It's been a while since I've put anything down. A lot of craziness at work and home has kept us running in circles. Recently moving out of an Ops role to an Engineering role has really brought a lot of new challenges forward. Learning a new group can be a fun and exciting thing.
On a personal level, we had a roof leak down our kitchen chandelier (thank God for my brother-in-law who took the morning off work, came over, traced it down and helped fix it), I spent a week with a sore throat and funny voice and later the same day of fixing the leak our van broke down to the tune of $1300.00. The van started overheating and some type of seals were busted.
We decided to have Thanksgiving at my mom's a day early this year, so my sister and her family could be there too. Her husband has lymphoma cancer, but does his best not to be sickly. For all the struggles their family has gone through, he's always concerned with how you are doing and how work is going and the people around him. When we finish spending time with him, I always walk away wanting to be a better person and find more and better ways to use my time to serve my family and those around me. Dave is always looking to give and wanting to volunteer to help people out. He's been battling cancer for a little over 5 years now and even two summer's ago, he was out at my mom's digging out and helping repair her well when it went out.
Well, here in Detroit, Thanksgiving Eve brought a beautiful snowfall that really helped put you in the mood for the holiday season. (Speaking of putting you in the mood, I've really been annoying my friends by playing Christmas music in the car since WNIC started up with it a bit early this year. :) )
My mom just loves to pull all the stops out at Thanksgiving and makes enough food to feed an army. Funny, because with everyone piled into her house, it probably was the size of a small army. All together we had 16 people shoved and tucked around her dining room table. The noise is deafening, but the smiles, chatter and food were definitely worth it.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Cool Kids teaching the Dad a thing or three
My children are some of the coolest people I know. Their minds are so full of imagination and life. It's a pleasure to see them set up lemonade stands, plays and their own carnivals. When you see a child's imagination in action, the innocence, fun and joy is probably one of the brightest evidence' of God breathing his spirit into man. No wonder Jesus said to his disciples "...suffer the little children to come unto me." and "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven"
So, I have to learn to think like a child, and had a good example of this a week or two ago. I'm one of those people who think garages were made for putting cars in. It's almost a religious fervor with me. It's funny because it's largely due to my lack of desire to sweep Michigan winter snow & ice off of my vehicles.
However, my children introduced some magic to my garage, that to me, changes how I will ever look at my garage again. After my daughter's birthday, they turned it into an art studio and gallery. They stood up canvases and poster paper and painted, drew and markered their little hearts away. Every color and paper size you could imagine graced the garage floor and walls and tables throughout. My three children turned themselves into an art team with an energy, joy and childlike creativity that surpassed the greatest artists history has ever known.
In the course of their creation's of beauty, their father learned an important lesson that humbles him. A simple garage for keeping snow and weather off of a few cars could be transformed into a palacial studio of art and creativity at the whim of his children's imagination. I hope in my lifetime, I learn again to touch but a bit of that imagination.
To be willing to take the simplest of things, of people and of dreams; and apply a bit of imagination and creativity and make an art studio from a garage or a fort from a pile of leaves or a palace from a tree fort in my life.
So, I have to learn to think like a child, and had a good example of this a week or two ago. I'm one of those people who think garages were made for putting cars in. It's almost a religious fervor with me. It's funny because it's largely due to my lack of desire to sweep Michigan winter snow & ice off of my vehicles.
However, my children introduced some magic to my garage, that to me, changes how I will ever look at my garage again. After my daughter's birthday, they turned it into an art studio and gallery. They stood up canvases and poster paper and painted, drew and markered their little hearts away. Every color and paper size you could imagine graced the garage floor and walls and tables throughout. My three children turned themselves into an art team with an energy, joy and childlike creativity that surpassed the greatest artists history has ever known.
In the course of their creation's of beauty, their father learned an important lesson that humbles him. A simple garage for keeping snow and weather off of a few cars could be transformed into a palacial studio of art and creativity at the whim of his children's imagination. I hope in my lifetime, I learn again to touch but a bit of that imagination.
To be willing to take the simplest of things, of people and of dreams; and apply a bit of imagination and creativity and make an art studio from a garage or a fort from a pile of leaves or a palace from a tree fort in my life.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
A twist on a technology career
Being employed in the technology arena, I tend to get very focused on it and all of the things surrounding it. (It probably doesn't hurt that it's fun and a hobby for me too ;-)
However, I have a friend that started out in Civil Engineering, wound up as a "LAN" Administrataor, network admin and eventually a manager at a technology firm. Very sharp guy. However he surprised the heck out of me when he told me that he was diversifying his hobbies into stained glass!
Anywho, I was out on his site this morning and saw some very beautiful pieces! They were really examples of hands that can build a pc or a server or a network infrastructure finding something creative to do that expresses an artistic side of him, that I knew was there, but didn't know the extent!
I was impressed, not by just the pieces, but even the settings that he chose to display them in! From all impressions he has also unintentionally captured the beauty of Michigan's different seasons in the backgrounds that fill out the life in his stained glass. Displaying his work in use at a dinner table also brings out a delectable and fashionable dining experience. This one here, Strawberries, made me want to reach out into the computer screen and take a bite.
Here are some of the pieces I really enjoyed that I thought bring out some life of their own. The names are mine, so if you send them an e-mail wanting to buy a piece or have one custom made, make sure you use the photo number or their headings to let them know! ;-)
Reflection
Note the person and trees in the background that make this piece feel alive.
Winter
Winter2
SummerRain
Monogram Fall
WinterSunshine
So, those are just some of my favorites; beautiful artwork framed by nature's beauty! I hope you enjoy it too!
However, I have a friend that started out in Civil Engineering, wound up as a "LAN" Administrataor, network admin and eventually a manager at a technology firm. Very sharp guy. However he surprised the heck out of me when he told me that he was diversifying his hobbies into stained glass!
Anywho, I was out on his site this morning and saw some very beautiful pieces! They were really examples of hands that can build a pc or a server or a network infrastructure finding something creative to do that expresses an artistic side of him, that I knew was there, but didn't know the extent!
I was impressed, not by just the pieces, but even the settings that he chose to display them in! From all impressions he has also unintentionally captured the beauty of Michigan's different seasons in the backgrounds that fill out the life in his stained glass. Displaying his work in use at a dinner table also brings out a delectable and fashionable dining experience. This one here, Strawberries, made me want to reach out into the computer screen and take a bite.
Here are some of the pieces I really enjoyed that I thought bring out some life of their own. The names are mine, so if you send them an e-mail wanting to buy a piece or have one custom made, make sure you use the photo number or their headings to let them know! ;-)
Reflection
Note the person and trees in the background that make this piece feel alive.
Winter
Winter2
SummerRain
Monogram Fall
WinterSunshine
So, those are just some of my favorites; beautiful artwork framed by nature's beauty! I hope you enjoy it too!
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Innovate - Do something different today
Innovation, Change, Action, Agile......
These are all the things a business needs to stay feasible in today's world! I actually have the privilege of working for one of these companies. For privacy reasons, I can't really talk about who they are, but I can say that they have reinvented themselves over the past two years.
That reinvention bodes well for their future. They've taken old school determination and applied themselves to new, inventive ways of doing things that breeds creativity. They are re-creating themselves from the inside out. They are also creating awe-inspiring potential, by allying with their technology partners to solve problems and create new solutions for business.
While this type of change takes time to reach into every facet of a company, the enthusiasm and infectious nature of it, really are spreading to the people who work for them and are generating the opposite of what I complained about in my last post; They are creating desire for change, desire to innovate and also putting in place essential tools and people to remove the artificial boundaries that prevent a company from innovating and moving forward.
It's exciting to see a company implementing the things that will not only make it an exciting place to work, but as this Idea Virus grows and spreads, will launch themselves and their customers into the next generation of technology and enabling business success.
Their people are the key to this, the people working for them that are spreading the excitement and potential. So, while there may be a struggle with growing pains and some fight for mediocrity, others are pushing the envelope for success. That's where I want to hitch my star, with those who are driving this better, making it grow and creating the atmosphere that makes a company and their customers successful.
People who aren't in groups or companies with that kind of vision, have to become the driver. Take hold of the infection and excitement, in fact, generate it yourself. The naysayers will eventually be caught up with, they will obsolete themselves if they don't catch on. In the technology arena, don't let those types obsolete you by absorbing their philosophies; instead, grow yourself and move forward, generate good change littered with new and common sense ideas.
Be innovative, it's what you as a person were born to do!
These are all the things a business needs to stay feasible in today's world! I actually have the privilege of working for one of these companies. For privacy reasons, I can't really talk about who they are, but I can say that they have reinvented themselves over the past two years.
That reinvention bodes well for their future. They've taken old school determination and applied themselves to new, inventive ways of doing things that breeds creativity. They are re-creating themselves from the inside out. They are also creating awe-inspiring potential, by allying with their technology partners to solve problems and create new solutions for business.
While this type of change takes time to reach into every facet of a company, the enthusiasm and infectious nature of it, really are spreading to the people who work for them and are generating the opposite of what I complained about in my last post; They are creating desire for change, desire to innovate and also putting in place essential tools and people to remove the artificial boundaries that prevent a company from innovating and moving forward.
It's exciting to see a company implementing the things that will not only make it an exciting place to work, but as this Idea Virus grows and spreads, will launch themselves and their customers into the next generation of technology and enabling business success.
Their people are the key to this, the people working for them that are spreading the excitement and potential. So, while there may be a struggle with growing pains and some fight for mediocrity, others are pushing the envelope for success. That's where I want to hitch my star, with those who are driving this better, making it grow and creating the atmosphere that makes a company and their customers successful.
People who aren't in groups or companies with that kind of vision, have to become the driver. Take hold of the infection and excitement, in fact, generate it yourself. The naysayers will eventually be caught up with, they will obsolete themselves if they don't catch on. In the technology arena, don't let those types obsolete you by absorbing their philosophies; instead, grow yourself and move forward, generate good change littered with new and common sense ideas.
Be innovative, it's what you as a person were born to do!
Friday, September 30, 2005
Change, challenges and technology
One of the things I like about technology is the change, the growth, the challenge of working on new things, inventing new ways of doing things and solving new problems.
As companies grow in today's world, why do so many of those who could be at the forefront of change and coming up with ways to apply these new inventions (yes I call the evolutionary growth and leaps in technology, invention; but I also call invention that creativity of the people who give us practical application of new things, and inventors, those people who look at new technology and see the ways to make it useful to our daily education, business and lives) practically fear that change, fear that success?
The sadder part of this is that the companies that could benefit from this creative thought, scare it away or push it away into a pool of process entrenched in buzzwords like ITIL or QMS or ISO. Are these things bad in of themselves? No, they aren't. In fact all of them are good, they help build frameworks around the good things companies do in business; making them repeatable, sustainable and hopefully generating efficiencies that will help weed out the bad things we do and replace them with the good.
So, what is the bad? What is the complaint about these things. The complaint is that very few companies understand that these frameworks need to be flexible enough to encourage the change and innovation with the courage that takes them to their next level, or give them their next product or service to sell. But, instead of embracing the flexibility that helps us grow, companies embrace the structure, they think the framework is the solution and forget that the innovation and change brought on by the innovation of people are what make them successful.
In the struggle to embrace the framework, the people who generate and embrace change and new ideas are forced by their respective corporate policies to shut up and embrace or be punished. Punishments range from lectures, firings, demotions, promotion passovers, being passed over for pay raises etc...
What happens to the innovators when these punishments are passed on? Some pull up their own courage and move on. Some pull up their own courage and continue to force for change. And then some adapt, and become the automotons the corporation thinks they want.
Sometimes months, sometimes years later companies realize what has happened. They realize it when other companies stop buying their goods, services or both. Some companies plug the bleeding holes with soluble solutions such as new process fads or new CEO's or new layoffs. However, making shareholders feel good doesn't really contribute to the overall health of a company. Throwing away the things that made shareholders want to own pieces of something great, something growing and alive doesn't really fix things.
Is all bad, no... some is good... because some companies get off the treadmill before it's too late. They embrace change and learn to live in it. Growing pains show them new ways to grow, new ways to change, new ways to lead. These companies are on the cusp of innovation, but more than that, their people lead us into the future.
While corporate community is a macrocosm of motion, so are we all individuals microcosms of it. We have the ability to lead that change, to break the mold, to break out of our fear zones and courageously use the innovation in front of us. We need to embrace ideas, imagination and change. We need to be willing to make mistakes and successes. Start small and work big.
People around you will catch the excitement of that change. The excitement of fresh ideas is contagious. Maybe it'll rub off on your management, their management and your companies board of directors. Start something exciting, start something new and you may find that innovation and new ideas addictive.
As companies grow in today's world, why do so many of those who could be at the forefront of change and coming up with ways to apply these new inventions (yes I call the evolutionary growth and leaps in technology, invention; but I also call invention that creativity of the people who give us practical application of new things, and inventors, those people who look at new technology and see the ways to make it useful to our daily education, business and lives) practically fear that change, fear that success?
The sadder part of this is that the companies that could benefit from this creative thought, scare it away or push it away into a pool of process entrenched in buzzwords like ITIL or QMS or ISO. Are these things bad in of themselves? No, they aren't. In fact all of them are good, they help build frameworks around the good things companies do in business; making them repeatable, sustainable and hopefully generating efficiencies that will help weed out the bad things we do and replace them with the good.
So, what is the bad? What is the complaint about these things. The complaint is that very few companies understand that these frameworks need to be flexible enough to encourage the change and innovation with the courage that takes them to their next level, or give them their next product or service to sell. But, instead of embracing the flexibility that helps us grow, companies embrace the structure, they think the framework is the solution and forget that the innovation and change brought on by the innovation of people are what make them successful.
In the struggle to embrace the framework, the people who generate and embrace change and new ideas are forced by their respective corporate policies to shut up and embrace or be punished. Punishments range from lectures, firings, demotions, promotion passovers, being passed over for pay raises etc...
What happens to the innovators when these punishments are passed on? Some pull up their own courage and move on. Some pull up their own courage and continue to force for change. And then some adapt, and become the automotons the corporation thinks they want.
Sometimes months, sometimes years later companies realize what has happened. They realize it when other companies stop buying their goods, services or both. Some companies plug the bleeding holes with soluble solutions such as new process fads or new CEO's or new layoffs. However, making shareholders feel good doesn't really contribute to the overall health of a company. Throwing away the things that made shareholders want to own pieces of something great, something growing and alive doesn't really fix things.
Is all bad, no... some is good... because some companies get off the treadmill before it's too late. They embrace change and learn to live in it. Growing pains show them new ways to grow, new ways to change, new ways to lead. These companies are on the cusp of innovation, but more than that, their people lead us into the future.
While corporate community is a macrocosm of motion, so are we all individuals microcosms of it. We have the ability to lead that change, to break the mold, to break out of our fear zones and courageously use the innovation in front of us. We need to embrace ideas, imagination and change. We need to be willing to make mistakes and successes. Start small and work big.
People around you will catch the excitement of that change. The excitement of fresh ideas is contagious. Maybe it'll rub off on your management, their management and your companies board of directors. Start something exciting, start something new and you may find that innovation and new ideas addictive.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Wacky World of Warcraft News
Seems a group of WoW geeks over at Novell, had a bit of a problem with a server that was hosting their guild site. It seems to have been used as a bounce point for port scanning lots of Internet hosts. You can check it out at ComputerWorld - Novell Server Hacked
Assuming it was Suse linux; This brings up an interesting point for how Novell handles this newer acquisition and integration with their platforms. Don't you think this was a good product test for how SUSE performs OOB?
Maybe Novell should be using this as a jumping point into locking down security in this Open Source offering even more.
They could also use this as an opportunity to bring some of these employees more into making this stuff somewhat secure on first install, cuz out of the box didn't work.
It doesn't hurt to perform end user/customer testing. This would be a great market study for Novell also, allowing questions like "When my customers get this product, what do they have when they are done setting it up?" So, being a World of Warcraft player and Novell fan myself, I hope they make an opportunity out of this and not smush employees for enjoying some downtime!
Assuming it was Suse linux; This brings up an interesting point for how Novell handles this newer acquisition and integration with their platforms. Don't you think this was a good product test for how SUSE performs OOB?
Maybe Novell should be using this as a jumping point into locking down security in this Open Source offering even more.
They could also use this as an opportunity to bring some of these employees more into making this stuff somewhat secure on first install, cuz out of the box didn't work.
It doesn't hurt to perform end user/customer testing. This would be a great market study for Novell also, allowing questions like "When my customers get this product, what do they have when they are done setting it up?" So, being a World of Warcraft player and Novell fan myself, I hope they make an opportunity out of this and not smush employees for enjoying some downtime!
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Fun Stuff - A lesson in economics or law?
My son was able to learn about a fun little law that Michigan implemented a long time ago to fight negligence on the side of retail businesses. The Michigan Bar Code law was put into place to keep businesses from advertising one set of prices and charging another at the register. The problem was so bad that the legislature stepped in and created that cool little law stating if a consumer found the problem and came back into the store with it, they got their refund plus 10 times the amount mischarged up to a certain dollar amount.
He was overcharged by 40 cents for a little notebook and was very happy to walk out with an extra $4.00.
He was overcharged by 40 cents for a little notebook and was very happy to walk out with an extra $4.00.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
WRV54G VPN Router tips
Update 9.29.05 - We now have this WRV54G VPN router up and running. The current firmware version (2.37 12.02.2004) allows you to set up a tunnel and connect via VPN client without disturbing either one. People were also complaining, saying they couldn't get it to work with the RV042 VPN Router. We tested this one with the WRV54G router and were able to get it working also. So, Linksys, Cisco... whoever have done a lot of work to make these compatible with each other. Based on our current experience, I would give this router an "Exceeds Expectations" for the small-business customer.
Tech Notes for the day:
Wow, having problems setting up a Linksys WRV54G with a tunnel. Unfortunately found the thread too late in the day to continue with setup tonight. From a pretty cool robustness stage, one of the routers had the web server lock up, but was still allowing VPN access to the network and then connectivity to the servers. Guess tomorrow or Friday will be the days when we try the following tips:
TIP 1: For Linksys QuickVPN usage:
or Linksys Quickvpn Client to WRV54G Connection, do the following:
1) Disable PPTP, L2TP, and IPSEC Passthru
2 Disable VPN Gateway, VPN Tunnels, Key Management, Encryption, Authentication, and PFS Shared Key
3) Until you're able to connect with quickvpn, disable ports 1723, 500, 443, and 4500; these settings "might" disrupt communication between the client and the WRV54g
Quickvpn will make its own secure tunnel with the WRV54g "without" all the following things I just mentioned that you need to disable. The above configuration is what you would do "if" you're WRV54G is acting as an "endpoint" and people are using quickvpn to connect "to" your router. As the VPN termination point, "you" do not need to enable the services in items #1 and #2; if "you" were a quickvpn user who needed to connect "to" a WRV54G vpn router, then "you" would enable pptp, L2tp, and IPSEC Pass-thru on "your" router.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Now, if you want to connect your vpn router to another vpn router, then you would have to open up a tunnel between your router and the other vpn router and slowly start opening "ports" (i.e. 1723 etc...) one by one as a means of process of elimination:
Tunnel: Enabled
Gateway: Disabled
Tunnel Name: Linksys
Local Sec. Grp (Your Lan): 192.168.1.10
255.255.255.0
Remote Sec. Grp (Other Lan) 192.168.2.10
255.255.255.0
Remote Sec. Gtwy (Other Lan's Wan IP) 24.255.34.154
Encryption: 3DES (Suggested)
Authentication: Sha1 (Suggested)
Key Management: Auto(IKE)
PFS: Enabled
Pre-Shared Key: (Enter a password)
Key Lifetime: 3600 (Suggested)
Make sure your settings in the Advanced VPN Configuration Tunnel are similar...
TIP 2: Really an extension of TIP 1:
Internet connection type: Automatic Configuration - DHCP
MTU: Manual
MTU Size: 1500 (1500 is the Max)
Setting my MTU to manual and to 1500 stabilized "ALOT" of the problems I was having. Doing this cut down on 98% of the rebooting. You don't have to have the router itself set to a static ip; just make sure your clients are connecting via static ip if they are behind a router on another land or with a WAN ip if connected directly to a cable modem (dhcp might also work). FYI, I got a dynamic ip address "FOR FREE" from www.webreactor.net. I was up and running my ftp server in under 30 mins. I tried setting my wrv54g up with a static setting, but it had a tendency to lose it's WAN connectivity every couple of days in that configuration. So, I leave it set for DHCP (in case the ip happens to change) and I have no problems in that respect anymore.
Make sure the DHCP server feature is enabled so your vpn clients can pull an IP address once they connect. Additionally, make sure all vpn clients connection to your router have a static ip address. Let's try it from this angle and see what happens...
As stated before, the quickvpn client will create its own tunnel with the wrv54g, so don't bother with the directions linksys put out; that appears to be for people using 2000 server.
For those of you who've just joined onto this thread, my WRV54G is running "while utilizing the linksys quickvpn client" with all the settings mentioned in my posts. Prior to getting Linksys to send me beta firmware 2.36.5, I was able to connect via vpn with firmware 2.36.
Tech Notes for the day:
Wow, having problems setting up a Linksys WRV54G with a tunnel. Unfortunately found the thread too late in the day to continue with setup tonight. From a pretty cool robustness stage, one of the routers had the web server lock up, but was still allowing VPN access to the network and then connectivity to the servers. Guess tomorrow or Friday will be the days when we try the following tips:
TIP 1: For Linksys QuickVPN usage:
or Linksys Quickvpn Client to WRV54G Connection, do the following:
1) Disable PPTP, L2TP, and IPSEC Passthru
2 Disable VPN Gateway, VPN Tunnels, Key Management, Encryption, Authentication, and PFS Shared Key
3) Until you're able to connect with quickvpn, disable ports 1723, 500, 443, and 4500; these settings "might" disrupt communication between the client and the WRV54g
Quickvpn will make its own secure tunnel with the WRV54g "without" all the following things I just mentioned that you need to disable. The above configuration is what you would do "if" you're WRV54G is acting as an "endpoint" and people are using quickvpn to connect "to" your router. As the VPN termination point, "you" do not need to enable the services in items #1 and #2; if "you" were a quickvpn user who needed to connect "to" a WRV54G vpn router, then "you" would enable pptp, L2tp, and IPSEC Pass-thru on "your" router.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Now, if you want to connect your vpn router to another vpn router, then you would have to open up a tunnel between your router and the other vpn router and slowly start opening "ports" (i.e. 1723 etc...) one by one as a means of process of elimination:
Tunnel: Enabled
Gateway: Disabled
Tunnel Name: Linksys
Local Sec. Grp (Your Lan): 192.168.1.10
255.255.255.0
Remote Sec. Grp (Other Lan) 192.168.2.10
255.255.255.0
Remote Sec. Gtwy (Other Lan's Wan IP) 24.255.34.154
Encryption: 3DES (Suggested)
Authentication: Sha1 (Suggested)
Key Management: Auto(IKE)
PFS: Enabled
Pre-Shared Key: (Enter a password)
Key Lifetime: 3600 (Suggested)
Make sure your settings in the Advanced VPN Configuration Tunnel are similar...
TIP 2: Really an extension of TIP 1:
Internet connection type: Automatic Configuration - DHCP
MTU: Manual
MTU Size: 1500 (1500 is the Max)
Setting my MTU to manual and to 1500 stabilized "ALOT" of the problems I was having. Doing this cut down on 98% of the rebooting. You don't have to have the router itself set to a static ip; just make sure your clients are connecting via static ip if they are behind a router on another land or with a WAN ip if connected directly to a cable modem (dhcp might also work). FYI, I got a dynamic ip address "FOR FREE" from www.webreactor.net. I was up and running my ftp server in under 30 mins. I tried setting my wrv54g up with a static setting, but it had a tendency to lose it's WAN connectivity every couple of days in that configuration. So, I leave it set for DHCP (in case the ip happens to change) and I have no problems in that respect anymore.
Make sure the DHCP server feature is enabled so your vpn clients can pull an IP address once they connect. Additionally, make sure all vpn clients connection to your router have a static ip address. Let's try it from this angle and see what happens...
As stated before, the quickvpn client will create its own tunnel with the wrv54g, so don't bother with the directions linksys put out; that appears to be for people using 2000 server.
For those of you who've just joined onto this thread, my WRV54G is running "while utilizing the linksys quickvpn client" with all the settings mentioned in my posts. Prior to getting Linksys to send me beta firmware 2.36.5, I was able to connect via vpn with firmware 2.36.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Michigan - Vacation @ Mackinac City
Our vacation was wrapping up. We'd had a fun week, in spite of the bumps in the road. But it's always good to keep things interesting. :)
With today being our last day, Goldies Diner was the spot to visit! 10 minutes south of Mackinac City, on the shores of Carp Lake, this little place was the right spot to tie up a vacation. Hot coffee and friendly service aren't the only things this diner has going for it. Breakfast consisting of 1 inch think French Toast and Cinnamon Rolls that melt in your mouth accompany the relaxing sounds of the waves lapping against the patio-dock.
If you did nothing else all day, and started your drive home from here, it would be perfect!
From here we did go back into Mackinac City one more time to check out some of the souvenir shops and get the younglings some T-shirts and Baseball caps. They didn't want to leave lootless.... ;-)
With today being our last day, Goldies Diner was the spot to visit! 10 minutes south of Mackinac City, on the shores of Carp Lake, this little place was the right spot to tie up a vacation. Hot coffee and friendly service aren't the only things this diner has going for it. Breakfast consisting of 1 inch think French Toast and Cinnamon Rolls that melt in your mouth accompany the relaxing sounds of the waves lapping against the patio-dock.
If you did nothing else all day, and started your drive home from here, it would be perfect!
From here we did go back into Mackinac City one more time to check out some of the souvenir shops and get the younglings some T-shirts and Baseball caps. They didn't want to leave lootless.... ;-)
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Off to Mackinac City
Due to work and a lot of family sickness this year, everyone is looking forward to fun and adventure and an escape from the blahness that comes with too much scheduled, too much work and too many bouts with the flu! My wife, myself and our four kids were really looking forward to some down time. (Well, you know, maybe not the 20 month old ~ I think he was just enjoying the ride.)
We got our start an hour later than intended, but that didn't set us back too much. We hit a Quizno's for the parents and Wendy's for the kids and started the trek. Our 7 year old daughter is enamored with water towers and has an exuberant, excited squeal every time she sees one! It was a blast pointing all of them out, to the great annoyance of my 10 year old son.
After a few pit stops and being a couple hours south of Mackinac we made our 2nd stop at one of the Michigan "Rest Areas". Holy Cow! The state has done an awesome job cleaning them up. The bathrooms were clean, the grass outside was cut. We even had races with the kids to stretch everyone's legs. The 4 year old just loved racing Dad to the "tree" and beating me, but when he raced Mom, he made a big deal of being out of breath and how he couldn't move another step! I think she got a bit of favortism there.
Due to past experiences with too small hotel rooms and not enough sleeping space, we rented a "suite". (Well, that brings up one cool thing about credit unions... For some reason, the money for the room wasn't there the first time. One short phone call and they corrected that and the transaction went through seamlessly.)
Well, dinner was now in order for the evening. We crossed the street for Nonna Lisa's. The restaurant was full of fun stuff to look at, with the inside looking like a view into one of the northern parks and animal habitats! This was topped off by great food and wonderful service. Two small pizza's was too much for our 4 kids with healthy appetites and the parent's tastebuds were tantalized with delicious entree's of Rosemary Salmon and Chicken Parmigiano! After packaging up our pizza and paying the bill, we all walked out of the restaurant, refreshed and ready for a refreshing dip in Lake Huron.
After going back to our hotel room, I did a quick check of e-mail and found out I had some work waiting for me. I then sequestered myself to my laptop with copies of Active Directory 2nd Edition (for Windows 2000 & 2003) by O'Reilly Press, Microsoft TechNet, Windows Server 2003 by Mark Minasi (the CD version) and Inside Windows Server 2003 by William Boswell (hey Addison Wesley...where's the CD?"). I emailed my rep that I would have things caught up by the end of the day Tuesday, after completing two-thirds of the work sometime in the early morning. I was very greatful that she sent back saying I could complete things the upcoming weekend. Ahh, vacations, always more than they are meant to be! ;-)
We got our start an hour later than intended, but that didn't set us back too much. We hit a Quizno's for the parents and Wendy's for the kids and started the trek. Our 7 year old daughter is enamored with water towers and has an exuberant, excited squeal every time she sees one! It was a blast pointing all of them out, to the great annoyance of my 10 year old son.
After a few pit stops and being a couple hours south of Mackinac we made our 2nd stop at one of the Michigan "Rest Areas". Holy Cow! The state has done an awesome job cleaning them up. The bathrooms were clean, the grass outside was cut. We even had races with the kids to stretch everyone's legs. The 4 year old just loved racing Dad to the "tree" and beating me, but when he raced Mom, he made a big deal of being out of breath and how he couldn't move another step! I think she got a bit of favortism there.
Due to past experiences with too small hotel rooms and not enough sleeping space, we rented a "suite". (Well, that brings up one cool thing about credit unions... For some reason, the money for the room wasn't there the first time. One short phone call and they corrected that and the transaction went through seamlessly.)
Well, dinner was now in order for the evening. We crossed the street for Nonna Lisa's. The restaurant was full of fun stuff to look at, with the inside looking like a view into one of the northern parks and animal habitats! This was topped off by great food and wonderful service. Two small pizza's was too much for our 4 kids with healthy appetites and the parent's tastebuds were tantalized with delicious entree's of Rosemary Salmon and Chicken Parmigiano! After packaging up our pizza and paying the bill, we all walked out of the restaurant, refreshed and ready for a refreshing dip in Lake Huron.
After going back to our hotel room, I did a quick check of e-mail and found out I had some work waiting for me. I then sequestered myself to my laptop with copies of Active Directory 2nd Edition (for Windows 2000 & 2003) by O'Reilly Press, Microsoft TechNet, Windows Server 2003 by Mark Minasi (the CD version) and Inside Windows Server 2003 by William Boswell (hey Addison Wesley...where's the CD?"). I emailed my rep that I would have things caught up by the end of the day Tuesday, after completing two-thirds of the work sometime in the early morning. I was very greatful that she sent back saying I could complete things the upcoming weekend. Ahh, vacations, always more than they are meant to be! ;-)
Friday, April 08, 2005
What makes America so great?
Why America is the greatest country on earth....
Her people. It's the short answer. It's the real answer. Saying it's not an answer doesn't work.
I watch America, Americans and how they behave. We have a lot of free spirits, people who strive to be individuals on a regular basis. Yet, when their next door neighbor is down, they help pick them up. Regardless of religious belief, regardless of left-wing, right-wing or whatever wing.
I can use 9/11 as an example. What happened during, men and women struggling to save the lives of people they didn't know, or didn't have to. They could have said, get everyone that is out already away... It's not structurally sound... flames, fuel, building parts and airplane parts falling.... noone would have argued that it wasn't safe to go in, especially after the first tower fell, but instead they redoubled their rescue efforts.
Let's talk about after. We went to war. A nation united in the cause. For a short time, political agendas and grandstanding were put aside. How about after that? We've attempted to implement new laws to protect the American people, some weaken our freedoms, some strengthen our security. For a minute lets set our decisions as a nation how to handle that aside, (and not disregarding the importance of the laws we govern ourselves with or our involvement in the "We the people...." process...) what we do even after is more important. Just for a second, set all the politics aside.
We, as Americans, continue to give and help above and beyond almost any nation on earth. The American people help their neighbor next door, but they also help their neighbor globally. We give our finances, we give our time, we give our children, we give our lives.
We may be arrogant at times, we have lots of shortcomings (we are human, what person doesn't), but we are a generous people. We are accused of not being globally minded, not caring about other nations well being, yet when they are in trouble, we mobilize our military, our men and women, our neighbors, our children, our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers voluntarily go to defend not just our American freedom, but the rights and freedoms of other people in other nations.
The United States government gives more money and aid to troubled nations than any other government in history. And so do American businesses and the American people. Noone likes taxes, but our government gives tax breaks to businesses and individuals for helping others, for donating to Red Cross, charities in our country and others. The American people not only voluntarily cross this nation to perform relief efforts, they join Peace Corps, religious organizations and volunteer to go to Africa to help fight AID's, to the Middle East to help with Tsunami efforts, donate money, funds and time to relief efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and trouble spots throughout the world. However you cut it, whatever business(s) get contracts for rebuilding IRAQ, we still foot the bill.. with people, time and money.
I guess that's why I get so upset when people say we are just arrogant and defensive, always trying to be the world's police force and not globally minded. This nation, is globally minded. This country is, and it's people are globally minded. Maybe it's arrogance, but I look on in amazement when the governments and people who love to malign us, are the first ones in line wanting to sell us goods, wanting us to "offshore" services, wanting our militaries contracts, wanting our business's to partner with theirs or to move operations and manufacturing into their countries, wanting us to give to relief efforts in their countries.
History is littered with mistakes, that nations, businesses and individuals make. I wonder sometimes why it's so easy for us to concentrate on those. We forget to look at the people and the good that they can and do perform.
So, for all of our shortcomings, as people, as businesses, as a nation, I still believe this is the greatest nation on earth. And I believe that our people make it that. Their willingness to step forward and help, our willingness to live out the ideals that our forefathers put into the Constitution and later the Bill of Rights. The American people's generosity in time and money, not just to family, or the neighbor next door, but to the world as a whole.
Maybe I'm an idealist, maybe I paint to rosy a picture, but I'm not just proud to be an American, I'm honored. I'm thankful, for all of my shortcomings, that I have the privilege of being an American.
- Binarypc
P.S. Thank you for making me think about it. Maybe this isn't "the" answer anyone is looking for, maybe it has lots of holes, but it's my answer... take it or leave it.
Her people. It's the short answer. It's the real answer. Saying it's not an answer doesn't work.
I watch America, Americans and how they behave. We have a lot of free spirits, people who strive to be individuals on a regular basis. Yet, when their next door neighbor is down, they help pick them up. Regardless of religious belief, regardless of left-wing, right-wing or whatever wing.
I can use 9/11 as an example. What happened during, men and women struggling to save the lives of people they didn't know, or didn't have to. They could have said, get everyone that is out already away... It's not structurally sound... flames, fuel, building parts and airplane parts falling.... noone would have argued that it wasn't safe to go in, especially after the first tower fell, but instead they redoubled their rescue efforts.
Let's talk about after. We went to war. A nation united in the cause. For a short time, political agendas and grandstanding were put aside. How about after that? We've attempted to implement new laws to protect the American people, some weaken our freedoms, some strengthen our security. For a minute lets set our decisions as a nation how to handle that aside, (and not disregarding the importance of the laws we govern ourselves with or our involvement in the "We the people...." process...) what we do even after is more important. Just for a second, set all the politics aside.
We, as Americans, continue to give and help above and beyond almost any nation on earth. The American people help their neighbor next door, but they also help their neighbor globally. We give our finances, we give our time, we give our children, we give our lives.
We may be arrogant at times, we have lots of shortcomings (we are human, what person doesn't), but we are a generous people. We are accused of not being globally minded, not caring about other nations well being, yet when they are in trouble, we mobilize our military, our men and women, our neighbors, our children, our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers voluntarily go to defend not just our American freedom, but the rights and freedoms of other people in other nations.
The United States government gives more money and aid to troubled nations than any other government in history. And so do American businesses and the American people. Noone likes taxes, but our government gives tax breaks to businesses and individuals for helping others, for donating to Red Cross, charities in our country and others. The American people not only voluntarily cross this nation to perform relief efforts, they join Peace Corps, religious organizations and volunteer to go to Africa to help fight AID's, to the Middle East to help with Tsunami efforts, donate money, funds and time to relief efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and trouble spots throughout the world. However you cut it, whatever business(s) get contracts for rebuilding IRAQ, we still foot the bill.. with people, time and money.
I guess that's why I get so upset when people say we are just arrogant and defensive, always trying to be the world's police force and not globally minded. This nation, is globally minded. This country is, and it's people are globally minded. Maybe it's arrogance, but I look on in amazement when the governments and people who love to malign us, are the first ones in line wanting to sell us goods, wanting us to "offshore" services, wanting our militaries contracts, wanting our business's to partner with theirs or to move operations and manufacturing into their countries, wanting us to give to relief efforts in their countries.
History is littered with mistakes, that nations, businesses and individuals make. I wonder sometimes why it's so easy for us to concentrate on those. We forget to look at the people and the good that they can and do perform.
So, for all of our shortcomings, as people, as businesses, as a nation, I still believe this is the greatest nation on earth. And I believe that our people make it that. Their willingness to step forward and help, our willingness to live out the ideals that our forefathers put into the Constitution and later the Bill of Rights. The American people's generosity in time and money, not just to family, or the neighbor next door, but to the world as a whole.
Maybe I'm an idealist, maybe I paint to rosy a picture, but I'm not just proud to be an American, I'm honored. I'm thankful, for all of my shortcomings, that I have the privilege of being an American.
- Binarypc
P.S. Thank you for making me think about it. Maybe this isn't "the" answer anyone is looking for, maybe it has lots of holes, but it's my answer... take it or leave it.
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