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Tuesday, December 31, 2002
As the year draws to a close
where am I?
Yup, still at the office at 5:35pm on New Year's Eve night, with no plans at the moment, no one to spend the evening with, no place to be, and have been working all day long.
Pretty typical way to end the year, so I should not be surprised.
I was invited to one party, however the friend who invited me has not yet herself confirmed that she will be there - so it feels more than a bit odd to just stop by a party of people I mostly don't know (at a private home) without knowing for sure that my friend will be there - and with her and my status rather unclear. Yes, I should probably have tried to call her over the past few days, but I did leave a voicemail and emails...
There is an event way up north in Chicago that sounds pretty cool (and is very cheap - $15 for two, possibly three venues, buffets, at least two bands and a toast at midnight - for in the city, pretty hard to beat).
That's the good stuff. The bad, its a reggae and a country band (the reggae might be fun), the food should be good if mostly vegetarian (at a cafe that specalizes in vegetarian food, though they do serve meat), and it is in a "colorful" part of town (Rodgers Park) - though that does not worry me. What does, is that I would probably not know anyone at all there.
Most of my friends, it seems, have plans or are out of town. There is someone whom I owe a call to - but since I have owed the call to her since Thanksgiving... the night of New Years Eve seems a bit odd to be calling someone out of the blue...
So, not sure what I will do - or where I will do what I do (or don't do).
I can't afford to go someplace fancy - and since I barely drink in any case it would be a waste - and without someone to share the evening with, enjoy the food with, talk (or dance) the night away with - it would be rather odd in any case.
It is a fairly nice day outside, so I could go down to Navy Pier or to the lakefront for the fireworks here in town - which are nice, but again, spending the evening alone in a crowd does not seem all that much fun either.
I wish that I had a group of friends to do something with - even it it were just watch the ball drop on someone's TV - it would be far better than ending the year alone.
Though, since I have spent the past four years alone, why should tonight be any different?
I haven't had a date yet this century... rather depressing really. And my 90's weren't so hot either. A brief relationship in the fall of 1998, before that nothing until the summer of 1994, 1993-1994 was perhaps my be year of the past decade (as far as relationships), and really nothing before that or much since.
So, if I were making New Year resolutions. One is, of course, to get my finances in order (which means making my company a success!) - that should help with many other aspects of life. Another is to finally finish my degree - I think I'll stop with the 12 year plan...A third is to finally finish furnishing my home - make it someplace I can enjoy and share with friends.
The most important - however - the one that would make the others worth it is to find a woman to share my life with - doesn't mean the woman I'll marry someday, just someone to date and spend time with would be an amazing start - but someone where though we are friends, it is clearly more than just friends - have too often had "friendships" that led nowhere - not what I want for the new year.
12/31/2002 05:49:00 PM
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Friday, December 27, 2002
Pepys’ Diary
For the new year - a bit of the very old year... I for one plan on reading and at times perhaps contributing towards the annotations. Pepys diary is a primary source I had planned on using in my own BA thesis (still unwritten alas) and will likely be included as a source in any eventual MA or PhD thesis that I write (in history at least).
It seems likely that I may eventually pursue two very different degrees - my current programming work would prepare me for an advanced degree in Computer Science of some form - might be worth doing someday. Additionally my fantasy has always been to finish a PhD in history and then to retire as a teacher of history and a writer of popular history - but having enough resources on my own to essentially opt out of the politics of academia for the most part (i.e. endow my own chair or some such if it came to that).
I do also consider from time to time whether a business degree (perhaps an MBA) would be of some use to me - though I doubt it for the most part - the school of starting and running my own business likely has and is teaching more than any classroom environment ever would.
12/27/2002 06:19:00 PM
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Monday, December 23, 2002
Better Living Through Software
Lots to read - too little time... but this is a great summary of XML and the value of semistructured data being looked at via dynamic typing (which is what I keep preaching in my development)
12/23/2002 07:31:00 PM
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Loosely Coupled weblog - on-demand web services
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I especially like the "Usability carries more weight than features" bit - something I certainly preach to my clients on a weekly basis.
12/23/2002 07:19:00 PM
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How I celebrated the "holidays"
or at least how I have so far
Yesterday I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
I started the book in the late afternoon/early eveing, and finished it before I went to bed. Read it over my late afternoon lunch, read it sitting alone in a not too bad Wicker Park cafe - a bit too dark and not loud enough - no one really talking, but not bad and comfortable couches and chairs, read the last chapters in bed after a couple hour break watching bad videos on VH1 and eating a so-so burrito - my normal favorite place surprisingly being closed (usually open 24hrs, seem likely they have new management).
Somewhere in there I bought my small presents for my dad and mom this year - used books - stuff I think they will like, but it pains me that that was all that I could afford (and barely at that) this year.
At the moment I owe far more money than I have - much of it owe in the sense of they are starting to call me to get me to pay. Between a couple of clients not paying me yet (large sums of money), and a very large project seemingly delayed until next year (if it happens at all) my finances this Christmas are not so hot. Tomorrow I have to sell something I really did not want to sell (some stocks) and then race around trying to move money before the banks and brokerages close (if it is at all possible at all). I'll then be working over the holidays hopefully doing stuff that will pay off next year - but the problem being right here and now.
I am not happy about this. I love giving gifts, perhaps more than getting them - and it pains me that this year I have to literally decide between fixing my broken sink, keeping my car, keeping my home, eating, or giving gifts - not a pleasant or fun choice to have to make.
So, my present to myself yesturday was a block of time spent mostly just reading a good book that my friends had all been raving about for a very long time. I was interrupted for a little while with a work related phone call - but other than that I had a really good long block of time reading a work of fiction, something I had not done for far too long.
There are some really simple things in life that make be very jealous. Seeing couples together in a coffee house, perhaps holding hands, but more just the idea of sitting together (in my case with a woman I love), having a cup of coffee and each reading, writing, or perhaps playing a game of scrabble together - how amazing would that be? And how distant a memory for me. At this point almost 10 years since I have done anything like that - 10 years. Way, way, way too long for someone who is under 30.
At the same time a friend of mine only just today complained to me about one woman who gave him Christmas presents (whom he has been sleeping with) - for whom he had not gotten anything. I've known him for only a few months - he's already in that time had at least three or more different relationships, sleeping with the same woman multiple times (and told me about it).
That's more than I have had in the past decade.
And he complains. Guess no one is ever happy - I'm single, so I complain; he's not exactly single, not exactly committed - and he complains.
Still Holidays are a time where my singleness is highlighted and put in stark relief.
Just today I was invited to a New Year's Eve party (I think) by a friend. I say I think because while she forwarded me the invite - she didn't actually write anything personal to me about it - such as "would you like to go with me" or the like. So I'm not sure where she and I stand - and since the last few times I've asked her out she's had once excuse or another not to join me - I have a feeling that she, like seemingly every other female friend is only interested in me as a friend - nothing more.
I did see a woman last night while reading in the cafe in Wicker park - a woman with a set of features that I am quite drawn too. I had first seen her and her friend in another store down the street - we were both shopping there, then she and her friend wandered in after me into the cafe.
Brown currly hair (winner for me).
Pert face, lips and eyes that really do something for me.
Curvaeous - but in a comfortable with herself way.
Definitely the face and the hair though.
The negatives, she smokes. And I think her friend was her girlfriend - something about how she tussled her hair as they were sitting down and getting cream for their coffee (she's a tea drinker - not a negative in my book at all).
Reminds me of an Armenian woman I had a crush years ago - something about the feature set of currly hair and a particular build and facial features - I find it very desireable. Yes, I suspect most other American males would have been more interested in some of the many other woman - and there were some who were quite stunning - but I rarely find a woman with another man attractive - for real, tends to equal "already taken" which for me at least is a strong turnoff - though I am not above being jealous of the lucky guy with them - my attention will usually wander.
So now for the rest of my year. Work tomorrow - spent chasing clients down on Christmas eve looking for payments promised me (fun fun fun...) as well as paying bills and trying to move money so I avoid really bad things happening to me before the new year. The joys of owning a business.
Then tomorrow evening I have the joy of being a single male with a broken kitchen sink on a holiday evening - i.e. not sure what I'll be eating (or where) - likely something really simple at home - but since my sink is broken (leaks all over the place) I can't do many dishes (just how ever much it takes to fill a wastebasket to the point where it is still possible to move it to the bathroom to be thrown away - and running my dishwasher seams completely out of the question.
Christmas Day I will join my parents and sister at my parent's house for Christmas day brunch (Pop's Super Colassal Popovers - a long family tradition) and the opening of our presents - not much this year I suspect - and I'll probably feel a bit left out - not having much to give, unlikely to be getting much, and seeing my sister and her boyfriend Pete who have a much more normal life than I enjoy the holidays together.
Then my father and I will go and see the next installment of the Lord of the Rings - been looking forward to that - and it will get me out of the house, Claritin or no Claritin, still the best preventative for my allergies is avoidance of allergens (like my parents aging cat).
Then Christmas dinner - not sure what this year, probably Beef Wellington which seems to be the new family tradition - probably something cooked by my mom, my sister, and Pete (Peter is my dad, Pete my sister's boyfriend - gets a tad confusing at times) - once again I'll probably not be contributing much - for though I am a very good cook - my sister and Pete seem better, more informed, more practiced, and always seem to be doing the cooking (and to be fair, they are excellent cooks and do work "in the industry" - Pete's done research for some of the best chefs in New York, they both have worked PR for NY restaurants, Pete's considered training to be a sommonlier, and my sister works for one of the better local restaurants in NYC as a waitress. Yes they are more than bit food snobs (in a good way).
I'm a bit rougher, simplier, less refined, and far less practiced in my cooking - which like so many other things is something I have done far far too little of in the past decade.
Far too little cooking for someone I love. Especially far too few breakfasts, or picnic lunches.
Far too few backrubs (given or recieved).
Far too few late night strolls on the lakefront, or late night coffees in a cozy cafe.
Far too long and too many entries sounding a similiar note in my journal here - hopefully fewer in the year to come.
12/23/2002 06:09:00 PM
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Monday, December 16, 2002
My day, tomorrow, the holidays
or the joys of owning a business, and the pains
Today has been a mostly good day, if a bit cold, as I have spent the whole day nearly fully billable working on projects for two different clients - this is goodness - especially if they pay quickly (and by the end of the year!)
On the other hand, I am also working to get attendance up for a networking event I am organizing tomorrow - if I don't I may lose a real amount of money on the event - which would suck. (if you are in Chicago and want to attend, RSVP on Ryze.com but register quickly the event is tomorrow (Tuesday Dec 17th).
The holidays are always a mixed time for me, all holidays are. On the one hand I enjoy giving presents to my friends and family (something I cannot do this year - severe lack of funds). On the otherhand, they are a constant reminder of my single status - that I do everything in life, holidays included, basically alone. Sure, sometimes I am out with friends, or have dinner with my parents, but most of the time I am alone, and I am alone every night and at most meals.
While I have adapted to this - in the way of any oft lazy bachelor - I am also certain that this is not my best or most comfortable mode of living. I crave regular human contact, I crave simple normality of being a part of a relationship.
It seems so easy for so many people - in the course of knowing one friend (for just a couple of months) - he has had more relationships and more dates than I have had in the past 10 years. Rather depressing actually.
This Thursday I once again have tickets to the CSO, and once again I do not have anyone to go to the concert with - not even a glimmer of a possibility in fact.
If someone wanted to get me the perfect present it would not be money, it would not be clients who pay on time (though that would be nice) - rather it would be to set me up on a date. With a woman. Intelligence and proximity preferred (in Chicago is best).
In my 28 years I have been on essentially one blind date in my life - and that was more of a group thing than anything else, and it was about 5 years ago for just one night.
If you are thinking about doing this for me - a few hints. One, a woman who would call me is very good - I'm an idiot with little experience with dating - don't know when/if/how to call - so make it easier for me, call me first. Two, someone who realizes that I may not take hints very well and just will up and tell me things directly - if you wait for me to make the first move I'll over anlyze it, not do it, and regret it for a very long time. Three, someone smart and interesting with a passion and drive - should probably be willing to listen to me from time to time, but have lots to tell me about as well.
12/16/2002 03:39:00 PM
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Thursday, December 12, 2002
Froogle
Perhaps useful for your holiday shopping...
12/12/2002 03:02:00 PM
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Wednesday, December 11, 2002
Bloor Research: Linux - Enterprise Ready? (research)
I'm sure many other people have seen this - but interesting, an analyst firm that has revisted Linux two years later and changed their view from "not ready yet" to "its ready - go for it".
Very cool, and useful to know about.
12/11/2002 08:36:00 PM
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On the cool things money can buy you
at least on the web if you are spending it on design and applications
Check out CokeMusic.com - perhaps the most detailed, most interactive, and frankly one of the coolest online advertising (or not) sites I have seen in a really long time.
In Shockwave they have implemented basically the Sims - you can create a persona, build a "studio" (which you pay for with virtual currency - "decibals") and chat online in a 3d vr space.
They have also built a web based music mixing board where you can mix your own music, save it, and them make it available for people to hear and vote on (for which you get more decibals).
All this is tied into offline advertising in the form of bottlecaps on marked bottles of coke products.
Decibals can also be exchanged for entries into contests - a small number of decibals for small prize, large for entry for bigger prize. The drawings are held frequently but with staggered starting times so you have a reason to go back to the site.
They have other activities as well - games and the like - all pretty cool stuff, quick to load, easy to navigate, simple to use and well described with a lot of help.
12/11/2002 04:56:00 PM
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Tuesday, December 10, 2002
on work vs posting
or why I go so long between posts sometimes
Good news - my company is busy at the moment.
Bad news - am not quite busy enough - still have to work on closing some additional deals besides working on the ones that we have already closed.
Good news - I'm back home for the moment.
Bad news - this means early mornings, late nights, not much else for me and this may be my last post here for a while.
Good news - when I finally get paid for all of this work I should be much more comfortable in my personal life.
Bad news - this will probably be after the holidays, so my gift giving this year will be remarkably small and simple for the most part.
In any case - back to work so I can earn (if not the "big bucks" at least some bucks...)
12/10/2002 09:35:00 AM
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Monday, December 02, 2002
Slashdot | What Makes Great Science Fiction?
I'll read through this thread someday... but who would have thought, high overlap between Slashdot and Science Fiction fans... nah, seems unreasonable... when I saw this, there had already been over 1050 comments posted, with 833 scoring over 1.
Glad I'm not currently a Slashdot moderator - when I am, any thread with more than about 100 comments crashes my browser and forces me into all kinds of tricks just to read enough comments to correctly moderate them to get rid of the annoying moderator points (for some reason on my browsers and system usually the moderation dropdowns get "lost" and/or move across the page to no longer align with their respective comments - highly annoying.
12/02/2002 05:20:00 PM
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Friday, November 29, 2002
Salon.com Books | Literary Devices
(note the link above may only be good for 2 weeks from Nov 29th, after that, check Zoetrope's website?)
Very interesting "fiction" by Powers weaving fiction into apparent non-fiction and into the fabric of the Web.
11/29/2002 02:06:00 PM
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Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Happy Thanksgiving
and yes I will resume posting here more often
I just realized it has been a while since I posted here, life has gotten very busy and very crazy. Tomorrow is a day of slight rest for me, not sure what exactly I will do - probably spend the day catching up on my reading (magazine, perhaps a real treat of a book, probably some of a friend's manuscript - though that I may have to read in the privacy of my own home... )
All resting in preparation for dinner with my parents - which will be nice, though short both because it will only be three of us this year, my sister and her boyfriend spending this Thanksgiving with friends in New Hamshire - and me having noone to invite home for the meal. A first in a very long time - so it will be a strange sort of meal for me - I'm used to Thanksgiving dinners with friends and family, just my mom and dad will be somewhat odd.
Then Friday will be a busy day for me - spent cleaning my office and clearing my workspace and my mind for a very busy December ahead.
I have a lot of projects going on in December, many of which will be starting in December and growing at an accelerating pace into more work in 2003. 2003 looks to be potentially a very good year - but also a very busy one.
So this week will be a week to catch up a bit on some of the deferred aspects of my life.
For a start, I did some shopping this afternoon - bought new sweaters, socks, underwear, gloves, shirts etc - all the neccessities of life which I have had a long need to refresh a bit.
Now my goal is to first cleanup and clear out my office space - starting with two years of papers to get it to a more orderly and organized state.
Then I will be starting on my home, working methodically through my boxes of accumalated papers - sorting them into categories (and hopefully filing many in the plastic bag filing system - i.e. trash bags). As I work my way through I will be organizing the piles into a couple main categories.
1. Critical Important Stuff - i.e. legal documents, warrentees, etc - which go someplace easily findable
2. Important stuff which must be filed - i.e. old paid bills and the like
3. School related files - old papers and the like - goes into a box of "School Stuff" for future reference and/or sorting
4. Writing piles - my collections of past writings, and equally important past critiques, as well as past journals - these should get organized so they are at least all in one place.
5. Non-paper stuff
a. Books - go into a pile to be dealt with when my bookshelves are put together and my books are shelved - very big project, but a very important one!
b. Useful stuff - office supplies and the like (put into a pile to be brough to my office in most cases)
c. Silly fun stuff - such as stuffed animals and the like - put somewhere to minimize dust but kept around
d. Memory stuff - presents from friends, photos, etc - stored safely somewhere
e. Art - may be stored, may finally be displayed!!!
6. Immediate stuff - current bills for example (should NOT be in other piles.. but you never know)
As I work through the boxes and the piles (which are much alike) I will probably be finding all sorts of things I have thought lost.
Another task will be to deal with some accumulated "stuff" which I should have dealt with long ago. An old monitor that is busted, beer that I will never drink (but old and stale - can't even give it away). My plan for this stuff is to piece by piece take it out to be brought down to our dumpsters. It will feel great to have this junk out of my house.
A big one which will be both a blessing and curse - my old futon frame, which no longer works, and the futon mattress which has lost all shape - when they leave my house a piece of my past leaves, and my living room will look much more empty - but at the same time, until they leave I will never, I suspect, get a new couch - with them gone, I might actually look for something to replace them.
In a similar but more major step, I should get rid of one of my desks which I do not use, the desk chair that I do not use (though that is not a critical piece, doesn't take up much room, the "kitchen" table that wobbles and is essentially useless, and all sorts of other items like that.
When the boxes are dealt with throughout my home, and the piles reduced to know elements and sorted stuff stored safely in sturdy places. Then I will have a closet to reclaim for useful purposes. This means dealing with misc. items in that closet, such as my mostly unused but possessing two flat tires and a broken seat bicycle, and my old golf clubs (i'm keeping my newer good ones). All sorts of other odd items will be found and recovered and should then be thrown away for the most part.
Then I will move on to slightly harded but important decisions and areas, such as clothes I will never again wear, kitchen dishes, utensils, and tools I will never use (indeed have never used).
In short, my plan for this weekend, and for all the weekend between now and the end of the year is to do a massive "spring cleaning" - okay, not in the spring, but needed none-the-less, and will let me start the new year on a fresh footing - albiet one with less stuff by far.
If, as I hope will be the case, my financial situation is improved as work is flowing in at a more rapid pace, then I will actually start upgrading, replacing, and enhancing many of the items of my life.
First, if I have dealt with my personal items and have the ability to consolidate them into one compact area, such as my large hall closet, I will pay to have my apartment deep cleaned - not a cheap prospect but very much needed. At the same time I will replace burned out light bulbs, including in the hard to reach areas, and pay to have a plumber look at my strange kitchen faucet, and perhaps upgrade some hardware in my bathroom and the like.
Second, with a cleaned home, I will, if I have the money, start by making sure my bookshelves are all functional - this may in a few cases be rather tricky.
Third, I will pay to finally more my TV to the "correct" side of the room (opposite where it is now - meaning I have to run a large amount of cable around to that side. As I do this, I will also upgrade to a DVD player as well as an actually functional VCR (perhaps one unit?) and perhaps a TIVO? Perhaps also, if I feel comfortable pay for premium cable to get some uncensored stations and stations which show movies uninterupted. Feeling like splurging, I'll also get a TV stand for the first time in my life and have a TV not sitting just on the floor of my condo! - what a radical move.
Fourth, I will start shopping for two or three of the missing pieces of furniture from my life. A large, very comfortable leather couch. An extremely comfortable chair to read in (perhaps two). Two chairs to go with a games table. Some place to store and keep games (which means also moving my game collection from my parents into my own home finally! A working/reading area in my bedroom that I might actually use - this means a really good radio, a really comfortable chair, lots of lighting, access to a good CD player, and someplace to keep a cup of coffee handy. Functional improvements to my kitchen, perhaps not the complete rehab that I really want - but at a minimum someplace to sit, more storage (highly functional), the "right" sets of pots, pans, and tools, and a few other minor enhancements.
Fifth, I will renew important stores in my life - such as my spice collection which is woefully old, and basic neccessities of the kitchen such as waxxed paper, good cutting boards, certain sizes of knives, and other little things missing from my kitchen at the moment.
Sixth, if I am truly feeling comfortable with my finances, I will take on some reoccuring expenses but ones that will benefit my life - such as a bi-monthly visit from a cleaning person to keep my condo in good clean shape. Perhaps also start attacking minor household enhancements such as improved lighting in various rooms.
Seventh, I will start planning for the really major changes to my condo which I would like to have happen - a new floor in my living room; gutting my kitchen, opening it up to the living room/dining room, and adding new appliances; real closet organizers for my oversupply of closets; a new, better, nicer carpet in my bedroom; and a more modern and finished bathroom - perhaps a jacuzi tub, definitely a vanity that fits the space correctly, a real shower door, etc.
At least that is a big part of my plans for the new year, as well as the rest of this year. Working hard enought to afford enhancing my life, and working hard enough on my life to get out of what ruts I am in and get rid of the junk, keep the good stuff, and use it and enjoy it more fully.
The fundemental problem is that for the past three years I have basically not spent money on myself (not that I have had much to spend), and I have lived a life that includes too many nights such as tonight where I am at the office well past dinnertime.
My first goal is summed up by - " make my condo someplace I might take someone home to" - this is a very big step and will take me a lot of hard work and probably a fair amount of expense.
Getting to the point where someone (a special female specifically) would spend the night is another milestone.
To someplace where she might stay for an extended time - a bigger milestone indeed.
Someplace where I can once again entertain, invite friends over, and share myspace with friends - that is yet another big goal.
In short - lots of work.
11/27/2002 09:21:00 PM
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Friday, November 22, 2002
Open-door policies - Tech News - CNET.com
Very interesting article which mentions a friend's company (TouchGraph) and discusses practical web services applications!
Cool stuff.
11/22/2002 07:47:00 PM
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Thursday, November 21, 2002
Andersen Shredder, buy one for the accountant in your life
As I previously mentioned, my company runs auctions for other firms. In the most recent batch of items (mostly servers and networking equipment) is one, medium sized Shredder "fresh" from the Arthur Andersen auction of last month.
To follow the fun - take a look at the Andersen Shredder auction on eBay.
Hopefully a bit of amusement for the holiday season - and a conversation piece for someone.
11/21/2002 09:36:00 AM
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Tuesday, November 19, 2002
No One Lives Forever 2 Full Q&A!
Intriguing example of AI in games (not the type of AI I write, but probably a lot more fun to work on/with)
11/19/2002 04:00:00 PM
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Monday, November 18, 2002
O'Reilly Network: PHP magazines: Buy early and buy often! [November 18, 2002]
I'll be keeping an eye out for them.
11/18/2002 07:50:00 PM
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selling a piece of history
infamy perhaps
My company, JigZaw runs auctions for other firms. We are about to start an auction of a set of servers and office equipment. That's the boring part.
The exciting part - we are selling a shredder from Arthur Andersen. Yup, a piece of Chicago history, for sale, starting in a day or two, on eBay near you.
11/18/2002 06:15:00 PM
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Amazon.com: Electronics: Segway Human Transporter -- First come, first served for delivery starting March 2003
It's available - pricy but you too can be the coolest geek on your block (heck, in your city)
11/18/2002 04:01:00 PM
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Friday, November 15, 2002
This is a book I plan on buying when it is release. This is also a test of how well my firm's Pieces Bookmarklet works in generating HTML for insertion into a blogger blog.
Hidden Warrior
by Lynn Flewelling |  | List Price: $6.99
Price: $6.99
You Save: $0.00 [0%]
Sales Rank: 616,720
Availability: Not yet published
BUY IT NOW!
- Format: Mass Market Paperback
- ASIN: 0553583425
- Publisher: Spectra
- Publishing Date: July, 2003
| 
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|
11/15/2002 03:16:00 PM
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magazine: Introducing the Microcontent Client
Anil Dash has updated his article for Magazine (his online magazine - go figure) about the Microcontent Client - good read and interesting to see the evolution of his ideas.
11/15/2002 11:03:00 AM
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Thursday, November 14, 2002
Lorem Ipsum - Nov 13th post
Jed, who works at Macromedia, writes a bit about Contribute, Macromedia's new blog-like technology.
11/14/2002 03:19:00 PM
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Wednesday, November 13, 2002
Underway in Ireland
Bernie has some nice things to say about JigZaw's Pieces Bookmarklet.
11/13/2002 05:30:00 PM
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Tuesday, November 12, 2002
My bookmarklet - beta
It is launched and up and running at services.jigzaw.com.
If you are intersted in using it and/or have feedback on it, please contact me.
11/12/2002 12:04:00 PM
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Sunday, November 10, 2002
O'Reilly Network: Web services are alive and well at Amazon [November 10, 2002]
Article from Oreillynet about articles on Amazon.com's web services - I should read this carefully and perhaps contact some of the people mentioned when we (JigZaw) launch our own web services based application that uses Amazon.com's services.
11/10/2002 04:27:00 PM
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In reply to a comment posted on Estate Taxes
when I figure out the permlinks here I'll link back to the original post - it was my post of Nov 4/5th about voting
The Estate tax may (or may not) impact a number of families in any given year, but it has an effect far in excess of the impact in a given year - namely in what it encourages (and discourages) families and small businesses do when planning finances.
First - it is a moving target for something that is unplanned (i.e. few people know when they will die - variable estate tax laws make planning very complex).
Second - for most of this decade it has been triggered not at $5M but at $2M - a much lower number that far more families and small businesses can hit - based solely on the appreciation of a person's primary asset a home as well as perhaps a life insurance policy or retirement/pension policy.
Third - An estate tax is fundementally a tax on appreciated earnings/assets (it is the assets angle that is particularlly galling) - these assets represent the accumalation of a lifetime - during which taxes have presumably been paid on interest, realized capital gains, property (in the form of property or sales taxes) - why should the government tax this for a second time due to a transference of these assets to another party (or in most cases parties)
Fourth - "luck" has nothing to do with it. Family wealth is the result (in almost all cases except perhaps lottery winners) of a lifetime of effort, hard work, and carefully planning (and the power of reinvested savings - compound for long enough and we call can be millionaires).
Fifth - The estates that are most penalized by estate taxes are the estates where the primary assets are non-liquid ones - such as small family busineses (or farms), art, homes etc - here the estate taxes force a variety of all bad solutions. One, the assets may have to be sold to pay taxes (which are due rather quickly) being forced to sell something almost never results in selling it for the best price or to the best buyer - in the case of a family business this can be devestating to the business, the business owners, the employees, the customers, and the surrounding community. Two, the primary approach to avoid the asset sales is the use of life insurance policies - to provide an influx of cash for the payment of Estate taxes - this requires an ongoing expenditure of significent real cash over time to pay for these insurance policies - while the insurance companies presumably invest this premium payments, this means that the insured have less resources to invest in their business or community. This is an impact to the economy as a whole - diverting resources to insurance companies instead of local business (either as investment into a local/family owned business or in the form of additional spending by wealthy people - which benefits the businesses they spend with)
In short I do find the Estate tax very eggregious - the recent raising of the bar on it is very welcome, but the pernicious effects of it still pervade the economy as a whole, and fixed bars (as in the case of the Alternative Minimum Tax as well) will not keep pace with historical inflation and asset appreciation - even assuming low historical gains in property values, homes alone often double or treble or more by the time most families have paid off their mortgages. We have entered into a period of fast rising percentages of home owners - as these home owners pay off their mortgages and hold appreciated assets their estates will presumably rise in value.
It is a complex issue, and there are always seemingly good plans and places for money to be spent - the challenge of government or businesses is deciding where to spend (and where not to) and how to obtain the resources to spend. This will NEVER satisfy everyone - but perniscious sources of funding that have crippling effects to a large number of people would be one place I recommend not looking for earnings - and would recommend looking for other sources/means for those earnings.
11/10/2002 03:58:00 PM
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Friday, November 08, 2002
On the right and wrong ways to deal with a customer
or how much difference the right attitude makes
I am back up, my DSL horrors resolved. As I suspected, it took the right tech all of <2 mins (1 of which was having me powercycle the router) to correct the error.
My morning however did not start on a good note - I called Ameritech/SBC support and talked with one of their support people (who will remain nameless for obvious reasons). Rather than believing me, or even really listening to me, or reading over my files which should have shown that I have been having problems for going on two days now - he insisted both that this was "beyond the scope of support that Ameritech provides" and that I would have to go through a very long, obnoxious, and time consuming troubleshooting process with him (one that I had already done, but since it was "not in our records" he was insisting that I do it again).
After spending more time than I liked talking with him, probably almost 20 minutes, I got so fed up I simply hung up on him. And then yelled and cursed him out (thankfully noone else was here at the office).
I waited a while, to calm down - and to catch up on the 175+ emails in my in box (moved my mail to a backup server before leaving the office last night).
I called back, chose a slightly different path through the phone maze, and got through to a much much better support person.
He I will name, Issac at Ameritech/SBC Yahoo! Internet technical support was the type of support person you want to get. Calm on the phone, clear in his questions, and reasonable with what to ask of me - he noticed that I had a long history, and before even asking anything else, asked if I minded if he put me on hold for a moment while he reviewed the records. We talked a bit further, and he agreed to bypass the troubleshoooting and just directly call the Level II tech support (he noted that there was a note in my files that the one group I had thought should be working on it had indicated that it was really something that Level II could fix).
Very clear, very informative, and willing to listen to me, the customer - and agreed with me clearly that not getting the service that I had paid for was certainly a problem and something that Ameritech should resolve. Furthermore, he understood exactly why I would have a static IP address, and why not having it would be a problem for a business that needed it.
So, he then got Ray from Level II support on the phone. Again, a very good support tech - he asked a very minimum of questions, confirmed the information in his records (and my identity - reassuring security procedure) and the proceeded to right on the phone make the simple change that could fix the problem. He unassigned and reassigned my static IP address (doing it so quickly as to surprise me) - he then asked that I powercycle the router - when I asked why, he explained exactly why. I then told him I had to shut some things down - put him on hold, shut off my applications (mail) and then powercycled the router.
Almost immediately we were back up - he knew exactly what IP address to ping - and was already pinging it, and as the router came up we confirmed that I was up and functioning (and my website was live) and the call ended.
So, in stark contrast to the first support person I spoke with this morning, Issac and Ray listened, read their own systems information, were proactive, and acted to quickly and simply resolve my (their customer)'s problems - and furthermore they were successful in doing so quickly.
Net result - if all support people were like them I would be a much happier customer.
Now my next challenge will be calling and talking with the Billing department to get some credit for the time service was unavailable.
I think I will also send a written letter to Ameritech Support thanking Issac and Ray by name for the great job they did - having done support in the past myself, I know how hard and thankless a job it is - I suspect a written letter of thanks would be helpful to both of them (and an easy enough gesture on my part).
Now for the fun of catching up on my lost time!
11/08/2002 10:21:00 AM
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Thursday, November 07, 2002
DSL horrors
or why my site, my email, and my company basically have been off line for 24+ hours and appear likely to be offline for another 24+
Ameritech/SBC/Yahoo! DSL is currently suffering a major outage in Chicago.
Most annoyingly, this is an outage most painfully felt by their business users, specifically those business users who have static IP address (i.e. those of us paying probably the highest rates) - and most of us paying far more than just our DSL rates to SBC every month (indeed they are one of my largest expenses each month unfortunately).
For this, I get poor to medicore service when I make the simple, basic request that the service that I am paying for, in fact, be provided!
As of 8:45pm last night (Nov 6th) my DSL went out. At the moment it is up for use via dhcp, but that leave me without the static IPs that I have paid for - which means that my mail server (most crucially), my web servers, and my development servers are all unavailable.
Further, if I configure my server (for example) to work at present, it will not when they do in fact fix the service.
I have called them at this point almost 7 or 8 times since last night and for most of that time got a basic run around and promises that "it will be fixed soon/in 2-4 hours/by this afternoon at the latest etc"
So, what happens most recently? I called back after dinner, hoping that they would have some good news for me - that finally it will have been given to the actual techs in the actual field who can make the simple changes to their router that would solve my problems (specifically moving me from what must be a royally busted router to one that is correctly configured).
I learned that these techs had all gone home for the evening (so much for 24/7 support) and that the earliest that I could get connected to them would be 8:00am tomorrow morning. It has also been hinted that they may not infact get around to even looking at it until 24 hours after my ticket was submitted (i.e. around 5-6pm tomorrow evening) - how long after that before they in fact fix it... who knows.
Highly annoying, I've blabbed about this at Ecademy as well. if you want to see more of the same.
In any case if you have been trying to reach me today - please, please resend your email should they get returned as bouncing - and I will respond to everyone when I, in fact, get my mail finally.
11/07/2002 10:43:00 PM
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Wednesday, November 06, 2002
ia/
Very cool site - may quick get added onto my daily reading list - this is a site about Information Architecture - which is a topic I am very interested in and think a lot about.
ia/ news for information architects
11/06/2002 07:26:00 PM
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Using my own tools - and some advice
I have often suggested to friends who ask that they read the following book.
The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses
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- Format: Hardcover
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I generated the above listing by using a bookmarklet that my company is developing which uses the Amazon.com Web Services and which will eventually integrate our own technology as well. Please contact me if you are interested in learning more and participating in our Beta Test.
11/06/2002 03:36:00 PM
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Monday, November 04, 2002
Vote
really I mean it
and while I would like you, my readers, to vote for intelligent, responsible public servants, voting for someone who represents you is the crucial thing here
I am staunchly, fiercely independant in my voting.
2000 was the first year I voted for a major party candidate for President (Gore), previous years I voted for an independant candidate (Perot).
My challange is that I am strongly a social liberal - I do not want social conservatives holding major (or minor) offices, where they can seek to impose their beliefs onto everyone, and where their wrongminded views (such as anti-aboration, anti-family planning, anti-gay etc) policy views can become the law of the land and the views held by the judges and leaders of our country.
But on the other hand, I am also strongly anti-union, for very similar reasons - I am against anyone seeking to impose their views and opinions by force onto others. Unions, are, I find, generally counterproductive entities - they enrich a few senior members, create a generally inflexible and unadaptable work environment, and act as a drag on the economy as a whole.
This is not to say that I think employees should be underpaid and overworked - I very much do not. But I do think that unions tend to create environments that are against creativity, impose higher costs, for little to no gain for most parties involved.
Union dues and other costs (whether paid by the employees or the employers) are monies taken away from either the employees directly, or from the company to invest in other ways (including higher wages, better environments, better technology, additional training).
The higher costs and inflexibility created by unions must then be passed along to the rest of the economy - certain businesses are less productive, likely charge higher wages, and are likely less competitive than other firms. Look at industries such as the Steel industry here in the US - strongly unionized, very badly managed, and now imposing trade restrictions in a vain attempt to prop themselves up (trade restrictions that even most Republicans agree are one of the worst moves of President Bush's administration). Or look at the recent labor dispute with the longshoremen on the West Cost Docks - this was not a dispure about wages, benefits, or even working conditions. Rather, it was a dispute against the installation of labor saving technologies - because this threatened union jobs. So, a few thousand union makework jobs (which if they could be replaced profitably by technology they are) are now holding up process across the country and productivity in every sector involved in trade or export. This in turn means less selection for shoppers, higher costs, and reduced profits for firms in all sectors and industries.
So, in any case, every election season is a dilemna for me - there are very few Republicans I will vote for, as most have been tainted beyond comfortable levels by the social conservative parts of the Republican ticket. At the same time, the more that unions support the Democratic candidate, the less and less happy I am with them.
I do vote, indeed I have voted in every election for which I was legal to vote in (may have missed one primary) - but I do so unhappily many years.
I do not think that I am alone in my political position. I am liberal on social issues - I feel the government should not be imposing religious positions (such as anti-abortion or anti-gay) views on the rest of the country and indeed the world. Further, I feel strongly that the seperation of Church and State is key, that Free Speech is vital. I may infact go further in some positions than most liberals - I'm very open to the concept of legalization of many currently illegal drugs - not, mind you, because I have any interest in them myself, but because I think that regulated but legal they take currently illegal and out of the system transactions and make them legal (and thus also taxable). I personally am not interested in current legal drugs such as alchohol, let alone illegal ones - but I do think that legalization, regulation, and taxation has much greater net benefits to society than the current "war on drugs" - and that this benefit extends around the world.
At the same time, I think that sensible tax policies would tend to be many of the positions taken by Republicans (though I differ with them over the "tax cut" - I think it was a stupid piece of policy, not just because they took ten years to implement it. Mostly because rather than cut taxes that really impact the majority of people's bottom lines - such as payroll taxes, or cutting tax situations that have significent negative impact on the investment climate - such as the double taxation of dividends, or the crazy loophole filled corporate tax policies - the tax cuts were very strange.) I'm also a strong opponent of estate taxes - why should the accomplishments of a lifetime be cut in half (or worse) when someone dies?
Further, I think that taxes such as the Alternative Minimum Tax are the real hidden flashpoints of tax policy - because they have not been adjusted for inflation, they will be imposed on a growing number of very typical average American families. This burden imposes little real benefit to the government, plenty of pain and costs to the economy, and leads to counterproductive incentives.
Further policies such as the current Medicare/Welfare ones which penalize people for trying to make money (very rapidly, well before earning a living wage, people start to lose benefits of far greater value than their earnings - such as health care or child care support!).
I am a business owner - so I might be expected to be a Republican.
I am a White, urban male - so again, I might be expected to be a Republican.
I live in Chicago - so perhaps I would be expected to be a Democrat.
I am neither - though at the moment, I plan on mostly voting for Democrats this
But you, the reader, get out there tomorrow and vote.
11/04/2002 06:03:00 PM
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Sunday, November 03, 2002
Collaboration - a real example (posted to Ecademy blog)
I posted the following to Ecademy
This weekend I was working with a friend to help her finish her PhD dissertation (she is defending it Tuesday!).
The first way we collaborated was simple email - she send me document(s), I read them over, edited them, and sent her back my notes/changes/updates.
We also played the voicemail tag game - her office has very poor cell reception - and no landline (academic office - no "real" phone near her office, at least the one with her computer) - so all afternoon and evening we have left voicemails for each other, or have been able to talk, but not when we both were in front of a computer.
So, I suggested that we try using Yahoo! Messanger (since I have that open, and I recalled that she had an account as well) - however, first we exchanged a series of emails to get from her to me her Yahoo! account name. Then, once I had added the correct account name - I tried sending her a message - but she then emailed "having problems with Yahoo..."
Not sure what the problems are - but the underlying point is that though all this technology is available - sometime the "old" methods of emails and phone calls work just fine - albiet a bit slower than IM might be.
So, we have ended up doing all of this via a large series of rapidly sent/replied emails - modifying the subject lines as neede - crude but workable. Probably the most emails I have ever exchanged with one person in a matter of hours (over 50 I think).
My point is that you adapt to what is workable - and though there are many alternatives - often the simplest (but with a structure imposed) solutions are the best.
We adopted a one-editor philosophy, she would inform me of changes to make, I made them in the text, and then confirmed with her what I had done - this resulted in one edited final document, a clear trace of what was done (and why), and the final document has now been sent to her for further editing (passed off the editor's role)
11/03/2002 11:21:00 PM
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Thursday, October 31, 2002
Why I log
And why I blog as well
note this was also posted to my Ecademy blog
Why I log - nope not going to talk first about keeping an online "blog" such as this (or my primary blog) - but why I have windows open on my desktop monitoring my server logs all day long.
First, it gives me a realtime sense of who is accessing/viewing my website (and since I monitor mail who is/trying to send mail to my firm). This is nice, as in the case of a few days ago I noticed someone from the nytimes.com domain looking at my website, and then a day later the same computer looking at the site again. Sure enough, a few minutes later a reporter called me to ask some questions following up from an article she had been pointed that I had writen over a year ago and shared with another group.
Second, I have configured my web server(s) - all Apache, to generate a "referrer" log. Periodically I will look at the end of this log file to see where people are arriving at my website from. Just today I noticed that late last night someone had searched on "unix consulting" on Google - the "cool" factor being that we had turned up as the 61st hit in that search - not too shabby.
Now in this last case it did not directly lead to a sale - i.e. I did not get a call from this individual to prepare a quote for unix consulting services - but it is a nice proof that our site is in Google and moving into respectible territory for some key keywords. I think it may help that "unix consulting" is also in our keywords meta data for each page of the site.
So it is for moments such as this that I monitor the key logs on my web server. An additional advantage is that I am generating a copy of these logs on a system other than my server - allowing me to see evidence of hacking attempts as they happen (and in a manner that even a very sophisticated "hacker" would find very difficult to avoid). For the most part this means these days that see the occasional "melissa" virus failing as it attacks my Linux server, and increasingly I see the evidence of strange spammer bots attempting to send email. I have seen more cases of mail sent to a random set of names in the past few weeks than I had for years. Must be some new twist to some spam software tool now on the market.
So why do I blog
To have a place to chat about things and thoughts like the above - not quite at the level of a formal article I might write and try to sell somewhere, that type of notes, observations, and thoughts seem very well suited to this medium. (Now I just have to keep each log in synch...)
10/31/2002 06:24:00 PM
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Article on "Why network" by Thomas Power"
Ecademy - Guru Comment Octover 2002 - Why I Network
Very good article by Thomas Power on why he networks. He calculates that for every 1000 people in his network he will earn 100,000 pounds, since his goal is 1M, he figures he needs 10,000 people in his network (and he is approaching that).
Lots of good suggestions that I should follow myself - especially about holding lots of meetings with lots of people. I should probably start a practice of doing that here in Chicago and build up my network of contacts, referrals, and opportunities.
10/31/2002 11:55:00 AM
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Wednesday, October 30, 2002
Moving up Google's lists...
Google Search: "unix consulting"
JigZaw appears as the 62nd (at the moment) result in a search for the phrase "unix consulting".
Referrer logs are a very cool, and valuable thing - show you the darnedest things sometimes. This is pretty cool though!
10/30/2002 07:59:00 PM
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A article on the art of being a part of the "Living Web"
Well written and interesting, thanks Jed for the link
A List Apart: 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web
What's interesting about this article from my perspective is the many directions it is encompassing for web journals - it talks about both corporate and personal journals as being part of the same process, which is an interesting idea (though the point about "Sex" is perhaps a bit out of place for most corporate web journals)
10/30/2002 06:51:00 PM
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Ecademy article
Ecademy - The E-Business Network
The author of this, in Australia, recently IMed to ask my opinion, questions, suggestions, interest and thoughts. Definitely something interesting in there - who knows where it might lead, could be a cool project.
[edited 1.20.2005 to add missing title]
10/30/2002 04:50:00 PM
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
A bad bad bad day
This is going to be a bit cryptic - contact me privately for more info.
Simple description - one phone call can possibly ruin your year - and I got that type of call - now I have to wait for the other shoe to drop (probably in the mail later this week).
For friends, nothing personal involved, nothing health related, nothing about a friend or family member - just part of what comes with owning your own business I'm affraid.
So, lots of hard work ahead of me this year (hopefully), and some seriously annoying and not so fun work and research as well.
10/29/2002 06:09:00 PM
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Yahoo moves to PHP
Here is a set of slides from a presenation by a Yahoo! engineer about their switch to using PHP for their development - Cool stuff - with some very nice benchmarks.
Making the Case for PHP at Yahoo!
10/29/2002 03:18:00 PM
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Searching the web, some observations
also posted to my blog on Ecademy
I have been searching online databases for over 15 years, since my high school library moved to an electronic card catalogue driven by the CS department's VAX.
In that time my skill at quickly getting to relevant search results has grown considerably. For Internet resources and services I started years ago with Archie and Veronica. With the advent of the web I moved to Yahoo!, Altavista, Lycos, and then Google (and played with various metasearch sites from time to time).
Currently I primarily use Google, and occasionally use modern meta search services such as Kartoo (in French though they have an English version - may be loading slowly at the moment).
Recently I noticed the following link in my company's referrer logs: Google Search on "why we use AI techniques" (note, search was done without the use of quotes)
My firm shows up at the 7th result in this search (pretty cool I think).
However, I then tried a search on the phrase "use AI techniques" - again, without the quotes in my search.
This time, my firm shows up as the 77th result.
Google was ignoring the "why", so my firm slipped 10 fold in the search results because of a simple "we".
If you search using the quotes on the phrase "we use AI techniques" my site does not show up at all.
The technical reason for this is that the page title of my site's page that contains the phrase "use AI techniques" is "JigZaw Inc, What We Do" - thus Google's algorithm ranks it highly on a search containing the phrase "We".
Note this is a very good example of why informative page titles are so crucial.
What also strikes me as intriguing about this simple example, is that it shows how important a "small" word (such as "we") can be in determining search results, and how differently the use/non-use of quotes (i.e. exact phrase matches) can be as well.
For both site maintainers/designers, as well as general users this bears paying close attention to - the very specific phrases that you use when searching can change dramatically the results that you get - and thus the percieved "ranking" of various sites.
For a long time my general advice to people when searching the web has been to be exact - search using the tense and tone of language that reflects what you are looking for (i.e. don't search on generic terms and phrases, start by searching on the exact message) - this points to why this is both powerful but also potentially deceptive - those small words and phrases by skew results considerably.
10/29/2002 12:26:00 PM
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Monday, October 28, 2002
Interesting new site (well new to me) that is a "meta" news site - they filter and comment on the news, including weblogs. They offer a daily email mailing - but I don't really need another one of those. But interesting site and concept nonetheless. Similar to the print publication "The Week".
C O R A N T E - Tech News. Filtered Daily.I
10/28/2002 03:22:00 PM
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Friday, October 25, 2002
A stealth blog ring
Hey Trey
Trey lists me in his blog ring - calls my blog "one of the more heartfelt ones" - cool I guess.
10/25/2002 04:31:00 PM
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Thursday, October 24, 2002
Press Release
My grandfather, the rocket scientist was named a "Pioneer of National Reconnaissance" - pretty cool.
He was also one of the earliest employees of Rand Corporation. Much of what he did while working for Aerospace Corporation he still cannot talk about - gotta love the way that this press release simply calls programs "Program A"; "Program B" etc - still somewhat secrettive all these years later.
10/24/2002 02:07:00 PM
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Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Welcome to mediabistro: career and community for media professionals
Okay, a many post day. This is a REALLY cool site... could be adictive I suspect.
10/22/2002 07:38:00 PM
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My million-dollar idea
with all the standard disclaimers in effect...
Today, while pondering the future of technology (seriously - I'm writing at least one article on it) I had an idea. One that, if I found all the right partners, could be a very cool project, product, and business niche. It even is in somewhat keeping with many different current trends, could have real business (and personal) value, and appears at least on first though very technically doable.
Here is the "elevator pitch" - "An iPod meets a Palm, but can boot a PC"
A little bit more, and then I must go and think about this further - connected to a PC this device would act as a portable, large, harddrive (bootable), the PC system and hardware would be fully functionall but the user could be running in their own personal environment, with their own software, and files. All this with probably biometric security on the device itself.
Disconnected the device could function as "just" an iPod like MP3 player, might also have cell phone capabilities, could have wireless access capabilities.
It could also function as a PDA - probably running a DIFFERENT OS than when in a "connected" mode - different in that the form and functionality set of a handheld is very different than when connected to a full desktop system (graphics capabilities, processing power, memory, and perhaps most importantly power.
The data on the device would be split - most on the hard drive, but some in memory as in a typical PDA (though care should be taken to provide for some automated backup to avoid power drainage resets and data loss.
The business value of such a system is that potentially at least it could allow for the long dreamt vision of "network" PCs to function - the key point being that rather than assume that netowk access is available to get all required systems from the network, and requiring that the local machine be specially configured (either hardwar or via a software such as terminal services) this model suggests that given a large, highly portable harddrive, capable of being connected by a fast and standard connection protocal (firewire, USB2 etc) just boot off that device, have an OS capable of getting the functionality of the local devices in a simple and automated manner, and then perhaps also connect to specific network resources - but in the same manner than typical desktop user does that - as needed.
This model also has the advantage of potentiallly allowing that even older machines be used in this new regime - as older machines would still usually have at least a USB connector - they might be more limited in speed than nerwer systems with faster data connections - but perhaps not by much.
There might be some BIOS issues with some older machines as well (perhaps a floppy boot disk could be carried is this is a common problem.
How is this for a cool scenario of the future - for a very minimal fee, you walk into a Kinkos ANYWHERE in the world, plug in this device, and in seconds are working with your files, using YOUR copy of specialized software, but can quickly print to Kinko's printers, use the PC at Kinko's for its graphics card, keybord and mouse, and perhaps try out some of the specialized software that Kinko's has installed on their system (and perhaps if you like it, buy a copy right then and there - but that is another discussion for another day).
For more, contact me privately - especially if you are an investor or partner interested in working on this or other ideas.
10/22/2002 07:19:00 PM
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DaveNet : The Micro Channel Architecture
Interesting - there are entire worlds out there that I am still not fully aware of... (i.e. this is the first article by Dave that I have read... but clearly he has been writing on the web since 1997 and is fairly well known (though I would argue that my friend Mary Anne's online journal is at least 3 or 4 years older... I remember when she created her first website.
Anyway interesting article and very apropos of the article that I have been working on.
10/22/2002 06:58:00 PM
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Monday, October 21, 2002
On the revamping of websites
or how do you ever get this right?
This afternoon we started the process of rewriting our corporate website. Our goal being to more clearly communicate all of what JigZaw does. For a first step we have changed the look and feel to be more easily read and printed. We also updated such sections as our Jobs pages and the like to but accurate and up-to-date.
Now comes the hard parts - how to describe and summarize all that we offer and do it in an action generating manner.
JigZaw is a software company. We are a consulting firm (with extensive ties to other partner consulting firms offering everything up to and including temporary CIO placements, overall technology strategy, very high level eCommerce experience, Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard consulting etc). We are a contract development shop offering skilled developers in most languages and platforms (with the ability to partner with firms to organize teams of nearly any size and of nearly any skill sets). Internally we have very deep web experience, very solid PHP developers, AI experts (myself), C/C++ developers, VB experts etc. We have Linux, Sun, Mac, and Windows experience.
The list goes on, basically we have very skilled staff on hand, and can add to that staff quickly based on project need.
Furthermore, we now have a backlog of already written software and software components which we would very much like to license and/or sell (including the possiblity of including the sourcecode). This software ranges from a collection of web/portal framework components (such as smart forms, innovative user interfaces, user login modules, user prefences system, portal framework and navigation system, a series of useful portlets) to a set of serious AI/Information Extraction systems and applications.
Our software we would like to market to two primary audiances. First, clients as a means of jumpstarting projects we do for them (i.e. rather than have us rewrite it, use our existing modules as the basis for work we do for them). Second, other software firms (and/or other development shops) either as code for their clients, or as components of solutions they are developing. Especially in the case of our AI/Information extraction technologies it is ideally suited for being a component of a large solution - one that is far cheaper to licence from us than to invest the many man years it would take to write and, and the skill level it would take to understand the underlying techniques and research (what we have today in working form is the result of nearly 2 years of research and many many years of development time and effort).
So, your comments and feedback as readers of this journal are much appreciated.
thanks!!!
10/21/2002 08:24:00 PM
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Morphism, 21 October 2002
Very cool entry by M'ris talking about beliefs and persuasion - I fall in the "God doesn't exist" camp of things, but I must say that her take on Christianity is far more palatable for me than most - i.e. emphasize the positives, don't make assumptions about who you are speaking to, and be able to express your beliefs in a positive manner.
10/21/2002 06:20:00 PM
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Friday, October 18, 2002
Ecademy - The E-Business Network - Shannon Clark
Well trying out a new networking website - looks good, strong European flavor, and some good points (and some bad ones). Looks useful but also a bit ocnfusing - lots of links drifting off to who knows where...
10/18/2002 12:58:00 PM
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Thursday, October 17, 2002
MEETUP
Cool site. I am of mixed minds about it, but it is an interesting concept.
10/17/2002 07:19:00 PM
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Wednesday, October 16, 2002
On the writing of the future
or how I may be writing something rather long...
You hear it First. (to steal a tag line...)
I have decided to sit down and write up my thoughts, observations, predictions, and suggestions into what may turn out to be a rather long article. Not certain quite yet what I will do with this, where I will share it, or how I will use it. Nor am I certain yet what it will and will not cover, but in general I plan on touching on the following topics:
1. Software - present and future - and my observations, suggestions, and thoughts about how software both packaged and custom will be changing over both the short term (next 18mths) and long term.
2. Technology bussiness - building in part on my discussion and observations on Slashdot, I plan on discussing how I feel the landscape for technology businesses is changing, and how a technology startup might need to react to this.
3. To be a "Futurist" for a while and take a cue from my reading and personal observations about what the impact of the current youth generation will have on business in a few short years - and how this may be a very different impact that that of my generation. Also noting that this impact will be very different than the impact most likely expected by current business people.
4. Some thoughts and observations about starting businesses, networking, software development etc.
This list is not precise, I will likely scrap it in the final product for something entirely different. I plan on writing not an academic paper, but something that would be similar in language and tone to that published in a top notch business magazine (think a long article in Forbes or Business 2.0, i.e. serious but not academic). I plan on illustrating my point with many specific examples of both technology and companies - some good and some bad.
Prior to doing anything with it I plan on sharing it with a small network of friends and contacts - one question I will be asking of all of them is what they think I should do next with it.
I have found myself over the past few years often in the role of "analyst on call" for my friends and business contacts - I am often called or emailed with a question. Often about "how could I do ..." or "what do you think about XYZ?" I have been told that my analysis is usually of great interest - often hitting on the key points very quickly.
In fact, one business contact told me that my couple of page email which I had written very quickly as an initial reaction to a particular company and technology was exactly what they had just spent two months, and a team of people, to conclude.
Increasingly I want my business to be about helping people solve problems - I am very good at research, analysis, and thinking - my management abilities to organizing a team of people and get something accomplished are quite good, and my writing skills are not terrible (though someone recently on Slashdot did say they were "too slick").
So who knows where this will lead - if nothing else it will be an interesting article, hopefully of the type that I would, myself, want to read - and once written and made avaialble perhaps it will remind someone somewhere about me and my skills and lead to some paying work...
10/16/2002 06:07:00 PM
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Monday, October 14, 2002
Forbes.com Lists Forum
Okay, sometimes I think that Forbes is perhaps one of the coolest magazines out there. Here is a discussion board they created for this article - the cool part being that the editors are posting comments and feedback clearly showing that they are reading reader's suggestions (which are quite amusing, see in particular the last few posts...)
10/14/2002 04:10:00 PM
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Forbes.com: The Forbes Fictional Fifteen
Okay, a list of the 15 richest "fictional" characters - with a very good showing of fiction ala comic books. A few of these I'm not so sure about (but then I am not a TV junky), and there are perhaps, a few more recent movie and other fictional figures that should be shown, but not a bad list.
(No attempt was made to convert non-earth based fictional figures - but who's quibbling)
10/14/2002 03:42:00 PM
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The future generations?
of some comments overheard by teenagers out late in the big city over this weekend, and how these comments may bode well for our future
Or perhaps not, but they are interesting in many ways none-the-less.
At least for me, and so I'll write about them.
This Saturday night I was at one of my usual haunts, the 3rd Coast, a fantastic local cafe/winebar, where I spend and have spent far too much of my life. As I usually do, I was seated in the non-smoking section, this time on a couchlike bench that runs along the north wall, I was taking the table in the corner.
While I was happily eating my Cobb Salad and catching up on my reading, a group of four teenagers sat down next to me. I say teenagers because they talked about recent SAT tests, all seemed to still live at home, and talked about upcoming Physics tests and the like, but in other ways they did not seem much like teenagers that I remember myself being.
For one, they were out far later than I usually was (they arrived at the cafe around 12:30am), and they were talking about dinner, and work, and parties, and groups of friends who were going out to clubs - as a teenager I don't remember anyone going out to clubs (but perhaps I didn't hang out the with "cool crowd").
There were three woman and one man, with one of the woman and the man clearly being a couple (she later laid her head in his lap and napped for a while). The other two woman were dressed rather provacatively - but did also look young, but also not so young - that rather hard to tell age - I suspect that they were seniors so likely were 18 so I guess I shouldn't feel guilty about looking - but I do and don't - its odd.
Anyway, that's not the point, the point is some snippets of their conversation that occured seemingly completely naturally.
First, they talked about two friends of theirs, Amy and Erin, who were both females (I think), and who they described as not being as much fun to be around since they started dating - with the implication that two woman dating was perfectly normal. Which I do think is in keeping with the media of this generation - shows like "Undressed" on MTV depicted every combination of relationship as equal and interesting - but hearing it in person was pretty cool.
(I later realized that perhaps "Erin" was Aaron - a man, but I'm not sure)
In any case, they were also talking about a larger group of their friends who might be joining then, and later on in the evening they indeed did join them, taking a couple of tables in the center of the cafe. This larger table was planning on going to some Gay bars later that evening.
Perhaps this is an entirely urban phenomenon, and perhaps these teenagers are not typical examples of all American teenagers, but I suspect they are more typical than many would believe. They were more sexually aware than I recall being (just 11 short years ago), they were very open about people of different orientations, and they were a very diverse group - with many from various ethnic backgrounds.
But perhaps just as cool, they were also clearly very smart - though they complained about upcoming physics tests - it was the woman who were complaining. And they had a very involved discussion about their favorite Greek gods, with an involved discussion about Hestia the goddess of the hearth.
This along with other aspects of their conversations, their observations about work and interviewing, and their parents, and how they each had a cell phone, and used it to communicate with each other and their parents, all are signs for me of optimism for the future.
These were smart, interesting people, exploring their world, but seemingly well grounded and more "actuallized?" or something than I recall being at a similar age (though I should also remember that at the age they were all probably at, I was in my second year of college - so perhaps the comparisions are not too different).
I have observed many times before that there is a difference between children of the city, as these teens were, and children of the suburbs. City teens are more independant than their suburban counterparts, and perhaps it is the comfort of being able to go out but still walk home, combined with the safety and ease of city busses and Els, but teens I have met who grow up in cities seem in general more responsible than their suburban counterparts.
Clearly these teens were trusted by their parents to stay out later than I was as a teen (my curfew was midnight I think most of the time, though I rarely tested it) - but they were also comfortable being in contact with their parents, in one case calling her father to tell him their plans and coordinate being picked up - but with no sense of discomfort or concern in the course of that conversation - just a sense of normality and calm about it all.
But it was the greek discussion that I thought was so cool.
10/14/2002 02:59:00 PM
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Friday, October 11, 2002
Nerve.com Screening Room
"much like you were in the sack Freshman year" - as a quote amusing, but also I think, a bit disheartening for some people such as myself...
What do I mean by this? Well, though the reviewer does hint that people talked more about sex than actually had any, he still implies that most people in the end did. For those of us who did not - another not-so-fun reminder...
And it makes me worried still - will I ever be good at something I have so little practice at?
But still - sounds like a fun, but very dumb, movie... and a reminder of just how stupid American censorship of TV is... such a film would be much improved, I suspect, were the cameras (and scriptwriters) not compelled to limit themselves to fit basic cable.
Personally I do suspect that our culture's avoidance and celebration of certain topics at the very same time is not a very healthy thing.
10/11/2002 05:06:00 PM
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Thursday, October 10, 2002
on the oddness of moods
or how I can't seem to read people, not even myself
Well. Lets try to summarize. On one level - a really great, amazing, potentially shatteringly so week. Some really good news in my business, some really inspiring and interesting business networking, good feedback and input about my writing on places like Slashdot (where my user id is ShannonClark - one sign of how long I have been active there, my id is #18497, current new members of Slashdot are in the high 600,000's, and I was a reader of Slashdot for months before actually creating a user id).
But on another level a very mixed week. Lots of events, networking and social, and some decidedly mixed signals for me at both.
One amusing first, I squashed a rumor that I had been married last weekend. Very amusing, not sure how this was started, but definitely a first for me (asked to me by a member of the local Chicago high tech media - guess my profile around town is rising a bit).
I will confess that it is a rumor that enjoyed, but one also that made me a bit jealous of my rumored self. I am far from getting married and a large part of me really does regret this - the rational part of me realizes that I probably should have a few serious relationships - with all the good (and bad, and indifferent) that is involved with those before even considering marriage. Too, I know that my having lived as a single male for so many years means that I should probably undergo a many year long process of learning to live with another person (especially a woman) before even considering marriage, etc. etc.
But, still, the not so rational part of me really does want to get married someday. Not that I am ready for this now either, but I do very much want to be father, and someday a grandfather - and I want to be young enough to enjoy both. I also would want to follow in my own parent's footsteps of having some years at least of marriage before having any kids - all of which means that marriage really shouldn't be all that far off for me...
Perhaps it is a sign that I am starting to be an adult (about time you might say).
This week I was semi-stood up, I had plans to meet a woman at one event, and then go to another with her - she did not show up at the first (meaning that while I was there I could not really enjoy it as I was constantly waiting at the entrance looking for her - not mingling and not enjoying myself much at all - had I known she was not going to attend, I would have mingled with the many extremely attractive woman in attendance). She was at the second, arriving there just slightly before when I did - however there, though she and I talked and did get to spend some time together, she spent much of the evening talking with a French man who was seated next to her - intimidating, not sure if I can compete at all with a French architect (speaks better French than I do - her second and native language, English being her third - or fourth language depending on how you count dialects; he was also perhaps more attractive and physically fit, and probably more experienced than I in picking up a beautiful woman).
Though in the end the evening was very enjoyable, and I did talk with her at length, and also with a number of other very interesting people (most of whom were attractive woman my age - not bad practice...) I was also the only American in the group where I was seated - which was a somewhat unusual experience, though it says much about my friends and my lifestyle that it was not all that unusual for me.
In fact, I often consider myself as only semi-American. In many ways I am very American - my entrepreneurship, my mostly self-education in my field of choice, heck my family's religious background is very American in many ways (Jewish and Catholic - though no parts of my family share the Protestant thread that is so strong in America).
On the other hand, I am also very atypical for an American. I speak a second language (French) and have studied a third (German). I grew up without a television. My family still has fewer TVs than family members (one per household actually vs. the American average of over 4 tvs per home). I have never owned an American car. I barely drink (though this might also make me atypical for most of the world). I have studied world history extensively and am very aware of the world outside of America. I do not identify myself by TV shows, Musical genres, or sports teams. Not to say I don't enjoy such things, but they are not core to my self-identity.
High School was not the best time of my life - hopefully that is yet to come.
Anyway, enough my rambling for one day.
10/10/2002 06:31:00 PM
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Wednesday, October 09, 2002
memes.net - software hall of fame
A post I made years ago... amazing how what you write on the web sticks around for a while...
10/09/2002 12:26:00 PM
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Monday, October 07, 2002
IT Trends In and Out of Downturn
My post on this subject - nice to see that others find it interesting, amusing to see that some anonymous coward thought that my writing was the work of a bot... not quite sure how to take this...
10/07/2002 01:59:00 PM
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Friday, October 04, 2002
I really should know better...
or how some things in my life just keep repeating
It seems, almost without fail, when I buy tickets for something in advance, that life intercedes to prevent me from taking advantage.
At the moment, it appears that my date for Saturday is off - which really sucks. She may have to help a friend of her's move - what's most annoying about this, is not that she is helping a friend (I do believe her) - I would hope that a woman I am attracted to is the type to help her friends when they need help - but that clearly she did not hold our plans for tomorrow in much import - she does want to do something some other time - (she ended with "next time") so that is not a bad sign, but it is perhaps, a sign that she may not be treating these dates as "dates" as I had hoped she would be...
Or perhaps I am just reading too much (or too little?) into this all.
I offered to help her and her friend with the move (suggesting that perhaps we could finish in time for the movie...) even if we missed the movie, I mostly want to spend time with her - the movie really is very secondary.
But I do have the tickets for the film in my wallet - absolute worse case I'll go to the theater on Saturday (assuming that our date is really off) and look for someone who needs a ticket - preferably a cute single movie loving straight woman... but I might just sell both tickets to a couple and walk away (or go to a friend's booksigning up in Evanston) - who knows, perhaps it will work out for the best - but I guess it also says something that a large part of me doesn't really want that to happen - I really do want to spend time with her - she really does hold my interest.
Somehow though very typical of my life - and consistent with my not having ever really had a second date with someone (okay, one ex-girlfriend is the exception, but our first "date" didn't happen until after we had spent a night together - but not quite as that sounds... very complicated)
Okay, perhaps not so complicated - my one serious ex-girlfriend and I, while we did lots of "frolicking" as some might say, we never did have intercourse - so while we did sleep together before our first "date" as such, we didn't do all that that phrase might usually imply.
But other than with her, I have never had a real second date with someone - I've had plenty of female friends with whom I have done activities that would seem to look like "dates" but it was always pretty clear that we were doing them as friends - this is the first time actually that I have had a series of interactions with someone, had one real "date" and continued in a manner that I hope at least makes it clear that I would like it to be more than just a friendship...
However, having never succeeded at that in the past - I wonder if I just naturally send off signals to woman that I am "friend" not "lover" material?
Annoyingly this has also really put me in a very poor mood - all my plans for this weekend seem to be ending (tonight I had planned on going out with a group of friends to celebrate one friend's birthday - but instead she wants to spend the evening at home writing - which I can't say is a bad thing - and is probably what I should spend the evening doing myself)
I do wish I could break out of this pattern in my life however - I can sense that were I in a relationship while not everything would be perfect (at least not forever) that a whole about my life would be better - and that I would be much more motivated to do lots of things - there is only so much and so long that you can go through life living mostly alone - I think I hit my limit about four+ years ago.
10/04/2002 02:57:00 PM
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Thursday, October 03, 2002
The sequence of events
or if you were watching this on film, it would probably be a comedy...
This weekend, I, hopefully, have a second date. Not something I'm real familar with, so I'm a bit uncertain about it all.
The plan is to see a film that is part of the Chicago International Film Festival , probably Saturday afternoon, and then go out for dinner, most likely to a really good little French/Mediterrean cafe and creperie that I know.
So, a real date I would say - just the two of us, and planned in advance (and yes, I'll be paying for the tickets and dinner...)
It sounds silly, but when we are together, as we were last night as I walked with her to the El after we were both at the same event, we both seem a bit uncertain what to do - or at least I know that I am, and I think that she is as well.
My past does not help me here - I've had basically one really serious relationship - which started in a very rapid manner (second or third time we even met turned into an all night event with a mutual friend forcing the issue on us - and then thankfully leaving the room to let us explore the fact that we both liked the other...) - after that we clearly had crossed the line seperating a "friendship" from a "relationship" and so we held hands, kissed at random times etc - and looked deeply into each other's eyes (which I miss now that I think about it)
My other relationships - such as they were - were either one-sided (I fell for someone, who either fell for someone else and/or told me that they saw/see me as "just a friend" - or in one case "as a brother") so no real help there. And the few others that I have been involved in were either very short (yes a one night stand in one case) - or long distance - which ended quickly and badly.
So I guess what I am saying is I'm not real sure what to do or say. Or even how to tell if she is interested in me as I am in her.
I suspect that neither of us has a lot of experience - which, when combined with the fact that she is from a different culture, makes all this much more complicated - probably more complicated than it needs to be.
So, at the moment, I plan on talking with her on the phone either tonight or tomorrow night, and then seeing her on Saturday - and I hope that sometime in there, perhaps over dinner, we can talk about relationships past and present and see where things go from there...
She is definitely someone I am very interested in - she is very smart (engineering degree), a bit exotic (speaks three languages, not an American), shares similar interests with me in terms of some of what she likes to read (types of mysteries, philosophy etc - albeit she mostly reads in French), and even though she is from a very different culture - she shares the experience with me of skipping a grade - this is not a minor thing - it means that we share the experience of being different from our classmates, being younger and perhaps a bit socially behind.
Oh, and did I mention, she is (at least to my eyes), amazingly beautiful with eyes that I can drown in, and a smile that lights up the room?
Okay, I'm falling for her I admit it - we'll see what happens on Saturday.
10/03/2002 12:57:00 PM
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Tuesday, October 01, 2002
A question
Or something I'm wondering about at the moment...
I've been writing this journal now for a few months, it is enjoyable and helpful to me - but other than a couple of friends who have mentioned to me in passing that they noticed something on my journal, I do not really have a sense of how many people - or who - have found me and are reading about my life.
Not that I have done much to announce the existance of this site - other than a couple of links (and a few friends who link to me) - and I guess I am not sure why it matters - but I am interested to know who is reading my journal.
So, if you care to - please post a comment to this post, or you can email me privately - I'm curious who you are, how you found my journal, whether my rambling prose is interesting (or just rambling).
thanks!
10/01/2002 05:28:00 PM
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