Be The Change...

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

What a wonderful quote... How often do you meet someone and think, I wish there where more people like them in the world? People, full of passion, displaying such a zest for life. In touch with themselves enough, to be open minded of others and are able to think outside the box. The kind of individual that makes you want to be a better person. One who helps you, to become the kind of person you hope to be seen as. These are the kind of people I love to surround myself with, learn from, grow with...

Pieces of us...to you...

So we just completed our first craft show of the year and the financial results where better than last year. We where able to add a few items to our trick bag. Ceramic tile, table toppers are one of the newest items we added and sold out of. They are very elegant looking with just the right amount of an old look to tie the two together. Amy also added 4x4 block shelf sitters. They are cubed blocks combined together to create a word or two. We also have plans to add votive glass inserts to make them candle holders as well. The only downfall this year is we are lacking in inventory. A summer long remodel of the house made it impossible to build up the usual truckload of inventory we normally have for shows. As a result we are now under the gun to generate enough stock to make a good showing at the Tonopah, Winter Craft Show. We have two weeks to put together what we can. This is my least favorite part of crafting...creating under a deadline...It seems to take the fun out of it. Amy and I have decided to sit down and create a realistic plan for Tonopah so as to not make this a miserable experience for the two of us. We also have a page full of custom orders to fill in addition to this so it will be a hectic two weeks ahead of us. I am looking forward to having the house paid for this spring and perhaps purchasing a hitch and trailer for the van. Transporting goods to and from a show has proven to be difficult for us and these things would make life much easier, as would having a grid wall frame for displaying items. We are creating a plan for acquiring these items which should make life a whole lot easier, at our next years shows. We also plan to add Ely and Lovelock, NV to our locations in the upcoming years also. So here we are beginning our two week run starting now, time to set aside the PC and start crafting...

I have a Dream.....

When I was in school, I was chosen to deliver, two speeches, for a grade in English. One was the Abraham Lincoln's, Gettysburg Address...the other Martin Luther King Jr's, I have a dream, speech. I believe they are two, of the most monumental speeches ever given. They mark two moments in time when America was at it's worst, and men chose to stand up and speak their mind about what they though was right and wrong with the world...They where met with much opposition and where told they would never change the thinking of men. Years later we are seeing proof that the thinking of man is changing. Perhaps man is no longer judging each other by the color of their skin but on their personal merit.

I was excited for my eight year old who greeted me at the door by asking me if I voted for Obama today. He also wanted to know if I casted a vote for him and his five year old brother too. I am also proud that my wife and I have instilled in our children, that the value of a person should be based upon their merit and integrity. The world needs more open minded people. We are electing a man to hold the office of the most powerful seat in the world and he or she should fit the bill and be worthy of such a post. I believe America has chosen well. (continued)

Isis is born....

What a wonderful feeling it is to create something from nothing. What was one a piece of plastic and circuitry has now become a working Server. She still has a lot of learning to do, to evolve into a powerful Domain Controller, but delivery into the world has been a wonderful experience. I have already bonded with her. She is my child. She has already received an additional piece of hardware, increasing her storage capacity to 520GB. She will need it, for today she will receive, the majority of her programming. She will take what I give her today and use it to become a great ruler. The mighty Isis.

A New World Order

I awoke at 4:15 this morning to the sound of rain. It's not a sound you hear very often here in the high desert so it was nice to lay in bed and just enjoy it. Listining to the rain makes one, feel small in the world. Eventally I decided to get out of bed and start work on our new network design. I had a consept in my head that I had been thinking about all night and it was time to record my plan to create a New World Order. This was to be my first scratch built network and should make for a very eduactional build. I have a wonderful mentor, in the IT field and she has a story behind all of the servers she builds and names...they are often named after Greek, Roman or Viking Gods or mythical realmes often associated with these gods/gossesses. She puts a lot of thought into naming them and she actually corresponds this history to the use of the server or servers. There is mighty Zeus the Network Domain Controller and Hera, Zeus's wife, who is the Domain Controller fall-back system. There is also: Styx, Midgard, Atlantis, Gaia, Mercury, Athena, Argenta and more. All serve a purpose, all have tasks to perform, or the systems fail. I have taken on some of the tasks of creating the IS Departments (Information Systems)test network. In keeping with the spirit of what my mentor has created, I have decided to use Egyptian gods and goddess.

Last week,I started by, resurrecting an old server from the dead and began to restore it to the status of Domain Controller. I shall call her Isis, Egyptian goddess of Magic: friend of slaves, sinners, artisans, the downtrodden, as well as listening to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers and she was she was the protector of all Egypt. Ancient Egyptians once believed, that the Nile River, flooded every year because of her tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. I like the name Isis for a domain control server, because the name identifies who's server it is, by the repetition of our department initials I.S.. I also like that she is the goddess of magic, and as anyone can tell you, who has worked in I.S., there is a certain feeling of power that you have as a network administrator and it is often viewed as magical, when you are able to fix a clients computer.

We will also be needing a print, web, application and file server, as well. I shall call him, Osiris. Osiris, is the brother and husband of Isis. Being as he is being divided up into sections, to be utilized as the four differently needed servers, his name is also very suiting, for Osiris was slain by Seth and his parts where spread throughout the earth. Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris. Her magical skills restored his body to life after she gathered the parts of it that had been strewn about. The two shall work together to create a very powerful testing network.

What is in a name?

I am named after my grandfather. He was an Olympic gold and silver medalist in bobsledding...and they wonder why I am a perfectionist at everything I do. I found an old Camel Cigarette ad today, put out in 1949. I do find it a bit odd that a group of Olympians where used to advertise smoking. Things sure have changed. The driver for the USA 1948 gold medal team was known for smoking both before and after a race. For the record...I smoke Camel Lights....LOL

Thinkers....

The world needs more thinkers. Throughout time, I've noticed, that thinkers, have always been society's outcasts. In mid-evil times they where, portrayed as wizards, residing in castle towers or shanties down by the river. Devinci's ideas, where kept secret for years, by sociaties hyarchy..perhaps in an attempt to suppress the common mans knowledge of how things really where or are, in the world. Even today, we are led around by the unknowing, who relying on the few, who posses knowledge, to perform their trivial daily tasks. Is it out of fear, that these so called leaders, keep the few, locked in closets like mushrooms...? Do they know, that the mushroom will thrive even in the darkest of places? Mr. Gates, is a perfect example of what happens, when those with the knowledge, break free of the group. He has struck fear, in the hearts of even the most powerfull of governments, who have established limitations on how large the entity that he has created, can grow. They give it a fancy title, monopolization. Is it that they fear he will create an entity so large, that it has the power to consume everything in it's path? What has Mr. Gates, really created? A user interface making it possible for nearly everyone with a brain to use an item ie. a computer, to store a quantity of data surpassing the average human brain? Is it the fact that it levels the the playing feild for all if used correctly. I have always believed that knowledge is power. Information or data is not knowledge. It is only one element, contained in the molecular structure, we call knowledge. Data must be collected, studied, applied and tested, to accend to the higher level, we know as knowledge. So neither computers nor their interfaces will ever consume all. It is the humans brain that will determine what is to become of this collected data. It is the missing variable in this equasion of fear. Some, will use it for good. Some, will use it, to turn a profit. Most will use it as a means to destroy one another. Now this sounds like a pretty bold statement. "Most", you may be thinking? Yes, most. Most will use this data to deprive others of things: money, power, security and even their individuality. Let's look at the bible as an example. What is it?...think now...It is a collection of wood pulp fibers pressed together to create a surface, upon which you can record data in the form of pictures, sybols or even shapes in the case of oragami. These surfaces are arranged in a stack and bound together within a more durable cover to protect them. It is not the book itself, nor the writing within, that has caused the world, misfortune. It has always been mans interpretation of the writing within. So can we say, that the Bible (the book) has spread war, hate and discontent throught the last 2000 or so years? No...it is just a collection of wood pulp and leather. It has always been mans interpretation of the writings contain within, that have always lead to our downfall. There has always been war and discontent...even before the writing of the bible...perhaps because there has always been though...So can we say that a book is nothing more than a primordial computer? As long as human thought, is the controlling variable there is hope for man kind. Perhaps, humans will accept data for what it is. Maybe, they will stop trying to judge and interpret data as a means of manipulation and use it to benifit man kind. In closing, I make this observation. Have you ever noticed as a society that we use data to teach, but it is often, that we use, negitive data, as a scare tactic, for which, you base your knowledge upon. We are rarely taught positive knowledge development skills. We created nuclear energy out of negitive knowlege ie. WAR. Perhaps it's time we started promoting positive knowledge for the good of mankind instead of as a means to an end...