Category Archives: Thoughts

I’m getting smarter by the minute

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While I believe that someone’s intelligence should be measured by the amount of useful information they possess, insight to their character can be determined by the amount and type of useless information they can recall. I’m not sure where I rank on the first measure, though to be well-rounded, I do occasionally need to work on the useless part. Fortunately, one of my podcasts, The Podcast About Nothing by Jimmy Jett, highlighted a source of Unnecessary Knowledge. I’ll be all set for the next lull in a conversation.

Here are some examples from a few minutes of studying:

  • More than 10 percent of all the salt produced annually in the world is used to de-ice American roads. (#2588)
  • Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite. (#114)
  • The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they can be easily confused at a crime scene. (#557)
  • The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate. (#51)

The quiet before the storm or the cheers?

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This coming Monday, we will be launching new service desk software at my company. The launch represents about 18 months and literally thousands of hours of effort by the IT department that I am a member of. I can honestly say that it is the single largest project I have every been directly involved in. I almost cannot count all of the things I learned about enterprise software, planning, proposals, evaluations, consulting, support, project management, and on, and on. It has been a long and rough road that was longer and rougher than anyone imagined at the beginning.
The problem is that I want it to be perfect and for everyone to be thoroughly pleased with it. We thought long and hard about what would make a good system. We interviewed our users, we tested, we tweaked, we debated, and, in some cases, outright argued, but, most of all, we really tried to work towards what we felt was best for our users and our business. At some point, however, you have to “ship it.” Perfect is the enemy of good enough. Some would argue that if it isn’t perfect, it isn’t done. The reality is that rarely do you have the resources (usually time and money) to achieve that ideal. We will be launching with our best effort 1.0 and fully plan to continue to improve the service in the weeks and months ahead and to listen to the feedback from the users.
The part that really concerns me is the “double jeopardy” my team is in. If it isn’t well received, that will reflect poorly on our larger IT organization (which includes us). If it performs poorly, that reflects badly on my team specifically as we are responsible for the system itself (the servers). As anyone in the software/IT business knows, the variables are plenty when it comes to performance and you don’t always have control over all of them. Some performance problems are inherent in the software and we can’t change them. Our users don’t know and don’t care about that. Is that a pride problem that’s making me worry? I don’t think so but it still nags at me.
Change is tough and most everyone deals with it less-than-perfectly. No matter what happens on Monday, I know that there will be a number of people that will complain if for no other reason than because it’s “different.” I have a thick enough skin to take that. I’m a people pleaser and since I see the imperfections, I worry that others won’t be able to look past them.
Sorry for the rambling and the disjointed thoughts, but it’s my blog and my prerogative. G’night.

A handful of OmniFocus items

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I’ve mentioned before how I use OmniFocus to manage everything in my life. It has been an essential tool for me for several years. So much so, I can’t say how excited I am about the pending iPad version which I believe will become very critical for keeping me sane. I check the App Store a couple times a day but so far, nuthin’.

If you’re not familiar with OmniFocus or David Allen‘s Getting Things Done methodology, please take the time to read ‘The Psychology of OmniFocus’ which is a better write-up than I would be able to put together on how GTD works and specifically

The last thought is that with this post (and the associated task ‘Write a blog post’), I will for the first time in longer than I can remember, be caught up with all of my overdue tasks. I’ve written about having challenges keeping up with tasks before and I have improved, but I seem forever behind. That’ll change when I wake up tomorrow and when I get to work on Monday, but if I can continue to keep due dates to a minimum, I may actually start getting to those things I’ve haven’t been able to get to. One can hope.

But I was liking FiOS

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In January, I was fortunate enough to be able to move from DSL to FiOS at home and the extra bandwidth sure has been nice. Unfortunately, I just received word from my ISP, DSL Extreme, that the lovely Verizon has changed their mind and will not be allowing their circuits to be used by third parties. As a result, DSL Extreme, will no longer be able to resell FiOS. Worse than that is the fact they will have to discontinue the service for their customers by March of next year. While they promise to make it as seamless as possible, the problem is I don’t want to be a customer of Verizon.

I don’t have anything against them, personally. You see, their terms of service is the problem. I like the flexibility and control of hosting my own domain and host it on a computer in my living room over the home’s Internet connection. Any typical consumer provider doesn’t allow you to host servers and want to require you to pay more for a commercial account (if they even offer one). DSL Extreme had very reasonable terms of service and generally allow their customers to do whatever they want as long as you don’t make trouble for them (e.g., hosting a spamming service).

So, between now and March, I need to decide if I should go back to plain ol’ DSL or switch to Verizon and move my services off my home server onto a hosted one somewhere. Fortunately, Verizon left the copper pair for our phone when they pulled the fibre so switching back to DSL is an option that shouldn’t normally be possible. I’m not looking forward dropping the bandwidth to a third of what I’ve gotten accustomed to, but I’m also not liking the idea of moving my services to someplace else.

Thanks, Verizon, for causing me this trouble. Please reconsider your decision as there are others that are being inconvenienced by it.

Backups really are important

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I was contacted tonight by someone who had suffered a drive failure and was hoping for some insight on how to resurrect the drive or rescue the data that has potentially been lost.

For the sake of those that may have not thought about backups, please take a moment to back up your data right now. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

While you wait for your first copy to complete, don’t think you’re done. Make sure you follow the 3-2-1 rule of backup:

  • 3 backup copies of any data you don’t want to lose
  • 2 different media types
  • 1 copy at a different location (off-site)

Personally, I recommend CrashPlan for backups. It’s free software for basic use that lets you backup to any other user of CrashPlan (if they agree) over the Internet. Currently, I back up from my main server (the one you’re reading this on), to the upstairs computer, a machine at work, and to my mother-in-law’s computer. In the spirit of encouraging safe data, if you have a reasonable amount of data, let me know and I can be a backup destination for you (don’t worry, I’d be unable to read the data as it’s encrypted by the software).

Protect your data, folks.

See you in a month

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May will be an interesting month for me. I’ve been challenged to give up the Internet, TV, and other distractions to focus on more redeeming things like spending time with my family, reading, bible study, or old-fashioned things like a good ol’ walk around the neighborhood.

Honestly, I’ve been growing frustrated with the time it takes to “keep up” with things like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader. I first blogged about doing Reader “chores” three years ago and since then I’ve increased the number of feeds I followed and added Facebook to the mix. So, while I may have some DT’s going cold turkey I really am looking forward to what I’ll be able to fill the time with.

Of course, I’ll still “surf” as appropriate for work and will continue with email, but if you look for me online, I probably won’t be there. You’ll see me again in June. Unless I realize I really can live without it.

A thought about carry-on baggage

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I got a nice captain’s bag suitcase last year since I travel enough to really appreciate the rollers and handle. On the plus side, it’s one of the larger ones which allows me to take all that I need plus has room left over for the geek gear I also like to bring along (chargers, spare WiFi router, cables, etc.). The down side of that size, however, is that it is generally too big to fit end-in in the overhead compartment in the plane.

I should note that to keep hassles and complications to a minimum, I go out-of-my-way to not check baggage whenever possible. In the dozen-or-so flights I’ve taken with it, there’s only been one time there wasn’t enough room and I had to have the bag checked. No biggie, but I have learned to take the first available space I can find as I board the plane. Since you exit the plane in the reverse, it actually works out well since my bag is generally closer to the exit from where I’m sitting.

The question is if that is not the correct thing to do or if I’m breaking some form of etiquette in flying. Am I preventing someone from having their bag near where they’re sitting? What if the compartments in my vicinity are full and I must put my bag further back in the plane? Am I denying those passengers their (entitled?) space?

What are your thoughts? First come, first served? If you disagree, does it help my case that, due to my aisle preference, I am usually the last ‘zone’ to board?

On my way back

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So, after extending my London stay for an extra week due to some volcanic action in Iceland, I am presently (as of this writing) on my way back to the states. We just finished lunch and while my body says it’s 1:23 PM the actual time (based on the position of the plane) is about 11:23 but only 5:23 AM in California where I’m headed back to.

This was my first international flight and the first time I’ve had to contend with jet lag. My trip over went that big a deal and I adapted rather quickly. Coming 8 hours back may be interesting. I’ll likely try to take a nap and see if I can reset my body clock to west-coast time but I imagine I’ll crash rather quickly this evening.

The whole experience has been interesting. The last time I was away from my home for more than a week was when I was 13. This time ’round, i have a wife and family. They’ve been understanding but it’s been tough for all of us for me to be gone as long as I’ve been.

On the plus side, with two weeks of experience in London, I’m all set to come back with the family. It’ll be like coming back home. ;-)

Forced to be a tourist

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A week ago today, I landed at Heathrow airport in London, U.K. for a series of meetings with our European and Japanese counterparts. The meetings went quite well and I was looking forward to going back home on Friday. Unfortunately, events conspired against me. On Thursday, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted and sent plumes of ash into the air which drifted SE over UK airspace (and beyond). As the ash poses a safety issues for the airliners, they have been grounded.

My original Friday flight was canceled and while I was able to extend my hotel and move my flight to Monday (tomorrow) that has just been canceled. Currently, I’m on hold with my company’s travel agent to determine what options exist. One possibility may be to take a train to mainland Europe (Chunnel to Paris, probably) and then a train to Spain or elsewhere that still have operating airports.

I had fun yesterday visiting the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. I enjoyed it as I was just going to be here for a few days more. With no significant change in the conditions of the volcano or the airflow, there’s a chance airports could remain closed for an additional week or more. What was a inconvenience is now becoming a real problem.

I’ll try to keep my Twitter feed (public WiFi access permitting) updated with major developments.