Who's canceling Whom?

Ok, so what. I'm going to talk about politics again. Why not? Everyone else is.

Now that the 2nd Presidential Debate has ended, I've solidified my vote. Not that I could have been swayed all that much. Since I now have some time to kill, I thought it would be fun to think about which Democrat's vote would give me the most satisfaction of canceling out.

Sean Penn comes to mind thanks to his WMD plug during his Best Actor acceptance speech at the Oscars. I'm over that though. I'm over Susan Sarandon too. And the Dixie Chicks. Somebody else can be responsible for them.

I'll let Colin Powell cancel out Hillary Clinton. They should give General Powell 2 votes just because he's so bad ass. There's a frickin' personal injury lawyer whose computer network I used to support in Jersey that used to piss me off all the time, but I don't want to cancel his vote out because he admitted that Clinton would have been one of the best presidents ever had he not screwed up with Monica. Or did say screwed Monica?.... Either way, it doesn't matter. That guy used to download some great porn too, so I'll let a former priest friend of mine cancel him out.

Rush Limbaugh can take out Michael Moore. No, he'd enjoy that too much. He can have Rosie O'Donnell. I'll give Mr. Moore to Dennis Miller. Lance Armstrong can have Sheryl Crow... er... hasn't he already had.... nevermind. I'll give Larry Flynt to Brandi Chastain because she almost took her clothes off when the Women's Soccer team won the world cup. Opey can have Meathead.... just for old time's sake. And Tiger Woods can have Warren Buffett... because Warren wishes he could golf and Tiger will someday be as rich... unless that chick takes his money after she's done screwing up his golf career.

But who will I take? As much as I want to cancel out a celebrity, it's not as exciting as I once thought it would be. It would have been fun to cancel out Madonna, Jon Bon Jovi or maybe even Howard Stern. But instead I'll keep it a little closer to home. I'll take my Mother-in-law.

He Just Doesn't Get It

Oh boy, here we go. The verdict it in. No WMD's in Iraq. The rest of the Democratic campaign is set in stone. Ride the wave, baby.

I try to keep my political opinions to myself. And I've done a pretty good job so far. But now that we're going to hear, "I told you so" for the rest of the month, I want to point one thing out that has nothing to do with Iraq or WMD's or investigations. Just something that bothers me a little, that's all.

Technical Prowess is dedicated to pointing out how emphasizing the overall personal, social and professional skills of an individual is one key to the success of any technical organization. How this is groomed and then eventually becomes the culture in any workplace, relies on a general commitment to these skills beginning with and continuing through education. We have to change how we educate people to deal with technical situations and the people and/or customers that are affected by them. The technical team that concentrates on hiring, retaining and educating their people with Technical Prowess in mind is the company that will finally run a beautifully intertwined, dynamic and supportive technical organization.

On a larger scale, concentrating on interpersonal social skills while at the same time teaching classic subjective skills is the direction that Americans need to take education. Corporations have been concentrating on "soft-skills" for years. Somewhere along the line, they've found that 4.0 GPA's and 150+ IQ's makes for a rather boring and ineffective person in the real world. The problem is that we are just beginning to go this direction in our schools. And from what I can tell, being a dad and all, we're a long ways away.

So what's this have to do with the election? Well, 2 days ago Dick Cheney was asked about poverty and jobs during the Vice-Presidential debate. During his answer, the vice-president talked in detail about education. In response a seemingly confused Edwards said, "wasn't this question about poverty and jobs?". Yes, it was Senator Edwards. You just don't get it.

An example of Technical Prowess

I love to blog. I love to read blogs. And we haven't even scratched the surface of what they'll become. While I'd like to blog more, I'm struggling with one thing that many blogs seem to lack. A consistent theme. I know, I know, if anyone was to actually read my blog, I'd be sure to get a plethora of "my blog has a constant theme you asshole" comments, but even the best bloggers go off on tangents from time to time.

Take my site, Technical Prowess. Believe it or not, Technical Prowess is a concept that I'm trying to develop. Because its so hard (and boring) to talk about Technical Prowess as a concept every entry, I've decided to instead write some informative articles about what Technical Prowess is and then post them permanently as buttons or tabs or something somewhere on this site. The problem, of course, is that the articles are not complete. It's not easy to write about it when I have so much to say about other things.

Technical Prowess is generally a little more difficult to define because in most business circles its a personal trait that's considered intangible. And in other words, indefinable. But my stance is that Technical Prowess not only can be defined, but must be defined in order for technical organizations to be successful. By hiring people, developing people and instilling a culture that exemplifies Technical Prowess, a technical organization can thrive as a reliable and dependable source of support.

So what is Technical Prowess? Who has it? How can you get it? That answer will hopefully come through blogging on this site. But we all know someone who has it. The go-to guy or gal at work. The one with the best demeanor in front of the customer. The one with the "soft skills" who's diversity can be utilized in multiple situations. We all know someone like that don't we?

The person I know is my Dad. His integrity is unmatched and his clients love him. Yes, he's a technical guy too and he's also the reason I'm a technical guy.... Well, the cash helped, but if it wasn't for him, I'd probably wouldn't be in the tech business. Anyway, not only is Dad my biggest albeit only blog-fan, he has also started a blog of his own. You can find it at kelleyron.blogspot.com. Check it out... but when you do, listen to how he treats his customers. Listen to how he respects them. Notice how he makes sure his customers are happy before he considers a problem fixed. And think about how he gladly supports them. Then think about how Technical Prowess might be defined.