I'm just so proud, of my husband and my brother!
David and Ryan have been working very hard for several years to build their company, ProComputer Solutions, into a successful technology and network services company. They currently serve many businesses across the KC Metro area. Last week, David presented a huge proposal to a terrific new client who plans to begin using PCSi Managed Services right after the first of the year. The new client requested references and David forwarded the request to several current customers who are similar in size and technology needs. What followed absolutely blew us away! They all gave positively glowing reviews. But this one stood out above all the rest... I think David and Ryan should hire this client to write all their marketing and advertising copy from now on!
This is what she had to say:
Christy
We are very happy to provide a reference for Pro Computer Solutions and in particular, David Downs and his partner Ryan Witt and staff Brian McCorkendale. David is great to work with - explains the technology side of the tools in the language that we all can easily understand, works great with our staff one/one when it is needed to resolve problems. We have 100+ workstations, multiple servers and 5 office locations that Pro Computer Solutions provides services for. We utilize their remote services for the most part which has made a significant positive impact on the timely response to our IT needs. The call-in service help line always has a person to take your call and the web based Help line is easy to use by all staff when a problem needs to be reported.
Pro Computer Solutions stepped in when our prior contractor was leaving about 4 years ago and the transition was as seamless as possible for our staff and business functions. They provide the 24/7 monitoring of our systems and are great to help us in problem solving our network needs in a creative and functional means based upon our limited resources as a not-for-profit organization. We probably challenge them at times more than they would like but they always come up with an idea to address the need we have. We can't say enough about their services to really show you how much we appreciate their willingness to work with us and be innovative in their thinking to keep our systems up and running.
We think you would find that Pro Computer Solutions is a good company to work with.
Janice Brooke
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Where's Karen Been?
I'm getting complaints from adoring fans that my Blog hasn't been updated appropriately lately.
First, I have to say, I didn't really realize that I had adoring fans (excepting my mom, of course :-) until now. My readership is slight, and I make updates mostly to amuse myself and to keep a living history for my children to reflect upon one day. A secondary consideration is that it is a nice way to share newsy family information that might not otherwise get shared--so of course I'm aware that family and close friends lurk on my blog from time to time... but I didn't really realize it had become a sort of "staple" as it were... to anyone at all. That feels kinda good.
Okay, here's the deal... I don't have anything interesting to talk about right now. Nothing. Nada. Zippo. I get up each morning when its still dark outside. Sometimes I'm delighted to find that Abbey is already awake, or that David has already begun the arduous task of rousing our sleeping beauty. But most days, I wake up to begin the arduous task of rousing the un-wake-able. She generally must be at school by about 7a.m., and mostly she gets there on time...some mornings are rougher than others.
Tyler pretty much takes care of himself. He's often late to school and the soccer coach teaching his 1st hour AP Government class is "cool" as Tyler says, and so does not hold him accountable to be at school on time. Tyler takes full advantage. Some days I slip up and gripe at him about it. Mostly I try to let him live by his own consequences as he will have to do in college just 8 short months from now.
Emery needs help finding outfits each day, but mostly she's self-sufficient in the morning, as long as her dad or I keep her moving.
I go to work. The big thing on my plate right now is to gain approval for a Google Search Appliance (GSA) on the internal web at Sprint. Like many large companies, the intranet has TONS of information scattered across dozens of content repositories, causing much strife for employees who need the information, but are uncertain which repository to look for it. For most of the past year, I have been working to build the business case for the GSA and then rally support among executives and troops to make this thing a reality. Once approved, it is super easy to install, and will make the workday easier for tens of thousands of Sprint employees. This strategy, combined with a good social networking and content strategy will no-doubt be an important part of the corporate turn-around effort currently underway at Sprint. But in this economic cycle we find ourselves in, money is really tight...even for a (relatively) inexpensive solution like this one that has a positive (soft dollar) ROI within 1 month. I have achieved significant support from many sources across the organization, but I have not yet "cracked the code" on working my way through the challenging and allusive change management processes internally. My sales-rep at Google has to think we are the most difficult company to work with ever. He doesn't complain, of course... (I wouldn't work with him if he did.) But I know we have to be among his most challenging clients to work with.
I go home when its already dark. Sometimes David and/or Tyler has already picked up Abbey from the musical rehearsal and Emery from Prime-time daycare. Sometimes I help out with that stuff. Depending on the day of the week, there are music lessons or dance lessons or indoor soccer games or winter programs at school.
We've been working really hard at eating healthier again. I had written about that in my blog several months ago. I didn't make the update when I fell off my plan though. And so these past few weeks since returning home from Disney, David and I have re-committed ourselves to changing our eating habits...again. I don't know if I want to write about that in my blog this time around. I just need to focus on getting it done. I'll have to think about that some more. I may need encouragement if anyone wants to hear about the ups and downs of wavering commitment to that goal.
School work for children has monopolized much of our evening time. Even Emery has homework everyday. Tyler and Abbey are both struggling lately with feeling motivated or excited about excelling in school. Daily conversations are had about what assignments didn't get turned in--that isn't feeling very successful for anyone right now. Today marks the final day of the semester though, and all of us are looking forward to the brief reprieve.
I think High School is much more difficult now than it was when David and I were there. You should see the final Abbey had to do for her Freshman English class... you remember Freshman English, right? I think we were still diagramming sentences and learning how to identify parts of speech. They've been reading Great Expectations a few chapters at a time, while they are also reading other short stories and a second novel, "A River Runs Through It." The final assignment was to write an essay with an introduction and thesis statement, followed by 3 related topics on things like: Choices, Social Class, etc. For each of the 3 topics, there had to be 3 "claims" about similarities, differences, and nuances between various characters across these multiple texts, support each claim with a quotes from the book, and then write an analysis of the quotes and how they support the claims (and all the claims must support the thesis.)
You DO remember Freshman English, right? You had to read To Kill a Mockingbird (or similar) and maybe answer a few essay questions about it, primarily intended to help the teacher know if you'd actually read the book or not. This is the class where you maybe read some of the book, and "caught on" to the rest of it based on classroom conversation. The only reason you were able to pass the test at the end of the book was because the teacher let you watch the movie in class (or you rented it from blockbuster on your own time.) It wasn't till years later that you appreciated the fact that it was actually a pretty decent book and chose to read it of your own accord as an adult. Right? I mean, this IS the way most 14-15 year old kids behave.
Yeah, well, it's pretty much like that with my kid too. So at 11:30 p.m. the day before this assignment was due, Abbey finally thought to ask us for help--actually, that's being generous. It was 11:30 at night when her dad stumbled upon her in the kitchen, staring blankly at the page wondering how to get started. David and I really struggled. I've never read Great Expectations or A River Runs Through It, or any of the other 6 stories or 4 poems, which rendered me mostly useless in offering support. Fighting back the great feelings of inadequacy born from a.) guilt that I hadn't noticed all semester that Abbey hadn't fully read all the texts, b.) frustration that my child waited until almost midnight to start work on a 4 hour project, c.) having to somehow "squelch" the burning desire to yell and scream so that we might be able to instead focus on the task at hand and d.) why didn't I ever bother to read those books?... I stayed up to help her figure out how to write a paper with less than 7 hours left before it was time to arrive at school for finals. Argh! Okay...so we did stumble through it. She was almost done when I went to bed at 3a.m. It appears that she actually pulled off a decent grade on the project. But the point is...she wasn't supposed to have to do that till she was off at college, at which time, I was just supposed to offer support and words of encouragement, "you can do it honey" over the phone. Anyway, she wants to be more on top of her school work and the schedule upon which it is due... mostly.
Tyler and I have not worked on scholarship applications for a few weeks--mostly because he is forever behind on getting assignments turned in lately. It seems that already having been accepted into college, already having scored very well on college entrance exams and already having received a handsome scholarship offer, he just isn't seeing the point to turning in homework these days. Its a severe case of senior-itis. I can hardly blame him. Daily, we receive cool posters, pamphlets, postcards, and other cool stuff from University of Nebraska, luring him to daydream about circumstances that seem way cooler than the one he's currently living. All that's truly standing between him and realizing his collegiate dream is one half-credit to graduate. Makes it hard to stay engaged. I futilely keep challenging him to stay on top of things, desperately spewing advice I wish I had followed... "you will need the discipline and study habits that you build now," "there are more local scholarship opportunities that will include this semester's grades in their considerations," among my favorite reasoning. His responses are equally pithy... "it'll be totally different in college," "when I don't turn stuff in, it's like I'm 'sticking it to the man,'" "I'm so ready to be done with high school." Anyway, the conversation really wears me out. He wants to want to do better... mostly.
Emery's biggest challenge continues to be the allusive Green Smiley-Face notes. Each day, she brings home a very simple sort of report from school. If she was very good all day, it's a green smiley face. If I sign it for her to return to the teacher the next day, she gets a small piece of candy. After she's done that 5 times, she gets to pick out a small gift at school. But more often than we would like, she brings home a yellow squiggle-face note, with a few words... "Just wanted to do her own thing today," or, "Too much talking today," or "Chose not to do her work today." Each day we talk about it. All semester, she has had a goal of stringing together 10 days in a row with Green Smileys. When she does this, she will get to go buy the "Barbie Diamond Princess" movie from Wal-Mart. We've gotten close a time or two. But something always seems to foil the day. She desperately wants to do better... mostly.
My house is a mess. Seems like we are perpetually about a meal-behind the dishes in the kitchen, and we are always a load behind the laundry to be folded on the couch. We are always a week behind the dog hair that needs to be vacuumed. I fancy that if I were better at maintaining these things (and imploring my children and husband to help with these things) that we would all be more successful. I wish I had more discipline... mostly.
I've been reading "The Real George Washington." It's a wonderfully fun story to read. He was such an incredible leader. I guess I've always known that... the anecdotal stories we all remember from our high school history classes hit the high points. But this book really goes into a lot of depth about the nature of the challenges he faced, how his depth of character and commitment to the cause enabled him to overcome the harshest of circumstances, it was his discipline, his heart, his introspection and strategic nature that turned him into a hero. He faced such bigger challenges than the minor sorts of challenges I speak of in today's post. This country he served through the Revolutionary War didn't truly back the war effort. His troops suffered naked and starving through cold New England winters, while their countrymen lived comfortably, sold provisions to British troops, and were often loyal to the opposition. When they were directly attacked, individual citizens would temporarily be more supportive of the effort to become an Independent nation. But as time dragged on, they just wanted to go back to being comfortable again.
Reading Washington's story, it serves as a stark reminder that this sort of complacency and comfort we can so easily slip into is such an enemy of our spirit. We must strive to always raise the bar on our own accomplishments. We must hold firm onto our values and remain deeply committed to the things we hold dear.
Perhaps the most startling thing to me is the number of people who just really did not like him. The people who work for their own glory (and the masses of more well-intended but ignorant folks) really never do understand or see the selfless nature of people like George Washington. They are so quiet and unassuming--its easy to take advantage of them (at least for a while.)
So, in answer to the question, Where's Karen Been? I'm simply living my daily challenges, struggling to get over a 4-weeks long cold, while taking encouragement from General Washington to inspire myself and my children to live, perhaps, just a little bit better... mostly.
First, I have to say, I didn't really realize that I had adoring fans (excepting my mom, of course :-) until now. My readership is slight, and I make updates mostly to amuse myself and to keep a living history for my children to reflect upon one day. A secondary consideration is that it is a nice way to share newsy family information that might not otherwise get shared--so of course I'm aware that family and close friends lurk on my blog from time to time... but I didn't really realize it had become a sort of "staple" as it were... to anyone at all. That feels kinda good.
Okay, here's the deal... I don't have anything interesting to talk about right now. Nothing. Nada. Zippo. I get up each morning when its still dark outside. Sometimes I'm delighted to find that Abbey is already awake, or that David has already begun the arduous task of rousing our sleeping beauty. But most days, I wake up to begin the arduous task of rousing the un-wake-able. She generally must be at school by about 7a.m., and mostly she gets there on time...some mornings are rougher than others.
Tyler pretty much takes care of himself. He's often late to school and the soccer coach teaching his 1st hour AP Government class is "cool" as Tyler says, and so does not hold him accountable to be at school on time. Tyler takes full advantage. Some days I slip up and gripe at him about it. Mostly I try to let him live by his own consequences as he will have to do in college just 8 short months from now.
Emery needs help finding outfits each day, but mostly she's self-sufficient in the morning, as long as her dad or I keep her moving.
I go to work. The big thing on my plate right now is to gain approval for a Google Search Appliance (GSA) on the internal web at Sprint. Like many large companies, the intranet has TONS of information scattered across dozens of content repositories, causing much strife for employees who need the information, but are uncertain which repository to look for it. For most of the past year, I have been working to build the business case for the GSA and then rally support among executives and troops to make this thing a reality. Once approved, it is super easy to install, and will make the workday easier for tens of thousands of Sprint employees. This strategy, combined with a good social networking and content strategy will no-doubt be an important part of the corporate turn-around effort currently underway at Sprint. But in this economic cycle we find ourselves in, money is really tight...even for a (relatively) inexpensive solution like this one that has a positive (soft dollar) ROI within 1 month. I have achieved significant support from many sources across the organization, but I have not yet "cracked the code" on working my way through the challenging and allusive change management processes internally. My sales-rep at Google has to think we are the most difficult company to work with ever. He doesn't complain, of course... (I wouldn't work with him if he did.) But I know we have to be among his most challenging clients to work with.
I go home when its already dark. Sometimes David and/or Tyler has already picked up Abbey from the musical rehearsal and Emery from Prime-time daycare. Sometimes I help out with that stuff. Depending on the day of the week, there are music lessons or dance lessons or indoor soccer games or winter programs at school.
We've been working really hard at eating healthier again. I had written about that in my blog several months ago. I didn't make the update when I fell off my plan though. And so these past few weeks since returning home from Disney, David and I have re-committed ourselves to changing our eating habits...again. I don't know if I want to write about that in my blog this time around. I just need to focus on getting it done. I'll have to think about that some more. I may need encouragement if anyone wants to hear about the ups and downs of wavering commitment to that goal.
School work for children has monopolized much of our evening time. Even Emery has homework everyday. Tyler and Abbey are both struggling lately with feeling motivated or excited about excelling in school. Daily conversations are had about what assignments didn't get turned in--that isn't feeling very successful for anyone right now. Today marks the final day of the semester though, and all of us are looking forward to the brief reprieve.
I think High School is much more difficult now than it was when David and I were there. You should see the final Abbey had to do for her Freshman English class... you remember Freshman English, right? I think we were still diagramming sentences and learning how to identify parts of speech. They've been reading Great Expectations a few chapters at a time, while they are also reading other short stories and a second novel, "A River Runs Through It." The final assignment was to write an essay with an introduction and thesis statement, followed by 3 related topics on things like: Choices, Social Class, etc. For each of the 3 topics, there had to be 3 "claims" about similarities, differences, and nuances between various characters across these multiple texts, support each claim with a quotes from the book, and then write an analysis of the quotes and how they support the claims (and all the claims must support the thesis.)
You DO remember Freshman English, right? You had to read To Kill a Mockingbird (or similar) and maybe answer a few essay questions about it, primarily intended to help the teacher know if you'd actually read the book or not. This is the class where you maybe read some of the book, and "caught on" to the rest of it based on classroom conversation. The only reason you were able to pass the test at the end of the book was because the teacher let you watch the movie in class (or you rented it from blockbuster on your own time.) It wasn't till years later that you appreciated the fact that it was actually a pretty decent book and chose to read it of your own accord as an adult. Right? I mean, this IS the way most 14-15 year old kids behave.
Yeah, well, it's pretty much like that with my kid too. So at 11:30 p.m. the day before this assignment was due, Abbey finally thought to ask us for help--actually, that's being generous. It was 11:30 at night when her dad stumbled upon her in the kitchen, staring blankly at the page wondering how to get started. David and I really struggled. I've never read Great Expectations or A River Runs Through It, or any of the other 6 stories or 4 poems, which rendered me mostly useless in offering support. Fighting back the great feelings of inadequacy born from a.) guilt that I hadn't noticed all semester that Abbey hadn't fully read all the texts, b.) frustration that my child waited until almost midnight to start work on a 4 hour project, c.) having to somehow "squelch" the burning desire to yell and scream so that we might be able to instead focus on the task at hand and d.) why didn't I ever bother to read those books?... I stayed up to help her figure out how to write a paper with less than 7 hours left before it was time to arrive at school for finals. Argh! Okay...so we did stumble through it. She was almost done when I went to bed at 3a.m. It appears that she actually pulled off a decent grade on the project. But the point is...she wasn't supposed to have to do that till she was off at college, at which time, I was just supposed to offer support and words of encouragement, "you can do it honey" over the phone. Anyway, she wants to be more on top of her school work and the schedule upon which it is due... mostly.
Tyler and I have not worked on scholarship applications for a few weeks--mostly because he is forever behind on getting assignments turned in lately. It seems that already having been accepted into college, already having scored very well on college entrance exams and already having received a handsome scholarship offer, he just isn't seeing the point to turning in homework these days. Its a severe case of senior-itis. I can hardly blame him. Daily, we receive cool posters, pamphlets, postcards, and other cool stuff from University of Nebraska, luring him to daydream about circumstances that seem way cooler than the one he's currently living. All that's truly standing between him and realizing his collegiate dream is one half-credit to graduate. Makes it hard to stay engaged. I futilely keep challenging him to stay on top of things, desperately spewing advice I wish I had followed... "you will need the discipline and study habits that you build now," "there are more local scholarship opportunities that will include this semester's grades in their considerations," among my favorite reasoning. His responses are equally pithy... "it'll be totally different in college," "when I don't turn stuff in, it's like I'm 'sticking it to the man,'" "I'm so ready to be done with high school." Anyway, the conversation really wears me out. He wants to want to do better... mostly.
Emery's biggest challenge continues to be the allusive Green Smiley-Face notes. Each day, she brings home a very simple sort of report from school. If she was very good all day, it's a green smiley face. If I sign it for her to return to the teacher the next day, she gets a small piece of candy. After she's done that 5 times, she gets to pick out a small gift at school. But more often than we would like, she brings home a yellow squiggle-face note, with a few words... "Just wanted to do her own thing today," or, "Too much talking today," or "Chose not to do her work today." Each day we talk about it. All semester, she has had a goal of stringing together 10 days in a row with Green Smileys. When she does this, she will get to go buy the "Barbie Diamond Princess" movie from Wal-Mart. We've gotten close a time or two. But something always seems to foil the day. She desperately wants to do better... mostly.
My house is a mess. Seems like we are perpetually about a meal-behind the dishes in the kitchen, and we are always a load behind the laundry to be folded on the couch. We are always a week behind the dog hair that needs to be vacuumed. I fancy that if I were better at maintaining these things (and imploring my children and husband to help with these things) that we would all be more successful. I wish I had more discipline... mostly.
I've been reading "The Real George Washington." It's a wonderfully fun story to read. He was such an incredible leader. I guess I've always known that... the anecdotal stories we all remember from our high school history classes hit the high points. But this book really goes into a lot of depth about the nature of the challenges he faced, how his depth of character and commitment to the cause enabled him to overcome the harshest of circumstances, it was his discipline, his heart, his introspection and strategic nature that turned him into a hero. He faced such bigger challenges than the minor sorts of challenges I speak of in today's post. This country he served through the Revolutionary War didn't truly back the war effort. His troops suffered naked and starving through cold New England winters, while their countrymen lived comfortably, sold provisions to British troops, and were often loyal to the opposition. When they were directly attacked, individual citizens would temporarily be more supportive of the effort to become an Independent nation. But as time dragged on, they just wanted to go back to being comfortable again.
Reading Washington's story, it serves as a stark reminder that this sort of complacency and comfort we can so easily slip into is such an enemy of our spirit. We must strive to always raise the bar on our own accomplishments. We must hold firm onto our values and remain deeply committed to the things we hold dear.
Perhaps the most startling thing to me is the number of people who just really did not like him. The people who work for their own glory (and the masses of more well-intended but ignorant folks) really never do understand or see the selfless nature of people like George Washington. They are so quiet and unassuming--its easy to take advantage of them (at least for a while.)
So, in answer to the question, Where's Karen Been? I'm simply living my daily challenges, struggling to get over a 4-weeks long cold, while taking encouragement from General Washington to inspire myself and my children to live, perhaps, just a little bit better... mostly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)