JohnA lifeBlog

I was in Boise, ID visiting a client last week. The trip went well, and I’ll talk about that a bit later. But first, let’s talk about my flight back from Boise to San Francisco.

It was a United Express flight, so it was just a small CRJ. I was in row 10. In row 11, right behind me, was Adam Savage of MythBusters, along with his son. Seated in row 12 or 13 was Jamie Hyneman. The interesting thing was that they did not say a single word to one another the entire flight.

When we got off the plane, they again didn’t say a word to each other. Jamie went one way, and Adam & his son went another. At no time did they even acknowledge one another. Although, from what I’ve heard, this can happen pretty often with personality-driven television shows and their stars.

So the happy family myth? Busted!

The life of a code monkey is long and difficult.  Behold, then, my new favorite theme song.  I can’t believe I had not heard this song before yesterday.

Hello friends!

So, I have a new business plan I am going to launch. Why? Honestly, because I am bored. But I think it will fill a niche. How many times have you seen an ad that interested you. It might be a posting on Craigslist, it may be a personal on eHarmony. Regardless, you saw something unique, but didn’t want to pay the fees associated with the product to learn more about the poster.

Enter SearchByKey. Here is my idea. You login to SearchByKey, and you are given a unique phrase, in your own language, that seems perfectly natural. When you want to post a message or blog entry that you want people to find, you simply include your “key” phrase. Of course, you might want to mention SearchByKey. When someone encounters your message, they can come to any of the SearchByKey sites, and enter the phrase. Then, they will be shown your welcome message, as well as any contact information you desire.

This service is free, but obviously supported by advertisements and PayPal. Please help me with your support.
If you are interested in testing this product, send me an e-mail. I think it will change the industry. But, to be honest, I’ve done that many times before.

Oh, and for those asking why I am posting so many details? Simple. By posting on my blog with a timestamp, I prevent patent trolls from trying to steal the idea. Many companies and people will steal this idea. But, since I posted this on my blog on Feb. 18, 2007, they will have a hard time proving uniqueness in their litigation. Thanks for listening. Oh, and share with me your ideas.

Be warned… this is a nerd post.

Anyhoo, our new servers arrived, and I spent the day getting VMWare Virtual Infrastructure 3 up and running. Since our SAN won’t be implemented for a few weeks, I have set up an iSCSI FreeNAS server to act as a mini-SAN.

Here is a sexy screen shot for the fellow nerds in the audience.

I can’t tell you how exciting this is for me. VMWare VI 3 is one of the most amazing pieces of software I have ever used.

I know, I don’t update my blog nearly as often as I used to. The primary reason is because there just isn’t that much unique going on in my life. Each day is like the one that came before it.

So, I guess I can offer a variety of updates. Let’s start with work:

1. We bought a SAN! We ended up getting a top of the line EMC Clarion CX3 series model. This new addition to our platform will allow us to productize a number of skunkworks products, such as UltraROI.
2. We have had a number of client visits. They have been really productive, and have helped up pave the way for our next generation of products and technologies.
3. We hired 2 new FTEs to deal with support. I hate that people judge a company’s success based on head count. We consider ourselves contemptuously to the “Easynews Model”
4. We just have fun. I love what I do, and I love how successful it is.

So, there it is. Sorry for the lack of updates… life seems to get in the way of my virtual responsibilities.

Oh, and for my drama-enabled friends, I am refusing to address certain blog entries at this time.  Thank you for your understanding.

In 1995, I was fortunate enough to be an exchange student. I spent a month in picturesque Aschaffenburg, Germany.

While I was there, I was surrounded with the fact that the number one hit was Scatman John’s single Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop). Never mind that there were more significant albums, like the hit Smurf’s album…

I encourage you to read the Wikipedia article about the Scatman… he was a true humanitarian to the end. We need more artists and talent like him. Simply put, he refused to let his limitation define him. Rather, he embraced it and used it as a platform to encourage others.

I can listen to this song dozens of times in a row, and still feel moved. We have a lot to learn from “The Scatman”… especially that we can overcome any challenge we are presented with.