You can see my photo live on the website at: http://msb.georgetown.edu/acadamic/faculty/todays/
Monday, July 27, 2009
M is famous-ish. No, not really, but I am on the internet
Ok, so I'm not famous yet, but I am on the new Georgetown MSB (McDonough School of Business) website. A few months ago about 30 of us went to the new business school building to take some photos for the website. They just went live with the new site the other day and BAM there I am.
Friday, July 24, 2009
You Can Lead a Million Dollar Team of Managers to Water but You Can’t Make Them Do Anything and some nice photo links at the bottom
Whew…it’s been a tough week. All summer long I’ve been nervous about one day – the Park’s priority session meeting with the Management “Team.” That day was last Tuesday and I was right to be nervous. A large part of Crater Lake’s business plan is helping the management set operational priorities, since they never really had any clearly delineated priorities. The Superintendent, who is new and great, wanted his Management “Team” to coalesce and help create these priorities (he did not want to just dictate policies to them). This priorities setting session was so important for the Park that my bosses in DC decided to fly out a NPS facilitator from Seattle (something never done before for a business plan) and my boss from DC (something that happens for every BP).
Even with their help and the continued support of the Superintendent, our all day priorities setting session failed to yield the determination of Park operational priorities. In fact the Management “Team’s” only act as a team was to intentionally railroad the entire process. Ast Tuesday’s session was worse then trying to get a bunch of headless chickens to sit still – no one wanted to pay attention, participate constructively or do anything but complain about the process or their pretend lack of understanding (they’ve known about the process for over 6 months, have asked myself, my boss and the superintendent about it numerous times – only an idiot or a faker would not understand at this point).
By the end of the 8 hour day and despite the facilitator’s help, the Management Team decided that 95% of the 120+ action items identified during the first 5 weeks of the internship were critically important for the Park to accomplish within the next 5 years – a task impossible given resource restrictions. By failing to offer any guidance, the Management “Team” wasted an entire day of 12 people’s time at a cost to the Park Service of well over $5,000. I know this may seem like a pittance to the gov’s trillion dollar stimulus plans, but it really irked me. The BP is driven by the Park for the Park, yet several members of the “Team” are so against it because it may hurt their ability to expand their division.
The result, our plan is kind of stalled as we figure out another way to determine what the Park’s operational priorities are. While the BP contains more then the priorities related sections, these priorities are really its core – without them, it’s just outside recommendations and analysis of their current operations, certainly not worth the $25,000+ the Park Service is paying for the plan.
Despite this week’s cruddiness, I have been going on my regular adventures. Last Saturday, I took a solo hike to Andersen Falls – which I dubbed Annebelle Falls, in honor of her birthday on Saturday.
As you can see, it was lush, watery and full of flowery goodness. I even had the opportunity to fill my waterbottle from a small natural spring – mmm was it good water. Afterwards I went for a chilling swim in the nearby Rogue River (the water temp was still in the 40’s so I mostly skipped rocks and dangled my feet).
This weekend I also took my first full drive around Rim of the Lake – it was at sunset.
Additionally, because of the darkness of the Park, I had the opportunity to watch the space shuttle pass overhead on Monday night and witness a beautiful starry night over the lake.
See all of the photos from my trip to Annebelle Falls, my Rim drive or my space station/starry night.
Even with their help and the continued support of the Superintendent, our all day priorities setting session failed to yield the determination of Park operational priorities. In fact the Management “Team’s” only act as a team was to intentionally railroad the entire process. Ast Tuesday’s session was worse then trying to get a bunch of headless chickens to sit still – no one wanted to pay attention, participate constructively or do anything but complain about the process or their pretend lack of understanding (they’ve known about the process for over 6 months, have asked myself, my boss and the superintendent about it numerous times – only an idiot or a faker would not understand at this point).
By the end of the 8 hour day and despite the facilitator’s help, the Management Team decided that 95% of the 120+ action items identified during the first 5 weeks of the internship were critically important for the Park to accomplish within the next 5 years – a task impossible given resource restrictions. By failing to offer any guidance, the Management “Team” wasted an entire day of 12 people’s time at a cost to the Park Service of well over $5,000. I know this may seem like a pittance to the gov’s trillion dollar stimulus plans, but it really irked me. The BP is driven by the Park for the Park, yet several members of the “Team” are so against it because it may hurt their ability to expand their division.
The result, our plan is kind of stalled as we figure out another way to determine what the Park’s operational priorities are. While the BP contains more then the priorities related sections, these priorities are really its core – without them, it’s just outside recommendations and analysis of their current operations, certainly not worth the $25,000+ the Park Service is paying for the plan.
Despite this week’s cruddiness, I have been going on my regular adventures. Last Saturday, I took a solo hike to Andersen Falls – which I dubbed Annebelle Falls, in honor of her birthday on Saturday.
As you can see, it was lush, watery and full of flowery goodness. I even had the opportunity to fill my waterbottle from a small natural spring – mmm was it good water. Afterwards I went for a chilling swim in the nearby Rogue River (the water temp was still in the 40’s so I mostly skipped rocks and dangled my feet).
This weekend I also took my first full drive around Rim of the Lake – it was at sunset.
Additionally, because of the darkness of the Park, I had the opportunity to watch the space shuttle pass overhead on Monday night and witness a beautiful starry night over the lake.
See all of the photos from my trip to Annebelle Falls, my Rim drive or my space station/starry night.
Friday, July 17, 2009
M is longing to be outside
Status Update: M is longing to be outside.
Check out the whole album from our trip to Cougar Hot Springs, Eugene & the Coast/Sandboarding. As a quick note, there are no pics from the hot springs (too many naked hippies to take photos) or from Euguene (half of the town was boarded up and depressing), so really these are just Coast/Sandboarding pics.
The NPS blocks Facebook and related websites (for good reason), so I know you all were longing to see a status update from me. Well, there you go.
Why do I currently long to be outside? Multiple reasons:- It's beautiful out - high near 80 today, nary a cloud and I'm at a National Park;
- It's Friday and most of the Park staff is out;
- We (AA, the co-consultant, & I) have been uber busy this week - already put in 40+ hours before today started;
- I have an outstanding view from my office and I'm tired of looking at it today, I'd rather be out in it.
Anyway, while I'm updating everyone - C is gone back to DC, but we had a bunch of fun last weekend. We hit up the Cougar Hot Springs (a cascading pool of hot springs that emerges at 110 degrees from a little cave), Eugene Oregon and the Oregon Coast (Florence).
I think we'd both say that the highlight of this weekend (excluding the naked hippies we saw in the hot springs), was definitely sandboarding in the Oregon Dune National Recreation Area. Sandboarding is like snowboarding, only you replace the snow with the sand.
Check out the whole album from our trip to Cougar Hot Springs, Eugene & the Coast/Sandboarding. As a quick note, there are no pics from the hot springs (too many naked hippies to take photos) or from Euguene (half of the town was boarded up and depressing), so really these are just Coast/Sandboarding pics.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Quick Update - Spending Time with C
Super busy spending time with C (she's visiting this week at the Park) and working... but wanted to share a few pictures with you all:
Pictures from our July 4th weekend trip to the Willamette Valley (for Pinot Noirs) and Portland. We visited:
- Visited a bunch of wineries (and a christmas tree farm)
- the Japanese Gardens,
- the International Rose Test Garden,
- Went up an aerial tramway,
- Saw Reed College (where my grandpa went for a short while),
- Hung out with a DC/Cato friend,
- Spent our 4th at the Portland Blues Festival (with bands, food carts, fireworks and unfortunately a fair amount of hippies) and
- Drove through the Columbia River Gorge (and past Mount Hood) on our way to CrLa.
This week, while I worked, C's been busy hiking reading and having a great & relaxing time. Together, we took a little hike to Godfrey Glen and then went out later and took some wicked night shots (see one below). Friday we're off to hot springs and the coast.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Just an Ordinary Tuesday - a pictoral essay of my day
Tuesday was as ordinary as you get here at Crater Lake; the Lake was just placid and blue. 
I thought it would be a great day for a boat ride with some friends. As luck would have it, the Interpretive Rangers were going for a little cruise too.
So I hiked down to the trail to the boats and got in.
On our cruise we saw some interesting formations, including a rock that was previously the side of a volcano.
We sailed some more and after an hour and a half, we arrived at a strange island. It was made out of black rocks and was full of trees. My friends thought it was magical island. I thought it looked cool.
So we hiked to the top of the island. On top of the island, all of the trees were dead.
I was scared.
It turns out the island was a volcano too. I was doubly scared.
Then we found snow and went sledding. I was no longer scared (I’m in the blue shirt standing).
When we got back to the boat, we saw a mysterious floating log. Legend says it’s been floating upright since the 1930’s. So we pushed it over.
My friends and I became fearful. This place was a sea of oddity and definitely evil. We headed home. On our way, we had a run-in with an old Phantom Ship. I thought it was a pirate ship. But we escaped.
And we even saw a castle high on the cliffs. No one was home though.
Finally, we made it back to the cliffs where we started. I was glad to be back home. It was a hair-raising day of mystery, adventure and scariness. I hope next Tuesday won’t be as terrible as this one.
So we hiked to the top of the island. On top of the island, all of the trees were dead.
I was scared.
It turns out the island was a volcano too. I was doubly scared.
Then we found snow and went sledding. I was no longer scared (I’m in the blue shirt standing).
When we got back to the boat, we saw a mysterious floating log. Legend says it’s been floating upright since the 1930’s. So we pushed it over.
My friends and I became fearful. This place was a sea of oddity and definitely evil. We headed home. On our way, we had a run-in with an old Phantom Ship. I thought it was a pirate ship. But we escaped.
And we even saw a castle high on the cliffs. No one was home though.
Finally, we made it back to the cliffs where we started. I was glad to be back home. It was a hair-raising day of mystery, adventure and scariness. I hope next Tuesday won’t be as terrible as this one.
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