Another EDI Blog from this guy…?  Geez!  Why are we all feeling so special?!? When I'd first written this blog - back in June - I was still working and "gainfully employed" and the change - just about a week ago - is something I could (obviously) plan for and anticipate - but you can only plan so much for this kind of eventuality in life...  But I'm doing OK and have been working on some possibilites to come...   OK, so I’m exaggerating a bit with that lead-in, right?  But truly, if you’ve read the blogs I write, you may very well have noticed that sometimes I’m kicking ‘em out daily.  Sometimes, well… not so much…  Months may pass between writings…  A lot of it happens when an idea – INSPIRATION! – rears its head and other times, well, it’s just when maybe I’m not so busy and I’ve got free time to think. Wait… Free time for an EDI Guy?  How can THAT be?  It’s not possible!! (now I've got even MORE free time!). But I tell you, it is!  And there’s a reason that any EDI Guy (or Gal) can have some … free time … here and there to work on other issues and projects.  It’s all about planning and executing your plans and taking ...

If you’re old enough (or have an extensive enough Sci-Fi DVD/movie collection), you may remember the film RoboCop from 1987.  It was directed by Paul Verhoeven, who later became famous for that fantastic piece of cinematic achievement – Showgirls!  But he also gave us the Arnold “The Governator” Schwarzenegger classic “TOTAL RECALL”, and another classic of camp cinematic achievement “Basic Instinct”. RoboCop was a futuristic view of life in the US – specifically in Detroit, MI – where violent crime is the norm – much like today?  Throughout the movie, there are glimpsed scenes of a sitcom TV show (later identified as “It’s Not My Problem”) where a major character uses the catch phrase “I’ll buy that for a dollar!” This wonderful ditty of a catch-phrase came to Me over the past few days when I was reading a post on the EDI-L Yahoo! group about “What is a decent price/cost per EDI message?” and everybody started weighing in with replies – some giving us examples of how much it costs per message at their company (about 50 cents per message) and others going down the “I pay 20 cents per KC” and others talking about the varied costs of the VANs per KC charges.  The poster suggested something about “32 cents per message” – a flat fee. But ...

"Ch-ch-changes... Turn and face the strange..." - David Bowie belted out back in 1972.  Well, 1971, actually, but the song wasn't released until 1972.  And, as usual, I digress in the details.  But still, some of the lyrics are quite appropriate today.  And especially in the world of EDI.  Good ol' Ziggy Stardust (aka Bowie) sang out:                                    "Still don't know what I was waiting for.." That's something we hear a lot in the EDI world - once somebody finds out how well EDI can help them.  They don't know what they waited for - or balked against - when given the option of EDI.  Once they've seen-the-light, it suddenly becomes a no-brainer.  But at the time, it was strange and unknown and a change.  And we all know what people can be like when it comes to change.. Don't we? Change is hard! What's wrong with the way we've always done it? Oh, great!  Now what do I have to learn? Right now, I'm working with our Accounting group in getting them to embrace and accept the 810 EDI Invoice.  And, for the most part, I'm lucky that they're open and willing to "face the strange" and go with it..  However, where it's making My life a living hell is that they expect everything to be done.  Now.  2 Minutes ago.  ...