After establishing this blog a while ago, I'm now just getting around to doing some writing.

I'm waiting out some severe weather from the comfort of my office and thought that I'd do a little writing while the storms and traffic die down.

Air Travel
Tomorrow I get on an airplane for the first time in almost two months. I've been having withdrawals. I hope I remember how it all works. I'm very glad that I'm on the 6am flight tomorrow, rather than the 6pm flight this evening. I'm going to NYC, and with a very full plane, I hope that we actually leave in the morning. Should be interesting.

I watched Boeing roll out the 787 Dreamliner yesterday on DISH Network. As some of you know, I'm something of a geek about airplanes (among many other things). I had forgotten about the roll out and was reading an article in the Chicago Tribune that linked me to the home page for the Dreamliner. On that page, they had streaming video of the roll out, but also links to various places where you could watch the program via satellite. DISH was one of those locations, so like the good geek that I am, I sat and watched all the corporate self-promotion for an hour until they wheeled up the completed shell of the first 787 (it was interesting that in one shot, the camera showed the cockpit and you could clearly see the windows in the passenger cabin). Some day, I hope to ride in one of those, but it looks like it will be on an airline other than United.

From time to time, I'll write about my adventures in the air. To read some things I've written in the past, take a look at FlyerTalk and view my profile. There are links to my posts in there if you're of a mind to wander through a lot of stuff.


Changing Jobs
I recently moved from Hewitt Associates to Motorola. It's kind of nice to work for a company that almost everyone instantly recognizes by name. My role here is Director of Records Management. I'm picking up and moving forward a relatively new records program, but one that has a great foundation of policy, global retention schedules, and a compliance certification program. More on Motorola in future posts.


Records Management
So the day (and sometimes night) job is records management. I spend a lot of time thinking about records and writing about records. And I don't mean the kind that spin on a turntable. A lot of my musings here will likely be on this topic. I've been writing informally on records management since 1993, mainly on the RECMGMT-L Listserv. I've also written two formal articles on topics on records management:

"IM: Invaluable New Business Tool or Records Management Nightmare?"
"Are Cookies Hazardous to Your Privacy?"

I'm a past Board member of ARMA International and the current Treasurer of the Association. from time to time, I may write about broad issues in the industry that the Board is trying to better understand and discern. I may also write some more focused pieces that relate to matters at hand.


Other Items
If I am so moved, I may write about other things. I have a couple in mind already -- ramblings and noodlings that I'd like to work through in print -- and yes, in front of whatever audience I may gather. I have very strong opinions on the state of government and politics in this country and I also have some strong opinions on religion. We'll see if I have the nerve to post that stuff.

So welcome to my blog and I'll do my best to keep things fresh and worth your investment of your time.