Request for reader input

Written by Bob McCormick on 8/08/2006 10:31:00 PM

Hello all you fellow blog consumers out there!

I'd like to take a minute of your time and explain something I'm doing, and see if you'd be able to help.

As you probably know, a "Blog" is short hand for "web log". Basically, it's a sort-of diary of whatever topic comes to mind. But many blogs are not “diaries” in the traditional sense – they can become sources for certain types of information. In fact, a lot of the information that you see in a typical magazine or newspaper is also published in a blog (it’s what’s allowed me to drop my Houston Chronicle subscription – I just subscribe to a few of their equivalent blogs for free!).

In my opinion, blogs can and will serve a good use from here on in. They are a solid way of getting and confirming information apart from the mainstream media. There are literally millions of blogs out there- what you subscribe to (see bloglines.com as an example of how to subscribe to blogs) is a matter of what you choose to want to pay attention to.

Just like the other millions, I’m just one guy with one blog. But I’m attempting to make a “high quality” blog.

That’s where you come in.

You guys know me. You know what information I can provide, and you know what information you need and want. So … what info do you want that you think I can provide? (Within reason - I'm probably not the guy to tell you about Bolivian snails.)

Please comment to this blog entry & let me know what I can develop in the blog.

Thanks,

- Bob

2 comments comment | Posted in »  

Trying to find the "battle rhythm"

Written by Bob McCormick on 8/05/2006 10:51:00 AM

Well...

I've found myself in a weird situation.

I'm finding that I typically drag myself in to work barely at 8:00, and I feel sleepy most of the day. I'm feeling sleepy because I'm not getting enough sleep . I'm up too late looking at my 112 bloglines feeds, trying to come up with ideas/entries for the blog.

My personal timeline is working something like this:

0130 Sleep start
0600 Wakeup (Note: Only 4.5 hrs of sleep!)
0800 In to work
1700 Finish work (can drag to 1800 or 1900)
1-2 hrs of nap (makeup for the short sleep)
1900 Dinner
1945-2030 TV
2030-2115 Dog Walk
2115 - 0130 On the internet, monitoring my 100+ blogline feeds, attempting to come up with something for my blog

Clearly, the excess bloglines entry and lack of blog material is driving everything else (lack of sleep, lost time with the family, lack of exercise ...). I could also cut back on the TV watching as well.

So the trick is ... how do I establish a plan that looks more like the following...

0600 Wakeup
0800 Work
1700 End work
1745 Workout
1900 Dinner
1935 Walk the dog
2010 Blog entry, maintenance, research
2230 Sleep (Note: This gives me 7.5 hrs sleep ... a much better duration)

My hunch is that to get to the right "battle rhythm", I need to "just do it". Of course, this means that life moves along predictably - which can be a stretch.

Anyone out there have any other ideas on how to get to where I want to be, or how to control the unpredictability?

No Comment comment | Posted in » ,  

Back in the saddle again

Written by Bob McCormick on 7/29/2006 10:47:00 PM

We made it back from Austin/vacation!

As noted, I had little-to-no time to devote to blogging. While I first thought of this as a bad thing (given that I couldn't make "A blog a day" at the time), it gave me some time to think about how to continue this effort. Taking the time to think about the effort may be better for me in the long run.

I now have several blog ideas queued up, which I'll be putting more content into before releasing. I also now realize that life in the blogs revolves around what I am going to call the "three legged stool" of blogging:
1. Blog research (to come up with more ideas for blogs, and time to engage with online communities related to the blog topics),
2. Blog content creation (actually writing/editing the blog entries), and
3. Blog promotion. I think blog promotion should come last in this list, as readers will need something to come to before they actually come here.

Note: I call it the "three legged stool" since that's always a convenient metaphor to use when you need three things in balance.

Note 2: The "stool" I refer to may be the thing you sit on or the thing that comes out of my back side ... you be the judge.

1 comments comment | Posted in »  

Time for shift work ... and sleep shifting

Written by Bob McCormick on 7/16/2006 08:00:00 PM

Well, I start up the next week of Space Station mission work later today. I take the graveyard shift (11PM to 8 AM), and I've already started to sleep shift myself.

Our position requires 3 shifts over the week, "sort of". We normally have three shifts Monday through Friday - a graveyard shift from 11PM to 8AM, a day shift from 7 AM to 4 PM, and a midnight shift from 3 PM to 12 PM (the shift times allow for a 1 hour handover between each shift - the entire Flight Control Team shifts start at the same time). On weekends, our console nominally goes down to 1 daily 12 hour shift, starting 7 AM (in reality, the shift lasts as long as our console's work lasts, which many times has been finished in 8 hours).

The result is something I call "24x5 Plus".

To support the graveyard shift, I typically start by staying up late on Saturday night. Then, I take as long a nap as possible on Sunday, waking up in the afternoon/evening.

Different folks sleep shift for console operations different ways. Different Station Flight Controllers have different staffing requirements (like this one, this one, and this one (all 3 are in the same position), these two (in the same position), and these two (in similar positions), and this one). It's also different for Shuttle Flight Controllers (like this one), whose job varies by the flight they are assigned as well as the simulations they will support in preparation for that flight.

The shifts during Shuttle docked operations are a little different. They are generally controlled by the Shuttle crew's wakeup time, which varies from flight to flight, and will consistently have 3 shifts throughout the entire docked period. Both the Station and Shuttle flight controllers will have shifts consistent with the crew's wakeup time, although the Shuttle and Station team's start times will be offset from each other by an hour (so that the Shuttle and Station teams will not have to coordinate within themselves and between themselves at the same time).

Anyways, that's probably more than you wanted to know about shift operations. We'll see how well I can slog through the upcoming week.

No Comment comment | Posted in » ,  

Missing the mark ...

Written by Bob McCormick on 7/15/2006 06:39:00 PM

Well, it looks like I didn't accomplish my goal of "A blog a day" already!

But hey, at least I'm averaging a blog a day!

Speaking of setting goals, I came across a simple goal setting application called Joe's Goals. Check it out!

And if you have other ideas for simple goal setting applications, let me know in the comments. Maybe that will keep me on target!

No Comment comment | Posted in »  

Winnowing the crop

Written by Bob McCormick on 7/09/2006 01:04:00 PM

I have a regular account with Bloglines, and I have subscribed to several blog feeds.

Problem is, it's now at 97 blogs. With over 500 "keep new" permalinks.

I am always on the lookout for good material for this blog, but I generally consider new material (i.e., info that isn't more than 2 days old) to be the right fit.

Most of the 500 permalinks, while containing good links to sources of info, aren't less than 2 days old. So it's time to "winnow the crop"!

I hope it won't take long to do this.

No Comment comment | Posted in » ,  

Successive iterations and Systems Engineering

Written by Bob McCormick on 7/07/2006 10:25:00 PM

Jason Verheyden at Back Off Government!, while discussing today's STS-121 status, makes several good observations about the benefit of successive iterations.

His observation reminds me of the unwritten laws of systems engineering, which, paradoxically, are written here. Specifically, Jason's observation reminds me of the twenty-second and twenty-third laws.

No Comment comment | Posted in »  
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)