Turn it up!

At my work, we are required to keep the volume of our PC’s turned up.

My employer manufactures the digital discs that much of the world uses for gaming, CD’s, DVD’s and now high-definition DVD’s. I work as a material handler in a digitally-controlled library where I issue and collect returns of needed manufacturing component parts. The company refers to this area as the “matrix”. I’m not exactly sure why.

Anyway, to make a long story short, our PC’s that we use to keep track of inventory transfers can get rather noisy during the course of a day. One sound we hear quite often is a drum roll. This sound tells us that a particular manufacturing area needs a part ASAP, and that we either need to locate or order one. This drum roll will persist until someone clicks on the “acknowledge” link that came with the message.

Trust me, there are days I wish I could permanently mute all of our PC’s.

Midterms and Insanity

I can’t believe how short and selective some, or according to recent polling, most Americans’ memories are. Logically, one couldn’t be blamed for thinking that the Republican Party would be banished from power for possibly a generation after leaving us in 2008 with massive and historically-high debts, two questionable and unpopular wars and an economy in shambles teetering on collapse

But with less than 40 days now until the 2010 midterm elections, voters appear ready to give the legislative branch back to the GOP, whose leaders don’t even say they’re bringing anything new to the table. In fact, they’re promising more of the same disastrous policies they generated while holding power during the eight years of the Bush Administration.

Now, Americans historically vote against the party in power during midterm elections, and I fully expected that trend to impact the Democratic Party this fall. But not to the extent that is being forecasted by pundits and polls.

I just would wish folks would remember that some things take time. President Barack Obama can’t twitch his nose like Elizabeth Montgomery did on “Bewitched”, and suddenly make all our problems disappear.

Don’t get me wrong! Obama has been disappointing on many fronts. But I do give him some credit. I think he stopped the economic free fall, and a few things are starting to improve. Remember, most of his stimulus programs are not scheduled to kick in until next year. I really believe 2011 will be a year of genuine economic growth and lower joblessness.

Experience from the last decade tells us that Republican policies don’t work. Many wise people have said trying something again that’s known to fail is the very definition of INSANITY.

Overused Words and Phrases used by Football Announcers

Football season is upon us once again. And it’s time to desensitize our ears to football lingo being uttered by thousands of Keith Jackson wannabes at a stadium somewhere near you every weekend.

Now, there’s game terminology, such as “yardage” and “touchdown”, which football fans will hear during every game. But, then there’s also the excessive expressive talk. Here’s a short list of five words or phrases that football announcers rely on too much:

* Tremendous – I don’t think this word would even exist were it not for football. Howard Cosell was, perhaps, the one who popularized tremendous.
* Monster – as in BIG! “Jones is having a monster game” or “The Colts’ matchup with the Patriots next Sunday is going to be a monster game”.
* Wide Open – This one must be taught in Football Broadcasting 101. Announcers at every level of competition, high school, college or pro, use “wide open” at least once a game to describe a player who had no coverage during a passing play.
* Execute or Execution – Somebody somewhere told football announcers that saying “He’s really executing well.” instead of “He’s really playing well,” makes them appear more educated. But hey, Terry Bradshaw says execute…so what does that tell you?
* Work Ethic – I hear this one a lot in basketball also. It goes very well with entry number one, “He has a tremendous work ethic!”

So, if you want to be give up your day job and try football announcing as a career, just start constructing sentences with one or more of the above phrases. “Davis, showing tremendous execution and work ethic, managed to get wide open on that monster play.”