Category: Uncategorized

Last Friday I was in South Dakota for a family event that included the burial of my Dad’s remains along with the celebration of the 140th anniversary of my great grandfather’s family being part of eleven covered wagons who left Minnesota to settle on Homestead land grants near Garretson, South Dakota. This road runs along the stateline boundary between Minnesota and on the left and Iowa on the right.

It’s an early grey – but warm – morning outside here on Christmas Eve.

We’re already getting ready for a big family get together tonight at our place. Lots of goodies, family chat, gifts, food and drink. I’ll be heading out to the store shortly for some last minute supplies, trying to avoid the crush.

I’m really looking forward to things slowing down just a bit over the next few days – before that inevitable bustle of everything cranking back up to full speed again begins in the New Year!

Best Christmas wishes!

On this beautiful early June Saturday evening in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve been listening tonight to several audio streams.

First up was the latest Gillmor Gang (MP3). After listening to 3/4 of this show, I concluded that I’m just too old for any of what they’re discussing to actually matter. Jon Udell and the rest of the gang seem quite interested in what Macromedia and Adobe are about to announce in terms of extending Flash as a platform. I’m happy for them — but I frankly could care less. (Actually, it sounded like Steve and Doc felt the same way!)

After exhausting that topic, the Gang examines what Microsoft’s Office 12 XML strategies are all about — and, once again, I feel that I’m just too old to understand and appreciate their points of view on this subject. I left Microsoft behind a while back and haven’t looked back! Maybe some S&P 500 corporate CIO’s are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for those Microsoft Office 12 XML formats?

Too bad podcasts are so one-way — so “broadcast”. Frankly, this particular podcast demands somebody calling in and asking the participants “who cares!”

Maybe that’s the next step in podcasts – duh – making them “two way” via Skype (or iChat) call-ins?

After trying to understand the technobabble of the Gillmor Geeks, the best “radio” of the evening turned out to be Halley Suitt‘s Memory Lane interview with Meg Hourihan over on Doug Kaye‘s IT Conversations. Turns out Meg’s Mom had a lot to do with Meg’s interest in computers. Like Meg, I also spent a lot of online time in the 80’s on CompuServe and it was a lot of fun to hear her talk about her experiences learning about both computers and online services.

Oh, by the way, the ads are gone. After experimenting with Google’s AdSense ads on my personal blog for a while (to see what I could learn about their targeting effectiveness), I opted to drop them all tonight.

Merry Christmas!

It’s a beautiful Christmas morning here in northern California. We had great times with family last night on Christmas Eve and are looking forward to sharing our time and gifts this morning.

It’s time to begin the day…

A few weeks ago I first read about Spirit of America and what Jim Hake was doing to help support a positive impression of America amid the turmoil in Iraq.

Without any political agenda, Spirit of America provides a way for those of us who want to help in our own private way to do so as effectively and efficiently as possible.

What can we as individuals do? Contribute!. Get involved, volunteer.

And also say thanks to Tim Oren and the other bloggers who are solidly behind this effort.

A great personal reflection from Gary Loveman, chief executive of Harrah’s Entertainment.

A defining thing for me was going to Bobby Knight’s basketball camp at Indiana University when I was about 14. Two things I learned: I wasn’t nearly a good-enough basketball player to keep playing with any consequence. All the kids on my team made the all-star team except me. And Bobby Knight said something that stuck in my mind: Don’t play against the competition. Play against yourself – as well as you’re capable of doing.

Linda Dillman:

“Knowing that someone believes in you is a great motivator.“

Amen!