Letter writing: wither thou goest?

Lately I've read some articles and heard some talk on public radio about personal communication. More to the point, in summary nobody writes letters any more, and many lament the loss of handwriting. Writing as someone who usually got "D"s, with the rare “C”, in penmanship and who's been typing for almost forty years, in some ways that's a good thing. I can print clearly but it's tedious, slow, and the longer I write the harder it becomes to read. On the other hand I can type about forty words a minute with very few errors (thank you, backspace key!) and the print is clear.

And yet I think the discussions made a good point. With Twitter, blogging, Facebook and texting nobody writes any more. Even email seems to have run its course with some people. So I decided I need to write more letters. Many of them will, of course, be emails (I'd rather not waste the paper to send a letter to two dozen or so people), yet I do want to get more in touch with people.

Writing letters is not quite the same as speaking to people, whether face-to-face or over the telephone. Frankly I'd much rather sit down with people; that's so much more enjoyable. Unfortunately distance makes that impossible for some, and so they get letters instead.

Some will argue typing an email is less personal than writing a letter by hand, and I won't argue with that. I remember during and after college exchanging letters (sometimes quite long ones!) with friends from other states, sometimes as many as five or six a year. I still think, though, if I write in a stream-of-conscious style (as if speaking) that is just as personal as typing a letter, which I did sometimes do even if the typewriter was a clunky, old manual which needed a sledgehammer to use the "Q" and "P" keys.

And I have to admit I still have some of those old hand-written letters, some of them from a high-school pen pal from England named Titilope Omomo (if I remember the spelling correctly). I'm not sure where they're packed other than they are in a box with other memories such as knick-knacks, papers, yearbooks, and other things. There's something about holding a thirty-year-old piece of paper and reading words written in pen that's somewhat faded which you can't get from saving emails.

I've decided I'm going to write to my friends more often. Of course it'll be emails, mostly, but sometimes they will be hand-written letters. I'm not abandoning the old ways, just adding new ways to them.

Amazing "vomits"

Anyone who hasn't been in a box the last couple of days knows there was a terrible earthquake in Haiti. Hundreds of thousands of people are in dire straits in that already poor country. While the devastation, death, and injury toll are immense, even worse are the probable longer-term effects of a vast increase in infectious diseases.

Haiti is a tropical island. We've long known tropical habitats are hot spots for diseases seriously affecting the human condition: yellow fever, malaria, cholera, typhus, and so on. With much of her infrastructure gone, finding clean water will be difficult and many of the destroyed areas will become breeding grounds for insects (particularly mosquitoes) which spread these and other dread diseases. It's going to be a long, hard road back for the Haitians.

I truly feel bad for the people of Haiti... and yet there are still people who can take a true tragedy and turn it into a circus to spread their particular brand of hate. I'm talking about Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.

Robertson said, in effect, the earthquake in Haiti is the result of their "making a pact with Satan to remove the French." Limbaugh said the earthquake would let the Obama administration "use this to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community, in both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country. It's made to order for them. ... We've already donated to Haiti. It's called the U.S. income tax." (quotes from Zennie Abraham, Zennie62.com.)

While hate speech like this ought to be embarrassing to any Christian, at least most people agree Pat Robertson is a certifiable lunatic and genuinely believes what he says. Because of that I can somewhat tolerate his deplorable comments, at least relative to Limbaugh's (after all, aren't the ravings of the truly insane just empty words?). Further, Robertson has since backed away from his comments; Rush stands by his. Limbaugh says the things he does simply to inflame people and further his political agenda, so he doesn't even have the "excuse" of being insane; he does it deliberately. It's so disgustingly, disturbingly low I don't think English has a suitable word to describe it.

Why does the broadcast media pay these people to spew their hatred? I'm all for free speech but this isn't free; Limbaugh has a $400 million contract with ClearChannel Broadcasting. Stop paying him, put that money toward helping the people of Haiti, and let him scream from a soapbox like all the rest of us.

Annual Credit Report

The only real place to get a truly free credit report is AnnualCreditReport.com. While the guys singing cool songs advertise "FreeCreditReport.com" (/~tell your friends, tell your boss, tell your mom~/) that site is not really free. The best advice: stagger getting credit reports from the three major bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) every four months. That way you have a frequently-updated list of credit reports and yet leave a gap of one year for each bureau.

If you want your FICO score along with your credit report, good luck; it's not free. However, on AnnualCreditReport.com both Equifax and TransUnion (Experian and FICO don't work together any more) offer a cheap FICO score, at $4.95 each. If you want a reasonably good estimate for free, the calculator at MSN's Money Central. Take the 10-question survey and get a fairly accurate (if broad) estimate of your FICO score.

Finally, don't forget to check for errors (cards not closed, mistaken late payments, theft not reported, etc.) and send each bureau a letter to be attached to your credit report. Those letters do get looked at, and they're leverage for you if a lender questions some aspect of your credit report or score.

If this is new to you, start doing it this month. Let keeping up with your credit situation be your New Year's Resolution for 2010. Good luck!

How many times... 42?

What I meant by the title was both a reference to the "Hitchhiker's" trilogy and the number of times I've claimed to be "back again." I know, you're tired of hearing that. This time I mean it, although I'm no longer daily.

I've decided, for 2010 and beyond, to take back my life from my job. In 2008 I had a good balance on my personal life and my job; all I needed was to bring my family into that circle. And really that wouldn't have been too hard; a large part of my personal life is my family anyway. What I was missing was longer, closer relations with my children (who are now teenagers). My son is looking at high schools; my daughter will be looking at (gasp!) colleges next year. At this point I can relate to them on an equal level, something I have had difficulty doing in the past... not their fault, mine. I had some issues to work out and, while they're still issues, I now know what they are, and that's (more than) half the battle.

2009 was, in many different ways, a lost year for me. Betty and I accomplished a few things we set out to do, the kids are growing into (relatively) responsible people, and things like that. Somehow, though, I lost my own way; the energy I used to spend on my personal things (learning, raising children, continually building my relationship with my wife etc.) by July was getting spent on work. I hit the dreaded burn-out and, what was worse, I knew it and let it happen anyway.

2010 is going to be different. I'm taking my life back... all of it. While I still want to do well in the office I am no longer going to get worried when people tell me they need something "now" and I don't get it to them until "five minutes from now". That was my problem: trying to please everyone only resulted in pissing everyone off. When I gave one pissed-off person more time so they wouldn't get mad that time came from another person who wasn't mad, but got mad when they found out I couldn't finish their project because I borrowed their time for the other projects. No more. Time is getting budgeted by priority and value, and those items come from my management, not someone to whom I do not report.

I have discussed this with both my management and the project managers I produce work for. My manager is all for it and, surprisingly, most of the people I work with are also for it; they realize most of me is better than none of me. Those who are not, well, I will do my best to meet their demands but there are new lines I won't cross (they're fuzzy lines, but better than no lines at all). You know PMs, though; most are reasonable, and there are a few who think they own you.

One last piece of news: you may notice I'll sometimes sign my blog "danodea" and tag each entry with that. I am starting to build a brand for myself, and that's it. Simple, to the point: my name. I did, briefly, consider DFO; I did use that in a brand-like sense for 20+ years. However, that personality is no longer dominant, if you will; I got that nickname in college, and I think I need to shed some of its, let's say less graceful connotations. Besides, how do I explain to upper-management types why my middle name is "James" but the middle letter in my brand of "initials" is "F"? No easy task for a professional, so that has to go. Those of you who knew me in college or early in my career will understand; the rest of you, go ahead and guess; it's not that difficult, and when you get it right it will be crystal-clear why I'm dropping it.

After that digression, I will close with saying I will try to blog here once a week. Since I have three blogs (two work blogs and this one) I can't manage a daily effort. If I have a really good entry I may duplicate it across blogs... well, at least this one and my primary work blog, which is career-oriented (my third blog is a grammar blog and will not be copied here). If I do use the same entry at work and here (DISCLAIMER FOLLOWS) there will never be any specific IBM information on it; it will either be redacted or not used at all. For an example, please read the third and fourth paragraphs; in a different (and enlarged) form it has already appeared on my IBM blog.

It's good to be back.

So much for "Daily", and a proposal.

I started this blog with the best intentions, but I have too much to do for a daily blog, so I'll have to make it a weekly. This week I'm doing my taxes, upgrading my social network, and learning a new position at IBM.

The current bailout, now... what's with that? One idea I've had is this: universal conscription. Now stop yelling; you know I don't mean a draft or everyone fighting. What I mean is this.

The US should create a separate part of the "Armed Services", call it something like the "Service Corps" or something like that. When someone reaches the age of eighteen they must register with this corps. The corps works like this.

• A person has ten years to complete the equivalent of a two-year commitment. Two consecutive years, two full years, four six-month tours, whatever.
• This commitment is non-combat duty, so no boot camp is required.
• The duties of a Corps member are US infrastructure, communications, environmental clean-up services (anything from picking up garbage in a public park to Superfund assistance), or any of several related services good for our society.
• Exemptions are given for severe handicaps, teachers, nurses, employees of the Federal or state governments, and other people already doing Corps-type services as their job.
• Wages and benefits are paid as if the person was in the Armed Services.
• People may remain in the Corps as a career member, in which case they are treated as career members of the Armed Services (same requirements, same benefits).
• Members of the Corps are separate from our actual armed forces regarding recognition. If recognition is needed a new set of awards, separate from armed service personnel, should be created.

I am not trying to cheapen the military arm at all. I am proud of our servicemen, and highly respect them for the sacrifices they give. What I am trying to do is to get the rest of the country to chip in also. Many people skip joining our military because they have no wish or stomach for violence (that's my position; I hate violence). This gives all citizens the ability to pitch in so the military can spend their time doing what the military is good at; assuring our safety from attack. This group of people would take over some of the jobs now done by the National Guard such as bringing aid to natural disaster areas, rebuilding infrastructure, and other non-combat duties.

What do you think? All opinions are welcome; I don't claim to be an expert in this field.