Chet Shinaman's MessageStream

Picture Above

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:19:05 GMT

The picture was taken very early one morning outside Micanopy, FL (Where Doc Hollywood was filmed). It was on the northern edge of the Paynes Prairie Reserve. When I stopped the car the storks, or great white herons where facing me. I only managed to capture their retreat.

--
Chet Shinaman
President - Datawrite, Inc.
2162 Long Bow Lane
Clearwater, FL 33764
Cell: 727-215-6688
Blackberry: 727-215-3728
Email: cxxxx@xxxcom
www.datawrite.com
chetblog.com

Happy 4th of July

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:25:22 GMT

4th of July 2008
Let's Celebrate the Best Country in the World! Let's Remember the Founding Fathers! We are all the leaders in this government because of them. Rest easy - we are still in charge.

says

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:27:56 GMT

Test
Test

says

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:57:55 GMT

DISCOVERING SOUTH BALTIMORE

You used to be able to walk out of the BWI Terminal straight into the Rental Car Garage. Now, you get on a bus. Hope that you're not in a hurry. The buses are crowded and lumber on forever through hill and dale before they finally jerk to a stop in front of a total car rental pick-up and return mausoleum. Hope that you don't have a disability or breathing problem, because you're going to have a way to go to your new chariot dragging all of your stuff behind you. Oh well, so I don't like change - especially bad change. What is very convenient for the airport totally sucks for the traveler. Add a half an hour or more to your trip.

Once at your destination near Linthicum you're ready to discover your new digs. I always stay at the Residence Inn. Originally there was only one hotel, the Amerasuites, but now there are dozens of places right there on the hilltop above the airport. Strangely, what they don't have up on the hill are restaurants. I'm going to have to tell you where to find food - especially if you get off late in the evening like I do. I'll also tell you where to get groceries, wine and where to have your dry cleaning and laundry done (the hotels charge way too much).

LAUNDRY STORY

The Speedy Cleaner at the bottom of the hill on Nursery Road will take care of your cleaning in a day at a fraction of the hotel coast. But you'll have to pick your order up by 7:00 PM. I drove down the hill in a blizzard once trying to make the deadline behind line of cars which were all slowing down and swerving on the ice. It turns out that we were all destined to hit the same giant pot hole that had opened up like a volcanic fissure. Cars with blown out tires littered the road the rest of the way down the hill. Not a call Mr. Hertz enjoys – and there went dinner time. There's a pretty good Chinese Takeout and a Pizza place on either side of the Speedy.

CRAB CAKES

Across the street from Speedy on the other side of the corner is G&M's Restaurant. This place has an eat in area and a takeout area. It is always crowded. This is a Mecca for people that like better than real Maryland crab cakes. They are big and almost all back fin chunky crab meat. The head of operations up on the hill would have me help him pick up lunches for everyone once and a while on Saturdays. It was a good day to be at work.

WHERE TO LOCATE A BOTTLE OF WINE

If you're a wine drinker like I am you will quickly notice that they don't sell the stuff in the grocery stores. You have to go to the liquor stores like the hard core vodka types. At the corner of Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard and 5^th Avenue North (look it up on your Garmin) is the best place with the best prices. They also have an all day long wine tasting of at least four different varieties over in the left front corner of the shop.

WHERE TO FIND A REAL GYM

Like to exercise at noon to keep the blood going and the strength up? There's the Australian Fitness Center on North Hammonds Ferry Road, just across the Baltimore Washington Parkway. There is a shortcut to it through the Maritime College if you're staying at the hotels up on the hill.

WHERE TO BUY FUD

There are a few Giant food stores around. The newest and cleanest is on the south side of the airport. This area is off Arundel Mills Boulevard just down from the Mall and the Bass Pro Shop. There are a few other eateries peppered into the area. Above all there is a Circuit City and a Staples.

If you have time and are a little adventurous you can always head north to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It's only fifteen minutes away and has a ton of great places to go. Make sure that you park in one of the parking garages – safe and close to town.

Later I will talk about more esoteric places to go, but this should get you settled in.

Storyboard2

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:27:19 GMT

STORYBOARD DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

Storyboards are a method of capturing proposal material in shorthand before a first draft is written. They are tools to help capture management evaluate the strategies, approaches and substantiating data for approaches in a clean, easily editable format. For once the draft is written it is much harder to see this armature, or framework of baseline ideas. It is also a good place to begin envisioning or conceptualizing graphics which will support your approaches.

This phase, begun by the great Jim Beveridge "the Anatomy of a Win," is often adhered to, but given lip service by many organizations. It is a hard discipline that it calls for engineers and management personnel to do original work. Everyone can't do everything well. A brilliant engineer may need help to articulate this level of communication even though they have a solution in mind. That's where Datawrite personnel step in and work with your team to ensure that this step is meaningful.

Once storyboards are complete there is a wall walking review by management. It is the one time that they will get to review a snapshot of the entire proposal before it goes into hundreds of pages of text. The reviewers can move ideas back and forth between the boards until they have achieved a convincing and responsive solution for the evaluator. At that point the authors will have a signed off roadmap on how to assemble and write the first draft. Although this draft will not be polished, all of the right information will be in the right places.

TIPS& TRICKS

Give a short training seminar after every Monday morning status meeting to prepare the team for the exercises of the week. Since they will need to achieve the milestone you are teaching them to prepare for that week, they will all be more likely to listen and to take notes.

Here is a simple storyboard format. Anything more complicated will be hard to review and revise. Simple is better.

WIDGET PROPOSAL STORYBOARD Storyboard No._____
Vol No./Name: II Technical	Section/Paragraph No.: 2.3.1	Sect/Par Title: Widget Assembly	Author/ Vol Lead: Henry Clay /George Burns	Page Count: 6
Section L & M References: L.3.2.3, M.3.3
Specification and Statement of Work References: Spec 3.2.3, SOW 3.4.2.1
Thematic Statement (Strategy): The Widget used in this assembly is commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
Features and Benefits: This COTS Widget has a high mean time between failure MTBF and dimensions that allow it to be placed into the current Lowest Replaceable Unit (LRU). This allows increased flight time and lower maintenance cost.
Substantiation/ Proof: The Widget has been used on the Star Spectrum Aircraft for fifteen years with a proven 400 hours MTBF. Over the last five years its cost has decreased 20% due to higher manufacturing
Graphic Concept: We have a photo of the widget. We will have a graphic pointing to each subsection describing its function and showing the reader why it is beneficial to their overall design.

Figure 5-1. A Straight Forward Storyboard Is More Productive

SUMMARY

The Storyboard allows the development of a thematic sentence, substantiating material and a graphic all tied to the requirements in the proposal outline. In just a few pages you've captured a roadmap that will lead the team through the development of a solid first draft.

Storyboard Development

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 18:25:20 GMT

STORYBOARD DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

TIPS& TRICKS

Here is a simple storyboard format. Anything more complicated will be hard to review and revise. Simple is better.

WIDGET PROPOSAL STORYBOARD Storyboard No._____
Vol No./Name: II Technical	Section/Paragraph No.: 2.3.1	Sect/Par Title: Widget Assembly	Author/ Vol Lead: Henry Clay /George Burns	Page Count: 6
Section L & M References: L.3.2.3, M.3.3
Specification and Statement of Work References: Spec 3.2.3, SOW 3.4.2.1
Thematic Statement (Strategy): The Widget used in this assembly is commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)
Features and Benefits: This COTS Widget has a high mean time between failure MTBF and dimensions that allow it to be placed into the current Lowest Replaceable Unit (LRU). This allows increased flight time and lower maintenance cost.
Substantiation/ Proof: The Widget has been used on the Star Spectrum Aircraft for fifteen years with a proven 400 hours MTBF. Over the last five years its cost has decreased 20% due to higher manufacturing
Graphic Concept: We have a photo of the widget. We will have a graphic pointing to each subsection describing its function and showing the reader why it is beneficial to their overall design.

Figure 5-1. A Straight Forward Storyboard Is More Productive

SUMMARY

--
Chet Shinaman
President - Datawrite, Inc.
2162 Long Bow Lane
Clearwater, FL 33764
Cell: 727-215-6688
Blackberry: 727-215-3728
Email: cxxxx@xxxcom
www.datawrite.com

Discovering South Baltimore

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:39:16 GMT

DISCOVERING SOUTH BALTIMORE

You used to be able to walk out of the BWI Terminal straight into the Rental Car Garage. Now, you get on a bus. Hope that you're not in a hurry. The buses are crowded and lumber on forever through hill and dale before they finally jerk to a stop in front of a total car rental pick-up and return mausoleum. Hope that you don't have a disability or breathing problem, because you're going to have a way to go to your new chariot dragging all of your stuff behind you. Oh well, so I don't like change - especially bad change. What is very convenient for the airport totally sucks for the traveler. Add a half an hour or more to your trip.

Once at your destination near Linthicum your ready to discover your new digs. I always stay at the Residence Inn. Originally there was only one hotel, the Amerasuites, but now there are dozens of places right there on the hilltop above the airport. Strangely, what they don't have up on the hill are restaurants. I'm going to have to tell you where to find food - especially if you get off late in the evening like I do. I'll also tell you where to get groceries, wine and where to have your dry cleaning and laundry done (the hotels charge way too much).

Later I will talk about more esoteric places to go, but this should get you settled in.

Happy B-Day, William Shakespeare

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:19:46 GMT

A Day To Remember - Did The Bard Get a Birthday Cake?

via eNotes News Blog by eNotes on 4/23/08

It’s the Bard’s birthday (most likely), and the whole staff here at eNotes stayed up all night baking a cake big enough for his 444 candles. While we’re waiting for Will to blow them out, have a look at some of our great Shakespeare resources: famous Bardisms, the Globe Theater, the Shakespeare Discussion Board, and etexts for all his plays.

New Test Blog

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:09:03 GMT

See if this Post arrives

I'm just getting warmed up

Chet Shinaman (chetblog) — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:22:49 GMT

Let's see what MessageDance is all about.