Kc Thinking

My Traveller Profile...

2007-01-12T14:18:00.000-05:00


	Your travel type: Culture Buff The culture buff needs to see a museum, an art gallery, a 16-th century church every day during his holiday. When he travels he is always well prepared. He has read history books, speaks a few words of the lingo, knows about the strange habits the locals have.
	top destinations: Venice Amsterdam Beirut	stay away from: North Korea Ciudad Perdida Darien Gap

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700 miles of wasted effort

2006-10-26T13:20:00.000-04:00

I don't get it. I'm more republican-ish than democratic-ish on a lot of things... but this isn't one of them.

How does a 700 mile fence help us? At all? Why wouldn't an immigrant go to mile 701 and walk around the darn thing?

One thing I know to be true, if people want in they'll find a way in. Fence or no fence.

What we have to do is incent people not to immigrate illegally. Make immigration legal and relatively simple -- but only if you're a productive member of society, pay taxes, and abide by the laws of the country. If you don't "play nice" you should get kicked out of the sandbox. If you're helping to make the US a better place, then you're more than welcome!! For those who are already here, put them on the proverbial path to citizenship, but be extra harsh for those who don't "play nice."

Building a fence is not racist. It's not anti-Mexican. It is just stupid rhetoric to earn the votes of some out-of-work manufacturing workers for this year's mid-term elections. The sad thing is that it won't even help their jobs... unless they're in the fence-part manufacturing business that is. How about spending some of that money to help retool a workforce or offer expansion in areas that could use people with those skills instead...?

I wonder if any of the "workers" on the fence are illegal immigrants themselves? Wouldn't that be poetic???

A fence is a waste of tax-payer money -- end of discussion.

Welcome Nicholas

2006-10-26T13:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday (Oct 25) Alice gave birth to our new son, Nicholas.

6 pounds, 7 ounces
19.5 inches

Mommy and the baby are doing great!

Now we've got a month full of family birthdays... CAKE for EVERYBODY!!!

The Departed - Great movie!

2006-10-26T13:09:00.000-04:00

Alice and I went to go spend our last day as parents of 2 kids (oh, and my birthday too) with a nice lunch and a afternoon movie. We saw The Departed, which stars several big name actors including: Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Mark Walberg. It was directed by Martin Scorscese (sp?).

They all did a great job acting -- Leonardo in particular gets no respect as an actor, but personally I think he's actually quite talented as an actor. The story was great -- "lots of twists and turns" says Alice.

Although there was quite a bit of graphic killing by bullet to the head, I'd highly recommend it. Oh, and "Sleepy Alice" gives it a no Z's rating (the highest possible, meaning she didn't sleep at all in the movie).

Novell not getting credit ...

2006-09-29T08:27:00.000-04:00

I recently finished listening to the Red Hat Q2 2007 earnings call and I've read a few analysts reactions to the quarter. Basically, they were projecting a slight slowdown of growth. What's frustrating is the common thread I see in the financial press' thinking - that this slowdown is being attributed to one of two things... (a) a overall slowdown in demand for Linux, or (b) increased competition from Microsoft.

HEY, I guess the fact that Novell and SUSE Linux is kicking some butt is not an issue...

For the record, and as a perspective from the trenches... I have not seen either A or B (above) be remotely true. In fact, quite the opposite.

Toot-toot!

2006-09-27T02:16:00.000-04:00

I recently finished a tour of the Novell Southeast Area, visiting 5 cities in 2 weeks and being the primary presenter for Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 "Your Linux Is Ready" Tour.

The cities I presented in were:

Memphis, TN
Atlanta, GA
Miami, FL
Charlotte, NC
Bethesda, MD
http://www.novell.com/yourlinuxnow

I thought the event went very well. Turnout was great (very high) and excitement generated by the event was terrific. Apparently that's not just my biased opinion...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Wow, I'm almost famous! Generally, I'm not a big fan of tooting-my-own-horn -- but how often do I get a mention by name in the press? :-) A member of the press was apparently at the SLE 10 Tour event in Charlotte... Big THANK YOU to everyone who supported the event - it was definitely a team effort!!

http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/70337/

Last night I took a cab...

2006-09-15T14:13:00.000-04:00

Last night I returned from a business trip and took a cab back from the airport -- Washington Flyer cabs from Dulles Airport. Usually they're very reliable and fine. After last night's ride home, I felt compelled to fill out the comment card and mail it in...

"Cab No. 469

This cab driver should NOT EVER be allowed to drive at night!! It was a scary ride! 11:30pm @ 9/14/2006.

45 mph on Rt 28 (a 55 mph road) -- WTF?!?! On Herndon Avenue, high beam headlights AND he was straddling the line AND going 25 mph in a 35 mph road. CLEARLY he cannot SEE at night!!!

Kevin, South Riding VA"

Don't believe everything you see in print...

2006-08-16T14:05:00.000-04:00

Check out these photos that have been doctored digitally... What's really amazing is that most of them have been published in the press as if they were fact. Scary!

Runway Trash

2006-08-09T23:20:00.000-04:00

Hmmmm... I flew from Atlanta to DC today. As we were taxi-ing to the runway in Atlanta, I saw a guy picking up trash in the grassy areas between the runways. I just thought that was odd... I mean, how does the the trash get there in the first place? It's not like someone on the plane opened their window and threw out a bag of fast food.

So how exactly did that trash get there in the first place??

Tonight's Fun -- Multiple Febrile Seizures

2006-07-16T23:09:00.000-04:00

Thomas seemed normal most of the day, we even went to the pool this morning... but after his nap he suddenly had a fever. After laying down and resting with me in bed for a while I got a BIG scare -- in the form of an apparent febrile seizure. He actually had several during the course of this experience.

Long story short, I ended up calling 911 and the paramedics took him to the hospital. They treated him and ran several tests, and are keeping him over night just to be sure. Everyone seems pretty confident that he'll just out-grow this in a few months... But it was very scary to see him shaking like that and I felt completely helpless.

If you'd like to read more about febrile seizures check these out...

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/febrile_seizures/detail_febrile_seizures.htm
http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic376.htm
http://familydoctor.org/066.xml
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/febrile-seizure/DS00346
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/epilepsy_febrile.html

Update:
For the record, Lauren had a febrile seizure 6 days after Thomas. Boy, that was a fun week!!

7th Anniversary Celebration

2006-07-08T22:11:00.000-04:00

One of the traditions my wife and I have is that we take turns planning our anniversary celebration. Actually we alternate years -- and typically we keep the day's events a surprise. Today we celebrated 7 great years of marriage! Here's the day she planned out...

Grandpa came over to watch the kids starting at 830am.

We headed out and got facials from this lady that my wife goes to somewhat regularly. It was my first facial experience. Interesting, but not altogether horrible. I will say that my face did feel "fresher" when I left.

We were then going to run an errand and pickup our car at the shop, but it wasn't quite ready yet. So we killed some time by doing a little shoe shopping -- got a couple pairs for myself, and my wife got one too.

The next appointment was a massage at Alexandre de Paris spa in Fairfax, VA. She arranged a "deep tissue massage" for me. It was very nice. Not my first massage ever, but first in a long while. I'd always had a traditional Sweedish massage before, so this was my first deep tissue massage. At times it was a bit unusual, but in the end it all felt good.

Off to lunch and to catch a flick... We got to Tysons Corner Mall and went to go see when the movie started. We had dinner reservations at 530p, so we couldn't see a movie too late. We wanted to see Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but the only time available that would still allow us to make dinner was if we skipped lunch. So we did.

Instead we had a very healthy lunch consisting of nachos, popcorn, hot dogs and pop... Yummy!

The movie theater was packed, and I enjoyed the movie -- despite what the critics are apparently saying, although I never listen to them anyways.

Then on to dinner at Lightfoot Restaurant in historic Leesburg, VA. It was a very nice atmosphere with very good service. It's too bad the food did not match. It's not that the food was bad -- it wasn't -- but we'd been told this was a "5-star" restaurant, and they clearly put forth a 3-star level of quality. I'd go back again, but clearly there are other restaurants with better food for the money.

Overall, a very nice and relaxing day... Happy Anniversary to my beautiful wife!

GN Netcom is Great!

2006-07-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

I spend a lot of my time on the phone for work. (esp. Mondays). So I decided to buy a "nice" wireless headset for my home office last fall. I got the GN Netcom 9120. It looks like the picture -- although I never use the "over-the-head" part, only the over-the-ear hook.

Well, my daughter somehow made the microphone stop working. I contacted the GN Netcom Hotline (800-977-6210) and they helped me troubleshoot the problem. We couldn't get it working, so they had me send it in for warranty service. From the looks of it, they sent me a brand new headset.

Then I had a few small problems getting it to work with my setup (most likely PEBCAK), but again the Hotline came to the rescue.

I have 3 points here...

This is a fantastic headset! I highly recommend it. I can roam around the house without any problem, and the battery lasts all day easily.
Don't let your 1-2 year olds play with Daddy's expensive headset.
GN Netcom's service is what every manufacturer should strive for! Outstanding! That earns them serious BONUS points in my book. There's only 1 other company I know of that is in the same boat -- and that's USAA.

My favorite Podcast... the Daily Nut

2006-06-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

I recently discovered this great daily Podcast... G4 TV's The Daily Nut. It's about 4-5 minutes of a variety of interesting and funny videos from around the web. I highly recommend that you check it out.

Lewis Black is hillarious!

2006-06-24T01:26:00.000-04:00

If you haven't seen his special on HBO -- "Red, White and Screwed" you should... Lewis Black is SO funny!

Pitiful Service - Cheesecake Factory in Tysons Corner, VA

2006-06-21T22:16:00.000-04:00

I'd say I've been to the Cheesecake Factory restaurant (different ones) at least a dozen times. Never was the service so bad as it was last night... I had to record this for posterity...

My family went out to dinner for my sister's birthday... It was a Tuesday night, 6:30pm. We were told a 15-20 minute wait for our party of 8. An hour and 15 minutes later we finally got our table. We asked for 2 high-chairs and they were not present when we got to the table. We had to wait another few minutes for those.

Did I mention, that if my kids aren't eating, they get cranky, which makes us cranky, and stressed out -- no fun. I wanna go home.

I don't even know the waiter's name... it'd be nice to be introduced at some point.

Drink orders, fine. I had a Diet Coke with lime... Appetizer order, fine. Ordered our food, fine.

Drinks came... "I'll bring you some limes" (which he forgot)...

At the table next to us, were some kids (maybe in college or high school) -- who began a food fight and wrestling. Cheesecake was flying and smeared on a couple of the girls in that party. The commotion was enough to worry our kids. It's not the restaurant's fault (I know), but it just added to the fun of the evening.

Appetizer was done. We asked about the food... He said food usually take 12-17 minutes to come out (SO precise) -- and yet we ordered at least 30 minutes ago... BTW -- I HATE when waiters do that. It's not cute. It's not classy. It's ANNOYING! As soon as we order, start cooking. Or at the very least, after our appetizer arrives, put in the food order. Do you think that people who've waited an hour or two to get a table are okay with delayed food service??

[Still no limes]

We rarely see our waiter helping us... mostly taking other people's orders. Very strange.

[Finally, limes. Wait, no those are lemons. "I'll bring your limes right out"]

Food comes out. Limes come out. All should be right in the world...

At last, it's time to be done. The kids have been cranky, routy, and wanted to get up and be held (started daycare this week and have been clingy ever since). Half the table is now out of their chair, walking the kids out in the mall to keep them calm and under control, etc. Where is everyone?

You'd think the waiter might notice... NOPE.

My mom requested some additional sauce for her meal. Kristin too.

30 minutes later, we see the waiter taking another table's order. They seem to have much better service BTW, but sat down well after us. "Excuse me, can we get the check please?" [Time to go...]

"Yes, would you like some boxes for these" [our plates were quite full still between caring for the kids and a long run up to the meal] "I'll be right back with those]

Now, mind you we have 6 adults, all with food to take home. He returns with 2 boxes and 4 hotdog sized boxes. I kid you not. Did he even look at the table? AND, he didn't bring the check. Strike ONE. "Uh, can we get some of these bigger boxes? -- Here's our [credit] card"

"I'll be right back with the check" he says as he refuses the take the check.

Ummm... Okay?

He brings more boxes as requested. Then he turns to take another table's order. No, I'm not exagerating. "Here's our card" I say as I hold out the card for him to take. "Sir, I'll be right back with your check..." Strike TWO.

Apparently this man is incapable of multi-tasking. I wonder if he has to count as he walks... "breathe, one. breathe, two. breathe, three..."

He comes back, but not with the check. He actually comes back to clear some of the plates away. Remember now, our table is half empty. It should be quite apparent that we're itching to get out of there. "Here's the card" Again, he actually refuses to take the card. Strike THREE. Kristin steps up and says, "Can you just take the card and run it. We don't need to see the check. We're kinda trying to leave."

He finally takes it.

Then the secondary wait staff brings these bowls to the table... "Did you ask for more sauce?" Strike FOUR, FIVE, and SIX (this one's worth 3 strikes by itself).

"Are you serious??" I asked. All of our meals were already packed up in boxes, and most of the plates on the table were now gone. I can't believe they actually had the guts to ask us if we wanted the sauce. What planet are they from???

The waiter came back with the check and card. Tip was already included. If I was paying for dinner, I'd have added an additional negative tip. I don't know what the percentage was they added... maybe 18%? I am a normally very good tipper. I would have given this guy $5 on the $140+ bill... Just to let him know how much we cared.

I would hate to add Cheesecake Factory to my black list of restuarants I won't eat at... but I'm seriously considering it. Some levels of service are just inexcusable.

I'm sure there are some details I've left out...

Happy Birthday, Kristin!

Dinner at Ten Penh

2006-05-18T01:51:00.000-04:00

Soft shelled crab with soba noodles...

New Orleans visit

2006-05-16T11:11:00.000-04:00

I just came back from a business trip to New Orleans, LA. I got to see the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and what it's done to this city, first-hand. It is a REALLY sad sight to see. I created a separate blog to journal the trip...

KC New Orleans 2006

As a result of this trip, I'm now a HUGE fan of Habitat for Humanity

openSUSE 10.1 ships!

2006-05-16T11:03:00.000-04:00

If you're into Linux, you'll be interested to know that openSUSE 10.1 is now shipping. You can download it for free at http://www.opensuse.org or buy it at a retailer or online.

openSUSE 10.1 is the foundation for what will become SUSE Linux Enterprise family of products -- Server, Desktop, Point of Service... so this is an important milestone to reach.

I wish they had the DVD version available for download though...

Pro Immigrants, Anti Illegal

2006-05-02T07:51:00.000-04:00

I don't understand what all the hub-bub is about... I'm all for giving other people a chance to "make it" in the US. Afterall, that's what my grandparents did when they immigrated from China in the 1930s. But I don't understand the sense of entitlement that's being protested. How can "illegal" immigration be condoned?? The problem is perhaps in the definition of "illegal".

Clearly we can't just have wide open borders. From a security standpoint, that's a mistake. From an economic standpoint, that's potentially VERY expensive too. There has to be some sense of order about it.

At the same time, if someone wants to come to the US to be a productive member of society and build a new life, I'm strongly in favor of that. Long walls or closing the borders completely are NOT GOOD solutions!

It seems to me that the best solution is to make it "EASY" for someone to legally immigrate to the country -- meaning if they have something to offer, economically, culturally, whatever - and they aren't a danger to the people already here -- why not let them in as a registered person. They should work when of age. Pay taxes like everyone else. Get the benefits of other immigrants (police, fire protection, etc.). They should be given some incentive to become a full US citizen as well... beyond just voting rights.

While it should be easy for a legal person to immigrate to the US, it should be HEAVILY frowned upon to come to the US illegally. If it's made easy to come legally, there should be no reason to come illegally.

What does it mean to be "Easy"? I'm not exactly sure... maybe they should be put on some kind of "probation" where they need to check in with an immigration official once per quarter for as long as they are just immigrants? As long as they aren't committing any felonies, they can stay. If they are adding to the crime rate of the country during , they get immediately expelled. Once they become a full-fledged US citizen, they no longer need to be "on probation". That could potentially be the motivation for them to become a US citizen.

Certain people would of course be exempt -- tourists, foreign government workers, etc.

If anyone who reads this has a different opinion, I'd love to hear it or read your comments.

Aggressive Driving -- NOT!

2006-04-30T16:27:00.000-04:00

Part of what I want to write in my blog is a series of bad driver examples... Some might call me an aggressive driver. I completely DISAGREE! Am I careful? - Yes. Am I defensive? - Yes. Have I ever been in a car accident? - Yes, but they were always the other driver's fault.

Yesterday, I was driving my family around in the mini-van... for whatever reason, all the slow drivers kept getting in front of me. What do I mean by slow? Picture this... a 3 lane highway (3 lanes in each direction). I'm in the left lane and there are 3 cars in front of me... each driving at the EXACT SAME SPEED, and all going a good 10 mph LESS than the speed limit. So I tailgated to let them know to speed up or yield... I flashed my headlights, even. -- No response.

Some would call me the aggressive driver because I was "tailgating" but I'd say I was the only safe driver there. I wasn't causing a traffic hazzard by driving (a) below speed limit in the LEFT LANE, (b) the same speed as my fellow drivers - as if we were the only 3 on the road. It's just plain rude, inconsiderate, and I would easily question whether those individuals should be granted a drivers license AT ALL.

I'd like to see getting a driver's license be much, Much, MUCH harder than it currently is. If you don't have the skills to drive competently, please don't endanger the lives of me and my family by getting on the road. Or at the very least, stay in the right lane!

Fry Electronics Display

2006-04-26T08:48:00.000-04:00

Thought this was rather amusing...

"What Fry Electronics Thinks of Linux"

I had to respond...

2006-03-29T19:02:00.000-05:00

An article on ZDnet really got me going...
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595-6055045.html

Here's the post from someone else...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Usability? How is Linux more "usable"?

If I can't run my software on it, how is it usable? Linux isn't superior, if it won't do the things I want without making me spend all my time figuring out how to do it.

Windows best quality is that it does allow almost ANY user to do almost EVERYTHING there is to do on a computer without knowing ANYTHING about the computer or the software.
It's like a car, we can all drive one, some better than others, but how many people would drive if they had to manually adjust the computer and injectors for various types of gas, altitude, or road? Most people would end up riding bicycles by default.

Same for Linux, people like the way Windows automatically does things. And that quality of automation is worth so much more than anything Linux has to offer right now.

Is linux technically superior? No, because it won't run the software I run every day! Even though I agree that it does so many things better than Windows, Linux is not a better OS, because it won't do the things we want easily enough.
Could it be better than Windows? I think so, but only if it gets easier to use. Some companies are doing that, but they are too incompatible; again, Linux is like having to learn how to drive a car every time you buy a new one, because this one has the gas on the left, but that one has a hand feed throttle, and the other one takes a special mix of gas and vinegar to run at all.
That's not superior, that's just stupid.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Here's my response...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I have to question the way you think about technology? Do you view technology as a tool to solve a business problem, or a way to keep your Redmond buddies in business?

All IT pros SHOULD be asking themselves... "What do I need to solve this business or technical problem?" Then figure out what characteristics of the solution are important to you, and include that in your decision.

Example, I need to market my product/services. I want to do it with a webpage. I therefore need a web server... I could go with IIS/Windows or Apache/Linux or one of many other choices. What characteristics are important to me? Low cost, security, reliability, freedom of choice.

Low Cost -- Depending on your current written-in-blood MS agreement, you could argue it's a wash... but if it came down to it, Apache/Linux could be obtained for $0 and the hardware required for good performance is definitely cheaper with the Apache/Linux solution.

Security -- It's not the number of patches required... all software requires patches. But how many vulnerabilities are there? MS is "security by obscurity" and customers are at the mercy of MS to plug their holes. Linux is "security by transparency". I have to give the edge to Linux here.

Reliability -- Just ask the avg Windows admin how many times per month the servers need to be rebooted. You'll have to ask the avg Linux admin how many times per YEAR. Unix reliability, at commodity hardware pricing. Advantage Linux.

Freedom of Choice -- How many OS's can you run IIS on? One -- Windows. That's it. Apache can run on not only many flavors of Linux, but also many hardware architectures (x86 thru zSeries) and on more OS's than Linux... Solaris, NetWare, and even Windows!

As for ease of use... Take another look at Linux, buddy. SUSE for example, uses YaST to make configuring the server as easy as the Control Panel in Windows. Command line is not required! You might also consider some training... Don't you want a knowledgeable person running your computer and software that you run the business on?!?!?!?

One last point... If the app you want DOES NOT run on Linux (yet), have you considered voicing your request to the application vendor?? They aren't going to port their app over to Linux unless their paying customers are ASKING FOR IT! Do your part and request support for Linux (or whatever OS you want)!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

WETA Volunteer

2006-03-14T01:16:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had a new experience... volunteer to answer phones and take pledges for the local PBS station, WETA. I went with a group of my co-workers, and we had a good time answering phones and accepting pledges from generous members of the public.

I have to say that it wasn't quite what I thought it would be like. I thought that calls were taken continuously for a few hours. Actually, we worked about 45 minutes total in 3 segments each about 15 minutes long. The rest of the time, we just chit-chatted and socialized. The biggest shock was that a fair number of the calls we received were actually complaints about various things -- not to make a pledge. Don't they have anything better to do??

In case you were wondering, I think I collected about $300 worth of pledges during my time there. Despite my complaints, I'm glad I went. I feel like I was able to contribute in a small way to my commuity -- which is always a good thing. Try it.

Linux on the Desktop?

2006-03-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I may be a bit biased because of my involvement in the industry, but I have to say... I've run SUSE Linux as my production work laptop OS for a couple years now. Actually, I run Novell Linux Desktop and have been very pleased. There are some issues to deal with of course, but it's actually quite good.

Now, Novell is working on taking it to the next level with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 -- and I'm starting to play with beta versions... I'll let you know how it's going. Here's a link to the preview of what this exciting new version can do.

I'll be at Novell BrainShare in a couple weeks getting the latest and greatest info. I'm really looking forward to the trip!

Ports schmorts...

2006-03-08T22:58:00.000-05:00

I can't believe lawmakers are continuing to object to the UAE running the shipping port operations. Where does it stop? Will America simply not let any company from any other country run any part of America? If we're going to be a country that participates in the global economy, we've got to learn to be willing to be "borderless" -- at least business-wise.

To use national security as the primary concern really makes a mockery of how serious we should be taking our security. Our political system is a complete circus. It's really sad. :-(

Gotta have more cowbell!

2006-03-08T14:35:00.000-05:00

This is easily one of my favorite Saturday Night Live sketches, the "Behind the Music" where Christopher Walken professes "I gotta have more cowbell!" If you haven't seen it, check out this website... http://www.geekspeakweekly.com/cowbell/

Deal or No Deal

2006-03-08T14:16:00.000-05:00

I admit it... I'm addicted to Deal or No Deal! I love watching this game show! It's so FUN to watch... even though it is probably the simplest game of all game shows -- "pick a number".

Who updates MapQuest?

2006-03-08T14:12:00.000-05:00

We've lived in our house since Oct 2000. If you look up our address on MapQuest it shows the wrong location by about 100 yards. Following their directions, when you approach our street it tells you to turn right instead of left. Someone was coming to our house today and got lost because of it. The navigation system in my car has the same problem... Who's job is it to keep these maps up to date?

Welcome!

2006-03-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

This is my first "real" blog message. I hope I can find interesting things to write about here... I plan to just react and comment on various things that happen in my world. It should be pretty interesting...