I’m sitting here on a United flight from Connecticut to Chicago, watching a preview of the upcoming TV series “Friday Night Lights”.  This is a high school football drama loosely based on the movie that came out a year or two ago.  It looks to be a good show, and for those of you not in the USA it should help give an understanding of the importance of that sport to many Americans.  Of course, as an American, when I say “football” I mean American football and not soccer.

I have the extreme fortune to be coaching youth football this year in Sherwood.  I’m the assistant coach for Matthew’s team comprised of 3rd and 4th graders.  Matthew is in his second year playing, and Jacob is in his fourth year.  It is a dominant presence in our lives from August through the end of October, with practices 3–4 nights per week and games on Saturdays.  The Sherwood youth program is one of the strongest in the state, and I feel that our community as a whole has a true program in the sense that the entire community is behind it, we have significant involvement from the high school coaching staff, and that safety and sportsmanship are key components to everything that we do.

I have a lot more experience coaching baseball than football, and I was more than nervous going into this season.  I’m the defensive coordinator but have done much of the offensive line coaching as well.  This is even more of a challenge for me in that as a youth player I was a running back and quarterback and didn’t play much defense at all.  Of course I’ve been forced to educate myself and lean on others.  The one I’ve leaned on the most is my own son Jacob, who is in his fourth year as an offensive and defensive lineman in the Sherwood program and can usually answer any question I pose.

For those of you that care, Sherwood runs a Wing-T offense (popularized by the University of Delaware) and I’ve elected to run a split-6 defense (four down lineman and four linebackers, with the two outside linebackers playing a role that is like a blended defensive end and cornerback).  When I say “Sherwood runs a Wing-T offense”, I mean the entire program runs the same offense from 3rd grade through high school.  This offense relies heavily on speed, mis-direction, and play progressions that keep the defense guessing where the ball is going.  We don’t overpower defenses off the line (our kids are usually smaller) but we’ve had great success with traps and pulling guards to get players where they need to be to break our backs free.

As a 3rd/4th grade team, we are generally expected to run-run-run the ball with little or no passing game.  Matthew is playing fullback and his good friend James is quarterback; they played football together last year and were also on the same baseball team last spring when I coached.  James is a talented quarterback with a great arm, and Matthew is a solid (and TALL) receiver so we are mixing in a healthy dose of passing plays.

I tell you, there is nothing like watching 11 kids that you’ve worked with for 6 weeks execute plays together like a fine-tuned machine.  Baseball is a great sport, but teamwork is on the fringes as it requires mostly individual effort (pitching, hitting, fielding).  Matthew’s team had an outstanding game last Saturday, winning 26–14 after being down 14–0.  Matthew had a great day. scoring all four touchdowns, rushing for about 180 yards, and receiving for about 40 yards.  He also had 9 tackles.  Impressive.

But you know what impressed me most?  After every play when he tackled an opponent, he was standing there next to the player reaching out a hand to help him up.  It is hard to teach sportsmanship like that, but it is moments like those that help remind me of what being a parent is all about.

Jacob is enjoying similar success but in a much more reserved way.  There are weight limits in youth football, and while Jacob is very fit and lean, he has always been a big kid and at 5’4” 125 lbs (he’s 11, turning 12 in October) he cannot carry the ball.  He has turned into an absolute terror as a defensive lineman.  I don’t get to see the stats for his team, but I saw at least 4 tackles for losses in his game on Saturday.  This is pretty unusual for an inside lineman – they are supposed to plug holes and set up the ends and linebackers to make the big tackles.  It must be hard for him deep inside to observe and hear about Matthew’s glory carrying the ball, but Jacob remains incredibly supportive of his little brother and clearly recognizes the importance of his own accomplishments.

As a coach, the best stories are those kids that don’t have the talent of the stars but find significant ways to contribute to the team.  These are kids that work hard, listen, and adjust as necessary to become key contributors.  I’ve got several boys on the team that have impressed all of us and are turning into key role players.  If you think that kids these days are dead-beats that sit at home and play XBox all afternoon you should check out the 350+ youth players in Sherwood that show up for 2 hours three days a week for practice.  That’s a big part of what football (or any team sport) is about: showing up and working hard to achieve a difficult goal when there are so many paths with less resistance that a child can take.

This was a great summer for scouting (of the Boy and Cub variety).  I managed to spend about 3–4 days each at Jacob’s and Matthew’s summer camps and we finished off the season with an outstanding backpacking trip.

In early July I joined Jacob’s new Boy Scout troop at Camp Pioneer near Mt Jeffereson.  This was the first week in operation this year, meaning we had small numbers and a great counselor / scout ratio.  The camp surounds a small alpine lake and is geared towards a more primitive, old-time scouting experience than most camps you see these days (like Camp Meriwether).

Jacob had a blast and got right into the spirit of camp.  He made significant progress towards the 1st Class rank (he’ll get that in September or October) and earned four merit badges.  Despite their best efforts, the flock of mosquitos weren’t enough to ruin the experience for the adults and kids.

Matthew attended Gilbert Ranch at Butte Creek not far from the Silverton area near the end of July.  This was his first resident camping experience and it was a great fit for him.  This is a camp with a cowboy theme that includes a lot of farm and equestrian focus.  He particularly enjoyed getting up at 5:45am to go feed and groom the animals.

We capped off the summer with a short backpacking trip out to Bay Ocean spit near Tillamook, OR.  I brought Matthew along with the Boy Scout troop and he was easily able to keep up with the big kids.  This is a perfect introductory backpack trip – about 2–3 mile hike in with a decently well established camp site near the bay and a short walk away from the ocean and south jetty.

I made significant progress on the burndown list over the past week – a combination of Goodwill donations, eBay sales, and focused gameplay has created a net swing of about 15 games.

Jacob and I broke out my copy of Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) Starter Kit #1 today.  This is a second-chance for ASL and me, as my last attempt 3.5 years ago was less than satisfactory.  A lot has changed in those years, both in my personal gaming experience and in the ASL scene.  I’m fairly certain the Starter Kit wasn’t out at that time and in hindsight I don’t think the group we played with was really prepared to teach newbies like Ken and me.

We played the 1st scenario – Retaking Vierville (here’s a nice strategy discussion), using a combination of the rules, experimentation, and help from BGG and Saverese.org.  It was slow going at first, and I know for a fact we got several rules wrong:

• We didn’t follow the “cower” rule when un-led doubles are rolled in an attack
• I know we screwed up defensive fire.  I think I need to hire a tutor on this one.
• We missed the rule that exact rolls on morale checks result in pins.

All this confusion without even using machine guns, vehicles, or two-story buildings!  It was quite enjoyable though – we we through with setup and initial rules explanation in about an hour, and the game took about 90–120 minutes.  Jacob played the Germans and got way too aggressive and close to my crack Americans, paying the price repeatedly.  It didn’t hurt that I rolled consecutive snake-eyes on point-black attacks on two separate stacks.  I won easily but we both walked away craving more, studying the next scenario, and excited to move on.

Now THAT feeling took me back to my days with the original Squad Leader – the combined anticipation of new rules, new stuff to play with, and a new historical scenario.  MMP was very wise with ASL SK #1 – they achieved their goal, which I assume is to ensnare new victims into the ASL hobby without overwhelming them with rules.  Boy, they could do without the acronyms though.  I need to check LOS before I make a DR during my PFPh with my MMC, but first I’ll check the TEM of his HS that barely survived a NMC during last DFPh.

Jacob, Matthew, and I broke out Warrior Knights for the first time Saturday night and Sunday morning.  I set the game up in between football jamborees for the boys, and spent the pre-game in Oregon City reading the rules in the football stands.  This is another quality game from Fantasy Flight – nice bits and cards, great map board, and well written rules.

Teaching this was much more enjoyable than Battlestations the night before (which almost had Matthew in tears).  Jacob, like me, loves variable / random action systems like the one in Warrior Knights.  It creates an economy of choices and keeps the game flowing smoothly with essentially no downtime.

This game took us about 4 hours total, including teaching and some downtime looking up rules.  We played by the book, with 10 influence points per player in the pool.  The speed of the game took us by surprise, and we were all shocked to learn that just as we were starting to fight each other, the game was going to end the next turn.  Matthew unwittingly did a great job arcing his play, grabbing 5 cities on the second to last turn.  Unfortunately, he lost his only 2 un-manned cities to revolt or he would have one easily.  I squeaked by only because of the special agenda card allowing me to buy an influence for five gold.

Even though Jacob finished last, he absolutely loved the game and is excited to try it again.  It looks like the consensus is to put 15 influence points per player into the pool to give the game a better arc.  We’ll try that next time.

I’m a little burnt out on the chess class I’ve been teaching at school for the past three years, so I’ve delegated that away and will instead be doing a 50 minute pre-school session (7am – 7:50am) on family games for about 20 3rd to 5th graders.  Before you say “that’s too early”, you should know that I’ve been teaching chess to 1st to 5th graders during that same timeslot.  The class will run from October through March and be held once per week.

Here’s a preliminary list of options I’m thinking about.  I want games that support at least 4 players and, obviously, can be played in the 50 minutes we have.
 

Game	BGG Rating	Min	Max	Teach	Play
Take it Easy	6.8	1	8	10	20
Diamant / Incan Gold	6.9	3	8	10	30
Apples to Apples Junior	6.8	4	10	5	30
Make ‘N Break	6.6	2	4	10	30
Tier auf Tier	6.8	2	4	10	15
TransAmerica	6.6	2	6	15	30
Family Fluxx	6.3	2	6	5	15
Blokus	7.5	1	4	10	20
Ticket to Ride	7.7	2	5	20	45
Treehouse (Pyramids)	6.3	2	4	10	20
Carcassonne - Hunters / Gatherers	7.4	2	5	10	45
Colossal Arena	7.2	2	5	10	45
Carcasson: the Discovery	6.9	2	5	10	30
Ingenious	7.6	2	4	15	20
For Sale	7.4	3	6	10	20
Niagara	6.9	2	5	10	45
Cartagena	6.8	2	5	10	45
San Juan	7.7	2	4	15	45
Pickomino	6.4	2	7	5	20
6 Nimmt	7.0	2	10	10	45
Can't Stop	7.1	2	4	10	30

What do you think of this list?  What would add or subtract?

Like many others out there I’ve adopted a modified Getting Things Done (GTD) (or check out the 43 Folders getting started guide) approach to personal task and time management.  GTD (and its extensions) addresses a topic area that many other systems ignore – how to deal with the email problem, and I think that’s partly why it has seen such widespread adoption.

To date my GTD system has been about as low-tech as you can get – a modified PigPogPDA / Moleskine planner.  I need a paper-based system for its portability, unobtrusiveness, and ability to use in customer environments.  I’m not a big fan of using laptops in client meetings, and as I’m often meeting with high level bank CIO/CTO types, a paper system is both effective and professional.  For a while I used the full-blown system described in the PigPog article, but now that I’m on my third Moleskine I’ve simplified the system quite a bit.  At the front of the notebook I list out “Projects” (high level tasks from which next actions are generated), “Waiting For” (stuff I’m expecting others to accomplish), and “Someday” (wishlist or long-term items).  The rest of the notebook looks like a diary / journal where I take meeting notes and indicate next actions.  A next action is indicated simply with a single line and a box on the left margin that I can eventually check off.  I use a single sticky tab to indicate where the oldest next action is, and the cloth page marker to indicate where my “collection” (i.e., where I write new notes and actions) page is.

I’m generally pretty effecient at managing email.  I’m a big fan of Zero Email Bounce (ZEB) and work dilligently to keep my inboxes as close to empty as possible.  The operative word here is “close” – my level of tolerance in Outlook is generally not having to scroll to see the oldest email in Outlook.  Even with this model, I still found myself leaving items un-resolved for too long in my inbox.  Another challenge is the fact that I have two discrete inboxes – work and personal – where I have a wide range of on-going projects.  I also wasn’t very effective at managing “waiting for” and “someday” type tasks in my electronic inboxes.  I could go to the trouble of transcribing items from the electronic inboxes to my paper system, but that’s just too much work and I’m unlikely to stick with such a model.

Last weekend I found myself staring at a Gmail inbox with about 30 emails in it, and about 20 of those requiring some action.  Right about the same time I noticed the release of a Firefox plugin for applying GTD to Gmail – GTDGmail.  GTDGmail is a greasemonkey-style mashup on GMail that combines some client-side cleverness with GMail’s powerful labeling and filtering mechanisms to deliver a comprehensive GTD inbox system.  It uses what I think is probably a little-known feature in GMail – you can send emails to username+label@gmail.com to have GMail automatically apply a label to an incoming message or to apply special filtering rules to the message.  This allows me, for example, to set up a special email address in my BlackBerry and easily email new tasks to myself.  As you can (sort of) see in the image below, GTDGMail also adds some UI accelerators to the interface to easily navigate to actions, waiting on, specific projects, etc.  For the past 4 days I’ve been able to keep my GMail inbox at zero emails and feel that I’m much more on top of all of my personal projects (Sunriver Games, football coaching, scouts, etc.).

There has been a ton of chatter lately about using Outlook (especially the beta Outlook 2007) for managing GTD.  I own the Getting Things Done Outlook Add-In, but was eager to abandon it as it added instability to Outlook and I found that the only feature I really used was the “snooze” capability (not a good habit to get into). Melissa Macbeth wrote the article Outlook 2007 and Getting Things Done, Simon Guest expanded on those concepts in his article Implementing Getting Things Done using Outlook 2007, Omar Shahine expanded on those concepts with an improved macro, and finally Scott Hanselman recently published a podcast on A Better Outlook, including GTD add-ons for Outlook.

While I like Omar’s macro, it does even more than I need.  I don’t really need to track contexts or projects for my tasks – turning an email into an action and moving it out of my inbox is good enough.  So… I took his macro and changed it a bit:

• Rather than turn the email into a true Outlook task, I prefer to keep it as a mail item but call “MarkAsTask” to force it to show up in the To-Do Bar.  Note that even though I use the enumeration olMarkLater, Outlook still wanted to make the task due “today” so I had to do a little hackery to get it right (see the comments in the code).
• I also want to move it out of my inbox into a sub-folder of the inbox.  This forces me to discover the folder by name, and I don’t think that’s a simple thing to do.  I found a sample function that will traverse down a series of / delimited folders and it seems to work – YMMV.
• I don’t throw up a dialog to allow me to set a category – as I said, I’m not tracking projects, so just adding the “Action” category is enough.

I also turned on two rules:

• If I email myself (I’m on the from: and to: line, and it is only sent to me), then I assume it is an action and I mark it and file it as such.
• If I email someone else and include myself on the CC: line, then I assume it is a “waiting for” and I mark it and file it as such.

Public Sub CreateNextAction()
    Dim olExp As Outlook.Explorer
    Dim myolApp As Outlook.Application
    Dim myNamespace As Outlook.NameSpace
    Dim myTasks As Outlook.Folder
    Dim myFolder As Outlook.Folder
    Set myolApp = Outlook.CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
    Set myolExp = myolApp.ActiveExplorer
    Set myNamespace = myolApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
    'Uncomment the next line if you prefer to move the email to tasks.
    'Set myTasks = myNamespace.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderTasks)
    
    ' Otherwise, we'll move it to a sub-folder under the inbox and keep it
    ' as a regular mail item
    Set myTasks = GetFolder("Mailbox - <your username here>\Inbox\Actions")
        
    ' Check for the toolbar button.  I prefer to use X as the hot-key instead
    ' of N.
    Set myobjCB = myolExp.CommandBars.item("Standard")
    On Error GoTo MyError
    Set objNA = myobjCB.Controls("Ne&xt Action")
    On Error Resume Next
    
    Dim cntSelection As Integer
    cntSelection = myolExp.Selection.Count
    
    ' For each selected item, assign the "Action" category,
    ' mark it as a task with no due date, and move it to the action
    ' folder.  I don't feel a need to organize tasks by project,
    ' so I don't bother to show a category dialog like Omar does.
    For I = 1 To cntSelection
        Dim item As MailItem
        Set item = myolExp.Selection.item(1)
        Set MyTask = item.Move(myTasks)
        Subject = MyTask.Subject
        Subject = Replace(Subject, "FW: ", "")
        Subject = Replace(Subject, "fw: ", "")
        Subject = Replace(Subject, "RE: ", "")
        Subject = Replace(Subject, "Re: ", "")
        MyTask.Categories = "Action"
        MyTask.MarkAsTask (olMarkLater)
        ' This next line is a hack to make sure it doesn't get assigned a
        ' due date.  Otherwise, olMarkLater sets the due date to tomorrow.
        ' This is PROBABLY a bug in Outlook 2007.
        MyTask.TaskDueDate = MyTask.TaskCompletedDate
        MyTask.Subject = Subject
        MyTask.Save
    Next
    
    Exit Sub
MyError:
        Set objNA = myobjCB.Controls.Add(msoControlButton)
        objNA.Caption = "Ne&xt Action"
        objNA.FaceId = 7264
        objNA.Style = msoButtonIconAndCaption
        objNA.OnAction = "CreateNextAction"
        objNA.BeginGroup = True
        objNA.TooltipText = "Create a Next Action task from this E-mail"
End Sub


Public Function GetFolder(strFolderPath As String) As MAPIFolder
  ' folder path needs to be something like
  '   "Public Folders\All Public Folders\Company\Sales"
  Dim objApp As Outlook.Application
  Dim objNS As Outlook.NameSpace
  Dim colFolders As Outlook.Folders
  Dim objFolder As Outlook.MAPIFolder
  Dim arrFolders() As String
  Dim I As Long
  On Error Resume Next

  strFolderPath = Replace(strFolderPath, "/", "\")
  arrFolders() = Split(strFolderPath, "\")
  Set objApp = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")
  Set objNS = objApp.GetNamespace("MAPI")
  Set objFolder = objNS.Folders.item(arrFolders(0))
  If Not objFolder Is Nothing Then
    For I = 1 To UBound(arrFolders)
      Set colFolders = objFolder.Folders
      Set objFolder = Nothing
      Set objFolder = colFolders.item(arrFolders(I))
      If objFolder Is Nothing Then
        Exit For
      End If
    Next
  End If

  Set GetFolder = objFolder
  Set colFolders = Nothing
  Set objNS = Nothing
  Set objApp = Nothing
End Function

So far it is working pretty well.  I’ve got ZEB right now in Outlook and a clear handle on my actions, what I’m waiting for, etc.

The potential downside of this overall system is that I have three inboxes – my notebook, GMail, and Outlook.  If I’m sitting around with my BlackBerry and my notebook and an action comes to mind, do I write it down or email it to myself?  Should I periodically scan my notebook and just push items into Outlook or GMail?  I don’t know yet and will report back after a few months to let you know where I’ve landed.