I'm moving this blog. It has been inactive for quite some time now. I actually will post to my self-hosted site at http://www.digitallachance.com/blog/.
Not that I actually got lots of traffic here, but I'm hoping to increase it on the new site.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Taking blogging seriously
So, I decided that I should take this blogging thing a bit more seriously because it would seem that people can make money at it. I've found a few pages of bloggers out there that post about making money on the fruit of their posts.
http://i.nconspicuo.us/2007/05/01/april-web-traffic-and-revenue-report/
http://www.johntp.com/make-money-online/
I figured, why not. I know I can contribute to the Internet population at large with what I learn through experience.
First, how to get started. I've read a few more pages of other bloggers and took notes on how their web sites are coming across. From what I see, WordPress is the thing to use if you are serious about blogging. I've got some an older computer (Compaq DeskPro with a Pentium II 400Mhz) in my basement that I've used to play around with Linux, so I decided to used that and host my own blog.
I've played around with Debian for a while. I am far from being a Linux expert, but I've been using different flavors of *nix for years now (AIX, HP-UX, SCO and the first viable commercial clone of Unix, Coherent - ah the memories).
First order of the day, update my Debian install. I was running the Sarge version and knew that a major upgrade has been released, so I downloaded the Sketch (4.0) version from debian.org and did the minimal network install. After I installed SSH so that I no longer had to sit at my Linux box in my cold basement.
apt-get install ssh
Google is my friend, so I found a good article on DebianAdmin.com. Let's see, I need Apache2 - checked - it is now part of Sarge, I also added php4 stuff:
apt-get install libapache2-mod-php4 php4-cli php4-common php4-cgi
I need MySQL - I run apt-get from the article.
apt-get install mysql-server-4.1 mysql-client-4.1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Note, selecting mysql-client-5.0 instead of mysql-client-4.1
I guess it's an older article since MySQL 5 is now the current version. So I installed version 5. From there, I basically followed instructions from another page on DebianAdmin.com on how to setup MySQL.
Now here's where things got a bit confusing for me. The DebianAdmin.com article is not very clear on how to setup Apache to display your WordPress installation. Part of it is due to my lack of experience with Apache. There are a few key decision required at this time. Will you have your blogs show up under it's own domain (http://blog.acme.com) or as a sub-directory (http://www.acme.com/blog)? I wanted the sub-directory, so the instructions were fine after all.
http://i.nconspicuo.us/2007/05/01/april-web-traffic-and-revenue-report/
http://www.johntp.com/make-money-online/
I figured, why not. I know I can contribute to the Internet population at large with what I learn through experience.
First, how to get started. I've read a few more pages of other bloggers and took notes on how their web sites are coming across. From what I see, WordPress is the thing to use if you are serious about blogging. I've got some an older computer (Compaq DeskPro with a Pentium II 400Mhz) in my basement that I've used to play around with Linux, so I decided to used that and host my own blog.
I've played around with Debian for a while. I am far from being a Linux expert, but I've been using different flavors of *nix for years now (AIX, HP-UX, SCO and the first viable commercial clone of Unix, Coherent - ah the memories).
First order of the day, update my Debian install. I was running the Sarge version and knew that a major upgrade has been released, so I downloaded the Sketch (4.0) version from debian.org and did the minimal network install. After I installed SSH so that I no longer had to sit at my Linux box in my cold basement.
apt-get install ssh
Google is my friend, so I found a good article on DebianAdmin.com. Let's see, I need Apache2 - checked - it is now part of Sarge, I also added php4 stuff:
apt-get install libapache2-mod-php4 php4-cli php4-common php4-cgi
I need MySQL - I run apt-get from the article.
apt-get install mysql-server-4.1 mysql-client-4.1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Note, selecting mysql-client-5.0 instead of mysql-client-4.1
I guess it's an older article since MySQL 5 is now the current version. So I installed version 5. From there, I basically followed instructions from another page on DebianAdmin.com on how to setup MySQL.
Now here's where things got a bit confusing for me. The DebianAdmin.com article is not very clear on how to setup Apache to display your WordPress installation. Part of it is due to my lack of experience with Apache. There are a few key decision required at this time. Will you have your blogs show up under it's own domain (http://blog.acme.com) or as a sub-directory (http://www.acme.com/blog)? I wanted the sub-directory, so the instructions were fine after all.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Tablet PC is awesome!
I got a tablet PC at the office and I must say I really like it. It is a ThinkPad X41. I started taking notes using Microsoft Journal since it came as part of XP tablet edition. It was alright, but I had some concerns as to how I would file and organize the notes. A good friend of mine who gut his tablet PC a few months before me told me about Microsoft OneNote 2003.
Now, I had heard of OneNote before but never really took the time to dig into what it was all about. It was not specifically designed for Tablet PC's per se, but it lends itself very well for use on Tablet PCs. That's because the purpose of OneNote is for note taking (hence the product name). It addressed my #1 concern with the use of Journal; filing and organization.
Of course, people do look at me funny now that I take my tablet PC everywhere, but they'll get used to it. The other side benefit of having your desktop with you everywhere you go is access to e-mails. Thanks to Outlook 2003 caching mode, combined with a simple search tool like Lookout, I always have access to my e-mails wherever I go at the office.
Now, I had heard of OneNote before but never really took the time to dig into what it was all about. It was not specifically designed for Tablet PC's per se, but it lends itself very well for use on Tablet PCs. That's because the purpose of OneNote is for note taking (hence the product name). It addressed my #1 concern with the use of Journal; filing and organization.
Of course, people do look at me funny now that I take my tablet PC everywhere, but they'll get used to it. The other side benefit of having your desktop with you everywhere you go is access to e-mails. Thanks to Outlook 2003 caching mode, combined with a simple search tool like Lookout, I always have access to my e-mails wherever I go at the office.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
The Devil is in the Details
As the manager of application support in a corporation in the financial sector (lending), I find myself tracking a thousand little things. I'm coming to realize that this job is really all about juggling. I hope I won't drop anything too important.
I was given a rather interesting project to do with something called IT Systems Management (ITSM). Basically, that just means using software tools to monitor and automate the management of IT systems. It looks like our tool of choice will be from HP. In particular, we are looking to start with OpenView Internet Services (OVIS), and OpenView Transaction Analyzer (OVTA).
OVIS is a great application and will definitely help. I haven't had much of a chance to see OVTA yet, but that will complement OVIS. That's because OVIS is good at looking at your application from an end-user's perspective by generating synthetic transactions and recording the performance of your systems. OVTA is more used to do deep diagnostics and troubleshooting.
I'll post more on those tools later.
I was given a rather interesting project to do with something called IT Systems Management (ITSM). Basically, that just means using software tools to monitor and automate the management of IT systems. It looks like our tool of choice will be from HP. In particular, we are looking to start with OpenView Internet Services (OVIS), and OpenView Transaction Analyzer (OVTA).
OVIS is a great application and will definitely help. I haven't had much of a chance to see OVTA yet, but that will complement OVIS. That's because OVIS is good at looking at your application from an end-user's perspective by generating synthetic transactions and recording the performance of your systems. OVTA is more used to do deep diagnostics and troubleshooting.
I'll post more on those tools later.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Time for a change!
Well, it finally happened! I've changed job. After being let go by my previous employer due to a change of ownership in the corporation, the new owner figured that the product that I was so busy at maintaining and improving for the past five years is so far ahead of the competition that he no longer needed an IT department.
Yep, although not large anymore (it shrunk to from 5 to 3 people including me in the past six months), the whole thing was canned. The thinking does not make sense to me or anybody else who I talked to. No matter, this is actually a good change for me.
I have been hired right away by a much larger corporation as the manager for application support. This is definitely a change for me, but one in the direction I was aiming. As a functional manager, I no longer have to be hands on anymore. The job description for this position does not include any type of hands on technical work (ie: programming of any sort or network/system/security administration). I now have about a douzain people reporting to me, therefore this job is all about management.
So, I shall now post about that experience instead. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more regular...
Later all!
Yep, although not large anymore (it shrunk to from 5 to 3 people including me in the past six months), the whole thing was canned. The thinking does not make sense to me or anybody else who I talked to. No matter, this is actually a good change for me.
I have been hired right away by a much larger corporation as the manager for application support. This is definitely a change for me, but one in the direction I was aiming. As a functional manager, I no longer have to be hands on anymore. The job description for this position does not include any type of hands on technical work (ie: programming of any sort or network/system/security administration). I now have about a douzain people reporting to me, therefore this job is all about management.
So, I shall now post about that experience instead. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more regular...
Later all!
Monday, March 13, 2006
The McKinsey Quarterly: The next generation of in-house software development
I love these guys. The are nice enough to publish some of their material for free. If you are interested on the business side of the IT industry (and you should unless management in IT is not your cup of tea), this is worthwhile to subscribe to.
If you are already registered, this link will take you to the article. Otherwise, it will take you to a registration page. You have to be registered to see any of their articles.
The McKinsey Quarterly: The next generation of in-house software development
If you are already registered, this link will take you to the article. Otherwise, it will take you to a registration page. You have to be registered to see any of their articles.
The McKinsey Quarterly: The next generation of in-house software development
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Free conference of how ordinary people are cashing in on the Internet
The Entrepreneur's Home Business Blog
Yeah, I just got the same snail mail letter from Clint Sanderson. The stuff seemed a bit suspicious from the begining since they never really tell you how you'll be making all that money.
I guess that since people are so getting used to receiving "not-so-honest" e-mails (SPAM), it seems to be a bit more trustworthy if you receive it in the mail.
Yeah, I just got the same snail mail letter from Clint Sanderson. The stuff seemed a bit suspicious from the begining since they never really tell you how you'll be making all that money.
I guess that since people are so getting used to receiving "not-so-honest" e-mails (SPAM), it seems to be a bit more trustworthy if you receive it in the mail.
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