Sunday, November 15, 2020

8 Months Since!

Well, I am back in the bloggers sphere!  8 Months since my last post.  It has been a long and rough 2020.  My family lost a dear friend to COVID-19 just after my last post.  We did not get to properly say goodbye and even mourn for that matter. I have had several close relatives battle and defeat the virus and we are presently in fervent prayer for my paternal aunt battling COVID-19 in ICU, Flint MI.  I lost two matriarchs this summer.  My maternal grandmother and my children's maternal great grandmother.  They were 93 and 99 respectively.  Black women from the Jim Crow south, they were both here to see the First African American President elected but unfortunately also here to see the election immediately following of someone so disrespectful of American ideals, values, and the history and struggles of Black Americans, descendants of enslaved Americans, immigrants of all nationalities and cultures, and indigenous peoples, it is and has been disheartening.  My heart grieves the loss of an immeasurable amount of character, faith, wisdom and grace in a time when it is sorely lacking in so many representing the face of America.

COVID-19 cases as predicted earlier this year are on the upswing.  While many have adopted the safety protocols necessary for slowing down the spread of the disease there continues to be a denial of the seriousness of an uncontrolled pandemic, modern day.  We have lost sight of the reasons for the precautions, shutdown orders, and social distancing requirements.  Overrun emergency rooms and packed ICUs, over worked and sometimes sickened medical professionals, morgues with no more space, the equivalent of wartime triage of non COVID-19 patients is what we are faced with as the year comes to a close.  That's the bad news.  The good news increases in cases is not so much attributable to workplaces meaning OSHA has responded to worker concerns and employers have gotten the message and are doing their part.

College campuses remain closed but I have been fortunate to continue to teach and instruct college students from home while managing not as well as I would like the homeschooling of my 6 and 8 year old granddaughters.  COVID-19 has been a perfect storm for instructing on workplace safety.  I can honestly say that students have really made the connection to how important safe workplaces are to the overall health and economy of our society and world in general.  My end goal for this year is to capitalize on this heightened awareness and target the informing and training of owners of new small businesses.  KYMS Consulting like many other small professional service entities has lost some ground but will hopefully bounce back in the 2nd quarter of 2021.   

Finally as I close this brief update I will share that I had the great experience of working the polls during the 2020 Presidential Election.  Over a four day period, I worked with a 12 person team of very professional volunteers who demonstrated the utmost integrity and respect for free and fair elections that I have personally had the opportunity to witness.  More than half of us were participating as poll workers for the first time.  We had no issues or problems, we turned away no one, ballots were cast without errors.   Our poll location was clean, spacious, sanitized, and welcoming.  While I can not speak for every polling location in this region or these United States, if any were set up and run half as well as we were, they were were on the money.  Anyone questioning the integrity of the election process, poll workers, and voters exercising their rights to participate in this democracy might want to reflect on their own patriotism, values, and sense of what's right and wrong.  No cheaters observed here, except maybe with those crying wolf.

And yes we elected our first ever Woman Vice President Elect!  Kamala Harris  Thank You President Elect Joe Biden for the wisdom, care, and concern you have shown for this nation in valuing the talents and contributions of all of its citizenry!  I can't wait to see principled leadership in action.

On to the beginning of the Holiday Season.  2020 has been long and rough but I have much to be thankful for, to appreciate and value.  Stay tuned.



Sunday, March 15, 2020

COVID-19

Ten years ago I started KYMS Consulting.  I also added to that DBA profile KYMS Engineering and Business Services.  Within a year I had begun teaching at the community college level and met my now friend and senior consultant Cash Sutton III.  We both are members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and both licensed professional engineers.  I share this because while this blog is attached to my business website and represents at this point more personal reflection rather than any associated with specific business interests or issues, I realize KYMS Consulting is who I am as a person and represents the values I hold dear!  Faith, Family, Friendship, Service and Community.  So if you happen upon this blog because you visited my website to find out more about KYMS Consulting for business purposes I am not some corporate entity far removed from the mission and vision of the work I seek or the services I offer.  I am the business!

I had a vision when I started  KYMS that I would live the values of the company.  I am conservative by nature, believe in environmental stewardship, taking care of what you have been blessed with, only using what you need, sharing and giving when and where required, serving and helping others.  I know I have lived and promoted these values and yet my company had not grown in way that indicated success through a multiplicity of satisfied customers and engaged partners or employees.  I set out to change that this year and had put a plan in action.

Which brings me to COVID-19!  We are living in interesting times.  I had planned workplace safety training for small or new business owners in the upcoming weeks but out of the abundance of caution had to cancel due to virus transmission concerns.  And no sooner than when that cancellation email was sent to the training venue, I get sick once again with a circulating cold bug.  With 5 children under the age of 9 in my household passing bugs is inevitable.  This is my third cold in as many months.  To top that off, LA County, Riverside County, and San Bernardino County all have confirmed cases of the virus and have taken such precautions as to close primary schools, have college campuses go completely online for class lectures, reduce operating hours for public facilities and recommend cancelling large gatherings of 50 or more persons.  So for the next few weeks I will be assisting with homeschooling my grandchildren as well as taking the courses I teach fully online and implementing the social distancing recommended by our public health officials!

We must be reminded of the things we have been taught and have forgotten, and we must make sure we are teaching and informing on the important things of the day as well as the history that supports our abundance and our complacency.  COVID-19 is likely the result of research and experimentation that I hope had noble intentions.  However the US response to the threat of a now pandemic has been  mired in politics, arrogance, poor judgement, poor planning, and a lack of trust in what is being communicated.  Mis-information and dis-information is prevalent on social media.  Main stream media depending on what political party you identify with grapple with aligning to a uniform and consistent message.  One wonders if rational thinking will prevail in the chaos that seems to be looming.  Case in point...where is all the toilet paper!!!!  I don't understand why there has been a run on toilet paper and why I can't simply order online (with a future fulfillment date) even though local distribution centers are out of stock!!!! This does not make sense and we can do better.  I think I will start with lessons on improving the family hygiene practices...

Check out CDC for more information!COVID-19


OSHAs information on COVID-19





Tuesday, January 28, 2020

2020! Made it!

Well I will start by saying it seems this will be an annual post! LOL!  But I will shoot for quarterly!  Last year was another year of growth!  I am up to nine grandchildren having added granddaughter number 7 on December 14.  KYMS Consulting was a bit sluggish but in my tenth year of operation I decided to go bold and create some additional DBAs that would allow me to more appropriately target market segments I wish to service.  I'm in the process of revising my business plan, creating additional plans for the other businesses and building a strategy for creating generational wealth.  There will be movement and increase.

Full time employment has been calling me as my debt load grows.  While I desire to always have a business I can call my own, I may venture into full time teaching as a college professor.  I am applying for a number of positions.  I am also looking at engineering and management again since that is where I grew up.  If a full time position as an instructor does not materialize then I may have to get back to those roots.

So enough of work and profession stuff.  So much going on in the world.  The POTUS has been impeached and is currently on trial letting his lawyers defend his actions through the greatest gas lighting of the American public I think I have ever seen!  I am not a Trump fan.  I gave him the benefit of doubt after he was elected, even prayed for his success!  But I am now convinced there is nothing great or worthy of the position in him.  Our creator I think must remind us through imperfect mankind that we need him in the mix when it comes to our governance.  There is a warning for us in the Trump Administration...hope we figure it out before it is too late!

2020!!! I am old enough to remember it was just yesterday when I believed 2020 to be so far in the future as to be a goal for retirement, children on their own, house paid off, in love again.  None of this is my current reality and yet the most important thing is.mine to own.  I am a new creature in Jesus Christ through his saving grace.  My heavenly father Jehovah is my provider, my victory, my peace!  That is all that matters in 2020.

The birthday milestone of 56 is on the horizon, next week to be exact.  I hope to see it God willing.

2019 ended with increase to my personal legacy.  I am so blessed and pleased my God has chosen me to continue to be a part of the lives of all of my family but especially my grandchildren.

So happy 2020 my personal goal is to grow in the spirit according to Galatians 5:22.

Fruit of the Spirit!