Life

I did something last week that I had never “offically” done before. I handed in my two week notice at Time Warner Cable. My final day is the 7th, making it 5 years, 2 months and 28 days since I first started as a I/R Tech up in Akron. So why am I resigning? Melissa and I are moving to Alabama.

While Columbus has been good, Melissa has always wanted to be closer to her family. With her father’s stroke earlier this year, we started really looking hard at moving. I have been keeping an eye on over 40 companies, and put in about 30 applications since I started keeping track in June. Finally I got a bite, and interview, and finally a job. On September 12th, I start as a Business Customer Service Tech for Knology.

The job is a bit of a mix of what I do now and what I did in Akron. Essentially I’m a cable tech with a focus on Business and Fiber-to-the-Home customers. Yep, I’ll be doing work on Fiber! Melissa is going to help take care of her brother, and focus on her business. She already has an actual wedding cake she is going to bake for a customer, and wants to get into the cake decorating business. I’m still going to try and do development under my RomLabs business, but its on hold till October when the new iPhones come out. With iOS 5 around the corner, it makes little sense to try and develop for iOS 3, and I lack any good iOS 4 devices.

Of course, there are a few downsides to this move. First, for the immediate future, there is no wire based HSD options. My HSD connection will be a VZW 3G USB stick and a Cradlepoint router. I know 3G speeds and a 5GB data cap are not the best, but it beats the pants off a satellite connection. Satellite ping times might as well be measured in seconds! Second, I doubt I’ll be making it to another DasLAN unless I’m in the area. The upside is I’m planning on making it to QuakeCon’s more often, starting in 2012. PaxEast is a possibility, but I have to see how things work out.

In a way, while I’m going to miss Columbus and Time Warner Cable, I know its time to move on. So onward and upward! We move down on the 10th and hopefully be back online sometime on the 11th.

Creativity has been on my mind recently. I realized that for the past 5 years I’ve been doing jobs that are not exactly a creativity work out. That's not to say there is no mental challenge, but the solutions tend to be the same. Its one of the banes of the IT/Networking field, problems tend to have known solutions, unless things are very broken.

Now normally this would not present a problem, but I’ve noticed its impacting my ability to program and come up with new ideas and creative solutions to problems. This is where the rub comes in. I really don't want to be in IT and Networking for the rest of my life. I’m trying to change and improve!

To combat creative atrophy I’ve been trying a pretty obvious technique I heard about on the Back to Work podcast. Essentially it can be summed up as “Just Do Something.” I know, groundbreaking right? Sometimes the most obvious advice is the best. I’ve been trying to do a few things to not only improve my creativity but to also improve other skills I’ve always felt lacked. I’ve been trying to fill up a sheet of paper each day with sketches and drawings. I’ve also been trying to write at least once a day. Now a majority of the drawing and writing will probably never see the light of day, but that's OK to me. I’m already starting to notice some improvements.

Now a few things are going to be a bit more public. I’m going to start writing more blog posts. The Learning to Program series has been good, but I want to go further. In the past, I've been rather quite about personal thoughts on Romb.us. In part because I figure most people are not interested in what I have to say. And to a point, I’m probably right. But it’s also a bit of a disservice to me, I cant improve if I don't try. So expect more “Whats on my mind” style posting.

Also I’ve also been kicking around the idea of rebuilding Romb.us and building my own blog engine. Another bolt of inspiration came this week in the from this blog post: ”A plea for baked weblogs” discussed on the Build and Analyze podcast. I’ll go into more details later this week. Its safe to say I'm going to attempt some of the ideas presented, if only for practice.

More L2P Friday! I’m taking a bit of a break before the final push into the CS193P classes.

On Wednesday, a coworker asked me for a paperclip. I handed him a colored one and he responded "No it has to be silver." Confused, i found a silver one and handed it to him. "Ok, now put it on your pocket." Still confused, I did so and asked him why. "In the Navy, on a sub, a paperclip on the pocket indicates someone is a short timer, leaving active duty soon." I wore it with pride for the rest of the day, and i think ill continue next week.

In 4 more work days I go from Grizzled Vet to FNG all over again. During a team meeting on Wednesday, the director of the RNOC called me a traitor in jest. I actually have a meeting with my manager monday which I'm guessing will be some sort of informal exit interview. Hopefully i can convey the message that i want to leave on good terms and work towards better communications between Tier4 and the RNOC.

I did find out that one of my first "official" training sessions when i get over to the new department is going to be Juniper training. it sounds like Juniper is going to be used a lot more in the Core networks with CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) being Adva or Juniper switches. I had planned on trying to get a CCNA, but maybe a entry level Juniper Cert work be better. Heck, maybe ill just go for both! After the wedding I'm planning on putting together a CCNA lab, and probably building a hacked Juniper router for practice. You can run JunOS on just about any computer since its based on FreeBSD and their system controller cards are essentially just blade computers.

I spent yesterday working on the Jeep and Melissa's car, and i plan to spend today gaming and cleaning up the apartment a bit. Its going to be a bit odd not having Thursday and Friday off any more, but i think it will be good in the long run. In other general life news, We got a kitten about a month ago that we named Ninja, and we are 30 days until the wedding!

So another year has passed. I can’t say that I’m sad to see ’09 go for a variety of reasons. But I don’t want to dwell on the past, but look towards THE FUTURE!

Seriously though, we are finally to a year that can be said in a futuristic fashion. Saying “TwentyTen” sounds right. “Two Thousand and Nine” is so last year. And I can say I’m right on this since car companies are following suit with the 2010 model year cars. Maybe this was the one barrier we have had from finally having flying cars and futuristic clothing. I bet in 2010 we get the future that has always been promised to us!

Or maybe not, but it does not really matter now does it? I mean think about it, look at the advances in technology over the last decade. While we might not have flying cars, we do have some pretty impressive technology! It was interesting to listen to This Week in Tech Episode 228 since it really summed up my views on the decade and brought up some pretty amazing points we just don’t really think about until you look at the whole picture.

I first hinted about the business idea I had back in September. I’m happy to say I’m going forward with it and it’s one of my major projects for 2010. I’ve spent the past few months fleshing out some details and it’s looking good to announce it sometime in the first quarter of the year. Next step is getting my tax return and ’09 bonus so I can acquire a domain name, and get the LLC setup. Yes, I’m going to try and build a business properly. Since I promised a hint or two, here is one: I will be watching the Jan 26th Apple event VERY closely.

Of course that’s just one of the things I hope to make happen in 2010. More will be revealed in time!

So I think we can all agree that the 2000’s were a pretty cool decade, but how will we refer to them? I mean, it was pretty obvious with the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. I guess I’ll leave that to the experts: VH1. I can’t wait to watch “I love the 2000’s” and all the associated remixes and redoes that are inevitable. “Hey do you remember when MP3 players were huge and clunky? Do you remember the Y2K bug?” Yes, yes I do.

It should come as no shock to anyone who reads this blog that I’m a bit of a bit of a procrastinator. Ok, so maybe a lot of a procrastinator. But I’ve been trying to apply the “Getting Things Done” method, albeit slowly, to my life since March. Today I came across another information/time management system. It’s called Inbox Zero.

The Idea behind Inbox Zero is pretty simple, Keep your inbox empty. I won’t go into the whole system in depth here, the best way to understand it is to Watch this Video. Now I had always tried to keep my inboxes empty, but they ended up being more like its own separate ToDo list rather than an input to my GTD system. Also, Inbox Zero suggested something that kind of shocked me: Only have 1 or a few archive folders. Why so few? Well, Gmail and Outlook both have pretty decent search systems, so there is no need to deeply compartmentalize email. I actually only made a slight modification to what Merlin Mann presented; a folder marked “Daily Stuff” that all the daily reports and change tickets the RNOC has to monitor get placed. At the end of my shift, I clear the folder out to get ready for the next day.

After I started implementing the system, I realized that I was using email as a storage place too. I had emails from years ago I apparently kept because of pictures or files attached to them. I found online order receipts for things I purchased YEARS ago. Stuff that I really had no business keeping, at least in an email form. It felt cleansing to delete it.

I hope this way I can focus more on getting things into my GTD system, I think I was hesitant of putting things into the iPhone because I knew it was already in my inbox. I also gained a whole screen on my work station. Since a portion of my work is email based, I always felt like I needed it up. Since its empty, it felt OK to keep it in the background, since I would get a popup if an email was sent to me anyway. Time will tell if I can stick to it, but I must say, it feels good seeing nothing in my inboxes.

It finally seems to be calming down a bit from the craziness that was my July and August. So let’s run though some quick updates for me:

• Still no real movement on the house purchase front. We did bid on a house, but ended up losing to another bidder. Then had trouble getting pre-approved for another one we found. Melissa and I are going to take a fresh look at everything and see where we stand.
  
  
• Project: Epsilon has been put on a hold until I get some other stuff taken care of. Hopefully once/if we get a house I will have the room and ability to start modding again.
  
  
• I’m still working on learning Objective C and iPhone development to keep working on ImageBlag.
  
  
• I’m back to a Monday through Friday shift at the RNOC. Since ill be working Fridays again I’ll be doing more Friday Rants/Raves. These weeks will be a Double Whammy Rant & Rave on the iTunes store.

I came to the realization last month that I would love a job where I can work from anywhere. It’s not that I mind working in an office, even though I do kind of miss working out of a truck, I just want the option to work remotely. With Melissa taking time off last month to spend with her family, it would have been great to work from AL for a week or two. And to that end, I think I’m going to go forward with a business idea I’ve had for a few months now. I’m not ready to announce anything yet, I got some preplanning work to do and I want to be sure I can actually pull off what I want to do. Once I get a bit deeper into making sure this can happen, I’ll drop some hints here before it goes live. Will it actually work? Who knows, but it’s going to be fun to try and do!

Overall, the trip was good. My iPhone got used a lot between podcasts, mapping, and other just general net usage. It was great to use the Maps app to be able to gage distance to fuel and food stops. Trapster on the other hand probably won’t get used too much in the future. It’s a great app if ALL your doing with it is looking for cops, but I really wish it would have built in routing and searching. It’s annoying to keep swapping apps.

I wish I had a job where I could take an extra week off at a whim, or work remotely. Melissa had to stay down in AL an extra week due to her mom’s cancer. I could not get the extra time off so I had to drive back up north to work for 3 days then head back down to get her. I’m glad she got the chance to stay extra with her mother.

I also came away from this trip wanting some sort of netbook. What I really want is a tablet like device that fits in the gap between an iPhone and a MacBook Pro laptop. Ideally, this would run a full version of OSX, with a decent amount of power to do most basic email and web browsing tasks. It’s becoming a chore to lug around my 15” MBP on vacations when all it ends up getting used for is getting pictures off my camera and web browsing work. This is rooted back in the days of my TC1100 Tablet PC that I loved. I would love to see an Apple take on the Tablet PC, preferably based on the TC1100. WWDC is a few days away, so it might make a nice birthday present if Apple announced a Mac Netbook.

Will they actually do a Mac Netbook? If they do, expect it to be a device that stretches the definition of “netbook” in a good way. Do I predict it for WWDC? I’m not holding my breath, but man would it be nice.

Here is what I’m predicting for WWDC:

1. An iPhone 3.0. Expect improved speed, storage, and an improved camera with video capabilities. Probably also a compass for better GPS usage. Nothing mind blowing, just a feature bump. No new carriers, not until iPhone 4 and another year.

2. A big focus on iPhone OS 3.0, I would expect to hear a few secret features, and a release date.

3. A big focus on Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6). Either we are going to get the features that make it a must update, or they will release it as an upgrade to 10.5 for free. I think there is a 50/50 shot at this since unless they give us some killer must buy features, most people will stay with 10.5

4. A “One More thing…” ending to the keynote that ends with Steve Jobs in some way.

We shall see, the Keynote is June 8th.

Melissa and I are heading to AL on a visit with the family this weekend. We are leaving after I get off work tonight (5/20) and should be back in town on Sunday (5/24). First, the really cool (at least I think) thing we will be doing this trip is using Trapster to allow almost live tracking. Here are the 2 links:

OH to AL, 5/20/2009

AL to OH, 5/24/2009

I’m actually pretty proud of the kit we will be using on this trip. Gone are the days of the inverter, power trip, computer speakers and tons of cable that we have been using for the past few trips. Now primary power will come from the two 12v jacks in the dashboard. I finally fixed the one that blew a fuse 2 or 3 trips ago. I also got a iPhone/Aux input working for the Jeep, so no more computer speakers on the dash to watch DVDs with. One 12v jack will power the DVD player, the other will be used by an iPhone charger that has a spare USB port on it so you can charge 2 at once if you wanted to. I wouldn’t even need the extra charger if it weren’t for a audio issue I ran into. There is an impedance mismatch if you have an iPhone and another stereo device. Fixing it won’t be too hard, just making a circuit with some resistors, but I did not have time before the trip.

Trapster is a really cool iPhone app that is kind of like a social network for speed traps. But I’m not actually using it for that exact purpose. It’s a nice heads up, but I’m more interested in the way it can do tracking. With the links above you can watch our progress as long as the app is running and we are in an area with cell tower coverage. Chances are there will be some gaps in the trip when I change iPhone songs. Sure its got some limitations but its pretty neat overall!

So check my Twitter for trip updates, and check out the above links to watch our progress. Ill report on how it all works out when I get back!

Yeah, I know, I haven’t updated in a while. March became such a busy month that blogging got pushed aside.

Luckily though, things seem to have come out better for all the busyness. Both my desk at work and the apartment have stayed pretty clean and organized since I started to apply the GTD method to everything. Even though I haven’t finished the book, I already know I need to read though it completely one more time, just to make sure I have a firm grasp on all the concepts. Things still feel like they are slipping through the cracks, and if they aren’t, I’m still not totally trusting my calendar and to-do list. Granted, getting all my device calendars syncing to gather was a huge step towards trusting it all. Google Sync FTW!

I (finally) got a chance to start in on “Programming in Objective C 2.0” over the past week. It’s a bit more interesting that I expected since the author starts in on Objects, Methods and Classes in the 2nd Chapter, something usually saved for much later in most other programming books. The other motivations to get started into the book were the announcement of iPhone OS 3.0, and Stanford putting a 10 week iPhone development course on iTunes for free! iPhone OS 3.0 brings something I’m excited about: Accessory Communications API. Can anyone say awesome accessory hacks?

Of course, I need some space to start back into electronics. Hopefully that will be coming soon with a new house with enough space for my own office. We keep hunting this weekend!

Finally got back into the swing of Ebay Selling, here are my 6 current items:

'94 Fleer Ultra X-men Premier Edition Trading Cards NIB
Worms (Xbox 360)
Two Xango Travel Mugs, BRAND NEW!
Eleven (11) Xango Measuring Bottles NEW!
'94 Fleer Marvel Masterpieces 36count box NIB
Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-Ray Player w/ FREE HDMI Cable NIB!

Procides from the sale of these items go directly to the "Help Rick and Melissa buy iPhones" fund. Of course if anyone i know wins, send me a message and ill give you a discount or free shipping.

Most of these items end late on friday (9pm) since i forgot that ebay listings are PST. The one odd ball is the X-Men cards which end 9am, since i forgot to set the listing to pm. After this set, i think im going to redo my template to make it a bit cleaner. The artsy flare i managed to pull off in the Measuring Bottles picture was a total accident too! I really need to figure out a better way to light my products when i take photos.

BTW, blog post tomorrow about my new work schedule, and some of the changes ebay has made since i last sold stuff though them.