On writing by Stephen King

One of my favorite authors is Stephen King. He has been since I can remember. Carrie was probably the first one I read. I'm probably more of a fan of his earlier work until probably the mid eighties. Since then not a lot of what he has written has captured me much. The last one I got (From a Buick 8) a few years back and I still haven't finished it.I did pick up his book "On Writing" from the local library recently. It has been an interesting book so far and I'm about halfway through it. The first section of the book is more of a personal memoir from his early childhood to when he broke into the big time with Carrie. Which I found interesting and humorous at times. The later half so far on how he writes. Now I certainly don't fancy myself a writer but this is also interesting. The book has kept my attention and interest and I'll probably end up purchasing this one to keep.

This week

Not a lot to note this week. Lean Manufacturing class still is the more interesting of the two classes this semester. This week it was on the use of flow charts and such. Basically on how to map out a process and learn where all the waste is and how it could be improved. It's more interesting because it has more immediate implications at our work.

Ironically I'm still trying to figure out what exactly my Production Management class is all about even after three weeks. The teacher is OK but a bit on the boring side. We have our first test this coming week so I'll be studying this weekend for it.

Now for the lighter side of life. A scene from one of favorite movies growing up "Fast Time at Ridgemont High". Please enjoy....

Lean Thinking

I'd have to think that my Lean Manufacturing class is the more interesting of the two I'm taking this semester. I even picked out some extra reading from the library. "Lean Thinking"(Womack & Jones) tells some interesting stories of companies using older methods of production. Some well known companies are included like Pratt & Whitney and Porsche(yes the car company). Well at least I've found them interesting. I messed up though and forgot to do my 5S assignment last week for class. I must do that this weekend.

Additional reading stuff I've picked up this week were "In the pursuit of Happyness" by Chris Gardner(library book), "On writing" by Stephen King(library book), "World According to Garp" by John Irving(yet another library book) and "First things First" by Stephen Covey(Amazon). The good thing about library books is that you've got somewhat of a time limit to do your reading. It sort of keeps you from just getting the book and forgetting about it.

What's on your bookshelf?

Just recently I've wanted to start cataloging my books. I started a spreadsheet but it was a bit tedious plus with a touch of procrastination it hasn't gotten very far. I came across LibraryThing.com which catalogs your book collection. All you do is enter the ISBN number on your book and it does the rest. You can even enter one manually if it's not found in the database. I cataloged 33 books in a short amount of time. I only did the ones around my desk I haven't even touched the ones on the other bookshelves. I found it to be a cool way to keep track of your books. Give it a try. My list can be found here. A special thanks to one of my favorite blogs Geeks are sexy for finding this one.

Lean Manufacturing: 5s

This week in class we learned about 5S. Many of the 5S items may seem like a no brainer and may even be in place at your work or home. The probability that all are in place at once is probably slim one. What was interesting to me is that it not only at work these items can work in the home too. I immediately saw how I could apply many of these tools to my garage, basement and even around the home. What are the 5S's? They are Sort,Set in order,Shine,Standardize, and Sustain. Like I said it's an interesting concept. I believe I'm going to do our basement and or garage as a project. I'll post here along when I do. It should be interesting.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

I don't usually write about movies or reviews. I rarely watch them myself. I did happen to watch "The pursuit of happyness" this morning. I can't help but to be touched and inspired by this movie in many respects. If your not aware of the story it is inspired by the life of Christopher Gardner who overcame unbelievable hardship in his pursuit of happiness. Why write about it here? Not only was I very touched by his dedication to his son but he had set goals in his life and he pursued them unrelentingly. I've covered goal setting in this blog so I thought it would be appropriate.

What first got me was his dedication to his son and his reasoning behind it. Apparently he had no father while growing up so he made a vow to always be a part of his son's life which he did. Even when his wife left him and he insisted his son stay with him. I can relate to that in my own life regarding my son. My dad unfortunately was not a part of my life in later childhood. One of my goals in life has been to always be a part of my son's life no matter what may happen.

The main part of what can be learned from his story is his focus on his goals. Despite the many hard ships he and his son endured he remained steadfast in his goals which was to become a stockbroker. I almost feel embarrassed to complain about my own situation compared to what he went through. I highly recommend this movie.

Follow up

I had written here last month how much my "Student Success" teacher liked my final essay and was going to pass it along. It came back yesterday with some positive notes on it. It apparently was shared with someone from the English Department some comments and corrections. "this student is on their way to being a great writer! It's organized, coherent, and more importantly - inspiring." that is a direct quote from the note attached to the essay. If that isn't compliment I don't know what is then. I haven't talked directly with the teacher yet but he did leave his number and I will call him by this weekend. Do I have a hidden skill I didn't even know I had? I'll work on revising it with some corrections that were recommended. I'm actually thinking of taking a summer writing course(at the same school). Something to brush up on my basic writing skills as I'm sure they are a bit rusty. Maybe I can look up some books to help me out. Well got to go. I just thought I'd share that here.