May 4, 2008 by phillip.

I was just listening to a podcast called Lugradio recently. They had a rather interesting debate that sparked a lot of thoughts about what I believe.

As a little background, Lugradio is a British podcast. The four members of the show throw around ideas about Linux and open source software. Now, I know that it may seem that freedom is relative to the location in the world you live in. You’d be wrong. Freedom is relative to you as an individual. This shows in the similarity in thought that open source software has ignited worldwide.

By definition “Freedom” is: Liberty and the release of ties, bonds, and obligations. To be obligated to use only free or open source software would be an obligation thus making us no longer free. At the same time to look at only open source software as good wouldn’t negate our freedoms but it would be irrational.

The open source movement can’t just be a band of raving technical zealots. Has that ever really worked? Legitimate religions of our time had to learn this early in their histories. People don’t listen to the person that’s just ranting and raving and casting condemnation on others. They are free too. Free people learn by education, choice, and reasoning. However, they have the right to choose whatever they want even though it is not the “right” choice.

I always think of it in perspective of all the cars on the road. If you looked at all the cars that exist you should ask yourself “Why?” Given the needs and styles wanted by a particular buyer a computer could kick out the perfect car according to color, body type, passengers, mileage, fuel consumption but yet there are so many.

Feel free to decide. That is the joy of being free.

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April 28, 2008 by phillip.

I seem to collect a lot of information on different computer related topics. I live to go to my local Borders or Barnes & Noble book store to look at books and of course there’s one I want to buy every time. My bookshelves can attest to this fact. Today I had an epiphany. I want to let some people do what they know best. I have a lot of newsfeeds, newsletters, magazines, and email subscriptions that I just don’t need. Now granted they’re all free (even the magazines but I’ll talk about how to do that another day).

I was looking through a folder that I have certain email routed to. I realized that the folder had a lot of Cisco tips and tricks for their routers. In cleaning out my email folders I realized that these emails were building up and had become a huge portion of this folder because I just never tended to delete them since I never get around to reading them. My thought process is like a pack rat: “One day I’ll need these.” Stop that! Get rid of this stuff. I don’t need to know everything about a Cisco router. I might possibly need to configure one once every two years. I deleted them all. Even though I took a lot of training on Cisco routers years ago if this situation arises I’m letting some other guy handle that. Unburden your mind seeing all the crap in your inbox.

Posted in Only for the techy people, Life Lessons | 1 Comment »

April 11, 2008 by phillip.

My wife and I were talking a couple months ago and a theme started to emerge. We were going back and forth with situations that we’ve successfully navigated through just by thinking and talking. It shows how long I’ve been developing this idea because I first started this post three months ago but left it alone. My wife just recently wrote a great post on it called, “The Doctor Who in me.” This really explains what we love so much about the British TV series being shown on Scifi-channel. It is great to have weapons of mass destruction like the military, Kung Fu skills like Bruce Lee, or even gadgets like Batman but knowledge and mastery of speech is an art not to be underestimated.

As a kid I didn’t get into any fights but I was never considered a wimp or a nerd. I had mastered a skill that would prove helpful in many situations. There was a certain deterrence to messing with me because of the way I could make you feel. I was the kid that was very well liked and good at sports but with that comes what we call “haters.” Haters are the people that don’t like you because they are jealous of other people thinking highly of you. I didn’t have the pretty girl but I was a man of many talents. I was the troubadour that sat on a classroom step playing guitar, loved to play basketball or any other sport, was tops in my class in grades, and was quick to say something that would make you laugh. However, there were those times when I had to show someone my other side. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 9, 2008 by phillip.

We are at a rare crossroads in history that can be manipulated for good family relations. I say this because I’ve recently thought about how my family structure works. My wife is a special education teacher to elementary school children. Today I was looking through her blog like I usually do and thought about something. I comment on her blog and to her in real life. It’s like having twice the amount of conversations with your spouse (since we do talk a lot in person). I definitely recommend that husbands always talk to their wives and vice versa but if your spouse blogs then take an interest even if it’s not in your usual line of interest. I know that my wife also tends to read my blog even though I know that she’s not a techno-savvy person.

All my children started off early using computers too. All 4 of my children started with basic screen drawing at 3 years old. They all wanted to be like me and later on their mother or brothers. In true form my daughter has loved watching my blog-aholic wife type on her blog so much that my wife started her a blog. SHE’S 6! Yes, my wife does all the typing but my daughter tells her what she wants and it’s good family time with them.

My 3 sons aren’t so voyeristic. They aren’t the types to blog (even though it comes with a Myspace page). However, with your teens get to the point that you can be added to their friends list on Myspace. I do that with my sons and all the children at my church as well as neighborhood kids. This way you can watch what their doing a little bit too.

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March 20, 2008 by phillip.

The more podcasts and RSS feeds I listen to or view has made me come to a conclusion.  I’m not internet cool. I have most of the technical ingredients for it. I have instant messengers galore. I have a Twitter account. I have a camera phone.

I guess it’s really that I feel a little left behind listening to Leo Leporte (or any ex-Techtv people) on shows like TWIT. They seem to know so many people by name in the industry that actually talk to them all the time.

I guess I’m not too far off because I have met a lot of the people talking on some shows at conventions or something else but they wouldn’t follow me on Twitter. Although, I have been surprised when people have remembered me.

I’m not mad at them though. Keep doing your thing you Internet Rock Stars! I may not have a couple thousand people following me on Twitter like Robert Scoble or Jason Calakanis. I may not have a name with presence like Leo Leporte but if I can or have offered just one kernel of knowledge in my blog that has made your day… Let me know.  That’s what I’m here for.

Posted in My humble opinion, Only for the techy people, Cool Net Tricks, Life Lessons | No Comments »

March 18, 2008 by phillip.

I was watching a show last night on TLC (I believe) about how life might be in the year 2057. I came in half way into the show so I did miss some interesting thing but I love watching shows like this from TLC with the dramatizations of possible scenarios.

Well, in this one they go over a lot of technologies that will possibly be around in the future and their use in everyday life. I always like pondering what the future will be like. I think I do it mostly so that I can try to do it now with the crude tools of the present day. Athough, I’m not really sure of the feasability of virus’ taking down the whole city and a single old guy that was a former hacker accessing old machines connected to the city’s grid saving us, I’m sure virus’ will continue to trouble us. To what extent I don’t know but I believe that the edges of people’s networks (i.e.: routers, firewalls, and even ISPs) will get a little better at discerning internet noise and it’s creators. However, this also scares me a bit seeing as power like that can also be used for good but for control as well.

A world like the movie Minority Report is coming. An interesting fact is that Britain leads the way in monitoring as they have so many cameras up that the average person can get spotted almost 300 times a day.  That’s a lot. With the advent of facial distinction monitoring and even adding audio recognition no one would be totally off the grid unless they lived out in the rural areas. Even there, Google will show you on a satellite feed on Google maps drinking your latte on the front porch.

All the grim “1984″-ish stuff aside I love the thought of making things easier, smarter, and more intuitive. I’m going to go into more of the future in upcoming posts as it never ceases to fascinate me.

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February 23, 2008 by phillip.

I’ve been working as a consultant for about 3 years now. It’s weird but I don’t know why but even though I’ve encountered many different situations that are always different in some small way I’m continually amazed at myself.  Not because I’m so good or anything like that but, because I’m always terrified before I start. I always feel like I’m in over my head this time. I do continually try to challenge myself but for some reason this has never gone away.

Is it the edge that I need or a habit I need to get rid of. I’ve heard that courage is being afraid and doing it anyway. I hope that’s the case here. I really don’t know.

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December 13, 2007 by phillip.

I’m going through a change in my way of thinking. I’m not the guy that you’d usually think of as a tree hugger but I’m really thinking about our environment and “Green” solutions for everything. Well, I’m really interested right now in trying to make what I do more Green. If you’re not familiar with the term, “Green” means environmentally friendly like: biofuels, recycled goods, etc.

However, like the old Kermit the Frog song “It’s not easy being green,” it’s harder than it seems. So, for this I implore you to help me. As an IT guy I’m trying to come up with ways to help others become more green. The problem with it is is that it seems to always cost more for everything environmentally friendly in the end. I guess the only exclusion I know of is using used vegetable oil for fuel (of which you’d still have to find a place to acquire huge amounts of it).

I’m sure someone will tell me, “Isn’t it worth the extra cost for the environment?” This is true but the same reasoning applies to sodas being sold more than juices. It’s better for you but the cost makes you revert to the cheaper solution in the long term. I want to help change this. I thought about Solar Panels on my roof but the upfront cost scared me away unless I build my next home (which I plan on).

With this in mind. I guess the way to be the most green in computing is in three areas: Power consumption, cooling, and recycling. I’m big on the recycling part of it because I try to teach people how to use machines that are old for new things. However, if someone could give me more ideas I’d highly value those.

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November 26, 2007 by phillip.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching an American Dad episode and it made me think a little bit about life and how people see it. Sometimes doing what you love can get to be a bit like a boring marriage. I’ve been with my spouse for a very long time so I can tell you from experience. Sometimes you do need to spice it up a bit.

Well, the same happens with your job. In the American Dad episode the father works for the C.I.A. and he starts to find it a little boring. They open the show with him lazily picking up a bodybag out of his trunk with a live hostage. He then opens the bag near the door to an enemy compound, opens the guy’s eyelid so the retinal scanner on the door opens and green berets flood into the compound shooting. Amongst all the excitement he goes back to his car still bored. Later in the show he sees a meter maid passing out tickets and thinks that must be really exciting.

You may find yourself sometimes being this guy. You loved your job when you started. You really wanted to do what you now do for a living but for some reason you’re so bored.

Here’s a couple tips to spice up your job relationship:

1) Make yourself a new project if you aren’t on one. Make it a project that is challenging but it will make you learn a lot in an area you knew nothing about before. Of course you definitely should make it compliment or enhance your current job.

2) Meet some new people in your field. Networking always makes you run into people that do what you do but have something else to add that you find interesting and/or you can add something that they find interesting.

3) Find the routine things that are making your life boring and find ways to automate, reduce their time consumption, or make a personal time challenge out of. Of course your goal, like typing, isn’t to get done first but done with no errors.
4) If your job is full of routine then totally switch up the order. Commonly mixing up your environment and routine keeps those synapses firing all the time to re-acclimate you to your setting

5) GET AWAY FROM YOUR WORK! I can’t stress this one enough. When I worked in an office, getting away from my desk and most times even the building for lunch re-invigorates you. I’m in California so I love to go outside and get some fresh air (yeah, I know it’s mostly smog or forest fires here but you get my drift).

Trying these and a couple others you come up with can help you shape the direction you’re going in and make it new and exciting again. If you have any idea let me know as well. I run a home based business and need to get away sometimes so I’m constantly thinking of things to inspire myself.

If you have any good ideas that you use feel free to let me know.

Posted in Life Lessons, Tips | 1 Comment »

November 11, 2007 by phillip.

www.ted.comI watched a fascinating lecture on the Internet today (www.ted.com) The speaker gave a talk on the misconceptions of: choice and happiness. I found this extremely interesting and relative to how open source works. In a capitalistic choice driven society like the United States (my home) it feels almost sacrilegious to say. It is however, true. Let’s delve further into it.

What software can you say people are truly happen with in open source? Without a doubt I would say: Firefox, MySQL, and Apache. Let’s look at why. Of the top of your head, what are your choices? Not many. I’m sure you’re probably thinking “What’s that browser’s name?” for a second referring to Opera or “I heard I can run a lighter webserver” referring to Lighttpd. Fact of the matter is more often than not it’s either Firefox (or a perversion of it like Swiftfox packaged with some Linux distros) or you Operating system default such as Internet Explorer or Safari. PostgresQL is a choice to MySQL but who offers anything else? There are tons more but as long as you don’t think about those you’re happy in your MySQL world.

“Why is this good?” you may ask. My answer is simple but don’t stop reading after I answer, there’s more. It keeps programmers focused in the right directions.

Read the rest of this entry »

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