Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Reno Senior Winter Games – snowshoeing

Yesterday I competed in the snow shoe race for the Reno Winter Senior Games. The race was over a 5km course at Northstar Ski Resort. We went pretty much up hill through the trees for the first half of the race and down hill for the second half. I finished the race in 56.08 minutes which was fourth overall and first in my age group (55-60). Of course there were only 12 people participating in the race and I was the only one in my age group. I think next year they will promote the event more so that they have more participants. I had a lot of fun and I plan to do it again next year.

There was a photographer there from the Sierra Sun. You can see her pictures including a close up of me here.

A couple of other people used my camera to take pictures. Here are some of them. You can see the rest on my Flickr account.

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Rainbow Lodge

If you are ever driving highway 80 between Truckee and Sacramento and want a really nice meal you should take the Rainbow exit and stop at the Rainbow Lodge. I had lunch there today with my friend Linda. Rainbow Lodge is about half way between her house and mine. Their website describes Rainbow Lodge as "our enchanting Bed and Breakfast built in the 1920’s alongside a bend
in the Yuba River.  Come marvel at the original stone and woodwork,
wonder at the historical photographs, savor our French-trained Chef’s
sumptuous cooking and doze by a freshly stoked fire. "  The restaurant is cozy and the food is great. I especially love the hand hued beams, the rock walls, and the real fire in the fireplace in the lobby. I’ve been there several times and I’ve enjoyed it every time.

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On the way back to Reno over Donner Pass I stopped at the scenic overlook by Donner Lake and took some pictures of the snow shed that were used for the trains. Now the trains go through a  big tunnel and the tunnels are no longer used. You may remember we hiked through them this past summer.

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Sunday I tried to find a geocache that I am sure is supposed to be in this old car but I didn’t find it. It was still a fun short hike.

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Washoe County Republican Convention

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You may remember that in January at the Republican caucus I volunteered to be a delegate to the Washoe County Republican convention. The convention was yesterday and I was there. I’m a neophyte at all this. Other than being a voter, I’ve never before been involved in the political process. Here are a few of my observations.

  • At the beginning of the convention the chairman asked everyone who had
    never been to a convention before to stand up. 95% of the room stood up. Less than 100 people attended the last Washoe County Republican convention. Yesterday there were 738 seated delegates and a total of about1200 people attending. We were told that in Clark County (Las Vegas) they had 138 attend the last convention and 3300 attend this one. The 3000% increase in participation is because Nevada had caucuses this year instead of a primary.
  • It cost $35 to attend the convention. It never occurred to me that there would be a charge. But I guess in hind sight is obvious that someone needs to pay and it makes sense that it should be the delegates.
  • The convention was supposed to last from 10 to 4. The vast majority of the day was spent on procedural issues. At lunch time the convention was still debating the rules and seating of delegates. Because most of us didn’t understand the process everything was confusing and somewhat chaotic . There was a lot of debate about things that seem silly. In a meeting with over 700 people you can imagine that there are a lot of people who want to have their say. For example we spent about 30 minutes debating the wording of the  resolution in support of our troops. In spite of all this we finished by 5. I thought the chairman, Bill Bilyeu, did a good job of moving everything along while keeping it civil and still allowing people to be heard.
  • Less than an hour before we were scheduled to adjourn we finally started discussing the platform. There was a small group of Libertarians in the far right corner of the room who were proposing changes like getting rid of the Homeland Security Department and not requiring children to attend school of any kind.  I was glad that more mainstream issues were also raised.
  • One platform plank that did get debated was support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. A strong case was  made that this plank is in conflict with the stated principal that we believe in equal rights for all. Since I support gay marriage I was glad that I at least got to vote on this issue even if I was very much in the minority.
  • In their story about the convention the Reno Gazette Journal says that the convention elected delegates to the state convention. If you read this story would you assume that delegates were elected based on who they supported and where they stood on issues? If you assumed that you would be wrong.  In fact the delegate election took about 30 seconds. Everyone who volunteered was elected because there were 664 volunteers and Washoe County is allowed 674 delegates. I volunteered so I am a delegate to the state convention. Interestingly enough delegates can vote any way they want to. I’m sure the majority will vote for McCain but we could all vote for Ron Paul if we wanted to.
  • The Reno Gazette Journal story also said "Mc’Cain’s second place showing in Washoe County gave him few delegates to the county convention." This is baloney. No one knows who the delegates to the convention support. Most delegates were elected because they volunteered not because of who they support. I have not once in either the caucus or in yesterday’s convention been asked who I support. When I emailed the county Republican party after the election to ask how my precinct voted their reply was "Precinct by precinct results are not available." So even if I wanted to vote according to how my precinct voted I couldn’t.
  • It was also a surprise to me that there was no vote or discussion or even a rubber stamp vote for  who our presidential candidate should be. Of course it will be McCain but that wasn’t a subject discussed at the convention.
  • I don’t think George Bush’s name was mentioned once all day.
  • Even though the convention was basically irrelevant when it comes to the the presidential election or the direction of our country it was still fun to see the debate and watch the process. I enjoyed myself. It did make me think about how the process should be changed so that Nevada voters actually have some say in how their delegates vote at the national convention. It doesn’t really matter this time but it certainly would matter if we had a fight for the nomination like the Democrats do.
  • The Nevada State convention will be held in Reno on April 26. I’ll be there.

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Leadership and big changes

One of my last jobs at Sun was to lead the effort to get Sun people behind the change to a new desk top environment. We used a model for helping build commitment to change that really works. It makes for true leadership.

A company called Rackspace in Texas wanted to move their headquarters into a really bad part of town.  The employees were so appalled by the idea that the person hired to do focus groups with the employees quit after practically being assaulted at the first focus group. This video of a short interview with the Rackspace president is a great example of how to lead people through a controversial change. It shows all of the the key requirements for leading through change.

  • The people at the top have to really be committed to the change
  • There has to be a really good business reason for the change and it has to be communicated believably,
  • You have to listen to individuals about why they might not like the change. Listening means taking their concerns seriously. People need to be heard. I love the way this is described in the video as house to house fighting.
  • Everyone has to have a shared vision of the end state and how great it can be.
  • And then of course you have to have a plan to get there.

This link will take you to the video. Watch it. It is inspiring!

I found this story on the Scobleizer website. I love the way Robert Scoble tells the story.

"Wait a freaking second. How did one guy who had an absolutely crazy
idea that 1,400 people hated, including his partners, turn this all
around in about a year?

Leadership."

Podcasts

I’ve been doing quite a bit of driving lately. In addition to driving to Southern California and to the Bay Area in the past month I often drive to visit my Dad who recently moved to Reno. It takes about 25 minutes to get to his new apartment. Along the way I have really been enjoying listening to podcasts. I subscribe to them on iTunes and then download them to my iPod. I have an iPod FM adapter for the car so I can listen to the podcasts while I drive.  Here is a list of some of my favorites.