Random Ramblings

I absolutely HATE cell phone outages!  AT&T has been in and out for people for nearly the last 24 hours in various locations around the nation.  Even though I am on Straight Talk, my phone runs off of....you guessed it.......AT&T towers!  That means I have no internet on my phone and have no way to complain to Straight Talk as they only lease space on other company's servers for their customers.  I can complain online, but that only tells AT&T where their outages are!

It really sucks as I haven't really been able to use my new Smart Watch but one day.

alldatndensum wrote:

I absolutely HATE cell phone outages!  AT&T has been in and out for people for nearly the last 24 hours in various locations around the nation.  Even though I am on Straight Talk, my phone runs off of....you guessed it.......AT&T towers!  That means I have no internet on my phone and have no way to complain to Straight Talk as they only lease space on other company's servers for their customers.  I can complain online, but that only tells AT&T where their outages are!

It really sucks as I haven't really been able to use my new Smart Watch but one day.

Odd, I had no problems here at all and i have Straight Talk as well with AT&T. A month ago I used Verizon towers but I bought a new unlocked phone with a Sim card and it runs on AT&T as does my wife's and daughters. If theirs were out I would have heard about it. Does the smart watch link to your Straight Talk phone? How does that worl? BTW, the link to your smart watch says it is "sold out" so I didn't see a price listed (wouldn't buy one since watches are not allowed at work).

Staybrite wrote:

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

Being a manager sure isn't easy.

The first week I was put in charge of a few people I felt like I wanted to fire all of them.  It is baffling how little pride many people seem to take in their work.

As well as how little respect some people have for those in management positions. That's why I prefer coaching other managers to actually being one myself.

That being said, sometimes the amount of pride and quality people produce in their work is in direct correlation to how much they think they're appreciated. Not saying that's the case here at all, but often times if you show people you appreciate them and their work, you'll see morale go up. Then, there's where I work...

ishmael81 wrote:

Staybrite wrote:

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

Being a manager sure isn't easy.

The first week I was put in charge of a few people I felt like I wanted to fire all of them.  It is baffling how little pride many people seem to take in their work.

As well as how little respect some people have for those in management positions. That's why I prefer coaching other managers to actually being one myself.

That being said, sometimes the amount of pride and quality people produce in their work is in direct correlation to how much they think they're appreciated. Not saying that's the case here at all, but often times if you show people you appreciate them and their work, you'll see morale go up. Then, there's where I work...

That's it bub, I'm banning you!!!! 

I had thought about that, and was actually able to get better results when I stroked their egos, but that still only goes so far.  When you have employees that repeatedly come in 30 minutes late (3 days every week) or need to leave early/take a long lunch for personal stuff 2-3 days every week for months on end.  Or you catch them daily watching youtube videos or playing "Bejeweled" on the internet when they are supposed to be physically working on a project.....there is only so much crap management can take before you want to just can them and start over

I hear you. What I said only applies to some. Trust me, I've terminated almost 200 people in 12 years in the field I'm in and sometimes people just don't care.

I'm sure that I'll become cynical enough to fire people on a regular basis

MikeInFla wrote:

alldatndensum wrote:

I absolutely HATE cell phone outages!  AT&T has been in and out for people for nearly the last 24 hours in various locations around the nation.  Even though I am on Straight Talk, my phone runs off of....you guessed it.......AT&T towers!  That means I have no internet on my phone and have no way to complain to Straight Talk as they only lease space on other company's servers for their customers.  I can complain online, but that only tells AT&T where their outages are!

It really sucks as I haven't really been able to use my new Smart Watch but one day.

Odd, I had no problems here at all and i have Straight Talk as well with AT&T. A month ago I used Verizon towers but I bought a new unlocked phone with a Sim card and it runs on AT&T as does my wife's and daughters. If theirs were out I would have heard about it. Does the smart watch link to your Straight Talk phone? How does that worl? BTW, the link to your smart watch says it is "sold out" so I didn't see a price listed (wouldn't buy one since watches are not allowed at work).

There were some outages, but that wasn't the issue.  Somehow, I had accidentally turned off my mobile data.  I turned it back on and things are running smoothly again.

I haven't tried the new smartwatch.  I just received it today.  I am currently using an LG smartwatch (a much better one than I had bought) that some friends gave to me for free.  They didn't like it, so they gave it to me.  It DOES link to my phone, but I do have an unlocked GSM phone and just added a Straight Talk SIM card.  So, it works just fine as a step counter, my text messages come up on it, it tells time, and I can dial my phone, take pictures, etc.  It is a lot of fun, but I am glad I didn't pay this amount of money for the LG or better for what it does.

Why are you not allowed to wear a watch at work?  I have to have mine.  I have to get kids to lunch, gym/PE, and on the bus in the afternoon.  Our schedule doesn't really go by the bells, either, since we are Special Needs.  So, I have to know the time so I don't miss important things or am not late for those things.

Not wearing a watch is a safety issue. It's a paper mill where machinery can snag anything. So weddings bands, long hair, watches or any type of jewelry are not allowed.

Anyone watching that new show This Is Us? I'm loving it. It's very interesting.

Oh no it's scheduled to rain this Saturday!  The rain is my favorite weather but not when I'm trying to host a post-wedding celebration party [outside] at the park with 100+ people - some of whom are coming from across the country!  Please pray for sun!

Will do!

Or at least pray for big umbrellas to be on sale

In the Atlanta area right now. This morning went to a funeral for one of my uncle's. I have known him pretty much my whole life but only saw him from time to time over the years.

Driver, there's a bee trapped in my limo

Wicked windy storms here in the Pacific Northwest.  Our area dodged getting any serious tree-falling damage or wide spread power outages for the first round last night and today (so far).  However, we are supposed to see an even worse wind storm starting late Saturday, they say it might be the worst wind storm we have seen in 50 years.

Unseasonably warm here in Tennessee after we returned from our recent vacation to the beach.  We'll be in the 80s most of next week.  I love it!!!

We got a little snow last week.  It's gone from here in the valley floor but the mountains are still dusted.

Snow?  That evil powdery stuff that mucks up a perfectly good season?  Already?

It has happened here in the past.  We had a cold snap the year we got married (1988) and our pumpkin froze sitting on the back porch of the house we rented.  The back porch was indoors but not heated.  It snowed Halloween night but did not stick.  We had several inches of ice fall the next morning that made life miserable with broken trees, impassable roads, and power lines down in a lot of areas.

It's looking like we're going to get quite a bit of it this year.  Only time will tell.

Still no snow here, but my area is relatively warm for Canada (although I live about 35 miles away from Vermont). It has been dipping down to freezing overnight, though, and sadly my car is parked on the other side of the house from where the sun rises… so no free defrosting in the morning.  Worse, I haven't had my wipers fixed yet…

After a horrible day of traveling we finally made it to Arizona.

Arizona? Why would you go where it's hotter?

We hit a record high of 92 yesterday thus proving my theory of only 4 seasons in Tennessee, but not the same ones as everywhere else.  Here, we have Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer (our current state), and Christmas.

I'm slowly trying to get a bit more organized in some ways. I'm starting to go through my CDs and catalog what I have (by adding them to my collection on the site musicbrainz.org), and am also rediscovering some "lost classics" in the process. I'm currently listening to Hero by Daily Planet, which remains a great album 14 years after its release. It's still a shame that this ended up being the only album the group ever put out.