juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Feb 8, 2012, 10:32 pm
The Canada trip has been delayed, a bug found at the last minute; a crucial piece of information is not passed to a partner, therefore bank payments are not made. Money talks so any disruption in the supply is not tolerated. How could one miss this bug? After testing for many months, the alibi is th...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Feb 1, 2012, 8:47 pm
The plan is to leave for Canada next week, to roll out the program in the Hamilton warehouse, with testing completed for most of the components except for the major piece, awaiting word from the supplier that all has been installed, but unfortunately in the dark about the situation. It’s like a ga...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jan 30, 2012, 6:46 pm
The weekend was terrible, I could not stop sniffing and coughing, victim of a cold, inhaling steam and camphor but to no avail, likely resulting in a worse shape. Initially I thought it was fatigue, a general tiredness, no fever, just tiredness which I had tried to resolve by drinking Red Bull; expe...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jan 28, 2012, 8:55 pm
A couple of projects are waiting for takeoff, almost simultaneously in the runway, looking for the resources who will kick start the mission forward, oftentimes the same pilot driving many planes at the same time. For example, preparation for deployment in Canada, with a new system that needs to int...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jan 21, 2012, 9:42 pm
I just got back from Elkton, a small town in northern Maryland, close to the border of Pennsylvania, arriving by plane via the Philadelphia international airport, driving for 45 minutes in a rental car along the Delaware River, glimpsing New Jersey across the water, passing by the University of Dela...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jan 10, 2012, 8:50 pm
Last night after work I could not start a regular work method in creative writing, realizing in the early morning as I awoke from sleep, that my writing experience is not suited for creative endeavors; journal writing being a contemplation of actual life events. On the other hand,  creative endeavo...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 17, 2011, 9:42 am
The functional analyst was born in the Philippines, lived in Singapore for seven years, a 16 year veteran of the company, who worked in Logistics projects in Japan, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea, France, Brazil and Algeria, transferred to South Carolina 3 years ago, working in the same fi...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 16, 2011, 7:07 pm
I arrived at around 8 pm local time. The trip back was uneventful, leaving the office at about 1:30 pm and driving to Chicago Midway airport under dark skies, following the highway leading back to the city, seeing signs that lead to Wisconsin or Indiana, aware of the historic places nearby like Spri...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 15, 2011, 12:21 pm
Strong winds this morning, some flights delayed according to the television in the lobby, meeting the team for breakfast, telling stories of Christmas presents; the other two preparing to go to the airport while I go back to the office to check any loose ends or issues, planning to depart to Midway ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 15, 2011, 7:02 am
The final major piece was tested successfully today, software purring like a well-oiled machine, drawing grateful sighs from the team, a major milestone achieved; all is well in the world after all, God listening to the pleas of a tired and bruised team.  Leaving tomorrow, relieved the project has ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 14, 2011, 7:07 am
The past 2 days have been great but tiring. On the first day we toured the warehouse, seeing tasks never seen before like loading 60 foot agricultural tires in a flatbed truck, expertly put into place by an ace with a forklift, reminding one of flipping pancakes; afterwards setting up computers and ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 12, 2011, 11:11 pm
We arrived at Chicago- Midway airport at about 4 pm Central Time on Sunday. The weather was great, some traces of snow, but a clear sky with the temperature in the 30’s. We rented 2 cars because the other members would leave  early this coming Thursday, leaving me behind for a few hours so the sy...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 10, 2011, 11:57 am
Yesterday was another one of those days when everyone attributes a system bug to my project. It’s not the first time it happens so I end up scrambling to get things back on track and prove it isn’t me causing the issue; immediate response being the secret of damage control, a method honed to per...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 8, 2011, 9:40 pm
Michael Lewis is always an interesting writer, a noticeable result of his intriguing background, having studied in the London School of Economics, worked for Solomon Brothers, an undergraduate degree in art history, some years spent in the art world, giving him a certain perspective that is both int...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Dec 6, 2011, 8:12 pm
The reason one goes about distracting himself with fruitless diversions is to satisfy one’s curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat goes the famous saying, as curiosity lead one to discover new worlds and new ideas and new experiences, inevitably resulting in new desires and cravings, more shopping an...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Oct 26, 2011, 10:53 pm
Listening to the lecture ‘Building Sentences’ is like learning to write from scratch, bringing insight to areas I had never thought about, challenging long held assumptions and turning them inside out, relentlessly, challenging what one has learned so far, I sit and wonder if it’s too late to ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Oct 24, 2011, 9:45 pm
A patch was installed last week, removing a tiresome problem in the warehouse, unblocking the largest obstacle in the project’s path and paving the way for a further roll out to two other sites, giving everyone a fine sense of achievement before the year’s end. At least that’s the plan, an opt...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Oct 19, 2011, 10:26 pm
... and Toshiro Mifune’s biography last night, rushing through the pages of ... cinema. Kurosawa comes from samurai ancestors, the warrior spirit instilling his no ... innovations become common place, where the everyday moviegoer does not realize ... if not masterpieces. Mifune is the quinte...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Oct 17, 2011, 10:00 pm
One had an epiphany last night while trying to sleep. After watching the latest season of ‘Walking Dead’ and indulging in Internet surfing, I finally got to bed at around 12 midnight but tossed and turned until 1 am where I believe I dozed off,  and finally waking at around 6 am. During the per...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Oct 15, 2011, 5:37 pm
I am watching (or attending?) a lecture from the Great Courses called ’The Writer’s Craft – Building Great Sentences.’  It is a DVD of a university lecture from a professor who teaches in an Ohio college. Apparently the professor is well known. He dissects the craft of creating sentences wi...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Oct 12, 2011, 7:37 pm
‘The Dying Animal’ by Philip Roth reminds me of Yasunuri Kawabata’s ‘The House of Sleeping Beauties’ and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Memories of my Melancholy Whores.’ The story is about an aging Lothario or womanizer who has an affair with a much younger woman.  The protagonist of Ro...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Oct 3, 2011, 9:20 pm
Last weekend I hope would be the last that I would spend watching multiple DVDs or catching up on my reading frenzy.  These activities are not bad in itself but it distracts me on achieving my avowed goals.  When I am close to having something done or when I have firmed up my resolve, my mind neve...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 27, 2011, 6:59 pm
Taking medication for blood pressure causes one to make frequent trips to the bathroom. Previously one has taken the pills before bedtime as advised by the good doctor. But result in poor sleep due to the nocturnal travels required by Mother Nature. The reason for taking the pills at night is the si...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 26, 2011, 9:44 pm
During the weekend and most of last week, I watched 4 DVDs about the end of World War II. Particularly, the last campaigns in Europe that ended with the destruction of Berlin and the suicide of Hitler. My fascination with the last world war started with Erik Larsen’s excellent book ‘In the Garde...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 24, 2011, 10:42 am
Last week was disaster recovery test week. A company wide exercise that involved all the systems in the company. It was treated like a high severity event and all our partners like IBM were fully focused on the exercise. It was fitting that it was conducted during the week of the anniversary of Sept...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 12, 2011, 8:34 pm
This weekend I achieved a milestone. We made California Maki rolls  and had sashimi at home. It was a dream of mine, to be able to make Japanese food like sushi. It was simple, just a lot of preparation. Earlier it had seemed to be complex task that required specialized training but turned out that...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 10, 2011, 4:36 pm
Yesterday’s problems continued into the early evening when the Reno office called. Yes, the contagion hit Nevada, too. But it was not as bad as I thought. In fact it was a self-inflicted wound as the user locked themselves out of their account by signing in with a wrong password too many times. Bu...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 8, 2011, 10:03 pm
The bugs came out again today. Similar to the episode in mid-August, no one seems to know what happened. It came like a soft rumbling in the ground, like a coming earthquake. Luckily the scale did not tip over. The first inkling came at dawn when the support staff called me at home as I was getting ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 6, 2011, 9:33 pm
David McCullough’s new book ‘The Greater Journey’ has received mostly good notices in recent months. I have not read the book but I have read some of his previous ones particularly the abridged version of ‘Truman’ and ‘Path between the Seas’ about the Panama canal. I also enjoyed the H...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Sep 4, 2011, 11:06 pm
After going live in Reno, a number of issues have cropped up. The problems were due to the environment and not the program installed. Someone in a back office mistakenly pulled a plug or a switch was not working or someone tripped over a cable. The week after going live was a nightmare with the supp...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Aug 16, 2011, 10:39 pm
Leaving Reno on Friday was fraught with mishaps. At the last minute, as I was about to leave the warehouse, I got a call from our software supplier in Ohio. He could not login the server and work on the remaining issue we reported the other day. It was about 10 am Pacific Time and my flight home was...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Aug 13, 2011, 10:42 am
Yesterday we went back to the hotel early, arriving in my room at about 4 pm. I watched television, packed my bags and went to the gym where I used the cross-training machine for 35 minutes and the stationary bike for 10 minutes.  I watched the news which was all about the roller coaster swings in ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Aug 13, 2011, 10:26 am
This week is hot August nights in Reno, Nevada. It is the biggest event of the year according to the locals. The main attractions are the old, vintage and classic cars assembled in front of the hotel and then paraded down the main street in down town Reno. Almost all the cars are lovingly restored w...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Aug 8, 2011, 8:34 pm
Whenever I travel to a distant place due to work, I always have this morbid feeling that I will perish in an air crash. Ever since 9/11 this thought has risen to the surface, something that I always tried to keep below consciousness. It is an irrational fear that strikes though fleeting that I can e...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Aug 6, 2011, 8:12 am
Next week I will be in the good state of Nevada in the city of Reno.  It will be my second time in this quaint city near lovely Lake Tahoe.  The only thing I am worried about is the plane ride into the city where we descend through perilous air pockets caused by the surrounding mountains. Reno is ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Aug 1, 2011, 9:56 pm
Last night I watched Robert Redford’s ‘The Natural.’ It’s one of his best films. I prefer it more than the more commercially successful ‘Out of Africa.’ His films are more iconic and are rich in symbolism unlike Paul Newman’s films which are grittier – more on the social realism side...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jul 23, 2011, 8:25 am
A change in the environment created one of the worst weeks ever here at the support center. Imagine a change during business hours affecting the warehouses all over the continent.  Someone underestimated the risk which resulted in the late delivery of the items to the customer. What a mess, someone...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jul 20, 2011, 8:59 pm
The urge to write for some creative people is like a delirium that writing relieves once they express themselves in prose or poetry.  Writing is therefore a release - offering a therapeutic effect once the writing is completed. In these instances, writing is like a joyful act which allows their cre...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jul 18, 2011, 9:21 pm
The biography of Robert Redford has an interesting passage about the actor’s experience with Marlon Brando. Both stars appear in the movie ‘The Chase’. Redford was in awe of Brando and described his acting as ‘child’s play’. According to Redford, being a genius like Brando means retainin...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jul 12, 2011, 6:55 pm
An article in a recent issue in ‘Wired’ magazine says dictation is the new way of writing. The improvement of software like Dragon Naturally Speaking makes dictation easier. I installed the version before the current one and works exceedingly well. Previously I had used an older version and it i...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jul 12, 2011, 6:20 pm
Jonathan Franzen is as good an essayist as he is a novelist. ‘How to be alone?’ is a wonderful collection of his articles reprinted from various magazine publications. The most famous of his articles is the so-called Harper’s essay where he decried the decline of reading and the challenges of ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jul 9, 2011, 11:07 am
Reading Eckhart Tolle one would think that he has the answers to all life’s questions.  He has reached a level of spiritual awareness that is rare for a westerner. Usually such wisdom was the exclusive property of Eastern mystics such as Khrisnamurti or the Dalai Lama. Western spiritual leaders s...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jul 5, 2011, 10:39 pm
Pat Conroy’s book is an exuberant re-telling of his life as a reader and writer. His love of book reading led to his craft of writing. He considers himself a ‘southern writer’ – a label his mother first gave him as she was born in Georgia. There are chapters on great books which he feels ar...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jun 27, 2011, 9:15 pm
Eckhart Tolle’s book ‘New Earth’ is a welcome vision for today’s world. It provides an update to the spiritual teachings of modern day gurus like (late) Krishnamurthy or Dalai Lama. It moves beyond the spiritual and quotes work from science as well as modern writers like Jean-Paul Sartre and...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jun 24, 2011, 6:20 pm
I watched the classic movie ‘The Way We Were’ last night. It was not the movie I expected. I had thought it would be a run of the mill romance but in fact ended with the couple leaving each other. The last scene was the couple meeting again after many years apart although the meeting did not res...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jun 23, 2011, 10:22 pm
Writing a novel has more structure than most creative endeavors. I think it has more procedures than painting or sculpture for example. It is not a spontaneous event that most people think it is. Paul Allen the co-founder of Microsoft said that programming is like writing a novel. I agree with him. ...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jun 20, 2011, 10:04 pm
This morning I came to work faced with problems coming from the warehouse. This has been the story of my life after going live with the system about 2 months ago. It does not happen all the time but it is irritating to come to work with a critical problem in your hands. I used to dread these morning...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jun 15, 2011, 8:30 pm
There comes a time when one realizes that one’s assumptions is crap. A readjustment is needed to get back into track or at least to sanity. When does one realize that one is heading towards a cliff, after following all the self-help books that one can find? It’s a realization that all is for nau...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jun 10, 2011, 8:36 pm
We installed a storm door in the entrance to the back patio. My son helped me put it up. A sticker in the door claims that it will save 40% of electricity cost. Perhaps for that immediate area but not the total electric bill. It will filter the cold or heat by adding another layer to the back door w...
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juan m. posted an article on Manage Life - Jun 8, 2011, 9:41 pm
It’s like a blinding flash when all semblance of reason disappear in anger. The body moves in an unthinking gesture, driven by dark emotions. The episode ends in violence that one deeply regrets later on. Soon shouts are heard and the kids rush in trying to resolve the problem that had suddenly er...
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