Rodent Regatta

IT’S 6:30AM CDT HERE

I’ve been working since 4:30AM. Email finally flushed through (after UUNET cleared its constipation), so I’ve been catching up on that. I’m about to leave for the first half of the day. Instead of working here, I’m going to do some volunteer work down at The Memphis Leadership Foundation, and then spend some time this afternoon learning more about web design and weblogs.
The morning has already been frustrating. Since 1997 we’ve attempted to work off-and-on with a company that makes its I.T. decisions using a seat-of-the-pants approach. They were scheduled to show up here later this month for a detailed presentation for 2 days on how they could (finally) upgrade software that has now been through 12 new versions since they began using it in the mid 1980’s. Today’s product doesn’t even resemble their original software.
However, a manager, upon receiving the agenda, shot from the hip and suggested that the agenda wouldn’t provide them with what they needed. This was precisely the agenda that their I.T. people had requested. They haven’t communicated internally and are faced with having to start all over with a different software supplier. I simply cannot take the risk with our company when I know that this manager makes decisions without facts. Five years of chit-chat and discussion is long enough. They either need to paint or get off the ladder.
Either way, we won’t be the ones holding the brush or steadying the ladder!