.

But the real fun has been seeing my sister's kids, who I'm living with up in Chicago, and how much fun they're having down here. My niece has loved the water, the beach, and especially the bunk beds in their rental house. While my nephew went crazy for all of the interesting planes, trucks, cars, and other moving machines during our trip down here. Of course, there's been other highlights they'd tell me if I were to interview them, but I'm trying to keep them out of the spotlight.

One funny moment for me came tonight, after I had kind of a shitty day on the golf course and an overall mediocre day. Super hot weather has some challenges for me that are somewhat unique, and those challenges can be a serious pain in the ass.

But anyhow, my sister and the kids were hanging around after dinner when I flipped on Star Wars (episode IV for the Star Wars fans out there), and it was a blast watching it with them. The plot is a little advanced for them, so that meant Uncledaniel (or Dango as my nephew calls me) had to answer a bunch of questions about characters, a few of which I've listed below. Most of these came from my niece, my nephew just likes Chewbacka and the space ships.

• Why is Darth Vadar so angry with Luke and Han Solo?
• Why does Darth Vadar breath so funny?
• Do Storm troopers ever talk? What about nod their heads? How does Darth Vadar know they've heard him?
  
• How is Princess Leia from another planet?
• How do they know what the robot (R2D2) is saying?
• What is the force?
• Why are there so many commercials?
  
• How come Luke is the only one who has the force? Why doesn't Han Solo have it?
• Why does C3PO talk so much?
  
• What does it mean that Luke is Leia's sister?
• What is Chewbacka? How do they know what he's saying?

I did my best to answer these as best I could, but the toughest one was about the Force. I seem to have a knack for explaining some complicated things to them at least to give them an answer that makes sense, but this one I struggled with. Mainly because some folks use the force for good things, while others use it for bad things and that is a tricky concept for a 5 year old. Ultimately, I settled on something about superpowers and the ability to do things others can't, but kids are great at asking some very simple questions that have complicated answers...and they're also really good at putting a smile on your face when you need one. So thanks Wango and Maddog.

Back to Reality, Just Not Yet

Friday (yesterday) was another one of those "even steven" kind of days. Which means there were some really good things and some not so good things, but at the end of the day it turned out that all was well in the world.

On the good side of the ledger, I accepted an offer to begin work for Advocate Health Care on August 31 as an operations/process improvement consultant. I'm excited about the job, and it really came as a surprise that things worked out as well as they have. When I made the decision to move back to Chicago I knew I was taking on some risk, especially with the economy, but I was pleasantly surprised that I found a job that really appealed to me after only six weeks of working at it. I guess it once again proves to me that I really have no ability to predict the future and spending time worrying about what could go right or wrong is just a waste of time. As I wrote about last week, if I obsess or analyze every decision in life I'll probably go nowhere. So a heartfelt thanks to everyone for the encouragement the past few months, all of you helped in some way, even if it was just a person to listen to me ramble about how to go about finding work.

On the not so good side of the ledger, my little sister had a bit of a health scare and spent last night in the hospital. She's up in Minneapolis and has already been sent home, but it definitely took us all a bit off guard. I'll see her later today, which brings me to what's shaking between now and the time I start work.

My parents, two sisters, and nephew and niece (and myself) are heading to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida for a few days of rest and relaxation. Those close to the family know this has been a tricky year for all of us and it'll be nice for us all to get away for some beach time. Santa Rosa Beach is up near Pensacola, and although I lived in Florida for a few years I've never been. Everything I've read about it leads me to believe it'll be a nice place for us to be, not too florida(ish) and much more like Hilton Head or other towns along the Atlantic further up the coast. Vacationing with the family is something we haven't done for a while, so I'm sure it'll have moments of disorganized chaos, but now that we're adults I'm sure we'll enjoy reading, relaxing, and just hanging out with each other. Speaking of reading, my next book is 100 Days of Solitude, per a friend's recommendation

The only drama about the trip is who is going to watch Annie, but several have offered to chip in while we're away to make sure she doesn't smoke in the house or drink all of my sister's booze.

In terms of travel, this has been a very busy year for me and mostly for fun things, but I got to thinking that after next week's trip I'll have spent time in 18 states in 2009, and we still have a few months to go this year...in chronological order I've been to:

Washington
Illinois
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Washington D.C (kinda counts)
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
South Dakota
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Indiana
Georgia
Florida
Tennessee

Granted, a few of those were layover stops, but I think there may be some way to quantify how much exploration I do by counting the number of unique places I go. I'll consider that as a measure for my 2010 strategic plan, but it reflects that its been a busy year in the world of Delta Whiskey.

I'll bring the laptop with but no guarantees I'll blog down there, but when I return I've lined up a few interviews that are sure to be page scrollers (the computer based version of page turners). And if the past few months are any indication, I'm sure there will be a funny story or two from the trip!

Field Trip: Bears Training Camp

I woke up this morning without much of an agenda, which is something that has grown a wee bit tiresome of late. Believe me, I love the idea of goofing off all day long, but I do miss a little bit of structure and contributing something to the greater good. On the work standpoint, I've had some very productive interviews, but refuse to put the kibosh on it and continue applying for work when I come across jobs of interest. When there's news to report on the job front, you'll know.

So at around 9 AM I decided I'd make today a Field Trip day and headed to Bourbanais, Illinois, the summer home of the Chicago Bears. For those who aren't football nuts, this is the time of year when teams prepare for the upcoming season. And since I hadn't attended a Bears practice since I was about 8 years old (I used to swim at Lake Forest College as a kid; former home of Bears regular season practice) I figured it'd be an interesting experience. I also thought it'd be kind of hypocritical to talk about doing something "different" during my last post if I wasn't taking my own advice.

I realize I write a lot to say what I want to get across, so I took a notebook with me and am going to be as concise as possible about observations during the day. I've also thrown a bunch of pictures towards the bottom if you want to see what training camp, Jay Cutler, Lovie Smith, and other Bears look like in person. You can go to Snapfish and see all of them here, some captions included.

Observation 1 (sitting in the car): I listened to sports talk radio on the drive to Bourbanais to get a sense for what's going on with the Bears. There wasn't Bears discussion, but there was an interesting topic being bantered about. It sounds like ESPN is planning a documentary on Steve Bartman, who had absolutely nothing to do with the Cubs collapse in the 03 playoffs. Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about, but the story isn't that interesting behind why he is relevant in Chicago sports lore. The hosts of the show were fielding calls for interesting documentaries to be made on other Chicago sports topics, and as a lifelong Chicago sports fan nut I thought a lot about it. I think a piece on the crazy athletes who have played in Chicago at some point in their careers would be interesting--Dennis Rodman, Bryan Cox, Theo Fluery, Bob Probert, the list could go on forever, but in Chicago folks seem to be OK with a little bit of craziness between the ears in exchange for success on the field.

Observation 2 (still in car): Training camp is essentially a hard core interview for guys battling for spots on the end of the roster, and it had me thinking a bit about my pursuit of work. The guys in camp are having every play scrutinized by fans, coaches, and media, and its gotta be brutal on a young guys' psyche. But I think I could deal with it for the salaries these guys pull down. Maybe I'll learn something from these guys today about poise. Probably not, though.

Observation 3 (walking out of my car towards practice field): A gal in her 20's sees me with my notebook in my hand (to keep notes of what I'm doing for you guys) and says, "autograph book, eh?" I chuckled at it, and gave her a smartass response like, "something like that." But it got me thinking about autographs, and I honestly can't think of a single human on the face of the planet whose autograph I'd want. I'm not "above" the idea of having role models or idols, I'd just rather spend time having a conversation than asking some random person for their signature.

Observation 4 (settling in to a spot on the grass): Everything here is free. Or at least the things I've come here for. There was no cost for parking, and no cost to watch the practice. And in today's world it was kind of a relief. I've become so conditioned to paying for everything, and it was nice to be able to do something without paying for it. Of course, there were tons of souveniers, but I took a pass on yet another Bears T-Shirt or Hat. And for a family that loves the Bears but can't afford a game/season tickets, this is a nice way to get close to the players.

Observation 5 (at practice): I don't have anything to compare it to, but watching real journalists do their work is pretty interesting. They are tweeting, writing, taking pictures, and I have no idea how they keep it all straight. But that's why I'm not a real journalist, just a pretend one in the world of make believe.

Observation 6 (at practice): I really have no idea what I'm watching. I played golf in high school, and at scrawny 140 lbs I doubt I would have had much of a career in football. But the purpose of mentioning this is that I have no idea what half of these guys are doing or why they do it. The defensive players are beating up blow up dolls (i think i could handle that part), the offensive players are running plays against an imaginery defense, and the special teams guys are sitting on their asses drinking water.

Observation 7: There's a term in my line of work referred to as "going to the gemba." Its a term coined by those in Lean Manufacturing settings to describe leaders spending time where the value-added work is taking place. In a factory, this means watching parts go together to understand where improvements can be made. On the football field at today's practice, I was surprised to see how lax and disinterested the Bears GM seemed to be in the work taking place on the field. He seemed more interested in chitchatting with media, VIPs, and fans; and although the practices are all being recorded, I'd think a guy with a payroll in excess of $150 M would want to know a bit more about how his guys are doing in their performance. But maybe that's the coaches job. And since money came up, it really is nuts if you think about how much football players get paid on a per unit of work basis. If you calculated the actual amount of time they are doing their job (playing in football games) it probably comes out to a ridiculous amount per rep in a real game. I'm not going to hunt down the stats on this one, unless someone asks me for it, but they're being paid a lot per unit of work.

Observation 8: It's been forever since the Bears had a legitimate quarterback, and its been a running joke amongst Bear fans. But now the complaint is that the ideal quarterback they've acquired (Jay Cutler) has no one to throw the ball to, and this will limit the team's success. The chit-chat I heard among fans about this topic drove me nuts; mainly because I think crazy fans (legitimate fanatics) are impossible to please. No matter the player, coach, opponent, or situation, the crazy fans find a way to worry about things not turning out perfectly. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see the Bears win every game (including the Super Bowl), but at some point doesn't this shtick (the constant whining) become annoying? Why not just take a perspective that its great to have a guy who can throw darts and have some faith it'll work out?

Anyhow, here's the photos and feel free to go to Snapfish for more:


Bourbanais, IL, summer home of Da Bears.

Jay Cutler


Defensive players swinging their arms at blow up dolls


Football players probably have the coolest uniforms compared to the other sports.


Get to work Angelo!