August 2008

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On-line community by, for, and about Ex Reps, Tech Reps, their families and friends

  Dedicated to Tech Reps past, present, & future; any company, any projects, any country, any time  . . .

ExReps is for anyone who has worked, or is currently working as a Tech Rep. Some of the old outfits include Philco Techrep, Ford Aerospace, Page Communications, RCA, Federal Electric, ITT Arctic, Bendix (BFEC), Hughes, Loral, Collins, Raytheon, Lockheed, Kellogg Brown & Root, Bechtel, Bell Helicopter, AFSCN, to name just a few. ExReps is open to all those who worked as Tech Reps, and those who are still working as Tech Reps.

Just about through the slow season, actually there has been more activity, on ExReps, in the month of August this year than I had expected, check out the stats at the bottom of the page. Still waiting on some advice and/or comments that will point in the direction of new stuff on the system that will make it more useful for the members.

 Don't get a lot of input from the ExReps about stuff they would like to see on the system, I know that we have a lot of visitors from the site stats, and I know that folks are using the system to get back in touch with friends from bygone days, and it seems that folks appreciate the In Memoriam section to know which of our friends have gone silent key. Beyond that it seems that folks are content to let me pretty much do what I want to in making changes and upgrades to the system.

If you have some ideas, drop me a line about them, otherwise I will take silence as a vote of confidence and do what seems reasonable.

If you don't pitch I sure can't swing at it

Getting old aint for wimps as my old mentor Dave Wunsch says. I managed to get quite a bit behind with site updates due to the simple fact that it seems I have to put in twice as many hours, at half the pay, simply to stay employed. Conventional wisdom seems to be that old geezers cannot understand this computer and internet stuff, so all the jobs go to the 20 something computer nerds, except of course for those jobs that go to the H1B visa holders because we clearly do not have enough citizens who know how to do the work for the few jobs that have not been outsourced to Bangladesh or India,

I have caught up on everything that I know about, but having had a couple of computer crashes in the last year I may have lost my notes on what you wanted added to the site, or the changes you really think need being made. If you have sent something in and do not see it reflected on the site, better send it in again. I am going to attempt to have a same day policy for everything that is sent in.

New Stuff, Changes, Thoughts and Proposals

• Are the companies you worked for listed above? - One of the ways your old co-workers find ExReps is when they do a Google or Yahoo Search on the company name, if your old companies are listed above there is a better chance of them being able to get in contact with you. If your old employer is missing drop me an email and I will add them.+

• Got Any Pictures from Back-In-The-Day? - We have had a Back in the Day picture of Jerry Howell on the top page for a couple of years now. I think it might be cool to change this to a rotating line up of pictures from the old days. I can do this if folks send in their pictures, you can either upload them to the gallery section in the forums area, or you can email them to me at jayc@ExReps.com  if I get a dozen or so photos sent in I will make the change.

• Change to the Way the Sire Loads - Those who check out ExReps every once in a while will have noticed that the site no longer opens up in the Forums area. Now it opens on the top page of the website. Couple reasons for this, mostly it does not seem that the forums area is seeing much use, and I am thinking of changing the software I am using for a new package. There has been a poll asking about changes in the discussion area for some time and no one has even bothered to vote, so I figure I am free to start making changes. If you want to have some input on what happens to the look, feel and content of ExReps you have to participate to the extent of letting me know what it is you want.

• New Features and stuff - Some of the stuff added to the site since the last newsletter

  • Code Swarm - Kinda Geeky, but way cool, click here to visit the Code Swarm page and see how much work individuals do to keep the internet free and interesting

  • Make My Day- A little humor always makes my day, Click here to visit the Make My Day

  • Things that make me go Hmmmm . . . - We now have a locally generated news feed to keep content fresh. Since no one seems to want to participate most of the news items are just going to be stuff that seem cool to me. You can check out the last five items on the bottom right of the main page or you can click here for Things that make me go Hmmmm If you see something on the net that seems cool, just drop me a line to get it added to the feed.

  • ExReps Map - A way to let folks know where you are these days

New Blood Wanted - This is kinda complex, so please bear with me for a bit.  If you stop and think about it, the pyramids still rate as one of the greatest construction projects ever completed. And I think it is a safe bet that the Pharaohs' hired a lotta tech reps to work on them. But with the rare exception of a few program managers who ripped off enough to construct their own tombs, we know very little about the guys who did the work.

This has pretty much changed, whatever goes up on the internet is being archived by several outfits like "The WayBack Machine" and other projects the cost of data storage is going down even faster than the amount of information on the net is going up, it is a safe bet that a thousand years from now, some researcher is going to be reading what I type here, and reading about you, and the projects you worked on, if you post some of your war stories and other adventures here on ExReps.

To further increase the odds, we need to make sure that ExReps continues on the air after we are no longer around, we need to get the guys who are still out there working the contracts. We need to get the kids working in the field to sign up with ExReps.

If you are still working in the field, or in contact with those who are, get the word out about this system and get the youngsters to sign up now.

• Contact me and I can send you some paper announcements that you can print out and post

• See if you can get ExReps  mentioned in company newsletters

• Look around the web, and see if you can find some blogs or forums you can post about ExReps on, make sure you put in the full URL in your note http://www.exreps.com/

Board of Directors - We really need to set up some mechanism to make sure ExReps continues under the same URL when they finally pry the keyboard outta my cold dead fingers. There is an increasing amount of domain piracy going on, and established URL's like ExReps.com are prime targets so the registrars have put a number of safeguards into effect. However there is a mechanism for changing ownership of hosting accounts, and there is also one for transferring domain registration.

The forums would be a great place to start an discussion about this.

I remain convinced that the ExReps represent probably the smartest group of experienced project managers on the face of the planet, what I would like to see happen would be for a board of directors self-organize and accept responsibility for both perpetuating themselves as an organization, and for putting the stuff in place that will ensure ExReps keeps on ticking after my personal Timex stops.

Some Proposed Changes - I don't get a lot of feedback about changes to the system, if I continue not to get any I will probably end up making changes that you are going to hate, so if you feel strongly about any of this stuff drop me a line, or post something on the disccussion area to get some chatter going about any, or all of the changes I am thinking about.

• Change Forum Software - Currently ExRep's uses the SMF forrums/BBS software packages, one of the disadvantages to this package is that out-of-the box it does not provide for real names being mandatory in the user profile. This did not bother me much when I selected it for the system, as I really don't think that there should be much, or any, mandatory stuff on the system.
  I did not anticipate the number of people who would snag a Forums account under a nickname and not register to get their name listed on the roster. Seems self defeating for a system that tries to let old friends reconnect to not have street names out there.
  Since the forums area sees little use, I am thinking about changing the software to the PHPBBS package, which would provide for real names as well as having some other benifits. If you have strong feelings one way or the other please drop me a line.

• Adding a Wiki - I am thinking of adding a Wiki to the system. If you don't know what a Wiki is check out the Wikipedia entry for Wiki's. A Wiki is an easy way for people to post information on the internet, and has great search feature so that other folks can find that information. I am thinking that perhaps those who know a lot of how to work the social security system could post guidelines for folks who are just getting involved in it and so on.  Lemme know your thoughts about this.
   

History of TechReps -  David Trojan has written a history of TechReps, you can find part one by clicking here. and Part Two by clicking here, you can drop David a line by clicking here, he has expressed an interest in hearing from the old hands, perhaps he has another article or two up his sleeve

Need some help, how to contact Lockheed Martin HR (Benefits for Former Philco-Ford TechRep)

I was checking out some old paperwork a while back, and discovered that I had vested in the Philco Ford retirement plan back in the 1960's, it aint a lotta money, but I hate to leave anything on the table..  Actually it is for only a few hundred dollars a year, but that would be enough to support an annual pilgrimage out to Pahrump where I could participate in the cultural exchange at the Mustang Ranch.

 I tried contacting Dearborn for information about how to enroll and collect, with little luck, I am thinking this program might now be administered by Lockheed Martin, simply don't have a clue.

If anyone knows how to claim Philco retirement benefits please drop me a line.

Cross Posting to the Forums - We set up the Forums area so folks could post their own notes directly on the system rather than having to wait on me to find the time to put your notes up. However not a lot of folks are making use of this feature, I see quite a few people reading stuff in the forums, but very few registering for an account, and even fewer posting anything.

With almost 400 ExReps listed in our Roster, only 66 have ever signed up for an account in the forums area, of the 66 who have signed up; the median number of days since they have visited the forums is 88 , fewer than 10 have logged in in the last two weeks.

The system is here for the people that use it, so it is up to the system to change to meet their needs, rather than the members needing to change to meet the system's needs.

So I have taken to putting up the notes that people send me on the forum for them rather than asking them to log in and make their own posts.  The good news is that everyone will get to see the notes that I think worth passing along, the bad news is that I get to decide what to post and what not to post.

Yep, that's right, censorship, and there is no appeal, or best case <evil grin> I will judge all appeals.

Of course if you want to be sure your voice is heard, all you have to do is log in and speak your mind.

I would be interested in seeing some conversations on what folks think about the current situation in Iraq, I was in Baghdad working for the CPA a couple of years ago so have my own feelings, but I don't think it is my place to use ExReps as a way of speaking to one side, or the other. Most of us went through Vietnam at one stage or another so would be interesting to hear what folks think about our current situation.

• Wrap-up

  That's about it for another newsletter, remember if you want something added to the next newsletter you can just drop me a line. If you want something added to the events calendar, the links page, or pictures you want to share in our gallery, just snag an account in the forums area and have at it.
   

  Jay Clark August 2008

  Las Vegas, Nevada

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  New signups  & Changes since the last newsletter - Click Here to add your name to the ExReps Roster