Computer Geeks and Communicating with the Rest of the World

Computer geeks are generally a different group of people. In the good-old days, give a computer geek his computer and specifications for the part of the project to be worked on and leave the room - the computer geek would be happy as a clam.

But that was yesteryear.

Today communication skills and being personable are as important for a computer geek to possess as are coding and debugging skills.

Requirements gathering, interacting with other members of the team, customer facing, and making presentations to the rest of the world are just a few instances of how communication skills are necessary for today's computer geek.

The computer geek can no longer be a mole or troll and be locked up all day in front of a computer in a dark room coding or studying about the latest and greatest fad.

The new kinder and gentler computer geek of today must be able to use both sides of brain equally in order to make it today's world.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. Even if it is a computer geek. :-)

The "i" World

The Babyboomers started it back in the 1980's by living the life of how to better yourself at almost any expense.

Apple brought the "i" to the electronic front by introducing the iPod and the other mini-variations of it. Then everyone had to have some kind of "i" compatible device.

Apple brings "i" to a new level tomorrow (6/29/2007) with the introduction of the iPhone. I think it does everything but fix you dinner and take out the trash. I am pretty sure that Apple is probably working on that as well.

I have a few buddies who are earlier adopters and at least one of them has been cooing about tomorrow like it were the second coming of Christmas. In his case, it pretty much is.

The supply will most likely not meet the demand. But the lucky few who do get one will have "i" bragging rights.

Good luck to my friends in your quest to be the first on your block with the new iPhone.

#1 Hodge Podge

It's always nice to be first in whatever it is you do. But it is not easy maintain that status.

One of my favorite scenes that displays this is from the movie Real Genius that goes something like this:

"You're not number one any more."

"Number one what?"

"Mighty Mouse over here beat your placement scores by more than 20 points."

"You did?" "Well, you might be smarter than me, but can you do this?" [he pirouettes on the ice as it melts]

Today is the NBA draft and the Portland Trailblazers have the #1 pick. This past season the Blazers were a challenged enough team to get into the NBA lottery for the top pick. They were lucky enough to land the #1 pick. So sometimes it is better to be lucky than really bad. :-)

Most of the time it takes a lot of hard work and good teammates to become number one. Don't become complacent when you become the best at what you do. That is not what got you there. Always surround yourself with good people. It will make it that much easier to become and remain #1.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. You never know if that person will be on your number one team or if you will be on theirs someday.

Happiness

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied.

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged, it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!

Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank, I am still depositing.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Live simply.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

Two Choices

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon thereafter I left to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. He continued, "..the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses I got really scared. In their eyes, I read he's a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. “She asked if I was allergic to anything ' Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.

In the Box

Are you limiting yourself by sticking yourself in a box?

If things don't work out exactly as you planned do you get frustrated and consider the event a total disaster because it did not work out? If so, don't box yourself in.

I heard a story about a guy who was interviewing for a new position. He really wanted the job and prepared hard for the interview. After the interview was over, he felt that he had a real good chance of getting the job. It seemed like the perfect position for him in an up-and-coming company. A couple of days later he got the letter from the company stating that they selected someone else for the position. They guy was devastated. He was angry. He knew that he was the right person for the job. He was angry about not getting the job for a couple of weeks. About 2 months later, the company fell upon hard times and had to layoff and eliminate numerous positions - including the position that he so coveted. If he had gotten the position, he would have been out of work.

Just because something does not work out the way that you want it to work out, does not mean that God is not looking out for you. God has something better for you in mind.

Don't limit yourself or God to what you want by putting your expectations in a box. What you want and what you need are not always the same thing. Have great big expectations. Don't close yourself into a box.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It might be what gets that person out of their box.

A Good Day to Call in Well

Today is a good day to call in well.

Well, you ask?

Did I mean to say sick?

No, I actually meant well.

It is a very nice day here today. The sun is shining. The temperature is comfortable. And physically and mentally, I feel well.

It is much too nice of a day to be required to be stuck in-doors. So, I would like to be able to call in well and enjoy the day.

My one silver lining of having to work inside today is that I have a window seat that overlooks our reflective pond.

I do plan on leaving work today at 4:00 PM (I get to work around 6:00 AM) so I can enjoy the 4-plus hours of sunshine remaining in the day.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. A nice walk around your campus or neighborhood could be the right thing on a day like today.