He Doesn’t Work In Mysterious Ways

When I was a young man in college I had doubts. My mom and father’s relationship was a mess and our family life at that time was stressful. I guess asking God for clarity in times of stress is considered normal. I really didn’t know what to expect from him. But I do remember asking him “God, let me know you’re working in my life, let me know that you are real.” Maybe like so many humans I had accepted the notion that “God works in mysterious ways” and I could only hope that one day I would have understanding.

Jon Krieger, my college room mate at the time, dad was doing some consulting work and had been told by Jon that I was this computer guru. Mr. Krieger asked if I’d like some part-time work helping out with some computer/accounting issues and I said sure.

I didn’t know Mr. Krieger very well at that time, but one day after work we started discussing my personal life and the turmoil I was going through.  Mr. Krieger shared with me some of the hard times he had went through as a young man and shared with me his love for God. I remember him telling me how God had saved him and gave him a good life with his family. He and I talked for a couple of hours about life and God and somewhere during that conversation I realized that God was speaking to me through Mr. Krieger. It was as if a light clicked on and my mind was freed from the darkness of uncertainty. After so many prayers God was showing me that he is real, and contrary to popular belief, he doesn’t work in mysterious ways.

You see, God works through people.

Everyday, people like Mr. Krieger are vessels of God’s love.

Over the years Mr. Krieger and I became good friends and looking back today I know that God brought him into my life and with that he enriched my life more than I would ever know.

Jon called me yesterday and told me that his dad was in an accident. Today, he called me with the news that Mr. Krieger didn’t make it. Today I am saddened that I have lost a friend. But I know with no doubts that the life Mr. Krieger led was full of love and joy. Love for his wife, love for his son and his son’s family, and most of all love for his God.

The God that showed me one day in a parking lot that he is no mystery. The God that showed me through a mortal man that God is with us everyday and everywhere. The very same God that showed me that all we have to do is open our eyes to see him.

I will miss Mr. Krieger. But I know that he is with God and I rejoice for him and I am so thankful to God for bringing Mr. Krieger into my life.

"Which businesses are all about, they are about people"

In today’s tough economic times, it seems the shortcut to quarterly profits for many executives is to cut the one resource that is truly the lifeline of a company – employees!

Small business seem to have the right attitude on this issue – people make a business what it is. Sure, a business has to have either great products or great services, or both, but the the creativity of human beings is what keep businesses moving forward.

Here’s a good example of creating a business around people – watch Episode 1

An epiphany about Bureaucracy

So, we’ve all work/worked with or in organizations that seemed bureaucratic, in-efficient and un-organized. While working in or with these organizations we begin to wonder how the organization became so hard to deal with. Why can’t they do the right things?
While working today I had an epiphany.
Bad organizations exist due to a series of bad decisions and over time the origins of these bad decisions become lost. The repercussions of the bad decisions become ingrained into the organization’s culture. People who have worked in the organization come to accept the culture as valid, although they subconsciously know something remains foul. New people who enter the organization openly question the stupidity of the culture and, naturally, are isolated and either rehabilitated so the culture makes sense to them or are expunged from the organization (culture).
By the mere fact that so many bureaucratic organizations exist is testament that individuals eventually conform to the culture. Bureaucratic organizations do get work done. But the work is not necessarily done in the most efficient and cost effective manner. In order for the organization to function, individuality must be purged, independent though can’t exist – hence the first indication that you work in a bureaucratic organization is that change is resisted and there is no valid explanation for not changing.
With this epiphany comes the realization that changing a bureaucratic culture is an uphill battle. Although I preach the greatness of what one person can do, I find myself lately questioning the desire to put forth such effort.
Here’s hoping you don’t work in this kind of culture.
Definition of epiphany: 3 a (1) : a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure b : a revealing scene or moment.
Definition of bureaucracy: a system of administration marked by officialism, red tape, and proliferation.

In Search of Eden

I live in a wonderful country. The “Dice of the Stork” rolled well when I was born and I have been given a great gift to live in the United States of America.

Here we have many freedoms and abilities to live our lives as we, the individual sees fit. Sure, there are problems and issue. Sure, things could be better. But at the core of my soul I know that America and American’s, as a people, are good – good to each other and good for the world.

Where else in the world do so many diverse individuals live together in a general state of well being?

It does however, seem that since the late sixties America and American’s have been in a constant struggle. Social and economic boundaries have been pushed and as the world has moved into the 21st century it seems that America has become more fragmented.

My mind strays thinking about the world’s situation today. I try to draw perspective by drawing on history of the human beings. Has there really ever been a time when humans never struggled with life? Was there ever a time when humanity “had it made?”

While watching an interview of Michael Moore by Wolf Blitzer I realized that most people are simply “In Search of Eden.” I don’t agree with Moore on a lot of his ideas, but I think, if I were God and could search into his soul that he really is searching for Eden on Earth. That, in some way, he does want to see our world, our country and our people “better off.”

HOWEVER, I’m not so sure if Eden or Heaven can be found by a group of people. I think ultimately it has to be found by individuals.

My Thoughts on Joe Wilson

South Carolina Congressmen Joe Wilson is in hot water over shouting the comment “You Lie” to President Barak Obama during his joint speech to the Congress on the subject of health care.

The aftermath in the press has been brutal. It seems that here in the United States when the President speaks, we and our elected officials are just to listen. Historically in the US our politicians show a considerate and amicable face in the public. Away from the public eye I guess politicians are just like the rest of us – telling it like it is.

After years of observation I can see that public politeness is a good thing. Men shouldn’t tear into each other viciously and without respect. But I do see that the lack of open honesty isn’t good for the public welfare either.

Sometimes the electorate wants and I think needs to hear the open, heated and honest debates on the issues that effects us all.

Take for example these two video of British political discord.

In the final analysis I think Joe Wilson should not have used that forum to show his displeasure with the policies of the President.

However, I think the United States needs to create a forum for real, open and honest debate between our elected officials.

What If You Had Seven Days To Live?

Do you remember that movie Field Of Dreams where the main character (Kevin Costner) heard a voice tell him to build it and he will come?

What if you heard a voice and the voice said “Saturday will be your last day, call my name when you are ready to go.” Kind of creepy huh?

This got me thinking what if you knew or thought you had seven days to live? If you new without any doubts would you quit your job? Would you make amends to those who you have offended in life? Would you do something exciting that you always dreamed of doing? Or would you just live your life as you’ve always done?

I’m not sure that knowing for sure when you will die versus not really knowing for sure are really different from each other.

You see, we are all going to die. We all have an appointed day and time when we will be called away from the flesh of our bodies. With this absolute fact facing us shouldn’t we do the things that need to be done prior to our unknown departure?

We should all have last will and testaments. We should all make amends to the ones we have offended in life. We should do the exciting things that we dream of doing and we should live our lives with no regrets. There are so many things that in life we should do before our appointed time comes, even if we don’t know when the appointment is scheduled.

I’ve got a lot of things to do… what about you?

Do You Believe Health Care in the US Is Broken?

Man, the bickering in the United States over Health Care reform is at times truly unbelievable.

Do you think the Health Care system in the US is broken?

Do you think Health Care should be a right for all citizens?

Do you think Health Care insurance cost more than it should?

Now, I think for every problem you have in life you should start the process of fixing the problem by asking questions.

So, here is the last question for today, if Health Care is broken then what specifically about it is broken?

As I think about these questions, I’ll write up some posts with possible answers.

More Good Business Advice

I don’t agree with everything Mark Cuban writes, but I do appreciate his perspective and his experience when it comes to business.

Recently in one of his blog posts he wrote “On the flip side, if you want to start and grow a business that you retain control of, put money in the bank from and can make a long term commitment to, then always remember that sales should be the first thing you focus on when you wake up in the morning. Profitable Sales to happy customers is the best path to making money. If you go to bed at night thinking about how to sell more and how to make your customers happy. You probably are in a good place. If you go to bed and wake up thinking about how to raise money to stay in business, you might as well get the new business cards and think about what your new consulting blog is going to look like.”

I totally agree with this. In one of my past jobs I had a boss who could sell even without having a product. I use to hate when he’d go on the road because he’d come back and have a list of orders and ask “Now we have to figure out how to get this stuff made!”

I hated that. But over the years I’ve realized that he knew a secret – “getting the sale” was eighty percent of the battle.

16 Rules of Bob to Ponder…

I like it when someone shares their rules of success. Here are Bob Parson’s 16 Rules. He is CEO of GoDaddy.Com.

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I’m concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."
2. Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.
3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."
4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences." My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you."
5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."
6. Take things a day at a time.
No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.
7. Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.
8. Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
9. Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.
12. Never let anybody push you around.
In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.
13. Never expect life to be fair.
Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).
14. Solve your own problems.
You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others." There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.
16. There’s always a reason to smile.
Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time!”

Not Just a Lump Of Coal

It’s been a while since I’ve written about my lovely baby girl Ellie-Jane. For some reason I’m not so public about her as I am about myself. I guess I’m respecting her right to eventually choose how public she wants to be with her life.

She’s been on my mind over the past couple of days, which got me thinking about children in general. You see, on Sunday she got a mosquito bite right under her cute little eye. Mom put some cortisone on it like any good mom would do and we put her to bed as we normally do.

On Monday morning my wife wakes me up with news that the baby’s poor little eye is swollen. I stumble into the baby’s room and sure enough her little eye was swollen. A couple hours later at the doctors office he tells me it isn’t infected. He said it might swell enough to close her eye, but not to worry that it will get better. He said she just had a reaction to the bite.

Update – 8/10/2009: Looking at my blog statistics I notice a lot of people get referred here from Google by searching for “mosquito bite under eye” or something similar since their child has the same problem. I researched a little and found that the reason mosquito bites tend to swell really bad for children is that their immune system has not had enough incidents of being bitten to defend against the saliva that mosquitoes ingest during their feeding (biting). Unfortunately, some people continue to have allergic reactions even after their immune system is exposed to sufficient bites. Here is a link to better information on the allergic reaction – http://allergies.about.com/od/insectallergies/a/mosquitoallergy.htm.

Not to worry. For me, I do a decent job of not worrying, but you can’t look at her eye and not feel bad for her. You just look at her and have this empty, sad feeling because you hate that she has this irritation to deal with – that she might be in pain.

But like she’s done since she was born, she amazes me with her resilience. She doesn’t complain about her eye. She listens to me when I ask her not to rub it. She listens to me when I ask her to sleep on her other side so it won’t swell even more. She just has this wonderful, loving spirit in the face of a crappy mosquito bite that’s made her look like Rocky Balboa.

With all of this going through my mind I started thinking about how this baby has changed my life and my perception of life. Like any proud dad when she was born and I first looked into her eyes I knew I loved her. I knew that I would love her forever and would do anything I could to fill her life with love and happiness. Unlike moms who carry and nurture a baby in the womb I think men have a space of separation from their new born children. For a woman a child is A PART OF THEM. You see, besides having an emotional attachment during the pregnancy, a mom shares her flesh and her blood with her child. She tolerates her body going through a total change to give her unborn child a hospitable, nurturing home for nine months.

But back to the current story. For me, the past couple of days has shown me that although I’ve loved my baby from the first moment I realized I would be a dad, I realized that everyday since she was born I’ve been falling more and more in love with her.

Each day she has taught me something about life and about myself. Each day she amazes me with something new. Her little phases like “Dadda do that no, no, no” or “dadda so funny” just bring a smile to me and my wife.

Always searching for an appropriate analogy, I’ve been thinking that maybe children are like a lump of coal. You see, a piece of coal under pressure eventually turns into a diamond. And if you do a good job of raising your child they too can turn into a bright, glimmering diamond.

But after further contemplation I think I’m wrong.

You see, all children at birth are already diamonds. They sparkle and amaze, they bring brilliance and joy to our lives. They grow from helpless lumps of flesh and bones into beings of great minds and souls. They teach us about life and they teach us who we really are.

If anything, WE are the lumps of coal. They apply pressure and they demand from us life’s lessons and in return we learn to shine so that they may shine even brighter!

What Would You Change

I’ve been listening. Listening to the world murmur. Listening to the republicans, listening to the democrats, listening to the independents, listening to the Muslims, listening to the Christians, listening to the world.

Just listening.

It seems like everyone has something to say. And if you listen long enough it doesn’t seem like any two groups have the same thoughts or opinions in common about issues that we all need to deal with.

So I listen. Yes, sometimes I grow impatient listening, sometimes I get mad, sometimes I laugh and sometimes I cry. But I still listen.

For you see I’m trying to figure out what the truth might be. I’m trying to figure out what we should do to solve the problems that plague our society.

I decided a while back to listen more to what people are saying. At some point maybe I can figure out why they say what they say.

Although I don’t have ten thousand readers of my blog I would like to listen to what the readers of my blog think.

So my question today is “What would you change about America and why?”

Even if it is just one thing, what would it be.

Besides you leaving a comment with your thoughts, tell your friends to stop by and leave a comment with their thoughts.

I’m listening…

Dying Sucks!

For thousands of years, since the beginning of the first man’s first conscious thought, I suspect that man has pondered the tough question of “what happens when we die?” Where do we go? Do we exist after our physical body has expired?

Much smarter and wiser men than I have spent years thinking through this question. One of my favorite philosophers Socrates did a pretty good job of giving a possible explanation. Then there are religions that provide a pretty nice explanation.

I’m sure each of us at some time in our life go through what I call “an awakening” in which we realize that our life is fleeing and we ask about the possibilities of eternity and then we make a decision as to what will happen after we die. I know over my forty-two years of life I have thought about my eternal existence on more than one occasion.

Recently my thoughts turned back to dying because a friend of mine learned that he has cancer. Being a young man myself I started thinking about him and his family. I can’t imagine what he’s going through, what his wife must be going through, what his children must be going through.

While thinking about my friend’s plight I realized that dying sucks!

Yea, dying really, really sucks.

Thinking about my friend’s plight brought back memories of all the people I’ve loved over the years who have passed away. These people that I’ve loved are gone from my presence. Their bodies that I recognized and touched and loved are at rest now.

Thinking about my friend’s plight also reminded me of my loved ones that are much older and for who’s time is fleeing. One day they shall too leave my presence and for that I will be filled with sorrow.

But thinking about my friend’s plight reminded me of something so important.

Being a conscious, self-aware being consisting of mind, body and soul I know that when my loved ones leave my physical presence they are resurrected. They are resurrected to live forever in the hearts and minds of the people they’ve touched and they have loved. But more importantly, I know without any doubts that they are resurrected to live forever in the presence of the maker of us all. I know that though we may be separated by a physical barrier of flesh we shall still always be one in spirit!

Thinking of my friend reminded me that we are all dying. Some of us are a little further down the road to redemption, but we are all going to get their eventually.

I think it is tragic for young person to leave this world before their time. But I know that there is a reason for all that happens even if I can’t understand the reasons.

Thinking of my friend reminds me that living everyday here on this Earth and being in the presence of the ones I love is truly a gift.

I hope and pray for my friend in his time of need. He is a wonderful person with a great mind and I know my life is and will be always be better off due to his friendship.

Yes, dying really does suck, but no matter what happens we will always live, no matter if it is in a physical or spiritual form.

Happy Birthday

Ahh, birthday anniversaries come and go. For me, I’ve never been a big birthday  anniversary celebrating person. I’m not quite sure why I’m not so big on a birthday anniversaries. I thought for my 40th it would be a big deal, but like so many birthday anniversaries before the 40th wasn’t that big of a deal for me.

But for many people, celebrating the day they were born is very important. And now that I have a little baby I appreciate and relish her birthday anniversary more than I appreciate and relish my own. I guess deep down I’m not so excited about actually aging. It’s not that I mind aging – it is just the process can be painful at times.

As my 42nd birthday anniversary came and went yesterday I started thinking about what it should really mean. We always congratulate people on their birthday anniversary, give them a gift or such. Most people see a birthday anniversary as a celebration of their life. But for some reason it came to me that we should look at our own birthday anniversary from a different perspective.

I think we should actually thank other people on our birthday anniversary for helping us make it through another year and being able to celebrate another birthday anniversary.

Like I told my mom yesterday when she called, as she always does on my birthday anniversary, “thanks mom for laying on that bed and laboring and birthing me into this world. Thanks for feeding me and changing my dirty diapers. Thanks for the support and love for me and my little family this past year…” And then I thought of all the family and friends who I am very thankful for as they make my life complete and worth living. And of course I thank God, my wife and my baby for giving so much to me everyday.

You see, celebrating one’s birthday anniversary is actually a big deal no matter how you celebrate it.

Dreams Can Come True

So I fired up my Google Reader (link to my shared and starred items) and got a link to this video (click link to view) on YouTube.

After watching the video I just had a moment of excitement for Susan Boyle. My heart really jumped for joy in seeing her dream come true. At first I didn’t know how I would start out this blog entry. One thing that came to mind was that in her dream coming true she also showed the world yet again that you can’t judge a book by the cover.

But after some further thought I realized what’s more important in this story is that we are being showed that in our lives our Dreams Can Come True.

I’ll admit that in my life sometimes I let the day to day worries bring me down. But in the back of my mind, deep in my soul, I know that my dreams can come true. If I believe, I can achieve.

You Have All That You Need

Humans are extraordinary organisms. They continually thirst for more power, fame, fortune, love and knowledge. It seems that these thirst are driven from deep down in our sub-consciousness. It’s like we don’t have a choice of how much we want to improve ourselves or push ourselves. For me it seems that there is always an inner voice telling me to do more, to be more. For me, the voice gives me a desire to make a positive difference in the world.

But as a believer in a higher power I sometimes question myself and my maker about when, where and how I’ll make that positive difference. How should I go about doing more and being more? Questions I’m sure a lot of people have throughout their lives.

As with so many questions the answers don’t come as we often envision them.

It seems that my questions of lately brought on an unexpected answer. The other day while thinking about my future and what I should be doing these words came to me…

You have all that you need.

These words answered ALL my questions.

You have all that you need – to be more powerful, more famous, to find love, to find fortune and the increase your knowledge. You have been given all that you need to do all that is needed.

And then I realized, yes, I do believe that most of us down here on this third rock from the Sun do indeed have all that we need. We can make a positive difference in each others lives, we CAN change ourselves and we can change the world.

Once you have this realization, all you need is to take action everyday and when you get down and don’t see the progress you desire always remember that “You have all that your need!”

One Positive Thought!

I’ve had a blog for some years now. Over the past seven years I’ve posted two hundred and sixty five items. Some of my blog entries have been short and some long, some good and yes, some bad. But I really have enjoyed writing and sharing my thoughts and have enjoyed the comments of people who have passed by and shared their thoughts with me.

Sometimes I wish I had the drive to write more often in my blog, to share more of my life, to share more of my thoughts. I think somewhere deep in my sub-conscious I have a feeling that by sharing my “thoughtful” thoughts that I can change the world in some manner. You see, words are the beginning of the process of change. Thoughts of the human mind are, in my opinion, so important and powerful. If you are a believer of evolution you should realize that the human mind is the greatest evolutionary step for any animal to ever exist. If you believe in God you know that our mind is made in the image of God’s, which is the most powerful mind in the universe. So it is my opinion that the mind is indeed where all of our existence starts.

Yes, you must have action to follow-up what the mind thinks.

But, with this blog all I can do is think and write my thoughts to bits and bytes – electronic paper.

So I started thinking that it would be nice to write at least one positive thought a week. I’m usually not very good at keeping to a defined schedule, but I’m going to try.

Can One Positive Thought a week make a difference in the world? I hope so. If all that happens is my mind is re-focused once a week to think positive about my life and our world then it will be a worthwhile endeavor.

So, I challenge you to have at least One Positive Thought and to share it with the world. You just never know what deeds will come from them!

Grand Central Goes Mainstream as Google Voice

In 2007 I wrote about GrandCentral.Com and then wrote about Google purchasing GrandCentral. Well, it has been two years since those posts and Google has finally released news that they are re-launching the service as Google Voice.

Over on the Google Blog they have a preview of the new features and there is a link where you can place your name on a list to be notified when the service is available to new users. Right now the new features will only be rolled out to early adopter such as MUAI!! I suggest you get on the list because the service as it is today is AWESOME. I can’t wait until I get a hold of the new features.

Why and How People Go Into Debt

Just the other day I had a conversation with a good friend. We were discussing him wanting to purchase a new “toy” that cost a few of thousand dollars.  For the past couple of years he and I have been supporting each other to be financially free. Free from debt, free from the fear of loosing it all, free from the pressure that financial instability brings.

Like me, he had a financial epiphany and realized that how he was dealing with money had to change. From that “eureka” moment he’s been steadily saving and has gotten totally out of debt. Several thousand dollars  saved later we were talking of how nice it is to have a buffer. To have some peace of mind that if we had an emergency that we would not die a week later for lack of not having any funds to buy our food or pay our living expenses.

As he was talking about purchasing his “toy” he said “I look at my savings and it just seems hard to make myself spend that five grand after working so hard to save  it!”

I interrupted him in his thought and said “that’s it.” In that moment I realized how people seem to so easily get into debt. It took a couple of years for my friend to slowly pay off his debt and to save a few hundred dollars a month. But incrementally, one dollar at a time, one debt at a time he changed his mindset to save money and to pay off all his debt.

Conversely, if you really think about it, accumulating debt is simply the reverse process. People get into debt by slowly purchasing things a little at a time. They look at their bill and at first it is just a few hundred dollars a month. They pay the minimum and then keep buying more and more “things” that don’t seem to have any value. After several months they are several hundred dollars in debt and then over a period of a year or two they have thousands in debt. For a while the minimum payment amount is very manageable from month to month.  But at some point the minimum payment becomes significant and becomes a shackle of pain and agony.

So incrementally debt becomes “normal” in the mind of the debtor.

Incrementally the debtor becomes enslaved to the cycle of paying a minimum finance charge that never pays off the debt.

People go into debt because THEY slowly re-program themselves to be inoculated to the pain and the reality that debt brings.

But like my good friend, WE CAN RE-PROGRAM ourselves to save and to realize that saving money is indeed a good feeling and a good thing to accomplish.

The Best Remote Desktop Support Application – Fog Creek’s Co-Pilot!

In the computer business the term Killer App gets thrown around loosely all the time. You know, from my twenty-five years of using computers I can say I’ve seen my share of Killer Apps. I remember way, way back when Word Star came out – that was a Killer App at the time.

You see, a Killer App is really a computer program that takes a job and makes it so easy to do that it “kills” the pain of doing that job. At least that’s my partial definition of what a Killer App is all about.

I’ve been a follower of Fog Creek Software and Joel Spolsky for some time now. Joel co-founded Fog Creek Software and a couple of summers ago he had his interns build a tech support tool call Co-Pilot. I don’t know, maybe Joel wanted to give the programmer wannabees something to do to get them out of his hair so he could write in his blog. Or, just maybe Joel had this great vision of a Killer App that would solve all remote desktop helpdesk issues. In either case Joel’s intern team hit a grand slam.

If you are the person all your DACUFs (dumb ass computer user friends) call for help when they’ve screwed up their PC or MAC, then you’ll no doubt want to use Co-Pilot. Co-Pilot makes it so easy to connect to the DACUFs computer so you can figure out what’s wrong. No more trying to describe how to get to the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs icon.

And the really cool thing about Co-Pilot is that the tool is totally free on the weekends – like you didn’t have anything better to do on Saturday afternoon besides fix your DACUF’s computer.

On second thought, never mind, keep this tool a secret else your Saturdays are bye-bye.

But for the professional support people out there, you should invest in this tool and see how much pain is taken away from providing support to the computer illiterate masses.

Co-Pilot is indeed a Killer App in my book.

Update 7/15/2009: So I pay attention to the search terms used by people in Google who get directed to this blog entry and it seems that the searchers are wondering what are the comparisons of Co-Pilot versus  Microsoft’s built-in Remote Desktop and Remote Assistance applications.

Remote Desktop is where you actually attach to a Windows XP’s console and log into the machine, which will log out the user on the other end. Remote Desktop can be used for fixing issues with a Windows machine, but for end-user support it wasn’t really designed for that purpose since the user doesn’t see what you are doing to fix their problem. And with most help-desk issues, the problem most of the time isn’t the computer hardware or application but actually how the user is trying to get something done.

Remote Assistance is Microsoft’s attempt to allow a more skilled computer person to assist the less knowledgeable user. However, to get the skilled user connected takes like an act of God on the end-user’s side to initiate the connection. And then once the connection is made the interface for the person giving help is dog slow.

With Co-Pilot for an end-user to get help they can give a support person one link to initiate the connection to their computer. Additionally the help desk person can give an end-user one link to establish a connection to their computer. Once the connection is established it runs generally 10x faster than anything else I’ve used and it allows both helper and end user to communicate and see what’s going on with the computer.

Updated 06/23/2009:
A friend sent me a link to a free remote desktop support application that works just like Co-Pilot.

I haven’t checked-out or tested Mikogo (www.mikogo.com) yet, but wanted to put it up here for your reference.

If you have a chance to test it, please let me know how it works out for you.

Note:
I received no compensation for this review and endorsement. But if Joel finds this one day while wasting time on the Internet he can reward me by sending me an autographed book of his best articles.

More Interesting Data

For a while now I’ve been thinking about facts and fiction. In our complex world it seems that the two become entangled in the fury of a grinding dance until us mere mortals can’t distinguish the two apart.

I’ve found it comforting to look deeper and find data. Analyzing trusted data can help determine fact from fiction.

In my recent readings I found the following two pieces of data…

This graph came from a blog, but originally came from WWW.ContraryInvestor.Com. The graph shows how our government is now a bigger employer than Manufacturing and Construction combined.

And then this graph shows 2006 California tax data.

Just like the tax data for US income tax payers this shows that over eighty percent of taxes collected in California are paid by less than fifteen percent of all tax payers. Yet another example where a minority is supporting the majority.

The Mission Statement

It is the new year and for a few weeks I’ve been thinking about my new year resolutions. You know, a set of thoughts and ideas you’ve wanted to do, should do, but never got around to doing throughout the past year. And then low and behold, the new year comes rearing its ugly face at you taunting you for all you haven’t done!

It seems like the new year is a perfect time to “start over.” But the reality is that you can’t start over. You are where you are right now, never in the past, never in the future. The reality is that you have to change yourself right now.

But instead of the traditional resolutions, I thought it more appropriate to define my mission statement. Yea, I know, it sounds like one of those lofty-dofty dreamy things. But in reality it is something that everyone should do.

A few years ago at work I got a new boss and the first thing I asked of him when we first met was for him to define a mission statement for our team. For you see, I had grown tired of working in the cubical nightmare and not really knowing what our team was really being asked to do. I realized that in order for our team to be effective, and to be able to keep our manager honest with us, that we needed a “contract” to define what we put our energy towards. A statement that told other teams who we were, what we did, why we did it and to some extent how we did it – a mission statement.

Some time later after I went to work for another team my former boss sat with me and told me that it was a learning experience to go through that exercise. He said it helped him focus our team’s energies toward the objectives given to him by his management.

Long ago in my youth I went through a hard time emotionally. I guess the youth in me found it hard to find a mission in life, to find direction. I found comfort in my belief that God had a plan for me, even if I didn’t know what that plan entailed.

I found myself with a simple prayer – “God, I’m not sure where you want me or what you have in store for my life, but I ask that you let me be a positive difference in people’s lives, that I make this world a little better off than it was before I came unto it.”

Since that time I have found peace with that prayer from so long ago, with my direction, with my mission, with my life. I know that no matter where I go, who I meet or what I do, I will make a positive difference.

So, I guess my mission statement has always been with me for these years – to be a positive difference in people’s lives and to make the world better off than it was before I came unto it.

What is your mission in life? To build fortune, fame, power? Or to build something else? Or to leave something when you are gone?

Each individual’s time here is fleeing… but our collective missions, they never end.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Around this time of year the greeting Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year are repeated numerous times as you meet friend and strangers alike. Wouldn’t it be just peachy-king if we always had the Merry Christmas and Happy New Year attitude towards each other all year long?

So, I guess I’ll try to spread the cheer for as long as I can until the man beats me down again in 2009

From our little family to yours, may you have a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year throughout the entire 2009 year!

Now what, Microblogging!

So, it took a while, but after several years blogging has become mainstream. Everyone knows a good blog from a bad blog. It seems that there are millions of blogs on the Internet.

Now, just when you thought the Internet was slowing down a little so you could catch your breath here comes Microblogging. Zac, a friend of mine, blogged the other dayabout Microblogging. Microblogging is telling a quick idea on a web site such as Twitter or Facebook. If you “do” microblogging you find that it is disconnected at times and can be distracting. I’ve been following a few Microbloggers and I just don’t get it. I really don’t have time to follow people hour by hour and Microblogging can push you that direction.

I guess like anything in life you have to find the middle ground and balance in using Microblogging. I’ve come to enjoy Friendfeed’s use of Microblogging as my friends don’t overwhelm me with information on what they are doing. I have found that the short burst of information with the friends I have has indeed given me more of a feeling of connection with then, even though we are separated by varying distances.

So, instead of saying “Microblogging is too much” I think I will say “Microblogging has a place in our lives to be used as a tool to stay better connected with each other.”

Find a service you like, I’m going to stay on Facebook, and invite your friends and see if you like it or not. I can tell you that microblogging by yourself is so so boring!

Data Tells You A Lot…

Well, if you are a Star Trek fan you know that indeed Data does talk a lot. But this blog entry isn’t about Star Trek’s Data.

This is about the taxes American’s pay. Take a few minutes and look at the table below. I’ve highlighted some parts of the data that I think are important and I’ll elaborate on these parts in the points below.

Go ahead, take a gander for a while at the table.

Did you cheat on me? Really, look at the table carefully.

Ok, so what does this data tell you?

1. that ONE (1) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 39.89 percent of all income taxes collected.
2. that twenty five (25) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 86.27 percent of all income taxes collected.
3. that fifty (50) percent of the tax paying Americans pay 2.99 percent of all income taxes collected.

What does this mean to you?

For me the data says that a small minority of tax payers are paying the bill for the rest of their fellow citizens.

The data also confirms that politicians abuse the facts when talking about tax policy. You hear some politicians say “this tax break is only for the ‘rich!’”

Well, when the “rich” are paying most of the taxes, a tax cut will indeed benefit them more than for people who barely pay any taxes.

I didn’t mean to get off on a tangent on the interpretation of this data. What I really wanted to say today is that we need to be better gatherers and analyzers of data so that we can be better informed so that we can make better decisions.

Data Source: IRS, via this great web site that has a crap load of tax data – The Tax Foundation.Org

What Is Important In Life?

A friend sent me an email and told me of the story of her running a half marathon. In the course of life, one single person completing a half marathon isn’t such a big thing? Or is it?

You see, she’s recently lost over a hundred pounds and she’s changed her life for whatever reasons she has. Honestly, I am so happy for her. I know that her loosing the weight is a wonderful thing as she will no doubt be healthier and in turn have a better quality of life.

But the thing that impresses me more than her loosing weight and made me think tonight is that she is doing what is important in life!

You see, she is living and she is writing her story everyday. And I think that is what we all should learn to do better – live life and tell a story worthy of telling with our lives. Don’t be afraid to go out and do something. Don’t be afraid to really live.

I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing this chapter in her life story book…

Hi Y’all,
Well, after months and months of planning, training, walking miles and miles through blisters, butt pain, etc, (you get the picture), I accomplished a goal. That goal was to compete in a half-marathon.  For that event I set 4 goals.  First was to just plain finish the 13.1 miles.  The second was to at least get in under 3 hours 45 minutes.  Then the third was to hopefully get an “official time”.  That time had to be 3:30:00. And fourth was NOT to come in last! As the day of the event got closer, I knew, barring any injury or heart attack, I would finish and I was confident I would get in under 3:45:00 but the third one was still in question and I had no clue about the fourth.

In the pre-dawn darkness and cold drizzle 1,700 competitors started the 13.1 mile race.  I knew I would be run over by all the runners so I positioned myself to the side about halfway back.  As I stood there waiting for the gun to go off I suddenly got choked up and tears formed in my eyes.  I couldn’t believe I had actually made it to the starting line.  Long months of training in the heat and cold and dreaming of the finish line over and over had culminated in this final moment.  I became overwhelmed with emotion.  I was going to do it!  I only had 13.1 miles to go!

I never heard the starting gun, just saw the crowd start to move out ahead of me. As most of the crowd raced by me, I settled down into my rhythm, put the earphones on and got down to business of finding that finish line.  A little way down the road, I spotted Ralph with the camera.  He had gotten up at 5:30am with me and again my wing man was with me.  As with most of the miles I have walked in the past year and a half, I was alone in my race.  All the runners had long since disappeared, and those that had started running and were now walking were little dots on the horizon.  The Silver Comet Trail was beautiful this October morning and I was enjoying my fast walk through the woods.  Low and behold, I started to catch some of the people in front of me.

Timers at the mile markers kept me motivated and by the time I made it to the turn around point I was determined to make that third goal.  By now my poor ole tired puppies were starting to bark a little but everything else was holding up just fine.  I also got to see just how many people were behind me.  I was ahead of 18 racers at that point.  Well, at least I wasn’t last!  When I hit the nine mile mark and the caller announced my time, I knew the third goal was within reach.  I still had plenty of gas in the tank, thanks to my cinnamon roll, bananas, M&M’s and Gator-aid.  I turned on the afterburners and started to catch some of the people in front of me. 

The last two miles were difficult as I had really stepped up the pace and stretched out my stride and dug deep into my determination and grit.  The muscles in my legs were starting to sing now, not scream but definitely singing a loud tune.  By now most everyone was gone, the timers and water stations abandoned.  It was a lonely last 4 miles.  When I passed the 12 mile marker I was setting my tennis shoes on fire and so damned happy that I had only one mile left.  I knew I was going to make all my goals.

With two tenths of a mile left to go, I looked up and there was my little girl, Melissa, coming up the path to meet me.    I started singing the words out loud to the song in my  headphones and joggers along the trail started laughing.  Not making fun mind you, just laughing.  I didn’t slow down, and she pulled in beside me and we breezed into the finish line, Melissa pealing off at the last second, so I could cross the finish line for my official time.  And there was my wingman, taking pictures. I came in behind 1,673 people but ahead of 26 people, with a time of 3:24:37, got my finishers medal, the tee-shirt and got to tick off one more of those things on my life’s list of things to do.  I wore the tee shirt for 2 days after that.

My muscles did some serious complaining as soon as I finished the race, they weren’t singing anymore, they were screaming very loudly and I heard the tune.  As soon as I sat down on the bus back to the start I knew it was a bad idea.  Every muscle from my waist down cramped and strained and twitched, etc.  But all was well.  A bottle of Advil and a cheeseburger later and I was absolutely fine.  The next day I only had one spot that I knew was a problem.  A tendon in my foot was strained but a couple days rest and it was good as new.
Two days later, I was back on the street walking and wondering, “What’s next”?
Well, thanks for indulging me in this recount of a very important day in my life.

Love to all,
JP

America, is still, The Beautiful

So, my friend’s wife Ginny wrote recently in her blog about the current state of American politics. She said “I am fed up with all the commercials, bumper stickers, fliers and news commentaries touting one candidate as our savior and the other as the devil incarnate.”

She went on to discuss her feelings and that she is tired of a lot of what is going on with the 2008 presidential election process. And I agree with her in many ways. This election cycle has as well been so draining on me as well

I could spend hours detailing the things that upset me with the state of politics today. But, to be honest with you, detailing such things would only depress me more and really not serve a positive purpose.

WHAT I really wanted to say today is this:

Even with the negatives that have occurred over the past two years I still believe that America, is still, The Beautiful. American’s still have a great standard of life compared to the world. We still have freedoms that people dream of living in. We still can wake up each morning and choose to make our lives better. We still can worship the God we choose. We still can disagree with each other in a civil and safe manner. We still can engage each other in meaningful discussions on what is important for the country.

I could go on and on as to what we still can do in this country. But the greatest thing that we still can do is to travel to a poll next Tuesday and stand alone in a voting booth and to cast a vote for what we believe. In doing this activity we tell the word that AMERICA, is still, THE BEAUTIFUL. For this I am very grateful. How about you?

Enslaving the Masses

So, if you were an evil person or very aggressive, money hungry, entrepreneur business person or a politician in search of wealth, power, fame or all three, you might find yourself thinking to yourself “How can I guarantee future wealth, power and fame and ensure that I can repeat success time and time again and that people will look at me as their savior?”

How would you do this in today’s world of “democracy” and “freedom?”

How would you control people’s lives without them even realizing that they were indeed being controlled?

In a modern world where slavery is detested as an evil activity of a bygone era, how would you by proxy enslave your fellow human beings?

I think you could achieve these goals by making life so comfortable by providing to the masses the basic necessities of life so that they would eventually choose to be provided for instead of providing for themselves.

Once people were dependent on you for the real necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter, you would then re-educate them into thinking that secondary wants and desires of life like a new car every three years, iPods, expensive clothes, big screen LCD televisions, destination weddings and other similar things are of course necessary for “the good life.” And this is where your master plan really takes hold. Incrementally you condition the masses to desire the “good life” even though they don’t have money to pay for it. You would make it easy for them to get credit and to purchase these “lifestyle necessities” now. This would in turn put people into debt for things that have no lasting value, not to you personally, but to the system that YOU created, control and derive great profits from. You have created a perfect system to enslave the masses while you never have any direct attribution for the deed!

Now, at some point in time, since some of the masses are not totally blind and dumb, you would have to have diversions for them, else they figure out the truth. Within the enslavement system, you create diversions to distract their attention so they have someone, something, or some group to blame for their ever decreasing quality of life. For part of the deception that you created relies on the enslaved masses to feed their selfish egos to further their belief that they deserve the good life and someone is taking it away or holding it back from them.

Ironically, and in a flash of brilliance you figure out how to divert your slaves attention to your true enemies. You see, your real enemies are those who understand your enslavement system. They teach your slaves how to be truly free from the bonds of debt,  uncontrolled desires, addiction, ignorance, stupidity and despair. They teach your slaves that personal accountability and individual achievement is the only way to break the shackles of the slavery that you have created.

Although you have amassed great fortune, fame and power, you still desire more from your slaves. After some time you realize that fortune, fame and power don’t really fulfill your own real needs. You realize that you need love and adoration from your slaves. So, you look for and create opportunities for which you can become their ultimate savior from the uncertainties and harshness of the natural world. Besides being their benevolent care giver who provides all for them, you save them from impending disaster and from their enemies and they love you.

After reading this you may think to yourself that it is impossible for this to happen in today’s modern societies – think again. There is more personal and governmental debt today than at any time in the history of the US and the world. People routinely pay on credit for things that neither provide substance nor add lasting value to their lives. Millions of people are admittedly one week to one month away from loosing everything if they lose their job. And in a country where opportunity to educate one’s self to be anything one desires, the US has one of the worse primary education system.

In my opinion, the masses have become takers instead of givers, whiners instead of winners and blamers for their personal failures in life.

I see the spirit of freedom, personal choice and accountability slowly dying and being replaced with the invisible shackles of slavery and bondage.

But their are beacons of hope in this chaos of slavery who try to enlighten and educate… Howard, Ramsey, Cuban, Robins and Boortz just to name a few who will help you not become one of the enslaved masses.

Finding Diamonds In The Snow

I don’t know. Diamonds aren’t usually found lying on the ground, in plain sight, in the snow.

But the other day while reading Bob Lefsetz, because I’m interested in the music business, he made a reference to Michael Hedges, who was a huge twenty carrot diamond that apparently wasn’t noticed until it was to late.

But it started me thinking that with the new technological world we live in, we have to re-program our minds to look for diamonds in all the nooks and cranny’s of this world.

With the size of the Internet and the documentation of man’s knowledge seemingly exploding it will become harder and harder to find diamonds. So how do you find better quality information in today’s world?

Simple! You have to find trusted sources on the subjects you are interested in and pay attention to what they are writing about. You have to have an open mind about new information and you have to have curiosity to keep you looking for the diamonds in the snow.

Some Lessons in Life Are Worth Repeating Over and Over and Over Again…

I’d like to think that I’m informed and up-to-date with what is going on in the world. As I’ve gotten older I’ve tried to become a person who listens to other people’s opinions and “facts” and I try to keep an open mind.

I know that at times I get tired of the rhetoric and stupidity in the world today. Lord knows that I have my own dumb things to over come. But at least each morning I wake up and I try to change myself and the world in which I live in for the better.

I haven’t  blogged much lately because, to be honest, I got tired. Tired of saying the same thing over and over and over again. Tired not knowing if what I was saying was actually being heard (read).

But after reading this post from Seth Godin, it re-charged my batteries and it made me realize that Some Lessons in Life Are Worth [and worthy of] Repeating Over and Over and Over Again!

Thanks Seth!

---

And here’s his post as I think it is worthy of copyright infringement in the hopes that other people will read his thought today!

Is effort a myth?

People really want to believe effort is a myth, at least if we consider what we consume in the media:

• politicians and beauty queens who get by on a smile and a wink
• lottery winners who turn a lifetime of lousy jobs into one big payday
• sports stars who are born with skills we could never hope to acquire
• hollywood celebrities with the talent of being in the right place at the right time
• failed CEOs with $40 million buyouts

It really seems (at least if you read popular media) that who you know and whether you get ‘picked’ are the two keys to success. Luck.

The thing about luck is this: we’re already lucky. We’re insanely lucky that we weren’t born during the black plague or in a country with no freedom. We’re lucky that we’ve got access to highly-leveraged tools and terrific opportunities. If we set that luck aside, though, something interesting shows up.

Delete the outliers–the people who are hit by a bus or win the lottery, the people who luck out in a big way, and we’re left with everyone else. And for everyone else, effort is directly related to success. Not all the time, but as much as you would expect. Smarter, harder working, better informed and better liked people do better than other people, most of the time.

Effort takes many forms. Showing up, certainly. Knowing stuff (being smart might be luck of the draw, but knowing stuff is the result of effort). Being kind when it’s more fun not to. Paying forward when there’s no hope of tangible reward. Doing the right thing. You’ve heard these things a hundred times before, of course, but I guess it’s easier to bet on luck.

If people aren’t betting on luck, then why do we make so many dumb choices? Why aren’t useful books selling at fifty times the rate they sell now? Why does anyone, ever, watch reality TV shows? Why do people do such dumb stuff with their money?

I think we’ve been tricked by the veneer of lucky people on the top of the heap. We see the folks who manage to skate by, or who get so much more than we think they deserve, and it’s easy to forget that:

a. these guys are the exceptions
and
b. there’s nothing you can do about it anyway.

And that’s the key to the paradox of effort: While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don’t get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.

This is a hard sell. Diet books that say, "eat less, exercise more," may work, but they don’t sell many copies.

With that forewarning, here’s a bootstrapper’s/marketer’s/entrepreneur’s/fast-rising executive’s effort diet. Go through the list and decide whether or not it’s worth it. Or make up your own diet. Effort is a choice, at least make it on purpose:

1. Delete 120 minutes a day of ’spare time’ from your life. This can include TV, reading the newspaper, commuting, wasting time in social networks and meetings. Up to you.

2. Spend the 120 minutes doing this instead:

• Exercise for thirty minutes.
• Read relevant non-fiction (trade magazines, journals, business books, blogs, etc.)
• Send three thank you notes.
• Learn new digital techniques (spreadsheet macros, Firefox shortcuts, productivity tools, graphic design, html coding)
• Volunteer.
• Blog for five minutes about something you learned.
• Give a speech once a month about something you don’t currently know a lot about.

3. Spend at least one weekend day doing absolutely nothing but being with people you love.

4. Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly.

If you somehow pulled this off, then six months from now, you would be the fittest, best rested, most intelligent, best funded and motivated person in your office or your field. You would know how to do things other people don’t, you’d have a wider network and you’d be more focused.

It’s entirely possible that this won’t be sufficient, and you will continue to need better luck. But it’s a lot more likely you’ll get lucky, I bet.

Removing the "Ignorant Factor" from self

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post I came across two videos from www.Ted.Com. In very different ways both of these videos show how the analysis of data and the internal analysis of self can lead to knowledge and help remove the ignorant factor from self. 

Click each link to see the videos.

Hans Rosling:Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen.

Anothy Robins:Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better.

Ignorance in the Information Age…

For me, accepting the realization that at every moment in time I am not as smart as I think I am has helped me become a better person. You see, rather we believe it or not, we are all ignorant. We all lack knowledge in many areas of life and even when we are “experts” in a field of study, we still don’t know it all in that area of expertise.

Yea, I would like to be Mr. Know-It-All, but that’s not ever going to be a reality I live in. But, the good thing about ignorance is that you can work on becoming less ignorant. It may take a little time and effort, but you can learn and become a better person through the acquisition and application of knowledge.

However, you can’t overcome being stupid. For me, stupidity is the inability to learn or the flat out refusal to learn.

In the information age, as a society, are we becoming less ignorant, and more informed? Yea, I think in certain areas of our society we might be. But I also have a feeling that in very important areas of society we actually might be stupid.

Here’s an interesting video on the subject…

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/alisa_miller_shares_the_news_about_the_news.html

He’s no Ronald Reagan, but I like George W. Bush

“I wish for a world free from tyranny: the tyranny of hunger, disease and free from tyrannical governments,” the president wrote. “I wish for a world in which the universal desire for liberty is realized. I wish for the advance of new technologies that will improve the human condition and protect our environment. I wish God’s blessings on all. George W. Bush.” – Personal Japanese Tanabata wish during Great 8 summit, 2008.

I grew up during the Ronald Reagan years, who, as a speaker, had such eloquent ways of communicating his thoughts, hence the nick-name “The Great Communicator.”

Contrasting The Great Communicator is George W. Bush’s inability to be eloquent with his words. But for me, George seems to be one of the guys. His style is laid back and not contrived with highly obtuse imagery and words.

With George, you get what you see and you get what you hear. No pretentiousness and nothing hidden.

I can imagine that if you met George outside of the Office of the President he would be easy to converse with and you would like him.

I like George W. Bush. I am gratefully that he has presided over America during these troubled eight years. Our country has many problems that still remain to be solved, but I truly believe that George looked after our country as best he could and the people of the United States of America are better off due to George W. Bush.

My Japanese Tanabata wish for George W. Bush this day is “George, may the rest of your life be filled with love and joy. May you be received by friends and foes with generosity, affection and respect for the man you are and for the sacrifices you’ve made during your service to your fellow man. I wish this day that when your flesh and bones have long disappeared from the landscape of this earth that your heart and soul shall long be remembered fondly and with love and affection for all generations to come.”

In Defense of Microsoft Windows Vista

So get this, I work in the Information Technology industry. I’ve had a computer since I was 14, which means I have twenty-seven years of real experience with PC hardware and operating systems.

DOS 1.0, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, 98, XP… I’ve used them all. And on day one when each of these operating systems were released I always wanted the OS to do more or there was something I didn’t like about the OS.

Think about it for a minute. The OS never exceeded my expectations. I think that is the way we think as humans. Yes, sometimes products exceed our expectations, but for the most part products never meet our expectations on day one. Even the highly touted Apple iPhone had people wanting more feature and Apple is responding with a new and improved version of the device.

I admit that Microsoft doesn’t execute very well on version 1.0’s of the software they put out. I admit that Apple seems to execute very well on 1.0 products.

But honestly, the real problem isn’t that Microsoft sucks, it is that Microsoft has a totally different platform strategy than Apple. Apple has total vertical integration ownership of the devices and software they sell. They build and sell the hardware and they program the software that drives that hardware. Hence, they have everything at the tips of their fingers to execute out of the gate properly.

Microsoft, on the other hand, doesn’t design or build most of the hardware that their software eventually runs on. When Microsoft releases a new operating system like Vista it has to run on at least twenty different manufacturers hardware, which Microsoft doesn’t have control of. Additionally, people who want to upgrade from XP must have hardware that is currently supported by their manufacturers who in turn must write new drivers so their hardware can run on Vista.

So any new OS from Microsoft comes out of the gate with two issues: living up to expectations and broad hardware support issues.

Microsoft can’t make it all work. Hardware vendors like HP, Dell, Gateway, IBM have to chip in on the deal.

For me, personally, there are things about Vista that I scratch my head and say “what the hell were they thinking when they did that.” I recently purchased new hardware and made the decision that I’d go with Vista Ultimate 64 Bit. Now when you talk about moving to Vista 64Bit there are more than hardware issues. Software support becomes an issue as well. But since the majority of my work based software would perform better under 64 bit I decided it was time to make the leap of faith.

The result is that all my old add-in cards are fully supported with new Vista drivers and all my new hardware works flawlessly under Vista.

For me, Vista hasn’t been a bad transition. But then again I remember the days of running Windows 3.1 and upgrading to get network support to work with it. I remember Windows 95 and the issues with older DOS applications running correctly.

So, I guess there are two options for the average user. Believe the naysayers  who want to bash Microsoft at every turn or go with Vista on your next, new machine and you be the judge.

My cousin, who doesn’t know squat about computers, took my advice and purchased a Dell with Vista pre-installed. She loves it and thinks it much better than XP and the setup only took about an hour, which included the time to take the machine and monitor out of boxes and connect everything up.

I’m not in love with any computing device. All I want is for it to work for me every time I turn the machine on. For Vista I can honestly say that it does this and a whole lot more.

Generics: Sometimes it pays to ask someone who knows…

There is no one I know that knows everything about everything.

One key to having a good life is to know when you don’t know something and then to know where to learn what you don’t know, but need to know.

Take for instance Advil. At 41 I find that my body aches more and more and I need some over the counter pain relief so I can continue to exercise and so I don’t hurt at night when I sleep.

So I use Advil. Well, since I’m now married and have a baby I try to save money where I can. While purchasing Advil the other day I noticed that generic ibuprofen was incredibly less expensive. The price was so much lower that my first thought was “this generic can’t be as good as the original Advil!”

And then I thought “that’s ignorant, you don’t really know if the generic is as good or worse than the original.”

So, I decided to ask someone who should have the correct answer. And that person is actually at the pharmacy where I was shopping – the pharmacist.

So I asked the pharmacist and sure enough she said that generic ibuprofen was indeed the same as Advil as the generic, by US law, had to have the same chemical formula as the original Advil in order to be called ibuprofen.

She continued to say that in 99.99 percent of the time generics were as good as the original drug.

So, there you go, save yourself some money and buy the generic ibuprofen while reducing your physical pain!  

Ideas for the Good Life: #001, #002 and #003

If you take all the good ideas you’ve ever had or heard and list them how many would you have?

10, 20, 100 or a 1000?

Would you be able to communicate them in a short but insightful manner?

I started thinking about short, insightful thoughts recently because it I’ve been exposed to a couple recently. I find that life can teach you lessons over a long period of time and then, when you least expect it, life can teach you a lesson in an instant.

In this blog from time to time I’ll express these ideas. For now, I’m not going to comment on these ideas as I think they speak for themselves. If you have any Ideas for the Good Life send me a comment. We can never have too many of these!

Ideas for the Good Life # 001
Only borrow money to pay for things that increase in value.
Credit: Seth Godin’s blog: Urgent personal finance advice 

Ideas for the Good Life # 002
Never ask a question that you don’t really want answered, and be prepared for ALL possible answers.
Credit: Herschel Horton after a discussion with his college girl friend in 1989.

Ideas for the Good Life # 003
In business meetings never give an answer without knowing the reason for the question.
Credit: My boss during a staff meeting on 6/17/2008

Hardware Flashback – Moore’s law in action!!!

So, Moore’s law says in general that computer processing power doubles every 18 months. When you live in the technology world you tend to get numb to these facts. You see new processors and hardware every three or four months and you just take it for granted.

Way back in the late 80’s and early 90’s I use to build custom PC’s for family and friends. While cleaning up I came across a quote I did for a PC and I just shook my head and wondered where we would be in 20 years with PC technology.

Here’s the quoted PC:

• 486DX, 33 Megahertz Central Processing Unit with 8 megabytes of memory
• Desktop Case
• Keyboard
• CD Rom Drive (for multi-media)
• 1.2Mb/1.4Mb Floppy Drive
• 500 Megabyte Hard Drive (cost around $ 1.25 per megabyte of storage capacity).
• Non-Interlaced Monitor (for displaying Super VGA Graphics)
• SVGA Monitor Card (capable of doing SVGA resolution of maximum 1024×768)
• Sound Blaster Sound Card

Price: $ 1,700.00

So much has changed in 18 years, huh?

Now here is the specifications of my recently purchased and built custom personal computer:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2.40GHz Processor (4 Processors)
• 8 Gigabytes of DDR2 Memory
• Thermaltake Armor Case w/600W power supply
• DVD Writer
• 4 x 750 Gigabyte Serial ATA hard drives; Configured in a Raid 5 configuration for redundancy for a total of  2,250 Gigabytes of available hard drive space for Data.
• 2 x 320 Gigabyte Serial ATA hard drives; Configured in a Raid 1 configuration for redundancy for a total of 320 Gigabytes of available hard drive space for the operating system and application binaries.
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS Graphical Processor Card

Price: $ 1,770.00

In inflation adjusted dollars the first computer cost $ 2,665.00 in today’s dollars. So the technology has increased twelve times in performance (Moore’s law), but actually decreased in cost by about 37 percent. The storage increase is totally whacked in my favor. Moore’s law doesn’t really cover that now does it. In my latest PC I have about five thousand times the storage for roughly the same cost as 500 Megabytes of storage.

Just totally incredible.

And no, I will not build you a custom computer. After 22 years of building my own computers from purchased parts, I now grow tired of the process.

But my new machine SCREAMS!

Contributing to the Noise Infested Internet Echo Chamber

As a kid I use to play in and around this long drainage pipe that was about a quarter mile long and about four foot in diameter. It was dark, cold and you could yell something to your friend on the other side of the pipe and the echo would eventually be heard on the other end. This “echo chamber” held our fascination and we had a lot of fun with it.

You could say that the Internet is the ultimate “Echo Chamber” as it provides a means by which thoughts can be echoed across the world in mere seconds, really cool!

But like kids playing with a drainage pipe, there seems to be so much noise echoing throughout the Internet. This high noise level is inevitable since there are millions, if not a billion or more people on the Internet.

I struggle with my own desire to communicate my thoughts versus the question of wether I am really contributing in a positive manner or simply adding noise to the Internet?

But after thinking about this issue I came to the conclusion that good, honorable, well intended thoughts, no matter how many times they’ve been communicated are worth repeating and repeating and repeating.

I think that with my limited audience that if I repeat good thoughts that one day, at least one of these thoughts will make a positive difference in someone’s life.

So here’s today echo…

Seth Godin wrote in his blog today about personal finances. The guiding principle of his post is this: Only borrow money to pay for things that increase in value.

I’ve listened to many personal finance gurus and none have ever really communicated the importance of debt control in this manner and Seth is in Marketing, not financial management.

The Sins of our Fathers

For the longest time I only had to think about myself. For no particular reason for the first thirty six years of my life I only had to take care of me. I managed to stay out of debt, purchase a couple of cars, purchase a condo and stay gainfully employed. Like Warren Buffet and Bill Gates recently discussed I really do agree that I got a great ticket here on this Earth by being born in the United States during this time of prosperity. I’ve been blessed in so many ways that I can’t even begin to describe them.

But as my life has changed with marriage and having a child I’ve been really thinking about the future of my life, my child’s life and the future of the human race. Over the past year, my thoughts have taken on the questions of time and perspective. I think I’ve been on these thoughts due to this year’s United States Presidential election cycle. I’ve seen many examples of short term thinking, greed and hubris.

The other day I thought to myself “does the average person think past their life and into the twilight years of their children?” If all things go well for my young baby daughter she could realistically expect to live until 2107. That seems so far away in my mind, but draped against the backdrop of human history it is really only one breath among millions. And then what really boggles the mind is to think that the human race could possibly make it to the ripe old age of one million years old.

I concede that it is almost impossible to ponder the effects of our collective contributions to the human race and if we would even be remembered in a million years. But then while watching the HBO series John Adams a thought by Thomas Jefferson really said something to me.

Thomas Jefferson said that “I am increasingly persuaded that the Earth belongs exclusively to the living and that one generation has no more right to bind another to its laws and judgements.”

To me Jefferson is saying that life changes constantly and each generation must live life to their best abilities without placing burdens on the next generations to come.

I fear that we are not listening to Jefferson. For you see in the United States our “fathers”, the political representatives we have been electing over the past thirty years and sending to Washington to represent our common interests, have been committing a great sin.

In my eyes, it is blindly obvious that accumulating great debt is indeed a sin or at the least plainly stupid.

Whatever the reasons have been in accumulating this debt is not the focus of this post. The reality is that this debt will certainly bind future generations to our judgements, which is exactly what Jefferson warned against.

As I sit and write about this Sin of our Fathers I try to imagine the future. I wonder if our children will live a less vibrant life than we have lived.

I look at my daughter and see a shackle being placed on her daily growing leg. She has so much ahead of her, yet she and her peers may never be able to achieve their collective potential due the bad judgements of their elders.

I ask “Are we responsible for ‘The Sins of our Fathers?’”

I answer the question with this: we are not responsible for the sins of our fathers. However, today’s generation of Americans and the generations to come will certainly pay the price for those sins.

Sadly I think that my generation and my daughter’s generation will pay an extremely difficult price in the not so distant future. I see a time where we live in an environment not so different than that of my Grandmother’s where poverty and despair prevailed during the Great Depression.

I hope I am wrong, but I fear I will not be.

Data Privacy and the Internet

In today’s connected, Internet world there are a lot of discussions and debates going on about data privacy and social application data portability.

For you non-techies out there, their is a big, huge, no giganticenormous push by every third software team to create the next big social application like Myspace. You see, it seems that having a great web site dedicated to helping people communicate and share their disconnected lives into one big virtually connected community can earn one great fortune and fame these days.

But with all this new technology that will connect us all and I mean all of us around the world, there comes a new price — loss of privacy.

Everyone has a different threshold as to how much of their personal information they want to share — information like your email, phone number, address, pictures, music, likes, dislikes and even thoughts among other things.

For most people this information is personal and private and for most people they would like to be able to control who gets to keep this information and who gets to copy this information and take it to other places on the Internet.

Like the ‘49ers of the eighteenth century, for the social applications creators “there’s gold in that there data!” The information each user contributes to the social site binds them together with other users. The more users a social application has, the more web hits the site gets, and with high web traffic the site can sell advertising and with that advertising money just pours in like sunlight at the Mohave desert.

The big debate is who owns the user’s data and to what extent should a social application restrict other applications from copying user’s personal data.

For example when you join Facebook and give the Facebook application some of your personal information such as your name, email address and say cell phone number and then you “Friend” someone by accepting them as your Facebook friend what rights have you actually given them? Can they copy your email address and cell phone number and copy that data to another social application? If they can do that, can they share that information with someone you don’t know and who you didn’t want to have your personal information.

To me it all seems that these questions need to be thoughtfully considered by all social application users. These questions need to be thoughtfully considered by all social application creators.

For me there is a simple way to think about the problem right now:

1. Every social application user must realize that when they share their name, email, phone number or other personal information they have just lost control of that information.
2. Not every social application can ensure and protect that the data they maintain will be secured since by the nature of software, for every security feature devised there are smart application developers who will find work-arounds for the security feature.
3. Social applications do not have the obligation to make their user’s data portable to other social applications. Co-opertition may be a good utopian idea, but until we live in a Star Trek economy food and the necessities of life are purchased with money, gold nuggets not accepted, thank you!
4. Society will at some time have to come to grips with the issues around the ownership of personal data – all personal data that can be used to identify a specific person. As this issue is complex and technical it will take a group of thought leaders who can work through the issues, both technical and human based, to develop a set of parameters that we all can work within.

“Data Utopia” is not here today. Every social application user must use their own judgement when giving their personal information out to web sites on the Internet.

I learned about ten years ago that giving my work email to web sites on the Internet resulted in the release of that email to the wild and a deluge of email spam. Fortunately, anti-spam technology caught up and I don’t get but one or two spams a week now.

Although I firmly believe I own that email, in the virtual world of the Internet once I shared it I  lost control of it.

We need smart, thoughtful people to work on these data ownership and portability issues. Until there are good solutions I’ll be the keeper of my data and I’ll be careful as to what I share. I suggest that you do the same.

I’m Embracing Cloud Computing

So, I’ve been a computer nut for a long time. With this skill I have always kept my own data in my own computers.

Well, there’s this technology or group of technologies called Cloud Computing where you use software products located on the Internet (or cloud). The software just lives on some company’s servers all over the US and the world. For the most part if you pick the best of the best the software provider will have reliable servers and be better stewards of your data than you could ever be.

I decided to start the migration to the cloud over the past three weeks. I’m starting by replicating my blog over to WordPress.Com. I’m still going to continue to post to my own web server while simultaneously posting to bloghh.wordpress.com. At some time I may scrap my own web server but I’m not sure when.

Other data that I’m going to move to the “Cloud” is personal photography and finalized personal videos.

Eventually, when storage becomes cheap and plentiful I’ll move the rest of my personal data to the “Cloud.”

As I move to these Internet based services I’ll post what company’s products I use and the reason I’m using them.

For my blog I found that WordPress.Com has a great interface and blogging tool. It is easy for anyone to setup a blog and easy to post to the blog once.

I may make a video of the process when I have more time.

One Good Business Thought – To use a microscope or telescope?

Working in a very large company as I do, I sometimes get bewildered by the decisions and thought processes of Executive Management. I’ve been around long enough to understand that as a person grows professionally and gets promoted their level of attention to details has to lessen due to the ever increasing amount of information they must filter in order to come to a decision. Great leaders have to balance the abstraction of information and the ability to dive into the details to make great decisions.

At my company we use instant messaging as an everyday tool. Sometimes during those little conversations a good thought submerges.

Co-Worker > that’s such a great document herschel
Co-Worker > always impressed by your organizational skills
Me > if only other people were so impressed
Me > I enjoy organizing
Co-Worker > everybody enjoys the grand things
Co-Worker > nobody likes the details that make things work
Me > I don’t mind the details… I mind the people at the top who make decisions based on 10 layers of abstraction
Co-Worker > or on white papers
Co-Worker >
Me > A real executive has to be able to understand the details without being consumed by the details… it’s like a telephoto lens… some pictures are cool very close up like taking a picture of a humming bird… but, what’s better is the hummingbird amongst a grove of flowers…
Co-Worker > ha yea good analogy
Co-Worker > there is also a good one from a book I’m reading
Co-Worker > “the art of the start”
Co-Worker > its about entrepreneurs
Co-Worker > but basically applies to any leadership position
Co-Worker > says… the trick is to carry a telescope and a microscope
Co-Worker > but the bigger trick is to know when to use them

The one good thought in that conversation is that when you are in charge of a large organization you have to be able to understand and dig for details, but you can’t be consumed by them and as my co-worker put it you have to know when to use your telescope and microscope.

Good Content Rules

So I purchased a pretty expensive camera a couple of years ago and started using it for this and that. I admit, I didn’t need a thirty two hundred “prosumer” Sony HDR-FX1 to “mess” around. But I got it thinking I would use it to create new content and do something great with it.

Well, the reality is that creating “great” content that is interesting, entertaining and engaging takes a lot and I mean a lot of talent and time.

Internet content is no different. In the early days Internet content stayed within the realm of the geek’s. After the invention of the Internet to aide DARPA and scientist in their communication of ideas, the geek’s got a hold of the technology and used it to better communicate technical information for hardware and software development.

And then some really smart people figured out that the Internet could communicate things that “normal” people were interested in, like “did you see this video of that crazy fool ranting about Brittany?” And these people figured that they could make a lot of money off a new advertising model. And some of these people got really rich, really fast.

The funny thing is that the old truism still exist – CONTENT is KING.

We still see good and bad ideas come and go in business and on the Internet. There are a class of bloggers out there who started a communication revolution and they’ve been able to cash in. One such blogger that I like to reference is Robert Scoble. He’s done pretty good for himself in this brave new medium. I also like to reference him because I’ve met him and he is truly nice person and passionate about technology.

But his problem, like many great artist, is that he can’t see past the technology and his passion and find a long term use for technology. More importantly he suffers from the “got to get it on the Internet now, got to be on the edge” with his content. Don’t get me wrong here, I think highly of his passion for technology. And I don’t like being critical.

You see, he made his mark with an interesting, entertaining, engaging blog. He’s good at that medium. However, now he’s out concentrating himself with a lot of sub-par video and audio from a camera phone and hour long interviews with technical people who are not very interesting, engaging nor entertaining.

Not to get too far from my point, I gave his video content a chance a while back and it bored me. The camera phone stuff lacked a sense of professionalism and the better quality video lacked being concise. Every time he posts a video now I ignore it.

And this over the past couple of weeks he’s starting to think less of what made him and gave him his current stature in the technology business – his blog. Maybe technology can’t be polished to maintain an audience like The Office or Thirty Rock. Maybe Robert needs time to find the right formula for video as he did for blogging.

But I can tell you first hand that since I haven’t been able to create something great with my camera that I appreciate good content when I see it and there’s no doubt that GOOD CONTENT RULES and GREAT CONTENT WILL MAKE YOU RICH IN TODAY’S WORLD.

Update, March 27th 2009?
Well, the premise of this post is still very sound — great content rules. As far as Robert’s video’s, well, they’ve gotten more polished, which has made them easier to absorb.

Writing Is Good For You…

So, a long time ago and what seems so so far away, I had an English teacher who made us write in a journal every day for the twelve week quarter. We hated it so much. Many times I’d wait until Friday morning to write my five entries that needed to be turned in for that week. But, I did write, though I never learned to like it in High School.

Turn the page some twenty years later and journal writing stuck with me. As I furthered my education I found that writing in my journal helped me organize my thoughts, gave me perspective and made me think. To write one must think and then take action on those thoughts to actually, physically write something down.

Several years ago I found blogging technology. I started writing in a blog and haven’t stopped ever since. I have found that writing is good for me. It helps me remember my life a little clearer and hopefully it will help other’s in some way, some time or some where.

If you are thinking about blogging here’s some other people’s ideas on what to do.

Seth Godin

Robert Scoble

Bloggingtips.Com

Write because you want to write and you’ll see that in time it will pay off in a positive way…

How much worse can the world of politics get?

So, as a society the US political scene has gotten so low. No, I’m not old school from the 1800’s or something like that. But now, with YouTube we get what political hacks really think.

Like this liberal dumb ass person (DAP), radio talk show hack Randi Rhodes. She’s so intelligent that the only words she can use in an Air America club appearance seems to be “fucking.”

At least Air America realized she had to be suspended for calling Ferraro and Clinton “Fucking Whores.”

I don’t see eye to eye with Hilliary, but to talk about anyone like DAP Rhodes did is totally unacceptable. It just shows how bad our society has gotten with the political rhetoric.

(YouTube Video)

And she’s not the only DAP. Listen as her audience stayed right with her laughing it up.

Crack Smoking Evident by Village Roadshow Ltd. Executives

Here’s an article from Tom’s Games.Com

Uhh… I’d like to call this MY HOUSE! I have a great armchair seat and I can eat anything I please at my in-home theater.

Yea, there will be DAP (dumb ass people) who will gladly shell out money if only to be “hip” by being able to waste $ 35.00 on a movie. But these DAPs will surely see the light that after taking themselves and a friend and then buying the Sushi. Cost for the movie and food will be over a hundred bucks for a movie.

I remember way back when we, as teenagers, got so pissed because the move theater went from two bucks for a movie to four bucks. So, I personally don’t know any DAPs that would spend this kind of money on a movie, especially seeing how a majority of movies coming out of Hollywood lately suck.

This is looks like to me proof that executives are indeed smoking the corporate crack pipe a lot more these days.