At the same time, there are people in the streets. I know because I read the Drudge report. There are people protesting austerity. There are people who feel a connection to the Israel/Palestine issue. There’s the entire Arab Spring to consider. I mean – think about it – there are a lot of people experiencing a deep enough level of personal unrest that they’re walking around somewhere in the night instead of reading this from their couches.

What happens when the capital run really starts in Europe…later this week or early next I’m guessing, because I don’t think the market gives anyone six weeks’ notice…and then people have fear to contend with on top of anger and uncertainty? Nothing good, I think.

If I were more diligent or educated, or conscientious, I would carefully document everything I’ve asserted in this post. As I am not, and as I very probably read all of the same things anyone who would actually consume this whole post does (and then wonder about sources), none of this is probably news to you.

If it is, or if I’m totally wrong on some point or another, please feel free to correct me. My only request is that you be kind, as I am simple and my feelings are easily bruised.

I will happily retract anything and everything, because I have no dog in the fight. I just wanted to pose the question. If it matters, I’ll even try to find the sources for my assertions.

Thanks,

Alex

next day additional – Interesting FT article covering much of European situation.  Changed title for clarity.  Doubt it worked

Basically, it’s an accepted intellectual property sharing framework that helps content creators (me) to easily describe exactly which permissions they give to consumers (you) of their works and sets clear expectations in terms of attribution (if any be desired).

That was a mouthful, and I’m sorry, but there’s not much I can do about it now.

I’m going to use Creative Commons to relicense some materials I created for a class on project management.  I think this is a much better arrangement because the contributors of the materials deserve better than being stuck under my copyright.

Actually, it’s not so much the copyright of the text I care about, it’s the drawing. That really was something I thought up, and I’m proud of it. I would like to receive credit when it’s used, but feel that people should be free to pass it along for non-commercial uses.

Creative Commons licensing allows me the flexibility to do things like decide for each individual work how I would like it licensed, and then it automatically generates the images and text I need for my creation.

They also provide a registry service and the legal language, if I need it, I think. The truth is that the web is impossible to control at that level, and in my estimation it’s better someone use the work for human benefit, even without attribution, than to have the work never be used by anyone and reserve all the credit!!

OK – that’s about it. I’ve created some links that should make it easy for you to find out more about Creative Commons. It’s a cool thing and I would like to support it.

So, this is how I’m going to use Creative Commons licensing:

Step 1: Head on over to Creative Commons and answer a few simple questions that apply to this specific work.

Step 2.  Get the automatically generated logo  and use it instead of the © copyright symbol currently in place.

Step 3: Follow the links provided (they’re small, but they can be found) to the actual text I need to put into the document itself.

Publish the new docs.  Push the link to the gang of designers. Voila!

Peace,

Alex

P.S. Nod to Mr. Cory Doctorow, fun-to-read blogger and author, and a leader in the realm of CC licensing.  He was the fellow who exemplified CC use in a way I could understand.  Thanks, Mr. Doctorow!

I decided to republish this document under a Creative Commons agreement.  To make a long story short, I can’t edit the original document anymore because it’s gone.  However, I am uploading a new Creative Common agreement which supersedes the original copyright markings on this presentation.  Therefore, feel free to disregard the copyright © symbols in this presentation because it’s now a CC document .  That means you can feel free to share this work with attribution and for non-commercial purposes.

Creative Commons Rebranding

Original post of February 2011 starts here…

Hello,

I thought the half-dozen of you who read this might like to see the slides for a talk I gave recently to a local chapter of the Help Desk Institute (HDI).

It’s a primer for IT Operational People who want or need to deal with IT Project Management.

I asked eight friends, in a wide variety of positions and with very different perspectives, what they would tell a young gun getting started in project management.

These are their answers.

Hope you like it.

A

v3 HDI Speech

Yes.  It was worth it.

Mostly because I feel better not wondering.  But, also, because it’s kind of cool to be on the inside.

I mean, we all know that it’s worth supporting certain things.  I have to say that Pandora is one of them.

Sure, sometimes their selection is a little bit limited, but adding a few new artists opens up new threads, and it’s worth it tending the garden – because the payoff really is there.

In music.  In peace.  And quiet.  A few moments with Tupac, or Mozart, or Tanya (the reggae one) on the new Mac, with better sound.

Oh yeah.  The sound is better.  You can tell if you have decent musical appreciation hearing.

The downloadable application works on both XP and Mac OS X 10.6.5.

The app is nothing to shout about, but it it is clean.  And it does work.

The skins are OK.  But, if you’re the kind of person who reads this, you’re nerdy enough to know that skins are not a big deal.

Peace,

A

The 21.5 Inch Model.

3.06 Ghz Intel Core i3 (yes, the dual core – the cheap one).

8GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 (yes, the max – from Apple, ’cause it was easier).

Basically, it’s got the the standard Mac software load – I added Office 2011 Business, Omnigraffle Pro 5.2.3, OmniFocus, Skype, Chrome and some other tools.

Short answer:  I love it.

It’s the bomb.  I would recommend it to my best friend.

Very simple, clean, fast.  Good for professional work (wish I’d gotten the bigger screen now – maybe next time).

Apple Technical Support – Excellent.  Really.  Called at least a 1/2 dozen times for various questions.

Talked to a real person every time.

They found my account the first time.

Their records were super accurate.

When they totally blew my Office 2011 license (gave me Home instead of Pro) – they bent over backwards to get it handled.  Twice.

It’s just so darn easy to use.  Really.  I’m a 20-year PC man.  I cut my teeth on the 286 as my first professional machine.  I taught myself Lotus 1-2-3.  I’ve been a hardcore business user ever since.

Wouldn’t trade this thing for the latest Windows system.  And, I like Windows.  I’ve got no problem with Microsoft.  It’s not they’re fault they were ahead of the pack for so long.  Yeah, they’re not the most people-oriented company.   But that doesn’t make them evil.

The only thing I can’t do on this system, so far, is Visio.  But OmniGraffle Pro seems plenty good enough to handle the problem, and the Pro version is supposed to have excellent native .vsd handling.  We’ll see.

Let me know if you’re curious about anything in particular.

Short version is, yep.  Good one.  Worth every dollar.

Peace,

Alex

P.S.  I bought the Parallels v6 program to do Windows emulation.  I was sure I might need it.  It’s still in the box.  I’d give it away, if I knew anyone who wanted it.

I understand the challenge that presents to the few readers I occasionally have.

The problem is one of self-consciousness.  And a lack of time.  And entropy.  No, not inertia.  Well, yes, that too.  But I really meant entropy.

Which law is that?  The third, of thermodynamics? Four children.

No, they’re not on fire.  They represent the encroachment, upon my particularly ordered life, of the chaos to which we all must return.

No, not in the nihilist sense.  In the buddhist one.  They require my presence, my attention, my focus.

They are also amazingly destructive.

I could try to control that tendency, but I think it would be tantamount to breaking them.

No, not like fine china.  Yes, like a fine stallion.  Or, mare, if you prefer.

We’re equal-opportunity encouragists, around here.

Too post, or not.

Well.

OK.

Tx

A

Last night, in conversation with a friend, both of us happily married, I offered my personal take on intramarital boundaries.

My friend then suggested that I write a book on marriage.  Ah, well, what blogger hasn’t thought of writing a book?  Certainly not this one.

But really, a book?  Who’s got the time?  Or the know-how?  Or Connections?  Again, not yours truly.

I blog instead.   For myself.  Because it makes me feel better. Because I like to.

—

I don’t like to be complained at.

I also don’t like to complain at others.

It’s really that simple.  Joined, these form a foundational interpersonal policy for me.  I won’t complain at you, and I expect you to reciprocate.

Ergo my phrase, “If you care enough to complain, you care enough to do it yourself.”

—

I was sharing that my wife and I adopted this as one of our working mottos many years ago, and that it has served us well.

She and I figured out which parts of the household each of us would prefer to run, and that was that.

My bride doesn’t say anything if there are Bengal tigers hiding in our unmowed lawn, and I don’t say a word if she happens to miss one of her chosen areas of responsibility.

Now, let me be clear – we both believe in respecting and helping one another.  That means that I often do the dishes or cook something for dinner.  We’ve got 4 kids.  Be reasonable.  Something’s going to get missed during the day.

But that being said, I don’t complain if she’s missed something, and she affords me the same courtesy.

That’s all.  Courtesy.  I know what my job is, and I’ll get to it as soon as reasonably possible.

—

Well.  That’s it.  If I was going to write a book called, “How to Get Along with Your Wife,” my first chapter would be on personal boundaries, with a strong emphasis on love, courtesy, respect and kindness.

Let’s see how this post plays in the press.  If it gets some traction (or heck, proboably even if it doesn’t) I’ll offer another bite-sized tip on the topic.

Maybe one day, my book offer will arrive in the mail and I will be whisked away on a cloud of Skittles.

Until then, sayonara and vaya con Dios.

Thanks for coming,

Alex

This is one of the sites I use to pick wallpapers, when it’s time to mix things up a little on the desktop.

Here’s my current desktop…

Source: Hubblesite.org

Have fun!

DePo Masthead is the template style choice I have made for this blog.

Mr. Derek Powazek does all of us a favor by both designing this look and feel for free, and then by making it available to anyone who wants it, again at no cost.  That’s pretty cool.

Technically, this is known as a:

3 Column

Fixed Width

Light (ly colored)

Theme.

So, a quick review from a layman user’s point of view.

Look and Feel – Nice.  Clean.  Open.  Lots of white space.  Thin but distinct visual blocking.  Minimalist color use, but well chosen.

Usability - Overall, good.  Once you understand how the columns will really work together, and if you are willing to select visual breakpoints for your work, definitely usable.

Flexibility - OK.  Good standard set of widgets, but missing some important ones for blogging, like the “Share This” toolbar.

Support - None.  Not that it’s really needed.  This theme works as advertised, at least for the widgets I’ve tested.  So, if you understand that you’re on your own when you pick it, and what it will and won’t do for you, then you’re fine.

One minor suggestion- I’d like to be able to change the typesize of the “Thinking Out Loud” visual.  It’s kind of overwhelming and could stand being toned down, at least optionally.  However, this is not a good enough reason, in my mind, to go looking for another theme.

Overall, my review is, “Solid.  Well done.  Nice job.  Thanks for being cool and giving this away.”

Thanks for reading.  Hope it’s useful.

I started blogging because I thought I had something to say.

It’s not that I expected to be particularly well received.  It’s more that I like to think, and then to talk about what I think.  Unfortunately, I’m not really fast enough on my feet to keep up with a witty conversationalist.

I was always the kid in school who thought about what could (should) have been said at a key moment, but at home, in the shower, or gettting ready for bed.  And then it was gone forever, the opportunity to be witty.  Oh well.

Writing turned out to be a better medium for me.  I can edit until I am satisfied.

The challenge, however, is blogging’s absolute requirement that I allow the imperfect to be presented for evaluation.  Imperfect is very challenging for me.  I like to get things right.  I’m that way.

—

I’ve got a couple of borrowed quotes floating around the the office bulletin board.  Most of them say something like, “Finishing anything worthwhile is almost impossible.”

According to Brainyquote.com, Picasso once said,

“To finish a work? To finish a picture? What nonsense! To finish it means to be through with it, to kill it, to rid it of its soul, to give it its final blow the coup de grace for the painter as well as for the picture.”

True dat.

I have also come to learn to embrace the truth in another idea- Wabi Sabi -

“the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature, of accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. It’s simple, slow, and uncluttered-and it reveres authenticity above all.”

That really says it.

—

My blogging statistics used to bother me, so then I stopped blogging.

I mention this because  I recently played golf.

It was two rounds with good friends, playig for the first time in many years.  I gave myself the OK to not keep score, at all.

Those were two of the most enjoyable games of my life.

So, I learned that when I intentionally don’t keep score, I enjoy the game more.

The same turns out to be true of this.  For me, blogging’s value lies in its associated catharsis.  To speak is to be free.

From the land of my mind, this is Alex Chompff signing off.  Thanks for reading.