Real Time View

It was another anniversary, this time Margo’s birthday, and I am driving back to Boulder. Friday night was spent in Las Vegas, and I put the first thoughts together as I looked out at night lights of the edifices along its famous strip. It wasn’t until I arrived in Boulder that I finalized the posting and the storyline has been with me for a couple of days, but as I headed out of town I was reminded of how much I associate Las Vegas with the user community. And the picture I have included here was snapped while I was leaving Las Vegas. The first time I went to Las Vegas was for an ITUG Board Meeting in 2000. Tony Bond was the Chairman of ITUG and had selected Las Vegas as an ideal location for a “winter” gathering, but the hotel we stayed in was far removed from the glamour of the major hotels we associate with the strip today – it was the only hotel in Las Vegas with no slot machines! No way to gamble whatsoever! A far cry from the venues we expect these days. It was only a few short ...

... and how NonStop won the Gold! I was in San Jose on business last week, and that morning I picked up a copy of the San Jose Mercury News that had been left hanging on my room door-handle. Turning to the business section, the lead article was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Apple Macintosh. It’s the stuff of IT legend how Apple aired a single commercial during the third quarter of SuperBowl XVIII, that featured an athlete hurling a hammer at the image of big brother – an unashamed reference to IBM, and in particular to the IBM mainframe. The picture I have included here is me photographing the first flowering apple trees in my Southern California neighborhood as I was leaving for San Jose – trees flowering in January? Surely a sign! The Macintosh, or Mac, as it became more commonly called, was derived from the Apple Lisa launched the year before, where the wraps came off a personal computer that the first time ever featured a Graphical User Interface (or GUI) supporting icons...

This past weekend was our tenth wedding anniversary, and Margo and I celebrated it at Newport Beach. While it is still bitterly cold across most of North America, and temperatures have dropped below freezing point in many cities, there were no signs of winter in Southern California. We enjoyed temperatures in the low 80s Fahrenheit, and the photo I have included here is of the two of us with the ocean clearly visible behind us and for sure, in case you were confused by the blog title, we aren't moving in opposite directions! To celebrate this anniversary, we exchanged gifts of watches. As I was removing them from their boxes, I turned them over only to find, underneath the watchmaker’s name, the engraving “Master of Complications.” While this has significance in the world of watch-making, I was bemused by the reference, and wondered if anyone in IT would welcome such a title. It also reminded me of a sign Mark Hutchens, one of the founders of InSession, had in his Boulder office: i...

Late last year I was invited to my high-school reunion. In Sydney, no less! Unfortunately, business got in the way and I had no chance to participate. This is the second time I have missed a reunion, but our school captain, Will Jephcott, persists and hopefully I will make it one year. Then again, you have to be careful what you wish for – after all these years will I recognize anyone and will anyone want to see me? The picture above is of me when I was 13 or so – and it was forwarded to me by Graham Maher. Graham who? In High School, I played Rugby and after a short stint in Rugby Union switched to Rugby League where I didn’t do too badly, playing a little representative League. But there was very little equipment available for fitness training – in Australia, there was never any funding on the scale I see today at the local US high schools – about all we could do was running and participate in ball-handling drills. But I did develop a fondness for long-distance running and enjoyed cr...

It’s Christmas Eve and at our house Christmas always begins with this evening. It will be the time to open presents and to enjoy a traditional Christmas dinner – and a turkey will be involved, of course. The picture above is of me, in the kitchen, as preparations continued indoors this year, of course, as the weather outside remains bitterly cold. Last Sunday, I went to the garage to check out the motorcycles. This time of year is when I become concerned about not “winterizing” the bikes as it’s always a gamble. For the past ten years, there’s always been at least one break in the weather that has allowed me to go for a ride. But this December it’s just been so cold that there has been little opportunity to ride – and I was starting to come down with cabin-fever. As I looked at the bikes and even though it was only 20 Fahrenheit, I decided to throw on a couple more woolen sweaters, pull on the leather chaps, and get out the winter gloves - but I was unprepared for the sheer physica...

I drove this past weekend from the West Coast back to my Boulder, Colorado home. For me, driving is not a chore and on a recent company conference call, I talked of my preference for driving, much to the amusement of my colleagues. Time permitting, if I need to attend a meeting and it’s less than 1,500 miles away, I would rather drive. Even with yesterday’s gas prices, staying away from airline travel had its upside and I am happy to report that it cost me a third of what it did a month ago to fill the SUVs tank. It was still nearly twice as expensive as if I had taken my daily-drive for this ride! However, I can’t always count on the weather – and this time, it hit with a vengeance and the picture above is of the SUV the morning after I arrived home. I started the homeward leg early Saturday morning, in San Jose, with the hope that it would be an uneventful trip and that the weather would hold off for a few days. I also hoped that taking time out to visit friends just past Sacrament...

I had the pleasure of spending my lunchtime at another software company this week – and was asked to be a judge in a “gingerbread house building” game that pitted developers against QA, support, sales, and management. The gingerbread houses were pretty impressive, and the photo I have included here is of me digging into a gift bag I was given after the results were announced. And it wasn’t long before we began reminiscing about the old days, and about the applications we wrote many decades ago. Remember PL/1, I was asked? Remember teletype protocols and paper tape? Remember memory drums? While I have spent the last two years working remotely, and have enjoyed the flexibility it provides, I sure do miss times spent around the water cooler! I wrote earlier this week an article for the upcoming December issue of the electronic newsletter, TandemWorld. In it I referred to an advertisement by IBM in the November 28, ’08 issue of the Fortune magazine. IBM, under a large-type headline “Decrea...