Little Cat Z

Helped solve a problem somewhat similar to the book “The Cat in the Hat Came Back.” We moved the “pink ink” (the problem, an incorrect cost) from one place to another, and finally got Little Cat Z to use her “voom” to make the pink ink go away for good.

Now that the economy is rolling and unemployment near zero (it’s sure hard to find good employees to hire, both in the office and out in the plant), the problems that are beginning to surface are infrastructure related. Not enough trucks. Rails lines needing repair. Inexperienced employees take longer and make mistakes.

Reading an interesting Malcolm Gladwell book about David and Goliaths. An example was this girls basketball team. The girls had never played before and the coach had never coached. He was a computer programmer from another country. He had the girls press full court all the time, and guard the inbounds pass. Very disturbing for other youth teams who weren’t used to it. They made it to the national championship game. Other examples like that. Underdogs usually can’t beat heavy favorites at their own game, and instead have to do something different to win. The guy who started IKEA did so to cut shipping and assembly costs.

Before it started to rain here Monday afternoon and I had to run out to roll up my window. Barely made it. With Ceil having been gone all last week I had run out of lunch fixings. Monday I stopped by McDonalds for their bacon egg & cheese biscuit special. Tuesday I brought a jar of peanut butter, the jelly jar, and two slices of bread. Had that Wednesday as well.

Ceil drove back from SC on Monday. She stopped in Augusta so Barney could visit with Okie. Will loaded up Ceil’s SUV with stuff since they’re packing to move. Then C drove through thunderstorms to Athens so Anna could visit with Barney. Ceil got home around 8:45.

I was going to leave work before seven, but at the last minute a bunch of emails came through that needed my attention. That took thirty more minutes. Not happy. This morning I found out the emails had already been taken care of, but the computer sent them out again in error. Went home and crashed. Made two quesadillas with cheese and spicy beans. Not long after that Ceil arrived, and we unloaded the car. I went to bed at ten.

Monday night Barney was worn out from his long day, and the trip. He slept downstairs (Matthew might’ve been fixing a late night snack). When Barney came upstairs in the middle of the night, he didn’t jump way up on the bed. He was lying near the bathroom door and didn’t move when I got up and took my shower this morning. Ceil’s suitcase was in the bathroom. Whenever C gets out her suitcase, Barney gets all excited. So I picked up Ceil’s suitcase and acted like I was leaving. That got Barney moving – he jumped up on the bed.

Tuesday night I watched the Braves on ESPN. Hank Aaron was in the booth with Tim K and other announcers for several innings. The talked to Ralph Garr and Billy Williams about Hank. Aaron told some great stories. He never struck out one hundred times in a season. Said it embarrassed him to have to walk back to the dugout. So far this year eight players already have 75 strikeouts.  

The Braves put on a good show in front of the national audience. A dominant five innings from Folty. Home runs from Freddie and Ozzie. Markakis came up big. Flowers is hot. Ender blooped a two strike, two out hit to drive in a run. Carmargo turned a fantastic 5-3 double play, fielding the ball near the bag and tagging the runner trying to get back to the bag, then throwing across the diamond from his knees, in time to get the runner at first.

Ceil had her women’s Bible Study. I worked until almost 7:30, so it was after eight when I got home. Went to bed shortly after ten. Got up and walked this morning for a change. Hard to run.

Wednesday we had grilled chicken with pasta. Had talked about going to a movie but I got home too late. “Only” worked until 6:30. Stopped by the library on the way home. Watched the movie “Me Before You” again.

All excited for the World Cup? Not me. I like to report soccer scores “they won five to zero” or “three nothing” instead of saying “nil” just to exasperate the soccer fans. And I refuse to call the sport “football” or “football” – it’s soccer. Hopefully I won’t have to watch any. Like college football, the reason soccer is so fun to watch on TV is that the crowd is so loud and into the game. That’s why the World Series is more interesting to watch than a regular season game. The same goes for the College World Series and the Little League World Series.

Did I mention we’re busy at work. A shortage of trucks. Our processing machines are busy. So are everyone else’s.

Dock’s father is in town taking his younger grandkids to various attractions: White Water, Lego Land, etc. They’ll probably be going to a Braves game.