A Week Without Coffee

I drink 1-2 cups of coffee per day. Often that comes in the form of mochas and lattes or chocolate covered espresso beans. Well, over the last few months instead of having coffee 3-5 times a week I was drinking it nearly every day. Fearing the stories of caffine addiction I decided I needed to take a week off.

Starting last Friday I quit coffee. I made it all week. The worst day was Monday because I hit my head skiing by falling off a table in the terrain park Sunday and I had a headache from that. I am sure that the caffine withdraw also contributed to the headache as well. It was a relatively minor headache and far less disconcerting than the altitude headache I had at 20,300 feet on Broad Peak.

The illusion of control is a funny thing. We like to think we control something, but it is an illusion. Thus my attempt to "control" my coffee habit. Regardless of the fact that I am back on the cup now, the experiment was a success. I proved to myself that I could quit and continued my illusion that I control my coffee intake.

Does Loyalty Matter Anymore?

Part of "The American Dream" is that by working harder you can get ahead, whatever that means. However, it is a well known fact that switching companies typically leads to a promotion and a raise. I have also been part of many organization that often focus on recruitment, and not retention. While this article is not the recruitment versus retention discussion, it has some of those themes.

This came up a few months ago among some of my friends. The subject came up that people sometimes leave something hanging to go somewhere else to get a bigger paycheck yet those who stayed do not get bigger paychecks at the end of the project. We felt as if loyalty was not rewarded. In hindsight I think that perhaps we were not thinking as long term as we should have. Often times the top management at companies consists of people that have been very loyal to the company for a long time. Additionally people do receive bonuses and raises based on their performance.

Another similar example is coaching a team of "individuals". I do not do much with recruitment because I feel that my time is better spent doing other things. Besides, my coaching salary comes out to about half of minimum wage already. However, I do feel a huge need to be involved in retention of current athletes. I can not coach someone who doesn't show up. Furthermore, I am currently dealing with such a small group of people that losing just one to injury or motivation is a double digit percentage loss. So I regularly ask how everyone is feeling and say thank you to them for showing up and cheer them on not only in running but also in other life events. Part of my job as coach is an attention giver. To some extent all the kids that show up want some sort of attention. Not every day, but at some point they want reinforcement of their perceived success.

In other words, if you can buy gas for $2.99 a gallon at the corporation that funnels money through warlords or buy it for $3.14 next door at the "free-trade" corporation that you have been using for the last three years because the two gas prices used to be the same price, would you still buy the expensive gas?

Loyalty is a finicky thing. Car companies have it, heavy equipment companies have it, Apple has it, Coke and Pepsi have it, cigarettes have it and so do a number of smaller companies, like my family's greenhouse. One of the interesting questions that has come up as a contract employee is, 'does the company that I am at have any loyalty toward me?' They are not providing health or retirement benefits and my timesheet and pay are on a weekly basis. It is quite obvious that if there would be a downturn severe enough, the contract employees would be "let-go" before the actual employees. The contract labor system is becoming more and more common at all levels of pay at a company. It is especially difficult for unskilled and low-skilled workers, the demographic that I feel would benefit the most from enhanced corporate loyalty.

I am learning so much as I grow up and experience life. It is not necessarily that my perceptions of the world are turned upside down, it is simply that a secret door seems to open in one room after another and provide me with a whole new set of ideas and experiences. I wasn't really looking for these doors, but since I now know they are there, I want to see what exists on the other side.

Leave a comment. Does loyalty still matter?

It's Official.

One of the interesting things about "industry" is that if something isn't written down, it didn't happen. In other words, when I write a report, or even an email, what I wrote becomes official and could end up in court if someone sues.

The problem is, if doubt is expressed in writing about something that does not get changed, heads will roll. That is a good thing, however, to the best of my knowledge the repercussions to being oblivious to a problem are minor. In other words, if I approve a flawed design because my calculations were flawed no one in engineering will be punished for it. On the other hand if I reject a design that gets made anyway and it fails, people will get in trouble. Or at least the company will get in trouble and have to pay millions.

I have not been put in this spot, and I doubt that I will because I do my analysis well and the physical testing protocol that we have is very stringent. I also understand that the corporate laws are set so that there is limited liability to individuals working for the corporation. That is a good thing as well because simple mistakes that could destroy many strong careers are instead absorbed by the company instead of the individual.

However, I like accountability. I like the reward of success and the burden of failure. It might sound crazy to say that I like failure, but I do. If you never fail you aren't trying hard enough. Failure is recognition of our faults. Failure is the reminder that we are nowhere near perfect. Recognizing and accepting failure is also an important stage in growth. When we look back and think, 'I could have handled that better' the desire is that next time we will handle it better. Believe me, I am far more prepared for unemployment now than I was before when I failed at unemployment.

In other words, if I find a problem, I will say so. My relatives all say my grandpa was honest to a fault. He would tell people things they did not want to hear. I hope that I can be that definitive with the facts.

I Live in Iowa: Week 40

40 weeks!! That's fantastic! I like consistency and routine, and I'm getting there. Of course I also like new challenges and adventures...

This week at work was a good week. The Deere employees had Monday off but being as I don't work directly for them I did not get eight hours of holiday pay. So I went in and worked for about five hours. It was really nice, sleep ten hours, go for a morning run in the day light, work five hours, go for an afternoon run in the daylight. The rest of the week I resumed my normal 8-9 hour days. Once again I finished two projects this week. Actually three, but one only took me three hours. Then on Friday I was able to talk to my supervisor's supervisor who actually hired me and thank him for this opportunity. I am very blessed to have had 40 weeks doing what I do here. As my debt continues to decline, my bank account continues to climb, my social circle continues to expand, and my aerobic base continues to increase I feel so incredibly fortunate! There is so much wealth and prosperity that I enjoy! No one deserves this much success.

On a side track, I make a point of thanking servicemen that I work with or exercise with because I am so thankful for them working to make the world a better place. I enjoy so many privileges simply because of where I was born. This weekend I finally thanked a serviceman from Afghanistan that saw "action". Everyone else I have encountered was in Iraq, some saw no action because they were stationed at large bases. I realized that I take an interest in their stories because I want to empathize with them and share their pain.  It is not appropriate that 1%, often the most disadvantaged 1%, have to bear the burden of safety for all of us in this country. While I never intend to put myself in that position of getting shot at or blown up, refusing to greatly appreciate that sacrifice would be just plain ignorant. While I am ignorant about many things, I feel this topic is too great to avoid.

Circle back toward the title, I finally moved to Iowa this week. My van now has Iowa license plates. It also has 280,700 miles on it and it doesn't like to steer in the cold very well. This worries me because if it breaks, I do not have a backup. Thus, I am officially in the market for a newer vehicle. Feel free to solicit me with you opinions. Keep in mind that I do take a long time to make decisions and hopefully I will not actually buy anything for two or three years.

Coaching is going well. On Saturday we had a track meet at UW Whitewater. In total from the time I arrived at our gym in the morning until we returned it was 16 hours. On the positive side our kids are improving and getting better, even though none of them are performing as well as they would like. But that is the whole point of development, break the perfect performance into trainable qualities and systematically train them in some order over a period of time so that when put together at the end of the season the result is the greatest. That is why we have classes in schools and in college. One lesson or class does not a student make. In other words my athletes, you are probably not going to PR very often until April, then you will run faster than you even desired.

My own running went well. I ran 56 miles, about as much as last week. I talked to the coach at UW Platteville, Tom Anczak because he enjoyed much success as a marathoner in the 70s and 80s and as a coach now. Two of his suggestions were to run my daily runs faster, and to work on my sprint speed. So I am. I did a 10 miler at 6:30 pace and a couple of runs at 6:05 pace this week and a few slower repeat miles around 5:40 pace. In other words, hardly a workout they are so easy, but far harder than my typically daily runs. Next Saturday, I'm getting on the track to run some races. I'm not sure which ones, but I will probably run an open 400 in addition to a distance race. My PR is a hand timed 58 high and I would like to go under 57. I have also volunteered my services to several coaches and athletes as a rabbit in case they desire to run a fast (implied a national qualifying) time.

Socially, RFA/Minnesota Engineering, my actual company had a friday night get together and dinner this weekend. It was a really good time. We all work together and see each other but we rarely talk socially or do anything outside of work and it was nice to get to know everyone a little better.

My life is surely good, I hope that you had a good week as well.

Meb Won Because Carlos Lopez Won

Back in the early 1980s a young American, Alberto Salazar, was running some very fast times and people predicted he would win the 1984 Olympic Marathon in Los Angeles at the age of 26. However, one of the best coaches at the time, and really the guy that wrote the book on long distance training, Arthur Lydiard was asked to make a prediction about who would win, and he picked Carlos Lopez, who was 36 at the time.

The reason being that all other things being equal, in a marathon the person with the biggest aerobic base has the ability to run away from everyone else at the end. So when Meb Keflezighi at age 36 ran away from Ryan Hall at age 29 to win by 22 seconds over the final miles it should not be a big surprise. He may not be the fastest, but in a championship style race the race is typically won in the final miles and again, other things being equal, the person with the largest aerobic base will win.

It is also interesting to mention that Meb set a personal record at New York City in November at 2:09:13 on a relatively tough course, and then set a PR about ten weeks later in Houston at 2:09:08. When I tell people that I have a long way to go in running, that is what I mean, setting personal records twice at age 36. Now I might move on to something else long before then, and perhaps have a family or something, but the fact is, it takes a long time to reach your potential in this sport. One season or one year is not enough.

I feel like it is a good metaphor for other careers and for life. When will I peak in my professional career, 50s? 60s? 70s? 80s? No way! Not my 80s! But I just asked the question, and like a seed the idea will grow. The question will arise, is it possible to be on top of your game in your 80s? What about socially, with a family? At what point will I be most effective as a family member? I don't know, but the point is, I have a lot to look forward to in the future.

Ten Things About Engineering You Don't Learn in College

They say experience matters, and it does. In fact, knowing what I know now I would say that twelve months of experience, such as during a co-op, is a great idea and huge advantage to an engineer's career. Well here is a non-exhaustive list of things they don't thoroughly teach in college.

1. Cost drives everything. You can make a great design that lasts for decades, but if it survives the warranty period that's good enough, and it probably costs less.
2. There are many right and many wrong answers, but no grades. It's really a pass or fail world. Of course, defining fail is another reason engineers get paid so much.
3. The expectation is to get X amount of work done in Y amount of hours. It usually takes .5Y or .75Y or .9Y to do X amount of work. But there are days when it takes 1.5Y hours of work to do X.
4. Seniority is based primarily on age and years of experience, not necessarily education or performance although they do account for something. 
5. There is a lot of monotony. Instead of taking four different classes you are doing one thing or perhaps two, nearly all the time.
6. Few people use calculus. I know a lot of math, but most of the time I don't use any of it. Most of the important calculations have spreadsheets or macros (small computer programs or additions to a computer program). Simply plug in numbers and receive a result. 
7. Microsoft Excel is probably the most used engineering software in the US.
8. You are likely to get hired if you already have a job in that industry. It is harder to get a job if you are unemployed or changing fields. 
9. Successful engineers must keep learning to stay current. If you thought education ended when you got a job, you are wrong. Standards and expectations are always changing. 
10. The things that we do and choices that we make in our offices costs others millions of dollars and can determine life or death for some people. If a roll over protection system fails, someone will likely die. Engineering can be isolating. We don't always see the manufacturing process or the operator using our product. A "win" might be a part that weights 30 pounds less (when measured on the computer) or seeing yellow (moderate) strains instead of red (high) strains. At the end of the day the bridge is not 10 feet longer or the building one story higher, the pictures on the computer simply have different shapes. 

Those are a few of the things I have encountered. I could expand on most of those, but I will leave it as it is. I am so fortunate to have the job that I do! This is such a great learning experience for me. One of the things that I like to do as I am encountering these new situations is ask, how could we do this better? So often, I really don't have an answer. It is great to be working to improve something and not have a cut and dried solution already in your head. It keeps it interesting. It keeps me thinking.

I Live in Iowa: Week 39

I worked 42 hours, I ran 57 miles, I coached through my first track meet, and I did not sleep enough.

To elaborate on that I was thinking about the progress I have made in one year as a structural analyst is amazing. I am so productive. I finished two projects this week and made significant progress on a third. I am significantly more valuable now than I was a year ago. Basically one FEA class would have been a huge benefit for me, but now that I have on the job training it works out.

I ran a three mile tempo, 4x400 meters, short hills, and a five mile in 31 minutes this week. It's not a great week, but it's huge progress. I am planning to run some indoor track races over the next few weeks with an eye toward bring down my PRs from 400m to 5000m. Specifically, a 56 or 57 400, 2:08 800, 4:2X mile, 8:XX 3000, and something big in the 5000. I would like to get in a high 14s 5k race and see what happens. Can I break 15? I'll let you know in a few weeks after I get a few more workouts in my legs.

Coaching is going well. We have very few runners, but they are excited to be there, and I know we are making significant long term progress. We had our first track meet of the year and a handful of people had PR performances. Most did mediocre. Overall, it's good to know where we stand now. Plus, no one is peaking for the first of 16 meets this year. We want to perform our best at the end of the season.

The Olympic Marathon Trials took place down in Houston and I was glued to my phone checking updates. Hopefully I will be able to watch it at some point, but NBC is typically giving terrible coverage of long distance running. Oh well, only 41 million Americans are runners, hardly a target demographic. Fortunately, there were several media from people microblogging the race.

I hope you all had a good week.