The Sisyphus Comments

Seeing Where You Have Been Is Important

When I was growing up, I ran around with a group of gear heads that lived and breathed cars. We were usually driving “beater” cars that we pieced together for about $100 so sometimes we did not have all of the pieces. Among the pieces that were frequently missing or broken were the rear and side mirrors. One of my buddies was fond of saying that he didn’t care to see where he had already been – he was only interested in where he was going. Well my attitude has changed over the years. Although I still prefer to drive an older vehicle, I now make sure that it has all the critical parts attached, including the mirrors.

Mirrors are an important safety component for any vehicle but they are critical for emergency vehicles. When the operator of an emergency vehicle sits in the driver’s seat for the first time, one of his first safety precautions should be to check and adjust the mirrors and find your blind spots. Blind spots are those areas on both sides of your vehicle where you cannot see. For most vehicles, people or cyclists may not be visible when they are in these spots but on some vehicles the blind spots are so large that a vehicle could be there and you would not see it. You can find the blind spots on your vehicle by having someone walk around your car and watching the person in the mirrors.

Before you drive the vehicle, adjust your mirrors so that the blind spots are minimized. Blind spots in most vehicles are to the back left and back right of the vehicle. Start by positioning the interior mirror so that the center of the mirror shows the center of the rear window so you can see directly behind the vehicle. Position the left outside mirror by leaning towards the window and moving the mirror so that you can just see the rear of your car. Position the right outside mirror by leaning to the center of the vehicle and moving the mirror so that you can again just see the rear of your car. Avoid overlap in what you can see in your mirrors. Because your side mirrors show only narrow angles of view, turning your head to do shoulder checks is the only way to make sure there is nothing in your blind spots.

Adjusting the mirrors only takes a moment so make sure you are ready to drive before you put your vehicle in drive.

Posted in Entry Level, In-service, Training | 4 Comments »

Effective Instruction Should Be Your Objective

It is no secret that top-level athletes, successful business people and achievers in all fields have at least one thing in common, they all tend to be compulsive goal-setters. They use short-term, intermediate and long-term goals to provide motivation and to serve as a road map to success. This type of focus on the future guides their preparation, their acquisition of knowledge and helps them organize their efforts to get the most out of their most valuable resource – their time.

My wife used to work with a teacher that had a ready response for students who claimed they “didn’t have time” to complete their homework. She would say, “Each of us has the same amount of minutes in a day. You can tell me that you didn’t complete the assignment because you didn’t make it a priority but don’t tell me you didn’t have the time.”

Setting clearly defined goals helps you to keep your priorities in order. Oftentimes the hardest part of completing a task is getting started and setting goals will help you focus on the task at hand. As a result, you will begin to see progress toward what might previously have seemed an insurmountable task.

We can carry this same goal-setting mentality into our training programs. Think of your training objectives as your training goals. Clearly defining your objectives for a training program is a critical step in the whole development process. Without training objectives, instructors don’t know exactly what is going to be taught, learners don’t know what they are expected to learn, and training managers don’t know why they are investing their training dollars in the course.

Think of training objectives as check points in your road map to a successful training program. If we use the entry level curriculum as an example, our overall goal is to successfully move the recruits from orientation to graduation. However, the training objectives clearly define the route we will take to get from point “A” to point “B”, so everyone know how we will get there.

The same process should be used for every in-service training program. I have heard many training managers complaining that agency administrators are only concerned that their personnel complete the minimum number of mandated training hours – not in the training itself. Yet so often, in-service training programs are pieced together to fill up a forty hour training week rather than to meet clearly defined training objectives.

A training objective should define what is to be learned, how well it is to be performed, and under what conditions it is to be performed. Obviously these objectives must be written in a clear, complete, and concise manner. The lesson plan should be designed to address the training objectives and the testing instrument, whether it is a written exam or practical exercise, should be based on the content of the lesson plan.

An effective training program should be based on the training triad of training objectives, lesson plans and testing instruments. However the training objective should always be at the top of the triangle. Remember, an effective training objective must clearly state the task to be accomplished, the conditions under which the task must be completed, and the standards for successful completion.

If this article sounds familiar – it should. These concepts are among the most fundamental aspects of the instructor development course that all instructor candidates must complete. If you are an instructor and you were already familiar with these concepts, someone else must have accomplished their training objectives.

Posted in Entry Level, In-service, Instructor, Training | No Comments »

We Can’t Control It – So Let’s Rant About It

One of our local television stations (WDBJ 7 – Roanoke) recently did a little investigative reporting to determine how our tax dollars are being distributed. Certain aspects of the distribution surprised me a little. Here’s the breakdown:

• 35% goes to fund public education.
• 29% is divided into lots of small pieces; the biggest of which goes to sheriff’s offices, local jails and courts.
• 14% goes to Medicaid to ensure poor Virginians get health care.
• 10% goes to state colleges and universities.
• 5% goes to keeping state prisons running.
• 6% goes to the car tax relief.

The amount of tax dollars that are earmarked for public education seemed reasonable to me. This is one government service for which I don’t mind breaking open my wallet. However, I will temper this comment with the caveat that I expect good stewardship of the money. My primary concern with the amount of money being spent on education has nothing to do with the money that eventually finds its way into our classrooms. What concerns me is the amount being spent to support the bureaucracy in Richmond. When I worked for the state, my office was located in the Monroe Towers building which was heavily occupied by education-related offices. Every time I hear the annual debate about increasing teacher salaries, I wonder if we might be able to pay our teachers a little better if we could thin out some of those bureaucratic “support” positions in Richmond.

The amount of money that the state has to pay for Medicaid is another area that concerns me. However, I’m not alone in my concern about this issue. Governors from across the nation have been expressing their concern about the rapid increase in Medicaid expenses for several years. I don’t mind contributing to a program to provide medical coverage for less fortunate people but sooner or later, something is going to have to be done to get control of medical costs. The problem for the average tax payer is we are getting hit twice by the increased medical costs since the cost of our personal medical coverage also goes up every year.

The 10% that we devote to supporting our colleges and universities also seems reasonable to me. However, I have been in Richmond during the General Assembly session and every year the university lobbyists are lined up with their hands out. Make no mistake, colleges and universities are big business. Most large public universities have real estate holdings with a commercial value that is staggering. Unfortunately, these holding don’t yield tax revenue for local and state government operations. Of course, one could argue that the amount of revenue that is generated by one Virginia Tech football game probably covers the missing real estate tax revenue. I guess it’s a matter of perspective.

Since I come from a criminal justice background, I probably shouldn’t complain too much about the amount of money that is being spent in that genre. However, the amount of money that is spent to send people to jail and then keep them there does bother me. After over 25 years of working in the criminal justice system, I realize that some people need to be sent to jail and kept there but I honestly believe that these folks are the exception to the rule. We can’t afford to continue building new jails and expanding our existing correctional facilities. Our legislators need to reexamine the mandatory sentencing laws and begin to explore alternative sentencing options. A recent Department of Justice report revealed that more than 5.6 million Americans are in prison or have served time there. That means that 1 in 37 U.S. adults have spent time in a confinement facility – this is the highest incarceration level in the world. If this rate continues, a black male in the United States would have about a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison during his lifetime. The chances aren’t much better for Hispanic and white males whose chances of serving time are 1 in 6 and 1 in 17 respectively. Something has got to give even if our politicians have to risk appearing “soft on crime.”

This final issue that bothers me is the car tax refund program. Here’s how it was explained to me, local governments stopped collecting a percentage of the vehicle tax that they used to collect. However, the state takes a portion of your income taxes to reimburse the localities for not collecting the car tax. What is wrong with this picture? The bottom line is former Governor Gilmore made a campaign promise to end the car tax that contributed greatly to his election. If you recall, that election was very tight and political analysts said whoever came up with an issue that resonated with the voters would win. The Gilmore campaign came up with repealing the car tax – which every tax paying Virginia hated. Unfortunately, the local governments depend on the car tax revenue to operate so the state had to make up the lost revenue. Some might call this “smoke and mirrors” accounting – I call it electioneering and politics.

Over the years, I have found that when a writer or a speaker starts using statistics expressed in percentages, you better start paying attention. Fortunately, the WDBJ reporter also broke number down in dollars. The average tax payer in Southwest Virginia earns $39,340 per year and will pay a little over $2,000 in taxes. Here’s how the actual dollar distribution breaks down:

• More than $700 goes to public schools.
• Medicaid gets $280.
• State colleges, such as Virginia Tech and UVA, get $200.
• $120 goes to the car tax relief.
• State prisons get $100.
• $581 is divided in part among local sheriff’s, jails and court systems.

Virginia expects to collect more than $10 billion in income taxes from 2007. However, income taxes only account for less than 30% of the total revenues collected in Virginia. The balance consists of revenue produced from other taxes like the sales tax and gas tax. So the next time some irate citizen tell you that he pays your salary, you can explain why that isn’t exactly true. Check out the full story.

CLICK HERE:

Where Does Your Tax Money Go?

Posted in General Interest | No Comments »

Stop The Time Thieves

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Guard you own spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds.” Are you frustrated by constant interruptions that steal your time when you are trying to get something done? Well there are a few of minor adjustments that you can make to help reduce the interruptions.

Start by making some physical adjustments to your office environment. Try arranging your office so that your desk doesn’t face the door. People are less likely to interrupt you if they cannot see your face. Next, don’t make your interrupters comfortable. Consider removing the extra chairs from your office – you can always borrow a chair from someone else’s office if you need one.

When an interrupter comes into your office, stand up and meet him at the door. Standing makes most people uncomfortable and tends to shorten the length of interruption.

If you can spare a few minute, control the length of the meeting. You can work “end cues” like “one more thing before you go” into the conversation to signal that you are ready to end the meeting.

If it isn’t convenient for you to meet, say so! Tell him you will stop by his office as soon as you can break free. Visiting the interrupter’s office lets you control the length of the meeting since it is a lot easier leave his office than it is to get him out of yours.

Remember, minutes have a way of melting into hours. Unfortunately, your work is still waiting after the interrupter is gone so try to keep the stolen moments to a minimum.

Posted in Supervision | No Comments »

New Law Authorizes Credit Freeze

The 2008 Virginia General Assembly passed HB1311 that authorizes any consumer to freeze access to his credit report. If a consumer has placed a freeze on his credit report, a consumer reporting agency is prohibited from releasing the credit report, or any information in it, without the consumer’s express authorization. The measure provides a means by which a consumer can release his report, permanently, temporarily, or to a specific third party. Certain disclosures are exempt from the freeze.

A fee of up to $10 may be charged for establishing a freeze but identity theft victims are not required to pay a fee. A person who willfully fails to comply with the requirements is liable to a consumer for actual damages of between $100 and $1,000, punitive damages, and reasonable attorney fees. A person who negligently fails to comply with the requirements is liable to a consumer for actual damages and reasonable attorney fees.

You can read about this and other legislative changes in the on-line Legal Updates 2008 course that is now available!

In addition, we offer a complimentary Line of Duty Death Benefits course, containing up-to-date information about survivor benefits. Any Virginia criminal justice officer can enroll in this course at no cost.

For information on these or any of our other on-line courses, just contact me at sales@rlsei.com or call me at 540.797.3853.

Posted in Legal Issues | No Comments »

Cast Away The Spam Demons

Its been 30 years since Gary Thuerk sent the first spam e-mail promoting a new product from his company Digital Equipment. The message was sent over the Arpanet, a government-run network that later became the Internet, and the reaction from the other users was fiercely negative. However, Thuerk’s spam did generate some sales. Today, by some accounts, nearly 90% of all email that travels across the net is spam.

So what can you do? Some IPS’s (internet service providers) attempt to filter out spam messages for you but one solution is to install a spam filter on your computer. If you are using a Windows computer try one of these great spam filters SpamBayes, Spamato or MailWasher. Mac users should check out Spam Sieve, Spam Sweep or POPfile. Please don’t take any of these recommendations as an endorsement since I don’t use any of them. However, they are all free and any reduction in spam is better than nothing.

I use the lazy man’s spam filter – Google. I simply opened a free Google mail account and I use it for anything that I think may generate unwanted spam e-mail like when I sign up for a free service on the internet. G-mail allows you to forward your e-mail so I set up the account to automatically forward to my actual e-mail address. Using this technique has virtually eliminated spam from my inbox. The really great thing about using this method is I don’t have to install or upgrade the filtering software. Google handles it for me and they are much better at it than I would ever be.

Give this method a try and over time I guarantee you will see a reduction in amount of spam that is cluttering your inbox.

Posted in Computer Advice, Computer Issues | No Comments »

Do You Have What It Takes To Survive Shutdown Day?

I’m starting to shake just typing this article. I keep thinking, “What type of a sick mind could even conceive of something like this?” If self-denial is your thing, this may put a big smile on your face. However, it will more than likely put a smile on the face or your spouse or significant other.

Here’s the challenge – instead of “turning on” try “turning off.” Can you unplug your computer for 24 hours? That’s right some sick person wants you to give up your e-mail and internet for 24 hours!

Tomorrow is Shutdown Day – a cruel test to see how many people can survive a 24 hour break from their computers – this includes your Crackberry, I mean Blackberry.

Just visit the Shutdown day site and sign up. There is no prize except self-satisfaction or the pleasure of reacquainting yourself with your real life family and friends. Check it out.

CLICK HERE:

www.shutdownday.org

Posted in Computer Issues, Useful Websites | No Comments »

More Useful Firefox Tweaks

Every time I think I have Firefox tricked out as much as possible, I discover some great new feature that is buried in the code. The other day, I found some notes I had made about Firefox so I though I would share some of my favorite tweaks.

If you haven’t switched to the Firefox browser yet, you can download it at Mozilla.com. Firefox is more secure and faster than Internet Explorer and it is free for the taking. Once you get Firefox up and running, open a new window or tab, type “about:config” into the address bar and hit “enter” to configure some great hidden options.

For instance, have you ever tried to cut and paste a multi-line item like an address into a web form? You probably noticed that it only pastes the first line of the text. You can fix this little inconvenience by scrolling down in the about:config window until you locate “editor.singleLine.pasteNewlines.” Double click on on the “1” in the value column. If you change the value to “0”, you will be able to paste content intact, including the returns that you cut and pasted. If you change the value to “2”, the returns that you paste will be replaced by a space. If you change it to “3”, all of the returns will simply be removed. Finally, changing the value to “4” will substitute a coma for the returns which makes it handy when cutting and pasting addresses into Google maps.

You may not have realized it but by default, the spell checker in Firefox only works in text fields with at least two rows. You can change the default settings for the spell checker so that it is active in all text fields or not at all. Simply scroll down in the about:config window to “layout.spellcheckDefault.” Double click on the “1” in the value column. Change the value to “2” to turn the spell checker on in all text fields. Change it to “0” to turn off the spell checker completely.

If you are a power user, it is probably not uncommon for you to have several tabs open at once in Firefox. You probably have accidently closed a tab by mistakenly clicking on the little “X” on the tab. Want to prevent that from happening again in the future? Just head back to the “about:config” window and scroll down to “browser.tab.closeButtons.” Double click on the “1” in the value column and change it to “3” to create a close button on the active tab only. Changing the value to “2” removes the close button from all of the tabs so you can only close a tab using the keyboard command (ctrl-w on Windows or command-w on a Mac). Leaving the value set to the default value of “1” leaves a close button on each tab. Here’s an extra tip to keep in mind, pressing ctrl-shift-T on Windows or command-shift-T on a Mac will restore an accidentally closed tab. Pressing this key combination multiple times will restore previously closed tabs in the order in which they were close.

Do you use Firefox’s search toolbar to search the web? Have you noticed that the search result opens in the currently active window/tab? So unless you remember to open a new tab before you do the search, the new results may open in a window you still want to use. You can prevent this from happening with another tweak to “about:config.” Scroll down to “browser.search.openintab” and double click on “false” in the value column to change the value to “true.” Now Firefox will open up a new tab every time you do a search using the search toolbar.

Finally, if you are a real tab junkie and you love to leave numerous tabs open, many of them may end up being hidden off the side. You can solve this problem by adjusting the minimum tab width before they go off the screen. Go back to “about:config” and scroll down to “browser.tabs.tabMinWidth.” Click on the “100” in the value column and change it to something small like “5.” Now it will take a huge number of open windows before the tabs are hidden to the side.

Remember, with any of these tweaks, you have to restart Firefox before the changes will take effect. I hope these little adjustments will help make your web surfing experience a little more enjoyable in the future. Try them and let me know what you think by clicking on the “comments” link below and leaving a comment.

Posted in Computer Advice | No Comments »

Get Control of Your Time

One of the training modules in my Essentials of Effective Supervision course is Time Management. I provide the students with several tools that will help them get control of both their personal and professional lives.

However, before you can eliminate those time wasters – those minutes that turn into hours – you have to get a feel for how you are spending their time. I recommend that you start by keeping a time log for two weeks. That’s right, you have to keep track how you spend every minute of every day for two weeks. Although this is a important first step toward regaining control of your life, it can be a daunting task. Fortunately, there is a new website that can help you track the amount of your time that you are wasting away on your computer.

RescueTime is a web-based time-management tool that allows you to easily understand how you spend your time. One of the coolest things about RescueTime is that there is no data entry. You install a small monitoring program on your computer and they magically track all of your time usage. RescueTime is available for use on the Mac, Windows and Linux platforms and, best of all, its FREE (as in beer). Check it out.

CLICK HERE:

RescueTime

Posted in Useful Websites | No Comments »

Rattlesnakes and Rules of Thumb

A rattlesnake’s strike can be up to two-thirds of its length so that three-foot rattler can nail you from up to two feet away.

This is one of the fun facts that you can pick up at Rules of Thumb.org. Would I want to bet my life that a rattler can only strike from 2 feet away – No! The information on this site is not intended to be taken as fact – they’re rules of thumb or intelligent guesses.

There is tons of really interesting information on this site and you can browse it by category. Check it out – you can even post your own rule of thumb or vote on the rules that are already up there.

CLICK HERE:

Rules of Thumb.org

Posted in Useful Websites | No Comments »

Time Shift Your Favorite Television Shows

Most of my regular readers know that I love to explore the variety of free podcasts that are available through iTunes. In fact, for a long time I produced the popular CopCAST podcast (and it may return to production in the future).

One of the great things about podcasts is they allow me to “time shift” my listening. In fact, many radio shows have even started to offer podcast versions of their shows so that you can listen to them at your convenience. This makes it easy to listen to them while commuting or mowing the lawn.

Now you can time shift many of your favorite television shows without have to buy a DVR and pay a monthly subscription fee. You can just fire up your computer and watch them for free. Simply visit MeeVee.com where you can watch shows from all the major networks. Permit me to recommend that you start by checking out Jericho as your first time shifted television show. You won’t be disappointed.

CLICK HERE:

MeeVee.com

Posted in Useful Websites | No Comments »

Map Out Your Routes With Gmaps Pedometer

One of the best ways to get your weight under control and get back in shape is by participating in regular aerobic activities such as running, hiking or cycling.

It is a good idea to keep a record of your fitness activities including the time and the distance that you cover. I used to drive my routes in my car to determine the distance but now I have a better way – the Gmaps Pedometer.

Gmaps Pedometer is one of the constantly expanding Google map services. All you have to do is zoom on your route and click Start Recording then double-click on the map along your route to highlight your path. I have found that the accuracy improves if you put markers along each turn and curve of your route.

Once you mark out your route, Gmaps Pedometer will calculate the distance you walked, ran or cycled. You can save the route or print a copy of your route for your record book. If you are one of the many people who have a GPS with software installed on your computer, you can export your route in the GPX format so you can import it to GPS software. Check it out.

CLICK HERE:

Google Gmaps Pedometer

Posted in Useful Websites | No Comments »

Saving Your iPod Music Collection

I love my iPod and I normally have either my third gen or my Shuffle with me most of the time. The one thing I don’t like is the inability to copy songs from the iPod to my computer. I hear horror stories all the time about people losing their music collections when their computer hard drive goes bad. Although they still have the music on their iPod, Apple doesn’t permit them to copy the music back to the computer. Fortunately, the folks at codershole.com have come up with a solution.

You simply install the iDump program on the iPod. Then when you need it, run it directly from the player. You can select the songs you want to copy. You can even specify how they should be named on your hard drive. It works with all iPod models except for the touch and iPhone. The iDump program only works on the Windows Win2k, XP, Me, and Vista platforms.

Another option is to use Senuti (iTunes spelled backwards). It is a simple utility that makes transferring songs from an iPod to your computer a breeze. Senuti reads information from the iTunesDB file on your iPod in order to retrieve the information on all of the songs on your iPod. Senuti only works on the Mac.

Posted in Computer Advice | No Comments »

Sound Files, PowerPoints and Nietzche

In the Instructor Development course that I teach, I stress the importance of using audio-visual aids to increase your students’ retention of information.

With a little practice and a good template, its fairly easy to turn out a good PowerPoint or Keynote presentation. Occasionally (please note that I even spelled ‘Occasionally’ with a capital ‘O’), you can enhance your presentation through the use of sounds. I’ll never forget when an instructor, who shall remain nameless, had an intern prepare the PowerPoint presentation for his criminal law course. The intern decided it would be cool to use the Star Trek door opening sound on all 200+ slides. Can you imagine what it was like to sit through 16 hours of criminal law instruction while anticipating the appearance of Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock with each change of the presentation’s slide?

Now that I have made my point about limiting the use of sound files in your presentations, let me help you find the sounds you need. Just surf on over to Soundsnap and you will find tons of useful sound files that you can download for free (as in beer). Most of the files are in .mp3 or .wav formats but there are also some .aiff files.

The operative word here is self-control so please don’t ‘Star Trek’ your students. By the way, my solution was to remove all of the sounds from the criminal law presentation. Like Nietzche said, “He who cannot obey himself will be commanded.” Check it out!

CLICK HERE:

Visit Soundsnap.com

Posted in Training, Useful Websites | No Comments »