The Times They Are A-Changin'

I recently came across a story written by Andy Hertzfeld, a key member of the team that developed the first Apple Macintosh system in the early 1980's. Andy's the one in the center, standing in the back. It's a story about the day Steve Jobs introduced the first Mac to the world, at one of the company's now famous annual "MacWorld" pep rally/meetings. The year was, appropriately, 1984.



Okay, let me be the first to state the abundantly obvious and admit openly that I'm a self-proclaimed techno-geek (big surprise, right?). I love using computers, gadgets, anything with buttons -- hence, this blog.



But the speech Jobs gave that day wasn't about buttons, gadgets, bells or whistles (which, admittedly many of his subsequent pep rallies were about). It was about so much more. It captured a moment in history superbly. It was a time when two ton mainframe supercomputers dominated the technology landscape, and always would...but not everyone saw it that way. Since the late 60's, this tug and pull between Big Computing and Personal Computing was omnipresent, although prior to 1984 the former easily crushed the efforts of early pioneers of the latter. But yet, there was Apple. A radical company filled with wacky visionaries that was based on the core philosophy that regular folks would want to have control over their own information, control over their own creative design, control over their own technological destiny, and Apple was going to be there to give them that freedom.

It was truly an historic moment in the course of human evolution, the moment at which we were on the one hand given the choice between accepting the information and scant meaningless, underpowered technology tools that were handed to us by the current regime running the technology game and on the other hand reaching out and adopting the technology that put the individual before the masses.

Enter Apple, with Jobs at the helm. From this moment forward, nothing would be the same. The day was January 24th, 1984...

Written by Andy Hertzfeld, Apple Computer Macintosh team from 1979-1984

"The big day had finally arrived. We had looked forward to the date for so long that it didn't seem real to be actually experiencing the long-awaited public unveiling of the Macintosh at Apple's 1984 annual shareholder's meeting. We were excited, of course, but also nervous about our hastily contrived demo software, and still exhausted from the final push to finish the system software.

I attended one of the rehearsals held over the weekend, to help set up the demo, and it was fraught with problems. Apple rented a powerful video projector called a LightValve, that projected the Macintosh display larger and brighter than I thought possible. But the Mac had to be connected to the projector through a special board that Burrell cooked up to compensate for the Mac's unique video timings, and the LightValve seemed to be quite tempermental, taking eons to warm up and then sometimes shutting down inexplicably. Plus, Steve wasn't into rehearsing very much, and could barely force himself into doing a single, complete run-through.

Most of the software team usually didn't come to work until after 10am, but this morning we gathered in our fishbowl office in Bandley 3 at 7:30am, so we could walk over together to the big auditorium at Flint Center, which was a half mile away. We got to the cavernous room (which seated up to 2,500) early, but it was already filling up, and soon it was packed tight, with standing room only. The software team sat up close in the second row, in a section reserved for Macintosh division employees.

Finally, the lights dimmed, and Steve Jobs appeared at a podium on the left side of the stage. He was resplendent in a finely tailored black suit complete with a prominent bow tie, looking more like a Las Vegas impresario than a computer industry executive. You could tell that he was nervous as he quieted the rousing applause and began to speak.

"Welcome to Apple's 1984 Annual Shareholders meeting. I'd like to begin by reading part of an old poem by Dylan, that's Bob Dylan", Steve flashed a big smile as he started to recite the second verse of "The Times They Are A-Changin'", stretching an occasional vowel in a Dylanesque fashion:

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide,
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.


He thanked Apple's board of directors individually by name for their support in a turbulent year, and then turned the meeting over to Apple's chief counsel, Al Eisenstadt, to run the formal part of the shareholders' meeting. Al ran through some procedural stuff, and then he introduced Apple's CEO, John Sculley, who was just hired nine months ago, for a report on the business.

John reported on Apple's latest quarter, which saw disappointing Lisa sales more than balanced by a fantastic Christmas for the Apple IIe, whose sales had more than doubled from the previous year. But the crowd seemed distracted, impatiently waiting for the main event that was now imminent. John seemed to sense that, and hurried through the bulk of his presentation. Finally he concluded by thanking Mike Markkula and the executive staff for supporting him during his first few months at Apple, thanking one individual in particular.

"The most important thing that has happened to me in the last nine months at Apple has been a chance to develop a friendship with Steve Jobs. Steve is a co-founder of Apple, and a product visionary for this industry, and its my pleasure now to reintroduce Steve Jobs."

Steve reappeared on the left side of the stage as the lights dimmed again. "It is 1958", he began, speaking slowly and dramatically. "IBM passes up a chance to buy a young fledgling company that has invented a new technology called xerography. Two years later, Xerox was born, and IBM has been kicking themselves ever since". The crowd laughs, as Steve pauses.

Steve had cooked up this spiel for the sales meeting in Hawaii last fall, to introduce the 1984 commercial. I had seen him do it a few times by now, but never with as much passion, intensity and emotion, dripping from his voice.

"It is ten years later, the late sixties", he continued, speaking faster now. "Digital Equipment Corporation and others invent the mini-computer. IBM dismisses the mini-computer as too small to do serious computing, and therefore unimportant to their business. DEC grows to be a multi-hundred million dollar company before IBM enters the mini-computer market." Steve pauses again.

"It is now ten years later, the late seventies. In 1977, Apple Computer, a young fledgling company, on the West Coast, introduces the Apple II, the first personal computer as we know it today. IBM dismisses the personal computer as too small to do serious computing, and therefore unimportant to their business," Steve intoned sarcastically, as the crowd applauds.

"The early 1980s. 1981 - Apple II has become the world's most popular computer, and Apple has grown to a 300 million dollar corporation, becoming the fastest growing company in American business history. With over fifty companies vying for a share, IBM enters the personal computer market in November of 1981, with the IBM PC." Steve is speaking very quickly now, picking up momentum.

"1983. Apple and IBM emerge as the industry's strongest competitors, with each selling approximately one billion dollars worth of personal computers in 1983. The shakeout is in full swing. The first major personal computer firm goes bankrupt, with others teetering on the brink. Total industry losses for 1983 overshadow even the combined profits of Apple and IBM."

He slows down, speaking emphatically. "It is now 1984. It appears that IBM wants it all. Apple is perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers, after initially welcoming IBM with open arms, now fear an IBM dominated and controlled future and are turning back to Apple as the only force who can ensure their future freedom."

Steve pauses even longer, as the crowd's cheering swells. He has them on the edge of their seats. "IBM wants it all, and is aiming its guns at its last obstacle to industry control, Apple. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? The entire information age? Was George Orwell right?"



The crowd is in a frenzy now, as the already famous 1984 commercial, which was shown for the first and only time during the Superbowl two days ago, fills the screen, featuring a beautiful young woman athlete storming into a meeting of futuristic skinheads, throwing a sledge-hammer at Big Brother, imploding the screen in a burst of apocalyptic light. By the time the commercial is finished, everyone in the auditorium is standing and cheering.

All this time, a lone Macintosh has been sitting in its canvas carrying case near the center of the stage. Steve walks over to the bag and opens it up, unveiling the Mac to the world for the very first time. He pulls it out and plugs it in, inserting a floppy, and the demo begins to run, flawlessly. The Macintosh becomes the first computer to introduce itself, speaking in a tremulous voice:


Hello, I am Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that bag!

Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I'd like to share with you a maxim I thought of the first time I met an IBM mainframe: Never trust a computer that you can't lift!

Obviously, I can talk, but right now I'd like to sit back and listen. So it is with considerable pride that I introduce a man who has been like a father to me... Steve Jobs!


Pandemonium reigns as the demo completes. Steve has the biggest smile I've ever seen on his face, obviously holding back tears as he is overwhelmed by the moment."

==================================

When talking about the impact personal computers have had on the world since the early 1980's, you often hear people say "Who knew?". The visionaries at Apple knew, that's who.

Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men

Merry Christmas! Whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, Mormon...well, you get the point...all dogmatic and political (!) aspirations of "My God it better than YOUR God!" set aside, I believe this is at its core the season of peace, light, and love.

As we pray, meditate, or otherwise choose our own personal path to reach spiritual enlightenment and be closer to God, let's remember how busy He is. Are our concerns and prayers helping others? Or only ourselves? C'mon, admit it -- a lot of us have done it: we've prayed passionately for that light to stay green just a few seconds longer, that big promotion at work to go through, that cop to not notice the flashing red 86MPH on his radar gun as we zoom past his cruiser parked in the bushes on the side of the road or that hangover to pass quietly so we can go on to live another day. But considering everything that's going on in our world today, I for one am going to hope and pray that peace and love prevail, and that it start with me. This is hardly a fresh new approach I conjured up on my own. Throughout human history, certainly the past hundred or so years, prayers for peace haven't really worked that well, but nevertheless, being the idealist and pacifist I am I'm still going to give it my best shot.

A lot of people ask each other and those they contend are living a sinful life "What would Jesus do?". It's my belief that if Jesus were here today he'd spend a lot less time (read: NONE) rallying his followers to fight and bicker about the syntax of how everyone should greet each other on the street or as they enter their local Wal*Mart in His name and a lot more time talking about WHY He was here in the first place. Hint: it wasn't to blow holes through each other because they're trying to blow holes through us while cheering on 24 hour cable news stations in God's name to win one for "...His side", asking God to bless us, but certainly not them. Does anyone actually believe Jesus would be standing there firing a machine gun at people he wants to kill because he was right and they were wrong and he's going to prove it once and for all? I'm no biblical scholar, but I haven't for the life of me been able to find such blatant violence in the Good Book (well, New Testament that is), regardless of how much I want to read between the lines and twist the truth to prove a point. Instead, it seems pretty clear to me -- his non-violent life and voluntary death here were written down for all of us to learn from, the story of which told generation after generation as an example for us of how we should love and serve each other, not a reason to stamp our collective feet and shout angrily in patriotic, religious, political or social infighting with fists in the air faining outrage that someone didn't verbally greet me or wish me health and happiness according to the specific appropriate religious protocol of my own personal beliefs. In fact, I highly doubt Jesus cared a whole lot about religion, anyhow...but that's a whole other blog entry for another day.

Not a prayer in the traditional dogmatic sense of the word, but in my mind and heart Lennon's famous song has never rung truer or was needed more profoundly than now, 26 years to the day after his violent murder.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Great commercials, great company

I really enjoy European TV ads for Honda, these two in particular.

First -- "The Cog". This two minute advertisement aired in many countries around the world a few years ago during the World Cup and became an almost instant internet hit. What's so amazing about it in a world dominated by CGI special effects and high-tech video editing equipment that puts NASA to shame? After 606 takes, what you see is real. No special effects. Every piece of equipment you see is part of a 2003 Accord. From the engine, to the glass in the windows, the tires, battery, interior grab handles...every piece is real. Click here for a link that takes you to three videos showing the making of the ad.

The Cog.
Don't be surprised if you find yourself watching it again and again.

The story behind how this was filmed is absolutely astounding. Do yourself a favor and read this article that was posted in the Telegraph (UK) after the ad campaign was launched, you'll gain a real appreciation for the crew who are responsible for this work of art.

===========================

Next, this ad may not be as visually amazing as "Cog" but certainly very creative.



Ads can give real insight into how a company "ticks". After owning various kinds of Honda's over the years, I can bear witness to their fine attention to detail, superb engineering, and adherance to their core mission to provide well oiled, smooth running, well built machines that have an edge over their competition.

voigtfamilynews.com is now available worldwide!

Yes, worldwide! I don't think a lot of people in Indonesia or Antarctica will appreciate that, but hopefully you will.

This site is a work in progress, I'll eventually add current events, lots more pictures and some short home movies in the very near future, so bookmark the link for future reference.

If you'd like me to add anything to the site, feel free to send me an email.

Hope you enjoy!

Tag! You're banned.

Today's thoughts aren't on technology in particular. But, considering this is my soap box, I can choose to vary my course if and when I see fit. After reading the below story, I couldn't help but post a thought or two about it.

School bans tag, other chase games

ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (AP) -- Tag, you're out!

Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they'll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is "a time when accidents can happen," said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

While there is no district wide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.

Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, South Carolina, school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.

"I think that it's unfortunate that kids' lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they'll never develop on their own," said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. "Playing tag is just part of being a kid."

Another Willett parent, Celeste D'Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. "I've witnessed enough near collisions," she said.

I'm dumbfounded. No, scratch that: I think my head is going to explode.

We've all heard news stories, water cooler gossip and urban myths based in truth about preposterous and infuriating lawsuits filed in our already overbooked court docket. Unscrupulous, bottom dwelling lawyers (also known as "sharks") who defile the nobility of their trade by attacking fast food corporations for serving hot coffee without warning patrons strongly enough, food that's unhealthy and fattening to unsuspecting, innocent patrons, and drive through meals that contained no warning to not eat while driving (see below). Let's take a look at some actual suits that have been filed (but thankfully NOT awarded to the plaintiff) against a variety of entities in recent memory:

* In March 1995, a San Diego man unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city and Jack Murphy Stadium for $5.4 million over something than can only be described as a wee problem: Robert Glaser claimed the stadium's unisex bathroom policy at a Billy Joel and Elton John concert caused him embarrassment and emotional distress thanks to the sight of a woman using a urinal in front of him. He subsequently tried "six or seven" other bathrooms in the stadium only to find women in all of them. He asserted he "had to hold it in for four hours" because he was too embarrassed to share the public bathrooms with women.

* A San Carlos, California, man sued the Escondido Public Library for $1.5 million. His dog, a 50-pound Labrador mix, was attacked November 2000 by the library's 12-pound feline mascot, L.C., (also known as Library Cat). The case was heard in January 2004, with the jury finding for the defendant. In a further case which was resolved in July 2004, the plaintiff in the previous suit was ordered to pay the city $29,362.50, which amounted to 75% of its legal fees associated with that case.

* In 1994, a student at the University of Idaho unsuccessfully sued that institution over his fall from a third-floor dorm window. He'd been mooning other students when the window gave way. It was contended the University failed to provide a safe environment for students or to properly warn them of the dangers inherent to upper-story windows.


* In 1993, McDonald's was unsuccessfully sued over a car accident in New Jersey. While driving, a man who had placed a milkshake between his legs, leaned over to reach into his bag of food and squeezed the milkshake container in the process. When the lid popped off and spilled half the drink in his lap, this driver became distracted and ran into another man's car. That man in turn tried to sue McDonald's for causing the accident, saying the restaurant should have cautioned the man who had hit him against eating while driving.

This is not even the tip of the iceberg. The list goes on and on.



I guess what upsets me the most about this sort of litigation or fear of litigation is the greedy, narcissistic "professionals" that are pouring gasoline on the fire: lawyers. I'm taking this to heart for a lot of reasons -- the greatest being my utmost respect and admiration of real lawyers like my brother, Jim. He's a man who chose law as his profession to reach out and help others who need it. Law is an infinitely complex and at times even elegant reality that demands professionals who can navigate its intricacies and pitfalls for clients that would otherwise inadvertently expose themselves to great danger (legally speaking) without the wisdom, experience and guidance of a true expert. This is precisely why lawyers go to law school, spending a fortune on tuition and books, studying case law until their eyes threaten to pop out of their heads, and that's all just a warm up for the hell to come that is STUDYING FOR THE BAR EXAM.

Through my frustration, anger and dumbfoundedness I also feel profound sadness. It's because of the lawsuit happy bottom dwellers who twist the arms of and bully others purely for undeserving financial gain for both their clients and themselves that the honest, good hearted and brilliant lawyers have the work that's cut out for them doubled.

But because of the honesty, integrity and professionalism of true lawyers (like my brother!) I have hope that people who legitimately need guidance and representation through the challenging terrain of law will have the option to select a lawyer who will preserve and protect the Constitution and the rights of America's citizens.

One Year

October 2005 was the month I started this blog. I knew back then that the real purpose for posting my big ideas, deep thoughts and general minutia of technology was less about making a splash out there (in here?) on the internet and more about recording for posterity what was going on between my ears. I tried keeping a private journal on my home computer, but after one or two entries I never could get around to adding to it. So, why am I more able to post 'publicly'? I say publicly in quotes because if you're reading this, you're one of maybe two or three people who occasionally do so from time to time. That's hardly 'public' in realistic, viable terms, but theoretically anyone in the world could stumble across my little remote lemonade stand of thoughts and discussion of technology and walk away with a few satisfying sips of sugary, sour goodness. The best part is, I don't even charge a quarter. The idea that someone might take something away (even if it's a confounded shake of the head) is inspirational to me in some way I suppose.

So like any anniversary, birthday, national holiday or day of remembrance I'm pausing to reflect on what has happened since my first blog entry a year or so ago.


In January, Paula and I were ecstatic at the news she was pregnant. After waiting three months, poker faces and all, we finally rejoiced with our families. On May 10th, my Mom's 60th birthday, we were all devastated when we lost Liam prematurely at 19 weeks. Because of the support and loving embrace of our families and of each other, we are able through tears and heartbreak to grieve and heal.


It was also in January that I lost my job with World Kitchen.
Later that month I stood at the end of the proverbial diving board, took a deep breath and decided to change the direction of my career, leave the world of corporate politics, ladder climbing and endless pining for that next tick higher in the salary game and become a full time, hourly billing SAP/IT consultant. I'm currently working with a small dedicated internal team at Hospira, a hospital pharmaceutical company, to streamline and scrub clean their $100 million SAP system installed a couple of years ago. My phone rings two to three times a week with offers from a wide variety of Fortune 500 companies who need a temporary contractor to trail blaze solutions and/or clean up messes in their monster back end SAP systems and related business processes, and they're all willing to pay a premium for that service. Becoming a contractor is a decision that has very positively changed our lives. It was because of that decision that we were able to close on our first house May 26th, a place we almost immediately considered home, and a place that's already filled with the love and laughter of each other and of family.

The past year has also been instrumental in the development of our creative lives. Paula (aka watersoul) enrolled in piano classes to learn the basics of reading and writing music, and more and more I have been putting down the TV remote control and picking up the mouse to learn website creation and rudimentary music composition on the new Mac.

Paula has also recently taken the legal and administrative steps required to start her own business, to be her own boss, something she's talked about for years. As President, Chairman (Chairperson?) and CEO she will manage and run the entire operation from our guest room. Already incorporated, (thank you Jim V!) she's almost ready to start accepting appointments for waxing and facials. The name she chose is very fitting I think -- "Poetic Waxing, Ltd." I thoroughly enjoy watching her casually mention the new company to her girlfriends. Their eyes collectively light up as they eagerly ask how soon they can come in. They ask for business cards and talk about how their friends and relatives are looking for something exactly like this. She smiles in her usual friendly, confident way and invites them in as well. I watch Paula admiringly and wonder how she knew they'd all love the idea of brow waxing and facials so much? They can obviously go to a corporate spa down at the local strip mall and have the same thing done in a dedicated room with soft dim lighting, plenty of free green tea, an artificial waterfall in the lobby and a full staff dressed in sleek white smocks to attend to every need, but I guess for some there's a sort of magnetism to sitting down and chatting with someone you know while having hot wax spread on and unwanted hair torn from the skin. To tell the truth, I wouldn't have believed it would work if I hadn't seen it, but Paula always seems to have a knack for seeing through the hype and personal convictions and knows exactly what will work and what won't. Whether it's choosing the right shade and hue from thousands of paint color choices for every room in the house all at once, solid advice for life altering career decisions, the perfect housewarming gift for a friend, how to play with kids or starting her own business -- she knows her stuff. Even if she decides to keep things simple and stress free by booking only a couple of appointments per week at Poetic Waxing, I know that Paula will instinctively know what will work best. That's one of the things I've always loved about her.

This year has also brought some very big news for my brother. He finished law school and has also just recently passed the bar! He's now known as "James D. Voigt, Esq." (congrats again, bro!!). I am so proud and so happy. There are a lot of lawyers out there, but what I admire most about my younger, wiser brother is his dedication to doing what's right. The family law office has recently made a significant shift in focus to pursue the idea of bringing families together through adoption, immigration, and estate planning. But there's something else even better. Jim and the rest of the office have just added another element to their services -- placement of special needs children in schools. It's a big departure from servicing the business needs of banks to bringing families together and helping special needs kids, and I am humbled and immensely proud of everyone at Flynn & Tirona.



This year also brought a great reunion with my cousin Kyle. What's great about getting back together with family close to your own age (yes cuz, 25 is not THAT FAR from 36!) is the resulting friendship that is forged. As kids we used to play, ride Grandpa's go cart during my family's North Carolina visits, go to Sunday brunch and hang out, but as adults we get to set the agenda. Paula and I flew down in late June to spend time with everyone, and Kyle and I were thick as thieves. True to his laid back and generous character, he planned a four-wheeling trip on a trail through a nearby state park in his awesome highly customized Jeep Rubicon. How is it customized? Think "Pimp My Ride", but for off-roading insanity. I had the time of my life! I created a sort of music video of the experience:



I'm so glad we've gotten back in touch. He is going through a lot of great things this year, including going back to school to earn his bachelor's and so much more, but I'll let him tell you all about it.

Paula's brother Dan has a career that over the past year has taken off with such force and acceleration that it's sometimes hard for him to keep up. A freelance video and film production specialist who also dabbles in corporate web design has developed quite a reputation for himself. He has recently been tapped for jobs ranging from production assistant on the movie "Derailed", where among other things got to hold the umbrella for Jennifer Anniston between scenes, to production assistant on "Late Nite With Conan O'Brien" during their week long shoot in Chicago last Summer to streaming video consultant to the Chicago Sun Times. Dan's even listed at the popular "Internet Movie Database" site with the likes of Robert DeNiro and Steven Speilberg! His resume reads like that of a veteran production specialist of 26 years, not a 26 year old with a career that has just begun. Great things are in store for this man, you can tell it the instant he walks into a room. They say what comes around, goes around -- and Dan is proof that in his 26 years on this Earth his genuine warmth and ever-present hand extended to help others is reflected back on him brightly.



Another tradition of yearly reflection is the gaze to the horizon, to gaze ahead. No one knows what will become of the next twelve months, but I wish everyone reading this all the best of health and happiness!

Well, it's about time!

I've always been a very visual, right brain thinker. I feel more comfortable contemplating ideas and working in spaces that are more open, organic and designed simply. At work, when I create reports, emails and presentations they are simple, bullet pointed, and clean -- no fluff or extraneous garbage. Even when I wire up my home theater system I'm a fanatic about keeping the spaghetti bowl of connecting wires bundled neatly, coiled properly out of sight, hardware components stacked and lined up precisely. When I was a kid, I loved coloring within the lines, but not because I didn't want to 'break the rules'. Rather, I liked things that were smooth, uniform, uncluttered, clean. I'm the same way as an adult. Keep it clean, keep it simple, keep it open. That's my motto.

It's taken me a long time to jump the fence when it came to my choice in personal computers, but finally it's happened. I've joined the cult of mac! Hallelujah!

[Disclaimer: that's not me up there, no need to worry, family. Hmm...I do have a haircut coming up though, and I'd love the chance to out do my cousin Kyle and his new haircut....]

I've long since been a Microsoft Windows user, but have always gazed longingly through the window (pun intended) at the ingeniously designed, clean and simple interface and programming code packed in some of the best built machines on the planet. After holding my breath for what seemed like a lifetime, I finally ordered my dream machine, a 20" iMac. Even before booted it up for the first time, I encountered a big part of the Apple experience. I smiled widely at the clean, artfully and carefully designed (yes, designed!) packaging for the machine. I admired how much work and attention to detail was poured into the outer packaging of my new computer. It was immediately evident to me that this is a company that cares about more than just ones and zeroes.

After opening the smooth, delicate clamshell lid, removing the styrofoam insert for the keyboard, the clean white box containing the wireless mouse, software disks and two Apple logo stickers (a 20 year tradition) I unsheathed the pure white face of the machine from it's soft protective white envelope.






That's it, the whole computer. No tower to set up, no external screen to connect. They've taken the concept of an all-in-one solution of a laptop and combined it with the usability of a traditional desktop machine. Even when you remove the cover and see how beautifully the insides are put together, you get a sense that the engineers and designers at Apple care very deeply about the products they build; they take pride in their work. It's well known that the creators of the very first Macintosh back in 1984 all put their names on the inside cover, even though nobody was ever to see them. They considered themselves to be artists, and as such they felt compelled to take pride and ownership in every chip, connection, circuit and fan blade. This spirit lives even today. Every wire, every transistor, every square millimeter of the iMac was logically and cleanly laid out. Click the below image to see the quality up close.



Compare that to what you see when you open up a typical PC:


The size, design and physical aesthetics of the iMac are only one element of its endearing quality, though. The OS X (pronounced "Oh Ess Ten") Tiger operating system follows the same philosophy...nay, mission that the rest of the design has, from the marketing to the packaging to the hardware design: intuitive, fast, clean, and simple. Prompts and on-screen instructions are written in plain English. No wonder Apple is the choice for artists, musicians, and visual thinkers from all walks of life! Windows XP is a great system, but at its heart it's still clunky, complicated (at least as far as the the back end programming code goes), and bloated. And to think, Microsoft has openly copied Apple's OS interface since the first point and click mice were sold in the early 1980's, but still they get it wrong! But let's be honest, most people don't dig down into the programming code of their computers to see how they tick, they just want to point and click, and it's here that you can really see and feel divinity in the details of Apple products.

Little messages guiding us what to do and asking us what we want to do are part of any operating system interface experience, especially with Windows and Apple products. Both can be described as intuitive to an extent, but Apple takes the time to write these messages in simple, plain English like a really helpful, patient friend sitting next to you helping you through a task and asking questions in a conversational tone. These little messages and questions are not the kind of short, choppy often angry little jabs you encounter using Windows. When you use an Apple computer, you get the feeling a lot of thought went into what the messages say. For instance, when I first booted up with my wireless bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I fully anticipated settling in for a lengthy operating system install process with lots of scrolling code and other utilitarian, technical looking stuff, .dll files and the like, all rapidly ticking by robotically as the machine readied itself for duty, much like how a Windows machine would greet its new master. I've installed plenty of Windows operating systems, and although they've gotten better at humanizing the initial boot up process all computers must exectute, they're still light years away from being an enjoyable experience. Not so for the Apple. Instead, after a few seconds of a brief, soothing soft grey screen absolutely barren except for the famous Apple logo a cool animated, sweeping "Welcome!" title sequence began, complete with cool sounding music which greeted me in fourteen languages.



As warm and fuzzy as this message is, it plays only once during the machine's initial boot sequence to introduce itself to me. All that work, to be played only once. That's the point. I'm sure that the sequence code, images and music all took up a lot of room and power to run, which would infuriate a linear, left brained scientific type right down to his pocket protector who might want only the the barest minimum, raw utility from his machine, and in some ways he'd be right in his dismissal. Did it make my day more productive? Did the greeting allow me to crunch an extra few megabytes of data in the same amount of time? No. Nevertheless, for me it was great; a nice touch that made me smile, and that's worth a lot in my book. When I walk into a Starbuck's I enjoy being greeted by a friendly, smiling face and wished a good day when I leave; not a stern, slightly annoyed person who robotically announces the cost of my beverage then deposits it firmly with an expressionless ":NEXT:" when our transaction has concluded. I'm a sucker for warm and fuzzy, I guess, and the Apple definitely delivers in that department.

Next, three or four simple screens walked me through the setup of my new mac. They were written in a laid back, relaxed syntax -- no harsh warnings or stern, complicated commands like I saw installing Windows. (Again, with the warm and fuzzy!) I loved it. Once I glided through the setup process (all of a couple of minutes) I was automatically connected to the WiFi signal broadcast throughout my house, connected to my shared network external hard drive (where we backup all our data) and was on the web in no time.



There are still some tweaks and adjustments I want to make to tailor my new toy to my liking, and also some new schemas and ways of thinking I need to develop to overcome the deep grooves carved into my brain by Windows over the past decade or so, but so far I can't believe how much better the experience has been. Like Apple fans and devoted programmers everywhere say, it just works. It's so easy that I've begun experimenting with web page design for a family website that will soon have pictures, movies, and who knows what else? You can check it out at voigtfamilynews.com. It's a work in progress, so make sure to bookmark for future reference!




Well, it's time to get back to work. I'm trying hard not to daydream too much, but obviously -- I can't wait to get home tonight to jump back into my warm and fuzzy down comforter of a computer!

University of Illinois....Online?

In today's Chicago Tribune, I read an article on how the University of Illinois, the collegic academic home to both my wife Paula and my brother in law Dan was looking to expand their campus beyond the hallowed halls traversed by some of this century's greatest leaders and thinkers into the profitable arena of remote e-learning. I have mixed feelings about that.

On one hand, if ever there was a brick and mortar institution of higher learning that can jump the technological fence into the online arena, it's U of I. On or about 1992, about the time I was perfecting my beer slamming skills at Western Illinois University a couple of hours away, two students -- Marc Andressen and Eric Bina created the first web browser there. They named it Mosaic, and released it to the public in 1993. Before Mosaic, people didn't have a good way to get to the internet; Marc and Eric provided the vehicle to point and click your way anywhere you wanted to be online. Mosaic eventually led to the development of Microsoft's Internet Explorer; I'm sure you've all heard of that. You're probably using it right now. Of all the accomplishments that have risen from the minds of students attending school on the beloved Champaign campus, this one may be in the top five that have truly changed the world.

Incidentally, Marc and Eric didn't really amount to much after that. They went on to form a little known company called Netscape, which after years of standalone competition with Microsoft is now the browser used when you surf the net with America Online. Netscape also spun off Mozilla, which is used by many of you NOT using Internet Explorer right now. Andreesen has since launched a couple of other web related and thoroughly brilliant ideas. Slacker. I bet he can't even slam a beer half as fast as I can.

I wonder, what would Marc and Eric...or any of the other notable Illini Alumni think of their alma mater stepping into the online learning industry? How does it differ from classroom learning? What would this mean for incoming students who will never have the chance to walk the Quad in mid October as the leaves are turning, or attend a live stage performance at Krannert? Was it possible to learn remotely? Or does a real live geographical campus of learning offer some intangible, indefinable texture of sights, sounds, and a plethora of interpersonal relationships that when woven together better defines the human condition?

I might be able to offer some first hand insight to the discussion. About the time I was perfecting my beer slamming skills at Western, I somehow got the misguided notion that I didn't need to finish college to have a great paying career someday, I would just get by on my experience rather than my book smarts (or lack thereof) I never went back to complete my senior year. Not the brightest move I've ever made. Fast forward twelve years, and the career roadblocks I had been barely able to dodge up to that point without a degree eventually became insurmountable -- my debauchery and shortsightedness had finally caught up to me, and I finally embraced (after twelve years of fierce resistance!) the grim reality of the corner I had painted myself into -- I needed to go back to college. Since my career was already full swing on the East Coast with Heineken at the time, I couldn't afford to step away and go to school full time while climbing the corporate ladder. This left me with precious few options: I could go to night school, but then that would mean spending hours a week sitting in a classroom with other students trying to absorb lectures. Or better yet, I thought, I could enroll at one of those online universities and get the same degree, and attend class from my home, on my terms and according to my schedule.

Online learning was all the rage back in 2003/2004 -- and leading the charge was the University of Phoenix Online. Sounds like a great place, huh? My pride swelled as I attended my first class from my home computer connected to my fellow students through broadband fiber optics -- "I'm a student at the University of Phoenix!". At first, the classes seemed challenging and communication between my classmates was robust and filled with brain nurturing dialog. I was hooked! I felt like I was part of a wave that would change the world. Imagine the possibilities, I thought as my mind drifted during one "class" on a random Tuesday night. "People all over the world can sit in the same virtual classroom, read the same virtual lecture the same professor copied and pasted onto our screens remotely. We can all chat together in the chat room about the same topics, and best yet -- we can archive those fruitful conversations for later reference!". Ah, academic life was grand.

That is, before I started noticing that the lectures the instructor posted, often times dozens of pages long a night, were all perfectly formatted -- not one grammatical, spelling, or punctuation error. Not one fat fingered snap of the wrong key as he surely toiled away day after day preparing lectures. Either I had the most precise and articulate writer as an instructor, or these 'lectures' were written some time ago, for a class long since graduated, and copied/pasted into browser windows night after night by an instructor that hasn't written anything new in God knew how long. I pushed the negative thoughts back as far as I could and focused hard on how wonderful it was to be learning...online!

But the thoughts began to creep back again and again....how different was this from just sending us an electronic Microsoft Word document text book at the beginning of the semester, telling us to read it on our own, and giving us a preformatted pre-typed test at the end of the class, while the 'instructor' kicked back and collected paychecks while watching his favorite TV programs listenging to a nearby laptop for the occasional blip or chirp that indicated a student had just posted a question to him? I began carefully scrutinizing the syntax he used in his pasted lectures, vs. the syntax used when we as a class would post questions live in the chat room to one another, with the prof occasionally chiming in with guidance or words of wisdom. To my astonishment, they were the same. When I asked a fellow classmate a question about the recent lesson, a response would pop up from him or her on my screen within a couple of minutes, often times with the occasional grammatical error or accidentally, unintentionally bumped key. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in chat rooms, discussion forums, or online learning classrooms learns quickly to look past this sort of noise to get to the meat of the poster's words. But our instructor never made mistakes when he replied to us. Again, I thought, he is either a phenomenally hyper-accurate typist, or he's pasting preformatted answers. One night, I tested my theory. I asked a specific question about the lecture, not unlike every other night, and when he responded in full I timed him. My one sentence question took about ten seconds to write. His six sentence response took less time, with fewer errors. Zero, to be exact. I may not be the fastest typist alive, but I'm definitely not the slowest. Also, I noticed all of his answers were irritatingly ambiguous; they never answered a specific question, they simply turned the question back around to the OP (original poster). He was answering questions with questions. The same few questions repeated. Was it possible he had a bunch of preformatted answers (reply-questions) developed over many classes that he would simply regurgitate again and again? I dug deeper into his answer and came up with a question I knew he couldn't have a preformatted reply-question ready for. His response, one sentence, took about twenty seconds to pop up, and had one or two minor grammatical errors as I recall. He also forgot to capitalize the first word. After a couple of weeks in his class, there were more errors in this sentence than all his lectures and previous answers combined. My heart sank.

How was online learning any better than picking up a $100 textbook on my own and teaching myself? The bright light of my enthusiasm and passion for technology dimmed ever so slightly. I knew....knew people could learn effectively online, but only if they could truly interact with one another, and the leader/instructor/professor/guru/you name it. But two way, live, organic communication was the key, not regurgitation of data and information.

I had no choice but to drop out of UoP Online and immediately enrolled in a traditional classroom environment at Concordia College near our home in New York. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." I thought with a sigh. Surprisingly, the whole experience really opened my eyes to the value of face to face learning. The structure of the advanced degree program was tailored for career individuals like me -- a full liberal arts degree for students who already have a strong foundation of previous credits from other schools. I earned my Bachelor's degree in one intense year of night school. It may not have been the idyllic environment young late teen college students are immersed in 24/7 for four years, but it was by far the next best thing. Not only was I engaged in the classroom with instructors who taught me a wide, varied curriculum, I made wonderful friends with the six others who were in the same class as I was.



As fruitful as my previous online conversations were, nothing compared to chatting it up before class begun with Angel, Rich, Diane, Jillian, Ed, and Claudia. The seven of us attended all the classes together as a group for one whole year. We emailed notes to anyone who may have missed a class due to illness, we hung out at each other's houses, we studied together, and in times of crisis and personal loss we were there for each other with hugs or even just a kind word.

I would never trade my experiences at Concordia for online learning. That's not to say that one cannot learn online if the curriculum was properly designed and the instructors adequate, it just means that I think there's something to be said for walking the hallowed halls, greeting friends and fellow learners with a smile, late night study sessions over pizza with a few classmates, and most importantly of all -- memories and friendships that last a lifetime, borne from the fruits of the most human experience of all -- the desire and accomplishment of higher learning.

Our new recording studio (so far)

It's been a while since my last post. It's hard, time consuming work to continue thinking up new topics to write about while maintaining a balance between family, a new house, and a career. Instead I think I'll write more of a "what did I do today" type of post and tell you about a new...garden we planted yesterday.

Now, this isn't the sort of garden that produces vegetables, flowers or weeds -- it's more like a garden to foster creativity. My wife watersoul (Paula) and I have discussed for some time a need we feel to express ourselves creatively. To this end, she has recently enrolled in a piano class at the local community college near our home (College of DuPage for you locals). The goal here was not to walk out of there and have a thorough knowledge of all things musical, but rather to master the basics of reading and writing music, developing fine motor control on the keys, etc. Paula's always had great ideas for songs she has created in her head, but until yesterday we lacked the technology to develop them.

As home studios go these days, you can build a solution that -- as far as the hardware and software goes -- is near to the high end equipment professional musicians have access to when they rent out by the hour, like what you see here.

That being said, we're careful to avoid having any delusions of grandeur. As we planned and dreamed, we knew we wanted something very basic, something we could add a piece here and there whenever the time was right, but the first seed in our new garden had yet to be planted. Above all else we had to start with an instrument, something musically flexible and relatively universal enough that it could be used to produce entire pieces of music when eventually paired to computer software and hardware designed to make modern music. We chose the Yamaha P70 as our cornerstone:

It's an excellent instrument, with a full set of 88 weighted keys that sound and feel remarkably like the real thing. Gently play the keys and the internal processor analyzes the downward pressure created by the player's finger, considers hundreds of actual recorded sample recordings per key, and plays the appropriate recorded sound based on the impact of the key -- all in real time. What you hear is a gentle note just as you would on an acoustic piano. Strike the keys hard like the percussion instrument it is, and the P70 rewards you with strong powerful notes. It even reproduces the almost indetectible resonance of adjacent strings that vibrate on an acoustic piano when a note is struck hard!



You quickly forget you're basically playing a computer that feels and sounds exactly like a baby grand when you close your eyes. Yamaha sets standards (in our price range) for realism, and is the choice of many pro musicians. It also has a small selection of instrument sounds to choose from (harpsichord, strings, church organ, etc.), but the reason we chose it was because of the Grand Piano setting. I can't say enough -- the sonic reproduction is amazing and lifelike, even when played through the modest, built in speakers. In the future, we'll eventually plug it into a high end Mac with software that will allow us to record multiple tracks of any instrument you can think of.

As good as the built in Yamaha speakers were, we knew we needed something better, especially later on when we have a more complete studio setup. It was very important for us to have something that sounded true to life. Also, the monitors had to have some muscle, something we could really push hard that would not distort in any way. There's nothing more disappointing to us than wanting to hear the intricacies or impact of a particular instrument or piece of music than to have it fall flat sonically, inhibited by underpowered drivers.

We settled on Event SP8 studio monitors. I can't say enough about them. They're lifelike, with a gorgeous flat response and plenty of punch -- especially for a home studio in a small room. Highly praised in the industry, SP8's are considered by many to be the Holy Grail of studio monitors.



So for now, that's all we have. I think it's a good start, and definitely not the end of the road for us. Next steps will be to add an Apple iMac which can record and manage multiple tracks (drums, vocal, instruments, etc.) similar in theory to how the pros do it. We're going to add a decent studio microphone soon (Paula has an exceptional singing voice!). I'm also thinking about eventually adding one of my lifelong passions – the legendary Fender Stratocaster electric guitar. And, over the years there'll likely be processors, preamps, and equalizers stirred in as needed.

We are not envisioning living the life of professional musicians here by any means. Rather, we (especially Paula) simply want a way to nurture, develop and grow our creativity, then preserve it. A small home studio will give us the tools to do that. Painters need brushes, a canvas, and paint to nurture their creativity; sculptors need clay and a wheel; photographers need cameras, lights and darkroom equipment. We feel this pursuit is no different. We're really looking forward to making music together, and when we do we'll post the songs here, so stay tuned!

CAN

This isn't exactly a 'new post', since I didn't write it, but I just had to share this story I came across today. As I sit here after reading it, I have a big smile on my face and tears welling in my eyes.

Strongest Dad in the World

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

"I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay
for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.

But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.

Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

''He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an institution.''

But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain.''

"Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!''

And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want to do that.''

Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. "I was sore for two weeks.''

That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''

And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.

"No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.

Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?''

How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.

Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says.

Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.

This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best time'? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.

``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''

And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack arteries was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.''

So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.

Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy. `The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''


Wow. Just, wow.

Liam

I can't explain why I need to share this now, rather than later...or even at all. I can't explain why today is the day. I don't know how I'll feel about this tomorrow, or next month, or next year.

What I do know is that need to write about it. I need to say what I feel; to put it out there. Even if no one reads this, it's out there. In movies, fables, and pop songs castaways toss messages in bottles into the ocean surrounding them. This is mine.


In January, we learned with tears of incredible joy that Paula was pregnant. On May 10th, 2006, only five short months later, our son was born, and died.

In the five months leading up to that day, we were ecstatic, worried, amazed -- but most of all, hopeful. Nothing is more important to us than having children. Nothing. At every ultrasound, we held our breath with hearts pounding and adrenaline coursing through our bodies -- was everything okay? When we saw him move, and saw his tiny heart beating, the anxiety and worry gave way to indescribably relief and joy.

I remember speaking in my mind directly to our baby to "...hold on, just hold on in there where you're safe. Grow strong! We'll see you in September. Until then, sleep and be at peace."

Paula and I were already planning on colors for the baby's room, what kind of cute hats he or she would wear, what kind of car seat and stroller we would get. We also planned on how television would be a rare thing in our child's life, but music, books, drawing, and play that sparked imagination would be abundant. We planned ahead financially so we could afford to give him a Montessori education when young, and a good college (maybe in New York!) when out of high school. I planned on showing him how to tie shoes, how to roller skate, ride a bike, change the oil, and someday buy a house. I imagined taking long bike rides with Mom into town for an ice cream cone, like I used to do with my Dad.

But most of all I imagined slowly rocking him to sleep, curled up in the nook of my elbow at 3am on any given Wednesday, cherishing the time away from the office when it was just the two of us bonding in the night as Mom slept in the other room.

As the days went by these plans, hopes and dreams strengthened more and more. I didn't know for a fact that our baby was a boy, but as time went on I was convinced of it. Not sure how, or why; I was just convinced. If it was a boy, we discussed many times, we wanted him to carry on the Voigt family tradition and be named William, like me, my father, and his father. But, we wanted his name to be unique and special, which is where Liam came from. Like "Bill" is short for William, so would be "Liam". Of course we had chosen girls names, too, but we knew we wanted the name Liam for our first son.


When Paula called on May 8th in the middle of the day, I knew the instant I heard her voice that something was very wrong. Her water had broken. The next few days are a distant and swirling blur to me now, but I remember fighting with every bit of strentgh to keep hope. Then, in the small hours of the morning Wednesday May 10th Paula went into labor and I prayed very hard for God to hold me up, to prop me against and block these hurricane winds of sorrow that threatened to slam me to the ground. I thought about the 3am feedings I had hoped so much for, and almost collapsed emotionally from the pain. I prayed...begged...God for the strength to be a strong, compassionate and soothing husband to Paula now -- the woman I love with everything I am. What must she be feeling? She was helpless against the fact that as she laid there she was losing her beloved child that had lived and kicked inside of her for only five short months, even up to that very moment, and nothing anyone could do could stop that.

When we arrived at the hospital with tear stained faces they took her away, and I spent the morning in the waiting room with Paula's mom who was like a strong anchor holding me as steady as could be expected as we counted the minutes in the maternity ward, the newborn cries of babies filling the air and breaking my heart. I saw in Dori's compassionate face that her heart was breaking too, but she stayed strong for me. As the newborn crying continued I found true solice and immense peace in the fact that this was the happiest day in the lives of those mothers and fathers, and I silently wished them all a lifetime of happiness and joy with their children. I especially wished that those fathers could someday show their sons and daughters how to tie shoes, how to roller skate, ride a bike, change the oil, and someday buy a house. I wished for them to take long bike rides with Mom into town for an ice cream cone.

I wished and prayed with all my heart that they could rock their babies to sleep, curled up in the nooks of their elbows at 3am on any given Wednesday. Maybe even tonight.

More hours passed, most of which are either gone or blocked from my memory, and eventually I was at Paula's side as we held on to each other's hand for mutual strength. She entered the final stage of labor at 11:54am. My memory is crystal clear at this point -- as I stood at Paula's side, her strength like a fire as she gripped my hand and pushed, I saw through the haze of my tears the doctor look up at us and announce with a soft, compassionate and caring smile that it was a boy.

Liam died before we got to meet him, but the doctor wrapped him up and we got to hold him in our arms. His face, peaceful and tiny, had features that looked like both of us. Paula pointed out he had my cheekbones, I pointed out he had her mouth. As painful as it was for us to hold him, all wrapped in blankets, we connected with him in a way I wouldn't have believed a few minutes earlier. While I will never get the chance to do all the things I dreamed of doing with Liam, I poured a lifetime of love onto him as he laid there, so still and peaceful in the nook of my elbow.

The rest of the day has sunk into the blackness of the corners of my consciousness, except for the feeling of pouring all my pent up love, hopes and dreams into one pinpoint in time, rather than spreading it out over decades. When it was finally time to say goodbye, the gentle and compassionate hospital staff left us alone, and closed the curtain around us. Our tears flowed softly as we released at once every emotion you can imagine. As we both stroked his tiny cap and gazed at our son's face, I heard Paula's voice begin to sing sweet gentle music, barely above a whisper. I instantly recognized the soft and flowing tune, an old song by U2 that we had always dreamed of singing to our baby as a lullabye, its meaning profound now more than ever.

Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realized.
If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, rain down on he.

So let it be.
So let it be.

Sleep, sleep tonight
And may your dreams be realized.

If the thunder cloud passes rain
So let it rain, let it rain
Rain down on he.

That night, when we arrived back home I helped Paula out of the car and as we stood there with empty arms a soft, warm rain began to fall just at that moment. We stood together and held each other as the drops melted together with our tears.

As we still say goodbye to you even now, a little more each day, we will always remember you, Liam. Whenever I feel rain on my face, I will forever think of you. When your brothers and sisters are born someday, I will share the same dreams with them I had for you, but you will always have a special place in my heart.

Until we meet again, I wish you peace.

The changing face of commerce

It's been a while since I posted anything of significance out here, so I was inspired after reading...ahem...listening to the book "The World Is Flat: A brief history of the twenty first century" by Thomas Friedman on the way home tonight. From Tom's website: "The World Is Flat is an account of the great changes taking place in our time, as lightning-swift advances in technology and communications put people all over the globe in touch as never before...creating an explosion of wealth in India and China, and challenging the rest of us to run even faster just to stay in place."

Aw, yea baby. Technology, commerce, society, the human condition and how they are all evolving before our eyes -- right up my alley.

I heard about this book from my uncle Tony, who's (shall we say) an accomplished entrepreneur (he's the one on the left), so I took his advice seriously and was intrigued when he brought it up over a beer at a recent family gathering. "Outsourcing isn't always going to be limited to call-centers for credit card companies and customer service help lines. Right now, technology is already creating a flat model of globalization on such a scale that small, previously inconspicuous tiny foreign companies can now become big players in cities and countries that were once economically and socially isolated from the rest of the global economy. The playing field is being leveled." he said. That got me chewing on the title of the book "The World is Flat", even before I even set eyes on the cover. Can you judge a book by its title? I wondered, and was eager to dig in.

I don't want to regurgitate the book with a review; just Google the title and you'll find plenty of other professional and amateur reviews out there. This is the reason why I'm writing now, only a few chapters into it, in order to avoid that sort of thing. Globalization is forefront in my mind as an IT contractor who sells my ideas and consultation by the hour to enormous global companies. Why is it forefront in my mind? Any company, especially large companies, are eternally looking to maximize efficiency both in their dynamic processes and certainly financially. This means that as technology advances and connectivity and collaboration pipelines continue to expand it makes sense to outsource the grunt work inherent in any hardware and/or software solutions. India is the epicenter of this outsourcing swell, mainly because workers there are willing to handle this basic grunt work not only at telephone help desk call centers but also behind the curtain hammering code and data mining to keep the big "one-stop-shop" ERP systems that handle all aspects of the supply chain humming along steadily. This grunt work is critical. A big part of technology happens by turning wrenches and spending time under the hood.

I saw this "under the hood" emphasis a long time ago when I formally entered the world of IT after being transferred by Heineken to New York to join the team responsible for swapping out seven separate standalone software programs that handled everything from planning of raw material procurement to sales ordering to financial reporting (and so on) to one technology solution -- SAP. A lot of muscle in the form of manpower was being applied to the hard coding and programming of the new solution (wrench turning), and at first I wondered what I was doing there? I understood what technology could do, but how to make it happen...? Well, that was a bit less clear to me. Like mud, actually. I asked Hans, the project manager "why me?" and he said something I'll never forget. He told me in his thick Dutch accent that they already have enough valuable people from IBM, Deloitte, and Accenture to set up the system technically, which is an absolute necessity, but they need me to give them a ground level, hands on perspective. I was formerly part of the sales organization, and at the end of the day my livelihood depended on selling more beer to our distributors, not streamlining a line of code somewhere in the bowels of a computer system. I knew the business, and because of this I knew what the final picture with the new computer system should look and feel like. But again, I came back to the same question -- why me? There are thousands of other employees to choose from, what's so special about me? Hans told me I was chosen because I "get" technology. A lot of people are well versed in the language and concepts of business, a lot more around the world are well versed in the language of technology, but not as many "get" both which costs a lot of lost synergy between the two on any big project, especially those based in technology. Without a mediator/translator/diplomat/referee, negotiations wither. Anyone who's sat in on a meeting between the business at one side of the table and the IT department at the other understands what I mean about the discussion being a negotiation, rather than a collaboration. Both sides often "need" it done their way, all or nothing, come hell or high water, and without a voice of reason empathizing and finding common ground fists will fly, metaphorically speaking, and no forward progress will be made. Bill Clinton used to say it best when trying to mediate between two sides -- "I feel your pain." That simple approach, when sincere, can go a long way to bridging gaps between the two sides and finding that all elusive happy medium.

So back to my point, globalization is forefront in my mind. I know people whose job prospects are drying up as I type this because they have focused everything they know and do "under the hood". I distinctly remember talking to friends in the late nineties, pre dot.com boom, that were highly critical of my reluctance to put all my eggs into the basket of wrench turning in the IT field, since "...THAT'S where the gravy is!". As they lit their cigars with hundred dollar bills, I explained that I wasn't going out getting my various IT certifications because I had a hunch that in the future the market will be saturated with "mechanics" but no "drivers" which sounded ridiculous at the time, since everyone thought we were on the verge of IT solutions being built by certified professional programmers for the clueless masses and brainless business entities. My friends felt they were entitled to a lifetime of employment building the systems that would be supported by the businesses; they'd take the medicine they were given and change their processes to make it work. Why? Because the company had no other choice. Why in the world would you need any intermediate "liaison" that is a bit more mile-wide-inch-deep in their business and tech knowledge? What's the use? We build it, they'll run it. If it doesn't match their business model, then that model should be adjusted to meet the voracious appetites and peculiarities of the system. In those days they were right, that's how it worked. As long as technology stopped advancing ("...which it has!"), things would be fine. Sure, the internet would load faster, computer screens would refresh more brightly, and palm pilots would continue to shrink, but nothing would fundamentally change. The overall vibe was that there was nothing else to invent, nothing else to think freshly about. We had the world at our feet. "What could go wrong?" they asked. It was a tough question, because I didn't have all the answers. All I knew was that I just wanted to be involved with technology, because it was not only a piece of the company's framework, but rather was rapidly becoming the very foundation of evertything we would do. It would not only touch every aspect of the business, I thought, it would be woven into it as seamlessly as the glass of the windows we peered out of from our offices, the chairs we sat in and the mission statement we lived, ate and breathed by. I was viewed by my counterparts with a pitying shake of the head as rebellious and misguided because saw the technology supporting the business someday, not the other way around. I still see it that way today.

Put another way, I believed back then that technology would soon become less of an unsightly but vitally important mechanical appendage hanging off the side of an otherwise cleanly shaved and smooth face of the business model and would soon morph into the very skin itself, to carry on the analogy.

At the time I honestly didn't fully grasp the whole big picture that the digital, technical, mechanical (if you will) work could potentially be shipped ten thousand miles away with the click of a button, and apparently neither did my cigar smoking cube-mates with the BMW's and big screen TV's -- I just had a hunch that immersing myself in the raw nuts and bolts of IT was the wrong direction to take. The feeling then was that sure -- there may be a smattering of outsourcing to contend with, but fuggeddaboutit! No one could touch America's rich and plentiful soil of available programmers. Even back then that sounded familiar to me. I remembered the lessons of history about how Asia pinned the American economy when I was a kid with cheap and reliable consumer electronics, clothing, and automobiles. At that time, everyone collectively put their feet up because no one in the world could ever touch America's rich, plentiful soil of organized labor and high quality products. Today, as we watch the behemoth General Motors, the world's largest corporation rust and slowly crumble to less and less of the fiercly proud American company it once was, we see the bitter fruits of what I like to call "entitlement thinking". As American workers and stockholders we were entitled to make more money by doing less work than our foreign competitors because, well, we were American. The Japanese saw the Achilles heel of this thinking and took advantage of it to such an extent the once dominant GM is now scrambling to catch up to the likes of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia. Today the gathering storm of Chinese auto manufacturing looms ominously in GM's rear view, poised to overtake the giant at the next turn maybe not in raw sales numbers but certainly in the hearts and minds of global, not just American consumers. Living in a flat world means we Americans can no longer swing lazily in our hammock on our island separated from the rest of the globe by the limitless depth of our domesic economy and resources. In more and more industries every day we're now competing with everyone from small Mom and Pop operations in Bangalore to multinational giants headquartered in Western Europe who have not only accepted the flatenning of the world but have embraced it.

As technology continues to advance, the world will indeed continue to flatten. Friedman talks about how outsourcing isn't limited to computer or ERP system programming. One of the latest developments is tax preparation for Americans by people in India. In the old days, most accountants were by and large more of a one man band concept. Once a year customers brought in their W-2's, 1099's, and stock statements to their accountant's office for processing. At other times those customers set appointments to discuss their investments and strategies on saving for the future. Tax preparation was a necessary evil for accountants, tolerated only because it was the meat and potatoes piece of the business. But the dessert, if you will, was financial strategizing and planning for clients. That's what gets a lot of accountants out of bed. Today, more and more accountants and accounting firms are choosing to outsource their tax prep work for just this reason. Big broadband intranet connectivity pipelines allowing high speed data transfers are a big part of this. Since it's illegal in the U.S. to send tax documents such as W-2's and 1099's outside the country for preparation, the first step an Indian tax prep subcontracting company takes is to have the documents scanned in (let's say) California. With a click of a button by a knowledge worker in Bombay, those documents, while complying with the law and physically remaining within the borders of the US are viewed and managed on the other side of the planet at the push of a button by an Indian knowledge worker for the grunt work of tax preparation. The important element of this model is that the accountant is now freed up to work creatively with his clients on financial strategies, estate planning, and investing. All dessert and no brussel sprouts. This basic model is applicable in many other industries and on a broad spectrum of scale, from the small one or two man shops run out of basements all over the country to corporate behemoths with quarterly revenues in the tens of billions.

How will this affect the American economy? I don't know, but I might have a better idea after I finish the book. How will this affect me? It already has. I've made a conscious and concerted effort to guide my career out from under the crowded hood of the IT department to the scary, sometimes lonely, but lucrative seat behind the wheel. This strategy is beginning to bear fruit. My current contract working on SAP at a large pharmaceutical company is more wrench turning and less driving, so I have put out feelers to the usual big head hunters to see what contracts they can find out there that bridge the chasm between the business units and technology departments. The phone has been ringing as more companies are realizing that this chasm is costing them lost productivity through development of solutions incompatible with business needs. This is more of a question of accurate communication and less a question of headcount under the hood.

Part of the reason for recording my thoughts on this subject is to allow me to go back and revisit it in the future. Was I right to abandon the comfort underneath the hood of the racecar to climb behind the wheel? Will companies ever figure out a way to outsource my liaison role bridging the gap between the business and the IT department?

Will this strategy bite me in the ass?

We'll see, but I'm hedging my bets that anyone who puts all their eggs in the basket of "they'll never outsource my tech job" will find that hundred dollar bill they're lighting their cigar with burning dangerously close to their fingertips.

“If you’re going to build a computer into a car, why not do it with some style?”

The two technological things I am most interested in -- cars and computers -- come together beautifully in this shining example of ingenuity and creativity. A fully operational mac mini controlling the entertainment, processing, high performance sound system, and a 37" projection screen under the bonnet and if near an open wifi signal I assume internet ready, this thing is nuts. Click here to see more pics and to read the story behind this car, or watch the video below.

Flux capacitor? We don't need no stinkin' flux capacitor.

Guest Blogger: How I Work (Bill Gates)

Before we get to the article....

Truth: Bill Gates didn't write this specifically for me or my blog. He did, however, write it for Fortune magazine from which I've copied it from and pasted it here. I thought it was an interesting perspective from a significant figurehead in technology as communication landscapes and team collaboration evolve rapidly, how similar his day is from my own and others I have worked with from company to company in Corporate America. He may be a powerful billionaire 40 or so times over, but there's no real strange sorcery going on behind the curtain; his day is just like any other CEO's...er, ahem: Chief Software Architect's.

Example - paper (aka "hard copy - eew") is indeed going away folks. I can remember only a few years ago seeing network printers set up every 50 feet or so in an office. Today there are only two for about 200 of us in this tech building, and they are almost always resting in SLEEP mode. Yet, my email inbox lights up 30-50 times a day, complete with links to documents stored on our team or company website, direction from management, answers to questions and defenses to accusations made on those particularly politically charged but always entertaining email threads. But nary a scrap of paper is distributed. Phones are used a lot where I work now, mostly for conference calls, but email is the medium of choice most of the time.

Want a good example of efficiency through technology? I often run dual (or for Gates you'll read THREE is the magic number!) flat panel monitors from my notebook computer to better organize my electronic desktop. It does really space things out nicely. Picture having a tiny desk so small you have to stack all your papers on top of one another, leafing through them every time you need to see or work on a particular page, only to reshuffle every time you need to access another page. Now imagine upgrading to a large open desktop layout where you can spread out and put that reference page over there to the far left, while you put this other important document you're working on right in front of you for easy access...you get the picture. Who woulda thunk that we could ever have a use for more than one monitor? But these days you see this everywhere in cubicles and offices, at least in the tech departments I work in. Another popular development of late are online web collaboration environments with individuals and teams sharing ideas and discussion with the entire company or specific internal groups on the other side of the building or the other side of the world through Microsoft "SharePoint", a web collaboration tool which I use nearly every day and have also used at other companies I've worked for over the years.

The article is an interesting read -- albeit a bit info-mercialish -- but definitely worth saving so I can go back from time to time over the years to see how things have changed.

> 8 ^ )

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How I Work: Bill Gates

Not much of a paper chase for Microsoft's chairman, who uses a range of digital tools to do business.

Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect, Microsoft, U.S.A.
April 4, 2006: 8:11 AM EDT

NEW YORK (FORTUNE) - It's pretty incredible to look back 30 years to when Microsoft was starting and realize how work has been transformed. We're finally getting close to what I call the digital workstyle.

If you look at this office, there isn't much paper in it. On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.

The screen on the left has my list of e-mails. On the center screen is usually the specific e-mail I'm reading and responding to. And my browser is on the right-hand screen. This setup gives me the ability to glance and see what new has come in while I'm working on something, and to bring up a link that's related to an e-mail and look at it while the e-mail is still in front of me.

At Microsoft, e-mail is the medium of choice, more than phone calls, documents, blogs, bulletin boards, or even meetings (voicemails and faxes are actually integrated into our e-mail in-boxes).

I get about 100 e-mails a day. We apply filtering to keep it to that level—e-mail comes straight to me from anyone I've ever corresponded with, anyone from Microsoft, Intel, HP, and all the other partner companies, and anyone I know. And I always see a write-up from my assistant of any other e-mail, from companies that aren't on my permission list or individuals I don't know. That way I know what people are praising us for, what they are complaining about, and what they are asking.

We're at the point now where the challenge isn't how to communicate effectively with e-mail, it's ensuring that you spend your time on the e-mail that matters most. I use tools like "in-box rules" and search folders to mark and group messages based on their content and importance.

I'm not big on to-do lists. Instead, I use e-mail and desktop folders and my online calendar. So when I walk up to my desk, I can focus on the e-mails I've flagged and check the folders that are monitoring particular projects and particular blogs.

Outlook also has a little notification box that comes up in the lower right whenever a new e-mail comes in. We call it the toast. I'm very disciplined about ignoring that unless I see that it's a high-priority topic.

Staying focused is one issue; that's the problem of information overload. The other problem is information underload. Being flooded with information doesn't mean we have the right information or that we're in touch with the right people.

I deal with this by using SharePoint, a tool that creates websites for collaboration on specific projects. These sites contain plans, schedules, discussion boards, and other information, and they can be created by just about anyone in the company with a couple of clicks.

Right now, I'm getting ready for Think Week. In May, I'll go off for a week and read 100 or more papers from Microsoft employees that examine issues related to the company and the future of technology. I've been doing this for over 12 years. It used to be an all-paper process in which I was the only one doing the reading and commenting. Today the whole process is digital and open to the entire company.

I'm now far more efficient in picking the right papers to read, and I can add electronic comments that everyone sees in real time.

Microsoft has more than 50,000 people, so when I'm thinking, "Hey, what's the future of the online payment system?" or "What's a great way to keep track of your memories of your kid?" or any neat new thing, I write it down. Then people can see it and say, "No, you're wrong" or "Did you know about this work being done at such-and-such a place?"

SharePoint puts me in touch with lots of people deep in the organization. It's like having a super-website that lets many people edit and discuss—far more than the standard practice of sending e-mails with enclosures. And it notifies you if anything comes up in an area you're interested in.

Another digital tool that has had a big effect on my productivity is desktop search. It has transformed the way I access information on my PC, on servers, and on the Internet. With larger hard drives and increasing bandwidth, I now have gigabytes of information on my PC and servers in the form of e-mails, documents, media files, contact databases, and so on.

Instead of having to navigate through folders to find that one document where I think a piece of information might be, I simply type search terms into a toolbar and all the e-mails and documents that contain that information are at my fingertips. The same goes for phone numbers and email addresses.

Paper is no longer a big part of my day. I get 90% of my news online, and when I go to a meeting and want to jot things down, I bring my Tablet PC. It's fully synchronized with my office machine so I have all the files I need. It also has a note-taking piece of software called OneNote, so all my notes are in digital form.

The one low-tech piece of equipment still in my office is my whiteboard. I always have nice color pens, and it's great for brainstorming when I'm with other people, and even sometimes by myself.

The whiteboards in some Microsoft offices have the ability to capture an image and send it up to the computer, almost like a huge Tablet PC. I don't have that right now, but probably I'll get a digital whiteboard in the next year. Today, if there's something up there that's brilliant, I just get out my pen and my Tablet PC and recreate it.

Days are often filled with meetings. It's a nice luxury to get some time to go write up my thoughts or follow up on meetings during the day. But sometimes that doesn't happen. So then it's great after the kids go to bed to be able to just sit at home and go through whatever e-mail I didn't get to. If the entire week is very busy, it's the weekend when I'll send the long, thoughtful pieces of e-mail. When people come in Monday morning, they'll see that I've been quite busy— they'll have a lot of e-mail.