tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91799054251801414282012-02-16T20:33:45.695-08:00Not quite a cold start, My sprint to Scrum / Agile. Some reality as it occurs to me. Fixing and sailing boats.David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-39550602455634368612010-08-29T16:43:00.000-07:002010-08-29T17:00:40.794-07:00

Blog relocation, that is. I still don't see moving my residence to some "less expensive place" worth the sacrifice.This blog started in a depressed tone. I had to write, but I didn't think what I had to say was probably worth much. So I called the blog "David's Dustbin." Generally more cheerful now, I've been scratching around for a new title. This morning I picked up

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-7214587893744003422009-06-25T10:54:00.000-07:002009-06-25T12:20:55.832-07:00

Nominally honest people are forever doing seemingly innocent, very unwise things that expose them to the less scrupulous. One of my latest adventures in real-life stupidity came to my attention with a phone call a few months back from the staff of a heavy-equipment resale website. It appears that I was offering to sell a half-dozen front-end loaders and other stuff in the $30k range. News to

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-42190505086500506642009-06-24T11:17:00.000-07:002009-06-24T12:22:01.438-07:00

The Miata runs again, has visited the smog testers, passed, and awaits her 2009 license plate sticker - only six months late. If you read this blog, you may recall that I was combing the house for two spare sets of supercharger idler bearings I was sure that I bought and then misplaced. Never found them. Went back to McMaster - Carr order history and can't find evidence that I ever bought them

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-81401484800214301012009-05-06T08:40:00.000-07:002009-05-06T09:54:22.864-07:00

"There in the darkness loomed four enormous tanks, each the size of a small car. Their sides were made of thick metal and their seams heavily riveted, like those of an old destroyer or battleship. The Agfa consultant leading the tour called them giant batteries."My bet is these were oil-filled, glass plate capacitors.  Such capacitors are an interleaved stack of thick glass plates and smaller

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-49467640197808408772009-04-19T08:35:00.000-07:002010-01-18T17:56:58.492-08:00

My beloved 1994 Miata has been sitting in the driveway for nearly five months. She broke a supercharger belt last fall on the way to class. The belt drives the power steering pump too. Suddenly I was wrestling the wheel. I got back home okay, but the car is definitely no fun to drive without power steering. Maybe even a little dangerous for a vehicle that depends on being nimble to stay out

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-8162157380336690012009-04-18T22:19:00.000-07:002009-04-18T22:47:09.808-07:00

An extract from my "Living Will" signed last Summer follows.  It's boilerplate for a while and, by necessity covers ground we'd rather not think about.  But stick with it, I do not propose to waste your time. End-of-Life Decisions I do not want my life to be prolonged if: • I have a terminal condition • I am permanently unconscious, or • the likely risks and burdens of treatment would

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-51421703498822578942009-04-05T11:09:00.000-07:002009-04-05T13:42:24.646-07:00

As I write this gasoline is selling for less than $3 per gallon.   I still drive my van 40 miles to work on a boat on a typical workday.  Business has been slow for a year, but is showing some signs of coming back.  How long will my personal economic model survive?  That's what I worry about.  I'm not young, so the problem is not quite as serious as it is for my grandchildren.Half the boats I

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-43921036852732466662009-03-28T10:56:00.000-07:002009-03-28T11:45:10.950-07:00

Secretary Geitner has recently suggested a "super regulator" for financial institutions which are so big that their failure would damage society.  That is an idealistic, over-complex suggestion.  Can there be any doubt that creative financiers can outwit the control of any government regulator?  Bringing regulation back into vogue would not change the outcome of the last thirty year's experiments

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-49187693806533843752009-03-09T09:51:00.000-07:002009-03-09T09:52:30.220-07:00

Here I reveal my ignorance of law, accounting, and whatever else you want to accuse me of.  But it still makes sense to me in a "best overall outcome" sort of way.Banks have written down billions in "worthless" mortgages.  Nevertheless, they are holding homeowners (the people on the other end of those mortgages) responsible for the full value of these mortgages.  If the homeowner cannot pay per

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-74787142652425417712009-01-26T10:06:00.000-08:002009-04-19T09:59:38.472-07:00

ORANGE, CA SATURDAY JAN 24:  I absent-mindedly got my cart a little crosswise in the Walmart checkout line.  It took two requests to cut through my mental fog: I was blocking both lanes, even if only by a few inches. I pulled my cart back and apologized to the patrons squeezing by.  They could now at least wheel their few bags out of the store.The woman behind me in line observed that things were

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-23809281634785626232009-01-23T09:27:00.000-08:002009-01-23T11:05:53.553-08:00

The faintly crazy spectacle of salmonella-laced peanut paste turning up in more and more US food products probably isn't so funny if you come down infected. However, you have only yourself to blame. Well, yourself and nearly the entire manufactured food industry in the country.Existing on manufactured food always entails risk of poor nutrition. Manufactured food has a small but non-zero risk

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-9657093316152714882009-01-17T16:35:00.000-08:002009-01-17T16:50:50.178-08:00

In late July 2008 I wrote a piece here about entreprenural values and institutional values.  At least that was where it was headed.  I was going to contrast the "better to ask for forgiveness than permission" work environment I came out of with the "If it's not on the list of permitted activities, don't think about it" attitudes I found around me.  The first environment encourages taking

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-15100319109608878112009-01-17T13:21:00.000-08:002009-01-17T15:07:34.290-08:00

I've been involved in electronics all my life.  I've had a computer since I could build one, which predates microprocessors.  But building most things sort of stopped at VLSI and the PC.  No point.Some people never adopt a personal computer.  If they developed methods for doing their work and organizing their life before PCs, they tend to stay with that.  If you grew up recently, you may not

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-1624696535755835162008-12-06T11:57:00.000-08:002009-01-22T12:58:54.519-08:00

I don't know what it is. Perhaps I have the writing gene. This is not necessarily a good thing. Writing has been associated with some of the worst episodes of my life. This "gift" traumatized me so early that for most of my 20s and 30s I couldn't write at all.You've my blessing to stop reading now. This is a pretty bad, rambling introduction. Maybe you should look at something further down

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-90028126606675588312008-08-15T15:02:00.000-07:002009-01-17T15:05:10.934-08:00

Originally posted elsewhere 8/15/08I recently returned from a three-day trip on my 28 foot Islander, La Mouette, with three sailing students. These long weekends at sea are an integral part of seamanship courses offered by Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA. Some trips are more eventful than others; this being one of the more eventful. Although the learning curve for some of the students is

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-41914057782038812092008-08-10T19:46:00.000-07:002009-01-17T15:27:29.718-08:00

I have just finished (like 6 hours ago) shepherding a crew of three college sailing students on a long weekend to Santa Barbara Island on my Itty Bitty Indomitable boat. I have had another nap. My head is buzzing slightly less. La Mouette, 1976 Islander 28, once again brought home a weary group of adventurers without a blister or bruise in spite of our occasional efforts to hurt ourselves.

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-17944184211036885082008-07-20T10:31:00.000-07:002009-01-17T16:32:51.476-08:00

Previously published elsewhere 7/20/08I came at sailing and boat fixing as a choice, a decision about "what to do next." I had a thirty-year career in various entrepreneurial businesses, often in sales positions. My most recent job had been running an aggressive interdisciplinary team formed to take one of my company's inventions to market. We designed, manufactured, marketed and sold a new

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-84374214203278480462008-07-18T11:41:00.000-07:002009-01-22T11:58:28.540-08:00

Originally published elsewhere 7/18/08As children we long to be adults, to have our act together, to have permission to do what we want. We grow up and find out that yes, we can do pretty much what we want; and that "what we want" includes acts of breathtaking stupidity. A ruined marriage or so and a fistful of substances abused, wisdom makes itself known through its absence. Perhaps in older

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-23829947310019478892008-07-13T19:13:00.000-07:002009-01-17T16:20:08.518-08:00

Previously published elsewhere 7/13/08What is writing all about if you have no readers? To blog but receive no visitors, no comments? Well, it did not seem to matter to Kafka, who was not published until after his death, if I have my facts straight. No, something about writing is not necessarily about readers. Would you write and throw each piece in the fire as you finished it? Not

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-73021429860301251912008-07-11T11:59:00.000-07:002009-01-22T12:52:02.385-08:00

Originally published elsewhere 7/11/08Boaters almost universally complain about how expensive boat parts and accessories are compared to the other stuff they buy in their lives. When they hear what something costs, the experienced shake their heads and bravely say, "its a boat." The increasing cost of fuel doesn't help. This resentment transfers over to boating merchants and craftsmen. I

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-41098362546131901632008-07-09T12:53:00.000-07:002009-01-22T12:57:15.350-08:00

When I sell and install equipment, then I consider myself part of the warranty chain of support. Something fails during the warranty period, I come out and take care of it all at no charge. It's dead lost time to me, but what I consider a cost of doing business. How to do all this and not get eaten alive by the cost is a problem. West Marine, the giant supplier we all love to complain about,

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-3436701311550795962008-05-10T18:53:00.000-07:002009-01-17T14:33:24.493-08:00

Originally published elsewhere on May 10, 2008.  Can I backdate this in the blog.  We'll see.  (I voted for Obama)The attraction seems to be incomprehensible to lots of younger people.  It's like there must be a law that fogeys attract each other.  Take away Hillary and we'll fall all over John McC.That is insulting.  Lots of people who were becoming adults when Kennedy was in the White House

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-80442786310000030092007-06-27T00:37:00.000-07:002009-01-17T15:06:22.887-08:00

Originally posted elsewhere 6/27/07Email from Rob: "is your wish list current? You have items from Sept 2005 on there..."reply: "I doubt it."Rob again: "OK, I gave up on using your Amazon wish list.  Instead, you are getting a case of Smooking Loon Syrah, which apparently got a high ranking from the Wine Spectator (which I presume is meaningful).  The review certainly made me want to go out and

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-26683814301550932852007-06-26T14:38:00.000-07:002009-01-17T14:52:55.931-08:00

Bradley Gordon was sort of on the fringes of my wife's family.  Her younger sister's second husband.  He was in poor health, arguably worsened by addiction to painkillers and other drugs.  He was an almost spectral figure when I met him for the first time shortly before his sudden death.  We had a great time that one and only night I saw him alive.  Posted elsewhere 6/27/07copy of an email to my

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9179905425180141428.post-39755384171483662692006-11-01T13:16:00.000-08:002009-05-16T11:03:51.736-07:00

Originally posted elsewhere 11/1/06Julie and I set off for Avalon on Saturday. We arrived just after dark. There wasn't much wind and we motored the last two-thirds there.On the way to our mooring, I ran over a line in the water. It wrapped in the propeller and stopped us dead. OK, I've become a little night-blind.  Hired a diver who freed us and told me I broke a blade off the propeller. Maybe

David Sheriffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09717554724825566397noreply@blogger.com0