Bob's Police Beat

Trivia Questions:

1. At what location in the U.S was the highest wind speed recorded?
2. What was the speed?
3. Who is the oldest man to manage a MLB game?
4. How old was he?
5. What team was he managing?

I just got back from an unplanned visit with my Dad at the Salem (OR) Hospital. Some background; he is 85 years old, just retired from full-time work about a week and a half ago, has real bad knees that affect his balance, has lived in the same apartment for about 15 years, is a former Marine that doesn’t relish anyone looking after him and has five adult children within about a 100 mile radius.

So here goes the journey that none of us expected.

A couple of days after his retirement he fell in his apartment and couldn’t get up. He lay there calling for help for 2 to 3 days until a neighbor saw his front door was ajar. The neighbor looked through a window and saw my dad on the floor and called 911. The medics took him to the ER but no one had a phone number for a family member. My dad was in pretty dire straits due to lying in one place for so long. The ER staff poked, prodded, tested and re-tested. Early the next morning my dad was able to say my brother’s phone number. That got the family alerted and we proceeded to Salem. There we learned there were some complications beyond the fall. He did not break any bones but the staff was concerned about a lump on his back, apparently not related to the fall.

They ran him through an MRI which raised some concern and they ran another MRI with higher contrast and called in an Oncologist to evaluate the results.

After doing a biopsy the Oncologist determined my dad had Stage 4 cancer of the bladder, lymph nodes and at multiple other sites. Chemo and radiation were not an option since the cancer was so widespread. He is terminal and the prognosis is he would pass within 6 months. Talk about a right cross.

We are taking steps to get him the best care possible while he is in hospice care. He is now in a senior living center much closer to his children. He is currently in the assisted living portion of the center and will likely either stay there and receive palliative care or if the level of care needed outstrips the staff’s ability to provide, he will be moved to the enhanced care area where he can be more closely monitored.

One of the things my dad said when he learned of the terminal nature of his disease was, ‘there goes the bucket list’. Typical Dad. Nevertheless that got me to thinking about my own ‘bucket list’. I thought I’d share some of it with you.

In no particular order:

1. Become a certified SCUBA diver
2. Get certified as a skydiver
3. Earn a Private Pilot license
4. Tour all 50 states
5. Take a motorcycle trip from Orange County to Maine
6. Earn a stock car racing license
7. Join the Marine Corps
8. Play competitive ice hockey
9. Ride the entire length of the Deschutes River Trail from Sunriver to Bend, Oregon
10. Go on an Alaskan cruise
11. Visit Vietnam during peacetime
12. Tour Germany, Austria and Switzerland

One through 9 have been accomplished, Chris and I leave in 2 days to cross off number 10 and we’ll have to start working on 11 and 12. There are actually a number of other items on the full list but they’ll have to wait for another day.

Moral of the story: don’t wait too long to start or complete your own bucket list, The big clock never stops.

Be safe out there.

Trivia Answers:

1. Mount Washington NH
2. 231 mph
3. Connie Mack
4. 87
5. Philadelphia A’s

Trivia Question:

1. In the history of the NHL only one player has played in 3 consecutive Stanley Cup Finals each with a different team. Name him.
2. Name the 3 teams.
3. How many muscles does a domestic cat have to control their ears?
4. Who is the only MLB player to hit a home run over the left field roof of Connie Mack stadium in Philadelphia?
5. How long was that home run?

Hold on tight to your dream

- Electric Light Orchestra (1981)

Here are a few snippets from the hidden spaces of an addled mind, a very unscientific set of brief observations about 4 professional sports. Hopefully they are thought-provoking enough for you to come up with your own thoughts and even more importantly that you’ll recognize the final conclusions (dreams).

Baseball – generally a slow relaxed event that is very much statistics oriented and analyzed to the Nth degree.
With rare exception there is only one player that is directly involved in every play in the game, that being the pitcher.
There is only one position where one player faces all the others; the catcher.
The pace of the game is very methodical, the team rosters are assembled based on the nuances of the home stadium, the lineups for a specific game are based on the opponents’ strengths and weaknesses.
Generally, baseball is considered a ‘thinking mans game’.

Football – basically a brute strength game requiring sheer size at most positions and agility at others.
It features a lot of standing around, huddling, discussion, and planning, briefly interrupted by a play (11 minutes of actual play in a 60 minute game). Most players are specialists at one particular position.
Despite the overall bulk of the other players, many games are decided by a spindly soccer style kicker whose only responsibility is to kick the ball.

Basketball – Despite each team having 5 players on the court much of the action is one-on-one and the whole ‘aura’ of the game is based on individual players. Think Kobe, Shaq, LeBron, Carmello, etc. – also consider Alan Iverson and his bright arm sleeve (since adopted by others in the NBA) that’s sole purpose is to shout ‘Hey, look at me’. Also consider the mindset of Ron Artest (he of the infamous players vs. fans riot at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan) whose first comments to a TV reporter immediately after his team (Lakers) won this years championship was to thank his ‘boys from the ‘hood’.
Many believe the only ‘game’ in the NBA is played in the last 5 minutes.

Hockey – fast, furious and can seem to be utter chaos on ice. But the reality is every player on the ice has a constantly changing role – and if even one of those roles is not fulfilled the other team has a good opportunity to score.
Some new viewers don’t like to watch hockey saying they can’t follow the puck while purists don’t follow the puck much at all since the real play and tactics occur away from the puck while probing for a role breakdown by the opponent.
Hockey players generally would play even if they were not paid.

Now here is the crux of these ramblings. When you look at your agency overall is it more like the MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL? Or is it an amalgam of 2 or 3 or even all 4? Or is your agency able to adapt their missions and tactics based on the circumstances, short and long term?

Interestingly enough our products can help you on many levels to reach your mission goals whether they be real-time and immediate or the longer term big picture issues.

Also, with ISELink now available the powerful features of ISE are now available to those thousands of smaller and mid-size agencies at a more affordable price point.

Be safe out there.

Trivia Answers:

1. Marian Hossa
2. Pittsburgh Penquins 2008, Detroit Red Wings 2009, Chicago Blackhawks 2010
3. 38
4. Pancho Herrera
5. No one knows since the ball was still climbing as it passed through the bank of lights mounted above the left field roof.

Trivia questions:

1. What MLB Hall of Fame pitcher has given up the most home runs?
2. How many?
3. Who is #2 on that list?
4. How many?
5. In the history of MLB who is the oldest pitcher to pitch a shutout?
6. In the history of MLB only 2 Yankees have hit 3 Home Runs in a single game
   against the Red Sox, who are they?
7. Who is the first NHL player from Newfoundland to have his name inscribed
   on the Stanley Cup?
8. What team did he play for?

In the spirit of an oft-mentioned phrase from a fairly recent movie:

We don’t need no stinking customer service!

Recently my wife received a blue sapphire ring for her birthday and this sparked some interest in also getting some earrings to match. She spent quite a bit of time online and even more time transferring a number of stones back and forth with a jewelry store in New York City. They were being sent for her inspection and approval of the mounted stones. Both the store and she used FedEx for doing the overnight shipping with a signature required on the receiving end. The cost was $40.00 each way.

On one of the deliveries from my wife to the jeweler we used UPS only because we have one of their stores far closer to us than the nearest FedEx store.
UPS charged us $78.00 for exactly the same shipping parameters as we had with FedEx. Hmmm.

We called the owner of the UPS franchise store to find out why the cost was almost double compared to FedEx. His first line of explanation was a speculation that FedEx may have extended a special business rate to send the packages to us and for return. I told him that was not the case since we paid the same rate as the jeweler had with FedEx and we were not using a pre-paid label for returning the jewels.

The next tactic was to claim both UPS and FedEx are free to establish their own rates. We told him we understood that to be true but if UPS continued setting rates that are double what FedEx would charge for the same service, UPS would soon be in the tank.

More fruitless discussion culminated with ‘It is what it is’. If I hear that phrase again my head may explode! It is one of the most condescending, rude and arrogant statements for a retail businessperson to utter to a customer.

We will not be using UPS anymore for any shipping needs but that encounter did lead to the observation that any number of companies, both large and small are trying to salvage their bottom line in this crushing economy by hacking their customer service policies and departments. When the economy improves those customers that have been alienated will not forget the way they were treated. Their actions and attitudes will follow them and will reflect the word-of-mouth comments long into the future.

Just take a look at some major companies such as UPS, American Airlines, U.S. Airways and AT&T and compare them to Nordstrom, FedEx, Alaska Airlines, Costco and Verizon. Who would you choose to do business with?

Some people may believe that customer service is not a concept that has much application to police work. How wrong that is – just think how much more difficult it would be is we lost the confidence and support of our various communities. From the earliest days of Sir Robert Peale to the present, police departments are judged to a large degree by their customer service.

In the grand scheme of things InTime is not near being a ‘large’ company (yet!) but we enjoy a great customer service reputation in our marketplace. Sure, we have felt the pain of the current economy and have adjusted accordingly but one thing that has not been touched is our customer service orientation and that will remain so, no matter how bleak the overall economic conditions get. We’re here for the long haul and stand by each and every one of our customer partners.

Oh, by the way, she did get the stones and mountings she wanted. She always does.

Be safe out there.

Trivia Answers:

1. Robin Roberts
2. 505
3. Jamie Moyer
4. 498 and he may top Roberts this season
5. Jamie Moyer, at age 47
6. Lou Gehrig and Mark Teixeira
7. Dan Cleary
8. Detroit Red Wings

Trivia Question: When did the Pony Express complete its first delivery?

Bonus Questions:

1. What was the cost to have a single written page transported the full distance?
2. Between what 2 cities did the Pony Express operate?
3. How long did the Pony Express operate?

My wife and I just returned from a 4 day mini-vacation to the German/Austrian themed town of Leavensworth, Washington.

We stayed at a secluded resort facility called Run of the River Inn and Refuge that backs up to a wilderness preserve and Icicle Creek. The goal of the innkeepers is to provide the maximum of relaxation and romance. The facility has 6 suites in the main building along with the office, a dining room and other common areas. There is also a separate building, actually a two-story log house called the Ravenwood Lodge, which is where we stayed. The facility is for adults only, no more than 2 people booked into a suite or the Lodge and smoking is not permitted on the premises.

Both of the buildings are of log construction inside and out. A gourmet breakfast is provided every day in the main building dining room for the guests in the suites and is hand-delivered to the Lodge residents (that would be us!).

All the suites and the Lodge are oriented toward the wilderness area with snow-capped peaks as the backdrop. The property is very isolated yet is only a mile from town.

The Lodge is very unassuming until you walk inside. It takes your breath away. Every luxury amenity was at hand including a rock fireplace, fully stocked gourmet kitchen, Two 56” flat screen TV’s, overstuffed leather furnishings, a second story bedroom with Jacuzzi tub, large glass shower and large king bed, all open to the lounge area below.

The entire Lodge had its view out a 24′ X 25′ wall of glass. There was also an outdoor hot tub just off the expansive deck.

A hand carved spiral staircase accesses the second floor. From the outside one could see the entire interior. Although is seems like there would be no privacy either inside the Lodge or out at the hot tub that was never an issue and never was a drape or screen drawn by us during our stay. Besides, if anyone did have an issue with the entire house or hot tub being completely visible from the outside, the response would be the famous Clark Gable line from ‘Gone with the Wind’; “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

During our stay I got the feeling that even though the entire facility was spectacular, it was really the little things that put it over the top. Little things like tea candles in sconces on the support beams, a bag of bird seed to put in the bird feeder on the deck, the elevated king bed to ensure a complete view of the wilderness beyond, the graded list from the owners of the best restaurants in town (not just a listing of all the restaurants in town), the hand drawn and detailed list of recommended hiking trails and driving tours, the bicycles (mountain, road, tandem; your pleasure) available to guests and snowshoes for hiking when conditions permit, the burr coffee grinder system already set up daily. They really understood their clientele and what their mission was.

My feeling was, anyone could have a similar facility on a wilderness, anyone could have a log home such as the Lodge, anyone could provide a breakfast or put out tourist maps.

But this particular place put itself over the top with the little things that enhanced their stated goal of providing a romantic and relaxing experience.

I compare that to the whole industry of staff scheduling. Anyone can develop a basic scheduling system (and many do), anyone can meet some of your needs (and many do), anyone can do the basics with a couple of added frills (and many do), anyone can lie to you about their system capability (any many do) but there are very few who can and do meet your unique needs. Doing what appears to be the ‘little’ things is what drives us over the top.

While we were at the Lodge, we never had to ask, “Could we get some _______?, because everything was already thought of in advance and was already provided. That’s exactly what we want our customers to experience in their relationship with InTime. We do ’sweat the details’ with you to ensure your satisfaction.

One of the on-going themes I hear from our customers is ‘your people sat down with my people and configured a program that answered all our concerns and then some. They took the time to understand our needs’. That’s a heck of a tribute in my book.

Be safe out there.

Trivia Answer: April 3, 1860
Bonus Answers:

1. $5.00, roughly $200.00 in today’s money
2. St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California
3. Just less than a year and a half

Trivia Question: Considering players in the history of the 4 major professional team sports in North America (NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL) only one player has won the Championship in that sport and was named MVP of the playoffs before even playing his rookie season. Name that player.

How many times have you heard the statement, ‘He/she is a born leader’?

That statement is pure nonsense. Leadership, however defined, is a learned behavior and can be developed over time and with the right set of circumstances and experiences. That’s not to say two people with the same circumstances and experience will both develop into leaders. No, the defining factor is what the future leader does with those circumstances and experiences. How many times have you seen the resume of someone and said ‘Wow, this person is a real leader’ only to find the reality is that they’re a dud?

There is a movie called ’12 O’clock High’ starring Gregory Peck as a newly appointed Commanding Officer of a failing, rag-tag military aviation unit.  The movie is really about leadership and how it is applied (amazingly enough the movie is also entertaining).

It shows Peck’s character as someone who has the wisdom, foresight and leadership ability to discern when to crack down, when to loosen the reins, when to praise, when to counsel, when to correct and when to ignore. The unit went on to become very successful thanks to his leadership.

Sure, he is in a formal leadership position but often the true leader is not the formal leader. I’m sure most, if not all of you, has seen situations in your agency where a very junior person is clearly the informal leader. The opposite can also be true where the formal, designated leader is someone who couldn’t lead the cattle into the barn with the doors open. Think; ‘I’m their leader, where did they go’? Hint; they’re following the informal leader.

There is also a trend in police work, as well as other endeavors, to assume that the best Officer would be the best Sergeant or the best Sergeant would automatically be the best Lieutenant. That is sometimes true but often that line of thinking leads to the phenomenon of ‘promoting someone to their level of incompetence then promoting them again’.

Another thing that sometimes occurs is something that borders on misuse of public funds; the ‘gift’ promotion, i.e. promotion of an individual leading up to a planned retirement as a gift (status, higher retirement pay) for his/her long service to the agency, not for any real qualification for the position. This kind of thing can cause serious damage to the morale of the agency, especially if that person chooses not to retire as planned.

The whole concept of leadership is the stuff of deep thought and diverse opinions but most of you, thankfully, have the insight and ability to know true leadership when you see it. During these times of economic upheaval the true leaders must step to the fore and guide the agency on the right path to solvency and enable the agency to carry out its mission.

InTime Solutions has earned the leadership role in staff scheduling with a long history of adapting our products to meet the needs of our clients. We value that role and continue to work to recognize the changing times that affect both our current and future partners. We encourage those of you who are not yet on our partner list to ask a simple question of our current partners; Would you recommend InTime Solutions and it’s products to my agency?

I’m confident you will get a resounding ‘Yes’ response.

Be safe out there.

Trivia Answer: Strange but true. It happened to Montreal Canadiens (NHL) goalie Ken Dryden who was called up a few games before the playoffs began in 1971. He led the Canadiens to their win of the Stanley Cup and was named the MVP of the playoffs but he hadn’t played enough regular season games to qualify as a rookie until the next season when he was named NHL Rookie of the Year.

In your heart you just knew I’d get hockey into this, didn’t you’?

Trivia Question: What is the original name of what is now known as the Frisbee?

Bonus Question: Marine Corps Air Station Helicopter-Tustin (MCAS (H) was more commonly referred to as ‘LTA’. What does LTA mean?

Merriam-Webster: The faculty of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.

Serendipity is a term with which I am very familiar. After high school and before I joined the U.S. Marine Corps I worked as a technical writer for a company called Serendipity Associates in Chatsworth, California.

Our main focus was to convert the U.S. Air Force’s printed maintenance instructions into bite-sized chunks to be programmed into a system whereby an Air Force maintenance technician could go to a plane, without carrying volumes of maintenance instructions, plug in to ‘hot spots’ embedded in the flight line and get those same instructions in small, easy to perform bits and carry out the task.

The primary plane we were using as our test bed was the C-141 cargo jet – the most complex aircraft at the time.

In the technical writing for this project we had to analyze the complexity of the task, determine how many words could be used for each step by the technician, the length of sentences and the actual nomenclature to be used, etc.

Right about now I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘What the heck is he talking about and what does this have to do with anything I care about’?

Stick with me for a moment.

While doing this project our main liaison and source of information was with retired Air Force technicians. They knew the ins and out of their tasks and more importantly they knew the way tasks were really done as opposed to the military gibberish in the printed technical manual. For example; taking a full page to describe how to remove a particular screw in an access panel.

The technical writer (me) would condense this task down to sentences of no more than 7 words each (and get the entire panel off, not just one screw!).
Now the good stuff and at the risk of preaching to the choir.

When someone retires from your agency, no matter what their rank or responsibilities, a lot of institutional knowledge goes with them, such as the answers to ‘who did what when, why do we do things this way, what were the dynamics of the decisions, what were the political ramifications, why did we reject the other alternatives, etc.

Those same people are also highly trained and have exemplary technical skills (such as our Air Force liaison technicians) and most important to the current discussion matter, may have an interest in maintaining contact with your agency in some meaningful way beyond just attending future retirement ceremonies.

Some agencies have used ‘technical reserves’, for lack of a better term, that assist the agency with various tasks or projects at little or no cost to the agency compared to a full-time employee and thus retain those otherwise lost technical, administrative and institutional abilities.

Some of those technical reserves are volunteers or are paid a stipend for work performed and there is nearly no limit on what those jobs might entail.

Think Level 1 reserve officers (able to function on their own), on-call backup dispatchers, desk officers, background investigations, report review, rangemaster or range safety officer, personnel investigation, property and evidence, personnel and training, in-house trainer in various disciplines, IT tasks (dare I say ISE, Speed Shift, Officer Scheduling guru!), motorcycle instructor, etc. The list could go on.

In today’s tough economic times, with personnel cuts, program eliminations, reduced hours and unfilled positions being abandoned, any resource cannot be overlooked if you are to continue to maintain even the minimum level of service expected.

With respect to scheduling with any of our products, none of them require the user/scheduler to be a sworn or certified officer. But having a volunteer or per diem person with the appropriate skills and knowledge could help with a budget crunch.

By the way, our serendipitous retired Air Force technicians all worked as volunteers and were invaluable to the project. I hope yours are as well should you decide to proceed.

One caveat; before embarking on such a program be sure to consult with your HR/Legal people lest you run afoul of FLSA, pension system or other legal parameters.

Be safe out there.

Trivia Answer: The Pluto Platter

Bonus Answer: Lighter than Air, referring to the 2 huge, non-centrally supported blimp hangers on the base.

Trivia questions:

1. Among the generally recognized domestic cat breeds, which is the largest and which is the smallest?
2. In the U.S. ordnance inventory there is the TOW missile. Where does the name come from?
3. How many stars are on the current ‘shield’ logo for the National Football League?

The title refers to a sports car road rally originally put on by the Detroit branch of the Sports Car Club of America. It is also my personal motto, adopted during my first tour in Vietnam and has carried me through all my tours there, 27 years in law enforcement and 6 years of retirement, so far.

To me it simply means that no matter what happens it does no good to dwell on the past, it does no good to see current obstacles as too great to overcome and it does no good to see imagined future impediments as not being worthy of your efforts.

Taking that motto really, really came into play during my 9 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Every time we went out on a combat mission I repeated that motto many times and it worked. I returned from my final tour and the final mission relatively unscathed.

The same thing happened many times during the 27 years in law enforcement. I recited that phrase many times, both during times of potential physical danger and even during times of other kinds of danger as the Operations Commander in my agency. Interestingly enough the physical dangers were much less stressful and easier to deal with than the others.

At least one officer in my department sought out my counsel when he was unable to get promoted to Sergeant. I shared with him the motto of  ‘Press on regardless’ and what it has meant to me and, more importantly, how it could specifically work for him.

He made the necessary changes in his attitude (which governs behavior) and was promoted to Sergeant at the next opportunity and ultimately was able to retire as a Lieutenant.

In the current economy there are and will be many hard decisions to be made that you may not have envisioned or hoped you would never have to make. These are unprecedented times that require unprecedented leadership. Surely this is ripe for ‘Press on regardless’ thinking.

InTime can help with some of those decisions with products that can find ways to reduce overtime expenditures, give you the data you need to make the tough decisions and with the hosted version of ISE (ISELINK) at your disposal, even smaller agencies that otherwise couldn’t consider the capital expenditure can enjoy those benefits.

We stand ready to help in any way we can as you navigate through these troubled times.

Press on regardless and be safe out there.

Trivia answers:

1. Largest is the Maine Coon, smallest is the Singapura.
2. Tubular launched, Optically sighted, Wire controlled.
3. Eight

Trivia Question: Which NCAA Women’s Basketball Coach has the most wins and is generally regarded, arguably, as the best coach in the NCAA of any team in any sport?

Here are a few hints: This coach has a record of 1,005 –193 (a winning percentage of 83.9), has been to the NCAA women’s tournament Final Four 18 times in the tournament’s 28 year history and has won the tournament 8 times.

I’m writing this smack in the middle of the holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day). This is the slower, more relaxed time of the year for many businesses (except retailers) as it is for InTime. The marketing and sales folks here are laying out plans for the coming new year and there are no conventions or trade shows to attend. The installations are still occurring, new customers are coming on board, technical support is still running, the developers are still cranking out new features for our products but the pace is noticeably more relaxed.

With that in mind, I thought I’d submit a little bit of cop humor to brighten your day to help you relax as well.

The following are actual comments made by police officers during their day as captured on in-car video and remote mics.

‘You know, stop lights don’t come any redder than the one you just went through’

‘Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they’re new. They’ll stretch out after you wear them a while’

‘If you take your hands off the car, I’ll make your birth certificate a worthless document’

‘If you run, you’ll only go to jail tired’

‘Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that’s the speed of the bullet that’ll be chasing you’

‘You don’t know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?’

‘Yes sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don’t think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I’m the shift supervisor?’

‘Warning, you want a warning? O.K., I’m warning you not to do that again or I’ll give you another ticket’

‘The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?’

‘Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop’

‘Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven’

‘In God we trust, all others we run through NCIS’

‘How big were those ‘two beers’ you say you had?’

‘No sir, we don’t have quotas anymore. We used to but now we’re allowed to write as many tickets as we can’

‘I’m glad to hear that the Chief is a personal friend of yours so you know someone who can post your bail’

‘You don’t think we give pretty women tickets? You’re right, we don’t . . . sign here’

Now think about that last one for just a moment!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and be safe out there.

Trivia Answer: Pat Summitt, all her records are with the University of Tennessee.

Trivia Question: Who was the first Notre Dame football coach who was not a Notre Dame alum?

Bonus Question: Which college football coach was responsible for introducing the huddle, shifts, motions, reverses, end arounds, fakes, trick plays and numbered uniforms?

Have you ever sat and watched a gently flowing river on its course to the sea or lake and noticed the movements of a fallen leaf on the river’s surface?

The leaf seems to dance to its own rhythm as is rides gently across the path of the river, avoiding rocks and other impediments, never making sudden, jerky moves, never backing up, but positioning itself to always take the most efficient path. In this case the course may have taken many years/decades/centuries to develop.

Also take the example of accomplished athletes. Watch a Jerry Rice as he runs his pass patterns and notice how smooth and subtle his moves are: no sudden, drastic moves, just a very subtle head, shoulder or hip twitch as he completes his routs in a manner that few can emulate. He is almost ghostly as he gets to a particular point just as the ball arrives. It took a lifetime of practice to get to that level.

I used to think former NHL defenseman Paul Coffey was the smoothest skater imaginable until I attended an ice hockey skills development school in Guelph, Ontario, Canada several years ago. One of our coaches was Terry Gregson, a former, now retired NHL referee and one of his responsibilities was as our Powerskating Instructor. He was able to do all the moves of Paul Coffey but with a major difference; you couldn’t hear Gregson’s skates on the ice because there was no skidding or scraping, just a silent, very efficient and powerful cutting into the ice. He could even accelerate while gliding with neither skate leaving the ice and he could do it going both forward and backwards.

In the course of a typical NHL game he would skate about 12 miles and have to make all the moves that a player would but Terry did it without make any jerky moves, just power, efficiency and skill that took a lifetime to develop. I can’t tell you how many times in our games I was skating as fast as possible only to have him silently sneak up on me.

Also, look at a multi-lane freeway that has heavy traffic yet is still moving at a fairly rapid pace. Every once in a while you’ll see someone, either in a car or on a motorcycle, moving smoothly through that traffic at a slightly higher speed than anyone else, making smooth transitions from lane to lane, never braking, just making subtle speed adjustments and never being unsafe. It’s almost like the driver sees a path that is invisible to others yet crystal clear to this driver as he glides through traffic. This is a skill that takes years to master and is really amazing to watch.

The point of all this is to show examples of smoothness, efficiency and skill at the highest level that is also demonstrated by some ISE power users. They are able to go about their scheduling tasks in an almost ethereal way, navigating through the various pages and screens without ever having to unintentionally back up or calling up the wrong screen.

But the big difference between the ISE user and the examples above is those examples take years, lifetimes, centuries or more to develop. The ISE users I’m referring to took only weeks or a few months to reach their enviable level of smoothness and efficiency. And we all know that increases in efficiency means dollars saved. All it takes is three things, practice, practice and more practice.

Also see John Desmond’s columns for more ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your scheduling and reporting in ISE. He is a master of ISE from a management perspective.

Be safe out there.

Trivia Answer: Ara Parseghian (Notre Dame coach 1964-1974)

Bonus Answer: Amos Alonzo Stagg (coached at the college level with 3 different colleges from 1890 through 1946)

For those of you who are planning on attending the Winter Olympics in Vancouver B.C., at least those who are fortunate enough to both get tickets and be able to afford them and who have never been there are in for a real treat. In addition to being the home of InTime Solutions, Vancouver is famous for many things such as world class restaurants, shopping, vistas and many activities above and beyond the Games.

Nancy Keates of the Wall Street Journal has posted a terrific guide for visitors to Vancouver that captures the character and substance of this great city. She takes you on a journey to everything the visitor might consider and with a lot of insider information about the city and it’s history.

Check out her post at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704335904574497690188501108.html