Posted in coolness, music, Real Life

What On Earth is Scrumming?

About 5 years ago, my project manager at Fidelity asked my coworker and I to attend a class in North Carolina so we could be a pilot Agile project team. The class they were running was for becoming certified Scrum Masters, so that’s what we became. It’s been a long time since that training, or at least it feels that way. My coworker and I were laid off, I got rehired into a different business unit and a few years ago I accepted a retirement package offer and moved to Europe to live in a castle.
No, wait, I got another job, my “post-career career”. I’m still immersed in websites and giving users the best experience we can. And still working with or adjacent to Agile Scrum Teams.

At our last Quarterly planning meeting I said “I should have my son write an Agile Song” for the next quarterly planning meeting. Which starts tomorrow.
Behold the song I created with my son. I wrote the lyrics, and he did everything else including re-organizing them, making a couple of changes, and blowing me the heck away. The last time we did this, we wrote the song “The Big W” about “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” and I won’t pick favorites, I love them equally.

The song will eventually be available on Apple Music, Amazon Music and others, probably under the band name “Just Ducky” so Mike won’t have to sully his Outlyer brand with weird songs his mother wrote.


Spotify Link! https://open.spotify.com/track/0YPV6jllu0ZcJPqNJui3y9?si=5e6714214c0e4e05

Or listen at https://www.bigdumptruck.com/agile-song/

(And The Big W is here.)

The Agile Song (Scrumming)
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Posted in coolness, Real Life, Shopping, stuff

Expanding My Horizons

I recently added a cello to my Amazon wish list, because I think it’s good to learn you suck at as many things as humanly possible. Starting to feel cocky about yourself? Here, let’s see how you do with this set of oil paints, Vermeer. (See also: the tap shoes I bought myself.) 

This is the cello. 

  
Seriously, how COOL is that? I could hang it up as art when I invariably realize I’m not a cellist! 

That wishlist is more just a way to bookmark stuff I might buy myself later than a list I think people will actually use. I have zero expectation that my fan club members will pool the change in their car consoles to get me a home electrolysis system. I mean, unless my unsightly knee beard is really bothering them. Which, really, will be an interesting conversation that we must have as soon as I can find the time to spend with someone PRETENDING to be a fan. 

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Posted in coolness, Real Life, stuff

Old Person and Her Music

I am not young. Kids who still need car seats probably think I’m someone’s grandma. To be fair, I do have peers who are just that, and that’s cool, I just like to think of myself as a much younger woman. Like maybe 32, tops.

I have read articles that say people stop listening to new music around age 35. I can see that. I know a lot of people who just sat back in their easy chairs surrounded by their favorite bands from college.

I followed a different path. I kept finding new music I liked. If it’s power pop or has a certain type of solo male singer-songwriter vibe like Duncan Shiek, I’m in. I use those “if you like A you should try B” algorhythms and often find some pretty cool stuff. I have all sorts of Spotify playlists of new fun things I like. Friends introduced me to Jellyfish years ago and I used the members of the band to branch out to find solo work, special projects and people they worked with. I found Bleu this way, and found the world’s greatest ELO album the ELO never made, L.E.O’s Alpacas Orgeling. (Go buy it. Trust me.) Over time I found other bands I love: Luce, Air Traffic Controller, Washed Out, The Neighborhood, Walk the Moon, Two Door Cinema Club, to name many. I like musical styles I shouldn’t at my age. But I really do.

I discovered a guy who recorded as “Owsley” a year or so ago on Spotify and just fell in love with his music. I bought his  two albums on iTunes and played them on repeat for weeks. Now I have a habit of reading up on anyone I like (singers, actors, underwear models) so I looked him up. I was absolutely crushed to learn he had committed suicide years before. No more music from him; I was robbed of his voice, his talent. If I was this upset about it, I cannot fathom what his family was going through every day.

in the past year the Bleu newsletter 

So I just discovered Bleu covered Owsley’s Oh No The Radio on this album. This is the 2nd time Bleu has done something with an unrelated favorite of mine (see Air Traffic Controller). I thought the Owsley version was perfect so I was hesitant to listen. The cover is amazing. And made me sad all over again that Will Owsley killed himself and robbed me of any future new music. Sorry for the tangent but you can understand why this would stun and amaze me, and why I wanted to share. 

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Posted in photos, stuff

I Miss Summer All Year Long

I have come to realize that I loath winter. I detest cost and snow and ice. I hate shoveling and scraping ice off my car. Why else would I take every opportunity to go to Florida, or even visit the local beaches. Even when it’s freezing cold and my ears ache after 3 minutes in the wind.

Last week we went to the beach to have lobster for lunch, fly kites and snack on fried dough. Best day in forever.

20130423-113635.jpg

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Posted in photos, stuff

I Miss Summer All Year Long

I have come to realize that I loath winter. I detest cost and snow and ice. I hate shoveling and scraping ice off my car. Why else would I take every opportunity to go to Florida, or even visit the local beaches. Even when it’s freezing cold and my ears ache after 3 minutes in the wind.

Last week we went to the beach to have lobster for lunch, fly kites and snack on fried dough. Best day in forever.

20130423-113635.jpg

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