efoxley.com | dope

So … I travel weekly. Today I find myself in Clovis NM.

When I got settled this evening, fired up the laptop and arrived and the splash screen, below is one of the segments of the sign-in page of Hilton. I think I’ll stay in the room tonight.

So – I travel a lot. Like 2-3 nights a week are in a hotel. Fortunately, my company is pretty good about taking care of me with this – I can stay in some nice hotels and have a per diem that is solid. We work hard, should be taken care of.

But 2 things that have been to mind recently that have made a difference considerably when traveling …

1 – Remember (and use) this IP address: 8.8.8.8. If you are using different hotels (sometimes under the same banner, ie Hilton), this address will reset any cookies that you had in your system and send you to the sign-in page if you are using the hotel’s wifi. Through the years, I have gotten hung-up consistently because the sign-in page I am trying to contact to sign in that night is still hung up on the prior night’s/visit’s stay in another city. Try 8.8.8.8 – it works well.

2 – Really only applies if you are a cord-cutter (we recently ended our 20 year contract with DirecTV and use the Firestick for HULU, Netflix, etc (it’s amazing … did my due diligence on this vs Roku, etc). Carry an extra streaming device in your bag! It’s like bringing your TV with you. You see, when I’m in a non-home city or from hotel to hotel – every market and TV and remote is different. Sometimes it is so fustrating to fumble around to find the ‘guide’ or channel you want … this is just plainly awesome. Plug it in, connect, BOOM! Your channels are right there and you have your handy voice-activated remote. Can’t say just how awesome this has been for me …

That’s all for today …

back to email.

One thing I have realized since leaving my prior employer is just how we are perceived in the world. They (DG) serve the under-priveleged, rural areas of the populace; thereby -by association, it seems- they and their leaders are perceived the same: Less Than.

I will say my 10 years there was ‘interesting’ – it was tough at times, great at others. I had incredible times to work with some of the best minds in retail; however, I mention the company name to people I work with now, and I can see the grimace. It’s unfortunate. To some extent, my most valuable time in my career (operations/leadership/growth/execution/vision) feels like the most damaging (cheap/little-league/tacky). 16k stores can’t be wrong, but it always feels that way now.

As an outsider to them looking in, it’s very easy to join that train of thought.

Ultimately what matters is breadth of knowledge and passion. These are things no one can teach. Don’t judge – learn to appreciate and collect wisdom and different perspectives from unlikely sources. You will be surprised, I promise.

Just my thought for the day that I wanted to put out there …

Dad died on the 6^th of January. Not unexpected, but certainly grounding. Miss you. Dad.

Lenny Cohn – a good friend from high school died in January, too.

Today, Troy texted me to let me know Chris Bowie died today. A very good friend who was such a character and one that I will always remember with such a smile.

All of these deaths … it’s crazy. Crazy eye-opening.

I remember my marriage day with many people around – many people now gone. It was a day in time where many families and friends where around. That day in time was our day – not Tina’s and mine, but a day when we were all together. And now, some are gone forever. How cool it would be to go back and hug people a little harder. Dad, Travis, Grandma Suina … who else? It is now a blur.

In many years, there will be a day like that for people not around now. Don’t really know my point here – but every day counts, I guess. Every day we are together … counts.

We are alive right now and share these days together. History is full of snippets of times and days. This is our time together. As Jim Morrison said – no one gets out alive.

Hug each other, okay?

Okay … shopping for gifts/books this week. Ran across the classic “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader” series.

On Amazon, you can buy used and save a little cash. Not sure I’d want to buy an UJ Bathroom Reader book … used. You’re call though, I guess.

… And this is why we are just about to complete the Cord-Cutting process.

We got 1 Gig speeds a few months back, an Eero mesh system about a month back, I rewired a few outlets around the house to prepare for Rokus, Ethernet, etc. Only step left is our media server setup, a receiver to purchase, some speakers for ceiling surround and patios. Then, just software packages – which I’ve already filtered.

Cutting the Cord gets less expensive/more competitive monthly. My satellite goes the other way.

Received this email this week:

Turned one year older today. I’ve certainly had enough birthdays to allow the occasion to pass quietly. However, this year was different.

Beyond the texts and calls, there was one voice that was not here today. Dad’s.

Dad is around – don’t get me wrong. Physically he is here (Austin) … but ‘dementia’ has quietened him. As the day progressed today, I began to be saddened by this for probably the first time in the year that it has really hit him.

This is the first birthday in my life where he has not called – which really hit me. Since I moved out of Texas in 1992, he would also ALWAYS send me a card that would arrive EXACTLY on the day. He was always very proud of that – that he could time USPS for the card to land on my birthday.

“Did you get my card?” he would ask when he called, always knowing the answer.

Heading into October, I guess I kind of expected the absence of that silly tradition. Tina and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on the 11th – and no card (his card execution was beyond birthdays, too). So I wasn’t surprised, per se. But it hurt today.

I realized that I won’t ever see another card from my father again. It sucks more than I ever imagined it would.

So will be working over the next couple of months to get the site refreshed. It’s been a while.

• DOPE has a broken element. Menus/Posts are not auto-collapsing. Has been this way for about a year. Time to get into wordpress code and correct or find a new layout.
• PICTURES. I have gone straight to Amazon Photos for all of our devices and pictures. The advantages are numerous (no limits, RAW, no compression) compared to Google, Cloud, etc. Did my research here. I am working to transition all photos from all devices here. Taking some time.
• Various other enhancements, tweaks … coming.

Stay tuned.

We all know Trump just gets out of hand with his tweets – it’s like nothing in history. Last night’s, though, not only pissed off the sports world – but showed poor judgement with timing in the political world.

He is actually flying to Ohio today (home state of Lebron James) to attend a rally for a Republican candidate in a critical election heading into the midterms …

I’m sure you’ve seen the ads lately – specifically Facebook and Wells Fargo. I call them “We’re Sorry” ads. Really? Here is Facebook’s:

What strikes me is the blame – “we were special. Then ‘something happened’ – as if it wasn’t their fault. Um – they sold the ads, they let it happen. “Something Happened” is a spin on their issues. And, as I’m sure you’ve heard … on Facebook, you aren’t the customer you are the product. “Something Happened” is not an answer or excuse, it is the eventuality of the platform. Nothing Will Change as their model is built on the very thing that they are apologizing for.

And, then, Wells Fargo.

“We know the value of trust, we were built on it.”

Um … try this: “We knew the value of trust, we ignored what we were built on.” So they change the music mid-way, and promise us they have changed.

Both of these ads are just bad – bad in overall messaging in that they admit they have blown it and are asking for another chance. I continually see them of late, and have to laugh. We are now seeing apologies and promises to ‘do better’? Wow.

“We know our smokes cause cancer. We’re sorry. We will do better”. Okay – I know there is an argumentative fallacy in that last quip, but not too far off of an analogy.

Truly look beyond the witticisms, music, and production value. Do you really trust them?

I sure as hell don’t.

So we went to Purgatory ski resort in Durango, CO for Spring Break this week. Just got back last night. The kids are exhausted, which is good.

The first time snowboarding for anyone can be brutal, and their experience was no different. Actually ended in tears for both. Seeing so many whoosh by on their board or on skis is deflating for the first-timer, as one has little context: you don’t realize or understand that those ‘whooshers’ have been up a few times. No one really masters the skill the first time. You spend most of your time getting up from falls.

That clarity came to point on this trip as, even though I hadn’t been on my board for about ten years(!), I only fell a couple of times. My pain was fairly limited to my ankles and knees only – and just a small amount. It’s the repeated falls and getting back up that really makes it painful in the end.

But I lost out on my equipment on the trip. My old Device boots (step-in snowboard boots) finally died. On my 4th run of the day, the back section of my left boot (which holds the bolt which locks into my bindings) ripped off of my boot. I was able to keep the front of my foot in the bindings and hobble my way down about 100 yards. Then, my right one ripped off! I was stuck but was fortunate enough to be near a lift and was able to take the ‘gondola of shame’ back down to the base.

The boots had some sentimental value to me – these were the boots (bindings, and board) that I purchased in Santa Fe years ago when I first started (and experienced the pain that Elyce and Gavin had this trip). What was funny was that at the start of the day, when we were getting dressed to hit the mountain, a kid came by and saw my board and said “whoah – retro! How awesome!”

After lunch with Tina and the kids and $40 later, I had a new set of boots and a board (rental) to finish out the day. But my boots stayed behind as we left Purgatory. But I’m keeping the board!

25 Years Ago today Tina and I started dating. Crazy. What better way to celebrate than Frontier on a Sunday morning!

This is disgusting. Just sayin’.

Interesting article. This is where you have to weigh your options if you are bald and want to pursue this: Hair or Health?

Your call.

I don’t know – I may be over-astonished by this, but Gavin walked out of his room Friday night with this in his hand.

I was a little taken aback. Tina was like ‘oh yeah, he did that earlier today, too.’

Gavin was home all day Friday, in bed. Was sick. You know, everyone’s freaking out about the flu that is going around. Thursday night he was coughing and had a fever. Friday morning it was determined that he should remain in bed. Apparently, he had the cube in his bed and since he wasn’t able to use his computer his mind went to solving. And there you go.

If you haven’t heard … Net Neutrality was killed by the FCC.

How will it impact us? See Burger King’s genius video here. Sadly, this is how most consumers have to understand this important legislation … through a fast food analogy.

Alright – I’m not old. Just getting older. We’re all getting older. Get off my lawn! er, Get off of my rocks (I live in the desert). No, that sounds bad. I have digressed into a twisted chasm.

I’m getting older.

I hate it.

Yesterday I sneezed and I pinched a freakin’ nerve in my back. I am not kidding you. All day I was hobbling around carefully and whining and moaning about my back – when it started with a sneeze. I woke up this morning with the pain at a much lower threshold and feel great. I feel normal. I feel younger. I take these moments now when my body doesn’t hurt and am so happy and appreciative of these ever-minimizing windows. As such is this morning as I drink this huge cuppa coffee and feel so much better. Which leads to my second point about getting old that I thought of this morning, prior to firing up the beast …

I seem to be getting up earlier and earlier, and going to bed earlier and earlier. By Choice.

My Friday night is spent reading my tablet in front of the fire (oh – old(er) people don’t like to be cold, either), listening to the TV about our president’s latest faux-pas on the news … waiting to when Tina and I determine it’s ‘bed-time’. It’s a glorious hour, folks. Those of you who are old(er) know this.

But slumbering past 7am is practically impossible the next morning, and 5am is now practical. Jeesh – this is crazy. I’m scared that soon I will be approaching (as a wake up time) the hour which (earlier in my life) was my actual bed-time after a night of bar-hopping and almost-illegal activities!

All of this just serves as a reminder to Seize This Day. I don’t want to get all philosophical here, but it is so very true. I’m going to finish this up (it’s still before 7am and the sun is not up yet), so I still have some time to finish this cuppa joe and get things planned for the day … I have a lot to get done today and I’ve got an early bedtime tonight, yo.

I promised in our 2017 Holiday Update that I would spend more time with /dope updates … but when logging in today, noticed things have gone awry and the formatting/auto-condensing is not functioning properly. May have to reboot /dope.

For the first time in a very long time (in my career), I’m off the week after Christmas and before New Years Day. It’s pretty incredible, frankly.

With the Big Move this year, my other 2 weeks of vacation time were spent preparing to list our former home and the other was spent actually moving into our new home. Since that time, we have been moving in slowly but surely. Still, we have about 30 boxes or so that we haven’t seen the bottoms of. Functionally, we are in and good; however, there are still many loose ends and pieces that we are still putting together.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day completing ‘The Network’ – WiFi extenders, add-on routers and hubs, printers, network drives, etc. I also spent time in my office getting the wiring/monitors/shelving set. Today, I have other things to accomplish around the house (like watching more bowl games), but was tinkering around in some remaining boxes in the office. Then came across this …

Okay – what the hell? I know when we were packing up in the summer, we got a little sloppy towards the end – but this just gave me flashbacks of the chaos. I really don’t remember winding up all of my cords in my old office and tangling everything up. This sucks.

So I guess, ultimately, I am finding what is important and not important as we continue to unpack from the move. But a good reminder, nonetheless, of being appreciative of spending the week at ‘home’ and being able to enjoy our new home.

So I’m driving home from El Paso and I guess Tina and the kids weren’t home. I see a package sitting on our front doorstep – it had been there for an hour.

We hadn’t ever had any issues with stolen packages, but with the season and the madness of all of the online ordering … you never know. Seeing that package sit on the doorstep for an hour was concerning me. Then this guy shows up! Nice Move (he put his own delivery in one of our flower pots – did the same with the waiting package), Bro – have a great Christmas!

Ran across this earlier in the week last week – thought it was brilliant.

Be sure to add their email address to your contacts, then simply forward every scam email to said box. Delete. Done.

Walmart is definitely sweating over Amazon – most retailers are. Latest stat I read was Amazon only held 14% of sales – so there is a much tougher road ahead. I hate that, but it is forcing retail to think creatively about the platform and new solutions. I think it is great for the consumer and it is fun to be a part of this as my career.

But Walmart?

The commercials are really cute and fun with the music and crap – but bottom line: they STILL CANNOT DELIVER.

I ordered online about a year ago, for ISPU (In-Store Pick Up) – and no dice. I showed up to pickup the video game I ordered for Elyce … had to walk to the back of the store, wait for help, and it had not been processed. Meanwhile, the product was on the shelf about 10 feet from us as we were at the ISPU desk waiting for resolution. Never Mind.

Fast forward to 2017.

Hearing a lot of news about WMT upping their game, getting things right, making it easier. Let’s give this another shot.

1. It was a Sunday about a month ago, I went to walmart.com to order groceries. Can’t pickup today – try tomorrow. No thanks – what the hell is the point? You’re spending all of this money on ads, painting your buildings orange, have signs all around the parking lot … but NEXT DAY? I was in Seattle recently … Amazon does TWO HOURS.
2. Okay, tried once again. Ordered some oil and a filter for the SUV (yes, I change my own oil. Long Story. And I’m Frugal, not Cheap). I digress. So ordered at about 10am on a Sunday for ISPU. No email stating ‘order complete’! But I had to go to get groceries and figured it would be ready by the time I was ready to check out. Nope. So I bought the stuff from the shelf, with my groceries. Got home. Changed oil. Ate dinner. Watched TV. Still no email. Cancelled order. Forget this crap.

Oh – and the cute cashier smiling on the commercial was not what I experienced at my Walmart – at any time. One was eating lunch with her mouth open, the other was missing many teeth (nothing wrong with that – just not the commercial), and the other time … well, I couldn’t find anyone for a while.

Walmart – you have a long way to go. Seriously.

All:

Just wanted to give you all a heads up about the end of the world on September 23. Thank me later?

df

Okay … as soon as my computer was up a few weeks ago … it was down. Fatal System Error.

• Tried Window Repair
• Tried System Restore
• Tried booting from USB
• Tried booting from another hard drive (I have 6 connected to this monster, yo)
• Tried unplugging everything (USB, drives, external, monitors [but one, obviously])

NOTHING.

Freakin’ got fed-up and purchased another SSD (1 tb) and reinstalled. Had a couple of days off, rewired everything on the desk, ensured cord management was tight, everything connected (now have a ‘server closet’ in the new house – where all of the automation hardware/hubs/external storage/printers — CONNECTED!). Also connected a Hue Strip to the back of the monitors – and with the help of DynamicHue, the lights will change colors based on what is on the screen. Sweet!

So – now I just have to transfer all of my old files from back-up and the old SSD and life will be somewhat back to normal.

Well – it’s been a little over a month now for my desktop computer to be alive. With the move, it’s been sitting in a box for some time now – along with a lot of other things. Slowly we are unpacking – tonight the beast was fired up in my new office area of the house.

Looking back at the calendar, I realized tonight that this whole process has been in one state or another since February! Wow. It’s been a long 6 months, folks. Will have more time to reflect as we get closer to the annual holiday update – but for now, we have more boxes to unpack this weekend.