John’s Blog-o-Rama

Interesting article about an “idea exchange” within a company. Wonder how well this really works in practice, and what types of companies it works best for?

I’ve been following the illegal immigration debate for the last few weeks, and I can’t believe what I’m hearing and seeing. I can’t believe that I’m hearing Bush and people in Congress propose any kind of guest worker program. That has got to be the dumbest idea ever put forth by a politican. Why should the government reward people who have been breaking the law for years with the ability to stay and work here legally? What have they done to deserve such an honor? I don’t see how this is fair to anyone that has followed the rules, and I don’t see how this is fair to Americans who need jobs. Bush says we need this workforce because they do jobs that regular Americans won’t do. This isn’t true…they do the jobs Americans want for less money than the law allows. If a guest worker program passes, I predict it will be a total disaster, as illegal immigrants will choose not to sign up, and nothing will change.

What we need is a president that enforces the law and says the following:

1. Tells illegal immigrants that they are breaking the law and that it is time to leave, and then deports them if they do not leave. All of them
2. Enforces the laws against hiring illegal immigrants by throwing their employers in jail if they don’t comply
3. Enforces and improves border security to keep illegal immigrants out

I know this is easier than done, but I believe with some directed effort this can be accomplished. The president just needs to take a no tolerance policy stance, and then commit to enforcing that policy. I don’t think any other option will work. This needs to happen for ALL illegal immigrants, whether they’re Mexican, Canadian, Chinese, Indian, African, etc. It is not a racist policy, it is an anti-illegal immigrant policy.

I’m heading to Utah tomorrow for 3 days of snowboarding with Andrew and Erika at Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird, and then 3 days of attendance at the Novell Brainshare conference. I’ll be speaking on Monday at 3:30 on “Server Monitoring and Management with IPMI”, and then attending some sessions and working in the Dell booth the rest of the time. Looks like it’s been snowing all week in Utah, so the snowboarding should be awesome.

I was browsing my RSS reader this morning when I saw a post on Gary Lerhaupt’s Torrentocracy Blog that Prodigem has been acquired by a Bay Area company. He doesn’t give many details, and I haven’t talked to him yet about it, but this is really great news. He’s a talented guy who had a vision and made it happen. I remember talking to him about the idea a few years ago when he first had it…it’s nice to see that idea come to fruition for him.
Congrats, Gary!

March is looking like it will be a really busy but exciting month for me. It all starts off this weekend as I travel to Tahoe for 3 days of snowboarding with friends Andrew and Erika. After I get back, I’ll be in Austin for 10 days until it’s time to head to Salt Lake City for 3 more days of snowboarding (have I mentioned how much I love to snowboard?) as well as attending the Novell Brainshare conference for 4 days. At the conference I’ll be manning the Dell booth and giving a presentation on managing servers with OpenIPMI. On top of that, I’m leading several Linux projects at work, working on the wedding and honeymoon plans, plus all of the early spring yard work that needs to be done. Looking forward to all of it!

Nice blog entry by Thomas Collins (Micah’s dad) on Micah’s chocolatier girlie, Deepika. Girl that loves to cook + guy that loves to eat = recipe for trouble!

Congrats to my favorite NFL football team the Pittsburgh Steelers, who tonight beat the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl XL! It’s been a long 26 years since their last NFL title, but it’s been well worth it. Bill Cowher has worked long and hard to bring the title back to Pittsburgh, so congrats to him and their outstanding season. After the Steelers lost 3 straight to go to 7-5, I was a little worried; but they went on a great run and proved that they are the true champs. Here’s to returning for a repeat next season.

I’ve been saying for weeks now that the Steelers would beat the Colts…and it turns out I was right! The Steelers have really turned it on since they’re 3 game losing streak in the middle of the season, and are r2 eally playing well. I feel a lot better about their Super Bowl chances in this year’s AFC Championship game against the Broncos than I did last year against the Patrios, since they’re playing much better this year. I’m gonna go ahead and predict a win over the Broncos next Sunday (nobody outruns the Steelers), and then a win in the Super Bowl 2 weeks after that. You heard it here first!

Congrats to the University of Texas Longhorns on their amazing victory last night over USC for the college football national championship! I watched every UT game this year, and was impressed all season with their skill, heart, and determination. I’ve been predicting for the past month that they would win, and they proved me right. I’m not sure that they were a better team, but they certainly pulled it out in the end and got the win. I haven’t seen a game that exciting since the Ohio State/Miami matchup a few years ago, and I know that I have never seen a better college football player than Vince Young. It’s nice to see all of their hard work and determination pay off.

I just finished the book Team of Rivals : The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It’s an Abraham Lincoln biography that shows his considerable leadership and political skills as the President of the United States, as he dealt with his Cabinet composed of men who were his politlcal rivals for the 1860 Republican presidential nomination, and negotiated the Union’s way to a victory in the Civil War. It’s not the usual extensive biography focused on the basic facts of his life, but puts a context on Lincoln’s decisions during his presidency and the thought process behind how he arrived at them through analysis of well-known historical facts, plus his personal diary and the diaries of those around him.

The most interesting aspect of the book was certainly his strong leaderhsip and political abilities. The stories of the ways he was able to turn enemies into friends, navigate and manipulate political allies and opponents, and mold a war and a country into his image were amazing, and really show his true greatness. If someone with Lincoln’s abilities hadn’t been President at that exact moment in history, there’s no telling how the United States would have turned out.

Overall the book was a great read and, surprisingly, a pageturner. The author worked on the book for 10 years, and it really shows in the depth of the personal details presented about Lincoln and those around him. I fully expect it to be nominated for a Pulitzer, and wouldn’t be surprised to see it win.