New Blog for Traveling

I travel a lot for work, my wife says too much.  So in honor of that I have started a new blog on places I’ve eaten and sights I’ve seen.

You can find it here

http://travel.itsdeliverspizza.com

What I’ve been working on lately

This blog has been pretty quiet lately, so I thought I would drop a few notes to discuss what’s been going on in my life:

Work:  Been doing a lot related to developing a new practice within ITS.  I have started working with Symantec’s DLP product and have done several Risk Assements/Proof of Concepts which has opened up my eyes to the amount of data loss that is occuring within companies, and most of the time the company doesn’t even know it.  DLP is a great product but is only a leg of what CEO Enrique Salem calls “operationalizing” your security.  The other parts of this include DLP, Control Compliance Suite, Symantec Endpoint Encryption, and Symantec Endpoint Protection.  We at ITS are working on a team to handle these products and I am currently doing some of the heavy lifting to get this up and runnin.

Kubuntu/Ubuntu life:  Been doing a lot of thinking in regards to Ubuntu and how it relates to the enterprise.  Also started back to think about Kubuntu and KDE docs again.  Starting to contribute again to the whole process.

Personal life:  Travel with work is keeping me busy.  Also my family is keeping me busy.  Interested in what is going on family wise?  Follow our blog

Have you prayed for the President Obama lately?

I am caught up in the bashing of the President way to often, even here on this site.  I have at times forgotten to pray for our President.  To pray that he makes wise decisions and that he seeks Godly council when he needs to make those decisions.  It was easy to pray for President Bush, a guy who wore his faith openly and publicly.  He was one of “our” guys, Christians could claim him, not only was he Republican but he admitted more openly then some presidents did to being a man of faith.  I remember there were bumper stickers and pray for the president clubs.  I don’t see this for the current president and have been convicted of late to pray for him.

Just because I don’t agree with the President, just because I don’t think he isn’t making the right decisions doesnt’ mean I shouldn’t pray for him and it shouldn’t mean that other Christians shouldn’t be praying for him either.  Don’t pray for bad things to happen for him, don’t pray for his defeat, or for him to fail.  We as a country can’t afford his presidency to be a failure.

So next time you as a Christian start to bash the President, say a prayer for him.  No that doesn’t mean you can’t be critical of him, but as the leader of the our Country, he needs our prayer just as much as the last guy did.

Why I haven’t been posting as much

Is because I’ve been sharing a lot more through Google Reader.  My shared items feed can be found here.

I like how Google Reader provides a very easy way to follow blogs and to share thoughts on what I am reading for others to read them.

Enjoy

2/3 of Americans Without Broadband Don’t Want it

A posting on Slashdot has made me smile.  Apparently a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project indicates:

when we look at the overall reasons why Americans don’t have broadband, availability isn’t the biggest barrier. Neither is price. Those two, combined, only account for one-third of Americans without broadband. Two-thirds simply don’t want it. The bigger issue is a lack of perceived value.”

The funny part is the amount of people on Slashdot who think it is just those that are old (60+) who don’t want high speed Internet.  I would argue against that.

I have friends who don’t have high speed, and in fact I have at least one friend who doesn’t even have an email account.  They don’t want it and don’t need it. Also for a long time the only high speed connection I was at work.  I did everything via dial-up because it was too expensive.  In fact my “high speed” connection is the slowest speed that AT&T DSL provides, because it is the cheapest.

But back to my friends who don’t have high speed.  The reason is they spend more time connecting with real life friends and doing things in the great outdoors, then hooked up to to the Interwebs.  They probably have never heard of Twitter, FriendFeed, or Identi.ca.  Only one has a Facebook account and there is no need for the others.

I think people who don’t have a high speed connection are people that either a.  have a job where they don’t sit in front of a computer all day (a farmer, an electrician, a construction worker) or they grew up in families that didn’t value technology as much as mine did.

How many people that read this post, don’t have cable, or satellite?  I know several people.  Does that make them less connected?  Nope, they talk with friends over cell phones, and in person.

Your blog is not your resume, your resume is your resume

My friend Robert Scoble recently posted a blog article on how to socially network once you are fired, or if you looking for a new job.  And I disagree with him…..

Robert’s first point is “Your blog is your resume” and I would disagree with him.  Your resume is your resume….  Let me give you an example…. If I’m looking for another instructor to join my company I will not go searching different blog sites to find who can write the best how-to articles, or who can write the best article.  I would be looking for an actual trainer, someone with experience training, not writing how-to manuals.  Also I would hope that person would send me a resume complete with references and other ways of verifying the individual was actually a good trainer.

Secondly, Robert argues one should remove all LOLCats from our blog…  Sorry Robert, your blog should be able to personal and fun but it shouldn’t be all LOLCats and stupid drinking photos.  I will search for you on Google/Facebook but you should be allowed to be personal on your blog.

If your blog is nothing more then getting yourself a new job, consider other steps to get that name recognition on whatever you are doing.  Submit an article to a magazine, post some blog posts, hang out in forums, call companies, do a job search.  I will not find you and hire you based only on your blog.  An example:  I am a Symantec Consultant/Trainer and if you are looking to be a successful consultant spend time on the forums, either forums.altiris.com or juice.altiris.com or other Symantec related forums helping people out.  That’s how I will find you, not a blog post…..

Again the statement that kids/hobbies shouldn’t be more then 1% of your public persona is something I disagree with.  I have this blog and also a family blog, my flickr stream is full of family pictures…. Facebook is full of personal information.  Does that change who I am?  Does that affect my job?  I doubt that… Does it mean I’m stupid as to what I post on those services?  No, I have a real life and demonstrating that I am a real person with a real life makes me a better worker and a better person.

I think this advice is geared more towards those that exist within the same bubble that Robert does and want to continue to exist in that same bubble.

And Robert, a search for Robert Scoble blog on google and live search both turned up your old worpdress blog as the first two links, so you might want to take a look at your own SEO.

 

Jonathan

KDE 4.1.3 available for Kubuntu 8.10

A little delayed on the announcement but for those interested, KDE 4.1.3 is available in the unsupported updates.

See the announcement here

A wake up call for all politicians

My friend Robert Scoble and I have disagreed a lot lately in  the current discussion on politics that have take place on FriendFeed but on his most recent blog entry I agree with him on a lot of things

I would argue that his post should be titled “A Wake Up Call for All politicians” and not just Democrats.  There are some things towards the end that I disagree with but let’s look at what I think should be a wake call for all:

1.  Our education system:  Why is our education system lagging?  Is it because we have teachers that need to be removed but can due to tenure?  Is it because of the classroom size?  Or is because our colleges are not training the students correctly?  Maybe our education system is broke because the parents are not taking the vested interest they should?  But I totally agree the education system needs to be fixed.  No Child Left Behind was a start, but so much more needs to be done.

2.  Our taxation and infrastructure is whacked:  Yes our taxes are way too high but no one (Republican or Democrat) wants to cut programs or cut spending.  Plus our invovlement in Iraq is costing us a fortune, which in turns is costing us a ton in debt and taxes.  Lower taxes and make the current tax cuts permanent.

I think before we worry about broadband and other technologies we need to worry about our physical infrastrucutre. Our power grid is way outdated, in fact this is going to be a bigger and bigger problem as more and more people use alternative sources of energy (wind, solar, etc).  We lag behind the world in Nuclear Power Plants, lag behind the world in Oil Refineries, lag behind the world in so much…

So focus first on our infrastrucutre and then worry about things like IPTV, broadband, etc

3.  Our health care costs:  Not only are business drowning in costs, but people are drowning in health care costs.  I took my son for his 2 month shots and they were over $350.  Thank goodness for insurance covering all of that.  Why are these costs so high?

4.  Our immigration policies:  Congress voted to build a fence and also the money for a fence but nothing has been done.  Why?

And not just our borders w/ Mexico but the different workers that are coming to work and live in America.  When MS has to open an office in Vancouver just to help meet the needs of its foreign workers there is a problem.  We are losing great minds, their income, the secondary jobs they provide for spending that income, plus everything else they and future generations would provide to America

I disagree with Robert on some of the concepts he brings forth in the last two points but everything else is something every politician should be promoting.  Now if we could find real men and women who would stick up for their beliefs and help make America a better place it would be great.

Where and what is this generations Moon Shot?

Seven years ago

One of my favorite sites once again comes across with amazing pictures of 9/11 and what has happened on site since at the site of the devastation.

7 years ago I was learning how to be a substitute teacher in Kent County schools.  We were watching videos on how to be a teacher when they interrupted with the news of the attacks.  How my life and world has changed since then.

The Greatest Feeling in the World

I’ve been working on this post for quite awhile and have started over several times along with writing it in my head.

On Wednesday I became a father.  That’s right…. There is now a small child that relies on my wife and I for everything.  From food and shelter to training and instruction.

I’m not one for hospitals blood, or pain so I was dreading the whole labor/birth and watching my wife go through labor pain was extremely difficult.

My wife and I didn’t know exactly what sex the baby was going to be, we decided early on that it should be a surprise.  When the baby was born the doctor asked if I wanted to announce the sex, and I did.  We had a boy, and my wife promptly gave him the name “Caleb.”  Seeing him for the first time is an experience I will never forgot and is also very hard to put into words.

So if I seem a bit distracted, or disappear quickly, chances are if I’m at home, its because I’m off helping with the baby.

Below is a picture of our new son, and for more pictures, see our Flickr page.