Stories

So I just did it....I was googling an address of a table I"m buying off craigslist. I typed the address into Google Maps and it already had my home address. Clicked submit..... Saw the directions to my location...very nice. Noticed the Also Available: Public Transit option above my directions. Very cool...if I had more time. (nice excuse buddy) Next time though. Right. Wen...

I am really finding one consistent them across my cloud server architecture lately. It is was I am calling roles. These are server roles that meet specific business goals, such as: PHP Web Server Read more →

Email has become my number one enemy lately. It is sure tough to ensure the quality receipt of emails when your are doing large email blasts. You have to start at the DNS and Server Configuration and make sure your domain email records are setup correctly to reflect your email send / receipt infrastructure. You have to make sure your server is configured correctly and IP Address, naming ,etc is all in sync with your DNS records. Then we start talking content, what cont...

I am finding renewed energy for blogging and twittering lately...mostly because I have more time on my hands living way out in the woods. I used to really worry about the traffic to my blog and building a following, etc. That really gets in the way. If I just focus on what I am working on and what is important to me it seems to work better. Then like minded people tend to find my postings on search engines, twitter and other places. Last night I was working to recover fr...

I really love the Amazon Web Services platform. It brings some really valuable tools to the table for deploying a companies infrastructure. However there are some areas that really can throw you for a loop. I create bundles and then ultimately AMIs from my core instances. It makes it so I can restore to last nights complete server if I want...with settings and all. I do individual bunlidng then AMI creation of instances all the time. Tonight I thought....oh I will go a...

I am seeing Twitter used as a tool for measuring the buzz around an event or topic. It definitely has become an effective way for measuring the number of people talking about a topic and the tone of that conversation. It also allows you to dive into the detail of what people are saying and get some valuable feedback from your potential customers and fanbase.

Working with my current company I really notice you can use Google Docs and Office Docs that are setup and circulated regularly are a good indicator of potential systems that need developed or possible 3rd party systems that need researched. When you see a spreadsheet that is commonly used or passed around it may signal a need for new feature in existing system or a completely new system. A spreadsheet or other office document can really be a basic prototyping process of new s...

I started following the Dalia Lhama on Twitter today. He already has 11K followers and they seem overwhelmed by the response somewhat. You can follow the Dalai Lhama at http://twitter.com/ohhdl I had a funny thought as I was following. Not saying the Dalai Lhama has any relation or similiarities to God, but in my limited religious experience when I was a kid I envisioned praying very much like Twitter. With god following all of us and we follow h...

I finally signed up for Netflix again to get movies in the mail. What spurred me on was hearing they had done PLay on Deman. I was taking a break in a lodge in Southern Oregon the other day and needed to watch movies so I kicked it on. I have been on it ever since. I tend to really like a separate distraction as I work. For some reason it helps me focus? Not sure why. Usually I listen to NPR while working...but there are only so many programs. So I move onto This Ameri...

I have been getting a lot of twitter followers lately...been getting about 5 per day consistently. Growing my fan-base rapidly. I see a lot of users with 1K to 5K followers...but today but I saw the biggest of I have ever seen. AlohaArleen has 24,086 followers...woooaha... Way to go Arleen.

I've been using the new Amazon Web Service (AWS) console. It is a pretty sweet little interface. AWS Console allows me to easily manage my Amazon EC2 instances and related elements. I normally (and still) use the ElasticFox Mozilla Add-On to manage my Amazon EC2 Instances. I recommend checking it out at: https://console.aws.amazon.com

I haven't researched this one in a while, I am glad I had the chance to research for a new project. I need to be able to setup many sites using a single domain. So each site will be a subdomain within this chose domain. I have always used one web site on Windows Server because I would need multiple IP Addreses and SSL certificates. I had research the wildcard certificates a couple of times, but the multiple IP address need always trumped. IP Addresses aren't as cheap as they u...

Wow...what a big title. I thought up that one all by myself. But I think i describes this random thought. I am always getting myself in trouble when it comes to getting things done. I sign on as leadership of specific projects and end up not delegating some aspects of the project out. What then happens is some people on the team end up waiting for me, thus making myself a "bottle-neck" in certain areas. They depend on me to get it done. I came up with the idea and need to see ...

I am starting a new personal tradition. I have never really been into new years resoutions, but I do get excited about the new possibility of each coming here. I also tend to look for ways to measure up the ending year and see what I accomplished. I am writing a list of what is real importatnt to me personally and professionally at the moment, and things I would like to do for the following year. I am rewriting my personal bio as well. This is the overview I post to most of my...

When I start working I tend to open a handful of work-based applications that I need open all the time while I work. A few of the must have applications are: Google Home Page GMail Google Calendar Eclipse SQL Server Manager Remote Desktop A few applications that I open up that are not critical, but allow me to communicate and manage my network are: Skype Win...

While building my network on LinkedIn and searching for friends of course I came across the screen offering to use my Gmail, AOl or other address book to find people to connect with. Of course I did this and started selecting the people that I wanted to send an invite too. Pretty soon I got tired of filtering the hundreds of people....and just hit send. Hoping some of the people would connect. Because of the nature of Gmail which adds anyone I talk to to my address book, there...

In a dark, barely lit room Monday night maestro Twice nightly in Birmingham Sold in cardboard boxes Minimum drink purchase required Gold flakes by the fire Hand crafted using renewable energy And we say Na Na Na Na Na Hard and twisted wrought iron Cannot get through the mesh Yet we can feel the heat. Not much to be said. So much to be written I am writing so fast I am not even stopping To read my writing

I have been working on a prototype for using the Federated Google Account login that uses the OpenID 2.0 standard. Really a nice concept to offer for users who are heavy users of Google, Yahoo or other 3rd party service providers that have adopted OpenID. I am proposing offering a Login Using Google button on all our public application logins which then send a request to Google and allows the user to authenticate our domain(s) under their Google Account. Then they can utilize...

Sit with your back against the brick wall At least I won't get shot in the back Sizing everyone up Establishing the threat level Drink in my hand Light up my smoke Threat level is moderate Drink is sour, what I need TWo more logs on the fire Where is the guy in plaid from I don't know... Bricks are warm Doors are in view Now I can think clearly.

I am currently taking a company and reconstructing its entire server and infrastructure platform to operate in the clouds. It is a lot of planning, work and just readjustment in thinking on how to deploy a server infrastructure. However it is so worth it. It is such a more scalable and resilient platform than depending on your own server infrastructure. I will be outlining more about how and why I am doing this as I get time. Its been a while since I posted because I h...

I have been using a combination of Dreamweaver and Notepad to do my code editing for a few years now. I use Dreamweaver because of employers mandating it mostly. I really don't like the application, or use many of the features. With my new role at WebEvents Global I started using Homesite which I don't much care for either. A couple developers are using Eclipse, so in order to support it I went ahead and downloaded it. Only using for 30 minutes now and I love it. It is really ...