Author Archives: Eduardo Soliz

BUSINESS, Eduardo Soliz, WORK

In Defense of Gordon Ramsay

1I had a ‘conversation’ the other day with The Boss about how I address people at work.  I am a blunt, no-nonsense person there and I do not suffer fools gladly (think Zootopia’s Chief Bogo).  I had made a simple request to some new folks we had hired.  Two hours later, I had not received any replies from them.

I walked over and made my request in person, only to be met with a blank stare in response.  Not exactly the best way to endear yourself to leadership.  I then got a little short with folks, which ultimately led to the ‘conversation.’

On to Ramsay, then.  I’ve had the pleasure of watching a few of his shows on the breakroom television at work.  Like many of you, I wonder why he famously gets so angry at the people on his shows.  I did a bit of soul-searching during lunch and realized something:  I got upset for the same reason he does.

Call me crazy (you wouldn’t be the first) but like Ramsay, I have high expectations for people.  I like to think that the people that The Boss hires are good techs.  Given my recent experience, I’m reconsidering that, but that’s a conversation for another time.  Now, I am realistic: I don’t expect people to be kicking tail and taking names off the bat, but I should at least get competence.  Most of the folks on Ramsay’s shows (and on my team) should be professionals, and when they don’t work or do things the way professionals do, it is very aggravating, hence Ramsay’s wrath.

Mediocrity has become the accepted norm at my workplace.  While leadership seems to be okay with this, I have not lowered my standards or adjusted my thinking along those lines.  God help me, but I want to work with people that are great at their jobs.  If they aren’t there yet, I would like to help them get there, but if I can’t trust people to perform a simple task, I don’t know that I can trust them to do more complicated things.  Because of this, work is incredibly frustrating for me.

While I can’t explode in anger like Gordon Ramsey does, the next time I see him on the breakroom TV, I will certainly relate.

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BUSINESS, Computers, Microsoft, TECH, WHATS GOING ON

A Few Good Apps

mewindowsI installed Windows 10 on to my laptop a few weeks ago. I have been considering upgrading my main machine to 10 for a while, so dropping it onto the lappy seemed like a good way to take it for a test drive.

I had upgraded my ASUS Windows 8 tablet to 10 shortly after the free offer appeared. It started out great, but the lack of good apps (which I have complained about) turned it into a mini-laptop. Having a mini-laptop is cool, but I wanted to use my tablet as, well, a tablet, so the ASUS has collected dust in favor of my more app-centric iPad mini.

Back to the laptop: While waiting for app updates to download in the Store, I poked around and found the page for the Facebook app. I had used it previously and it actually wasn’t too bad until Microsoft stopped updating it.  I think somewhere down the way MS and FB had a fight, but that’s neither here nor there. As new features kept getting added to Facebook, the Windows app was stuck in time. Thinking back, its obsolescence and overall lack of apps was likely one of the things that drove me away from Windows Phone.  Old news, I know.

A sentence on the page intrigued me, though: “New for Windows 10!” Why not? I download the app and prepared to be underwhelmed. As a test, I hovered over one of the ‘Like’ links to see if the additional options would appear. Much to my surprise, they did! I did some more clicking around and was delighted to see that the app had all the features that had been missing from the previous version. It isn’t perfect, but it is much more usable than it was before.

Encouraged by that success, I decided to re-download some other apps. I was surprised to find that they too had been updated, with improved results. I then turned on ‘Tablet Mode’ (which fullscreens all programs and apps) and was astounded that I could now use my Windows 10 tablet AS A TABLET.  What a country!

All it took was a few good apps. Given my iPhone 6’s lackluster performance in buildings as of late, I might be willing to give Windows Phone another shot if Microsoft can get its apps together.

Maybe.

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Eduardo Soliz, JUST SAYING, TECH, WHATS GOING ON, WORK

33 Things I Noticed During Jury Duty

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#11 Too cool fur school!

  1. Despite what you are going to read, I am happy to do my civic duty.
  2. Indeed, I’ve been tagged multiple times in my life already
  3. Weirdly enough, working on a short story about a trial right now, go figure.
  4. Took a wrong turn, got stuck waiting for a train. Thank you, San Antonio.
  5. Not late, but there was a line for parking.
  6. Just realized I forgot to take my Vitamin C this morning, it would suck to have survived Comicpalooza only to catch ‘jury duty crud.’
  7. Dude behind me in line at the courthouse is standing just bit too close. Can I get a little personal space here?
  8. Forgot to take the change out of my pocket, officer got snippy at me in Spanish. THAT’S PROFILING MAN
  9. At least I don’t have to hear coworkers brag or whine about how Golden State blew it
  10. This beats work any day, fewer stupid people
  11. Felt cool to pin a white ‘juror’ button to my shirt.
  12. Can we  get a nice ‘register to vote’ sign to put in front of the bench? The one there is made from poster board and looks like some kid made it.
  13. That said, if the judge’s kid DID make it, I rescind my previous statement.
  14. Cell phone ringers going off should incur a fine or at least a kick to the shin
  15. Court cafeteria tacos ain’t bad.
  16. Lack of coffee started to kick in at about 10AM, took the first opportunity to grab a cup soon after
  17. Court cafeteria coffee ain’t bad either
  18. One panel called for an Eduardo (not me) and an Edward. THAT’S GOING TO BE CONFUSING, PEOPLE
  19. It wasn’t until 1045 that I got bored enough to start playing Fallout Shelter on my Android tablet.
  20. Or not, back to the jury room!
  21. Got called to a panel!
  22. I’m sorry, but wearing a baseball cap with a suit is THE DORKIEST  thing I will ever see.
  23. Gal that cut my hair a few weeks ago was on the same panel, small world!
  24. A two hour lunch break…thaaaanks.
  25. TVs are tuned to judge shows BECAUSE IT’S A COURTHOUSE GET IT HA HA HA
  26. Grilled ham n’ cheese hit the spot for lunch
  27. Okay, now I can play Fallout Shelter
  28. $1.35 for a 20 oz. soda? I may have to take one for the road!
  29. Back to the jury room, here we go.
  30. Waiting for a while after lunch, hopefully it’s a good sign
  31. Sent home at 2 o’clock, woo-hoo!
  32. WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GIVE BACK MY JUROR BUTTON?
  33. Now to go wait some more while the oil in my car is changed! 😂
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WORDS, WORK

Dear Upset Employee:

So somebody else got that promotion instead of you and you aren’t happy because you feel that you should have gotten the nod.  I get it; I’ve been there myself.  But before you come to your bosses (including me) asking why you didn’t get it, ask yourself:

Can you honestly say you are the best at doing your job compared to everyone else?  If you have to think it over before answering, the answer is likely no.  Even if one person does the job better than you do, guess what?  They’re ahead of you.

Do you slack off?  Be honest.  You do.  I know that you do.  Heck, I do, too.  Everybody does and that’s okay, as long as you’re discreet about it.  Here’s the kicker, though:  If the guy next to you slacks off less, he’s ahead of you.  If he doesn’t slack of at all, guess what? You can’t slack off at all, either, unless you want to be second-best.

Do you give your superiors attitude or treat them with disrespect?  Don’t worry, you aren’t the first person to give me crap and I give my bosses crap too.  But I only do so when I have a good reason to.  Only when I was two hundred percent certain that I am right did I even think about going there.  If you throw back attitude at your bosses for no reason, we don’t want you in charge of people.  If you can’t respect the people above you, we’re pretty sure you are not going to respect the people beneath you.  If that other guy isn’t a jerk and you are, guess what?  We’re going to pick him before we pick you.

Do you take on challenging tasks?  It’s okay to go in over your head if you think you have a strong chance of success.  You don’t have to always succeed, and that’s okay, but you need to show that you are willing to go where angels fear to tread every once in a while.  If that other guy is kicking more ass than you are, guess what?  He’s the one we want.

So why did that other guy get the promotion instead of you?  They did their job better than you did, slacked off less than you did, give their bosses less crap than you did and kicked more ass than you did.  You didn’t get promoted because you weren’t good, you didn’t get promoted because the other guy was better than you.

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ANIME, CONS, CREATIVE, Eduardo Soliz, HavenCon, Uncategorized

Some Neat Stuff I Saw at HavenCon 2016

havenconstuff

Con loot!

Instead of my usual ‘things I noticed’ list, I’m going to take a different approach with this post-convention blog post. At every convention, I see lots of neat artwork from independent artists. Sometimes there are independent game studios showing their wares, and they will often have some pretty cool demos to check out.

This past weekend I attended HavenCon in Austin, Texas. HavenCon bills itself as “the first geek and gaming convention in Texas to focus on the LGBTQIA and Ally communities,” and indeed there was a variety of things to see and do.

So without any further ado:

I purchased some nice X Files-themed prints from Megan Kluck featuring artwork similar to this.  Her art can be found at tasteslikekeys.tumblr.com

This print from Robby Cook will be hanging in my home soon.  His wonderful artwork and mash-ups can be found at robbycook.com

I bought a zine from Bis Thornton (bisthebox.com) and E. S. Mahoney named “Singularity: Contraption” that contained some neat stories about robotics.

“Redemption,” a comic written and drawn by Veronica Kathryn, is the story of a girl who’s trying to make up for the fact that she ENDED THE WORLD.  Oops.  It can be read at redemption.smackjeeves.com and her artwork can be found at bobo-kitty.deviantart.com

There were a few indie game developers there with some neat games, such as Black Ice, a funky Tron-inspired first person shooter with RPG elements by Garrett Cooper.  Finji knocked my socks off with a turn-based survival game called Overland, which is currently in development.

I had an enjoyable weekend at HavenCon, made even more so by these folks and their wonderful work!  I hope you check them out, and thanks for reading!

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Books, BUSINESS, CREATIVE, WORDS, Writing

Working My Way To the Top (of the page)

covers4

Bottom, bottom, bottom…

I forget which short story collection I was working on and discussing with a friend, but he posed an interesting question as we were chatting:

Why is your name always at the bottom of your covers?  Shouldn’t it be on the top?

While I may not completely produce my own covers anymore (for the better, as you can likely tell) I do place the text atop the artwork.  The decision to de-emphasize myself was a conscious one and I did it for a very simple reason:

Nobody knows who I am.

It’s a harsh thing to admit, of course, but that doesn’t make it any less true. If I put “Eduardo Soliz” on the top of a cover, a potential reader might think that the book is about a guy with that name, or they might even think it’s in Spanish.  Either way, my name (right now, at least) is not a very big selling point.

Stephen King and James Patterson and those guys, yeah, they can put their names up top because people will recognize then as authors who’s work they enjoy so they’ll be more inclined to pick up a book with their name on top and buy it.

Someday, I’ll be ‘big enough’ to have the nerve to put my name at the top of the page, but until then, I’ll have to play second fiddle to the books themselves.

Then again, maybe that’s how it should be!

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CONS, FURRY, FURRY FIESTA, RANDOM REVIEW

66 Things I Noticed During Furry Fiesta 2016

fuzzies

#19 Taking a ‘fuzz-ie’

    1. BEFORE-Starting on this list two weeks before the con. Good Lord, do I need this vacation.
    2. The mobile scheduling website thingie works much better on my iPhone, but come on guys, no app?
    3. Even though I now have an iPhone 6, I’m debating using my iPad mini to record the fursuit parade.
    4. Note to self: Free up iPhone storage before event for ALL THE PICTURES
    5. I’ll be staying at the overflow hotel a block away this year and praying for no rain.
    6. BY MYSELF. BECAUSE REASONS.
    7. Debating getting a haircut, my bear earses look better when I have some fuzz up top, but carrying the Edfro around does get a bit warm.
    8. /looks at forecast Guess I’ll have to invest in an umbrella
    9. Got over 10,000 steps in the two days before the con 😀
    10. THURSDAY/DRIVING THERE – It says something when the tech support nerd is the ‘normal guy’ in the car.
    11. That is to say: I’m the only one that doesn’t have a fursuit
    12. Okay, so I might be just a little jealous
    13. YES MARY I HAVE THE AIR MATTRESS
    14. Missed one turn in Dallas and getting un-lost was an adventure, as well as costing me a few bucks in extra tolls >.<
    15. People are worried about the rain but the humidity is going to kick my pants
    16. Overflow hotel is nice!
    17. Forgot to bring registration email. Thank you business center!
    18. Must take pictures of all the fuzzies!
    19. PROTIP: Hold your camera horizontally to get selfies with fuzzy peoples!
    20. Hotel WiFi is dog slow, whatever happened to having an Ethernet connection in the room?
    21. I like the motivational hotel key card: REST UP AND GET BACK OUT THERE
    22. FRIDAY-Waking up at the same time you normally get up for work when you’re on vacation = BLARGH
    23. Two Waffle House trips in a row? Yes, please!
    24. Weather has been slightly uncooperative, but I’m dealing with it.
    25. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ZOOTOPIA YET?! *head asplodes*
    26. Did we HAVE to put the furry smut peddlers just inside the Dealers Den entrance?
    27. Seeing my cover art on paper (twice no less) made me squee!
    28. No more throwback ashtrays in the men’s room stalls. I’m just a little sad.

      lot

      #29 Uh-oh

    29. Looking at the getting-muddy annex parking on Friday afternoon made me VERY happy that I am staying in the overflow.
    30. Friends with cameras, PLEASE STAHP TAKING PICTURES OF ME!
    31. Two panels so far, one meh and one bad, no wonder they’re asking for feedback
    32. Can I give a panel on how to give panels?
    33. I probably should, especially considering how many people have been asking me ARE YOU DOING A PANEL HERE?
    34. About to go get some gel inserts because my feet are KILLING ME
    35. SATURDAY-There’s something appropriate about starting the day with a bowl of Lucky Charms
    36. Had homework to do too, the annual Furry Survey
    37. Some interesting questions this year, looking forward to seeing the results
    38. Went to voice acting panel even though my voice is shot, just couldn’t resist
    39. Voice acting presenter handed out shinies to participants! YAY SHINIES!
    40. Okay, so they were ribbons, but still! YAY RIBBONS!
    41. They don’t seem to have people monitoring the panel room entrances and checking times, are they short on volunteers?
    42. Finally got to see Furry Psychology all the way through. I will openly admit to internally squeeing when I saw the little shout-out.

      20160315_132346248_iOS

      #40 YAY RIBBONS!

    43. It seems that Twitter is becoming a preferred way for furs to communicate.  I’m @randomizer9, by the way!
    44. Two times you don’t see many fursuiters during a furcon: early in the morning and just before the fursuit parade
    45. Lucky for me the parade wasn’t longer, my iPad almost ran out of memory!
    46. Not sure if having a coffee at 10PM was a good idea, guess I’ll find out
    47. I don’t dance and I don’t drink, so there ain’t much for me to do Saturday night.
    48. Hmm, use crappy hotel WiFi to slowly upload my video, pay for ‘faster’ and hopefully not crappy WiFi, or ‘borrow’ the business center’s printer’s network cable? 😉
    49. SUNDAY-Three trips to Waffle House? Why the hell not?
    50. FYI: We don’t have Waffle House in San Antonio, hence the slight obsession.
    51. It’s kind of nice to be sitting in Artist’s Alley, I can take pictures of fursuiters as they come by 😀
    52. A wiseenheimer told me I was going to leave with one book left, and he was right. /shrug
    53. If you want to be a ‘planner’ you have to plan EVERYTHING
    54. Checking my pictures for duplicates and realizing half of them are photobombs.
    55. 620PM and the sun is still out? What order of madness is th…oh, that’s right. Daylight savings time >.<
    56. At the Scritch n B*ch, slightly disappointed at a lack of taking ownership of the issue and not presenting the obvious solution to #41
    57. That is to say: WHY DON’T YOU VOLUNTEER SMART GUY
    58. I think I will next year, there are a few gaps of time when I’m not doing much, like on Saturday night.
    59. If you feel a need to prefix your feedback by saying ‘I am not whining,’ YOU ARE WHINING

      burd

      #64 Early bird!

    60. We’ve put a non cute fursuiter into a cute fursuit…let’s see when happens
    61. What happens is he sobs: “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO BE CUTE”
    62. Didn’t have the heart to tell the gal handing out shot glasses that I don’t drink, oh well.
    63. Realized I forgot to take my Vitamin C on Sunday OH NOES CON FUNK
    64. MONDAY/AFTERWARDS – Saw one last fursuiter in the lobby Monday morning, he said he was in “power saving mode.”  I think we all were by then!
    65. Final picture count: 339 WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME IPHONE
    66. Already have my lab coat ready for “Mad Science” next year!
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Computers, Eduardo Soliz, JUST SAYING, Microsoft, RANDOM REVIEW, Tablets, TECH

It’s the Apps, Stupid!

windowsAfter months of learning to live with Windows 8 on the desktop, I picked up an ASUS VivoTab 8 tablet back in early 2015.  Finally, I would get to experience Windows 8 with a touchscreen, just like God Microsoft had intended!

As much as I like to think that I ‘got’ Windows 8 before, using it with a touch screen was wonderful.  No more fumbling with sides and screen corners!  The stupid charms on the right side of the screen finally made sense and I could bring them up by swiping in from the right side instead of madly fumbling around for for the magic spot with my mouse!  Life was great!

That euphoria lasted for about five minutes until I tried to pull up the News app and it crashed.  I checked for app updates in the Store, and there were none to be had.  So much for that.

I am totally on board with the idea that there should be desktop apps Just like the ones we have on our phones and tablets.  I shouldn’t have to go back to my web browser to do things.  Indeed, I would love nothing better than pick up my Windows 8 tablet and left-swipe from app to app to get things done instead of having to go back to Ye Olde Desktop unless I want to.

Unfortunately, Microsoft’s apps suck.  Everywhere.  They sucked on Windows Phone, sucked on Windows 8 and continue to suck on Windows 10.  Until they stop sucking, I’ll find myself going back to my desktop and my browser or using my iPhone or iPad.  Don’t like it, Microsoft?  THEN MAKE YOUR APPS STOP SUCKING!

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