Books Read in January 2012

Universal Foam by Sidney Perkowitz

An enjoyable popular science book on an unusual, although unexpectedly pervasive, topic. It runs from the foam that tops beer to the structure of the galaxies within the universe.

Song of Sorcery by Elizabeth Scarborough

An older sweet fantasy with a strong female character that I really enjoyed for being both a hearthwitch and an unexpected heroine. But I don't think I'll be taking the time to read the sequels.

African and Oceanic Art by Margaret Trowell and Hans Nevermann

I'd never really seen the variety of African sculpture pictured here and it was fascinating to see the different features emphasized in the collection of masks and statues.

Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child by Robert J. MacKenzie

I bought this one because my daughter is umm, very strong-willed, and could be adjusting to our move (and her new school) better. This was well written, with great action items and examples. I will be putting these principles into action.

Google+ for Business by Chris Brogan

I'd been avoiding this social network because I just didn't understand it. After a spate of articles in the blogs I was reading I decided to devote some of my brain to the problem and bought Chris' book. Everything is MUCH clearer now and I've started playing.

Once a Princess and Twice a Prince by Sherwood Smith

These are lighter books than her Inda series, more like the Crown Duel pair. I especially liked that the middle-aged mother was one of the main characters and we heard her voice as well. I was annoyed that at the end of the first book, the younger main character sounded very much like the determined blindness that the heroine in Crown Duel had. Overall enjoyable.

Technical Customer Service Engineer at Ahlstrom

I began my new job on December 1, although I haven't written about it yet, partly because it involved a relocation and that's taken up a great deal of my not at work time and partly because there's enough flexibility in the definition that it's not easy to explain.

In the short term I am to help customers and prospects with questions and product recommendations that involved more technical knowledge than the Customer Service Specialists or the average Account Manager may have. Previously the questions would go to the Product Manager or the R&D department.

There's a lot to learn. The products I am working with are essentially paper and I had never realized how much knowledge and complexity went into making paper on a continuously running machine plus into developing the properties of the finished product. I am catching on quickly, building on my previous experiences, but I look forward to developing more depth.

There's a lot to learn about the markets, too. The primary ones for the products I am working with are related to the life sciences. Yet the filter papers are used in so many different ways as a minor part of the overall function being discussed that learning about end-uses feels like a one customer at a time sort of thing.

In the long term, my job will include a range of marketing and sales support activities, we're just not entirely sure what they'll be from one month to another. So far I've worked on a competitive analysis and a patent search plus I am currently working on an animated presentation for the sales force. I intend to be able to suggest my own projects and ways to add technical values to our customers before the end of my first 90 days.

I am very happy with my new position. I like the job, the science, the people, the company. Plus, as a family we're unpacking ourselves in our new home in Carlisle, PA and adjusting well. 

Books Read in November and December 2011

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

This last book in the quartet was decent. I enjoyed it. But overall it didn't finish up well enough to reread or keep the series.

The Rules of Work by Richard Templar

Valuable looking career advice with some humorous side commentary.

Touchpoints by Douglas R. Conant and Mette Norgaard

A management book with a few illustrations of a simple concept. A magazine article would likely have been enough, but the book was enjoyable to read.

How to Make a Boring Subject Interesting by Geni Whitehouse, Amy Moore, and Mary Patterson

A great book on presentations. I've been reading Geni's blog for a while and had to see what went in the book. 

Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore

I finally got around to reading the actual book instead of just works based on it or articles summarizing it. I enjoyed the expanded view and greater subtleties that could be discussed.

The Flinch by Julien Smith

A shorter Kindle book with one key idea that is well worth reading. It matched with my own experiences on the necessity of pushing past temporary emotional discomfort and gave me some good ideas for moving forwards.

The Snow Queen's Shadow by Jim C. Hines

A good addition to this series of mished up and mashed up fairy tale stories. I'm sorry that he's done for now.

Know What You Don't Know by Michael A. Roberto

Good ideas for developing skills as a problem-finder. I'll be reading this one again and trying to put these ideas into action.

The Emperor's Edge by Lindsay Buroker

I really enjoyed the characters in this fiction work and how the heroine achieved her successes by working with them. I'm seriously considering getting the next two.

Evil Plans by Hugh MacLeod

Great book. Even if you don't have evil plans about becoming a small biz entrepreneur, the book still pushes you, in a fun and hardly noticeable way, to consider possibilities and live the best life you can.

Lessons from Temping as a Production Clerk

After I was laid off, I immediately started a temporary position helping with the daily operations of a manufacturing plant. The first few weeks there drove home to me more about "always be shipping" and mixing urgency with importance than had registered during the rest of my career.

My title was "Production Clerk" and all day Monday and something over half the day the rest of the week I processed paper work. I put in orders and prepared paperwork for them to be fulfilled, updated one aspect of the production schedule, and added information from the production logs to the reporting database.

But at 3:30 pm each afternoon I got to participate in the the daily production meeting. And that was the eye opener. My biggest lessons:

Daily Action

Progress on the priority project was expected each and every day. There was the understanding that this was in addition to the daily duties required to get product out the door, but it was still expected. And if it wasn't getting done, then an explanation of obstacles (with ways to remove them, if applicable) was also expected.

Always be Shipping

Projects were deliberately defined in chunks that could be set up and executed within a week or less, although the auditing of the training portion could extend for months. It' was one completed project after another. One potential for success or failure after another.

Also be Looking Forwards

Even though most of what we discussed was related to immediately obvious problems, some of it was also more overarching. The big picture was referred to on a regular basis and kept in mind. One area was not the exclusive focus, but things moved around.

Reprioritize Without Excuses

When a question about quality came up that involved a concerted effort, all the improvement projects were put on hold in order to first protect the customer and second develop the data of what was causing the problem to fix the root cause.

In Person Impacts

When I write this down it doesn't quite capture the feeling I got when I realized these things, because it becomes once more words on a page instead of seeing in action a person, the head of the plant at the time, who has mastered many of the things I'd like to learn. He made the principle real, doable, and memorable.

Books Read in October 2011

Rumpel by Eileen Cruz Coleman

An in-depth retelling of Rumpelstiltskin that had some very interesting ideas in it, but seemed somewhat disjointed. It took me a while to read because I kept leaving and returning. Basically a good story.

Changes by Mercedes Lackey

I always enjoy reading a Valdemar book and Mags is an interesting character, although the strong dialect got a bit frustrating to read sometimes. Not the best, but still enjoyable. 

Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture ed. by William Irwin

This was FUN (well, for me anyway, since I'm both somewhat geeky and introspective). It took the moral and philosophical issues that are played out as part of comic book stories and tied them into the writings of philosophers who look at the things more abstractly. They have a whole series of books like this and I'll want to get some more.

Gifts in Sand and Water by Annie Bellet

A nice collection of fantasy short stories. I found especially interesting one where Delilah was not betraying Samson but helping him.

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

I'd been referred to this book by one of the Success magazine audio interviews and found it everything I'd hoped for. Some was a bit over the top, but the key principles and comparisons were things I would like to return to and think about.

We Are All Weird by Seth Godin

The concept is intriguing by itself - that consumer marketing has changed because the opportunities for choice have made weird the new normal. And it's different when you are marketing to weird than a standardized normal. And then the book elaborates in a helpful way. I suspect I'll read this again.

Fierce Converations by Susan Scott

Very good book about having the conversations you've been avoiding and doing it in an effective way that makes work or home relationships work beter. 

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

I'm still enjoying this young adult Greek/Roman demi-gods in modern times series. The quest felt like a bit of a repetition in tone from the first books, but the characters and their concerns were so different that the feeling was just swept away

Break Your Own Rules by Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt

I devoured this book in an evening but even if I'd paid full price for it (free because I won the In Bubble Wrap giveaway) it would have still been worth it. The subtitle of the book is "How to Change the Paths of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power" and each concept along the way is clearly laid out as a comparison of typical vs. necessary. It's hardly the first book in the genre, but it resonated with me, and I recognized a couple behaviors that I had displayed in the past that had probably been working against me reaching my goals. I'm looking forward to applying their counterparts, of course, first I need to adapt these ideas and others to helping me get a career job...