[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] Wonderful touch tone telephone there.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Uh, what kind of books do you enjoy reading?
[speaker002:] Uh, haven't, have, I have a wide variety of, of hobbies, therefore, my, my reading pleasures are quite wide. Um, I get a charge out of, uh, TEXAS HIGHWAY,
[speaker001:] Oh.
[speaker002:] which is, uh, very colorful, and, uh, not being a native of Texas, but being here eleven years have a tendency to, uh, find out the, uh, about the different areas of the co-, of the, of the state by reading it.
[speaker001:] Right, I've read that one too. I only had a subscription once, but my mother always gave me hers and I, I really enjoyed, you know, all the little things that you find out about Texas.
[speaker002:] Oh yeah, it's, it's, uh, absolutely, it's great the way that it's broken out and you can, uh, set up little trips and day trips and things. It's pretty, pretty neat. [talking] [background] Um, oh, I like photography, um, magazines. I don't take a subscription or anything like that. Um, things, oh, being an engineer in facilities I do read a lot of, a lot of, uh, building magazines and, and, and plant engineering magazines and, read up on different ways to do things and energy management type of magazines and,
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] and, uh, kind of strange because I, it's not unusual to, uh, see, uh, an engineering manual or something laying around the house and then I'll sit up and read just to refresh, uh, you know, to keep active on it, but, uh.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] How about yourself?
[speaker001:] Well, um, I have an interest in art, so I, frequently purchase and read, uh, books, mainly on water color because that's my big interest at the moment.
[speaker002:] Oh, that's great.
[speaker001:] And, uh, oh, I guess I like a variety of things, uh, lots of fiction, uh, type books. Uh, right now I'm occasionally reading on a book about, uh, the Mardi Gras in New Orleans and its history.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] That's fairly interesting.
[speaker002:] I bet that would be, rather interesting. Uh, that's, uh, self improvement, that's, that's alwa-, well, that's kind of a hobby but it is self improvement from the standpoint of probably relaxing, uh.
[speaker001:] Yeah, I don't know that I read anything strictly labeled self improvement. How about you?
[speaker002:] Um, well I hate to, yes, I do [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] We, uh, we have these classes we attend, uh, management classes and, and they give you books and, and the last book, uh, matter of fact I read was, AT AMERICA'S SERVICE by Carl Albrecht. It talks about, uh, who the customer is and being customer oriented, uh, which falls in line with the T I culture here at Texas Instruments.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Uh, one of its great slogans is if you're not serving the customer, you better be serving someone who is.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Uh, so that's all in self improvement to stay focused on who the customer is and as you probably well know, all of us are our own customer. You're my customer, I'm your customer, sort of thing.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] Um, every now and then I'm loaned a tape I can stick in the, uh, in the car cassette set on the way home to make the drive more enjoyable, talking about, uh, better outlooks on things and the philosophy of, of Pat Hagerty and these kind of, uh, mind stimulating philosophy type.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Which all, you know, betters yourself.
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah, well, uh, maybe I am into some things occasionally that I don't think of in terms of self improvement.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] I mean they are but I don't label it as such.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Like what for example.
[speaker001:] Well, I don't know, um, I, uh, have attended some seminars that had some tapes that went with them, but, uh, I guess not so much books although they sometimes have manuals and things, but, uh, they would be things on like how to be successful and sort of talking to yourself. You know ge-, getting your, yourself in gear to, uh, sort of pull yourself up by your boot straps and do what you really want to do.
[speaker002:] Sure.
[speaker001:] Convincing you that you need to get on with it.
[speaker002:] Sure. How about items like, um, THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER, which used to be a big, okay.
[speaker001:] Yes.
[speaker002:] So those are self improvements.
[speaker001:] Sure.
[speaker002:] Um, our supervisor, uh, subtly bought all of us a book called WHAT EVERY SUPERVISOR SHOULD KNOW.
[speaker001:] Um.
[speaker002:] By a man, man named Doctor Bittel, B I T T E L [spells it out] and it's a very layman's, uh, uh, approach towards managing different types of people. And the very last chapter, {C and I haven't figured out why that one was last, } is how to manage engineers [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER].
[speaker002:] So it's, it's ver-, it's interesting, here again it's, it's casual reading and it's not eaten up with a lot of, uh, mechanical stuff and it's really excellent fast reading and, uh, but as you say it's, it's sometimes it's difficult to, to know if it's, you know, I think if somebody would say hey, read these ten books because these are self-improvements, I would probably be turned off to them.
[speaker001:] Yeah, yeah.
[speaker002:] If he casually just walked into it and, uh, put down a Stephen King book and I picked up one of them I might be a little more interested.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] I don't know, I'm not sure I could take too much of Stephen King. That's a little, little heavy for me.
[speaker002:] Yeah, they're, uh, quite, uh, they're hard to set down because it's so interesting and, of course, they're all just a little spookier than the movies, but, uh,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] it's always, they're always challenging to get through one of them. I have a hard time finishing books.
[speaker001:] Well I guess I also have been reading, uh, a lot of things on, uh, quality improvement and that type of thing because that's what I'm involved in a lot at work.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh. In quality, especially now days, uh, that's almost everything that comes across the, the, the airways.
[speaker001:] Oh, yeah, you could almost label everything quality in some sense or other but, uh,
[speaker002:] Exactly, exactly right.
[speaker001:] I think sometimes the word is a little over used but,
[speaker002:] Yeah, we, we have, I think we, we name drop it a little too much and, and don't fully understand what, what it is we're saying. I think it's just focusing in on the issue and walking your talk and, and all that kind of rolls in together there,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] but, uh, that's just kind of part of it.
[speaker001:] Okay, well, any other comments.
[speaker002:] Uh, not that I can think of. Um, I think I'm under my quota a little bit. I need to probably make a phone call or two [LAUGHTER].
[speaker001:] Well we just started, right.
[speaker002:] Uh, this is true. I've enjoyed it.
[speaker001:] Well you too, and uh, good-bye.
[speaker002:] Have a good day.
[speaker001:] Good-bye.
[speaker002:] Bye-bye [talking].