Just some thoughts, and a little Friday fun.

Looks like it's time for another update. I really haven't had much to post about recently, since it's pretty much the same old story; looking for work during the day, studying web development at night, and trying to stay positive 24/7.

Staying positive requires a lot more work lately due to all the doom and gloom that is in the news. It has gotten to the point to where I just no longer watch or read the mainstream news such as CNN because of their constant negativity. Personally I believe the economy has hit bottom, and is ready to turn around. I also believe that many of the companies that are currently laying people off are just taking advantage of the current "panic" and using the current situation to justify culling the herd, and clear out employees they consider "marginal" regardless of their work ethic and experience.

I also feel that news agencies such as CNN and Fox are focusing on negative news because it helps them sell soap, and they are doing so without any regard to how it affects people. The constant negativity from the mainstream news services is affecting people to the point that it may actually delay the economic recovery for an extended period. I'm not saying we need to put on rose colored glasses and say everything is groovy, but I do believe that the US economy is ready to recover, and it just needs a little positive push. So how about some good news for a change?

OK! I got that off my chest and I'll get off my soap box for now.

While bouncing around on the Internet I have come across some postings that I find interesting and I'd like to share with you, so take a look at the links below:

• Smashing Magazine - Clear And Effective Communication In Web Design This is an excellent article on how to present clear and effective information on websites and blogs, and I definitely recommend reading this article for all noobs such as myself.

• Guy Kawasaki - Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job Guy Kawasaki has some good suggestions for using networking sites like Linkedin to help your career, but as someone who has been on Linkedin for quite a long time I would also like to suggest that people use a little common sense and caution. Many of the business networking sites are now being overrun by scammers who want to join your network just to gather your personal information and spam you. My advice to anyone using Linkedin is to use a throw-away email address for your account, and change it regularly. I also suggest that you only connect with people who you either know directly or share common interests with you. Let me tell you that it really sucks to be unemployed and constantly get spam from some off-shore recruiter asking you if your company needs their services. Yeah right!

• GeenerComputing - Google: Our Green Data Centers Got a Lot Greener This is a nice article on how Google is improving the efficiency of their data centers. If you have any interest in data centers then give this short article a read. As the economy turns around and IT infrastructure grows, efficient use of power will become even more important, and it looks like Google is leading the way.

And now it's time for some Friday Fun: The IT Crowd - Break The Internet



Have a great weekend! ~ Jim
(Psst! If you haven't already, take a look at the "Geeks Who Care" link listed on the left)

Friday Humor: IT Crowd: truest moment ever!

While it is true that this is my "professional" blog where I talk about my career goals and such, I do think a little humor is appropriate now and then. I hope you enjoy this little snippet from The IT Crowd:



Cheers ~ Jim

Time for a little re-org.

Today while I was right in the middle of sending out a cover letter and resume one of the computers in my SOHO network started to growl.

It turns out that the fan in the power supply was dying, fortunately for me I had a spare power supply from another Dell GX 200.

While things turned out OK, it did get me thinking that I need to STILL simplify my SOHO network, and set up a more robust back up and recovery plan that what I currently have. So over the next few weekends, I will be retooling my systems.

Other than the growling GX200 everything else has been plugging along. I have given up watching the news because I cannot afford letting it get to me and get me down. To be honest I have been pretty positive about my my job search and progress in other areas.

It would be nice if I could get out of the house more, but I have to keep costs down and stay focused.

Hopefully if you are a regular reader of this blog you have checked out the Geeks Who Care Blog. It's a little side project of mine that I created to help other computer geeks out there find volunteer opportunities. If you do check it out and have some thoughts or suggestions, drop me a line and let me know.

Cheers ~ Jim

Touching base - 01/25/09

Other than the same old stuff I really haven't had much to post about here lately. Besides looking for work, and reading my web design books, I've also been surfing through some interesting articles, a few of which I have listed below:

• Slashdot | US CTO Choice Down To a Two-Horse Race: I just hope the person who is picked for this position will push for a major IT/Data Infrastructure stimulus package, and then make sure that it actually get's implemented!

• 'Digital Dark Age' may doom some data: Given my background in storage and in vintage computing, I found this to be a very thought provoking article. This issue is not just about archiving the data and insuring it stands the test of time, but also making certain that the technology to retrieve the data doesn't itself become lost.

• Can Solar Energy Power a Data Center?: Basically the article concludes that solar power can contribute to the power needs of data centers, but will never be the sole source of power.

• Do Nice Engineers Finish Last In Tough Times?: This is so sad, but unfortunately so true. Nice guys do make good targets for back stabbers.

• Slashdot | Tech-Related Volunteer Gigs: After reading this article I decided to start up a new blog called "Geeks Who Care", as well as a group on Linkedin.com. I later found out that someone else had created a similarly named group on Facebook, and it seems we both have a the same goal. Hopefully we can work together in promoting geek volunteerism. Feel free to check out the Geeks Who Care Blog: http://geekswhocare.blogspot.com/

I am hoping that the Geeks Who Care blog and groups will help other geeks like me in networking with other geeks, and finding volunteer gigs. Hopefully by helping others we geeks can help ourselves.

Adversity, and the potential for our future

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant." -- Horace

So what has a quote about adversity from the ancient philosopher Horace have to do with the future? Well, keep that quote in mind as you read the rest of this blog, and maybe you too will see why I thought it was appropriate.

Recently I came across an article on Techdirt titled "On Staying Happy" which addresses a reader's question of how the writers at Techdirt can stay so positive while constantly reporting about "corporate cluelessness, political corruption and short-sighted thinking". The writer of the article does an excellent job of pointing out that while all that stupidity and negativity is going on, there is also a lot of innovation and positive progress occurring, and regardless of those who are trying to delay the inevitable, progress will happen.

After pointing out how much the Internet has changed the world in less than two decades, the writer asks "How can you not be optimistic and excited when you look back at how far we've come in such a short time, and think about how much further we can go?", and they are right. When I look at what has happened since the early 90's, and then think about the future, I realize that there is a lot of positive potential just around the corner, and I am looking forward to it.

What is going on right now with all the financial turmoil, panic, and just plain stupidity, is just part of the process. While all this negativity is very painful (and I can personally attest to that), people must realize that there are a lot of new doors being opened that offer new opportunities and growth. Right now many industries are struggling and some possibly dying, but there are many new industries just ready to take off. One of the best examples of this is the transition from printed news media (newspapers and magazines), to the online media (web sites and blogs).

The rise of the Internet is affording everyone access to new sources of news and entertainment, and we are going through a transitional period which is definitely painful and tumultuous as is pointed out in this other Techdirt article: "Creative Destruction Happens Quickly; Those Who Wait End Up In The Rubble". Change can be painful, but when you consider the potential of the future and understand that you can participate in those changes, then future is looking brighter regardless of all the negativity.

With the pending change in administration this country is poised for some major changes, and I truly believe almost all of these changes will be positive. President-elect Obama is pushing for a major plan to rebuild this country's infrastructure (roads, bridges, and levees, and power grid) in hopes that it will create more jobs, and while I agree this work needs to be done I have to wonder what are his plans for this country's technological infrastructure?

The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation offered a possible plan in their report "The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America". The ITIF believes that an investment in America’s digital infrastructure of $30 billion in 2009 will create over 900,000 new jobs in the US. This is a significant number of IT related jobs, and even if the amount required is twice what the ITIF suggests, it will still be money well spent when compared to the $700 billion spent on the TARP bail out.

The US digital or informational infrastructure will require a lot of expansion if it is going to continue leading the world in business, technology, education, and entertainment. Also in a post 9/11 world, the US must build in redundancy to it's informational infrastructure for obvious security reasons. There are a limited number of primary fiber optic backbones handling all the Internet traffic in the US, and any one of an imagined man-made or natural disaster affecting just a couple of those backbones could disable the entire Internet. Therefore there must be an focused effort to increase the number of primary backbones to insure the the ability to handle increased bandwidth and add redundancy.

Also one has to ask what ever happened to fiber to the home? Here we are just a few years away from the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, and there is still a large percentage of people relying on dial-up for access to the Internet. This is not an inconvenience to the American public, it is a disabling factor to the US economy. High speed access to the Internet should be available to every US citizen. Take a look at the Fiber to the Home Council's site for more information.

One las thing I would like to add regarding the US informational infrastructure is that I have written an article on my Urbanspelunkers blog about some enterprising companies that are turning vacant shopping malls into large data centers, which given the current economic climate makes good use of readily available real estate. Considering the number of vacant malls and warehouses in this country, it would be quite easy to convert these properties into cost effective data centers that would not only improve America's competitiveness in the global economy, but also allow for a certain amount of redundancy of facilities for improved data security.

If a concerted effort were made to improve America's data infrastructure, the beneficial results for every US citizen would be well worth the costs, and the opportunities and resources are just waiting to be utilized.

As you can see, while these are adverse times, if you have the ability to look beyond the adversity you can then see the potential for positive growth and prosperity.


** After I originally posted this blog I came across another Techdirt post that I felt readers might be interested in: Is Obama's Broadband Plan Anything More Than A Free Gift To Incumbent Providers? **

Lance, Inc - A company with heart!

Yesterday I bemoaned that fact that the CEO's of the banks that received TARP funds were given bonuses from those funds. For someone who is unemployed it's really discouraging to see this sort of corporate greed and stupidity.

Having said that, it is very refreshing to see what David Singer, and Lance Inc. did for the employees of the Archway cookie factory in Ashland, Ohio. As this CNN article details the company that owned Archway Cookies closed the factory in Ashland Ohio, and laid off 300 employees.

Lance Inc. then purchased the factory and not only rehired 60 of the employees, but gave $1500 gift cards to all 300 of the former Archway employees. The plan is for Lance to eventually rehire all the employees which will be a big benefit to the town of Ashland.

Now I tend to be somewhat cynical, and I can see how this my be a great PR opportunity for Lance. Even if it is a PR opportunity it benefits everyone, so I can't complain. As a matter of fact I praise Lance for actually having heart, and thinking about those who were laid off. I feel so strongly about this that I actually submitted a comment to Lance praising them for doing the right thing. Below is the response I received today:

Hello,

Thank you for your kind words. Like you, thousands of people felt
compelled to comment after reading or seeing the CNN story. We heard
from people in nearly every state and quite a few soldiers stationed
overseas. We have been overwhelmed by the heartfelt expressions of
gratitude for Lance's approach in reopening the Archway bakery in
Ashland, OH.

Lance is excited to welcome the former Archway employees into the
Lance family and we're looking forward to getting Archway products
back in stores as quickly as possible. Getting room on the store
shelves is the key ingredient for getting the plant back to its full
capacity and putting more people back to work in Ashland.

Many people said they were looking forward to getting their favorite
Archway items back, and others said they had not historically bought
Archway, but would do so in the future. We are working hard to regain
shelf space in stores and get Archway back as quickly as possible.

Feel free to let your retailer know that you are looking for Archway
cookies; this will play a big part in helping us get back on the
shelves quickly.

Have a very Happy Holiday and New Year,

David Singer
President and CEO
Lance, Inc

Like I said I am a cynic, but this cynic really appreciates what Lance has done. That's why I have added Lance to the Other Links list. Hopefully other companies will get a little heart and start paying forward.

Feel free to leave a comment. I would like to know what others think about what Lance did for the employees.

Just a few updates.

I added my skills sets to the side bar, and updated my self study program to reflect the changes I have made.

Here's hoping that 2009 will be better than 2008. I am still looking at the possibility of selling my place and living off the proceeds to get by until things turn around, but the drawback to that is that when things do turn around I will not be able to afford the cost of a new home. That will be a tough choice, but it's either that or the sidewalk if I don't find work soon.

The things that really got to my after being laid off the second time this year, was that the lay off happened the day before Thanksgiving, and all through the holiday season the news kept posting stories about corporate greed. Reading about how the CEOs of some of those banks who were bailed out getting retention bonuses, and then buying million dollar apartments just put a damper on my spirits.

But to Hell with all that. I have got to move on and push myself to keep studying and looking for work. Eventually things will turn around for me and all the others who are hurting right now.

Doing a little remodeling here.

Just a quick post to let you know I will be revising some of the of the pages I have links to such as the "Interesting employment opportunities" plus adding a few more. I'll also be adding a list of my skill if for any other reason, so that I can keep track of them (a little self-promotion doesn't hurt).

As for for the holiday funk I was in, I am getting over that. I am definitely looking forward to 2009, and the potential for some great new opportunities. Whether those opportunities mean I stay in the Seattle area or not is still up in the air.

I'll try and post more of my thoughts over the next few days, but for now I want to wish everyone out there a "Happy New Year" and best of luck to you all.

Psst! It's all right to leave a comment now and then too :-)

Lessons from the resilience of bamboo.

The Puget Sound region has been hit with snow for over a week now, and this has impacted everyone's travel including mine. Being unemployed I really don't have any where to go, but it is nice to get out now and then and being stuck at home has contributed to the funk I have been in lately.

Staying positive while being unemployed during the holidays is hard, and it's really hard when there is nothing but bad news and you are stuck at home. I have tried to avoid letting the news get to me, but I'm sort of isolated and without much of a support network, so my funk hit me hard during the last week.

During the last week I did make one observation though that has given me a new outlook, and I would like to share that observation here.

Each time it snowed, the bamboo in my backyard would bend over due to the weight of the snow and then as the snow would start to melt the bamboo would start to spring back. The bamboo went through this process several times over the week, and now that the snow is starting to completely melt the bamboo is standing tall again.

The resilience of my bamboo gave me inspiration to spring up every time the weight of all the negativity starts to lessen, and keep on growing.

I know there is a really bad analogy to my bamboo being bent over, and my being unemployed, but I am not going to go there (Sorry I needed to throw in a little humor there :-)

With determination and a little humor to fertilize my inspiration I plan to keep springing up and stand tall just like my bamboo.

(I added this image to this entry several days after I originally published it. I wish I had taken a picture of the bamboo when it was snowing to accompany this one, but as it is this image stands on it's own)

Going slow, just getting by.

Over the last few days I've been sick and out of sorts, but I am getting back up to speed. Right now my major challenge is not letting others negativity get to me.

It's hard, but I am finding that if I involve myself in projects I find I am not so down. It's hard to stay motivated, but it's preferable to getting in a funk. Hopefully the employment picture improves after the start of the year.

Recently I've been learning more about Visual Studio 2008 Express, and moving forward with my reading. I have also been cleaning up my other blogs, so that there is a common appearance.

Maybe the end of the week, I'll have some news of more progress with the Lego NXT bot.

Diving into C#

I finished the fist chapter of Head First C#, and I must say it was prettying interesting and fun. I was able to build a contact list application that used a SQL database in just a few hours.

I use the term "build" instead of "write" because it appears that with C# there is a lot going under the hood that the developer does not have to worry about like with C or C++. Never the less I think this will be a fun programming language to work with, and I am looking forward to diving in even more.

Other than that, I am still plugging away with the other studies, and working on strategies to find a new job.

Trying to stay on track

As I stated in a previous post, getting laid off sucks, especially if it happens twice in three months time.

To be honest I haven't been all the productive since getting laid off the day before Thanksgiving, and this being the holiday season hasn't helped my morale all that much. But this morning I woke up, and apparently was pissed off enough about the situation that I decided to give myself a good swift kick in the butt and get going again.

While it's not great progress, I have started reading Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML again. To be honest I should have finished this book several months ago. I am also cracking the pages of Head First C#, and setting up Visual Studio on a new system that someone gave me.

I am hoping that just burying myself in coding for a couple weeks will help me get over the funk and past the holidays. Playing with the NXT bot should help too.

I'll also be adding to the blog and updating some of the links I have, especially the Interesting employement links, and web development links.

That's it for now. Feel free to comment because it would be nice to know if somene actually reads this blog.

Just a ramble on being technology agnostic.

I have previously posted here before about the need to avoid being biased towards or against certain technologies such as browsers, and I would like to now expand upon my thoughts about technology agnosticism.

What brought this about is that now that I am looking for work again I have recently had several people tell me that I should get rid of my GMail account if I am thinking about applying at Microsoft, and in the past I have had recruiters tell me that I shouldn't list my UNIX or Linux experience on my resume if I want to work at Microsoft.

I find this kind of amusing since the people telling me to ditch GMail don't even work at Microsoft, and I know quite a few people working at Microsoft who use GMail, Yahoo email, or other non-Microsoft email services. Some people at Microsoft have told me that they could care less if I have UNIX or Linux experience listed on my resume. As a matter of fact, depending on the work, listing my UNIX and Linux experience may even help me find a job there.

I think a lot of this has to do with the mythology and misinformation that has been built up around Microsoft culture, and while I haven't had anyone tell me to ditch my Hotmail account if I plan to apply at Google, I am certain there are people out there telling potential Google applicants to do just that. Personally I don't plan to make any drastic changes either way.

To be honest I think it is in the nature of every good geek to try different technologies, and it's always a good idea to check out the competition. Focusing exclusively on one type or brand of technology can only limit ones experience. Broadening your horizons can only help, not hurt you.

It's like the ridiculous OS wars, or Vi vs. Emacs debate. Getting all worked up over which technology is best is a waste of time. Technology is a tool, nothing more, and people should use what tool works for them.

Hey, if I could afford it and if I had the time, I would be playing with every OS out there. I still work with Windows 98 for some legacy projects, and I will continue to do so. As a matter of fact I have plans to put Windows 95 on an older system (when I have time :) Eventually I will have a NAS using FreeNAS, and possibly a Open BSD firewall on my network too. As for what distro of Linux is best, again it's a matter of what works for each person, and I plan to play with several.

In the prevoius post on browsers, I admitted that I was biased and that I needed to work with IE, as well as other browsers. While people may not alway have the time, energy, or finances, to play around with different technologies, they should at least be willing to try new technologies should the opportunity present itself, so take the opportunity when you can.

Bots and blogs

Here are a couple shots of the Lego NXT robot I built over the last few days. Right now I am using the canned programs that came with the kit, but over time I hope to learn C# and then use the Microsoft Robotics Studio to create new routines for the robot.


It's not a bad little bot, and the motors have more than enough power to send it flying right off the table. The robot seemed a little flimsy while I was building it, but it was sturdy enough once I finished. My one complaint is that it requires 6 AA batteries, so I need to pick up some more AA Ni-MH if I am going to get serious about working with the bot.

On other fronts I have been updating my resume, reading Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, and updating my other blogs. I'm hoping to get some feedback on both the Cloudymidnights, and Urbanspelunkers blogs. If you have a moment, check out the blogs and let me know what you think.

Working on a new plan and trying to stay positive.

I was able to get in a little decompression in over the holiday weekend along with quiet time to think about where I go from here. Getting laid off sucks, especially twice in one year, and getting laid off sucks even more if it's during the holidays.

I cannot let myself get down, nor am I blaming anyone, it's just a fact of life given the economy. I just have to focus on staying positive, and I know I can do this if I focus on my studies and several creative projects I have had in the back of my head for some time. This will help me get past the holidays, and I can move forward.

I have been expanding scope of the Urbanspelunkers blog, and will start reworking of the site this week. There are articles planned for the Cloudymidnights blog, several of which are focused on resources for visually impaired astronomers.

As for the studies, I need to finish up Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, then move forward with some more advanced web design books, along with starting up C# studies.

I am still flushing out my long term plans, but regardless of where I finally decide to go, I know it will the right move for me.