About Duffbert...

Duffbert's Random Musings is a weblog semi/sorta related to IBM/Lotus Notes & Domino software, but I don't let that be a limiting criteria. I'm Thomas Duff, and you can find out more about me here...

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06/11/2010

Useful visibility into your Windows boot times - Soluto "Anti-Frustration" software

Category Everything Else
Like all Window environments, my boot times have gotten slower as more and more software gets installed.  You can dig into the logs in Windows 7 to check into what loads when and what can be changed, but it's not overly easy or intuitive.  I ran across something today that looks like it takes a lot of that hassle out of the equation, however...  Soluto.

Soluto monitors your boot process and figures out what exactly is going on during that period.  It then presents a clean, intuitive interface to allow you to either pause or delay certain programs to get your computer to a useable state more quickly.  By mousing over the colored bar, you get a dropdown of the application, the time it took to launch, an explanation as to what it does, and a recommendation for pausing, delaying, or leaving in the boot sequence.  It also shows you what others chose to do, so you have an idea as to what the conventional thinking is on particular applications.  

A picture named M2

I have this running on both my desktop and laptop computers now, and I like the results.  Some of the applications, like QuickTime or Adobe Reader just get paused, as I don't mind the extra few seconds when I want to actually use them.  Others I just put into a delay status so they can start up when the computer goes idle.  

It's a free download for Windows, so if you want to streamline your boot process without too many headaches, give this a try.

Posted by Thomas Admin Duff At 6:37 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (1)

05/02/2010

A bit of an update...

Category Everything Else
So, I know I've been posting a lot less in this blog in terms of personal info, tech info, and other various and sundry things.  Funny how that happens...

Part of the reason is I've been doing a lot of writing of late, and at times I've just felt a bit "writed out" when it comes to blogging.  The Sametime Users Guide that Marie Scott and I are writing is coming along well, with chapter 9 finished up yesterday, and only three more chapters and a set of appendices left to go.  When I compared what I thought it'd be like vs. reality, it's been somewhat easier.  It definitely helps having a great co-author, as you have someone to bounce things off of.  And it's surprising how much you learn when you're writing about something.  I've had more than a couple of "wow, Sametime does that?" moments.

I've also been doing a number of webcasts that have kept me busy in terms of preparation.  Kathy Brown and I did a webcast for the Lotus Educational Community group on Discussion Forum Etiquette, as well as a different webcast on developer tips for the Consultant In Your Pocket series.  Marie Scott and I worked on repackaging our Tivoli Directory Integrator information from Lotusphere for two webcasts in the CIYP series.  The first one was TDI from a developer perspective, and the second one will be from an administrator perspective.  They've all been fun to do and give (again, having good co-presenters helps), but they do take time to set up and prepare.

On the health front, it's been... interesting.  I'm working on weight loss, which is a critical item right now.  I got the results back from my blood draw a short time back, and the doctor said I'm in a classic pre-diabetic scenario.  As he put it... "party's over".  So I have that to focus on.  And then there's my latest adventure in trying to chew gum and walk at the same time... except I wasn't chewing gum at the time.  I was walking to work at dark-thirty in the morning a little over a week ago, stepped on a sidewalk crack, and rolled my ankle while taking a tumble...

Funny how when you do that, the first thing you wonder is whether anyone saw you...

Anyway, I was able to walk when I got up, and just though I probably sprained it.  But after a week, the puffiness hadn't gone down, and the pain really hadn't subsided.  To appease all the people who said I *really* should go to the doctor, I did.  He was about to say it was just a sprain (as I expected), until he pinpointed the pain.  After xrays, it appeared that there was probably a chip fracture, and that I should wear an air splint just to be safe for a couple of weeks.  Two days later, the doctor called back, informed me that the radiologist found a deeper fracture, and to come back in for a boot cast.  So now I walk and sound like Frankenstein when I move around the house...

So for those who were wondering where I might have disappeared to, that's it.  I'd like to say the writing and presenting projects are almost done, but they're not.  I have one more webcast this month.  The book should be finished for first draft by the end of June.  There are two presentations I'll be involved with at a user group in August.  And sometime after that, it'll be the kickoff for Lotusphere abstract submissions.  And of course, there's always the two articles a month for the Lotus Developer Tips newsletter.  And my book reviews.  And Twitter.  And the day job.

Hmmm... I might just be a bit busy. :)

Posted by Thomas Admin Duff At 8:16 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (3)

01/28/2010

Suggestions on capturing a screen-sharing session for playback by others?

Category Everything Else
I'm in a position where I have to work with an off-shore support group for our Notes applications, and our hours don't overlap well (actually, at all!)  I have no doubt that there will be help desk calls where I will need to ask the user to demo the problem for me, and then will need to explain it via email to the support people.

What I'd like to be able to do is record these screen-sharing sessions (or even my own screen session) on my PC, then package up the video in a reasonable size/format to send off via email.  That way I don't have to rely upon the written word and possible miscommunication to extend the back-and-forth email exchanges any longer than they have to be.

Any suggestions on software (Windows-based) that would help me do that?  Bonus points if I can run the software on my side, and then the person on the other end does NOT have to have the same software installed to run the video (as in the video gets created in some standard video format)...

And MAJOR bonus points if I don't have to spend anything on it, as I'm reasonably sure work probably won't pay for it...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 8:24 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (7)

12/23/2009

Some people *deserve* to have their identity stolen...

Category Everything Else
I tweeted this yesterday, but I'm *still* in utter amazement at the stupidity of the person sitting next to me on the bus yesterday...

So I get on the bus to head home yesterday, and at one of the downtown stops this guy gets on... probably mid-20s, looks a little nerdy, probably not overly high on the social ability scale.  He apparently knows the bus driver, and there's a short "haven't seen you in a long time" exchange.  He plops down right next to me and makes himself comfortable by pulling out his cell phone and making a call.

Now, I'm still "old school" in that I really don't want to hear your one-sided conversation, even if it's semi-quiet.  But in this case, he bordered on "look at me I have a cell phone!" volume, so I found that pretty irritating.  But what happened next went from irritating to jaw-dropping wonder...

He starts by telling the person on the phone that he had signed up for some account, the information had come back, there was supposed to be some sort of holding period, but someone had changed the routing number without his permission.  OK, we're apparently on the phone to some financial institution and he's having account issues.

Over the course of the next 10 minutes, he pulls out paperwork and proceeds to read off account numbers, routing numbers, his birthdate, who and when he talked to people at the bank, etc.  I'm sure he could be heard by 3/4 of the bus, and the bus was crowded.  I literally was shaking my head as I heard this... I (or anyone else) on the bus could have hacked his account with no problem.  And when he told the person on the phone that it was as if someone had hacked his account, it was ALL I could do to not take the phone out of his hand and hang it up.

I struggled with whether I should "educate" the kid or not after he finally hung up, but I couldn't help it.  I tapped him on the shoulder, and in a voice only slightly less loud than his, said "Let me give you some advice... don't EVER have that conversation on your cell phone on a bus again.  You gave out account numbers, routing numbers, your birthdate, and various other pieces of information that would allow me to steal your identity before you even get home.  That was incredibly stupid."  The guy across from me looked at him and said "I've had my identity stolen, it's not fun."  Some other 20-something a couple rows back just said "yeah!".  The guy got up, looked at me, and got off the bus without saying a word.  Nearly everyone around us who had been in on the "conversation" just started chuckling and shaking their heads...

This was SO blatantly obvious that I wouldn't be surprised if someone was filming it secretly as a test to see if anyone would do or say something to him.  Or, his account will be hacked again, he'll complain to Tri-met, Tri-met will review bus vids, and I'll be a "person of interest" in an identity theft scam. :)

I know I should feel sorry for the guy (or I should feel *something* on the sympathy scale), but I honestly couldn't help feeling he had some major lessons in life that still need to be learned...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 7:39 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (11)

11/16/2009

Have YOU tried to read and understand all the rules in hockey?

Category Everything Else
Short of my son Ian (no pun intended there) who is a hockey referee, there's few people I know who has tried to read AND understand all the rules in the hockey rule book.  I can now add a coworker, Samantha Meese, to that rare category.  She has a blog, 87 in 107, that is an interesting project:

It’s pretty simple, really. I have avowed to learn all the official rules to hockey. There are 87 rules in the NHL 2009 – 2010 rulebook. There are 107 days until the opening of the Winter Olympics at Whistler on February 12. 87 in 107 is my attempt to learn all of the rules before I depart for Vancouver to see the games. I have the NHL Network in hi-def and the NHL Center Ice package, so be warned you may be reading the highlights of more than one game.

So when she gets up to Vancouver in a few months, she'll be able to yell at the refs with *authority*!!!

I'm adding this one to my RSS reader, and I have no doubt that a few of her entries will end up as argument material between Ian and I...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 7:10 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

10/17/2009

When business cliches lose their meaning... a new "paradigm"

Category Everything Else
How many of you have sat in a meeting, eagerly anticipating a parade of buzzwords to fill out your buzzword bingo cards?

Yeah, I thought so... most all of you.

Overused business cliches are so common as to be jokes now.  New paradigms, synergistic approaches, etc.  Most often, those are the moments in the talk when you can zone out and figure out what's for dinner tonight.  It usually means someone is trying to inflate one of their ideas to take on an importance that they'd lack if described in one syllable words.  When you can program this same verbal misdirection on a website via a buzzword generator, you know it's time to find something else to do.

But I'm noticing there are another set of phrases, also often used in the business world, that are starting to lose any link to reality.  These are the "motivational" phrases.  These wordbites are used to spur the workforce on, usually during times of stress and pressure, to deliver ever-higher levels of output and productivity.

"We have to work smarter, not harder."

"We have to become lean and mean."

"We have to learn to do more with less."

Here's my problem with them...  Nearly everyone has heard them ad nauseum, so they no longer convey any new, revolutionary concept that cause you to sit back and say WOW!.  Furthermore, they are often used *after* some event has occurred (like layoffs) which mean you really have no choice because the work is going to keep on coming anyway.  You're just going to get more of it than you did before.  And finally (and the most frustrating), the statements are repeated on a regular basis, unfortunately after yet another event has occurred (again!) to make the workload even heavier.

The reality is plain... The economy sucks, cost pressures are high, business survival (or worse, Wall Street expectations and executive bonuses) are in doubt...  Any marginally-engaged person with a job should understand that.  People are usually one of the highest costs of doing business, and it's one of the areas that will always be under pressure when it comes to reduce those costs.  Instead of throwing out motivational phrases that aren't, let's instead just put it in plain language.  We can't afford the levels of staff we currently have and still meet our budget.  Those remaining will need to pick up additional work.  Where possible, stop doing things that don't matter.  If you disagree on what "doesn't matter", push back.  And ultimately, it's up to you to either make your personal resource cover as much as you can (set limits), or opt for another environment where you think you can do better (other opportunities).

So what other motivational business phrases have ceased to have any real meaning for you?

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 12:58 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (4)

10/03/2009

So... night #1 with me and the CPAP machine...

Category Everything Else
Yesterday I had my appointment at the medical device company to pick up and get trained on my new best friend at night, my Resmed CPAP machine.  The session was actually enjoyable, as the company (NW Medical) is very impressive in their customer service, and the guy doing the training was pretty fun to joke around with.  When finished after an hour, I had a new computer bag-like piece of luggage hanging on my shoulder, and was out the door.

Last night I set the device up (painfully simple), put the straps around my head, got the nostril plugs placed, and turned it on.  Voila!  Air!  There's a ramping feature that you can set to have the flow start off light and then ramp up over 5 to 30 minutes to the prescription setting (which in my case is 11 cubic whatever meters of airflow).  I read for a bit, and got to the point where I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.  I figured that was the best time to turn off the light and try sleeping (without drugs) with this for the first time.

And by and large, I did!  :)

I woke up when Sue came to bed a couple hours later, and there was some adjustment that was needed at that point.  Condensation from the humidifier had built up, and I was getting a gurgling/popping noise when I breathed.  Took me a couple minutes to figure out that the moisture causing the sound was in the hose curve that was hanging off the bed.  When I pulled the hose up, I heard the water drain back into the tank, and the noise disappeared.  I turned down the humidifier setting at that point, and we'll see if we can get a better setting to prevent that going forward.

The rest of the night wasn't too bad.  I wasn't sleeping totally soundly as the nose was starting to hurt a bit from having this "thing" on it all night.  The verdict from the spousal unit was that I wasn't snoring, but there were more breathing noises when I slept on one side than the other.  I think that was due to hose placement.  Facing the unit (the "quiet side"), there was no pull on the mask.  Turned over (the "noisy side"), the hose was across my body and the weight was probably causing the mask to sit slightly differently on my face.  

I think tonight I may try clipping the hose to where it goes over the top of the head.  That might alleviate some of the facial shifting and allow me to roll over a bit more.  As everyone has told me, it'll take time to get used to the machine, to figure out what works and what doesn't, and so on.  That's OK, as I'm committed to making this work for me.  I'm tired of being tired...

I'll follow up on this in about a week or so and let you know how it works in terms of making me more alert during the day.  Right now I feel OK (11 am in the morning), but I'm not expecting overnight miracles on that front until my body gets used to sleeping with the device in place.

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 10:27 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (6)

09/08/2009

Day 1 - Travel to Orlando... NOT a Magical Experience

Category Everything Else
So here it is just a bit after midnight, and we're at the Boardwalk.  Granted, I didn't expect to be here until very late, and we're only here for one night as we head to Vero Beach tomorrow.  But what a travel "experience"...

Portland to Seattle was fine... a bit late getting into Seattle, so we didn't have a lot of time between flights.  But the gates were close, so no big deal.  Got boarded, and even had the middle seat open between us.  Comfortable,  relatively speaking.  And we took off for the five hour flight to Orlando.

Then the farter started...

Whoever s/he was, they were ripe... every 20 to 30 minutes, we got the aromatic experience of whatever they previously ate.  And we weren't the only ones getting grossed out.  They were getting good "air cover" with their biowarfare.  It was bad...

We arrived about 10 pm, got to the gate around 10:10, and headed off for the Magical Express... where the NEXT breakdown occurred.  We got to the B side and walked up to the guy from Disney at the foot of the escalator... only to be told that since we arrived after 10 pm, our luggage wouldn't be transported to the resort this evening.  They stop luggage service at 10.  OK, would have been nice to know that beforehand.  But we could live with the luggage getting here at 8 am tomorrow morning.  We went over to the check-in for ME, where they asked us if we had our luggage. Now the story was that we had to get it off the carousel ourselves and hoof it over.  This meant back to the A side where the Alaska luggage was.  We got there, only to find that most of the luggage was off, and ours wasn't there.  

NOW I'm really not happy...  

We got another Disney "greeter" on the A side, who tried to tell us the luggage would be delivered next morning... or it would be on the carousel.  I was less than pleasant explaining that I was VERY tired of going back and forth, and that I didn't care which answer was right... just pick one.  Then another Disney person tried to take us over to American (who apparently handles Alaska luggage) to check for lost luggage... where the line was VERY long.  "Magically", our single bag then appeared on the end of the carousel...  just waiting for us.  Sigh... whatever...

BACK to the B side with all our luggage now, onto the bus... where we sat for about 25 minutes waiting for a handful of other people.  I suppose I'd want them to wait for me if I were late, but I was not feeling the Magic by this time.

So we're here now...  I have a diet Coke (WITH caffeine... tough!) and I'm starting to unwind a bit.  A quick check of email and twitter should do it.  

I'd like to say it'll get better from here, but I'll refrain from testing those assumptions. :)

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 9:03 PM Location Orlando, Florida | | Comments (1)

09/05/2009

Reading Addiction - a humorous web search today that I can't quite let go of...

Category Everything Else
So today I was surfing around the 'net, letting different ideas take me various places, when I stumbled on this item:

Learn More About Reading Addiction

Reading Addiction is arguably a real phenomenon. A person can, in fact, be addicted to reading.

This is not so much like chemical addictions, however, in which the body becomes physically dependent on a particular drug or substance. Nor is it like gambling or food addiction, either, where chemical processes occur in the brain when people engage in the addictive behavior.

No, reading is an addiction when it is used as a mechanism to avoid reality. A person can avoid facing life by reading all day. A person can also avoid facing themselves by reading all day. This is the only time that reading really becomes a problem.

At first I found this somewhat humorous... yeah, I must be addicted, I read 180 to 200 books a year... ha ha ha.  But no, I don't read all day long, so it must not be an addiction.

But is that true?

As I sit downstairs in my mess of an office, how many times have I told myself I'd clean it up, only to spend another 30 minutes reading stuff off my RSS feeds?  How many projects do I have floating in my mind that I haven't done because I've taken a nap after getting into another good book?  How much stuff have I said I NEED to learn, but instead end up just reading about it without applying it?  Exercise or relax with a book?  Look in the mirror, I'll tell you what wins 95% of the time.  What's the first thing I take if I'm going somewhere for an appointment?  Something to read while I'm waiting.  Do I really obsess about which books to take on vacation, and most importantly how many?  Yes, I do.

In the last year, I can tell you the number of days I've gone without sitting down to read a book of some sort at any point in the day...  the answer is one.  And I remember it vividly as it struck me a day later that I couldn't honestly remember the last time I had done that.  

I don't subscribe to the popular notion that every little personality quirk and oddity deserves its own ICD-9 diagnosis code.  But in my case, I really do think there's more than an element of truth behind the concept of "reading addition" as it applies to me.  Many things are useful and beneficial in moderation.  But I may well have passed that point quite some time ago.

I think as I leave on vacation for the next two weeks in Florida, I'll be spending more time thinking about this and how it plays out in my life and relationships.  I'll have to take a notebook along to record some of my thoughts... packed right next to the 7 to 10 books I'll also take along with me...

No need to rush into these new concepts too rashly...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 8:16 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (3)

08/15/2009

The update on better living through pharmaceuticals...

Category Everything Else
A short time back I shared that I was going to switch from my generic Proxac (fluoxetine) to the generic version of Celexa (citalopram).  I had been on fluoxetine for about the last six years, and its effectiveness seemed to be waning.  After consulting with my doctor, he agreed that a switch might be in order, so we decided to stay in the same family of anti-depressants and give citalopram a shot.

Well, after about two months, I can say that citalopram isn't the right answer for me.  

Nothing dramatic or dangerous, mind you.  I just seemed to still be in that "struggling" pattern that fluoxetine had seemed to eradicate.  Granted, there's been a lot going on at work and such, and so it might well be that things would have been disastrous without the citalopram.  Still, I kept thinking things could be better.

I'm now in the tapering down period for the next 10 days, and then I'll start ramping up on the generic version of Effexor, also known as venlafaxine.  My guess is that this is going to take effect (or *have* an effect) much faster, and is a different class of med.  Hopefully this will get me back to the effective and motivated Duffbert I was used to...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 6:28 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

08/14/2009

Got the sleep study results back yesterday...

Category Everything else
... and the answer is...  YOU SUCK AT SLEEP!

ahem...  

The writeup report I got is pretty cool, actually.  Numbers all over the place.  The diagnosis is moderate sleep apnea with breathing stopping on average 16x per hour.  Probably the more telling number is the REM sleep percentage.  Normal is 20 to 25%.  I had... 2.6%.  

So everyone who's asked over the years if I ever sleep?  I guess we know the answer now...  no.

I'm going to go back in late September for another sleepover with the CPAP machine hooked up.  Oh, joy.  Yes, I know I've heard from many who have assured me it's not as bad as it looks, and it's made a world of difference.  Still...

I also should lose weight (duh!) and... cut down/give up caffeine.  GASP!  That magical drug that gets me through the day! And apparently guarantees that I won't make it through the night, either...  I could "cut back", but this is probably one of those decisions that would be better as black/white.  I know... heresy on par with never having read LOTR... and I call myself a geek.

I'm still laughing at the EEG results, though...  It measures the number of times your sleep is interrupted or you pop back up a level.  They call this an "arousal."  Mine were "spontaneous" in nature and no reason could be found as to why my "brain was arousing."  I was having 53.7 of these "arousals" per hour.

I'm glad SOME part of me seemed to be having "fun"...  :)

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:21 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (14)

08/07/2009

Murdoch's ultimatum to Amazon: Give us Kindle subscriber names or else

Category Everything Else
From Daily Finance: Murdoch's ultimatum to Amazon: Give us Kindle subscriber names or else

I had seen reference to this story a day or so ago, and didn't have the time to read it.  But I ran across it again in the Twitter stream and clicked through to answer my curiosity...  What makes Rupert Murdoch think that Amazon owes him the names of any Kindle users?

On News Corp.'s fiscal-year-end earnings call with analysts, the notoriously  shoot-from-the-hip mogul suggested that The Wall Street Journal will cease to be available on the Kindle e-reader unless Amazon starts offering a more generous revenue split and more publisher-friendly policies.

Murdoch acknowledged that the Journal recently negotiated a slightly larger share of the revenues Amazon gets from selling Kindle subscriptions to the paper, "but it's not a big number, and we're not encouraging it at all because we don't get the names of the subscribers," he said. "Kindle treats them as their subscribers, not as ours, and I think that will eventually cause a break with us."

Ah... so Murdoch wants the name of Kindle subscribers to the WSJ.  That narrows down the headline a bit, and makes a bit more sense when viewed that way.  I'm guessing when you purchase a subscription to a magazine using Amazon's website, the actual order is fulfilled by the company who owns the magazine, and hence they have your name.  If that's the case, I could see where a publisher like News Corp. would figure they own the subscription, not the group who makes the paper the content is viewed upon.

I could be convinced the Kindle's subscription model is different, and that Amazon owns the subscriber instead of News Corp.  It's a bit of a new model, and I'm not sure which old school or new school mindset would prevail.

But setting that aside, here's the quote I found fascinating...

"As I've said before, the traditional business model has to change rapidly to ensure that our journalistic businesses can return to their old margins of profitability," Murdoch said. "Quality journalism is not cheap, and an industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting."

"Tradition needs to change to get back to owning the news and making money."

So what does he want to do?  Start providing a chargeback system on sites that provide content.  Make sure all content is locked behind glass.  You go ahead and deploy that model on electronic web-based fee-for-reading, Mr. Murdoch.  I'm sure you'll have the "right answers" to return to the good old days of large margin of profitability.  Never mind that few (any?) sites have successfully pulled that off, and that you don't have a monopoly on the news.  People will just go elsewhere to get the news.  And given your particular editorial slant on things, I might also venture to say that's a good thing!

And this "return(ing) to their old margins of profitability"...  You have GOT to be kidding me.  I'm sure buggywhip makers wanted to return to their old margins of profitability when the automobile started to catch one.  I'm sure computer makers would like to return to old margins of profitability that they used to have in the 80's and 90's.  Car makers?  You have only to read the newspaper to see their desire to return to old margins.  

Yes, Mr. Murdoch, your business model DOES need to change in order to not collapse completely.  As it stands right now, you're in danger of becoming completely irrelevant in the online world.  But changing the model by charging for things others give away for free is NOT the answer.  It's been tried.  It has failed.  The world where you made your fortune is dead and gone.  You're going to need a LOT of help to figure out how to make it all work in a world you're not familiar with or comfortable in.

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 11:43 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

08/04/2009

Sleep study last night... strange stuff...

Category Everything else
So last night I went in for my sleep study to see what they could find out about my less-than-stellar sleep habits.  I already know a fair amount of the story... fat, out of shape, too much caffeine, etc.  But getting a baseline with actual observation would be a good place to start, so I got the referral and had the actual study done.

The experience was different, to say the least.  I was shown to the room, and it's like a decent hotel room... TV, cabinet for all your stuff, comfy bed, positive ion fan, and best of all...  AIR CONDITIONING!  I love cold rooms for sleeping...  Anyway, after watching a video, they brought in the cart to start hooking me up.  

Side note on the video... I think they are using one of perhaps a thousand different versions of the same story.  In the one they showed me, the patient was a 48 year old male, software developer, overweight, with glasses...  I kid you not...

Anyway... I have a pair of shorts on.  Two leads get threaded down the shorts to hook up to the legs for restless leg monitoring.  A couple go on the chest.  Two elastic straps around the stomach and chest for breathing.  She drew all kinds of lines on my head, and must have stuck about 10 contacts in my hair after scrubbing each spot to the point of pain.  Then contacts on the jaw (each side), next to the eyes, and two breathing sensors under my nose and over my head.  All those wires converged to a pigtail behind my neck, and THEN you get to try and sleep...

Yeah, right...

They film and listen to you all night long.  If you have to go to the bathroom, you just talk to the "voice in the sky", she comes in to detach you, and then hooks you back up when you get back in bed.  I took an Ambien, read for awhile, and then slept from about 9:45 to 2:30 (the time she told me she came in).  Then she asked me to try and sleep on my back as I'm a stomach sleeper.  That didn't go well, so I tossed and turned (and finally rolled over) until about 5 when I decided a bathroom break was in order.  I tried for another hour of sleep after that, but I don't think I was too successful.

They then came in, removed all the wires, I took a shower to get all the stuff off my head, and packed up and went home to start working.  I'll find out the answers and results next week.

I'm glad I took the study, as I'm sure this sleep problem is responsible for a significant degree of my emotional and physical turmoil right now.  I know everyone says the CPAP machine, if prescribed, is a really good solution (even thought it looks like the most awkward device ever).  I was encouraged that they didn't wake me up mid-study to have me wear one, as that's a sign that you're REALLY suffering from severe apnea.  I'm hoping that the wake-up call (sort of no pun intended) will add to my motivation to get in shape...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 6:38 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (5)

08/03/2009

Sleeping while wired for action...

Category Everything Else
Another step in my "get my act together" takes place this evening as I head in for a sleep study.  I've been told by reliable parties (and they have video... rotten children!) that I can peel wallpaper when my snoring gets started, and that there's definitely some apnea taking place.  So, I made an appointment to undergo a sleep study, where they'll wire me up nine ways from Sunday, and then somehow expect me to relax and fall asleep.  Don't quite know what to expect, so it should be "interesting."

All I know is that going through the day yawning non-stop isn't a good thing...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:49 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (3)

08/03/2009

Week 12 of "Project Buffbert" - by the numbers

Category Everything Else
So I've been asked how the Kinetix program was going in terms of "Project Buffbert"... I did get an eight week body comp test, but I didn't get around to blogging it (partially busy, partially not the news I had hoped for).  So in order to get back on the right track, I'm blogging the Week 12 check-in which took place today...

2009/05/06
start
2009/06/05
week 4
2009/07/06
week 8
2009/08/03
week 12
Overall Weight (pounds)
246.7
238.5
240.5
239.6
Lean Body Mass (pounds)
129.4
129.6
129.4
130.3
Body Fat Mass (pounds)
117.3
108.9
111.1
109.4
Body Mass Index (BMI percentage)
42.3%
40.9%
41.3%
41.1%
Percent Body Fat (percentage)
47.5%
45.6%
46.2%
45.6%



So this was one of those "bad news, not quite as bad news" stories.  As I shared recently, my stress levels have been really high over the last month or so.  I've definitely been stress eating, and I've repeatedly talked myself out of exercising due to being tired or being too lazy.  All that showed up in the week 8 results when I gained weight (fat, not muscle) and started to slip.  To be honest, I really did expect week 12 to be more of the same...  In fact I was starting to wonder if I had perhaps taken myself back to the starting line...

So the "bad" news is I'm still up from week 4.  The not-so-bad news is that I'm down from week 8 in good ways. I'm at my highest lean body mass of the program (which is saying something given how flaky I've been of late), and I'm only a 1/2 pound up from my low body fat weight.  And I've got some people who have been given express permission to keep kicking me in the posterior to not let me slide.

So, I've mentally regrouped a bit, and it's onward from here...  really.

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:39 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

07/31/2009

For those who have asked and wondered, yes I'm OK... just struggling a bit right now...

Category Everything Else
I've gotten pinged on the side from a number of people asking if I was OK or if I was doing OK due to periodic stretches of radio silence.  The short overall answer is "thanks, I'm OK", and the longer answer is I'm working through a stressful period right now.

There are numerous things going on at work that make me feel like I'm trying to do far too many things and not being terribly successful at any of them.  I've always lived in multi-task mode, with various things going on, while still responding timely to questions and such.  It seems to have magnified of late, and I'm even letting emails slip that normally would have gotten same day responses.  For someone who used to feel on top of stuff, delivering good customer service, and knew what he was doing, it's been hard.

The anti-depressant med change is still in flux.  I dropped the generic Prozac after about six years to control my dysthymia.  I was starting into the "Prozac poop-out" phase, where the tolerance builds up to such a point that the effects start to diminish.  We switched to generic Celexa at a low dose, and that didn't do much.  The dose was up'd, but it still really hasn't kicked in.  We're going to give it two more weeks.  If at that point it's still not making a difference, then we'll take a different approach.  I'm starting to miss the person I knew I was with the Prozac.

I'll be undergoing a sleep study Monday night to see how bad my sleep apnea is.  I can only keep up these 5 to 6 hour nights for so long.  I know it's weight-related (or at least that's a large part of it, no pun intended).  I really don't want to go down the CPAP device route and look/sound like Darth Vadar every night.  We'll deal with that once we get the results back.

On the fitness front, the stress has taken its toll.  The work facility has been closed down for a remodel, which means I have to use alternatives (which I *do* have available to me).  But I talk myself out of stuff far too easy due to fatigue, and I end up missing stuff.  And stress eating has reared it's head.  I'll have my 12 week check-point on Monday, so I'll report back here, good bad or otherwise.

I'm not even writing as much as I used to (and my reading volume is down)!  I have about four books to write reviews on, and each night after work it's close to all I can do to just settle down with a good book and read.  Forget about trying to put down coherent thoughts on a page about a book I've already read...

Given all that above, you can see why I may not be too inclined to be sympathetic to all the sniping in the Lotus community right now...

Anyway... such is the life of Duffbert at the current time.  Thanks for all who have expressed concern.  I'm not looking for sympathy here.  It just helps me when I can dump my thoughts and struggles out here to get them out of my mind and give them some space of their own...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:08 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (8)

07/20/2009

Pictures from the Tucson Air Museum and Boneyard, along with the Nuclear Missile Silo Museum

Category Everything Else
You can find them out here on Flickr...

A picture named M2

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:36 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (3)

06/06/2009

My first four weeks of "Project Buffbert"... by the numbers

Category Everything Else
So yesterday marked the end of my first four weeks on the Kinetix program.  This means I'm eating six times a day (3 meals, 3 snacks), the food is targeted for 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat, and I'm doing both strength training and cardio on a scheduled, consistent basis.  At the end of each four week period, I can step on their fancy hi-tech scale, key in my employee code, grab the handles, and let it do a body composition analysis.  This is *very* important to me, as it breaks me out of that obsession with that single scale number denoting weight.  Instead, I learn what's going on inside, even if the overall weight isn't changing as fast as I'd like.

Listed below are the starting numbers and the 4 week numbers for comparison:
2009/05/06
2009/06/05
Overall Weight (pounds)
246.7
238.5
Lean Body Mass (pounds)
129.4
129.6
Body Fat Mass (pounds)
117.3
108.9
Body Mass Index (BMI percentage)
42.3%
40.9%
Percent Body Fat (percentage)
47.5%
45.6%


Some commentary...
  • Since my BMI is still over 40%, I am still classified as "morbidly obese".  But only a fat person would understand my initial goal of being simply "obese". :)  I'm getting close.
  • Losing slightly over 2 pounds a week is a perfect pace.  Yeah, it'd be nice to magically drop to under 200 pounds by the end of June, but this is a journey and not a destination.
  • My coach was impressed with the results, but was *most* impressed with the Lean Body Mass numbers.  Apparently when people first take a body comp test, their muscle weight is artificially inflated.  This is because the muscles have a lot of carbs due to a typically high carb diet, and they appear to be larger than they actually are.  So after 4 weeks of better nutrition and exercise, that number usually drops at the first checkpoint.  The fact that mine not only held steady but *gained* .2 pounds surprised and pleased him (and me!).
  • For general purposes, a "normal" BMI is between 18.5% and 25%, while a normal Body Fat percentage is between 10% and 20%.

    Overall, this is working out VERY well for me.  I feel better (if you discount the sore muscles from the strength training), my emotional state is positive, and I don't feel like I'm on a "diet". I truly feel like I've *changed* my lifestyle, not just patched a few holes to reach a goal, thinking "when will this end so I can get back to normal?"  "Normal" is what got me to this point, and "normal" is not an acceptable option any longer.  "Normal" needs to be redefined to what I want to become, not what I was.  What I *was* was abnormally fat, out of shape, and killing myself.  Only in America would we consider that "normal".

    I'd also like to thank all of you who have encouraged, challenged, and held me accountable.  As you can probably tell, I have little ego in terms of putting the brutally honest truth out there for all to see, regardless of whether its pleasant or not.  Knowing I have the support of my friends and colleagues keeps me honest.  It also helps knowing that someone else might read this and think about their own situation.  

    I'm trying to live my life as a teaching hospital.  Experts don't run the place, and mistakes will be made.  But if others can learn from what's going on here, then I'm moving in the right direction.

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:49 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (7)

06/03/2009

Saying goodbye to my faithful friend fluoxetine tomorrow...

Category Everything Else
So my switch to a new SSRI anti-depressant hits a new stage this week.  Tomorrow will be my last day of taking a lower dose of fluoxetine, also known as Prozac.  I've been on that medication for dysthymia for the last five years or so, and quite honestly it probably saved my life.  I wasn't suicidal or anything, but life certainly wasn't much fun.  And in terms of writing, speaking, and all the other professional things I've done since that point in time?  You could just forget those ever happened without Prozac.  The fear would have been too overwhelming, the cost much too high to risk putting myself out there for others to see.  If I look at dysthymia as a hormonal imbalance (seretonin), then for me Prozac was nothing more than a medication that stabilized my hormone levels.  No shame, no stigma...  I realize not everyone is as successful as I was on my first foray into those types of meds, but for me, it was a lifesaver.

But over time, the body builds a tolerance to SSRI drugs, and you have to take more to get the same effect.  While I wasn't at the high-end dose yet, I could tell I was starting to slip a bit.  The doctor and I discussed a med change last year during a rough patch, but it was right before I headed over to ILUG in Dublin.  One does NOT want to be playing around with depression med changes while they're out of the country, in an environment that is largely outside their control.  I got through that, things calmed down, and I just let it go until now.

Friday and Saturday I'll be med-free to finish the tapering process.  Given that it took about seven weeks for me to see the full effect of Prozac on my personality when I first started to take it, a 20 day tapering off isn't going to clear my system entirely.  But that's probably a good thing, as I'm not sure I'd want to be entirely med-free again.  Sunday I'll start on the Celexa (actually, the generic version - citalopram...  have to learn how to pronounce that one...  I was just getting good at fluoxetine).  The half-life here is considerably less than Prozac (about two to four weeks), so I should know whether I can make this change work as well as the Prozac by mid- to late June.  But given my good reactions and tolerance to SSRIs before, we're both cautiously optimistic that the changes should be minor.

I think the fitness stuff I've been doing over the last four weeks has likely helped the tapering off effects to be infinitely more mild than they might have been otherwise.  Some might say that getting more fit would negate the need for the meds at all.  While true for some, I would argue that's not the case for me.  The melancholiness of dysthymia has been something I've had since my teen years, always considering that to be a "normal" state of existence.  I had the same struggles with that form of dysthymia even in my early and mid 20s when I was doing serious weight training and was toying with the idea of competition bodybuilding.  Yes, fitness is good, but it's not a panacea for every physiological and psychological ill.

I'll continue to share my med experience as I start up the new routine.  I know a number of people have found my posts on this via Google, and have been helped.  And since I'm looking at my life as a "teaching hospital", I want to make sure others can learn as much as possible before they start their own journey.

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 7:25 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (3)

06/03/2009

An idea for GM as they offload/sell parts of their business (yes, a serious idea!)

Category Everything Else
So General Motors is selling off parts of their business that don't work in their new "streamlined" model.  China is taking the Hummer brand off their hands.  We'll see where the other parts end up at.

But there's one thing they do that seems like it would be easy to sell off, and would be a natural fit for another company...

What if GM were to sell off their OnStar offering?  You know, that magic feature that allows you to call for help, directions, and whatever regardless of where you are...  in a GM car?

What if satellite company XM Radio were to purchase it?  Giving them another in-car offering...  AND allowing them to market to ALL car brands for a monthly fee?

I haven't run numbers, looked into who owns what, etc....

But it seems as if that would be a natural business to drop for GM, and a natural pickup for XM (or for some major cell carrier like Verizon or  AT&T)...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 7:19 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

05/16/2009

Life can change in an instant...

Category Everything Else
Yesterday I got a call from my wife as I was waiting to catch the bus home.  She called to say that she wasn't going to the movies after work, as a coworker and close friend had found out that afternoon that her daughter had been killed in a traffic accident.  http://www.katu.com/news/local/45166892.html  In less than one day you go from having a daughter who is a senior in high school with bright plans for the future, to planning her funeral.  

It's a reminder that every moment is tenuous, and nothing is guaranteed.

Side note...  looking at the comments, I never cease to be amazed at how utterly crass and uncaring people can be under the cover of anonymity.  I hope I am constantly reminded that behind every posting and story there is a real human being with feelings not unlike my own.  Understanding and caring is such a rare commodity these days...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 9:31 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (5)

05/15/2009

So are you EVER going to be healthy, Duffbert?

Category Everything Else
Normally in the past (pre-Twitter), I'd have blogged a number of times about being sick, hurting myself, etc.  It's built-in blog material!  But when you can throw out updates of 140 characters at a time, somehow the longer blog post doesn't happen.  A few people have asked if everything's OK, and the answer is yes.  Just an accumulation of things all at once, none of them serious...

About a week before swine flu was all the fashionable rage, I got one of those flu episodes with achy muscles, no energy, cough, congestion, the typical stuff.  After about three or four days, I was left with the nagging cough that wouldn't go away.  Fine, been there, done that...  And in fact, many coworkers seemed to have the same crud a couple months earlier...  sick for a few days, and a cough that hung on for weeks.  Time for me to join the club...  All of last week, I was still "Mr. Hack" as I couldn't seem to get over the cough.  And I'm typically male, in that going to the doctor is not a considered option, as I figure I'll be told "you got that thing going around...  nothing much to do but ride it out."

After a week of coughing and less-than-stellar sleep (like THAT'S anything new), I decided to do a Saturday trip to the doctor "just to be safe".  The sleep issue was getting critical, and I was starting to wonder if we had progressed to something like bronchitis.  The doctor concurred that I didn't sound well (yay! one for my team!), but also said there was a chance of it being the bug that left you coughing for weeks, much as my coworkers had.  He prescribed a five day azithromycin regimen, and said I'd either be a new man in 36 hours or I'd be working on the cough over time.

36 hours later, not a new man...  welcome to the next month of hacking and coughing...  :)

I could have handled that, except for Monday morning when I was going through my early morning emphysema imitation.  During one particularly hard coughing fit, I felt a pop in my upper ribs.  OH JUST GREAT!  Now not only was I still coughing, but it REALLY hurt to cough.  I worked through the morning at work, and went home early to prep for an evening change control (that didn't end up happening, fortunately).  After explaining my situation to the wife and kids, I was forcefully told in no uncertain terms (by ALL of them) that I *would* be going to the doctor for xrays, I *might* have dislocated ribs, and I *could* end up with a punctured lung.  My arguments were of no avail, and I ended up at the clinic again (two times in three days - a record for me).  They took xrays, explained that Sue, Ian, and Cam *were* right to be concerned, and promptly found...  nothing.  Intercostal strain, will hurt like h*ll, try not to cough, take it easy...  sigh...

Tuesday...  Mucinex and prescription cough meds are my friend.  Still hurts, still trying not to cough, as it hurts too much, and nothing is accomplished anyway.  Coughing becomes a conscious choice of pain vs. congestion, not to be decided lightly.  Tuesday night I'm watching NCIS...  during a commercial break I stand up from the chair and try a few deep coughs to clear out my chest.  Next thing I know, my wife is standing in front of me, yelling my name, asking if I can hear her... I told her I was there, to which she replied "you weren't a few seconds ago!".  Seems I collapsed back, twitched a bit, and did the blackout thing for a few seconds.  Called the on-call doc just to be safe, and he concurred.  Of course, now I'm under the intense scrutiny of everyone in the house to make sure I'm not about to die.  :)  And yes, it was a bit scary.

Thursday, back at the doctor...  It's getting to feel like home.  This appointment was actually planned for a couple of weeks.  Blood draw for a check-in on a new cholesterol med I'm taking, so I was fasting all day.  Talked to him about a scaly spot on the back of my neck that showed up about two months ago.  He tested for ringworm, but it was negative.  Steroid creme for that little spot.  Brought up the idea of a sleep study, as I've been told by those who would know that I have rather dramatic apnea at night.  Most of this is probably due to my current fitness (or lack thereof), and would improve if I get that under control.  The doctor agreed, but felt a baseline might also be a good idea, as my sleep patterns really do suck.  So I have a referral there I have to schedule.  And finally, my depression meds...  Shared here before, I've been on Prozac for a long time to battle dysthymia.  It has literally changed (and probably saved) my life.  But you build up tolerance over time, and I think I'm definitely getting to the point of diminishing returns.  I could present a laundry list of reasons *why* things have been stressful of late, but bottom line is that the meds are not having the same effect.  So, I'm now starting to taper off the Prozac over the next 20 days, will have 48 hours totally off, and will then start on the generic version of Celexa.  So, if you see me write stuff more bizarre than normal, or if you are physically close to me and see strange stuff, let me know...  I'm going into the med change with much more information than I had when I first started SSRIs in 2003, but it's always good to have others aware and watching out for you...

OK, so much for all the body breakdown stuff...  I actually *am* doing something to get healthy, though...

At work, they sponsor a program called Kinetix (you can find out more at http://www.kinetixliving.com/).  It's a solid program of eating correctly *and* exercising correctly to get "in the best shape of your life".  As posted a couple weeks back, I realize I just turned 48 and am in the worst shape of my life.  I was chosen for one of the four week supervised programs starting on May 11th, so my "line in the sand" has been drawn and steps are underway.  I've had to back off the cardio piece this week because of the ribs, but the weight workouts have moved forward.  I've been going lighter than I know I can, in order to try and keep from becoming crippled with post-workout muscle pain.  Generally speaking, that's worked except for legs.  My calves are on fire from Wednesday's routine, and I can barely get my heels to touch the floor without pain. :)

So where am I starting from?  Might as well throw that out here too, so that I have no escape from group accountability.  I weighed in at 246.7 pounds, obviously not good packed on a 5'4" frame.  117.3 of that is body fat, putting my percentage of body fat at 47.5.  Morbidly obese, any way you roll it.  Can't fool myself into thinking any different about that.  No wonder I struggle with things like stairs and walks and such.  The good news is that the journaling and food program of Kinetix is clicking with me, and the attention to working out is a key component I ignored with Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, as I was more interested in that weekly weight number, not what it was composed of.  In Kinetix, I'll now be able to find out what exactly that .5 pound of weight loss was.  That'd be an emotional crusher before, but now it might well be that 2.5 pounds of lean body mass was gained and 3 pounds of fat was lost.  Yes, I know all of this already, but I'm now emotionally ready to accept it as truth.  I have personal short and longer term goals, and I'm Ok with the the process being part of the journey, not just the quest to arrive at the destination.  

So, for those who have been concerned that I'm falling apart or that I'm about to take some extended medical leave for something serious, thanks for your concern.  Everything is OK, and I'm just making some deposits to correct a severely overdrawn physical health account.  Even though I'm not solely in the Lotus world any more, I'm still hoping that I can figure out a way to make it to Lotusphere 2010 on my own again, where some of the work of the upcoming months should be obvious.  And if *that's* not putting it out there on the line, I don't know what is...  My goal would be to make it from check-in to my room, through the Dolphin rotunda, with *nobody* yelling out "hey Duffbert!"... not because you're not there (I spotted the group), but because Duffbert doesn't quite look like Duffbert any more...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 8:00 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (9)

05/03/2009

Time for one of those "line in the sand", things have to change posts...

Category Everything Else
OK...  this is one of those non-technical, personal, "I'm sick of my status quo" posts.  If you're looking for book reviews or off-base technology analysis, you're free to move on.

So I turn 48 in less than a week.  Mentally, I still feel like that 14 year old awkward teenager who doesn't quite know how to fit in to the world he finds himself in.  Physically, I keep thinking that all those workouts I did in my late teens/early twenties are still evident.  And then you see the pictures...  and you find yourself breathing hard after doing something that you think only old people should have problems with.  You see people who you consider overweight, and then you check the charts, only to find that you would be diagnosed as "morbidly obese".  Couple all those things together with all the stress at work and other areas, and the picture isn't pretty.

Basically, I'm 48, I'm in the worst shape of my life, and I'm killing myself.

Starting next Monday, I start a program at work called Kinetix (http://www.kinetixliving.com/home.php).  It's a comprehensive program of eating and exercise, designed to get you to a healthy state.  Within that program, our work has a number of "lottery slots" for four week programs where you work with a personal trainer for an hour a day, five days a week.  I could sit here and tell you I know everything they're going to tell me about cardio and strength training, as I've been there before.  Sad that I've let that all go to waste.  During the upcoming week, I'll be getting "assessed", body comp analyzed, and all those other things that make you come face to face with the fact that...  well...  you're fat.

I normally bemoan the tendency of media and people in general to use ever-increasing hype and sensationalism to make points or to get attention.  Therefore, to sit here and say "this is a last chance" would probably be overly dramatic.  On the other hand, It's not a stretch to look at my current state and say I'm living on borrowed time.  

Kinetix won't fix all my other problems, such as my pigpen of an office, lack of focus, feeling pulled in 20 directions, etc.  But if I can at least get something moving on my health, I would hope that it would translate to more energy to clean up other areas.  And to say I *know* this will work would be a lie, as I've said the same thing about weight watchers, jenny craig, and every other attempt to battle my weight over the years.  But I've not undertaken those at apoint in life (likely fewer years looking forward than back) and realized that the 3rd quarter is clicking down, and the score doesn't look good for the home team.

So if I seem a bit withdrawn over the next few weeks, you'll know that my mental state isn't the greatest.  Either that, or I'm unable to move after the trainer has gotten done with me...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 6:44 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (22)

03/17/2009

The Flickr photoset of our cruise...

Category Everything Else
A picture named M2

Click the photo above to head over to Flickr and see the whole set...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 6:29 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

03/17/2009

Recapping the rest of the cruise (a few days late, but who cares?)

Category Everything Else
So as I left everyone in the last installment, I was relaxing in the room with a number of bruises, cuts, and scrapes from my "up close" experience with the rocks in Samana...

Antigua followed Tortola, and we had nothing planned for there.  Sue was rather toasted from her day in Tortola, and was not up for anything major.  I was watching various spots on my body turn colorful shades of black, blue, and yellow.  So it ended up being another rest day...  I must say that I'm missing not being able to take morning and afternoon naps every day now.

Barbados was next, and Sue and I took the Flavor of Barbados tour.  It started at a mahogany craft factory, where all the pieces are done by sanding (no saws or chisels).  They demo'd the process for us (quite fascinating, actually), and then we wandered the gift shop to support the local economy.  I ended up with a very nice mahogany pencil/pen holder in a matte finish.  It looks classy and smells wonderful.  For a stop I thought would be a throwaway location, it was one of the best stops.  Next was Sunbury House, a plantation house from back when they had a full-scale sugar plantation there.  And finally, the Foursquare Distillery, where they make RUM!  Again, interesting stuff to see how they've automated and computerized the whole process, and how it is a carbon-neutral cycle.  I had a hard time not comparing it to the Scotch Experience in Edinburgh, where you see how things are still very much handcrafted.  I think I appreciated the history of Scotch much more than the history of rum...

Our final stop before the two days at sea getting back to Miami was St. Lucia.  That was a highlight!  We hired a van and driver who had rave reviews on the 'net, and paid the extra $20 per person ($75 total per person) to keep it to the four of us (another couple that Sue knows from work).  It was incredible.  The driver used to be a police officer on the island, and now does tours and taxi services.  He stopped at places we normally wouldn't give a second thought to (roadside banana groves where we had bananas straight off the trees), but he knew the people and we got exceptional service.  We went to a waterfall area, had some great jerk chicken, went to the sulfur springs which are part of a volcano (*really* smelly!), visited beautiful beaches, etc.  The best part is that we really felt like we had visited the island and gotten to make new friends rather than just be herded along as part of a tour.

The last two days on board were our final chance to get our sun and relaxation in.  The highlight of those two days was the stage show that the ship had the final night...  Cirque Bijou.  It's modeled after the more well-known Cirque, but it was one of the most adventurous shows I've seen a cruise ship attempt.  Gymnastics, aerial routines with fabric streamers hung from the ceiling, a contortionist who was painfully flexible, singing, dancing, etc.  I would have been entertained had it been a regular theater production in a fixed location.  To pull something like this off on a moving ship in a confined area was incredible.

Reality intruded on Sunday when we had to make the long flight home.  Everything was relatively on time, but eight hours on a plane is not fun, especially when you know you'll get home at around 9:30 pm and have to head to work at 6 am the next morning...  Oh, well...  such is life.

Looking back at the cruise, I think I can say it was a successful vacation.  I came back rested and relaxed, albeit with a few more scabs than I arrived with.  I think I read about nine books, which was about what I was expecting (most of them were in the 150 - 250 page range, not very long).  But I think most importantly, I was again faced with the reality that no matter how bad or "rough" I think I may have it at times, it is nothing compared to what many others deal with on a daily basis.  I don't spend 75% of my day without electricity, nor do I have to go out searching for water sources for the day.  I have a job that pays me very well, far in excess of what one needs to meet bare essentials.  I have a perfectly adequate home, with an abundance of extra space compared to what others have to live in.  No, our health care in America is not free, but it is available and and well-equipped.  And I have opportunities to experience things that others can't even conceive of.  Yes, while compared to others around me, I may be "middle class".  But compared to much of the rest of the world, I have wealth and abundance beyond measure.

It's a reality check that we all need to experience more often than we do.

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:37 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

03/09/2009

Cruise recap - days 1 through 3

Category Everything Else
Ah, yes... life is now grand.  :)

Monday morning, 10 am'ish...  Like time matters on a ship.

The overnight flight to get to Miami was smooth, the luggage arrived with no issues, and we got checked into the ship on Friday.  Our room is great!  Aft with a balcony, 9th floor.  You truly can sit on the balcony and watch the world go by.  And the beds are an upgrade from last time with memory foam toppers.  I've slept more in the last three days than I've slept in the last three weeks.  :)

Saturday was a day at sea in full relaxation mode.  Read, napped, read, napped, ate, read, napped...  The evening show was called Band On The Run, a retro stage show covering those hot tunes of the 70's.  Funny that I can't remember to take out the trash, but I knew almost all the words to the songs.  I also sat in on a digital photo lecture, with one of the most obnoxious lecturers I've ever listened to.  In his seventies, sounded half-tanked, off-color "jokes", and material that could have been covered in 5 minutes instead of 45.  He's supposed to do two other lectures on the last days at sea, covering digital editing.  No *way* am I subjecting myself to that (more on Mr. Obnoxious in a bit).

Yesterday was the stop in Samana, and a tour of the highlights as well as a beach stop.  Now, to be fair, they *did* say the roads would be "rough".  That was an understatement.  We were in safari type vehicles, on "main" roads, and seldom got above 20 mph because of all the ruts and ditches.  And when we *really* went off-road, it was even worse.  Two hours or so out, another two getting back, and every bone in your body was moved to places they've never been before...

We saw a place called the Devil's Mouth, a rock formation where the sea shoots up through blowholes.  Quite stunning, as you could walk right up to the edge.  I can tell you from first-hand experience that the rock formations are very sharp, as I took a tumble and sliced up my knee and leg pretty well.  Yes, pictures will be forthcoming when I get back to locations that have better internet connectivity than a 56kb satellite uplink.  The beach was spectacular, and that will be a memorable stretch of sand and waves.  

Oh, and Mr. Obnoxious?  He decided to take the same tour, and unfortunately was in the same safari truck.  He was acting like he was the tour guide, complete with stupid, off-color, AND offensive jokes.  Imagine the nerdy kid in school who keeps repeating the same stuff until someone acknowledges him, and he thinks he's the funniest person there...  Never have I felt the need to comment to management about someone's behavior, but this will be a first.  It was bad enough to listen to him at a lecture.  To be subjected to him as a fellow tourist who thinks he is special because he works for the ship is just too much.  By the end of the trip, everyone was trying to make sure they didn't talk with him or sit next to him....  Other than that, it was a unique trip.  :)

We're in Tortola today, and my wife is going out exploring with the other couple we know on the ship.  My knee is rather stiff from yesterday, so I'm going to take it easy and rest up for the other ports (Barbados, Antigua, and other locations).  I'd love to spend more time on the net, but it's 250 minutes for $100, so it's compose offline, upload, check for emergency emails, and then get off. :)  Yes, I'm going cold-turkey (almost)....

Last observation...  If you think your life is tough, and that the world events are completely overwhelming, consider a visit to a place like Samana.  It's not built-up much, and the poverty level is staggering.  Houses that would be declared "uninhabitable" in the States, housing large extended families.  People sitting around as there's not much else to do.  Goats, chickens, dogs, horses wandering around (no offense meant there, Francie!)  Gas stations are roadside shelves with green wine bottles filled with gas.  Stores are as big as your kitchen, and that's all you have to choose from.  While the tour guide said people are happy the cruise ship stops here now, I couldn't help but think that there was resentment as trucks full of white tourists drove by, brought there by a cruise that costs more than they earn in a year, and we'll be back on board that night eating lobster.

I'm pretty sure that losing 50% in the stock market is irrelevant to them...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 5:50 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (3)

02/11/2009

Take 2... and action! Today I accomplished a major financial milestone... The mortgage is history!

Category Everything else
OK...  So back on January 11th, I excitedly blogged that we had paid off our mortgage.  Celebration ensued, and joy spread throughout the land...

Now, think about those stories where Bob and Sally have been married for 20 years, only to find out their papers were never filed, therefore making their marriage legally invalid.

Fast forward to this week...

I received notice from the Post Office Monday that they couldn't deliver a piece of certified mail from Wachovia.  Hey, must be our title to the house!  So on Tuesday, I took a couple different busses, stood in a rain/snow mix, stopped at the post office, and eventually got home with the letter.  Only to find...  my returned "final" check, and a form letter stating that a payoff of a mortgage had to be via "certified funds".  Furthermore, the final payoff amount they needed (including fees and per diem interest) was only valid through February 6th, and the letter arrived on the 10th.

You mean to tell me that you've taken my money for nearly 20 years, with some lump sum payments being larger than the one for our final payment, and all of a sudden my check isn't good enough for you???

<insert all sorts of evil thoughts and rantings about banks who take billions in bailout funds, blah, blah, blah>  

Needless to say, I was *not* a happy camper when I called them this morning asking for an updated payoff listing...  now.  Rather than mess with "certified funds", I had my local bank wire the payoff today.  It was worth the $25 wire transfer fee to know it was there, electronically acknowledged, and much harder to ignore.

So...  as of TOMORROW, we will have paid off the mortgage once again.  Celebration will once again ensue (albeit somewhat more subdued), and joy will once again spread throughout the land (with the exception of North Carolina, where the carcass of Wachovia rests)...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 4:08 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (5)

01/28/2009

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit in on a tech interview for a potential candidate...

Category Everything Else
I obviously haven't been on a full-fledged job interview in quite awhile, so it was interesting to be sitting on the other side of the table while coworkers asked questions to gauge the technical expertise of the applicant.

As I watched this transpire, I had the same feeling I get when I sit in a session at Lotusphere with some of the top-end gurus of our community...

Never assume you've arrived, and that you know all you need to know.  There are always people out there that know far more than you, and reputation can only take you so far.  You need to know the basics, and have them down cold.  And you better be able to explain how you got to the answer you arrived at.  It may not even be right, but there should be a train of thought that got you there.

I came away more humbled and educated than when I went in.  Not only was I challenged to know my art and profession as well as I can, but I also learned valuable skills in how to interview people.

A crazy day it was, but very profitable...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 4:50 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (1)

01/26/2009

This is just nuts...

Category Everything Else
A picture named M2

A picture named M3

I realize for a Brill or Vowe, these counts would be closer to hourly totals for them.  But in my little pond, the ripples are rather impressive.  And here I thought I'd have my first 1000 hit day while I was at Lotusphere.  :)

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 7:26 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

01/11/2009

Today I accomplished a major financial milestone... The mortgage is history!

Category Everything Else
Three or four years ago, we attended Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University series at a local church.  While we weren't financial basket cases, we knew we could be doing so much better with what we had.  Bills were paid, food was on the table, cars were paid off, but I can't say we felt financially "secure"...

Within a short period of time, my wife and I got on a budget that we've kept up consistently.  That in itself was a major stress reliever, as Susan knew what money she had to spend, and I wasn't worried about "cash flow".  We put together the start of our emergency fund (the $1000 goal for those who know the DR method), and we reviewed what we had in the way of debt.  No car payments helped (one of the few good things financially that came from Enron), and the credit cards were pretty minor.  Within six months, we were working on our 3 to 6 month emergency fund.

Fast forward to now...  Ian's tuition at Portland State is part of our monthly budget, so no loans there.  We use cash for the categories that Susan manages (groceries, household, etc.) and one credit card for bill payments (the stuff I take care of, like utilities, tuition, etc.), but we record it in the checkbook as a debit expenditure.  The bill then gets paid off with no interest charge, and we get our air miles.  The 401K is at the max for company match.  I could be doing MUCH better there, but I got a late start.  I *can* retire some day...  when I'm 87.  :)  

The only real debt that we still had was the mortgage.  We refinanced back in the late 90's for a 15 year loan, so it was always the plan to have it paid off around 2011 or so.  But still...  to be *sooo* close to having it over with.  Some of my side gigs with writing have paid off well, and I've been making some chunk payments to bring the remaining balance down even more.  With a writing check I got at the end of 2008, I decided to use most of that to give myself a late Christmas present...  no debt and a paid-off mortgage.

Where do we go from here?  Now we start to build up the emergency fund to a true six month level.  Of course, not having a mortgage as part of your budget makes that a lot easier (more money to put towards it, and less monthly expenditures to save for).  We really need to be putting more away for retirement, too.  But getting the buffer fund fully built up will be a nice feeling, especially in this economy.

We've been truly blessed to be in this position.  I would strongly recommend Dave Ramsey's program to anyone who is struggling to get on top of their financial life.  It's not smoke-and-mirrors, and it requires some hard decisions if you've overused credit in the past.  But even taking the first step towards financial freedom is a great feeling, and the momentum builds quickly...

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 12:14 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (15)

01/09/2009

Is there a morality of "acceptable profitability" in these tough economic times?

Category Everything Else
Something that's been rattling around my brain for the past few weeks...

A few months back, I remember a news item about Starbucks warning of a challenging 2009, and that their growth was going to be less than projected.  They were still going to grow, mind you, just not as much as during the last few years.  Companies that are used to profits of 7 - 15% are considered to have "dismal" results if growth was only 1 - 2%.  Compare that to auto companies and banks that are reporting true losses of billions every quarter, and *any* growth appears to border on an epic win.

The normal Wall Street view is that companies must continue to maintain solid growth, or the stock gets hammered.  With that same mindset, companies look to trim expenses and lay off staff so that they can somehow attempt to achieve something close to what Wall Street expects.  In many cases, it's not a matter of avoiding losing money, but a matter of trying to maintain some level of growth.

In the face of job losses that come close to setting records, should we as a country set aside the profitable growth goals and attempt to "break even" instead?  Granted, this isn't a viable long-term position, but breaking even and providing jobs seems more responsible than cutting jobs to continue to grow and turn a profit.

Extremely simplistic, but I just wanted to get that out of my head and on "paper".

Posted by Thomas 'Duffbert' Duff At 7:42 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (6)

12/27/2008

Looking forward to our vacation cruise in March...

Category Everything Else
After our two weeks of snow, my mind has turned to our cruise in March.  I was looking at the invoice, and decided it might be nice to know where I'm going.  :)  In our house, my wife plans the cruise a year in advance, and I start paying attention about three weeks out.

In this case, I knew it was a southern Caribbean route, but I would have been hard-pressed to tell you exactly what that entailed.  So here it is:
 
Day          Port          Arrive          Depart
Fri         Miami         -         4:00 PM
Sat         At Sea         -         -
Sun         Samana         10:00 AM         6:00 PM
Mon         Tortola         10:00 AM         6:30 PM
Tue         Antigua         8:00 AM         5:00 PM
Wed         Barbados         9:00 AM         6:00 PM
Thu         St. Lucia         8:00 AM         5:00 PM
Fri         At Sea         -         -
Sat         At Sea         -         -
Sun         Miami         8:00 AM

I think I can handle that...  :)  

A picture named M2

Posted by Thomas Admin Duff At 2:18 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (1)

11/04/2008

An incredible night in America...

Category Everything Else
In past elections, I watched with a certain feeling of detachment...  a feeling that it really didn't matter one way or another who won, because nothing would change anyway.

Tonight's the first time I actually teared up for an election result.

Obama won't be perfect.  The honeymoon will be short, I have no doubt.  But for the first time in years, I have hope that things will be different.  

And for once, I was there to listen to a speech that will become a classic...  one that will not be forgotten with the passage of time.

Perhaps there's a chance that we really can move past our differences, and join together to improve America.

Posted by Thomas Admin Duff At 9:34 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (9)

10/20/2008

Surviving the Pink Slip

Category Everything Else Software Development

From Kurt Cagle on O'Reilly's website: Surviving the Pink Slip

An excellent article on surviving when your job is a victim of today's economic crisis...  It won't make the pain go away, but it can help you start to move in a positive direction.

Everyone's been nervous for months, watching the market numbers, the stock prices, the declining sales figures. In the IT department, it's not uncommon to see programmers with one window open on code, the second on the app the code's supposed to generate ... and the third on a steady stream of plummeting financial indexes and bad news about the economy. Then, about two in the afternoon, your project manager taps you on the shoulder - special meeting in ten minutes. When you stand up from your cubicle and look around, you notice that there are several security types idling in the hallway ... and you know, instinctively, what that meeting's going to be about.

The message is usually the same - sales have dropped precipitously, management's cutting back everywhere they can. The project you're working on is important - you knew it was important when you signed on for it six months ago, but it's completion is still a few months out, and they haven't even ramped up marketing for it.

It's an all too common scenario, one that is happening more and more frequently as the economy continues its decline. The tightness of credit, the decline in disposable income and the uncertainty about the future all contribute to an environment where job losses are becoming far more frequent, even in supposedly safe areas like high tech.

There are, however, a number of things that you can do both before and after getting that pink slip to ease the transition into a new opportunity, especially if you're in IT. How to handle losing a job is something that a lot of employment agencies (and unemployment agencies) for that matter, special in, but its also worth keeping in mind that the way that you deal with jobs is a lot like the job market itself - it evolves over time, and what may have worked earlier may not be as applicable in this day and age.

Thus, the first steps towards becoming gainfully unemployed is to keep the following in mind:

more

Posted by Thomas Admin Duff At 6:54 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

10/16/2008

"Think Globally, Act Locally"... does that apply to our Presidential elections?

Category Everything Else

One of the "green" sayings that is often quoted is "think globally, act locally".  Normally this is applied to making wise personal decisions that show responsible behavior towards the global ecosystem.  But lately, the same phrase has been echoing in my mind in terms of our Presidential elections.  Should we be thinking globally when we vote locally?

The article that triggered this post today was from CNN titled Europe mocks 'half-baked Alaskan' Palin.  The journalist gets bonus points for the creative food reference.  But this quote struck me as critical:

 For Europeans, who were alienated during George W. Bush's first four years by a president who showed little interest in their continent and patently cared nothing for the opinions of its leaders, the turning point probably came with the appearance on the Katie Couric show when Palin confessed to not having had a passport until 2006.

Europeans are appalled at the thought that someone who wants to be vice president of the most powerful nation on earth had so little interest in the rest of a world which is so vitally affected by the decisions of the man, or woman, in the White House.

If we were a nation of a million people tucked into the corner of some continent, I would think that no one much would care *who* we elect.  But for better or worse, the United States exerts a huge amount of influence on the world stage.  While tempting to say it's nobody's business who we elect, I would beg to differ.  Our decision to invade Iraq has had ramifications for the entire Middle East.  Our system of capitalism and "big business" has contributed mightily to the current financial crisis engulfing the world.  And the leader of our country is one of a small handful of people who could end life as we know it on the planet with a simple command to launch a missile.  Do you think that the world has a stake in who we elect?

I think I first became exposed to this "global" responsibility when I read and reviewed the book America Misunderstood.  It was the first time I had been exposed in large part to non-American media views on our Presidential process.  I guess I could consider that a major step in my political maturation process...  coming to the conclusion that it's not "all about us".

To be clear, I'm not advocating that we open up our election process to six billion people.  It's still important and vital that we elect a leader who can guide our country, understanding that there will always be times where we're not in agreement with our allies.  But electing someone who only has "Joe Six-Pack" as their target constituency is a recipe for disaster in our global interactions.  In addition to having a leader that we can be confident in, we also need a leader who will not be dismissed on the world stage.  

And yes, I personally think we're in danger of doing just that if we're not careful...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:07 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

10/04/2008

I work with a great community of people...

Category Everything Else

As part of my Articles of Interest project, I'm going back through over a year of tagged RSS entries to pull out things that mean a lot to me.  What quickly became interesting is how often certain names and blogs appeared repeatedly.  Chris Blatnick shows up quite often, and I think everything Andre Guirard ever blogged has been copied over.  :)  All in all, I think most of the Notes community makes an appearance (or 10) in my new repository.

Thanks to everyone who shares what they know.  It's this collaboration that makes us so strong and freaky-smart!

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:31 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

10/04/2008

So do you keep an electronic "Articles of Interest" database?

Category Everything Else

I finally spent some time this week starting a project that's been gnawing away at me for awhile.  It started when I looked at my Starred category on Google Reader and found there were over 500 entries out there.  Some items were Notes tips I wanted to look at later, some were great posts on public speaking and presentations, tech how-to's, cool software...  you get the idea.  But listed as they are in a single category in Google Reader, they might as well have been missing in action.  I decided I had to fix that.

My new "Articles of Interest" application is nothing more than a database in Notes based on the Personal Journal template.  Going through my starred entries starting in June of 2007, I pasted the title link, date, and content of the RSS feed into the body of the document, added the title and date to the fields up on top, and then categorized it by name of poster/site and the type of content (Notes Tips, Cool Software, Personal Improvement, etc.)  I'm up to May of 2008 now, and in the next couple of days I hope to have my Starred category count down to zero.  Then I can use this new database to see what I actually have, and try out some of the tips I had forgotten about.

If you don't have something like this, you should really consider doing so.  You may only have two or three entries a week you want to keep, but those keepers could be what bails you out of a problem down the road.

(Yes, I know you can always search via Google to refind the information.  But if you forgot the tip existed in the first place, what's going to jog your memory to know what to be looking for?  I'd rather just quickly peruse a view to find it.)

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:23 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (5)

10/02/2008

The Workspace Picture meme...

Category Everything Else

Since my home workspace is a real mess (and doesn't have any cool toys compared to the rest of you), you get to see my Cubeville location instead...

A picture named M2

A picture named M3

It's quite amazing how much cleaner this space is than my home space...

Actually, it's quite sad...  sigh...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:25 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (4)

09/19/2008

Approximately one year from now, someone's going to ask me to review a book titled...

Category Everything Else

... something like The Great Depression 2.0: How America Avoided Financial and Economic Ruin In 2008.  In it, they'll tell the "inside story" about the events leading up to the last two weeks on Wall Street, as well as an hour-by-hour account of all the backroom deals and discussions between the government and major financial institutions.  

I'll likely criticize the book for having 20-20 hindsight, making some events look much more momentous and significant than they were at the time, while making other decisions look obvious now that the events have run their course.

But there will be one part of the book that I think will be chilling and scary, and will come as a surprise to the vast majority of the American public....

... and that's how close we likely came to a full-blown economic meltdown that would have made the bank runs during the Great Depression (1.0) look tame by comparison.


Of course, all this assumes that we actually *make* it through the next year relatively intact.

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:46 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

08/30/2008

Thanks to everyone who commented on my "down in the dumps" post on Monday...

Category Everything Else

It's always a great reminder that you're not out there, going it alone.  

I *have* actually said no to a couple things this week, instead of offering up the "let me know if you need help" trigger statement.  I also got on top of a couple issues that were kicking my butt.  Overall, I'm feeling much better about things.

It's not possible to just snap your fingers and restart at a baseline of zero, but I'm making progress.

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:11 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (4)

08/25/2008

I can't do it all...

Category Everything Else

I'm finally coming to the conclusion that I can't do it all.  I continually think that one more thing can be added to the pile.  "Sure, I can do that!"  

Until the point when my "underpromise, overdeliver" motto comes crashing down to "overpromise, underdeliver".

And of course, the faster I run trying to get caught up, the more room I think I have on my plate to do other things.  And the cycle perpetuates itself.

Contrary to what others may think, I *don't* have 28 hours in my day.  I'm not even doing a good job anymore with the 24 that I *do* have.

All those things I *want* to do, both personal and professional, end up getting tossed to the side as good intentions, bullied out by the "urgent".

I need to step off this carousel, sit on the bench for awhile, and really think about what I'm doing and where I'm going.

Because the logical outcome of the path I'm currently on is not one I care to be part of...

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:12 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (11)

08/24/2008

This is why I have such a hard time donating blood...

Category Everything Else

As Mr. Litton well knows, I'm not a huge fan of needles.  Back *many* years ago, I attempted to give blood at a company blood drive.  After about five attempts on both arms, they thought that perhaps they should stop trying as I was not looking exactly well.  That was the last attempt at blood donation for over 20 years.  

I decided to overcome my fear a couple years ago and tried again.  The first three sessions went OK.  But the last two have been less than successful.  Even after letting them know I'm overweight, my veins don't behave, and I don't like needles, they still think it's all OK.

Instead, they get no blood, and I get this:

A picture named M2

Bleech!

Posted by Tom Duff At 1:04 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (7)

07/24/2008

For those who wondered about the caffeine table in the Maker's Notebook...

Category Everything Else

... here's the low-down:
Substance
Ounces
Milligrams
Coca-Cola Classic
12
35
Pepsi
12
38
Sunkist
12
41
Dr Pepper
12
41
Diet Coke, Tab
12
47
Yerba Mate tea
8
50
Tea, green or black
8
50
Mountain Dew
12
54
Red Bull
8.3
80
Foosh Energy Mint
1:100
Espresso shot
1
65-130
Coffee
8
65-120
Yerba Mate, traditional
6
110
Full Throttle
16
144
Rockstar
16
160
Monster Energy
16
160
SoBe No Fear Super Energy
16
174
Jolt
23.5
280
Cocaine Energy Drink
8.4
280


Let's see...  given this chart, I get approximately...  450 to 600 milligrams a day...  on a "normal" day.  It has gone much higher than that.

And I wonder why my caffeine tolerance is so high...  as I finish off the two liter bottle of Diet Dr Pepper.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:31 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (6)

07/21/2008

Had to pick up one more .me domain I uncovered today... proveitto.me

Category Everything Else

Now if I can find a couple companies to buy it and youwantapieceof.me from me for a bit o'cash...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:14 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

07/13/2008

Will Americans ever "sacrifice" again?

Category Everything Else

A picture named M2

Back in the 40's, World War II was something that galvanized our country in a way that I don't believe has been seen since.  It was considered patriotic to sacrifice your own needs so that more material could be allocated to the troops overseas.  Goods were rationed, and people were encouraged to buy war bonds to finance the effort.

These days, the average citizen is completely disconnected from any "war effort" that may be going on.  Other than to follow the news and have opinions as to the rightness/wrongness of it all, nothing much changes in the lives of John Doe, unless Mr. Doe was called up from the National Guard and Ms. Doe and children are now left on their own.  There's no thought as to conserving for the war effort, nor do we give financially in a way that ties directly to the war effort.  Yes, I know we give in terms of "national debt", but it's not as if we go out and buy bonds like they did back then.

I'm curious...  will America ever voluntarily sacrifice like that again?  Will there ever be a movement in our culture that calls upon everyone to pitch in and contribute to a greater good?  Is there any connection any more to what we spend/do and what the government does?  Or do we all just assume that the government will spend as they please, and we really don't need to do anything different?  Could it be that we've not had an enemy since World War II that *truly* threatens our shores with armed conflict and battle?  Or have we just become so jaded and cynical as a society that we really are more concerned about "getting ours" than "giving to others"?

Just one of those things that always run through my mind when I see photos from the 40's, and try to imagine how Americans would react to being told they *had* to ration goods in order to win a war somewhere.  

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:50 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (5)

06/18/2008

Thanks for the Twitter help with cameras last night, everyone...

Category Everything Else

Due to some unexpected generosity, I find myself with an Amazon gift certificate of substantial worth.  (Thanks!)  I've decided that I'm going to use this to help offset the plunge into the world of digital SLR cameras.  I was looking at a package for the Canon Digital Rebel XSi with 18-55mm lens for around $850.  But I was also pointed in the direction of the Nikon D60.  I can get that one with *two* lens (18-55mm and 55-200mm) for less than $800, and that seems to be a far better deal for someone like myself who is looking at entry level options.

I know there are a ton of really good photographers in the Lotus community, and I have no doubt there are strong Canon vs. Nikon vs. Olympus vs. whatever arguements on both sides.  But it sounds as if we're at the point of most of these cameras being very high quality, as well as being very acceptable for a photo noob like me.

I think I'll mull it over while working today, and then pull the trigger tonight.  I know I'll have to get an SD card for it (4 vs 8 gb?), and I'll probably buy a UV filter to protect the lens (those are pretty cheap also).  And with that, I think I'll have enough to launch myself on a hobby that will suck up any discretionary income I might find lying around.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:00 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (9)

06/12/2008

A Green Door

Category Everything Else

A Green Door

An old city of hills, of stairs,
And on one street, a green door.
On my own, I'd pay it no mind,
too concerned about my destination, my task.

But this time, the green door was the destination.
Not knowing what to expect, I stepped through the entry,
to find myself standing at the base of a winding stairway, looking up,
climbing steps of stone, worn smooth by the travels of many before me.

The journey up takes effort, both physical and emotional.
But at the top of the climb is another door.
One of friendship, of acceptance, of laughter.
Of sharing, of openness.
Of talks, of silence.
A feeling of being home, half a world away.

Tomorrow I'll wake up in another place known as home,
surrounded by the comfortable and familiar.
But things will forever be different.

I've learned that a home is more than a building and possessions.
It's family and friends that accept you for who you are.
Relationships that transcend country and culture.

How many green doors have I ignored in my life?
How many stairways have I passed by,
thinking the climb to be too much of a risk?

One anonymous green door in an old city of many doors,
of many different colors.
But now it's the door in that city that means
more to me than all the others.

Posted by Tom Duff At 3:01 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (7)

05/17/2008

Time to step away from the keyboard for the day...

Category Everything Else

While spending most of the day at the keyboard was not my first choice in Saturday activities, I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the first time in about six months.  I caught up on a number of book reviews on stuff I had finished but that were piled on the corner of my desk.  I wrote two articles for the June issue of the LotusUserGroup.org Developer Tips newsletter.  I reviewed a number of items on another writing project I have going.  Getting all these things done today means that I can focus tomorrow on my ILUG presentation.

Add in a mowed lawn, small grocery store trip, picking up some meds for Ian, and I feel like I actually did something rather that fritter away the day, only to feel swamped on Sunday.

I don't think I quite grasped how much mental drain these things have been placing on me over the last few months.  Once ILUG is done, I'll actually be free of any upcoming writing assignments or demands other than the monthly newsletter.

Oh, when are the abstracts for Lotusphere 2009 due?

It never ends.

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:55 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

04/15/2008

My feelings aside about the whole polygamous issue...

Category Everything Else

(for those of you not in the US, here's but one of many links to the story...)

The officials are claiming they got a call from a 16 year old girl who was forced into an arranged marriage in the sect, and was subsequently abused.  Now that they've removed over 400 children from the ranch, they still can't figure out if they have the girl who originally placed the call.

I can't get rid of this nagging feeling that perhaps the whole call was a ruse or set-up, designed to give officials the reason they needed to raid the ranch.  It is a tricky situation, pitting religious freedoms against federal law and potential child abuse issues.  If indeed there were cases of child abuse (and 13 or 14 year olds being put into arranged marriages might well qualify), then someone does need to step in.  But if this was a case of manufacturing "evidence" in order to "legally" act, then everyone loses.

And it's for sure that we've seen enough manufactured evidence over the last seven years...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:37 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (4)

04/13/2008

Are political journalists falling prey to technological misdirection?

Category Everything Else

From Nieman Watchdog: Are political journalists falling prey to technological misdirection?

David Gewirtz is the ZATZ editor who sort of uncovered the major "missing email" scandal in the Current White House administration, and has done an excellent job in turning over stones to get at the real truth behind this story.  This article does a nice job in consolidating the major points of what's going on, and why it's a problem...

Here are five important points – somewhat self-evident to e-mail experts -- that journalists are overlooking.

#1: The White House’s e-mail archiving system is wildly inadequate to the point of negligence.

#2: The White House apparently had no good reason to switch e-mail systems in the first place.

#3: The Hatch Act has made it much too easy to bypass the Presidential Records Act.

#4: Insecure messaging puts national security at risk.

#5: And what about all those amazing gadgets?

If you haven't followed the story to date, or you're struggling to explain it to others, this article should cover both of those scenarios easily.

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:45 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

03/26/2008

Getting old, looking old, and *acting* old...

Category Everything Else

So about a year ago I did some physical therapy for a neck issue that started out as a stiff neck after a day of computing and spread to agony down the left arm.  Imagine someone digging around with an ice pick, and you're somewhat close.  There was nothing significantly wrong with the neck...  just a small shift in a vertebra putting pressure on a nerve.  The therapy involved some neck traction to open up the area a bit and relieve the pressure.

Fast forward to now, and I'm dealing with the same issue (yes, I've started to slouch at the keyboard again...  I'm a PROGRAMMER!)  Rather than spend the next three weeks going to therapy, I decided to get one of those soft neck collars you see Jerry Springer-types wear to convince the world they have severe whiplash and should be awarded $3 million in damages for the fender bender...  I refuse to wear it outside the house or at work, but it *does* make a difference.  Picked it up at the pharmacy this afternoon and put it on when I got home.  This is the best my arm's felt in days.  Of course, I look like a total idiot with this big white thing around my neck.  On the other hand, I'm probably two inches taller now.  :)

Surprisingly, Ian didn't give me too much grief for it.  It's only because he's dealing with his own shoulder injury (possible rotator cuff tear), and he understands how important pain relief is (regardless of how ridiculous it may look).  

I can now empathize with how those African women feel...  those ones that wear the rings around their necks.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:11 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (4)

02/21/2008

Cool... he even got his own press release! Binary Tree Appoints New Vice President of Research / Development

Category Everything Else

 Binary Tree Appoints New Vice President of Research & Development

NEWARK, N.J., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Binary Tree announced today the appointment of their new Vice President of Research and Development. Mr. Bob Balaban comes to Binary Tree after a long and successful career as a technical expert on IBM and other collaboration technologies.

Most recently, Mr. Balaban worked for IBM's Lotus Notes and Domino development organization as Programming Services Architect, where he led efforts to revitalize Domino Web application development. Mr. Balaban was also lead architect for Notes/SAP integration.

Prior to his stint at IBM, Mr. Balaban spent 8 years as President of Looseleaf Software, Inc., an IBM Business Partner specializing in advanced development work for Notes/Domino add-ons and for J2EE product integration. While at Looseleaf, Mr. Balaban was responsible for a number of innovative products and advanced training courses, and he was also the author of a book, 'Programming Domino With Java.'

Before founding Looseleaf Software, he spent 10 years as a Senior Developer with Lotus Development Corp. and Iris Associates, creators of Lotus Notes and Domino. Among other things, Mr. Balaban created the Notes object model, and was the author of the Notes 'back-end classes.' He was also the lead architect for the Notes Agent Manager.

Mr. Balaban's role as the new Vice President of Research and Development at Binary Tree will allow him to focus on new product development, refining internal development processes, and contributing to overall company development and business strategy.

"As the first Vice President of Research & Development in Binary Tree's 15-year history, Mr. Balaban brings rich experience in helping Binary Tree expand its presence in the market-place through the establishment of a professionally-designed and executed Research & Development program," states Henry Bestritsky, Co-CEO of Binary Tree. "We are honored to have Bob join Binary Tree. He is an excellent fit for assisting us in taking Binary Tree to the next level."

Go, Bob!

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:57 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

02/15/2008

Interesting new virus/trojan/whatever delivery technique met me at home today...

Category Everything Else

I had this sitting on my Skype client when I came home from work...

A picture named M2

Sneaky!

I see out on Google that a few others have started getting this from onlinemon.info also...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:39 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (1)

02/09/2008

I have often lamented that cars today all look the same...

Category Everything Else

Nearly every sedan looks like every other sedan.  Even Cadillacs have downsized and have started to take on the look of everything else.

But as this picture from Shorpy shows, it's not a new phenomenon...  :)

A picture named M2

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:59 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

01/17/2008

All in all, a very nice day at DisneyWorld

Category Everything Else

The day started off early with our Segway tour at 7:45 am.  I thought it was Friday, but that's why I'm not the planner of these things.  Bottom line...  Segways are cool!

A picture named M2

The rain held off long enough for us to be able to do the full tour.  Then as we were exiting World Showcase, we stumbled upon the Dream Team, the group of Disney employees that hand out the gifts as part of Disney's Year of a Million Dreams.  We ended up with a FastPass card for six Epcot rides.  It's not a night in the Castle, but it still works...  I also got a great video of the Jamitors doing their Epcot gig as well as the Beauty and the Beast preshow put on by Four for a Dollar.  If I can figure out how to scale them down far enough, I'll post to YouTube.

Nice dinner at Coral Reef...  A couple of issues handled with Disney Magic flair...

This is why I have so much fun here...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:31 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (2)

01/15/2008

The Mac-boys are closing in around me...

Category Everything Else

Most of my close colleagues are using Macs.  I've been the PC holdout.  Hate Vista, XP works, etc., etc...

But now, Ian (my son) purchased a laptop for college work, and he opted for a Macbook.  It arrived yesterday, and he's loving it.  I have this sneaking suspicion that I'm going to have to consider that option seriously the next time I upgrade laptops.

Meanwhile, I'll just have to be happy with the fact that I beat Ian to the iPhone 1.1.3 upgrade.  :)  He's not taking that one well...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:05 PM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (4)

01/01/2008

One more Christmas YouTube video...

Category Everything Else

The Little Drummer Boy - Twin Lakes Church

As my boss put it...  "Little Drummer Boy meets Stomp"...  Excellent stuff!

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:00 AM Location Portland, Oregon | | Comments (0)

12/12/2007

I'm getting old... Things are changing...

Category Everything Else
You know (hope!) that someday the nestlings will leave and strike out on their own.  We had a sneak preview of that when Ian went off to Orlando and DisneyWorld for internships.  Now it's Cam's turn.  He's decided to move in with a number of his friends in a large house not too far away from where he works.  It's something he's been talking about for the last six months or so, and now he's decided that the time is right.

I thought he was going to move this weekend, but Sue helped him take his belongings over to the new place today.  I don't know if he's entirely cleaned out, but it's probably close.  He's excited, and I'm happy for him.  I'm not nearly as stressed out about this one as I was with Ian going cross-country.  Something about only being about five miles away and not being diabetic, I guess.  Cam can live on peanut butter and Top Ramen if he has to.  :)  I've also made it very clear to him that if it doesn't work out, he's welcome to move back home.  We're not planning on changing the locks...  yet.

With Ian vacationing until the 17th, Sue and I are nearly "empty nesters".  

Strange stuff...

Posted by Tom Duff At 2:29 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

12/09/2007

Post to claim Technorati for http://www.duffbert.com

Category Everything Else
Technorati Profile

Posted by Tom Duff At 3:48 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

12/09/2007

Welcome to the new home of Duffbert's Random Musings... www.duffbert.com

Category Everything Else
I took some time to clean up a number of configuration issues, domain name issues, etc.  The net result is that the old twduff.com site is going to route to here now, and the main URL I'll be claiming is duffbert.com.  This is also running on a new host and server, so let me know if you see anything somewhat strange.

So please update your RSS links as well as your bookmarks to this new site...  Thanks!

Posted by Tom Duff At 3:37 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

11/23/2007

A nice view on Thanksgiving Day...

Category Everything Else
From my sister-in-law's place on Lummi Island, Washington

Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - A nice view on Thanksgiving Day...
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - A nice view on Thanksgiving Day...

Posted by Tom Duff At 2:38 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

11/17/2007

Went and saw Beowulf last night in digital 3D... amazing graphics

Category Everything Else
My wife wanted to see Beowulf when it came out, so I took her on a date last night to see it in the digital 3-D version.  While I'm not a huge fan of that time period/genre, I will say that I enjoyed the story more than I thought I would.  In addition, I was blown away by the animation and graphics...  And it had nothing to do with the "naked" Angelina Jolie.  :)

It struck me that this level of detail in computer-generated/motion-capture movies is a leap along the lines of what Pixar did with their releases.  The realism was stunning, and there were only a few moments when the animation seemed to lack the "real life" quality.  Adding in the digital 3-D aspect, it was hard *not* to become immersed in the story and events.  There were also some very humorous scenes, such as when Beowulf strips down to bare skin to battle Grendel.  Every potential frontal nudity shot had a strategically placed arm, leg, beam, or something else.  It actually reminded me of those types of scenes in the Austin Powers movies.  :)

If you're wondering how true they were to the actual story, I couldn't tell you.  As I said, I'm not into that time period, and I haven't read the story (yes, there *are* things I haven't read).  But from the perspective of someone who was just looking for a couple of hours of entertainment, Beowulf was very good.  And if you're a geek when it comes to computer animation in movies, it's a must-see.

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:52 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

10/29/2007

OSX Tiger vs. Vista vs. Ubuntu Security: A 15 Point Report Card

Category Everything Else
From Virtual Hosting Blog: OSX Tiger vs. Vista vs. Ubuntu Security: a 15 Point Report Card

Here's a nice summary of the high points of security issues related to the three major operating systems out there.  You may disagree with one or more points, but overall it's one of the better comparisons I've seen when it comes to readability...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:20 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

10/22/2007

A warm fuzzy from book reviewing...

Category Everything Else
I received the following email today from a tech book author, and it made my day (yes, it didn't take much given the way the day was going!)...

Hi!

I'm the author of Blogging For Dummies, 2nd Edition, a Wiley book due out in Februry 2008. I'm writing because I would love to use a screenshot of your blog as an example in the book.

The book covers everything from what a blog is, to setting one up, to customizing it with photos and podcasts. The book is a real how-to for all levels of computer users.

I've used a screenshot of your disclosure statement in a section of the book that is concerned with blogging when you have a job. It's a neat blog that I think people will enjoy visiting.

I can't offer renumeration, but you might get some traffic!

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me by email or by phone at <removed>. If you are willing to give your permission, please let me know ASAP so that I can send you the official form required by the publisher.

Many thanks,
Susannah Gardner.

I reviewed her book Buzz Marketing With Blogs for Dummies (very good), as well as the first edition of Blogging for Dummies (by a different author).  I thought it was rather cool that I'll have a link to Duffbert's Random Musings in a book on blogging.

While this isn't the reason I write book reviews, nor do I go out looking for these types of things, it still seems a bit unreal when I break outside my core reader audience.

As Mr. Litton said...  I guess this now makes me the ASW poster child.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:29 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

10/18/2007

OK... so *that* wasn't on the evening agenda (but technology rocks!)

Category Everything Else
So yesterday, I was prepared for a somewhat quiet evening.  But you know the definition of "life"...  that which happens between planning and reality.

Sue came downstairs around 5:30 pm saying that she just had a rapid onset of pain on her right side, complete with nausea and chills.  After 30 minutes, it was getting worse, so we called the doctor.  His instructions were to head to the emergency room post-haste.  Turns out she has a kidney stone of the 4 mm variety.  After some hydration and pain control, we got home around 11:15 pm and I took off to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions filled.  I think I finally turned out the light around 1 am or so, after sending the obligatory "I won't be into work today" email to all the people who were on my calendar.  Fortunately, she's in considerably less pain now, and with any luck all will pass (or has passed, pun somewhat intended) without any additional intervention.  But I'll be around, trying to stay awake and be available for anything she needs (such as the already-early-morning-run to the store for some fluids).

Ah, but now the inner geek takes over...  To diagnose/confirm the problem, they gave her a CAT scan.  I got to stand with the tech as the images came up on the console.  Talk about cool!  I now know my wife inside and out...  literally.  We saw the meds she had been given about 30 minutes prior (at least the ones that hadn't come back up yet).  Then we sliced through layer by layer until the stone showed up...  front to back, side to side, etc.  I think he was having just as much fun showing off as I was asking questions and watching.  In fact, when the doctor came in, he asked if I had a medical background, as I was answering some of his questions on diagnosis and location of the stone like I knew what was going on.  :)

Anyway...  today is going to be one of those days where the craving for a short nap will take over at least one.  I haven't looked in the mirror, but I'm sure the bags under my eyes have bags.  And talking about strange dreams last night...  All hospital-based, of course...

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:04 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

10/14/2007

Pictures and commentary on our Hawaiian vacation...

Category Everything Else
First off, here are the photos I took...  Yeah, I realize I don't take a lot.  I also have a video from the Flip camcorder I got before I left, but I haven't looked at that one yet.

I did start out with plans to blog the day-by-day vacation for our future review and enjoyment.  But I had absolutely *no* interest in writing or blogging much of anything this trip.  It was more important to veg out, relax, read, and nap.  That's what I needed more than anything, and it was delivered in large quantities.  :)

Some random thoughts and observations...
  • I really didn't know where we were most of the time.  We didn't go with a "must see this" list, as we've never been to Hawaii before.  But after 11 days, all the Hawaiian names start to run together.
  • The iPhone rocks...
  • Some of you might have noticed that I had a number of book reviews I posted yesterday. It might be reasonable to assume that I spent a great deal of time reading.  You'd be correct in that assumption, but wrong in the total number of books I read.  There are still more reviews I need to catch up on.  :)
  • All the native tour guides have a great deal of fun trying to get you to pronounce the name of the Hawaiian state fish.  It's humuhumunukunukuapua'a, also known as the Reef Triggerfish.  I opted for the second version more often than not.
  • They aren't Hawaiian shirts...  they are Aloha shirts.  They are considered standard clothing for men at all levels except for lawyers in front of the court.  Regardless, I won't be trying to wear one in Dublin again.  It doesn't translate culturally.  :)
  • The iPhone takes great pictures and really rocks...
  • Most cruises have non-American crew and staff.  Since Pride of Aloha is strictly cruising Hawaii, the staff and crew is almost entirely American.  While they did a good job and weren't nearly as bad as some veteran cruisers lead you to believe, there *is* a noticeable attitude difference between the two sets of workers.  
  • On the other hand, it's nice to make an observation on American society and have your waiter or bartender know exactly what you mean.
  • Sue and I spent some time in an outrigger canoe.  It's amazing how fast they can go, and that they were used for month-long trips to migrate to Hawaii.
  • It was *wonderful* to not leave the ship and be immediately set upon by taxi drivers, "tour guides", hair braiders, and drug dealers.
  • Security getting into American ports was much tighter than I expected.  We had to show personal ID and cruise ID while still on the bus, then we had to go through a full metal detector and scanner to get onto the pier to enter the ship.  And of course, you have to have your cruise ID scanned when you get on and off the ship.  On the other hand, who knows *what's* in all those shipping containers within 100 yards of the ship?
  • I thought celebrating our 25th anniversary would put us in a unique group.  Nope.  There were plenty of geriatrics on the ship, and I'm not sure 25 years would have gotten us into the 50th percentile.
  • Did I mention that I really liked my iPhone?
  • Visiting Pearl Harbor is a sobering experience.  You can "feel the ghosts" as you imagine the wave of Japanese fighter planes coming over the hills...  walking on the deck of the USS Missouri...  peering down into the underwater grave of over 1000 people on the USS Arizona.
  • As usual, the white man destroyed yet another beautiful culture.  
  • We saw the hotel where Elvis filmed Blue Hawaii.  He's still quite the personality there.  What's strange about the hotel is that it was decimated in 1992 by a hurricane.  It was abandoned at that time, but nobody has vandalized it.  Windows are broken out from the hurricane, as well as roofing that's no longer present.  But other than that, it still stands.  Rather eerie...

If/when we go to Hawaii again, we'll probably pick an island, fly there, rent a car, and stay in one location.  The cruise was a nice way to get the "buffet-line" view of the islands, but it was hard to get into much depth or detail.

But even though we didn't do as much as we could have, it was just what the doctor ordered.  Now I just have to get out of the habit of afternoon naps.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:19 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

10/11/2007

Back in the saddle again...

Category Everything Else
The vacation is over, I'm back at home, and tomorrow I venture into work to see what horrors await me there.  :)

As you probably noticed, there were no blog entries while I was gone.  Nor did I buy the internet package aboard ship!  Of course, my new iPhone got a major workout, and it really rocks!  While I wouldn't want that to be my sole connection to the 'net, it's perfect for keeping an eye on things, answering emails that can be answered with a short reply, and texting people who need info.  It was absolutely perfect for keeping in touch with Ian and Cam while we were gone.

And even though I had the laptop with me, I didn't blog or type anything.  I think that's the longest I've been away from the keyboard in quite some time.  Frankly, it's something I should probably do more often.  Step away, recharge, and come back a bit more refreshed.

We had a great time on the cruise.  Lots of rest, relaxation, and just hanging around with no agenda and no demands.  Now I just have to get out of the afternoon nap habit that developed over the last 11 days.

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:33 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

09/29/2007

Off to get lei-d...

Category Everything Else
Catch you all on the flip side!

:)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:49 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

09/25/2007

3 more days, 3 more days, 3 more days...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - 3 more days, 3 more days, 3 more days...

Yes, I'm taking my laptop.

Yes, I'll probably blog my vacation.

No, I'm not planning on buying the internet package on-board ship.

Yes, this will be the longest I've been disconnected in years.

No, I wouldn't place bets on me sticking to the aforementioned plans.  :)

(unless you were betting that Duffbert fails)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:50 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (9)

09/24/2007

Some cool Hornitos swag...

Category Everything Else
As part of a buzz marketing promotion, I received a package of swag related to Hornitos tequila.  Being the tech geek that I am, I think this was my favorite item in the package...
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - Some cool Hornitos swag... Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - Some cool Hornitos swag...



A 128 MB USB memory stick!  

While I don't think it'll make an appearance at work (would raise more questions than I care to answer), I have no doubt it'll make an appearance at Lotusphere in January...  I think I'll make sure to pick up a bottle of the real thing and bring it to Joe's Monday Night gathering.  I'm sure he can turn it into something wonderful with his bartending skills.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:32 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

09/19/2007

Looking for a Project Manager job working for a cool company?

Category Everything Else
I was pinged by someone at O'Reilly Media about this job, and I told them I'd post the info to see if anyone was interested...  If I didn't break out in hives when I try to herd cats, I'd be interested myself.  :)

O'Reilly Media, Inc is seeking to add a dynamic Project Manager to the team. Ideal candidate has a solid software developer background in web based, open source technologies using Perl, Java and/or Python, XML, and MySQL. Must have 3 or more years experience managing small to medium sized projects using project methodologies. Work closely with the software development team and non technical business units to define requirements, realizing milestones and deliverables. Position located 65 miles north of San Francisco in Sebastopol, CA. For more info go to http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/j/142 or email your resume to jobs@oreilly.com.

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:24 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

09/11/2007

So he's not starting the fights any more...

Category Everything Else
He's trying to break them up once they start.  :)

Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - So he's not starting the fights any more...
Ebert Photography ©2007

Ian's been refereeing for awhile now, but this last weekend was his first opportunity to work a Norpac game at the Tier III A level.  I'll hand it to him, he has no fear when it comes to putting himself between two players who are (usually) taller than he is.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:48 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

09/09/2007

I tempted fate today... and WON! :)

Category Everything Else
I've been very open about the fact that home repair chores I attempt don't normally end up well.  I either hurt myself or spend hours doing something that should take 15 minutes.  And you would think that with a cruise coming up in three weeks, I'd steer clear of anything that might endanger that trip in any way...

You'd think...

So what was on tap today?  Repainting the peeling shutters on our gable window...  2nd story...  on a ladder.  After reading two prayer requests at our church for people who are recovering from injuries...  after falling off ladders.

We were able to reach the one shutter from inside the room, but the other shutter was on the opposite side from where the window is hinged.  So we got out the ladder, extended it to the full 17 feet, and I cautiously climbed to the top to start the scraping and painting.  This was after I was emphatic that my wife would not be going up the ladder.  The neighbor across the street is over 90, and he climbs up and down his ladder all the time.

Yeah, it's a pride thing.  :)

Surprisingly, it all went flawlessly.  The scraping was quick, and the primer went on quickly with me on the ladder and Sue holding the paint from inside the window.  One more time up to repaint with the trim color, and I was done.  No one got injured, nothing broke, and I felt like a normal person doing a home repair.

And I won't be doing anything that risky again before our trip.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:53 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

09/02/2007

Countdown to the Hawaiian cruise begins...

Category Everything Else
On October 8th, my wife and I will have been married for 25 years.  And yes, that's 25 years *to each other*, thank you.

To commemorate this increasingly rare event, Sue and I are going to take a cruise to Hawaii.  It'll be just the two of us, floating around the islands for 11 days, sitting on the balcony, and having a grand time.  Norwegian Cruise Lines, Pride Of Aloha, leaving Honolulu on 09/30 and returning on 10/9.  Hopefully the boys will keep the cats well-fed and watered while we're gone.  :)

Sue does all our vacation planning, so she's been living this event for about the last year.  I, on the other hand, start thinking about things three to four weeks ahead of time.  So it's been good to have her pushing me to make decisions on shore excursions, specialty dining, etc.  We've never been to Hawaii in all our vacation travels, so this'll be a new experience for both of us.

And because I know someone will ask the question...  Yes, I will take my laptop along, but at this time, I am *not* planning on buying an internet connectivity package like I have on every other cruise.  Having the laptop means I can download the pictures from my camera, still record thoughts and memories of our trip, and in case of emergency, still have the means to interact with Ian and Cam if needed.  But what we found last time is that the ship has cell phone service, so if we absolutely do need to be reached, there's that option.  

I'm looking forward to this vacation...

Posted by Tom Duff At 9:00 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (7)

08/28/2007

Does Duffbert *really* read that much?

Category Everything Else
So a question I get asked (all too) frequently is...  how do you read so much?

Fair question, and one that I thought might make for a decent blog posting...

I read around 180 to 210 books a year, cover to cover.  By all accounts, that's a bit over the national average.  :)  But the strange thing is, I don't think I read exceptionally fast or anything.  It's more a case of how much I read, and what I choose not to do instead.  Waiting for the bus in the morning along with the bus ride in ends up as 20 to 30 minutes of reading.  For lunch (if I take one), I'm likely to be found at my desk, reading.  At night before I turn off the light to go to bed, I end up reading for 30 to 40 minutes.  Coming home on the bus?  Another 15 minutes or so.  In the evenings, instead of watching TV, I'm normally on the computer, or...  reading.  All told, I probably read for an hour or two a day.

I also have a number of books going at any given time.  There's usually a "recreational read", like a novel, in progress.  There are also a number of books scattered around the house that are in varying states of completion.  Right now, there's two on the nightstand, two downstairs on my desk, and one in my gym bag.

Is this unbalanced or abnormal?  Yes.  I'll be the first to admit that I could stand to have more of a life.  I could be spending more time around the house doing repairs and such.  I could be out visiting friends or interacting with others.  But the truth is, I find reading relaxing and entertaining.  If given the option between an hour of American Idol or reading, I'll read.  I purposely don't seek out network or cable shows to watch on a regular basis.  That's not to say there aren't good things on TV.  I just don't watch it much on purpose.

This also ties in to some of the productivity sites I've read recently. People who accomplish unusual things are not normally known for "balance". People like Einstein or Edison were definitely not balanced, but they were extraordinary in their areas of interest.  A-List bloggers are not "balanced" in the time they spend writing.  But look at where that led Scoble.  An Olympic gold medalist in sports like biathlon or archery are not balanced by our definitions, but they have spent the time and effort to accomplish something that's important to them.

I don't consider my reading habits or reviewer rank on Amazon something "extraordinary" or important.  But I enjoy the process, the time is well-spent in my opinion, and I've received a number of benefits that are important to me.  Are there things I'd like to do differently?  Yeah, but apparently not so much that I've felt the need to change.

As Volker commented the other day...  "Duffbert should chew before he swallows".  I agree, but there are so many good things to chow down on.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:01 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

08/07/2007

Follow-up on my Social Media presentation at work...

Category Everything Else
Last Wednesday I gave my Social Media & Web 2.0 talk to the Strategic Communications department at work.  All in all, it went well.  There was a good level of interaction with the attendees, and many of them were being exposed to this material for the first time.  I've had a number of follow-up conversations with various individuals who were at the meeting, and I think this may have been a catalyst to get them thinking seriously about how the company can start using things like blogs and wikis to reach the market and start conversations.  

Good stuff, and I have a feeling that it won't be the last department or area I end up presenting for...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:13 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

07/25/2007

I think the Versus network Tour de France commentators should give up the gushing accolades...

Category Everything Else
... about any particular rider this year.  It's been rather funny...

Because of the time difference, I don't watch the Tour broadcasts live.  But the last couple of afternoons, I've caught one of the rebroadcasts.  And on both days, they've ended the telecast with glowing descriptions of the "brave rides" of the stage winners.  And *right* after each stage, both riders were disqualified and sent home for doping or suspious behavior.  Sorta makes your accolades ring hollow...

Today was especially funny, as they were wrapping up talking about how Rasmussen had a fabulous ride, how he showed the spirit of a true winner, and how inspiring it was after Vinokourov left a black mark on the sport and event after yesterday's disqualification for doping.

Oops...

:)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:58 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

07/20/2007

Had the chance to give my "Web 2.0 & Social Media" presentation today to a smaller audience...

Category Everything Else
Our eLearning group at work caught wind of what I was going to be doing for the Strategic Communications group later on, and wanted to have me cover the same material.  So using Sametime and a conference call, I got to present to them, albeit with a bit more of a technical slant.  But the core presentation was the same, and I got good feedback on it.  The live presentation on August 1st will be more focused on the effects of social media on a company, so I plan on having some fun with that angle.  Plus, presenting live is a lot easier than presenting at your desk, on a call, with *no* visual feedback from the group.

Little did I know that when I started this blog over four years ago, it would lead me in the directions it has.  As I mentioned on the call, most of the really cool professional things I've done over the last three years (writing, speaking, etc.) can either be traced back directly or indirectly to this blog.

And to think I started it merely to keep up with Mr. Litton.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:46 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

06/30/2007

Just got back from seeing Ratatouille this evening...

Category Everything Else
My wife and sister-in-law didn't go this afternoon like I thought they were going to, so after I got home from a BBQ at Bruce Elgort's place, we all trooped off to the theatre.

Bottom line...  Ratatouille is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.  The animation is superb, the story line is engaging, and many moments are laugh-out-loud funny.  It's one of the few movies I could see myself watching a number of times.  While a Pixar animation, it's more (in my mind) targeted for adults than kids.  I can't see that there will be many "rat" merchandising opportunities for kids.  :)

Feel free to take your kids along if you have them, but don't worry if it's just you sans children.  Well worth the money...

Posted by Tom Duff At 10:04 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

06/18/2007

So let's review this incredibly long two days from Orlando to Portland...

Category Everything Else
OK...  I've had a couple hours of sleep, and the fingers are working relatively well again.  No promises about the mind, however.

For the sake of argument, we'll round the trip off at 3000 miles.  The odometer was at 125572 when I got an oil change on Friday, and it reads 128668 right now.  The GPS unit is constantly changing, depending on how far off course you might be at any given time.  :)  I think it stated 3502 at one point *very* early in the trip, but that was an overstatement.  Although it probably looked at the stretch through Nebraska and Wyoming and just freaked out...

Ian and I didn't start out with the plan to try and "see America" in two days or less.  I figured we'd drive through the night on Saturday, get to somewhere around Cheyenne Wyoming by mid-afternoon Sunday, stay overnight, and then get in later on Monday night...  still a long trip in a short period of time, but at least there would be sleep and a shower mixed in.  What we didn't count on was the car packing.  The addition of his hockey bag added a (lack of) space element that was not a factor going down in January.  It went down with Sue under separate cover after he was already down there.  By the time we packed the car on Saturday, the trunk was full, the back seats were very full, and it was not going to be a good idea to leave the car in a hotel parking lot overnight without emptying it out.  And neither of us wanted to do that.  So, we thought that perhaps a three or four hour stop at a rest area would be sufficient to take the edge off after the long drive.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

On Saturday at 11:30 am, we locked his apartment door for the final time and set out.  We set the GPS for destination "home", shortest time.  GPS units are a modern miracle.  It was incredible to think that wherever we were at, we were never lost.  Confused, but not lost.  The route took us through...
  • Florida - flat swampy areas, and hot.
  • Georgia - OK.  That was the only area we hit traffic slowdowns.  Some accident south of Atlanta...
  • Tennessee - dark.  Some "interesting" truck stops.  That was the only place we stopped that was memorable.  One truck stop was "full service", with condoms in the bathroom, a washing machine and dryer outside the bathrooms, a smoky room that contained video poker and slots (and was packed at dark-am in the morning), and truckers all smoking away in the restaurant.  Very strange place.
  • Kentucky - also very dark.
  • Missouri - seemed to go on forever.  At least until we hit Nebraska and Wyoming...  Saw the St. Louis arch in the middle of the night.  Also saw the "last rest area in Missouri" (an actual sign) twice.  And Ian and I were both alert enough to have remembered the sign from a few hours back.  :)
  • Iowa - just clipped a bit of Iowa on the way to Nebraska.
  • Nebraska - a green version of Texas, and just as freaking long to get through.
  • Wyoming - a green version of New Mexico, and just as long as Nebraska.
  • Utah - Saw Utah in the middle of the night, so I guess we can call Utah "dark".
  • Idaho - Nearing the end.  Actually some pretty lights with towns laid out across the horizon when you'd come over some dark hill.  We cleared Idaho sometime right before dawn this morning.
  • Oregon - never so glad to see home.  I-84 took us up through the entire length of the Columbia River Gorge.  Some impressive scenery with the sun rise and stuff.  But that last two hours were painfully slow.

Will I ever do that again?  No.  I'm too old for those types of trips.  Generally speaking, Ian and I would trade off at each gas stop (every 225 to 275 miles).  He can sleep sitting up while Dad drives.  I 1) don't sleep when he's driving (unless I've reached physical exhaustion) and 2) can't sleep sitting up (see #1).  We did pull into a rest area in Idaho Sunday night around 11:30 pm to catch a few hours of sleep.  I couldn't drop off sitting behind the wheel, and after an hour or so, we started back on the road again.  I reached the point of "I can't go any further" around 2:30 am this morning, when I handed it off to Ian in some forgettable truck stop.  While I still only slept for about two or three hours from there until we got home, it was enough to at least allow the eyes to uncross.

Random observations...
  • I find it interesting that the West is considered liberal, the South conservative, but yet it's the South that has the billboards advertising "adult stores" for 50 miles before you even get there.
  • Would it be too much to ask to put those little reflective thingies on at least every *second* center line on a freeway?  When you're traveling down the road at 75 miles per hour, at 2 am in the morning, in the middle of "we-just-got-electricity-last-year" small-town America, I really don't like having my reflective reference point being the right edge of the road separating you and the ditch.  
  • And to all those Utah Department of Transportation workers who place the barrel dividers cutting you down to one *very small, narrow* lane marked for 65 miles per hour in the middle of the night...  Do you place every 10th barrel or so further out in the traffic flow just for laughs?
  • Senior tour busses that pull into a rest area at the same time you do, when you are desperate for relief, are a very scary thing.
  • There *is* such a thing as too much Red Bull and No-Doz tablets...
  • I can go for about 44 hours until caffeine ceases to have the desired effect.  Unfortunately, the trip lasted 49 hours...
  • I probably have more insect samples on front of the Saturn than does the entire Ireland Museum of Natural History...  although they aren't as old.  :)
  • Best radio station we found on the trip...  A Celtic fusion/jazz/modern sound show in the middle of...  NEBRASKA!

And the best thing that can be said for a trip like this...
  • Not having a "memorable" trip is the best you can hope for in something like this.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 3:27 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

06/18/2007

So is it possible to go from Orlando Florida to Portland Oregon via car in less than 50 hours?

Category Everything Else
Specifically, 49 hours and 10 minutes?

Yes, you can do it, but it's not recommended.

We left Ian's place in Orlando at 11:30 am on Saturday morning.  We pulled into our driveway this morning at 9:40 am.  Add in three hours for the time difference, and there you have it.  In between, we had Florida, Georgia, Tennesee, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon.  We are such idiots...

I'll recap later, but right now I just want to brush my teeth, take a shower, and catch up on some sleep in my bed.

All this because, to borrow a phrase from my favorite AV Bloke...

"I'm broken..."

Posted by Tom Duff At 10:04 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

06/15/2007

Made it to Orlando (*very* early this morning)...

Category Everything Else
No more free food or anything like that...  :)  The plane boarded early for our 9 pm departure to Orlando.  And then we sat...  and sat...  and sat...  A combination of weather and some sort of computer malfunction in the control tower led to a delay of about an hour before we pushed back from the gate.  At one point I called my wife to look up the airline site and give me an update.  According to her and the site, we were "taxiing down the runway".  Funny, but it still looked like the same gate to me.  :)

Anyway, got in around 1:30 am.  Ian picked me up, we headed home, and got some much needed sleep.  Today is his last day.  While he's doing the work routine, I'll do some stuff with the car to get it ready for the trip back.  Then I'll just bounce around a bit until he's ready to get off of work.  We'll pick up some sandwiches and other groceries on the way home, and then try and get a full night of sleep before we start "the adventure" tomorrow.

I'll have to see who I can "charm" today.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:41 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

06/14/2007

Must be the "cute and huggable thing" again...

Category Everything Else
So I'm on my trip to Orlando to pick up Ian.  The layover is in Houston, and I'm thinking a vanilla frozen yogurt with M&M topping sounds good.  The one place I could find stuff like that in the Houston airport was out of toppings, so I ended up over at a fast-food place for some dinner-like food.  I place my order and she asks me what kind of dipping sauce I wanted.  Of course, the one I choose is out, so she has to go back into the back to get my other choice.  Meanwhile, there's someone else who is still waiting for their order...

She comes back with the chicken nuggets, the dipping sauce, and the drink.  I haven't paid yet, so I'm waiting for her to ring it up.  She's "interacting" with the other people in the back over something with the other guy's order.  She looks over her shoulder at me, and mouths something along the lines of "just take it and go".  Knowing that I must have misunderstood, I just stood there.  It took two more times of her doing that before I quietly said "just go?", and she nodded...

I don't have a *clue* as to what that was all about, but I guess there is such a thing as a free meal...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:26 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

06/13/2007

Happy birthday, Rocky...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - Happy birthday, Rocky...

AN ITZ SMEELZ LIK CAKE!  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:13 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

06/08/2007

"Normal" is like the "good old days"...

Category Everything Else
It's just a figment of your imagination...  selective "rememory".

Or as a quote in a book I read the other day stated:

"I've learned that 'normal' is just a setting on my washing machine."

I thought I had divided my life into pre-ILUG and post-ILUG, and that life would slow down in the post-ILUG phase.  Yeah, right...  I'm now looking at pre-Orlando and post-Orlando, with FAR too much that needs to get done on the work, professional, and personal front in the pre-Orlando phase.  As such, that's why you haven't seen much of me here lately (and why Fluffy's MySpace page isn't being updated much).

I leave to go get Ian from Orlando next week.  I fly out of Portland around noon, get to Houston around 6, hang around until 9, and then get into Orlando around 1 in the morning on Friday.  Ian works his last day on Friday, we'll pack on Saturday, and then start driving early Sunday morning.  I'm due to be back at work on Thursday, so we'll be pushing hard.  For those who offered places to stay on our return trip, thanks.  But I really don't know where we're going to stop and how long we'll drive on each leg.  I plan on plugging in the GPS unit, saying "Destination Home", selecting "Shortest Trip By Time", and then driving off into the sunset.

The laptop will be packed, but I'm unsure as to how much (if any) blogging will be done on the road.  I thought I'd make a real production out of the trip down there, but that didn't transpire.  Now with one less driver coming back (just Ian and I) and one less day (but we're going direct this time), who knows if the laptop will even see the light of day...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:49 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

05/20/2007

A few new software sites I'm playing with...

Category Everything Else
Over the last week in between other things I was doing (or should have been doing), I incorporated a couple new websites into my regular computing routine.

The first is my new primary RSS reader, Google Reader.  I've been using SharpReader for some time, and generally it's worked out well.  But it seemed like I was doing a lot of clicking to mark things as read, and I had to click through on more stories than I generally wanted.  A couple of friends had posts on RSS readers, and I decided to try out an on-line version.  This solves a big problem for me when I go mobile, as I run my feed reader on my desktop machine.  After exporting my feeds and importing them to Google Reader, I quickly became hooked.  Response time is great, and the interface is very clean.  If I want to keep a post around, I can star it.  And my favorite feature...  You can display the posts in expanded mode, and automatically have them marked as read as you scroll by them.  That's a big convenience for how I tend to work with readers.  I've shut down SharpReader, and I don't miss a thing.  Google Reader is worth a look if you're searching for an on-line site for gathering your RSS feeds.

The other site I'm getting hooked on is Jott.com.  This free beta service allows you to dial a toll-free number and dictate a message, or "jott".  This message is then automagically transcribed into an email and sent to the recipient.  You are allowed to set up an address book of recipients, and the service will do voice recognition to determine where it goes.  So if I'm in a bookstore and find a title that looks interesting, I can call Jott, say "me", and then give the title of the book.  When I get home, the email message will be waiting for me.  The transcription might not be perfect, but it will be enough to remember what I was thinking or seeing at the time.  This may be one of those services that I pay for when it comes out of beta...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:44 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

05/15/2007

At what point do you say "this isn't working?"...

Category Everything Else
I didn't know whether to label this "Everything Else" or "Humor"...  There's a local semiconductor company here called MathStar.  I know nothing about them, have no ties to them, and have no axe to grind.  The only reason I've heard of them is that their "earnings" showed up in a local business newsletter I get.  Something about them losing $15 to $20 million last quarter on revenue of...  $80,000.  And then there's this story from today's news, about their top sales exec leaving (I wonder why???)...

MathStar announced last week that it will sell $25 million worth of its stock by mid-June. The stock now trades at about $1.70 per share.

The Hillsboro-headquartered company has been consuming cash at a high rate, developing a new type of programmable logic chip. As of March 31, MathStar had $6.5 million in cash on its balance sheet, enough to last through Labor Day, according to CEO and founder Doug Pihl.

MathStar moved to Hillsboro from Minnesota early in 2006. The company first sold its stock on the public market in October 2005.

MathStar has raised almost $93 million through selling stock, notes and warrants since it was founded 10 years ago. The company's total revenue during that time has been less than $1 million. However, recent contracts with a major electronics manufacturer and a major electronics distributor should bring in $2.5 million to $3 million in revenue by the end of this year, according to company statements.

Bold italics are mine...

You've been in business for 10 years, sold $93 million in stock, and have less than $1 million in revenue for that entire time???  And now you want to find some sucke...  INVESTORS to put in another $25 million?

Guess there *is* one born every minute...

Posted by Tom Duff At 3:59 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

05/09/2007

To squelch an ugly rumor being spread by a certain blogger...

Category Everything Else
I did *not* turn 60 today...  Although one of those number *is* part of the truth.  :)

And thanks to all who sent me birthday greetings via email/snailmail.  I was a bit stunned that anyone remembered!  I know I'm horrible about those things...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:13 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (7)

05/08/2007

I can't even do simple home repair in my *dreams*!

Category Everything Else
So last night, things are going along just fine.  I decide to cut up some treats I'm taking into work on Wednesday, and I notice there's a puddle of water on the floor in front of the sink.  Since Sue was just there, I figured it was just spill over.  I wipe it up, step back to the counter, and it's wet again.  Being the swift person I am, I decide that something must not be right.  I open up the cabinet under the sink to find out that the drain is leaking.  This was *so* not on my agenda for the evening...

I tighten all the connections, but the leak looks like it's coming from the actual drain connection to the pipe.  After struggling to get the drain OUT of the sink (hammers cure everything), I had to make a trip to the store to buy stuff to replace it (hoping that I choose the right size and stuff).  I come back, replace the drain, tighten everything, and no leaks!  For my track record with home repairs, this is a good thing...

So last night, what do I dream about?  Sue and I are on some long road trip, and we stay at this house (don't know if they were friends or not).  Their sink is leaking, so I decide to fix it (IDIOT!).  Then another part of the sink leaks...  and another...  and another.  Pretty soon, I have the entire sink structure out of the cabinet.  I go to a nearby store to find parts, but of course I'm over my head.  We have to call some repair place to make an emergency visit to put things back together...

It's not bad enough that I'm inept when it comes to real-life repairs...  Now I have to suck at them in my dreams, too!

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:59 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

05/07/2007

I think I'm nearing the end of my shoulder saga...

Category Everything Else
What shoulder saga, you ask?  Well, I haven't said much about it...

A little over a month ago, I spent a fair amount of time over a weekend banging away on my laptop.  Like *that's* anything new...  By the end of the day, my neck was a bit stiff, but nothing that a night or two of sleep wouldn't cure, or so I thought.  Over the next two weeks, the pain moved into the left trapezius area and down into the left deltoid.  By the end of each day, I was in agony.  Over-the-counter pain-killers didn't even begin to address the pain.  Figuring that I couldn't continue to "let it work its way out", I went to the doctor.  X-rays showed no structural issues, so they recommended physical therapy.  Isn't that something you do after surgery or after an accident?  Admit it, Tom...  You're getting old.  :)

I'm now down to the last two (out of six) sessions, and I must say it's helped a lot.  This last weekend was the first one I've had where I would almost consider my shoulder pain-free.  I've had to give up my "geek slouch" posture as I sit at a keyboard, but that's probably a good thing.  The PT sessions have been enjoyable, as my therapists have been very good at what they do.  And considering much of the treatment was massage-based, it's not as if I was pushing myself across some pain threshold.  :)

So as I approach the end of year 46 this week, I'm not doing so feeling like I'm 70.  And with ILUG travel in a couple of weeks, followed by the cross-country drive next month to get Ian home from Orlando, the timing couldn't be better.

It's good to know that I've stopped considering amputation as a viable pain relief option.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:41 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

04/10/2007

Seems like we're not the only ones questioning Mr. Lyons' ethics and techniques...

Category Everything Else
From Groklaw:  SCO Moves for Summary Judgment on Slander of Title in Novell Case

This would look like a relative snoozer of an article (unless the whole SCO thing lights your fire), but further down PJ gets into the latest "reporting" by Lyons on his blog.  Like we haven't lived through *this* experience with him?

If you were to assume that Lyons is also on the SCO team (you might find this account of a conversation between Dan Lyons and journalist James Turner of interest, where bias against me on the part of Lyons shines through), then you could also now understand the likely purpose of Lyons' effort to rehabilitate O'Gara in the article he wrote about how bloggers are from the devil and all that. Remember how we puzzled about why he defended her in that article? Could it be because SCO knew it needed her to be a credible witness in the case down the road? A credible witness. Now that, methinks, will be an uphill slog.

Well worth reading if you need convincing that a leopard doesn't change its spots...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:34 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

03/28/2007

The Chicken/Pig commitment story... a *bad* way to motivate your staff...

Category Everything Else
Perhaps many of you have heard some variation of the story about the chicken and the pig when it comes to involvement vs. commitment.  Just randomly searching the 'net, here's a basic version of the story:

Think about a meal consisting of eggs and ham and consider the contributions made by a chicken and a pig. A chicken provided the eggs and a pig provided the ham. It can be said the chicken was involved, because the chicken continues to live as it lays more eggs. It can be said the pig was committed, because the pig gave its all to provide the ham and other pork products.

This is one of those "motivational" stories that sounds real good when you read it, and I've seen it used by management at various companies to motivate their staff towards being committed as opposed to just being involved.  But continuing to follow that analogy probably isn't what management had in mind, nor is it what most workers want to do with their lives.

The chicken is contributing at a long term, sustainable level.  She's able to keep giving, as her output is renewable.  The pig, however, is screwed.  He gives everything at a single burst, and that's it.  No more pig, and he needs to be replaced.  While the "farmer" gains from both levels of contribution, the pig isn't around to see the benefits.  The farmer's out looking for another pig.  And the chicken?  She's just sitting there, laying more eggs, and continually providing for the farmer.

I don't think there are many employees who want to be the pig.  Everyone who is part of the team would much rather be the chicken.  And the next time a motivational speaker uses that analogy, think about it...  Do you want to go down in a blaze of glory, or do you want to produce over the long term?

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:11 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

03/28/2007

Follow the money when it comes to "research"...

Category Everything Else
From IS Survivor: An Important Fact About Nutrition

This is an excellent article on "connecting the dots" when it comes to "research" and who sponsors it.  The IT angle in the story is about Accenture claiming big things for SOA, with a veiled reference that they've invested close to a half billion dollars in it.  Think they have a stake in the outcome?  

Connecting these two dots matters to those of us who toil in the trenches of IT management, or more generally in the trenches of business management, because un-sponsored research is hard to find and harder to distinguish from the other kind.

Accenture's financial stake in SOA is stated. That isn't usually the case. Take a look at any industry publication and see if the publisher clearly identifies the stories that started life as press releases. They don't, but they should.

The research firms are no better. When the vendors they rate also subscribe to one or more of their very expensive services, any claim of impartiality must be considered questionable at best and disingenuous at worst.

And the situation is deteriorating. Once upon a time, independent test labs routinely compared the performance and features of just about every technology you can buy. These comparisons are becoming a faint, quaint memory, the victims of end-user license agreements (EULAs) that prohibit publication of performance data. That means in many cases the only data you can get comes from the manufacturer.

So the trade press publishes one sponsored study showing Windows is more reliable than Linux, followed by another sponsored study demonstrating the reverse. Yawn.

So the next time someone touts the latest "research" report, ask who backed it in the first place...  Follow the money.  And that goes regardless of which technology you place your bets on...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:38 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

03/07/2007

A thank you to everyone who has ordered from Amazon through my referral links...

Category Everything Else
I wanted to take a moment and say thanks to everyone who has used my book review Amazon Associate links to shop at Amazon.  Here's how it works...  If you click through to Amazon by using one of my book review links, then I receive a small referral commission on everything you purchase in that session.  That's not restricted to just the book link, either.  *Anything* you buy in that session counts.  Even if you don't order the book that was linked but just use that as your starting page, it still racks up the referral count.  It's not retirement money, but it provides a little guilt-free spending cash.

The referral commission works on a sliding percentage scale.  It used to be that the payouts were quarterly, and the counts were accumulated during that whole quarter.  Now they've switched to a monthly payout, so the numbers they use are based on 30 days, not 90.  The commissions start at 4% for the first 1 to 6 items, then jumps to 6% for 7 - 30.  It can go clear up to 8.5% for 3131 items for the month (not that I'll ever see *that* one!).  

I had been receiving order counts between 40 and 60 for the quarter over the last two years.  But since the start of this year and the monthly stats, things have taken off.  I've been hitting around 50 per month, which has been very nice.  In fact, just yesterday there were over 12 items that were ordered!  

And in case you're wondering, I can't tell who is buying what.  I do see what items were clicked through as well as purchased, but they are not tied back to a specific buyer.  So unless you email me and 'fess up, I won't be able to associate anything you're buying with you.  Which is probably good, as Amazon *does* sell some of *those* types of items...  :)

So anyway...  Thanks for using the links to do your shopping.  I appreciate that you've chosen to do that, and to say thanks in a easy, painless way.

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:19 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

02/28/2007

"Trial run" on the next phase of our life...

Category Everything Else
This has been a somewhat strange week...  Ian, as you probably know if you're a regular reader, is working at an internship at DisneyWorld until June.  Cam, our 18 year old, left for Orlando on Monday to spend a week down there visiting his brother.  He hasn't made the last couple of Disney trips with us, and I guess he felt like he was missing out.  So from Monday night until next Tuesday, it's just me and the missus (and the two cats)...

Very strange...

The dishes actually stay in the kitchen (instead of half the kitchen ending up in Cam's room).  The trash doesn't fill up nearly as often.  No thumping down the stairs at all hours of the day or night.

And I know where the remote is at all times now!  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:45 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (7)

02/16/2007

If you're looking for a book author to speak to your user group meeting, here's an offer...

Category Everything Else
I received this email today, and I got David's permission to post and share here...

My name is David Platt. I've just published a book for computer users, entitled Why Software Sucks … and What You Can Do About It. It's not a how-to book; it's the world's first "why-you-shouldn't-have-to" book. "I was reading this on the train to Ottawa last week, and laughing so hard that the other passengers were all looking at me like I had three heads. This is the first time I've gotten real belly laughs from a computer book," said reviewer Shane Schick (audio at http://www.itbusiness.ca/OutLoud/11132006_platt.mp3). You can read a free sample chapter online at www.whysoftwaresucks.com.

I'm offering a free 1-hour presentation to any computer user group or book reading group that would like to feature it. All you need is 10 attendees at a meeting. The closer you are to Boston, or someplace else I'd like to be, such as Hawaii in February, the more likely I am to show up in person. Otherwise we can run any sort of remote link you like, from a simple speaker phone to Internet video. I promise you an enjoyable and rewarding evening.

The book has been featured in the online editions of such media as Fox News (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241578,00.html) PC Magazine, and the New York Times. I have been featured on a number of radio shows and podcasts, with excellent reviews. For example, I was on the syndicated show Let's Talk Computers (audio at http://www.lets-talk-computers.net/asx/2006/10_oct/10-21-06/102106a.asx ). Phil Windley interviewed me for his ITConversations show, http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1694.html.

If you're interested, feel free to contact him at newsl <at> rollthunder.com.

And just because someone will ask...  No, I haven't reviewed this book, and I'm not quite sure how it slipped under my radar.  I *do* have a copy being mailed to me now, however...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 1:16 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

02/15/2007

I'm finally doing regular backups with Carbonite...

Category Everything Else
I've been notoriously bad about backing up files.  I have a few CD backups of a select number of files I'd really miss if they were lost with a drive crash, but by and large I've been flying without a net.  So I was interested when I was contacted by BzzAgent about a promotion for an on-line backup service called Carbonite.  Bottom line, it works really well!

I run the Carbonite software on my computer, and the files/folders I designate get encrypted and backed up during slack times on my system.  No fuss, no bother, and I know I'll never have an issue with losing important files...  like my obsessive reading log.  :)  Once my free trial is up, I'll definitely become a paying customer.

If anyone is interested in trying this out, the following line was in one of the emails I got from BzzAgent...

And, if you haven't already, try Carbonite now by visiting http://www.carbonite.com/bzzagent. Remember that your friends can receive a 30-day trial by visiting the site and entering in the Offer Code "Bzz".

I don't get any deals or kickbacks for people signing up...  I just put it out there for anyone who is interested.

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:42 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

02/01/2007

I conquered a long-term fear today... I donated blood.

Category Everything Else
Me and needles don't get along.  It's all in the mind, I know, but it doesn't matter.  I've been known to come close to passing out with a simple blood draw.  

It didn't used to be that way.  I used to be able to watch nurses give me injections and such.  But then there was the second time I tried to give blood, 20+ years ago...

I'm overweight, my veins tend to not be overly visible, and they roll.  When they tried to take blood last time, it took three attempts in one arm, two more in the other, and then the blood quit flowing after about five seconds (flesh plug in the needle).  When they saw how white I was, they decided that perhaps another attempt wouldn't be a good idea.

Ya think???

Ever since then, blood drives, flu shots, innoculations, you name it...  major stress points for me.  Ironic that I have a son with type 1 diabetes that injects himself every day.  Doesn't matter...  I still focus on the needle.  Oh, and the guilt...  I'm type O negative.  Universal donor.  

Two weeks ago I decided that it was time to put this behind me (or at least see if I still pass out).  I signed up for the blood drive and couldn't find any good reason to back out today.  After answering all those highly personal questions they are required to pose to you now, I told them they had one chance to get this right.  Any problems with finding veins, and it would be the last time I'd ever see the Red Cross chaise lounges again.  Armed with that knowledge and challenge, they started me out completely flat so that I'd have little chance to get light-headed.

And it worked.  The initial stick wasn't bad at all, and she nailed the vein on the first try.  A slight adjustment about five minutes in got the blood flowing at a swift rate, and it was done before I knew it.  I stood up with no ill effects, the volunteer didn't have to catch me, and I was able to enjoy my water and cookie without wearing it.

Of course, now I have no reason not to be donating every couple of months...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:34 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

01/30/2007

Never expected to start getting referers from Wikipedia...

Category Everything Else
I was scanning through my non-search referers today, and I found one that stopped me dead in my tracks:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron

I wasn't sure at first if that was a good or bad thing!  Had I been tried and convicted without knowing it?  Was I accused of financial shenanigans?  Was I about to take a perp walk?

Nope...  Down in the Trivia section of the entry, I'm listed as a blogger who commented on the on-going scandal.  Very cool...  I wasn't a Houston-based employee as it states, but that's a minor point.

So...  guess I can cross "get mentioned in Wikipedia" off my list of life goals now...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 2:53 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (8)

01/15/2007

Two phrases you don't want to hear at the Orlando airport...

Category Everything Else
"Code Bravo East" and "Code Bravo West"

When flying back last Monday, I was sitting in line waiting to board my Southwest flight to Portland.  An alarm tone sounded three times over the loudspeaker, followed by the phrase "Code Bravo East...  Code Bravo East..."  This went on for about 30 seconds, and we all wondered what was going on.  This was followed shortly by our Southwest gate attendant telling us the inbound flight had arrived, but there was a "security situation" that would not allow boarding or unboarding until resolved.  From what I could piece together, someone had gone through security "incorrectly", and they had to find the person before anything could move.  After about 30 minutes, they tracked down the person and all was well.  

Not so well was my wife's experience on Saturday...  same airport, Alaska Air flying back to Seattle.  While I was on the phone with her, I heard the warning alarm followed by "Code Bravo West...  Code Bravo West..."  I laughed and said "you're not going anywhere for awhile."  I don't know what her situation was, but it required a full evacuation of the terminal for rescreening.  For those who know the Orlando airport, the security line was about three across and was backed up *past* the food court.  That's a very long line...  She didn't miss her flight, as it was already over three hours late coming inbound from Seattle.

So...  if you're at the airport this week and you hear those dreaded words, you might want to see if the Hyatt has any spare rooms.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:38 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

01/12/2007

U-Haul customer service gets my "Hall of Shame" award...

Category Everything Else
As mentioned in the blog entry for Leg #1 of our Road Trip, the Bully cartop cargo carrier didn't fare very well with us.  One of the four straps snapped less than 500 miles into our trip, and the front was starting to shred from the wind resistance.  Here's a picture of the overall shredding:

Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - U-Haul customer service gets my

And a close-up of the damage...  We're talking see-through on a bag that is supposed to be waterproof:

Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - U-Haul customer service gets my

So...  Armed with the receipt ($49.95) and bag, I returned to the U-Haul outlet at 1327 NE 82nd in Portland Oregon.  I have never been made to feel like such a criminal scam artist by any company in my life.

I pleasantly explained the situation and asked for a refund.  The first guy behind the counter was amazed that there was that much damage, and had never heard of a failure like that before.  He called the manager over, and that's where things got ugly.

The manager said that no one else had ever had that problem, and he didn't think a refund was in order.  Looking at the shredding, he first said "so how fast were you driving?  200 miles per hour?"  I said it was irrelevant how fast I was driving.  The bag was tearing due to wind resistance.  He then asked if perhaps I hadn't made sure there were no folds or creases facing the wind.  Like it's necessary to pack every square inch to account for aerodynamics???  I told him it was packed full, but I couldn't control what happened to the front of the bag when it faced the wind.  He then said again that he'd never seen something like this, and he couldn't refund my money.  I looked at him and said "So you're basically saying that I'm trying to scam you and that there's no way this could happen."  "Oh, no...  But I've never seen something like this before, and I don't think a refund is warranted.  You can try contacting the manufacturer, though..."

The guy behind the counter did offer me an in-store credit coupon for $10 and said he'd mail me another $20 coupon if I left my address.  Whatever, but it doesn't make up for the scummy way the manager handled the whole situation.  I could have seen it if I turned up with just the bag and no receipt.  But it was obvious that I purchased it, and it was obvious that it didn't perform, regardless of whether the manager had ever "seen" that happen before.  I'm not even sure I minded the "no refund" stance.  It was the insinuation that I was trying to con the store.

I'll do my best in the future to avoid that particular U-Haul outlet, and I'm not necessarily feeling much like patronizing *any* U-Haul store in the future if that's the way I can expect to be treated...
 

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:42 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

01/03/2007

Road Trip 2007 - Leg 2 (Tucson Arizona to San Antonio Texas)... I only *thought* it was uneventful...

Category Everything Else
... until the last four hours.

We got started at 7 am this morning, facing about a 12 hour drive to San Antonio.  We had a fantastic time staying with my family, and I'm really glad we did that.  A good time was had by all.  Ian and I did rock/paper/scissors to see who would get to drive first, and I won (it's a control thing...  I don't like to let others drive.)  I did the first couple of hours, then Ian and I shifted after the first gas stop.  After the second gas stop, I took back over and drove the rest of the way.  11 hours in the driver's seat seemed like a walk in the park after yesterday.  :)

All was going just swell until about 200 miles out of San Antonio.  I was making great time, and dusk had just set.  Then we got weather...  heavy rains punctuated by prolonged periods of torrential downpours.  And in Texas, they don't believe in highway lighting until you get to a real city.  And there aren't any of those between El Paso and San Antonio.  By the time we got into the city limits, I was doing 50 miles per hour, trucks were passing me left and right, and 50 seemed to be a major risk.  It was NOT fun.  When we pulled into the Best Western parking lot at 9:45 pm, I was never so glad to arrive somewhere in my life.

Texas wasn't quite as flat as I expected.  Granted, there's a 200 mile stretch from about mile marker 200 to 400 which is really nothing but flat horizon.  I have some cell phone camera pictures I'll post next week (titled "Life Through The Windshield").  Not great stuff, but you'll get the idea.  But for all who told me that Texas goes on forever?  I'm sorry if I didn't understand that before.  I know now what you mean.  I've never quite seen so much...  nothing.

The plan for tomorrow is to check out around 11 am, and then do the final leg into Orlando.  It's listed at 17 hours, but we're going to take it real easy and make it about 24 hours or so.  That way we'll get into Orlando around 9 or 10, and Ian can take possession of the apartment.  Then we can crash.  :)  There's supposed to be wireless access in the apartment, so we'll see how that goes.

More tomorrow, I'm sure...  And thanks for all the comments on the previous entries.  If I wasn't so tired, I'd try responding.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:40 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

01/02/2007

Road Trip 2007 - Leg 1 (Portland to Tucson is in the books)...

Category Everything Else
... but not without trials and travails...

The day got off to a slower start than I hoped (I wanted to be driving by 8 or so) because "certain members" of the traveling party (not your daughter, Sue) didn't get their laundry done the night before.  By the time we got everything jammed into the car, it was nearly 10 am.  The softside cartop luggage carrier was the first problem.  We got that loaded and tied down in a fashion, but it was not terribly aerodynamic.  As a result, we wondered if it was going to be a casualty somewhere along the way...  more on that later.

The first problem was heading over the mountain pass into California.  Ian had plugged the laptop into the AC adapter, and within five minutes the adapter started flashing overload.  I wasn't sure where the electrical smell was coming from, but it didn't look good when the "Service engine soon" light came on shortly thereafter.  Mentally I pretty much figured the car was trashed and Ian's internship was over before it got started.  Knowing nothing about cars, I was guessing we'd burned out the alternator and the battery wouldn't start the car the first time we stopped for gas.  But after much prayer and worry, everything started fine in Redding when we finally stopped, and the light went out.  It was likely either a bad fuel batch or a loose gas cap.  Either way, that didn't do much for my emotional well-being to start off the trip.

Next up, the carrier.  We stopped in Sacramento for gas, and I checked the condition of the bag.  A couple of the straps were already showing signs of fraying, and the front end facing the wind resistance was torn up pretty badly.  About five minutes after we resumed our trip, a strange sound started up from the roof.  You guessed it...  one of the straps snapped.  Now comes the big question...  How do you pack an already full car with even more stuff?  Very creatively...  Needless to say, there wasn't any room for two in the back seat, nor did the driver have any extra leg room.  I'm going to try and get my $49 back on that dud.  Again, another blow to my already fragile self-confidence.

I've been off caffeine for two months prior to this trip to get the max "Red Bull" effect.  The good news it that it worked very well.  I earned my "iron butt" award by logging time behind the wheel from about noon on Monday until 9 am on Tuesday.  Couple that with very little food (I was trying to avoid carb comas), and I was a bit ragged by the time we got to my dad's place outside of Tucson Arizona around noon today.  Needless to say, a VERY long day.

We've decided not to try the Tucson to Orlando leg in one shot.  Our 24+ hours today cured us of that idea pretty quickly.  The logistical support of Team Duffbert (thanks, dear wife!) got us a hotel reservation in San Antonio for tomorrow, leaving us with "only" a 12 hour drive.  San Antonio to Orlando on Thursday is 17 hours, but again, that seems "short" by comparison.

My dad and Lila have been great hosts, and we had better food today than we've had our entire trip so far.  Good company and lots of laughs, and they got to meet Ian's girlfriend, too.  It's nice to have a place to call home, if only for a few hours.  Showers are a great idea, too.  :)

The trip wasn't all bad, however.  We hit the Arizona border just as dawn was beginning, so I (as the only awake member of the group) was treated to an awesome sunrise.  And the GPS navigation unit my wife bought me for Christmas?  That thing is a freaking miracle.  If I had known how useful and convenient they were, I'd have purchased one a long time ago.  After just one day, I can't imagine traveling without it now.

I'd type more and try to be witty (for once), but my mind is just about toast.  I'm going to try and stay up a couple more hours, and then crash for (hopefully) a good long time....  I'll see if I can do a "day two" from San Antonio tomorrow.

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:01 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (7)

12/31/2006

Time to wander off and prep for Road Trip 2007...

Category Everything Else
Tomorrow morning (hopefully relatively early), Ian, Helen, and I will start the great adventure...  We'll be off and running on our road trip from Portland Oregon to Orlando Florida.  And if all goes as expected, we'll pull into Orlando sometime either later on Friday or early Saturday.  With three drivers, we should be able to do this without too much pain and agony on the part of any one person.  The initial goal is to drive straight through from Portland to Tuscon Arizona, arriving sometime Tuesday morning.  My dad lives in Green Valley (right outside of Tuscon), so we'll stay overnight there and then hit the road again on Wednesday...  In theory, we could be in Orlando late Thursday night, but that would be *really* aggressive.

The laptop is going along for entertainment, so blogging is possible (but not promised).  That's the nice thing about a blog based on Notes/Domino, however...  I can blog all day long from the back seat if I want, and then a single wi-fi connection will catch family and friends up on our progress.

Anyway, Happy New Year to everyone, and I'll catch you all "on the road"...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:48 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

12/31/2006

Looking back at 2006...

Category Everything Else
So it wasn't a terribly eventful year, but looking back through my blog I've noted the following...
  • Ian came back from his DisneyWorld internship the first week of January.  He was so ready to be back, but there was the matter of the girlfriend he met down there.  Helen's from New York state, so guess where Ian went for the summer?  New York...  And in a textbook case of revisionist history, Ian decided that Disney wasn't too bad after all, and he leaves tomorrow for a six month internship working in their HR department.  Should be an interesting road trip...
  • Cam's continuing with his quest for his high school diploma, and he hopes to find a job one of these days.  :)  He has a girlfriend too, so Sue is finally not the only female in the house most days.
  • I spoke at Lotusphere 2006 with Julian, and that went very well.  I also had the very special opportunity to speak at the Ireland User Group meeting in June.  It was my first time overseas, and I loved it.  So much so, in fact, that I'll do it again in May of 2007.
  • I did plenty of writing, too...  There's this blog (563 entries this year), the LotusUserGroup.org Developer Tips newsletter, and a local business publication that will run an article of mine early in 2007.  They found me through my blog and through my Amazon reviews.  You never know where your words will end up...
  • And speaking of Amazon reviewing...  I read 212 books this year cover to cover (so much for "read less, do more") which is a new high for me.  The Amazon review total for the year was 303 books, putting me at a ranking of #97, 984 total reviews, 7721 positive review votes, 9285 total votes.  I could say again that I'll read less and do more, but why promise the impossible???
  • Work was more challenging than I usually experience.  It wasn't the technical aspects, thankfully.  It was just a lot of long hours doing technical writing that I wasn't terribly adept at.  But in terms of my Notes/Domino projects, I'm still having a lot of fun...  Nice to love what you do for a living.
  • Vacations?  Two of them...  There was the Alaskan cruise that was timed just right for decompression from work.  No expectations, no rush...  just lots of rest.  A couple weeks after that, we went down to DisneyWorld for a few days.  And as always, we loved it.  
  • And in the "I'm getting old" department, I had my first significant surgery experience.  Surgery for "bilateral inguinal hernia repair" put me on the shelf for awhile in September.  Even though the doctor said full recovery would take six weeks, I thought for sure I'd be back in a couple of days.  Yeah, right...  It was a good three weeks before I was moving semi-normally, and it *was* about six weeks before all feel relatively normal again.

Not a lot to write home about, but sometimes normalcy is good.  In this case, I'll take it.

Looking forward to 2007 and the continued interaction here...

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:10 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

12/04/2006

Being poor...

Category Everything Else
There but for the grace of God go I...

Being poor

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:41 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (9)

12/03/2006

Spent far too much time with computers this weekend...

Category Everything Else
I pretty much have had my butt planted in front of computers all weekend long.  I was assisting on a work project, so I was logged in remotely from morning 'till late evening.  It wasn't 100% focus, more of a monitoring for activity when scheduled.  I rebuilt my desktop machine over the last two days also.  I've been having problems with computer locking up numerous times a day, but I can't recreate the exact situation that causes it.  I thought that perhaps by restoring to the original factory condition, I'd eliminate any software issues causing the problem.  It's still happening, so now I have to suspect something in terms of hardware...  

I hate hardware issues...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:25 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

11/28/2006

Seriously looking to improve speech quality and patterns...

Category Everything Else
I find that lately I get really bugged by verbal "tics"...  Those nasty speech habits that you hear in others and hope that you don't use yourself.  

"um", "uh", "um OK", "OK", "so" (at the end of every sentence), "and" (*connecting* everything into one long sentence), "I'm like", "and I'm going", "you know", "it's kinda like", "basically" (starting off far too many sentences).

And there's the speaker that has every sentence go up at the end?  Like a question?  Like everything they say is a question?  

I must be getting old...

Anyway, I understand the importance of being able to speak well both one-on-one and in groups.  I've never been thrilled with the tone and sound of my voice, but I can at least work on eliminating those tics that are annoying to others.  To that end, I bought an Olympus WS-300M 256 MB Digital Voice Recorder so that I could start understanding how I sound to others.  Today was the first time I've used it, and it's really helpful (once you get past the fact that no one likes listening to recordings of themselves).

I let it run while I gave someone a phone demo of an application that they are looking to use as a template for a web site.  It's a one-sided conversation, but I'm able to listen to myself and start noticing trouble spots.  The good thing is that I wasn't quite as bad as I thought.  A few ums and uhs I'd like to get rid of, but my demo wasn't one long "and" run-on sentence.  I still sound like I'm about 12, but one thing at a time...

I doubt I'll use this every day, but I can see it becoming a solid aid in improving my communication skills...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:11 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (9)

11/27/2006

Just ignore them...

Category Everything Else
A local columnist in the Oregonian, Steve Duin, had a great blog posting today, and it puts into words one of the things I've been trying to do more of lately...

When my children used to ask why I didn't respond to an obnoxious driver by leaning on the horn, I pointed out, "If the guy was the type who didn't hesitate to cut me off in traffic, why would he be bothered by the squeal of a car horn?"

<snip>

There is no reason to consider Ann Coulter, much less to quote her. She isn't worth the bother. If you are strangely motivated by the dire need to put the woman in her place, the best revenge against Coulter -- or Lars Larson, Michael Savage or the other Paul Allen radio all-stars, for that matter -- is to ignore her. Deny her the attention that fuels her self-serving crusades or pays her mortgage. Forget about her. Focus on the things that matter, not the malcontents who don't. Lay off the horn. You'll be amazed by how consoling silence can be.

Before you respond about how important Coulter and company are, stop.  I don't follow any of them, and the names (for me) are irrelevant here.  It's the concept of not giving attention-seeking whores what they are looking for...  I'll be the first to admit that sometimes the urge to wade into the fray is overwhelming and I fail to heed my own advice.  But still, it's much less taxing on the emotions to just walk away and ignore them all.

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:42 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

11/25/2006

It's a... uh... *large* tree...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - It's a... uh... *large* tree...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:35 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

11/15/2006

So guess who's going back to DisneyWorld to intern?

Category Everything Else
Two words...  "revisionist history"...

Ian applied for and was accepted for an advanced internship at DisneyWorld this week.  Yes, this is the same Ian who was pretty burned out after his last tour there.  But to be fair, this is different.  He'll be working in an office doing security and background checks, which actually ties in with his major in Criminal Justice.  The pay is better, too.  1500 applied for this position, 75 were interviewed, and apparently he was the top candidate.  Good job, Ian!

The matter of logistics starts to fire up now.  The main one is transportation.  College interns can live in Disney housing and use their buses to get to work and back.  Not so in the advanced intern program.  You're on your own.  He's already lining up roommates and a housing situation, but there's the matter of the car.  As it stands right now, it looks like Ian and I will do a *major* road trip the first week in January to drive from Portland, Oregon to Orlando, Florida (those locations are about as far away as you can get from each other in the continential United States).  Yahoo says total drive time is 47 hours...  Then once we get down there, I'll take a one-way flight back to Portland.

While I'm not thrilled about 47 hours in a car over x number of days, there *is* a certain adventure-quality to it.  Maybe I'll take the laptop and do a "road trip diary"...  Two guys, four wheels, and a whole lotta pavement.  At least the trip back in June should be better weather than in January.  Actually, we'll be heading down to San Francisco and then cutting over to try and avoid winter weather in January.  In June, we'll probably take the mid-America route.  At least it won't be 47 hours of the same thing each way.

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:46 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (20)

11/15/2006

"If I Did It"... this is a new low in publishing and promotion

Category Everything Else
O. J. Simpson is out promoting his new book "If I Did It", which takes a hypothetical look at how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend "if he did it".

Is anyone else appalled by the audacity and greed at work here?  I don't care if the publisher considers this "his confession"...

What's worse is that with the legal concept of "double jeopardy", he can't be tried criminally for those murders again.  So the final chapter could be "guess what?  I *did* do it!", and there's nothing much that could be done about it.

Society is so screwed up...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:32 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

11/11/2006

Open an ING DIRECT Orange Savings Account and get a $25 bonus...

Category Everything Else
I received an email the other day from ING DIRECT, an online bank that I use as our "emergency" savings account.  They are running a promotion where they will add $25 to your account if you open an account of $250 via referral.  Not a bad 10% interest rate right out of the box...  :)  And in the interest of full disclosure, I'd be credited with a $10 "referral fee".

ING DIRECT is a online bank that links your account with any other banking account you might have.  In my case, I have the account linked to my personal checking account, and all the withdrawls and deposits are done via online transfer.  What I really like is that they currently pay 4.40% interest rather than the measly .75% you often see with regular passbook accounts...

I got started with ING DIRECT via a friend on this type of promotion, and it's been an extremely profitable way to park the money I don't want to use on a day-to-day basis.  If you're interested in taking advantage of this opportunity, send me an email at duffbert+ing AT gmail.com and I'll forward a referral email to you.  Normally I wouldn't bother with something like this, but I've been really impressed with their setup and service...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:42 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

10/31/2006

Digging my new setup at work...

Category Everything Else
Since I started at my current place of employment awhile back, I've had a Toshiba laptop that was OK but not wonderful.  I pretty much left it plugged into the docking station, as my home machines are better suited to what I want to do, and I can remote in through those.  But lately I was getting really tired of waiting, and waiting, and waiting any time I wanted to do more than one thing at once.  The RAM wasn't too bad (about 3/4 GB) but the processor was a tired 933 Mhz.  Didn't take much in the way of background tasks to slow things to a crawl...

So the other day I pinged a friend in desktop support and asked what the specs were for desktop boxes being rolled out.  Since I don't go mobile much, I figured it wasn't going to be a significant issue logistically compared to the gain in processing power.  I found out that the laptops were significantly faster though, and I got placed on the upgrade list post-haste.  As of last Friday, my life just got a whole lot better...  :)

I now have a Thinkpad, dual processor running at 2.1 Ghz, 1 GB of RAM, blah, blah, blah.  Still not what I have at home, but a huge upgrade to what I had on my desk at work.  Even better is that I set it up with a dual monitor arrangement.  I have a flat screen as my main monitor, but I'm leaving the laptop lid open and using that screen as the second.  I've done dual before, but never really found it that accommodating to what I was working on.

Until now...

Doing web dev in Domino is really nice now...  I have Designer running on the flat screen, and my browser is over on the laptop screen.  I make a change in the CSS file, save, slide over, refresh the page, and see the results.  No switching tabs, no moving things around...  Just instant gratification.

I'm really sold on "dual-ism" now, and wouldn't want to go back to a single monitor for anything.  I was hoping to get a flat screen for home use to replace the clunky old monitor I currently have.  Now I'm starting to wonder if I can fit them both on my desk...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:53 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

10/28/2006

Cleaning, updating, and getting around to all those nagging "should do's" on my computers...

Category Everything Else
The last week or so has been one of those "stop putting it off" times.  There were a number of software upgrades I needed/wanted to do, as well as a couple of Notes database repositories I wanted to set up to store things of interest...

I've now got IE7 running on the desktop (leaving IE6 on the laptop so as to be able to test both), Firefox is now up to 2.0, Zone Alarm's been upgraded, and both machines are now running the latest and greatest Notes/Domino 7.0.2.  I also set up a Notes Journal file or two to start collecting some of the interesting technical blog posts I've seen of late (and left as "unread" on my feedreader).  In the process, I ran across two or three Notes blogs that I should have been following but for some reason hadn't flags in my reader.

Once I fire VMWare up and let Ubuntu do some upgrades, I'll actually be doing pretty well...  

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:03 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

10/23/2006

Well, that pretty much wraps up the Enron saga for me...

Category Everything Else
Fastow got 6 years (*far* too lenient, in my opinion), Skilling just got 24+ years today (well-deserved), and Lay's dead (the ultimate sentence).  I've received the occasional settlement check here and there, and anything else at this point (if anything at all) would likely not top $100.

I know there are plenty of ex-Enron people who think that Skilling got off "easy" with 24 years.  Realistically, it's a life sentence, people.  *If* he serves most of it, he won't see freedom until he's over 70.  And for someone who lived the type of life he did, this has got to be killing him inside...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:38 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

10/23/2006

Our company is looking for a Notes administrator...

Category Everything Else
If you're interested in working for a large health insurance firm in Portland Oregon, feel free to head on over to our Careers site and check out this posting...

Lotus Notes Administrator II or III

Other than having to work with developers like me, it's a good gig!  :)

You can apply for this career at: https://www.regence.com/careers/servlet/com.lawson.ijob.QuickCandidate?vendor=100&jr=4320&fullmode=true
Here is the description:
Lotus Notes Administrator II or III DOE #14179

Open until filled, Level 17 or 18, Reports to:  604067

The Software Administrator is an analytical, efficient problem solver responsible for installing, maintaining, upgrading, maintenance and testing new and existing software applications.  He or she is accountable for researching and solving highly complex software issues and collaborates with vendors and other support teams in regards to product or Infrastructure problems.

Teamwork is essential as the Software Administrator may be required to train users on and modify software programs according to requests from the customer.  
  
Additional responsibilities include administering the integration of licensed and/or in-house developed applications and writing programs and/or scripting to integrate with other systems.  The Software Administrator will research, analyze and submit analysis and recommendations for software development, enhancement, replacement or purchase. This individual may lead project teams based on experience and knowledge. Must be willing to work overtime as needed and to be on-call as necessary.

Qualifications:
•    BS degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science or related discipline with focus on Information Technology
•    At least 4 years relevant work experience in the Information Technology field, preferably in the implementation, operations, development and maintenance of IT systems and administration of Software functions.
•    Highly proficient understanding of design, implementation and sustainnment activities of Information Technology systems.
•    Experience with infrastructure management techniques such as change management, problem management, release management, configuration management and system lifecycles
•    Strong understanding of the MS and/or Unix environment including common suites and core business applications.
•    Strong skills in understanding the appropriate environments for assigned applications
•    Demonstrated ability to work well with peers and business teams
•    Excellent written and verbal communications skills and the ability to interact with variety of customers and stakeholders
•    Ability to work cooperatively in a group to achieve common goals
•    Able to establish and maintain productive working relationships with co-workers
•    Strong customer service attitude and skills
•    Commitment to professional growth
•    Experience in project management techniques and the ability to lead projects to a timely successful outcome
•    Experience in understanding/translating business requirements into technical solutions.
•    Experience in mentoring and providing technical direction for team members
•    Ability to project/forecast time allocation for project completion

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:24 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

10/20/2006

Note to self... take book review work seriously...

Category Everything Else
Alan Lepofsky recently had a post about a new Notes/Domino development book that's coming out...  Lotus Notes Developer's Toolbox: Tips for Rapid and Successful Deployment by Mark Elliott.  I actually had the opportunity to do some editing on the manuscript awhile back, and I got my review copy yesterday.  I plan on running the review in the November LotusUserGroup.org Developer Tips newsletter, so I'll link to that when it's published in a couple of weeks.

But what surprised me were a few of the thread comments in Alan's post, such as:

May this inspire all the other Notes heavyweights out there to finally finish that last chapter, get it over to twduff.com for a proofread and flood the market with more and more of these.

and

[DuffBert] I would be curious to know what you think about the book. I will be awaiting your review.

and

Just a little prediction that I think this book will do extremely well... whether it is good or not (no pressure, Duffbert).

This whole reviewing thing started out as a "gee, they send me free books?" lark, and really has taken on a life of its own.  And I am still a little stunned and humbled when someone mentions that they look to one of my reviews as a recommendation for getting their own copy.  

Yes, I made this bed and I'll willingly lie in it.  Fortunately, I find it pretty warm and snuggly.  But it's a good reminder to me that people *are* listening, an author's income and reputation is something to be considered, and I can't take this task lightly or flippantly...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:45 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

10/19/2006

Had the special opportunity to see Kim Peek this evening...

Category Everything Else
If you're like me, you might be thinking "who?"  Kim Peek is the person who inspired the movie Rainman with Dustin Hoffman.  My wife's place of employment sponsored his appearance at a local hospital, and we were fortunate to have been able to attend and see a living miracle man...

Rather than try to recap his life, just click on the Wikipedia link above for the bio.  All I can say is that it's incredible to watch him interact with the audience and to watch his recall and mental tracking from one subject to the next.  It's amazing to think that he's read well over 9000 books (there *is* someone who reads more and faster than I do!) and can recall every one.  And to watch his father who cares for him, and to think how difficult his life has been over his 75+ years...

If you ask the doctors, they'll tell you that someone with his brain formation (absence of the corpus callosum) should be barely functional.  While his physical abilities are somewhat impaired, his mental abilities are unexplainable.  People talk about how the average person only uses 10% of their brain.  Compared to someone like Peek, 10% is far too generous...  1% is closer to the truth.  The brain is truly a great mystery...

If you ever have the chance to see him and his father, you must do so...  an incredible message and event.

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:42 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

10/18/2006

Last (I hope) post-surgery update...

Category Everything Else
I had someone ask me how things were going, and I realized I haven't posted much about the recovery since about week 2 (other than falling off tables).  Today marks the one month "with patches" point, and I figure I'm pretty much 90 to 95% of the way back to "normal" (however that's defined in my life).  Doctor said about six weeks, it's been four...  good enough.

I went back for a follow-up with the surgeon about two weeks after the initial event, and he asked me how things were going.  The right side incision was feeling fine...  no real pain to speak of, and the ridging beneath the incision was pretty minor.  The left side was a different story, however.  It still stung quite a bit, there was a bit of redness, and the ridge underneath the cut was quite pronounced.  After the exam, he explained to me why that was.  I guess when he went into the left side, they found a enlarged lymph node.  He didn't quite know what to make of it given the circumstances, and his speciality is cancer surgery.  So, to be safe, they removed it and had the node biopsied.  It came back benign, so there was nothing to worry about, other than the fact that the procedure on the left side was a bit more invasive than the right.  While he's explaining all this, I'm looking at him and thinking...  "and you were going to tell me WHEN???"

I guess there's always the chance that he told my wife they removed it after the surgery, and she didn't tell me to keep me from worrying.  But when I told her the story, she had nearly the same reaction I did.  A small part of me thinks I should be outraged, and the much larger part figures "play on!"  :)

So, to all those who have sent emails and pinged me, thanks...  It's nice to have the care and concern of an extended "family".

And to those I've ignored, bailed on, and generally been reclusive towards since the end of May (between work and the surgery), I really do apologize.  You know you've gone too far when you ping someone online just to say hi, and they ask "What's wrong?  You aren't the type to ping me for no reason...".  I realize that life has been far too out of balance this year, and I'm working on correcting that...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:25 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

10/08/2006

And this is why Tom doesn't do home repair or play with power tools...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - And this is why Tom doesn't do home repair or play with power tools...

Now that the embarrassment factor has subsided a bit (and I didn't do any permanent damage), I'll now share my latest "klutz-du-jour" story...

Last weekend, when I *should* have been recuperating from the surgery, I was putting in a new light fixture in Sue's quilting area.  We purchased it earlier in the day from Home Depot, and she was really excited to get the benefits of quality lighting in that workspace.  In theory, this is a no-brainer...  Shut off power, unscrew and detach old light fixture, reattach wires to new light fixture, secure to outlet, and we're done.  But it was the environment that was the issue...

Sue's work area is on the second floor, and the fixture is right over the stairs.  She has a couple of tables placed over the stair dividers, so it's not as dangerous as it might sound (but I can fix that!).  She was wary that I would step incorrectly and cause the tables to shift, thereby falling and hurting myself.  Me, being "Mr. Man", knows better, and proceeds to tell her so.  

You can see this one coming...

Towards the end, I stepped back and put weight on the end of the table that was overhanging the divider.  The table started to tip up, and I started to fall backwards.  It was a slow motion ballet of "stay to the right, as the left is the drop of 10 - 15 feet for the stairs, while the right is just three feet to the floor".  Sue's freaking out, I'm trying to save myself, and nobody can do much of anything to stop it.  Fortunately, I did end up on the floor (not the stairs), and I didn't injure the area where the recent surgery was done.  Sue's crying, the boys are running up the stairs, and I'm on my back...  "Everything's OK...  I'm fine...  Move along...  Nothing to see here..."

The worst part is that I scraped my leg on something on the way down, and it started off as just an abrasion on the backside of my calf.  But over the course of the last week, it's bruised up pretty nicely, from the back of the knee clear down to the ankle...

And *this* is why I'm much more at ease behind a keyboard or a book...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:17 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

10/08/2006

24 years ago today...

Category Everything Else
... Sue and I were having breakfast together, exchanging gifts, and getting ready for our wedding later that evening...

Thank you for a great 24 years, Sue...  Don't know how you've put up with me for so long.  

Love you.

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:52 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

10/08/2006

OK... HDTV is cool...

Category Everything Else
We recently purchased a wide-screen HDTV to replace our failing TV in the main living area.  Nothing huge or fancy...  30-some-odd inches, relatively cheap, blah, blah, blah...  We hooked it up to the cable outlet, and was pretty much underwhelmed.  Using an HDTV for normal viewing (as in wide-screen mode) wasn't anything to write home about.

I did a little investigation on our cable system website, and found I needed to buy a HD box for the TV.  Better yet, I didn't need to subscribe to digital cable to do so...  Just an extra $5 a month for the converter box, and I'd start to see high definition shows.  I hobbled to the cable office yesterday and picked up the box, brought it home, put it on the coffee table, and went back downstairs to put my feet up.  True to form, my kids woke up, saw the box, and did all the installation without me.  I knew I was a hero when Ian came downstairs and simply said "Dude!  You have GOT to come see this!"

In a word...  WOW!

The non-HD channels are still as they were before, but we *did* eliminate a major issue with ghosting on the over-the-air stations.  But the cable company has a series of channels in the 700 range that mirror the normal channels between 2 - 99 if the show/station is HD.  Heading up there to watch baseball and football yesterday, I was absolutely blown away.  You could see pores on players faces.  Actual blades of grass show up.  Team logos on jerseys nearly appear three-dimensional.  And the colors were stunning...  Nature shows had me looking at the animals in a whole new light.  Apparently last night, Sue got up late and both kids were in the front room, glued to a documentary about...  Chinese gymnasts.  Not a subject of interest to them, but in hi-def it was a must-see...  :)

Of course, it probably helped my "hero" case that all the movie channels are currently available too, as well as the In-Demand movies.  Being we don't subscribe to any premium channels, this was a huge draw yesterday.

The only downside to all this?  As I sit downstairs in my basement office typing this, I'm watching my regular non-HD TV, and the picture quality now looks like those old sporting event films from the 60's.  Ian came down yesterday, took one look, turned to me and simply said "Sucks now, doesn't it?" before heading back upstairs...

He's right.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:34 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

09/30/2006

I understand the word "addiction" a bit better now...

Category Everything Else
Sometimes you have to go through an event to have a bit more sympathy for what others deal with in their lives.  This surgery incident helped me to understand how addictions start and evolve...

Because I had two 4 inch gashes decorating my groin after surgery, I was sent home with the standard pain killer prescription to keep things bearable.  In this case, it was oxycodone...  5 milligram tablets, take 1 to 2 every three hours as needed, etc, etc, etc.  Pretty much the same thing I've seen when I've had the odd occasion to take something stronger than Tylenol.  I took them on schedule for the first three or four days, occasionally letting more than three hours lapse during the night, and paying for it later as I tried to catch up with the pain.  I got a refill that Friday, because I was going to be running out during the weekend, and I wasn't comfortable enough to want to continue on with just regular acetaminophen.  We're not talking about getting dopey or happy while taking this stuff.  Just "the incisions don't hurt much right now", and I could carry on normally (or as normally as one does after surgery).  I had tapered down to only a couple doses a day by Sunday, and thought it was all fine.

And the body says...  NO!

Wednesday was the first day I tried to go without taking any.  By the end of the day, I felt as if I wanted to jump out of my skin.  I was also really tired, so I took a couple of the pills to dull the ache and tried to go to bed.  Guess who was now wide awake but not feeling jumpy any more...  Hmmm...  withdrawls?  Yesterday I tried again to do without.  Again by the end of the day, I was edgy.  I may be slow, but I *can* put two and two together and get four more times than not.  I rode that out and stayed with it today.  And while my injury feels fine, I still have that "can I stretch really hard and shed my skin?" feeling.  It would be tempting to "just take one" to stop this minor irritation.  But then it would come back tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, and eventually the remaining four or five pills would be gone.  And I'd *still* have to deal with this...

We're not talking high doses of painkillers over months of serious injury, and then trying to stop.  Minor usage, low dosage, 10 days.  That's it.  And *still* there's the small discomfort of withdrawl (or at least that's what I'm calling it, as I see a cause and effect here).

I don't condone illegal acts and crime to support an addiction to medication.  Nor am I suggesting that people addicted to medications bear no responsibility and are to be pitied.  What I *have* learned is that it's far more easy than I expected to find oneself in a difficult situation without realizing it.  And if my experience is what it's like to start down that road, then I now understand that the path back could look impossible to those who have traveled it far longer (and with more need) than me...

So next time someone you respect relates problems with an addiction to some sort of substance, stop a moment to understand...  It's not necessarily a recreational thing that got out of control, nor is it a sign of weakness or irresponsibility.  The original issue may be long gone, but sometimes the cure brings with it a greater set of challenges than the disease.

And those last five pills I have remaining will never see the light of day again...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:12 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

09/23/2006

And today's Get Fuzzy translation for 09/23

Category Everything Else
Here's the one from today...  http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/archive/getfuzzy-20060923.html

Thanks to Stan and Ben for the last translation and insights...

I actually understood most of this one...  although the "china plate is a bit gormy" doesn't register...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:41 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

09/23/2006

Just call me "Franken-groin".... :)

Category Everything Else
Last night I decided to change dressings, remove the steri-strips, and basically open up the area to some air.  Once I finally got everything gently removed, I found that I'm now the proud owner of a couple of four inch soon-to-be scars "down there".  Now I could follow in the tradition of Mr. Litton and post pictures of my injury, but I think I'll forego that.  I'd have to fuzz out some "small artifacts" in the picture, and I'd prefer not show off my photo-editing "shortcomings"...  :)

Although things are still tender and I'm moving slowly, I think I'm over the significant pain portion of the recovery.  I don't feel like I'm chasing the pain with my meds quite as much, and I can actually walk for short distances without feeling like my incisions are on fire.  Perhaps in another week or so, I'll actually be back to relative normal.  

All I can say is, when the doctor says it's going to hurt quite a bit (and more than you'd expect), he may just know something that you don't know....

Posted by Tom Duff At 1:17 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

09/20/2006

Command Central during surgery recovery...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - Command Central during surgery recovery...

If I wasn't actually *forced* into this arrangement, it wouldn't be half bad...

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:57 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (11)

09/19/2006

I'm back... but moving VERY slowly!

Category Everything Else
Apparently the surgery went well...  I didn't pass out when getting the IV (though the nurse was a bit nervous), and there's about two hours of my life missing from the time I was wheeled into the operating room until I woke up in recovery.  I thought I was doing quite well pain-wise until last night...

The staff is really big into ranking your pain, and I was at about a 1 - 2 (10 being unbearable) while I was recovering.  Then I think all the remaining painkillers wore off, and now I'd put myself up around a 7 to 8.  This HURTS!

I'm walking around like I'm 80...  hunched-over waddle.  Ice is my best friend.  The oxycontin is barely keeping things at bay.  I realize the day after is supposed to be bad, but I completely underestimated the effect of this surgery on my mobility and pain tolerance.  My wife is earning bonus points left and right for being there for me.  I feel like an invalid...  

I finally moved out to the front room in the recliner, as the bed's getting old.  She's taking a nap, as I don't think either of us got much in the way of sleep last night.  She goes back to work tomorrow, so I think I'll set up "command central" out here in the front room...  Air conditioner remote, TV remote, laptop, table for meds and books, and my access device for work.  Not that I'll be up to top speed for working, but sitting around and contemplating my pain doesn't work well either...

Anyway...  Thanks for all the words of encouragement and prayers.  Now if I can make it through this first week, hopefully things will be OK.  And yes...  I've already completed one book.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 9:25 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

09/17/2006

Well... see you all on the flip side...

Category Everything Else
Since I have to be up and moving *really* early tomorrow, I think I'll shut down my pre-surgery blogging now.  Go take a shower, get comfortable in my Disney Boardwalk bath robe, and try and sleep a bit.  With any luck, I won't spend most of the night staring at the ceiling.

Of course, if you see another blog entry around 2 am, you'll know I wasn't successful at that last item...

See y'all on the flip side in a couple of days...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:03 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (10)

09/14/2006

Sometimes it's best not to know...

Category Everything Else
When presented with a new situation I know nothing about, I tend to gravitate towards reading as my learning tool (like *that* surprises anyone!).  And since I'm facing surgery for the 2 inguinal hernias on Monday, I went out to the web and started digging a bit to see some images of what to expect.

Sometimes it's best not to know...

It's one thing when you're looking at an illustrated drawing of how an inguinal hernia looks.  It's another thing to see photos of men with huge bulges in areas best not talked about.  And seeing some draped off groin splayed open during surgery isn't exactly a calming image, either...  

I think I'll just go back to the text descriptions of the condition and the cartoon drawings, thank you very much...

The positive side of all this is that I was taken off the documentation project at work that was consuming my life for the last three months.  There was no way I could work the type of hours I was putting in, while at the same time trying to recover from surgery.  And much of the work over the next two to four weeks would involved a lot of face-to-face meetings.  If I'm working from home during that time, that wouldn't be too feasible.  It's a strange feeling to be doing *just* Notes development this week...  I'm actually having...  <gasp!>  FUN!

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:06 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

09/13/2006

Funny Ambien reaction while on vacation...

Category Everything Else
I forgot to mention this in previous vacation blog postings...

We left for DisneyWorld Saturday, September 2nd at 11:55 pm.  Being that we were taking a red-eye from Portland to Dallas (and then to Orlando from there), I thought I'd use an Ambien to help me sleep on the plane.  Normally, I head straight to bed when I take one, read for 30 minutes or so, and then turn out the light and go to sleep.  Nothing dramatic...  just an "I'm tired now" feeling...

So, we were to board at 11:25 pm, and I figured that taking an Ambien at 11:10 would give me more than enough time to board, get seated, and drift off after take-off...  At least that was the plan...

Here's what I remember...  :)

Around 11:20, I'm standing in the waiting area, eyes closed, swaying back and forth.  Sue said I appeared drunk (and no alcohol was involved here...  honest).  I'm told that she asked me where we were sitting (10A and 10B) and I said we were in 10A and 18B.  I'm told I was having a difficult time figuring out the seat belt concept (I sorta remember that one).  I'm told I was having a horrible time with the inflatable neck pillow and my hat (don't ask... I don't even know how it got inflated).  But I do remember waking up about an hour outside from Dallas...  :)

Ian's observation that "Ambien makes you goofy" is starting to look more plausible now...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:49 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

09/11/2006

Well... Looks like I'll be going under the knife in the near future...

Category Everything Else
All the years of weight training, being overweight, etc., have taken their toll, and apparently my lower abdominal wall is rebelling.  The condition has been there for awhile, but the DisneyWorld trip sort of aggravated things with all the additional walking.  I've gone from "that's probably not good" to "OK, this is getting uncomfortable".  Today's doctor appointment confirmed that it's definitely a hernia condition, and I need to call the surgeon tomorrow to set up an appointment.  It'll be interesting to see what he says as far as how the repair will be done.  My doctor's parting words were somewhat ominous...

"Remember that this type of surgery will probably take you longer to recover than you'd think..."

This will be a new experience for me...  With the exception of a cyst removal from my wrist 20+ years ago, I've had no surgery, no broken bones, no hospital stays...  nothing.  My needle phobia will make the whole IV thing an adventure...  And drifting off to la-la land knowing you're about to be sliced gives me something to think about.  I've always wondered how I would handle recovery and rehab from a medical procedure.  Guess I'll get to find out now.

45 and falling apart.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:21 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (10)

09/10/2006

So I guess it's back to reality now...

Category Everything Else
No more vacations scheduled...  No more ways to dodge those nasty documentation projects at work...  In theory, I'll be done at the end of the month...

Right...

sigh...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:28 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

09/10/2006

I'm not a big fan of sports "analysts"...

Category Everything Else
... in that far too many of them end up stating the obvious or they explain the play as if they know exactly what was supposed to happen.

Then you have the ones that need to hype a situation to incredible levels...  Like today...

This is week 1 of the 16 game National Football League schedule.  The Seattle Seahawks were playing the Detroit Lions.  Seattle made a play that preserved the win.  In the game highlights, one of the announcers described it as a play that "may have saved Seattle's season"...

THIS IS WEEK 1!!!!!!

And I thought discussing the playoff picture after week 3 couldn't be topped...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:20 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

09/09/2006

The DisneyWorld vacation photos are up...

Category Everything Else
... although I'm sure they'll mean more to me than they will to you...  :)

Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - The DisneyWorld vacation photos are up...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99544917@N00/sets/72157594276744672/

Posted by Tom Duff At 3:49 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

09/07/2006

What a great way to spend the evening...

Category Everything Else
After visiting parts and sweating all day, we made it back to our room at the Disney Boardwalk.  There, I was able to sit on our balcony for nearly two hours watching an incredible lightening storm followed by the fireworks from Epcot.  Even got to observe a spider spinning a web, just for good measure...

This has been so relaxing...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:27 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

09/05/2006

Just checking in... Having fun and relaxing...

Category Everything Else
And in news that will be received with much amazement and disbelief...

I've only read one book since I left Portland three days ago.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 3:51 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

09/02/2006

Time for the *fun* vacation...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - Time for the *fun* vacation...

This time tomorrow, I'll be back in my "happy place"...  The Boardwalk at DisneyWorld...  

Can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this vacation.  That is, when I had time to even *think* about vacations...

There's a much better chance you'll see blog entries from this vacation, but again I guarantee nothing.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:13 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

08/31/2006

Still here... sorry for the outages...

Category Everything Else
Chris Miller and I have been trying to resolve some strange server issues, a symptom of which looks like my blog is getting spidered really hard.  If you see some of the missing accoutrements on the sides, it's because we're trying to narrow down potential problems.  The password boxes some of you have gotten is when Chris has locked out my blog to see if that resolves server response times.

Anyway...  hang in there, and we'll get it fixed soon...  I'm sure...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:58 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

08/26/2006

Finally got the cruise photos cleaned up, renamed, sorted, and...

Category Everything Else
... uploaded to Flickr.

It's amazing what cropping and tossing out the *really* bad ones will do.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:39 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

08/24/2006

Oooohhh.. the reviewing gig is getting interesting now...

Category Everything Else
I was emailed by Amazon a couple of weeks back about participating in a "sneak preview" of some new Logitech item.  I'm sure it had something to do with my reviewer ranking as well as the type of reviews I do.  So, like a good geek I said "of course"...

The box came today, and this'll be fun!  It's their new Logitech MX Revolution "rechargeable cordless laser mouse".  

Now if I can keep it out of the hands of Cameron (my 18 year old "gadget geek"), I'll enjoy trying it out.

I'm now understanding the fun that Volker has...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:49 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

08/22/2006

Enron settlements... the gift that just keeps on giving...

Category Everything Else
I don't even try to keep up on the latest Enron settlements any more.  Once I got my severance settlement, I figured anything over and above that would be long in arriving and meager if it ever did.  About the only one I was even remotely aware of was the class action suits related to the savings and stock ownership plans of former employees.  I received the settlement notice in the mail yesterday, along with the calculated allocation totals.

Let's set the stage first...

At the height of the Enron stock run-up, I was holding options and restricted stock that, if fully vested, would have meant potential retirement at 42 and a substantial annual income on interest alone.  I *wasn't* fully vested, so it was a paper fantasy.  In addition, it was all based on awarded options and stock grants, so it's not like it was my hard-earned retirements dollars at play.  By the time the carnage was complete, it actually cost me more to sell the stock than the stock was worth.  And the value of the options were long since worthless...

So how do they determine if you're a "damaged party"?  Here's the first bullet point:

If you are a class action participant who lost value attributable to Enron stock in the Savings Plan

Sounds like I might be in play there...  I can hardly wait to continue reading to see how this sizable settlement will help correct the horrible wrongs that were inflicted upon me and my retirement (yes, that's *very* tongue-in-cheek)...  Next line is the payoff:

Your Savings Plan settlement allocation has been calculated at...

ready???

$166.04

That's before IRS withholding, and I have to roll the remainder over to an IRA to avoid the early withdrawl penalty and additional taxes.

sigh...

I'm sure glad I came to grips with the fact that I lost a fantasy and dream, and not 30 years of pension funds that was supposed to carry me through my golden years...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:30 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (7)

08/21/2006

Can someone explain how come it takes a week to ...

Category Everything Else
... get one's attitude reset and refreshed on a vacation, and less than one freaking workday to destroy the whole effect???

I know...  whine, whine, whine...  

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:15 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

08/19/2006

And a good time was had by all... I'm back from vacation #1...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - And a good time was had by all... I'm back from vacation #1...

I think that's the least amount of time I have spent on a computer over a week in a *very* long time...

We're back from our Alaska cruise on the Norwegian Sun.  It was a wonderful time of rest, relaxation, and general slug-like behavior.  Go to bed early, take naps during the day, sit around, read a lot (7.5 books, if anyone's counting), and watch the water and world go by.  I went with no expectations except to recuperate from some heavy workload of late, and the cruise was perfect for that.  We stopped in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Prince Rupert (having left out of Seattle).  It was great just being able to throw the luggage in the car and drive home afterwards (no "liquid search" in the airports).  

I do have some pictures (none probably as excellent as Volker's stuff), and I'll get them posted up sometime soon.  Right now, I'm simply catching up on email, snail mail, blog feeds, and all the other stuff that accumulates over a week.

Ah, and why was I "absent without leave" on the 'net?  Well, we bought the internet connectivity package on-board so we could stay in touch with the kids if necessary.  I also took the laptop with intentions of reading blog feeds, posting book reviews, etc.  But my first foray into their wireless network was painfully slow and riddled with disconnects and stalled page loads.  I ended up just using their terminals to check my Yahoo/gmail accounts, and that was about it.  Strangely, I felt little compulsion to do anything more than that...

Perhaps there's hope for this geek yet...  

Now I'll pound out a couple weeks of work, and then head off to vacation #2...  DisneyWorld!  

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:11 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

08/12/2006

And I am now officially... "ON VACATION!"

Category Everything Else
Whoo-hoo!

140 hours of work the last two weeks, and there will be absolutely NONE for the next nine days.  I finished up the last three book reviews I had sitting on the corner of my desk (not work...  that's fun for me).  The suitcase is packed and ready to haul upstairs.  I just have to put the camera (and accessories), the phone (and accessories), and the laptop (and accessories) in my computer bag, and I'll be ready to rock.

Nice to know we just have to drive to the port rather than fly in today's crazy restriction-happy environment.  But I'll get my share of that when we head off to DisneyWorld the first week of September...

For those I've ignored over the last couple of months...  sorry about that.  For those I'm going to ignore over the next nine days...  sorry about that.  :)

I'm looking forward to rest, relaxation, reading, 'riting, and all those things that I enjoy doing but that have put on hold since I got back from Ireland.

My laptop is sync'd up in Notes for the blog, and in SharpReader for the feeds...  Yes, I'm a geek and proud of it, thank you.

Anyway, enough babbling and rambling...  The road is calling...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:47 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

08/10/2006

An American "thank you" to the British authorities...

Category Everything Else
... for breaking the latest plan to use planes as terror weapons.

While my cynical nature wonders about the public story vs. what really was happening, I think it's safe to say that a 9/11-scale attack was in the works and excellent work by the British authorities prevented a tragic event and worldwide disruption.

And for that I say...  thank you.

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:27 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

08/06/2006

Google directions via SMS... pretty cool!

Category Everything Else
One of the Google tech books I recently reviewed had a clip about how you can use Google Maps over text messaging to get directions.  I tried it at the time, and it seemed to work OK.  I tucked it away for future reference, and got the chance to use it today...

I was having sushi with my dad and sister, and he is getting ready to drive back to his home in Arizona.  He asked me if I could do a "mapquest" to find out how far it is from Bend Oregon to Twin Falls Idaho, Twin Falls Idaho to St. George Utah, and St. George Utah to Phoenix Arizona.  Rather than try and remember all that on the way home, I decided to try out the Google SMS option...  perfect results!

I typed in "bend oregon to twin falls idaho" and sent the message to 46645.  In less than 15 seconds, I got a response back telling me the distance and time it would take.  No directions were given because it said the route was too long.  I then typed in "twin falls idaho to st george utah" and sent that one.  Again, 10 seconds later I had a four part message returned with driving directions, distance, and time.  Same thing with the last route, and five messages later I had directions from "st george utah to phoenix arizona".  Sweet!

Now I could do the same thing with specific locations, but it'd be a bit of a pain as I'm not terribly adept at phone text messaging.  Still, it's a great option when you're somewhere unfamiliar and you need a way home...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:30 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

08/03/2006

9 more days, 9 more days, 9 more days...

Category Everything Else
Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - 9 more days, 9 more days, 9 more days...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:32 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

07/29/2006

Nothing like seven day work weeks to make you appreciate weekends...

Category Everything Else
While I'm not ready to drop yet, these seven day work weeks are starting to wear on me.  The last "I'm not logging on and it's not expected" was the July 4th holiday.  Things start to return to a semblance of normalacy starting in August, and I also have a couple vacations coming up between now and the week of Labor Day (first week in September).  My wife and I are taking an Alaskan cruise in less than two weeks, followed by a week down at DisneyWorld in September.  The cruise was a point of contention when my wife first booked it back in January (long story), but now the anticipation of a week away is the only thing keeping me sane...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 9:28 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (8)

07/26/2006

Nice evening at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference (OSCON) meeting two key people...

Category Everything Else
After some late afternoon appointments, I dropped by the O'Reilly Open Source conference being held here in Portland Oregon.  They have a Wednesday night reception that's free, and you can wander the exhibit hall.  The main reason I go is to meet up with my publishing contacts at O'Reilly and Apress.  Marsee from O'Reilly wasn't able to make it this year, but Julie Miller from Apress was there.  As usual, I had a great time talking with her and commenting about the (at least!) 10 to 1 ratio of men to women at this event...  *really geeky* men...

But a big surprise was getting the chance to finally meet Kathy Sierra (of Head First fame) in person.  We've emailed each other a number of times, but we've never been able to meet up.  I knew she was going to be speaking and attending Monday and Tuesday, but I really didn't expect her to be there this evening.  Much to my astonishment, I saw a short blonde lady in the lobby, talking to a couple of other women about horses, standing next to someone who looked like Bert Bates.  I was able to read her name tag, confirm it *was* her, and I just stood off to the side of the small group until there was a break.  She looked over, read the name tag, and said "TOM!"  :)  They were off to the airport to catch their flight home, but it was a nice 15 minutes of chatting.  Rather cool when a virtual friend finally is able to bridge the gap to "f2f"...

And after a long day of work, networking, errands and appointments, and taking the other car in for service, I'm all tuckered out...  Off to bed...

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:42 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

07/19/2006

Can someone explain world events to me?

Category Everything Else
A few months ago, OPEC was unable to control prices as there was no excess capacity to be had.  Their official statements were that they were concerned about the prices, but were unable to do anything about it.  Now yesterday one of the oil ministers expressed the same concern, but stated that they were ready to increase the supply to help control prices, as there is plenty of capacity.  When oil prices shot up to over $60 a barrel, gas prices climbed to well over $3 a gallon.  Oil is now setting new records around $78 a barrel, and gas is about 15 to 20 cents a gallon cheaper...

Which is it, folks?

And in the Middle East...  The US is blamed (and probably fairly) for invading Iraq, for imposing its will in the region, and for generally being somewhere where they aren't wanted and don't belong.  But yet, what's the first thing that's called for after the Israel/Lebanon conflict breaks out?  For the US to send over troops and/or to help broker a cease-fire...

‘We played the flute for you,
And you did not dance;
We mourned to you,
And you did not lament.’

Bonus points for source and citation...  :)

Now, I realize that we're probably considered to be one of the few countries who backs Israel and who might be able to influence that country's actions.  I don't think we're being asked because of our stellar track record in the region over the last decade.  But look at our leadership...  He's already said, quite colorfully, that this isn't Israel's fault, and that Hizbollah (or insert your favorite spelling variation) is to blame for it all.  You think we're going to be the most unbiased source for a peace agreement?  Or are you looking for an additional scapegoat?

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:37 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (24)

07/07/2006

*This* doesn't happen very often...

Category Everything Else
I dropped Sue off at the airport, and she's going to DisneyWorld for a week with friends from work.

Ian is in New York visiting his girlfriend.

Cam decided to go camping with friends.

So I have the house all to myself, all weekend long...

What am I going to do?

Work...  :(

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:06 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

07/06/2006

For those who wonder how I find the time for everything...

Category Everything Else
... you may be pleased to know that Duffbert is mortal after all!

I kept telling you all that I was, but you just didn't listen...  :)

Anyway, the month of July promises to be one long push at work for some technical spec writing projects.  You know you're in for it when the work week is officially defined as seven days a week, and availability for the process goes into the evening.  Fortunately, I can work the evenings from the home location in most cases (and hopefully on weekends), so it's not quite as bad as it could be.

Still...  If you see a drop in posts or a lag before I respond to an email, that's why...

I'm here, but just using all 30 hours a day that you all seem to think I was blessed with...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:33 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

07/01/2006

I'll show my soccer ignorance here...

Category Everything Else
Why was the inclusion of Rooney such a big deal to the England side?

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:25 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

06/28/2006

So why *are* Europeans more svelte than Americans?

Category Everything Else
In response to my recent post about Americans being fat, I got the following email from a long-time reader...

"I was just wondering, after reading your stream of conscience post, why do you think that Europeans are more svelte that we are? Less 'fast food?' More exercise? Or are those over generalizations?

Curious In Cleveland"

Dear Curious...

Any answer I could come up with to defend my assertions would be just that...  over-generalizations.  Even the statement that Americans are fatter than Europeans is a generalization.  

True, but a generalization...  :)

I suspect it's due to a number of reasons.  Our society is one of convenience, of abundance.  We want to be comfortable and entertained, whether that be with TV, movies, or food.  Why walk a half mile to the store if I can drive there?  Why deny myself the joys of ice cream when the freezer shelf at the supermarket has 100 varieties?  We have no responsibilities, just "rights".  And it's my "right" to have whatever I want, whenever I want it, and I don't want to have to deal with any potential consequences to getting my way.  And if something bad happens in that pursuit, I'll just sue...

Keep in mind, that this comes from someone who is quite comfortable, who is about to go drive to the store (a half-mile away), and who still is 40 pounds over a weight I'd like to be at (which is still 30 pounds over what charts would consider "normal").

My over-generalization is that Americans have lost their drive to excel and to lead.  We've grown complacent and sluggish, and it's happened over a long period of time...  Like the frog who boils to death because they adjust to the slowly rising heat, we've become blind to the predicament we've put ourselves in.  Our world image of ourselves is stuck in the 40's and 50's, and that's not us any more.  We wonder why countries don't react to us as they did back then.  We still want to lead, but no one wants to follow any more.  We've marketed our way into a slumber, while the "third world" countries have ramped up capacity to take over things we used to do.  They are us, 50 years ago.  We are the Roman empire...  a feeling of entitlement in a decayed world that is about to crumble...


And don't ask me how I got from "svelte" to "decayed world"...  reading back over what I just wrote, I don't have a clue...  It just appeared on the screen...  :)

P.S. - "Curious in Cleveland" did not sign his email that way.  He's not from Cleveland.  He's probably not even curious.  I just took artistic license, because I always wanted to answer an email "Dear Curious"...

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:23 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (11)

06/25/2006

I'm doing better at letting Ian go now...

Category Everything Else
Last time Ian took off from home for his DisneyWorld internship, I was a mess...  Once he got there and I got used to the fact that he was going to be OK (probably), I was able to relax a bit.

Yesterday he took off for Walden, New York.  That's where his girlfriend lives, and he's going to spend the summer out there.  He's living in an "apartment" that's part of the funeral parlor that her father owns and runs.  And with any luck, he'll find a job there too.

In Walden...  not necessarily the funeral parlor...

And how did we handle it this time?  Just dropped him off at the airport, wished him well, and then went shopping for groceries...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:50 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

06/10/2006

So my cholesterol results weren't quite as bad as I thought they'd be...

Category Everything Else
Reading Joe's post about his high cholesterol led me to think about getting mine checked out.  I had been monitoring my blood pressure with one of those wrist cuffs, and I was consistently running in the moderately elevated range. I also had my cholesterol checked years ago, and the ratio of good to bad cholesterol was all messed up.  I chose to ignore it that time, but I'm getting older and (hopefully) wiser.  My 50+ pound weight loss notwithstanding, I was pretty sure the results of a test would be ugly.  So I did the all day fast and went in to have my blood drawn last Friday (I *hate* needles!)...

The results came back in today.  Surprisingly, my overall number is 180, which is lower than I thought it would be.  LDL is about 15 points over what would be considered normal, and HDL is about 11 points under what is considered optimal.  The triglycerides are also over the desired range by about 35 points.  So while not the picture of perfect health, I'm not the walking heart attack waiting to die, either (apparently).  These are numbers I can work with and work on...

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:20 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

06/02/2006

Take. The. Freaking. Drug.

Category Everything Else
One of the blogs I follow is called Pumplandia, which is one person's chronicle of managing diabetes with an insulin pump.  In her latest post, she was talking about her struggle with depression and how she's deciding whether to take medication or "grow out of it".  I thought it was a great metaphor for how we all view these types of problems all too often...

Then I thought about my other thoughts, the nonbloggable ones, and I came to understand that sometimes you reach a moment when you have, say, a large and gaping hole in the roof of your home, caused maybe by the antics of squirrels or your roommate's fondness for illegal fireworks or the mediocrities of bargain-priced shingles or the little kid next door who likes to hit his baseball up onto your roof several times every Saturday--the cause is not the point; the point is that the hole is there--and outside the thunder is clapping and the lightning is sparking, and you know that the rain on the way is not just any ordinary storm but the kind that generates Significant Media Attention. At such a time you do not look into your toolbox and say to yourself, I will work alone, using only the small nails and the small hammer to repair this hole because by doing so, I will grow immeasurably in my knowledge of carpentry, and that will make me a better person. No, you pull out every tool that might help, small, large, and in between, and you give one to your roommate, another to the kid next door, and whatever remains to the squirrels, and you all go to work on the damn hole.

In other words, you Take. The. Freaking. Drug.

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:35 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (3)

05/28/2006

Ambien is a great thing...

Category Everything Else
I normally don't have much of a sleeping problem, but occasionally work-related stress can lead me to sleepless nights.  The bigger problem is when I travel on a red-eye flight.  As hard as I try, I can't seem to sleep on planes.  With my upcoming flight to Ireland stretching over 36 hours and 8 time zones, the prospect of even being aware of where I was at once I got there was dim.

So, while at the doctor on Thursday I asked about possible sleeping aids. He wrote me a prescription for Ambien.  I've tried over-the-counter stuff with not much success, so I figured trying something a bit more powerful was called for.  Rather than use it for the first time on the trip, I decided to try two trial runs over the weekend.

Friday night...  I took the Ambien around 8 pm and started reading in bed.  Around 8:30 my eyes were getting heavy, so I turned out the light and slept until 2:30 or so.  A good six hours (pretty normal), so it sounded OK.  Talking to my wife, she said I was snoring like a chain saw.  She literally had to smack me a number of times to get me to turn over...  Me?  Don't remember a thing...  perhaps this *is* pretty good stuff!

Saturday night...  I wanted to know whether the snoring was a constant, so I decided to try one more dose before the trip.  This time, no snoring.  I also got a good six solid hours before I woke up the first time.  The strange thing was how I apparently drifted off.  The phone rang around 11:30 and it woke me up.  But what I realized was that the light was still on, my book was on the floor, I didn't have my earplugs in, and my glasses were still on.  Again, I can't remember any conscious decision that said I was tired...  :)

Bottom line is that I'm moderately optimistic that I will be able to get some level of sleep on the way over (and back).  Couple the Ambien with eye shades, ear plugs, and a back cushion contraption my wife bought me, and I might even be relatively rested when I get there.  I just have to be sure not to *take* the Ambien until I get on the plane.  Otherwise I might still find my self sleeping in the Portland terminal when I should be in New York...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:00 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

05/25/2006

So Skilling and Lay are found guilty...

Category Everything Else
I was in meetings most of the morning, so I didn't get a chance to check out my Google News Alerts, one of which trolls for Enron stories.  I found out the news from Ben Langhinriches via email, then Chris Byrne via email, then my wife via cell phone, and my son Ian via text message...  :)

I don't feel any great sense of justice or relief, as that chapter of my life is over and done with.  I do feel good that (in my opinion) justice was served, and that the "I didn't know" defense fell flat.

I'm just waiting for them to start paying claims on the class action lawsuits for retirement program members and former stockholders.  They are running up a nice chunk of change there ($7+ BILLION!), and I might see enough for *2* super-sized McDonalds dinners...

That is, if I were still *eating* McDonald's, and I'm not, because I'm on Jenny Craig...  

no siree bob!

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:18 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

05/19/2006

You know you're in tricky territory when...

Category Everything Else
... your wife starts out a conversation with "For some reason, I was thinking about <your old girlfriend's name goes here> today...".

I don't care if you *have* been married for nearly 24 years...

I kept hearing the following refrain cycling through my head...

"Beware, maties...  Ahead there be dragons..."

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:39 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (7)

05/17/2006

Thank you, everyone... You are part of my successes...

Category Everything Else
I got my annual review at work this week, and it was nice.  There was an interesting trend in many of the sections, which I thought I'd share and thank you all for...

A number of references were made to my blogging activities, book reviewing, writing gigs, and my Lotusphere speaking.  There was even a reference to my upcoming trip to Ireland to speak at their user group meeting.  All these "non-work" activities have led to an extensive world-wide network of expert IBM Notes/Domino professionals that I can (and do!) call on for help and input when needed, both for work and personal projects.

I'm extremely fortunate that my passion is my profession, and "work" isn't something I dread or avoid.  It's also rewarding knowing that work feeds my personal interests, and my personal interests feed back into my work successes.

So again it becomes clearly obvious...  My success "at work" is not wholly my own, but a result of those who have helped me, harrassed me, challenged me, and encouraged me.  If anyone'd suggested that blogging would have been this beneficial so many years ago, I'd have dismissed them as being overly optimistic.  In my wildest dreams, I would never have figured it to be this important...  

So to everyone who's been part of the "Duffbert network", thank you.  I'm able to do what I do because of you, and please know that I value you all more than I can say...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:26 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (11)

05/09/2006

So is 45 officially middle-aged?

Category Everything Else
If so, I'm there today...

Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - So is 45 officially middle-aged?

Posted by Tom Duff At 12:00 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (26)

04/18/2006

Addicted to ear plugs...

Category Everything Else
A few years back, I started sleeping with ear plugs to help "mask out certain noises" (and that's all I'll say in order to preserve my marriage).  I've gotten to the point that even when I'm sleeping alone, I still end up using them because any background noise tends to wake me up.

Which brings me to work...

The area I sit in has a number of people who have to spend a fair amount of time on the phone.  As a result, I know far more about certain software systems that I don't support than I ever wanted to.  I envy those people who can zone out everything around them and not get distracted.  Me?  I tend to have this radar system going, and I end up focusing on any conversation that drifts my way.  Perhaps that's the "bright shiny object" distraction tendency of my attention.  Putting on headphones and listening to music doesn't seem to work for me, as I end up focusing on the music.  Sometimes it works, but often it's not much better in terms of concentration.  The solution?  My trusty ear plugs!  I pop a pair of those puppies in, and it sounds like everyone moves about 100 feet away.  The only drawback is when someone approaches you from behind and thinks you're aware of them, and you're just blissfully cranking code...  :)

I may have to start buying two packs each time I restock...  one for home and one for work.

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:24 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

04/13/2006

Taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course...

Category Everything Else
Based on reading the book The Total Money Makeover, my wife and I decided to sign up for a 13 week seminar called Financial Peace University put on by Dave Ramsey (actually, his organization...  not him in person).  This may be the best time commitment we've ever made...

If you head over to his web site, you can find out about the plan.  It basically involves building up an emergency fund, then eliminating debt, and so on through "building serious wealth".  It's all information you've likely heard before in various forms, but his motivation and focus are infectious.  I appreciate the fact it's not "gimmicky", in that you're following some "get rich quick" scheme.  It's hard work, but it's solid advice.

Fortunately for us, we're not a poster child for a turnaround story.  We're actually in relatively good shape, comparatively speaking (although looking at our finances, that's a scary thought).  It's just that I know we could be doing so much better.  And I don't want to retire with a review copy of 101 Ways To Prepare Alpo (And Love It!).  Although we're only starting week 3, we've already made major strides.  And last night was the first time my wife and I have had a money discussion in a LONG time (ever?) that didn't push buttons and fan flames.

And who knows?  Perhaps discipline in this area will lead to better discipline in other areas...  like home maintenance...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:07 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

04/12/2006

Never know *who* you'll find in a book!

Category Everything Else
While reading IBM Workplace Services Express for Dummies (for a review in next month's LotusUserGroup.org Developer Tips newsletter), I ran across a screen capture that the author (Stephen Londergan) had of his People Palette.  It's a little fuzzy in this scan, but look who appears?  Our own Alan Lepofsky!

Image:Duffbert's Random Musings - Never know *who* you'll find in a book!

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:13 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

04/07/2006

When your profession is your passion, not your job...

Category Everything Else
Bruce Elgort posted a short LCTY entry yesterday, and he touched on how few people read blogs and/or know what RSS is in the tech audience.  It also dovetailed with a conversation we had on the way to the event.  We both assume that since we run in circles where blogging and RSS is nearly required, *everyone* must view it that way.  Not the case, but why?  Julian posted a *great* comment (in that it sums up my feelings exactly) about this situation:

I think the key to understanding the low number of people who read blogs or know anything about RSS is to understand how few people actually think of their jobs as anything more than... a job.

For most people, they're in the technology business because that's what they're getting paid to do. Ideally they have some knack for understanding technology too, but that's not a given (based on people I've met). But in any case, they're not going to spend their free time reading about technology any more than a fry cook at McDonalds is going to go home and read forums and blogs about deep frying potatos (I have no idea whether or not there are forums and blogs on such a subject, but the Internet continues to amaze me).

Anyway, point is that most Notes people aren't going to read Notes blogs because they don't find Notes (or any technology) especially interesting in the first place. Why on earth would they torture themselves by reading about the Notes community in their spare time? When they'd rather be watching DVDs or going to bars or something?

That's my take, anyway. I know plenty of computer professionals who don't even go home to check their personal e-mail at night. Their attitude is: I've been sitting in front of a computer all day, I'm not going to go home and do it some more.

Sorry for copying your comment in its entirety, Julian, but I really liked it.

I've often wondered what I would do if I didn't work with computers.  And the answer is...  I don't know.  This is what I'm wired to do.  This is where I get my kicks.  I read and review tech books because I LIKE TO!  I write about technology because I LIKE TO!  I don't drag myself to work each day, dreading yet another eight hours of programming.  I like what I do!  The thought of shutting down my work computer and not touching a keyboard until the next morning is something that doesn't even click with me.  Why wouldn't you work to improve your skills or learn new stuff on your own time?  I realize that there are times in life when you can't free up the bandwidth to do as much as you'd like...  young kids, other commitments, etc.  But to say you don't have time to read a tech book or study something because you have to watch American Idol, Survivor, and the new episode of Lost doesn't cut it.

The only place I disagree with Julian is where he says "I know plenty of computer professionals".  I think I would have just said programmers.  I reserve "professional" for us "losers" who "don't have a life".  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:04 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

03/14/2006

End of an era... no more Marquam Group/Boom Vang account...

Category Everything Else

After I got laid off from Enron in 2001, I ended up working for Boom Vang Consulting (later to become Marquam Group) for a few years before ending up at my current place of employment.  When I left Marquam Group, I negotiated to keep my connection into their network, my email account, and access to the Business Partner Forum and the KnowledgeBase.  I also ran the Portland Notes/Domino User Group email from there....

But as of now, I've decided to close that account down.  I've transferred the Portland Notes user group mailings to a separate gmail account that seems to be working well.  The only mail I still got at that account (other than spam) were Microsoft Certified Professional newsletters (yes, I *do* have a Microsoft certification!).  And I found that weeks would go by between visits to the Business Partner Forum.  Not that I was really active there anyway, but still...

Just one less thing to keep track of or be responsible for should something go wrong...

Feels strange to shut down an account that you've had for 5+ years...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:48 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

03/08/2006

Have I angered the book gods?

Category Everything Else

Have I committed some unforgivable offense against my UPS driver?  Days, even weeks have gone by with no visits...  no bundles of gifts from my friends at the publishing houses...  My piles of books to review shrink to where I have a toe or two left over when I count the remaining volumes...  Why has life dealt this cruel blow of fate to me???

<hold on...  someone's at the door...>

OK...  never mind...

A picture named M2

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:27 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

03/06/2006

Lotusphere DVD already paying off in unexpected ways...

Category Everything Else

So today I'm scrolling through the company electronic bulletin board, and I see a notice for a training video.  They need an office person, a customer, a narrator, and some extras.  Sounds like something that might be fun...  sit around as an extra, read a book, and see myself in a company video.  All film personalities have to start somewhere, right?

I send off an email to the guy doing the coordination and let him know I'm game to play an extra.  I also sent him a clip from the Lotusphere DVD so he could see what I look like on film.  Figured it might be good to let him know that I have a "face for radio".  :)  He sent back a quick email saying I was on his list, followed quickly by a second email.  In *that* one, he said he really liked the video, and would I please consider auditioning for the narrator role?  See?  A face just made for radio...  

I got the script, and the narrator actually appears in person, not just "in voice".  I certainly didn't think "narrator" was an idea, because I really don't think my voice is a strong point.  But perhaps the ability to move around and look natural in front of a camera might compensate.  Who knows?

Anyway, there'll be auditions next week, and we'll see how it goes.  Hopefully IBM will still be able to afford me next year at Lotusphere...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:37 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (5)

03/03/2006

My "Guilty Pleasure" blogs that I follow...

Category Everything Else

You know you have a few...  those blogs on your feed reader that don't quite make it to your blogroll for fear of what others might think.  You just quietly look forward to new posts in order to laugh it up or shake your head...

Mine are:

Go Fug Yourself - Fashion faux pas by the stars with some of the best writing I've seen out in the blogosphere.  
FuckedGoogle - The "mini-Microsoft" of today's internet darling.  I feel like we've been down this road before...

And two I just added today...

Overheard In The Office - Yes, people really say these things in the workplace...
Overheard In New York - Same as OITO, but out in the wild with people whose parents probably should have practiced safer sex...

Posted by Tom Duff At 2:39 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

02/19/2006

World class juggling...

Category Everything Else

http://www.sonnyradio.com/chrisbliss.htm

Check out the Watch This link...

Posted by Tom Duff At 1:40 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

02/13/2006

Close to joining the VoIP revolution for our home phone...

Category Everything Else

One of the benefits to reviewing books is that I end up with exposure to a lot of different technologies that I might otherwise ignore.  One of those exposures has been to Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, phone service.  Basically, it's running your phone service over your internet connection instead of over the traditional phone system.  Skype is the freebie example of this, and Vonage brought the concept home to ordinary consumers.  Now it seems that every broadband provider is more than willing to take your money in this area.

For me, I'm a Comcast subscriber for both analog cable and high-speed internet.  I've been real happy with the results, so I don't have a problem with service levels.  My wife saw an ad for switching to digital voice with Comcast for $29.95 a month for the first three months ($39.95 after that).  I've sort of ignored our personal phone situation, since our Qwest bill doesn't run much more than $45 a month.  Most of our long distance is done via cell phone, so our long distance charges are negligible.  But now Ian has a girlfriend...  in New York...  3000+ miles away...

And you don't want to know what the last cell phone bill was...

I finally convinced him to load up Skype to talk with her, but this was at the same time as my/his old laptop died.  So now he's back to weekend talks and IM'ing from various computers around the house.  If I get Comcast digital voice, the problem is solved.  I talked with a friend from hockey last night about it.  He switched to Comcast voice awhile back, and has nothing but good things to say about it.

So...  I may not be a bleeding edge adopter of new technology, but I know enough to determine when it will be stable enough to benefit me personally.  And I think that VoIP just hit that point...

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:43 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

02/11/2006

Major kudos to Rob Novak and company...

Category Everything Else


One of the highlights of my Lotusphere session attendance was BP303 - The Great Code Giveaway by Rob Novak and Viktor Krantz.  One of the techniques and code giveaways involved an Ajax-based web-enabled calendar.  The reason this was so cool is that I had a project waiting for me at home that was asking for that exact same thing (minus the Ajax, of course).  I knew what I was seeing on the screen was basically my new application with a new style sheet.  Couldn't wait to get back...  :)

So, I finally got to the point of adding in the proper elements from the code example and firing up my DWA calendar app.  The good news was that the functionality worked perfectly.  The bad news is that I was getting no style sheet info.  After a bit of digging, I noticed that the URLs that were being built to grab style sheets from the design were not formatted correctly.  What was worse is that I couldn't figure out why!  After running out of ideas, I emailed Rob and Viktor at SNAPPS hoping that I could get some sort of answer in a couple of days...

Probably no more than 30 minutes later, I got a response back from Rob explaining exactly why I was seeing what I was seeing.  With his suggested workaround, I was able to get the calendar styled with CSS and delivered the application for testing to the user later that day.

So...  my public thanks to Rob and Company for 1) giving away such cool code, and 2) responding so quickly to questions related to it.  A real credit to the Domino community...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:29 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

02/09/2006

A plea to anyone accused of something in the media...

Category Everything Else

With corporate corruption, financial mismanagement, and general criminal activity running rampant in society today, it's not unusual for the media to get ahold of a story.  And the knee-jerk reaction of all the accused individuals, either personally or through their lawyers, is to loudly proclaim "I didn't do it, I'm innocent, there's nothing to see here."  And to that I say...

Society ain't buying it any more...

We've become far too jaded as a society to believe just about anyone when they protest their innocence now.  We're cynical from being lied to repeatedly, from the highest levels of government clear down to our sports heros we've put on pedestals.

Take the latest gambling scandal in the NHL.  Potential ties to organized crime.  Wayne Gretzky's wife implicated.  And what does he do?  Hold a press conference proclaiming how confused he is about it all, how he's trying to figure out what's going on himself, and how he's not involved in any of it.  And what happens today?  News of wiretapped conversations where he's discussing the gambling ring and how to keep his wife from being named.  Guess you *lied* to us, Wayne!  And if you lied about that, are we to believe that you weren't placing any bets either?  And don't tell me you were unaware of her involvement...  We already know you know.  And I don't think a wife dumps $500K and easily hides it from hubby...

From now on, can people accused of something just issue a simple "no comment"?  You look *really* stupid when facts show otherwise...

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:17 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (2)

02/07/2006

Yeah, but we still hate you...

Category Everything Else

Back in the early '80's, my wife and I used to follow the Portland Winter Hawks, the local major junior hockey team.  At that time, Portland was one of the first American teams in the CHL, and our owners had money.  While the other teams played in small towns, in arenas that would seat 4000, we played in the same arena as the NBA Portland Trailblazers, often to crowds of 10000 or more.  We became the first American team to win the Memorial Cup, major junior's equivalent of the Stanley Cup.  Needless to say, the 'Hawks weren't necessarily the most popular team in the league...

When we'd go on road trips to "happening" places like Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, the small group of boosters would be harassed endlessly by the home fans, and the chant of "Portland Sucks!" was heard at least one during the game.  The funny thing was, the "Portland Sucks" chant was also heard at games where Portland *wasn't* playing!  Didn't matter if we were there or not...  Portland sucked, and the fans wanted to make sure we knew it.

Why do I share this?  I was reminded of this when I was reading a story about the cartoon protests raging in Denmark and other places.  For once, it wasn't "the Great Satan" that did something to evoke worldwide protest.  And what did the protesters chant outside the Danish embassies?

"Death to America"

:)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:45 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (14)

01/28/2006

I think we just had an earthquake...

Category Everything Else


I heard a thump and my basement area was shaking a bit.  I went upstairs to ask Sue if she felt it, and Ian came down from the upstairs to see if we had one...

I'll have to troll the news sites and the TV news to see what it was...  Probably 3.0'ish...

Update:  Yup:  http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/pnw/STORE/X1290200_06/ciim_display.html

Apparently centered pretty much in the Portland area and registered at 2.9.

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:02 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

01/04/2006

I only *thought* Ian was coming home today...

Category Everything Else

I guess the Orlando airport was a zoo with flight delays from the Northeast, and the security gate was a huge backup.  He got to the gate just as they closed the doors, and him and 37 others missed the flight.

So now he's booked for tomorrow morning at 6 am, due to arrive home at 12:15 pm.  Hopefully we'll see him them...

Posted by Tom Duff At 11:14 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

12/31/2005

The obligatory end of year review for 2005...

Category Everything Else

This is the time when one is supposed to look back and contemplate their journey of the past year.  So just what *did* I do of note this year?
  • In November of 2004, I broke into the top 500 reviewer ranking at Amazon.  By February, it was 298.  June, 198.  September, 149.  And finally, two days before the end of the year, I hit my goal...  I'm ranked at 125.  And what does that get me?  Even more books to review...
  • I had a goal to read a bit less this year.  Reading 182 books last year seemed to be a bit much.  So what did I end up doing this year on the reading front?  201.  I *definitely* have a goal this year to "read less, do more".
  • My writing gig with e-Pro ended when the electronic newsletter remnant went belly up in May.  But I was back writing again for LotusUserGroup.org in the last quarter of this year.  Between this blog and my official writing jobs, it seems like the keyboard is my mistress.  I'm sure my wife thinks that more often than not...
  • Lotusphere 2005 and the Java Jumpstart that Joe Litton and I did went very well.  The evaluations were very good, and I was given a chance to do it again in 2006 with Julian Robichaux.  Great fun...
  • Compared to my 747 blog entries last year, I *only* posted 668 times in 2005.  Guess I'm learning to hold my tongue better.  :)
  • I did a webcast on the new Notes/Domino 7 features for e-Pro before it died.  It's hard to talk to a wall and have it sound natural...
  • Since my old laptop from 2001 went south with Ian to DisneyWorld, I had to replace it with a spiffy new one.  
  • And speaking of "went south", Ian survived Disney.  Today's his last full workday there, and he flies home on the 4th of January.  I don't know that he's ready to come home, but he's *really* ready to not be working for The Mouse any more.  The "magic and pixie dust" is pretty well gone.
  • And it was a year of loss...  40 pounds worth, to be exact.  I joined Jenny Craig and started taking steps to get healthy.  I'm still not where I want to finish at, but I'm halfway there.

Those are some of the basic blog highlights.  Of course, there's a ton of other stuff (lost a cat, gained a cat, etc.) that would probably bore you all even more than this did.  But it was fun to scan back over the 2005 blog entries and relive some of the highs and lows.

So...  onward to 2006.

And remember...  READ LESS, DO MORE...

Posted by Tom Duff At 2:41 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

12/28/2005

So what's on *your* list of professional goals for 2006?

Category Everything Else

I'm a firm believer in setting professional goals for myself...  learning new things, stretching my comfort limits, etc.  I think that habit has served me well over the years as an IT professional, and it's taken me in directions I never dreamed I'd experience.  Talking in front of hundreds at Lotusphere, writing as a paid "sideline", high visibility as a book reviewer, etc.  Definitely some good stuff there...

Looking back at the last couple of years, I've noticed that I've ended up in a bit of a rut.  Since I spend so much time reading and writing, I end up knowing a lot *about* different technologies, but I don't really *know* any of them deeply.  Sort of the "jack of all trades, master of none" syndrome.  While it has some advantages as far as being able to keep a wide view of trends, it frustrates me that I don't have that skillset that I can "hang my hat on", so to speak.  Sure, Notes/Domino is my expertise, and I do quite well there.  But once I venture out of that niche, the knowledge becomes less experiential and more "book smarts".  Information technology can be a brutal profession these days, and I really don't want to lose my edge.

So with that in mind, I have set some very lofty goals for myself this year...

I want to master:
  • AJAX
  • Ruby
  • Linux

I want to better understand:
  • Perl
  • Microsoft's version of collaboration software

This can all be summed up in four words...  "read less, do more"  :)

By "master", I don't expect to be in a position to get a full-time job doing any one of those skills.  But I do want to be able to write programs and routines in those languages without trepidation.  I also want to feel comfortable running Linux under my VMWare partition.  By "better understand", I want to have a decent working knowledge of those technologies.  For Perl, I want to be able to write a simple Perl script and know when I might be able to use it in my day-to-day activities at work.  And as for Microsoft's collaboration technologies, I want to be able to know what application development skills compare to what I do in Notes/Domino, as well as understanding a basic application development cycle.  This will probably be one of the hardest ones to reach, as not only do I have to figure out *what* matches up, but then I have to figure out how to *get* the software to install it in my home environment for study.  At least all the other goals I have involve open source and free software...  :)

An aggressive list?  Yup.  Reachable?  If I remain focused.  If I apply myself.  If I quit launching Hearts and Solitaire in the evenings...  :)

So what's on *your* list?

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:27 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (9)

12/22/2005

So how did Radicati do on her annual predictions?

Category Everything Else

I don't have the original list of prognostications, and I won't be able to get to this until after I get back from Christmas holidays.

But I'm sure one of you would relish examining the accuracy of one of the industry's most "vocal" analysts...

I think we can pretty much figure that her blogging prediction was wrong...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:54 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

12/19/2005

So how did we fare weather-wise?

Category Everything Else

Guess it depends on how much the weather affects what you do...  :)

The weather system moved in a lot faster yesterday than was predicted.  The thought was that it'd all start between 4 and 6 pm.  In reality, the roads were covered with ice pellets by 2.  Things got progressively worse throughout the afternoon and evening, and I was glad that I was safely at home with nowhere I needed to be.  I woke up this morning expecting a thick layer of ice on top of everything, and that wasn't the case.  Temperatures stayed right above freezing and the rain, although freezing in places, really turned things more into slush.

The wife's happy, as her place of business shut down for the day.  My company doesn't open until 10 am, but I'm just going to work from home.  No use trying to spend hours getting to work to only spend half a day there...

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:51 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

12/18/2005

Gonna be an interesting next couple of days here weather-wise...

Category Everything Else

The city of Portland (located in the United States, state of Oregon) has a geographic placement that makes wintertime somewhat interesting.  The city sits at the end of the Columbia River Gorge, which runs between the states of Oregon and Washington.  We're at the west end.  During stormy conditions, you can get strong east winds as the high pressure situated in the east pours down into the low pressure weather system in the west.  So far, no big deal.  Unless it's 30 degrees outside with 30 mile per hour winds.  Wind chill sucks!

Generally speaking, it doesn't get really cold here.  Many winters, you'll have nothing more than maybe a handful of days where the temperature drops below freezing.  No big deal.  It's the extended cold snap that causes issues.  This last week, we've been experiencing one of those in our area.  The nighttime lows have approached 20 degrees, and the daytime highs haven't gotten over 40.  The transition *out* of this pattern is where we find ourselves right now...

There's a storm approaching...  wet and warm.  The east part of the state is still cold and clear.  East winds are gusting up to 50 miles per hour right now with sub-freezing air.  We have a high wind warning that's been issued by the weather service.  Later today, the storm will get here.  The front will ride over the top of the sub-freezing air, meaning that the rain will turn to either sleet (frozen rain pellets) or freezing rain (rain that freezes on contact with the ground).  We have a weather warning issued for that, too...  Then we have to wait for the warm air to flush out the cold and turn everything to plain old rain.  The problem is that no one know how long that will take...

Two years ago we were in a situation like this, and the forecasters figured it'd transition in about 12 hours.  It took 3 days.  Other times the forecasters have called for "gloom and doom", and nothing happened.

So long as we keep our power (and our internet connection), I'll be happy...  :)

See what you're missing, Joe?

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:57 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

12/14/2005

Wow... My pinnacle of blogging success...

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To be Ed-dotted and vowe-dotted all in a 24 hour period...

It's all downhill from here.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 4:21 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

12/13/2005

I've become a (i-)Pod Person...

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I'm not really into music like many of you out there.  I have a few CDs, a few music files, but overall it's pretty meager compared to the volume that most of you write about.  As a result, the whole iPod phenomenon really passed me by with nary a glance...  Podcasts didn't even capture my attention much until Bruce and Julian started their Notes-based podcasts at Taking Notes.  I finally decided to break down and get a portable MP3 player so I could listen to stuff without being at my desk...  in other words...  

I finally bought an iPod.

A black iPod Nano with 2GB.  I didn't need a 30 GB video model (or at least I don't think I do at this point in time).  Ian also got one for Christmas.  Christmas must fall on December 13th this year, as he got the package we shipped and didn't bother to wait until the 25th to open it.  :)

I must admit...  It's an engineering marvel to be able to get that much stuff in so little and light a package.  

Of course, Cam is now convinced I'm totally whacked because I don't have any music on there yet...  just podcasts...  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 2:45 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

12/06/2005

I'm finally taking the plunge and buying an iPod...

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I'm not a huge music fan who wants to listen to tunes as much as possible.  I enjoy music, but I just don't listen to it much.  In the car, I'm more apt to be listening to sports talk radio or nothing at all.  But the rise of podcasting has put me in a position where I don't have the flexibility to listen to them during times that are convenient (like 15 minute commutes).  So, after mulling things over and getting some advice from Bruce, I decide to buy a black iPod Nano (2 GB model).  It will be more than enough space to allow me to store and listen to audio files I have backed up, and I was able to use $150 in Sharper Image gift certificates that I had lying around.

Now comes the hard part... waiting for it to show up.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:42 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (4)

12/04/2005

I'm B-A-A-A-C-K!

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The cruise is over, and we're back home now.  Fortunately I have a day to catch up on stuff...  :)

We had a great time.  Ate somewhat more than I should have, exercised less than I planned to (but I *did* do some exercise), slept more in a week than I probably have in the last three weeks combined, and read a lot of books (like *that's* any big surprise!).  I "tried" to go scuba with a "Discover Scuba" excursion.  Emphasis on the word "tried".  Not being comfortable in the water didn't help, nor does the concern of taking a mouthful of seawater.  Couple that with a very short lesson before a short 30 ft dive, and I decided this wasn't working well.  I think I needed more time to become comfortable with the whole thing.  Besides, we were diving with an instructor and three other people.  The last thing I wanted to do was panic at 30 and force everyone else up.  But at least I can say I've tried it, and perhaps it's out of my system now...  :)  Other than that, didn't do a lot of memorable things, which was fine.  The ship was a bit older than some of the posh mega-cruise ships being built now, so there weren't all the high-end amenities I've come to expect on prior cruises.  I just had a solid block of time to recharge with no schedule or commitments.  Liked it a lot...

Expect a number of postings in the next couple of days as I catch up on book reviews and news stories I'd like to comment on...  

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:13 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

11/24/2005

Yes, I'm a Mechanical Turk addict...

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It used to be when I wanted a break on the home computer, I'd pull up Hearts or Freecell.  Now I tend to call up Mechanical Turk, Amazon's experiment in having humans do things that computers don't do well (in return for micropayments).  It's not a matter of making three cents every time I pick out a picture that matches the address and business they specify.  It's more the diversion and the interest in seeing small slices of other places.

For instance, I love doing MK tasks for New York.  The small storefront businesses, gratings pulled down, graffiti all over the place...  Seeing these 10 foot storefronts that have probably been in the family for years, and have had generations be born, raised, and buried with the store as the focal point in their lives.  Chicago seems to have some of that same element.  Berkeley in California was more "pseudo-old"...  Storefronts made to look old and quaint, but they probably turn over ever few years.  Other places, like Santa Monica are more like strip malls and mega-malls where you can't see specific businesses...

I find it much easier to make the match for older cities, as the businesses are right on the street and it's easy to identify them.  Newer cities are more "faceless" in nature, and the businesses are further away.

When it first started, Portland (my current location) was one of the cities being covered.  I even ended up with the entry for the consulting company I used to work for (under their former name and former location).  When I forwarded the page (I saved it) to them, they laughed and then asked if I had so much time on my hands could I do some work for them...  :)

I know I won't get rich doing this, and I don't expect to.  But it *does* pay far better than Solitaire, and it's more educational.  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 1:17 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

11/24/2005

What part of 24/7 did I miss???

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I make it a habit to call our credit card companies when we go on vacation to have them note that we'll be outside our regular spending areas.  No sense in dealing with rejected card purchases because you're not where you normally are.

Chase card services are great...  I can call two or three days before, the person who answers the call can take the info, no problem.

Bank of America card services are less than wonderful...  Can't place the call until 24 hours before you leave, and they ask me like 20 questions to confirm I know about the card (my current balance, my credit limit, what purchases I'll be making, etc.).  How should I know exactly what purchases I'll make???

But today was the kicker.  I called BofA, waded through the options, went into the hold queue for a few minutes, and then got transferred to a recorded message.  The message was:

Our customer call center is closed for the holidays.  Our call center hours are 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Please call back after the holiday.  Thank you.

What part of 24/7 did I miss there???

Posted by Tom Duff At 8:00 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (1)

11/24/2005

Almost ready to vacation!

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If postings slow down a bit over the next week, it's because I'm not in my normal rut.  The wife and I are leaving the kids behind and taking off on a cruise to the Western Carribbean.  Don't know quite what the ports of call will be after the hurricanes went through the area, but it's *supposed* to be Rotan(sp?) Honduras, Belieze City, and Cozumel.  Honestly, if we just float around for seven days, I'd still be happy...

The laptop *is* going with me (yes, I'm a geek, but at my wife's request) so we can be contacted by the kids in case of emergency.  Ship-to-shore calling is a magnitude worse than hotel phone charges, so my wife figured that spending the money for the internet wireless access on board the ship was a good idea.  And who was I to object?  :)

So...  There will probably still be postings, but we'll have to see how the access pans out.  

I'm so looking forward to the time away.

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:52 AM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

11/16/2005

Major milestone reached...

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A picture named M2

199.8 pounds at this evening's weigh-in...

http://lessduffbert.blogspot.com

Posted by Tom Duff At 6:05 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (8)

11/15/2005

Ooohh... A bright shiny object! Konfabulator...

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Konfabulator...

I think I'm gonna regret finding out about this.  I had vaguely heard about this software, but always in context of Macs.  I was blissfully ignorant until I read the 43Folders blog and saw reference to a widget that did a countdown.  I clicked on the link, and saw that Konfabulator is cross-platform...  

Guess I know what I'll be doing at work tomorrow morning...  

Posted by Tom Duff At 5:13 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (10)

11/05/2005

Went and saw Chicken Little today with the wife...

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If what they say is true about Disney possibly buying Pixar and the success of Chicken Little determining how bad they need to make the purchase, then the answer (in my opinion) is that they better pay whatever Jobs asks...  Disney's first foray into CG animation after the death of their hand animation department leaves a bit to be desired.

The technical aspects of the film were OK.  Nothing that I was blown away by, but definitely on par with films like Madagascar.  While I marvelled at some of the stuff that Pixar did with Monsters, Inc., there was nothing in Chicken Little that made me sit up and take notice.  I think the main problem with the film was the story.  There are some funny sight gags, and a number of funny lines of dialogue.  But the story itself really didn't go anywhere.  The first thing I said to Sue when we left the theater was "that movie had no soul".  And this coming from someone who doesn't do "subtle"...

It's a film that kids will like, and they'll probably stay involved the whole 90 minutes.  But if you're going for your own enjoyment, you won't miss much by waiting until it comes out on DVD.  At least then you'll get extra features that may make it a bit more interesting...

Posted by Tom Duff At 7:23 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (6)

10/20/2005

Time to fire up for high school hockey again... Cam's team is 1-0.

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Yes...  Time for that 16 game odessey known as Oregon High School Hockey...  They even have a website now!

This year Cam is playing for Tigard, as Grant didn't have enough kids go out to field a team.  Heck, Cam doesn't even go to Grant any more (another blog entry for another time), so no big deal.  He wanted to stay with a couple of other kids from last year, but Tigard didn't have a goalie, so Cam didn't have a lot of choice.  

However, after watching the Tigard team play Mountain View last night and win 8-1, I think he's perfectly happy with the "net" results (yes, pun intended).  Tigard totally outplayed the other team, and Cam looked pretty good on the few shots he had to face.

Of course, trying to get him to be a bit more humble was nearly impossible after this piece in the game story on the website:

The Tiger highlight reel continued early in the third as goaltender Cameron Duff stoned a bewildered Mountain View shooter on a breakaway.

Oh, well...  I'm sure there will be nights where he can't stop a thing, so I guess he better enjoy the good ones while they're out there.

Posted by Tom Duff At 2:27 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

10/18/2005

To whoever bought Devil's Halo through a link here...

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... and then apparently bought a boatload of of other books while they were over there?

 

Thanks!  :)

Posted by Tom Duff At 1:08 PM Location In The Basement... | | Comments (0)

10/13/2005

Is it just me, or are those Burger King commercials with the ...

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