Postcards From My Life

Dear Reader,

DISCLAIMER: I have 2 Lifetime Tivo subscriptions and have been a member of LinkedIn since it was in beta.

I know a lot of you out there right now are scratching their heads and wondering what a Networking site and a PVR/DVR have in common. Here is what they have in common, ranks of upper management with closed minds.

Tivo

I was out at tivo.com yesterday and the first thing they did when I hit the page was ask if I would answer a survey after I finished my business. I of course agreed (I’m just that kind of guy) and so when I finished, I filled out the survey.

I gave them the usual answers anyone visiting tivo.com would.

• 30 seconds is too long to wait for a page to load
• Your site navigation is goofy
• Your documentation is incomplete

However, the question they did NOT ask me is “What could we do to make your Tivo more useful to you?” See that’s a question I could write a book on. However, I won’t here, I’ll boil it down into a single concept. “Open it up and let me discover new ways to use it.”

I’m a programmer, when I look at a box like that (or my XBox 360) where the mfgr has obviously gone to great lengths to make sure that I can never run “unapproved” code on it, it just makes me sad. Open it up a bit. Let me build services that can interact with my Tivo. I understand your issues with copyright and I’m not trying to steal content. but hell, it’s a Linux box. Let me write a service that feeds a widget on my blog that shows what I’m watching at the moment. Let me suck down the data on what it’s recording and slice it and dice it myself. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a better way to recommend new shows.

There are hundreds of thousands of ideas for product enhancements that you don’t have to write, we, the hordes of hobbyist programmers and 21 Century tinkerers will make the Tivo an indispensable piece of equipment if you quit locking us out and realize that the Tivo can be so much more than an appliance, it can be a platform.

Oh and it’s ok if you don’t make any money off of each and every service written…make your money on the stuff you do and don’t try to charge me for the privileged of making your device better. Get it together Tivo, if you open up and let us help you, then Hollywood can’t stop you. You can either be the big dog, or stay a whipped puppy.

LinkedIn

These guys still don’t get it. (This is getting to be a regular topic for me.) I’m on LinkedIn and FaceBook both for very different reasons. However, I’m on facebook 3-4 times a day and linkedin 1-2 times a week. See the difference LinkedIn? Pictures in my profile aren’t enough, I want to actually DO SOMETHING with the data I’ve been giving you all these years. We’ve had this discussion before, “Why LinkedIn Sucks (and why I’ll keep using it)”, “LinkedIn Rant – Part II” and you’ve even promised progress but so far…nothing. Open up, let me do what I want with my data and all of a sudden you are useful enough for me to start paying for your service. Have you ever stopped and wondered why you aren’t growing as fast as facebook? It’s not the teens and tweens on facebook, it’s the fact that on facebook, people have freedom to experiment. On LinkedIn, I still can’t write a program that allows me to simply figure out which of my friends know each other…hell on facebook it’s a game!

If Facebook ever wises up and decided that it wants to be the big dog in your yard, you are so toast. Don’t wait for OpenSocial, give me an API and give it to me now. Anything I can do via a web page should be doable from an API. Do that and do it NOW and it’s a good start…it’s only a start but it is a start.

To both tivo and linkedin, I write this post, not because I’m a disgruntled user but because I really like both of you. Both of you however, need a swift kick in the ass to get you moving before you are relegated to the pile of other services I liked once but are now gone. (anyone remember GEnie? I LOVED GEnie!) Come on guys, closed is so last century, open up, let us into the playground and I guarantee that what we create will do more for your bottom line than any overpriced CEO will ever do.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

Dear Reader,

When did we become a rude nation? I mean we are not France rude, but none-the-less, we are rude. I’ve give you 2 examples.

Language

I’m on my way back from a great time in California. I love the weather there (except today because it’s got me socked in at SFO) I’ve truly had a great time. But it struck me while I was out here that people out here cannot express a thought without punctuating it with a “fuck” or a “goddamn”. It’s like an epidemic out here. Casual conversation out here is R-rated and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone. I can remember when foul language was relegated to movies and late-night TV. I had lunch one day with a couple of colleagues. One of the members of our party could not find a way to talk in a conversational tone or complete a sentence without a profane punctuation. Even in California, people were starting to turn and stare.

People like to make fun of southerns but at least we still hold to the concept of “polite company” and temper our language when it may offend others.

Respect

In the past 2 jobs I’ve had in California, I’ve been the “Red State” on the org chart. it’s not quite that bad where I work but I am the vocal minority. However, there is one that, Democrat, Republican, or thinking voter, all used to agree on. When refering to a president, past or present, we use the honorific, “President”. I was listening to a conversation the other day between two people who were not not native Americans. One said something about conferences not being in America and the other immediately said “yeah, because of Bush”. (IMHO, ROW does not dislike America…Europe does. For some reason they feel they can speak for ROW.) To the point though, it’s “President Bush” not “Bush”. The Democratic party has produced the two most embarrassing presidents in my life time and I still have the civility to refer to them as President Carter and President Clinton. It’s not a sign of respect for the man, it’s a sign of respect to the office.

Anyhow, just felt the need to rant. If you think you recognize the people in this post, I can guarantee you that you don’t. Quit trying to guess and just flame me for having the audacity to have an opinion.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

=C=

Dear Reader,

At Web 2.0 Expo, I finally got around to setting up a twitter account. (http://twitter.com/calevans) I’ll be honest, I think it’s a fad. I don’t see it as becoming a serious Internet tool/toy. but I’m going to play with it while I’m on the road. I do see some interesting things you might could do with it, none of them commercially viable.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

=C=

Dear Reader,

Actually I love this entire side of the country. I can feel my energy level rise as the plane got farther and farther west. Of course that was a false feeling, as soon as 10:00 PM arrived and I realized it was midnight at home, my energy level dropped back to normal. Even so, it’s great to be back out here.

I’ve got to make time this trip to visit SFMOMA. I’ve been coming to conventions at Moscone for 7 years now and never bothered to visit. (I have, however, been to the Sony store in the Metreon several times.)

Anyhow, to all my west coast homies, I’d say give me a ring and we’ll hook-up but I left my cellphone back in Nashville, so it wouldn’t do you much good. (You can, however, still call it, wife 1.23, the lovely and talented Kathy, has it and you can always talk to her.

Make sure you have the DevZone feed in your feed reader because I’ll be blogging the conference over there.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

Dear Reader,

Once again, I am in San Francisco for 2.5 days of buzzword laden sessions. This is the 3rd Web 2.0 conference put on by O’Reilly. The first one I enjoyed only by podcast but I listened to every one I could get my hands on. The second one occurred while I was actually residing in the bay area. I was working for a boss whose wallet was bigger than his brain and he let me attend. This year, Zend has seen fit to have someone attend and “represent”. So here I am again, in a city steeped with memories for me, some bad but most good. My last trip here was with Wife 1.22, the lovely and talented Kathy and it was a wonderful time of sightseeing and romance.

The first Web 2.0 predicted the Social networking trend. I listened to the podcasts with interest but I was working at a hosting company and so couldn’t directly apply the concepts. However, by-in-large, the trends they were predicting were accurate.

Last year was all about Video on the web. This young upstart named youtube.com was just breaking on the scene and IPTV was the buzzword. Ok, so the IPTV trend has yet to mature but overall, Web 2.0.2 was on target with Video on the web.

This year, I can already see that the buzz-word is Mobile. We’ll see what happens. Make sure you check “DevZone“:http://devzone.zend.com for daily updates. Until then let me leave you with these 2 thoughts.

To my wife and kids, if you get a chance to see the Titanic Exhibit, I highly recommend it. it’s stunning.

To everyone (Except Fred, I already told you this) You have to appreciate a conference that hands out Cosmopolitan Martinis in the registration line. If the line had been much longer, I would have had to have help getting to my room. Some people know how to throw a conference.

Until Next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)

=C=

Dear Reader,

Ok, I’ve got 2 really primo jobs hanging out in my mail box and before I start pimping them on CL and elsewhere on the net, I thought I’d post them here for my friends or friends of friends.

I am helping a friend and previous employer, Jupiter Hosting. (www.jupiterhosting.com), find a few good people to flesh out their operations team. The first thing they are looking for is a

“Unix Systems Administrator | WEEKEND DAY SHIFT OPERATIONS”.

Now first, I’ve got to limit this San Jose/Santa Clara/Silly-con Valley area people as this is an on-site position.

To fill this position you will have to be fluent in FreeBDS and Most current Linux distros. There’s a hardware support involved in this job. (rack, cable and IP servers) You’ll also do a little troubleshooting of hardware. (backup the hard drive, pull it out, fling it against the wall, install a new HD and restore the backup, re-rack the server before the original harddrive is finished spinning down. the normal Herculean efforts that Admins perform on a daily basis at a hosting company)

The job is mainly software support though. You need a thorough (and yes, I mean seriously thorough) understanding of the following packages:

• MySQL
• Apache
• DNS Record Administration
• NFS / NAS File Servers Administration and Troubleshooting
• PHP (Installation, configuration, and troubleshooting – NOT PROGRAMMING)
• Rsync
• Most Open Source Mail Applications
• SSHd

There are other qualifications and restrictions. Drop me an email and ask for the complete job description if you are interested.

This is a great position and a super company to work for. I personally know a lot of the people on the Ops teams and you won’t find a better group to work with.

They are also looking for an “Operations Manager”. Someone who knows all of that but can also manage the teams.

These type of positions don’t come around often. I’ll be posting them around the net in the next few days but if you want to be considered for one of them early, send me your resume IN A TEXT FILE to calhr@1100tech.com. Make sure you specify “Admin” or “Ops Manager” in the subject line.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

p.s. NO AGENCIES! and sorry, no telecommute.

Dear Reader,
This note actually started out as a reply to Fred’s comment on my first LinkedIn post. Since it kinda grew to a general post, I thought it best to make it a post out of it. To really understand it thought you have to read Fred’s post because he’s bailing on LinkedIn and explains why.

Good point Fred,

My problem is I like the *promise* of linkedin. Up till now they have not really delivered on the promise. I want to know who my friends know. I like the fact that I can’t see more than one level deep because more than that will just encourage spam.

Since I wrote this blog I’ve had 2 interesting LnkedIn encounters.

1) I send a message to someone through 2 people. My wife (the lovely and talented Kathy) was interested in a job at a company. I found that I was connected to the VP of HR at this company through 2 other people so I wrote a message for her and sent it. My friend passed it on to his friend. However, his friend refused to pass it on to the VP. He felt it was beneath the VP’s attention. Well, my problem is that the *promise* of LinkedIn is that you *can* get access to people at this level. So once again, LinkedIn has failed to deliver any *real* benefit to me. (Sidebar: For the record, I have always felt it is everyone’s job at any company to continue to scout talent. The idea that it’s “beneath” the VP of HR to take a look at a resume is stupid, it’s his freakin JOB.)

2) I had a reader write me and invite me into their network. The problem I have is I’ve never met this person. With very few exceptions, I know everyone in my LinkedIn network personally. (Ironically, you are one of the few exceptions) So while I was honored that he would want me in his network, I had to respectfully decline.

I’d love for someone to come up with an alternative to LinkedIn for allowing me to discover who is in my distributed network. It needs to be something easy to use, something that does not require a programmer to operate. Most importantly, it needs to let me keep my data in my silo and let out as much or as little as possible. I’d even pay a reasonable fee to be a part of this new service.

Until next time,
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

Dear Reader,

I have a favorite quote about San Jose by Shakespeare:

“This other Eden…
demi-paradise…
this precious stone…
set in the silver sea of this earth,
this ground… this San Jose.”

(ok, Steve Martin stole it from Shakespeare, I’m stealing it from him.)

I am both excited and sad. Yes, I will finally be back home with my wife (the lovely and talented Kathy) and kids. (oh…and the dogs…yea…whoopie…I get to see my dogs again…seriosuly, HTML NEEDS a sarcasm tag!)

But I’m sad to go. As much fun as has been poked at life in The Valley, it truly is a great place to live. Yes, it’s expensive here. Exhorbantly expensive, but if you are a programmer there is no better place on earth to be. These truly are my people. I feel like I’ve found the lost tribe of Judah and they are all Pengunistas!

So it is with sad heart that I say good bye to all my friends. Remember me fondly.

=C=

Dear Reader,

FREE TICKETS! That’s what makes Baseball great!

Everybody sing with me…
(Sung to the tune of the Oscar Myer Bologna song)

“My cool boss has a first name,
It’s Ray…”

Ok, it breaks down there but you get the idea.

Boss-man extraordinaire coughed up 2 tickets and a parking pass to the Giants .vs Dodgers today and I am ever so appreciative. (I called everybody on my crew looking for anyone who wanted to go. Guys, you missed a treat.)

Thinking that I learned my lesson last time, this time, I layered my clothing and was prepared for the arctic temperature. Much to my surprise it was actually HOT out there today. Since the ballpark faces south, I’ve got a nice red face on my right side and my equally pasty white on the left. Makes for an interesting look.

The seats were awesome. 11 rows off the Giant’s dugout; field level. I was close enough to spit on the Dodgers as they ran by. (I didn’t…but I could have) The seats were so far away from the cheap seats that you had to have a bus just to get to the cheap seats from where I was. It was awesome.

I got there about noon and did what everybody else did, I bought lunch. Given the wide variety of food available to me at the ball-park, I chose the traditional route and had Fried Rice. (Ok, so it’s probably only traditional baseball food for me.)

Anyhow, it was a great game The Giants played well and Barry Bonds splashed one at the top of the ninth to cinch the win. All in all a great way to spend a day. (Oh yea and tooling up and down the 101 at speeds that can’t really be described as safe without a 5 point harness was way cool too.)

Ray, Fiona, my prayers are with you. Thank you ever so much for the tickets but considering the circumstances, I would have rather just stayed home. Hope things are well there. Tell me how I can repay the favor.

But anyhow…I’m off to JJs in a few.

Until next time, it would have been more fun with you.
(l)(k)(bunny)
=C=

The Valley is now my home. That’s both good and bad. The bad being that I’m living by myself. (but not alone thanks to a loving wife and IM) The good is that there’s always something happening here.

I’m always on the lookout for new an interesting things to do. Since I love street fairs, it was with great pleasure that I discovered that The Solano Stroll was this weekend. Clearing the books for anything useful I may have had to do, I took off this morning for Berkley and all points North.

Pictures are available but suffice to say I had a wonderful time. The highlight of the day had to be California Repercussion. These guys were awesome. They played everything from “Tuxedo Junction” to “Walking on the Sun”. They alone were worth the price of admission. (Which, incidentally, was $0 but I paid $10 to park because I’m a sucker and like to park close by)

There were about 10 different bands there, everything from straight up Blues to something I like to call Salsa/Blues. It’s like if Los Lobos had John Lee Hooker as their front man. It was a very cool sound.

2 memorable moments during the day. In a “Only in California” moment, as California Repercussions were marching by I heard a woman comment “How very inter-generational”. It was all I could do not to laugh.

Mom DON’T READ THIS SECTION!
The other one is a bit more risqué and…well more confusing. As I was pushing my way through the crowd I saw a woman with a forest green T-Shirt on. Written in bold white letters across the front was:
“Health care is for pussies”

I’m still not sure whether she was making a “Real Men” type affirmation that she was tough enough not to need health care; or was she making some kind of Gynecological statement that as I guy I don’t get. Anyhow, I giggled when I saw it because I was pretty sure she didn’t mean cats.

That’s all for today.

Until next time, I miss you more than I can say.

(l) (k) (bunny)
=C=

Dear Reader,

What is it about 5 chords strung together in an endless-loop guitar rift that speaks to the very soul of musicians? So it started last night at JJs when Alvin Draper hit the stage. I don’t want to give the impression that this was an orderly entrance or that things were organized. The rest of the musicians had completed their setup about 5 minutes before and were either at the bar talking to JoJo (/me waves at JoJo & Tracy) or outside grabbing that last smoke before the set.

Alvin finished his final setup, turned on his microphone and started picking. Just 5 chords strung together in the musical version of a doodle. Like farm hands hearing the far-off dinner bell, the players all perked up, finished their conversations, took that last drag and stomped the butt out; then slowly, each of wandered onto the stage.

Soon there was a drum thumping time as Pavlov called his dogs. Then the second guitar kicked in and filled in the melody line. The bass player eventually wandered onto the stage and filled in the missing pieces. Finally, the keyboardist jumped up from the side of the stage and sat down. With a fanfare of synthesized organ through Leslie speakers usually reserved for tent-revivals, he threw down and church was again in session.

Alvin and the boys did a wonderful job for the next hour and a half. Alvin himself made his guitar cry as he told us “I’ve Got An Angel”. He and the boys (listed on the program only as “and Friends”) tickled our funny-bones as they threw down “Twist and Shout” and brought the house down near the end of the first set with “Mustang Sally”.

All the while there was a steady stream of couples entering and leaving the small dance floor. “Mr. Strut” made an appearance. He’s an “oldish” gentleman who, for the life of me, reminded me of a caricature of an old man. He was quite entertaining with his unique take on interpretive dance that was somewhere between “The Robot” and “The Jerk”. Then there was a couple who made love on the floor like they were the only ones in the room. They were mesmerizing to watch. Their dance was mental, it was spiritual but to those of us watching, it was defiantly physical. (and quite entertaining in a “I need to go call my wife” kind of way)

All-in-all it was a great ending to a great week. If you haven’t made it by JJs, by all means do. If you are in the valley, there’s always something interesting going on. I’m usually there Sundays after 8:00. Drop by and give me a shout-out. (I’m the overweight white-guy with the silly grin on my face!)

Until next time, (l) (k) (bunny),
=C=

Dear Reader,

As I travel through the Valley, I keep seeing things and describing them to people and never doing them justice. Sometimes, it’s just the beauty of downtown San Jose, the colors of The Mercado or the geeky delights of seeing all the computer companies out here. So spent some time yesterday shooting pictures of places that are either meaningful or interesting to me. Because I can’t do anything normally, I decided to set them to music. I’ll warn you, this is a big (201MB) download and it’s really only of interest to those who know me. (I question whether it’s of interest to them) If you want to view it, download it here. If you are only mildly curious, visit my photos page and just hum the tune Kodachrome my Paul Simon as you look at them.

Until next time, it’s getting harder and harder to fill my free time. Expect more silly projects.

=C=

Dear Reader,

In my never ending quest to find things to fill my time, I have stumbled across a gold mine. Well, it’s dark and kinda dank but its not really a cave, more of a dive. I speak of a place called JJ’s which is right down the street from where I live. Awsome little dive where the blues rock every night of the week. This little hole-in-the-wall bar is located in a generic strip-mall on Stephens Creek Blvd in San Jose. Sandwiched between a matress store and a sporting goods shop is a blues emporium that will surprise you.

I hit it Sunday night for a couple of hours and was blown away. When I got there 5 old white guys (and that’s important only because you don’t normally think of 5 old white guys when you think of blues.) were turning up. Since the show hadn’t actually, started, I hit the free Sunday BBQ and sat down to wait. Soon enough, they started picking. They had a tight sound. (well, ok, as tight of a sound as you can get playing blues) To my untrained ear, they sounded like they were a bunch of guys that got together every week and picked for a while. Imagine my surprise when I asked the Sound Engineer what band this was and he replied that they were just 5 guys that showed up with instruments. (Yes, Love, like Amy and the Total Strangers but with facial hair)

They spent an hour running through some of the classics. At one point the guy playing lead actually looked at the others and said “let’s play something in G”. And with the practiced ease of national acts like “Stewie and the Cow Tones” the launched into a song that I assume was actually in G. Of course, they played one of the few blues songs I recognize, “Sweet Home Chicago”. (I sang along but now, reading the words, I butchered it. No wonder people were snickering.)

Long about 9:00 PM, Alvin Draper hit the stage. Alvin looks a lot like Morgan Freeman but sounds nothing like him. He and his band (at least one of the pickers from the Jam Session) let lose for a set that was pretty damn good. For an old guy, his boney old fingers can really pick.

So for the price of a couple of drinks, I was fed, entertained and left with a warm feeling in my stomach. (Which was either the alcohol kicking in or the polish sausage, not sure which)

If you are ever in San Jose and looking for some place nice and quiet to just kick back and relax, JJ’s is probably not the place you want to go. but if you are looking for dark and dank with killer blues and decent drink prices then yea, JJs is the place you want to hang.

Until next time, It’s lonely exploring out here by myself,
=C=