Half way there and running out of time….

Between work (UPS), and work (rental house) and work (home) and work (Club 180 youth center), I am finding less time for family and even less time for school. I’ve been told that one has to prioritize. I’ve also been told that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. In this case it’s the squeaky wheel that wins out.

I have read more this semester than in any other similar time period in my life, and unfortunately it was not for pleasure. Fortunately it was very informative. I’ve enjoyed reading about the future of distance learning, and imagining new ways to put distance education resources into practice in my current position.

In addition to reading about distance learning techniques, I have taken the opportunity, this semester to dive into Windows7 and use the Word program to create documents for the Club 180 Youth Center our church is starting, in my home town. Although it may seem off base, as far as distance learning, it is definitely new technology to me. I have always utilized Word to write papers for school, or to write work-related letters. Using Word to create signs has been a new and exciting experience for me.  But to be able to utilize a Word program to create a concert flyer had to be the most enjoyable thing I have done with Windows7 yet. And hey, maybe I’ll get to sing “mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys”, with the man who wrote it.

To vacation or not: Is it vacation just because you’re not getting paid to work?

It’s June 16, 2010. I am now three days into my first of two vacation weeks for the year. At least I am not at UPS. However, it doesn’t really feel like vacation. I worked Saturday, Sunday afternoon, Monday, Tuesday and all day today on my son’s '”college rental house”.  The house isn’t really that bad,  if you consider hardwood floors, running water, walls, a roof and electricity as the only needs for a comfortable house.

When the windows have to be pressure washed (outside as well as in), the ceilings as well as the walls have to be painted, the floors need to be refinished, and one of the two bathrooms has to be completely gutted, then functionality becomes an issue. The second of the two bathrooms has a peep hole in the shower, because of poor or incomplete renovations, and we’re still not sure if the land lord is going to throw in an air conditioner. All of this week will be dedicated to demolition.

Wednesday afternoon at 19:00 I have a Wimba live class meeting  for my statistics class. Thanks to modern technology, I will be able to continue demolition, listen to synchronous lecture, and view examples and instructions on my laptop computer as I walk in and out of the house to deposit demolition materials into the bed of my pickup truck.

Technology is truly amazing. Only a few short years ago I would have to sit at a desktop computer, plug in my earphones, and virtually be non-productive during the lecture. Now, thanks to modern technology, I am able to mute my phone, listen to the lecture, and multi-task the demolition and the class lecture. I can even participate in the class lecture, via the telephone or through the Wimba console. Can distance learning get any better than this?

On the road again……..or not……

UPS delivers anything, to anyone, anywhere, literally. We deliver to over 200 countries around the world. Our first international shipment in 1975, was to Canada. Because UPS had not yet been granted a license to drive delivery trucks on Canadian highways, drivers used taxi cabs painted UPS brown. Fast forward to 2008; just two short years ago we opened a UPS Air-hub in Shanghai.

UPS has delivered packages using:

bicycles, gondolas, planes, and now hybrid electric vehicles.

In the spring of 2010, 200 new hybrid electric vehicles HEVs hit the streets in seven major cities across the United States.

Compared to conventional trucks, UPS’s 250 HEV trucks save 220,000 gallons of fuel annually, resulting in an emissions reduction of more than two metric tons of CO2 each year.And, on July 12, 2010 UPS will expand its carbon neutral shipping to 35 other countries and territories across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Millions of UPS customers will have the option of paying a small fee to calculate and offset the carbon emissions associated with their shipment.

Not only is UPS taking delivery vehicles off of the road, but it is also taking managers off of the road. Management training is now, more than ever before, being done from the manager’s office.

Using the same principles of distance education that we as Ed. D. students are using, UPS delivers updates via “webex”’ training. For example, managers at UPS will be trained on proper utilization of “our” MetLife disability website this week. By simply logging on to the training site at https://metlife.webex.com/, managers can follow along with synchronous training.

Another dollar saved…….and the world is a little greener…..

What now?

UPS has the worlds ninth largest airline (may be even higher up the list now that the economy has tanked); we ship more via railroad than any other industry in the world....including coal, and we send millions of tons of cargo around the world via cargo ship every day.

In May of this year, UPS's Massman building required input from our air managers, rail managers, and our cargo managers. We were sitting on the water's edge, and needed to move 100,000 packages per day, without electricity; to a city that was almost totally under water, and Massman didn't have the convenience of having our Italian fleet available.

As "preloaders" started arriving on Monday May 3, 2010 they were directed to the parking lot where temporary tents had been erected during the evening and into the night of May 2nd. The biggest problem was, there was no was to scan the packages into the tracking system. If you can't track it, you can't deliver it.......

Technology to the rescue. A portable "command center" from our Nashville air ramp was delivered to the Massman parking lot, along with generators, and lights. Packages normally moved along via conveyor belts would now be moved via the "bucket brigade" method. Scanning, normally done by computers equipped with cameras would now be done by hand.

Hand scanning was the previous generation technology.......from 2008, so several scanners were readily available.

The process went like this, semi-trailers were unloaded to the bucket brigade which passed the package past at least one person with a hand-held scanner en-route to a preloader who placed the parcel into a package car that was illuminated by a generator powered halogen lamp. UPSers adapted.

Driver DIADs (Delivery Information Aquisition Device) were uploaded with information from the scanners via the portable command center, so it was business as usual, as far as package delivery.

Recovery, to business as usual is still to come.