A Lifetime In A Month

First, apologies for the dearth of posts in January. The circumstances as follows:

I want to weave a story for you which captures a small part of the essence of how, in just one month (January 2007) and through a series of moments thereafter, the world became so different for me, for our large extended family, and for a number of magnificent and very special people deeply loved by my darling wife, Sabrina Kerim, and I.

This story, and possibly in some way your story also, may continue over a series of blog posts in the coming days, and possibly even, continuing throughout life's journey here on earth.

On January 5th, my darling wife received the sad news of the death of her beloved Auntie Alice. Alice was a second Mom to Sabrina, and Alice became deeply loved by many many people during her 80+ years of living on this earth. To say we were profoundly affected in emotional terms by the passing of this wonderful women would be a significant understatement.

A few days after the funeral, Sab's sister (age 57) suddenly began experiencing physical mobility and mental acuity problems for which the subsequent medical diagnosis was "brain tumor". She was operated (apparently with success) on Thursday of last week (January 25th) and released from the hospital this Tuesday (January 30th).

Yesterday (February 1st) Sab's sister was readmitted to the hospital (after 15+ hours in emergency) due to a significant deterioration in her well-being which is being caused by swelling in the brain. She is in tough shape right now and our large extended family is stressed.

Our stress is compounded by the structural weakness inherent in the medical infrastructure in Canada, not enough doctors, not enough nurses, not enough orderlies, not enough beds relative to the medical needs of patients. As a consequence, doctors are being forced to make tough decisions as to to who gets a hospital bed and in determining how long patients get to stay in the hospital. The families oftentimes have to be diligent and exceptionally firm with the hospitals in order that their loved ones can receive the medical care they so badly need. All I can say at this time about this health care situation is "bloody hell".

Coincident with all of the foregoing during the month of January 2007, I have been learning how to work with (AWESOME) partners and principal shareholders in a new international venture. This is a new experience for me as I've always run business initiatives on my own. I asked my colleagues to help me make this transition to a new way of working and they have been (and are continuing) to be a tremendous support.

In sum, life can be challenging at times, and yet, in faith I can continue to express...

Oh Joy!

Knowledge Workers and Money!

This blog post regarding nine key points which so positively and constructively drive my life is in part inspired by a comment made to me last year by Sarah Blow, my friend and "ethos of blogging" mentor, talented UK software engineer, Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners and so much more.

Please note that the first four points were originally brought into my mind and spirit by the writings of Peter F. Drucker (passed away at age 92 on November 11, 2005), with the last five points being mine and having been developed over the last 16 years.

Here goes and hope you find this helpful and thought-provoking...

1. We live in a knowledge world.

2. There is no meaningful theory for knowledge work.

3. There are few (if any) meaningful measures with respect to evaluating the effectiveness (i.e., the value) of knowledge work and knowledge workers.

4. What are the future implications for organizations and for society at large with respect to knowledge work and knowledge workers?

5. Knowledge workers have to love their burro because whoever knows least in the knowledge world ends up getting their poor burro’s *ss kicked! Note: a burro is a donkey or ass.

6. My Mission: What do I have to do in order to enable knowledge workers to become financially independent so they can have life balance and the economic freedom to go out into the world and do magical things that help others?

7. My lifetime economic performance question (a work in progress until the day I die)… How much money can a knowledge worker earn from creating value?

8. We do not run for money. Rather, money is merely a useful by-product of creating economic value for others. Further, one true value of money for a knowledge worker is that it enables a quality life-balance and the freedom to create magically useful things that help others.

9. It all comes down to people (i.e., God’s creation) and we have to love, enable and lift people up. Once they reach that higher plane of existence then “all things are possible to they that believe.”

Oh Joy!

Five Things You May Not Know About Me

A million thanks to my wonderful friend Sarah Blow and to the lovely and gentle-hearted Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble for inspiring me to join into this fun!

1. I spent a lot of my childhood summers on a very rural family farm in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and I LOVED it!

2. I LOVE BIG cities.

3. I have to get away from unkind people VERY quickly.

4. When I was a young boy I LOVED to go stream-fishing for rainbow trout and salmon and... it didn't matter if I caught anything.

5. Although born into the Roman Catholic faith I was blessed to marry my darling wife Sabrina Kerim, who happens to be of Albanian heritage and of the Muslim faith.

BTW I've tagged Dennis Howlett only to later discover that he had already been tagged and in the spirit of fun did his bit on December 21st (it's a fun read) and Sigurd Rinde of thingamy and Jeff Wheeler, my young friend from America, top-flight designer and all-around computer genius.

Oh Joy!

What A Party... Happy New Year 2007!

Awesome!

How wonderful to conclude one year and begin another with family and friends!

One of our sons (Lucas, age 30) invited my darling wife and I to a New Year's Eve Bash celebrated at their home in Mississauga (a city just to the West of Toronto) and WOW... everyone enjoyed an AWESOME evening!

In attendance were thirteen in all: four of our five sons and one of our three daughters (Sender, Lucas, Aaron, Joshua and Rivcah) along with Sender's fiancée Charmaine (a gem and successful working actor originally from Saskatoon Saskatchewan on Canada's vast Western Prairies), two of Char's cousins also originally from Saskatoon, Tina (a very talented set designer) and her brother Kurtis (a young computer genius and almost as tall as a mountain), Luke's wonderful girl Karen (nutritional science graduate and hydrology policy guru) and her lovely friend (recent Masters in 15th Century Art History and now working at the University of Toronto), Riv's love of life Matt (a very talented automotive mechanic and incredibly great human being) and Jen, a lovely young friend of my son Aaron.

Champagne flowed as did the conversation, interspersed always with laughter and love!

Oh Joy!

Thank You For An Awesome 2006

This ancient (admittedly very cool) guy enjoyed an AWESOME year in 2006 and a lot of wonderful people deserve a HUGE "Thank You" for making it happen. So here goes.

To Sabrina Kerim, my totally amazing and AWESOME darling wife... Thank YOU.

To my eight totally amazing (now grown) children... Naiomi, Shea, Sender, Lucas, Aaron, Joshua, Tova and Rivcah... Thank YOU.

To my three delicious grandchildren... Thank YOU.

To my wonderful sister and two very special brothers... Thank YOU.

To my many friends and colleagues around the world with whom I play (another way to spell work) and make magnificent contributions every day to help others in our chosen vocation of business... Thank YOU.

To those very special people in the social interaction and blogging worlds who have added so much to my life in 2006... Thank YOU.

In particular the following totally amazing and totally AWESOME people deserve special recognition...

Sarah Blow, my friend and "ethos of blogging" mentor, exceptionally talented UK software engineer, Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners, Barcelona Girl Geek Dinners, Girly Geekdom and so much more... Thank YOU.

Hugh MacLeod, the totally creative and wildly original artistic creator of the magnificeient Gaping Void Blog... Thank YOU.

Dennis Howlett, wonderful thinker and writer of the AccMan Blog, focusing on the issues of professional accountancy, technology and business... Thank YOU.

Jeff Wheeler, the oh-so-young and totally amazing totally competent website and blog designer and huge Django fan. It is almost impossible to believe that Jeff is only 16 and still in high school! He inspires me with his professional competence and he is teaching me the lingo of young people and so much more... Thank YOU.

Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan, the Founders of HubSpot, who share a magnificent and totally amazing desire to reach out to the millions of people owning a very small business (VSBs) and helping them to successfully compete in the global marketplace... Thank YOU.

Michael O'Connor Clarke, his magnificent way with words and his Celtic way of moving through this beautiful world moves my spirit... Thank YOU.

Sigurd Rinde, the Founder of thingamy, the "Here's 30 Megs, Go Run the World" genius and mad cyclist... Thank YOU.

Thank YOU all and best wishes coming your way for totally AWESOME health, happiness and prosperity in 2007!

Oh Joy!

Christmas 2006

Luke 2:1-20

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment, when Quirin'i-us was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be enrolled, each to his own city.4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; 11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!"

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; 18 and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Oh Joy!

Maggie K. Fox has Spunk!

Maggie turned me down flat! And I've just got to share this GREAT! story!

We briefly met at the AWESOME pre-Mesh 2007 event in mid November.

Thereafter we began an email exchange wherein Maggie asked if I might be willing to provide a little mentorship. Now this was an important question because I had to make decision to commit time and energy as when I make a commitment I go 1000% because that's what works for me. In any case I said "yes" and that's what ended up inspiring me (totally unexpectedly I might add).

Lot of emails back and forth, lots of questions and answers and I became really motivated because the harder I pushed Maggie the more she would do and... Always very high quality stuff on her part.

I began researching social media and social interaction in order to provide benefit to Maggie, and in the process, my excitment grew and grew. I also prepared an information package relating to Maggie's efforts with respect to developing her company, Social Media Group. And, along the way realized that I wanted to take an active role in helping Maggie to acquire clients and revenues, no small consideration on my part.

During our luncheon (Maggie invited), we had a fabulous conversation, I turned over the information package, and I opened a door to the possibility of my helping Maggie grow her firm.

The following week, Maggie turned me down flat and... For one of the greatest and most valid reasons in the entire world. In her words, "I want to do it first myself!"

Of course this ancient (and admittedly very cool) guy was a tad miffed (after all I am one of the very best in the world at what I do), and at the same time, I was loving Maggie's spunk and she inspired me even more!

Now before continuing this story I want to make clear in the spirit of full disclosure and complete transparency that I do not work for Maggie or her company, I do not receive anything in the way of compensation (other than that one magnificent luncheon), and we will not be working together in the future. 'nuf said and here goes...

You ought to hire Maggie and her company to help you with respect to social media and social interaction. Why... easy... Maggie inspired me and she will inspire you. She has AWESOME ideas for those in the fast moving retail sector. So Nike, Holt Renfrew and you other cream of the crop players ought to hire Maggie fast. She will tell you the unvarnished truth. She will be a great coach and mentor to you and your team with respect to social media. She will laugh when you win and she will shed tears with you when things are tough. Maggie will help you create a dialogue with your customers that you never dreamed possible and... your customers will begin an entirely new kind of relationship with your company and your products. You will discover that Maggie really care about you and about your customers and she will give you way more than you could ever expect.

Maggie K. Fox inspires people to even greater greatness!

Oh Joy!

Living Your Dreams is Hot!!!

What are YOUR! Dreams!!

Look up! Look forward! Look inside! Look outside!

What are those beautifully inspiring pictures you are seeing!

What are those just right sounds you are hearing!

What are those incredibly wonderful feelings you are feeling!

What are those beautiful just right smells you are smelling right now!

What are those gorgeous tastes you are tasting!

NOW... You are in the right frame to take action and live YOUR! Dreams!!

If this ancient (and admittedly very cool) guy at darn near 60 can do it and live it every day, YOU! can just easily imagine what this beautiful world of wonderful experiences holds for YOU!!

Oh Joy!

Think Differently... Brainpark is Hot!

Middle of the night here in Toronto and couldn't sleep (a not uncommon experience for ancient guys even if they are awesomely cool!).

A great opportunity for me to get TONS of useful stuff done and loving the uninterrupted free time to discover something new, something fresh and delicious!

Speaking of new, fresh and delicious... I discovered brainpark just before I thought I was about to crash for a good night's sleep. On this little gem of a site there were two (count 'em two) ABSOLUTELY AWESOME presentations (look in the green grass to see the links).... The first presentation is eight ways to think like an innovator and the second is 10 ways to re-create your world.

These brief presentations are powerful and highly beneficial at multiple levels of personal understanding and experience... They will brightly hue your imagination with the sensual fragrance of flowers, lift your soul and spirit free to fly high and... they will awaken your mind and heart to think differently!

The fresh minds and spirits behind these AWESOME presentations are Bobby John and Mark Dowds of Brainpark and Creationstep. Bobby is based in the USA and Mark in Canada. Both of these dynamic, creative and talented young men have a solid history in starting and developing companies and share a vision to create companies with meaning.

AWESOME guys!

Oh Joy!

Snap is Way Cool and... Very Hot!

I’ve added a way cool and FREE feature to my blog... Snap... It's A New Way to Search!

You’ll see an adorable balloon appear with a visual image of the URL link along with a super search tool as you hover over an external link. Of course. you can still click on the link as usual.

Snap is HOT!

Oh Joy!

Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble

I enjoyed the delightful experience of discovering Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble (a Gem!) via Sarah Blow's Girly Geekdom November 30th post regarding the recent (and Hugely Successful!) London Girl Geek Dinners 9.

FYI Sarah Blow is a talented young UK software engineer, Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners and Barcelona Girl Geek Dinners, and... my friend and "ethos of blogging" mentor.

Maryam's London Girl Geek Dinners presentation (captured on video by some thoughtful soul) captured my heart as she spoke of her thoughts and emotions about entering the world of blogging. I highly recommend this lovely video to everyone interested in blogging and the blogosphere, especially for those wondering if they ought to give blogging a try.

I loved Maryam's honesty, good humor and openness so much that over the weekend I decided to go on a Maryam video search to see if I could discover other videos and... YAHOO!

My initial video interview discoveries quickly revealed that Maryam is a major supporter of Magnificient Women! and their Magnificent Journeys!

The first video (Outstanding!) interview with Betsy Aoki... The ever so talented and Magnificent! Woman! who formerly led efforts behind the MSDN blog network and is now leading Microsoft's Q & A search engine who speaks openly and sincerely about developing communities online, being a girl geek, the Microsoft culture and so much more.

The second (Outstanding!) video interview with Liz Lawley... Social Computing professor at Rochester University and Magnificent! Woman! as she speaks about her time working at Microsoft research, the future of social software, why she thinks there are few women following in math and computer sciences and why she likes playing video games with her sons.

Maryam' blog, Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble's musing about Life, Love and Everything Else... is well worth reading, and Maryam often includes links to her (Outstanding!) video interviews.

Let's raise a glass (Champagne of course!) to Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble... A Magnificent Woman! with a Magnificent Journey!

Oh Joy!

Magnificent Women and Their Journeys... Maggie K. Fox

I met the totally amazing Maggie K Fox at the AWESOME! Toronto Mesh Meetup at the Irish Embassy Pub on the evening of November 15th.

Maggie provided her business card during our brief introduction and I decided to check out her blog early on the following morning and... That's when things began to get interesting!

I was astounded [1] Maggie had already written an outstanding post regarding the pre-Mesh 2007 event, including interesting vignettes on people she had met, and [2] therein included a (highly perceptive) observation (bolding is mine), "...Sheamus. We chatted for a bit, I wish now I’d asked more questions (he asked a lot)..."

Thereafter we began an email exchange and on November 20th Maggie included this eye-popping and spirit-catching comment, "...I mostly believe in the challenge of doing something new and pushing my knowledge and intellect to the max."

WOW! I immediately knew I had had just been privleged to met a Magnificent woman with a Magnificent Journey!

A little about about Maggie...

Maggie is the founder and principal of Social Media Group and is also the managing partner of New Sun Creative Inc., where she works with her kick-*ss great Creative Partner, Randy Cameron, in a very hot boutique custom publications firm working primarily in print for large retailers like Home Hardware and U.S.-based Do it Best. Within three years, New Sun had expanded into online development and revenues had more than tripled. With a heavy focus on great content, usability and design, New Sun has created websites and editorial for Home Hardware’s Home at Home magazine, Home Hardware’s Lumber and Building Materials Division, Transcontinental Printing, Home Furniture Stores Limited, Do it Best, Avery Dennison Canada and Truman Engineering Services, to name just a few!

Just imagine... "I mostly believe in the challenge of doing something new and pushing my knowledge and intellect to the max."

Oh Joy!

Magnificent Women and Their Journeys... Susan Scrupski!

Susan is the the Founder and Principal of IT Services Advisory LLC (ITSA) which provides deep and wonderful world-class services to clients on Internet, software and related business issues and... Susan also has a super, well-written and interesting blog entitled ITSinsinder!

Moreover... Susan is a GREAT! Mom, a kind, thoughtful and giving person and... she really cares about others, even when it isn't always so convenient. In particular I LOVE how she demonstrates the courage to rethink her life in order to find the ways that make her feel great and which also enables her to shine, both professionally and personally.

From the perspective of this ancient guy that GREAT! attitude and commitment to living a joy-filled high-quality life takes deep personal integrity and courage!

Let's raise a glass this day (Champagne of course!) in celebration of Susan and her Magnificent Journey!

Oh Joy!

Rivers of Joy... Work and Relationships!

Today citizens of the United States of America celebrate their Thanksgiving day, and my family and I take this opportunity to extend very best wishes for a "Happy Thansgiving" and for a wonderful, safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Rivers of Joy in Work and Relationships!

When I was a young entrepreneur back in the seventies and early eighties I often experienced feelings of joy from my work. Then after a decade of unreasonable success including lots of dough I somehow lost that feeling of focus and joy. In fact things got kind of dark for me for a while.

Being a thinker and somewhat (read highly) analytical I tried to figure out what happened, in particular, because feeling joy felt so good! And, when I now look back it was rather hard work!

Identifying and re-evaluating my values. What was important to me? What didn't matter? What mattered less. What did I really want? How could I get it? etc. And of course, always looking to rediscover my joy.

A few years ago things seemed to somehow come together (for which I thank God!). I gradually began to live differently, to move though the world differently and in ways that were good and which made me and others feel good. Again gradually, as I moved more and more into that space that was just right for me I noticed my joy beginning to return and... Joy increasing.

Today I love my work! I love my contributions to others! I love the people with whom I work and hang out with! I love the Internet! I love the social interaction that has such a beautiful life of its own through this ether of the Internet. I love the incredible diversity of talents and positive energy that flows from a million points across the ether of the Internet.

I love the beautiful surprises... Like today on American Thanksgiving a lovely person, Susan Scrupski, the talented ITSinsider blogger and Principal at IT Services Advisory, LLC took the time to post a beautiful and touching comment to one of my blog posts.

Susan's comment touched my heart!

Thank you Susan and... Down with those occasional bears!

Oh Joy!

Think Different!

With thanks to Apple by way of Ben Casnocha the eighteen year old entrepreneur and writer from San Francisco ...

Think Different

(Apple Computer Ad Campaign)

Here’s to the crazy ones.

The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.

The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire.

They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Oh Joy!

Life Balance: Work, Family and Personal

I realized (after the fact) that I had gotten out of balance last week relative to appropriate rest for my body and mind.

So excited and energized by my work and the great people I work and hang out with that at (almost) age 60 (January 2007) I sometimes forget I am not a youngster any more. Last week I worked over 80 hours and Friday I worked 22 1/2 hours out of 24. And, of course, exercised only once during the entire week.

Saturday I was exhausted, still had chores (such as shopping at Kensington Market which I love as cooking is one of my hobbies), about 20 business emails to process and one afternoon business call. I finally laid down about 4:30 in the afternoon to close my eyes for a few moments rest. Next thing I knew it was 6:30 Sunday morning and I had enjoyed 14 straight hours of blissful restorative rest! And, I made sure that Sunday was a total veg out zero bandwidth day. For example: I love doing laundry and house cleaning, so simple and pleasurable.

These experiences got me to wondering...

I'll bet people strive to achieve balance in their lives. In particular, achieving a reasonable balance with respect to family, work, personal, friends, education and play / relaxation. I also get the sense that we feel better when we are living our lives in a balanced way.

So I began to further wonder if other people from time-to-time also experience challenges in achieving this blissful (and useful) state of balance.

And, what happens to you when things get out of whack!

Just for fun I am including a few dictionary descriptives regarding balance relative to the discussion at hand:

balance noun... an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady

balance... stability of one's mind or feelings : the way to some kind of peace 2 a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions [in sing.] try to keep a balance between work and relaxation.

2 offset or compare the value of (one thing) with another : the cost of obtaining such information needs to be balanced against its benefits. • establish equal or appropriate proportions of elements in : balancing work and family life.

DERIVATIVES balancer noun ORIGIN Middle English (sense 3) : from Old French balance (noun), balancer (verb), based on late Latin (libra) bilanx ‘(balance) having two scalepans,’ from bi- ‘twice, having two’ + lanx ‘scalepan.’

Oh Joy!

Jonathan Ive... Gasp!

Magnificient Industrial design!

Jonathan Ive and his industrial design team are responsible for the beautiful design of Apple's iMac, iPod, iBook, G4 Cube, Xserve and more!

Jonathan P. Ive (per Wikipedia) is a british born industrial designer. He has received many honors for his work, and Digg just published a story that Jonathan has now also been awarded a CBE by the Queen of England... YAHOO!

Jonathan's industrial design work is so off-the-scale magnificent that it takes my breath away!

Oh Joy!

attap is Hot! personal dna... What Fun!

attap is a way cool outfit which reflects all that is good about the concepts of social interaction as embodied within Web 2.0 initiatives and... The attap kick-*ss great team creates and provides way fun and way useful web-based tools!

For example... attap's personal dna Your true self revealed is so much fun and so insightful! Try it out. BTW my profile results are here.

Also and for sure... The attap blog is delicious!

God, I LOVE the Internet and the incredible range of talents and resources out there in this beautiful ether!

Oh Joy!

Magnificent Women and Their Journeys!

With thanks to Penelope Trunk's very hot blog Brazen Careerist I discovered a fabulous Newsweek Business article of September 25, 2006 which profiles twenty Magnificent Women in Leadership. This kick-*ass great article is entitled Lessons We Have Learned: Accomplished leaders in their varied fields share their hard-earned wisdom about success, failure and not letting yourself off the hook.

Out of my love and appreciation to totally wonderful and magnificent women who influence my life for the better...

+ My totally amazing, feisty and Magnificent Irish Mom (Virginia Margaret Doyle, now up in Heaven!) who was also a career woman back in the 40's and 50's when it wasn't so socially acceptable (acknowledging, honouring and celebrating your journey Mom!).

+ My totally magnificent darling wife Sabrina, an extraordinary women who has lifted me up so many times and in so many ways that she now holds an honorary stevedoring license. My relationship with you makes me a better man in every moment and I love you with all my heart. And, to top it off... The "Yoda of Relationship" who sixteen years ago introduced me to the reality that "there are GREAT women in this world" and to "how women move through this world, including how they manage"... Thank you, thank you, thank you!

+ My three kick-*ass wonderfully magnificent daughters (Naiomi, Tova and Rivcah) and their incredibly exciting and enriching lives ahead to make this world a better place... Love ya, love ya, love ya!

+ My two extra delicious granddaughters... An entirely new generation of magnificent women for the better future of this planet. You go girls!

+ The kind and generous Sarah Blow (UK software engineer, Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners and Barcelona Girl Geek Dinners and Girly Geekdom)... A wonderful teacher and thought-provoker regarding the "ethos of blogging" and in supporting me to begin my first blog... Thank you Sarah!

To Penelope Trunk and her Brazen Careerist blog who through her totally awesome writing abilities introduced me to a number of fresh and original ideas, and in a way, who also influenced my writing of this post... Thank you Penelope!

I highly recommend this article celebrating women!

Oh Joy!

Penelope Trunk's Blog is Hot!

Penelope Trunk's Blog, Brazen Careerist, has an OUTSTANDINGLY excellent post dated November 10, 2006 and entitled, The Easiest Instruction for How To Start A Blog.

I remember the intellectual and emotional challenges faced when comtemplating the prospect of starting my first blog. For example... Lack of understanding regarding the "ethos of blogging", not knowing where to start, not knowing if I had something to say, concerns about the time comittments, would anyone read my blog.

In fact I may not have taken the first big step into the blogosphere had it not been for the gentle support, encouragement and wonderful blogging education provided to me by Sarah Blow (UK software engineer and Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners and Girly Geekdom)... A BIG thank you Sarah!

Well these many months later I discovered Penelope's post which so beautifully addresses the interests of the ever so many people who want to begin a blog and need to easily know how to start.

Well done Penelope!

FYI per Penelope's Brazen Careerist About Page...

Penelope is a columnist at the Boston Globe. Her syndicated column has run in more than 100 publications including the Wall St. Journal’s Career Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Penelope’s blog, Brazen Careerist, has been featured in publications such as TIME magazine and the London Guardian.

Penelope’s forthcoming book is Brazen Careerist: New Rules for Success (Warner Books, May 2007).

Penelope’s prior experience includes more than ten years in the technology and consumer products industries. She launched new businesses for multinational corporations and founded three of her own companies. Penelope has endured an IPO, a merger and a bankruptcy. She also played professional beach volleyball.

Oh Joy!

State of the Blogosphere, October, 2006

David Sifry (Founder and CEO of Technorati) has produced an interesting, informative and useful report entitled, State of the Blogosphere, October, 2006... David's report includes excellent analysis and is accompanied by first-rate graphs and charts... well worth reading and his findings well worth some thought and consideration.

Remembrance Day 2006

On Remembrance Day I pause and reflect...

Thinking of the sacrifices made by so many men and women in war, and of their families and friends left behind, for some sadly forever.

I think of my father, Captain Joe MacLean, as a very young man during WW II, physically wounded twice in Europe and wounded emotionally for so many years thereafter.

I think of my mother, Lieutenant Virginia Doyle, as a very young nursing sister during WWII, first in England and later moving to Europe as the war progressed, caring for the wounded, sick and dying boys and men.

I think of the elderly former Canadian soldier who fought in Burma, and his having given me his "Burmese Star" for safe-keeping and as a reminder to honor his memory and sacrifices made by his fellow soldiers in Burma during WWII.

I think of my uncle who lost both legs while a POW in a Japanese camp during WW II.

I think of the men and women serving in the military right now, some wounded, some dying and... I think of their familiies back at home

I think of my eight now grown children and my grandchildren for the security and freedom they enjoy, all paid for by the sacrifices, blood, agony and privations of those magnificent men and women.

God Bless you all!

Microsoft Office 2007... Gotta Have it!

I Love Google and use several of their offerings (daily) with great delight… For example: Gmail, Blogger Beta and Google Page Creator.

Furthermore as a long-time Mac user I am well aware of the whacks that Microsoft gets from the Mac community and others.

Now on to Microsoft Office and from a totally personal perspective… I’ve used Office on both PCs and Macs over the years, sometimes buying upgrades, and at other times, buying fresh new versions when purchasing new computers.

My usage has been primarily confined to Word, Excel and Entourage (Mac equivalent to Outlook), and my primary focus with respect to these tools has been and remains “increased professional and economic productivity”.

And over the years by every objective standard of performance and in every case my professional and economic productivity has increased by leaps and bounds.

In time perhaps online offerings by Google and others, and/or Open Source offerings such as NeoOffice may begin to match or outpace the capabilities inherent within Microsoft Office. But today (and I must work and collaborate today) these alternate offerings are not even close to Microsoft Office capabilities.

Microsoft and Microsoft Office may have many flaws. However I keep my eye on the doughnut and not the hole. That is, does the investment result in increased professional and economic performance i.e., “increased productivity”.

Thus I look forward with excitement and enthusiasm to purchasing Microsoft Office 2007 (for Mac) as soon as it is released.

Oh Joy!

What You Want!

Molly E. Holzschlag has an interesting post of November 4, 2006 entitled What You Want, and it is well worth a read.

Good one Molly! And, in the spirit of playing this great game of life with gusto, here's my short list!!

What I want

Living a loving, courteous, kind and thoughtful life (working on it daily!)

Love and respect from my darling wife and children (got it!)

Independence (got it!)

Living my dreams (working on it daily!)

Making meaningful contributions (working on it daily!)

Competence in my work and in my life (got it!)

Respect, tears and laughter with my family, colleagues and friends (got it!)

To be a tad less serious (a ways to go!)

To cherish and honour the gifts given to me of always curious, always learning, and looking at this beautiful world with fresh eyes (working on it daily!).

To get to heaven when I die (working daily to be that quality of man and thank God for grace and mercy!)

Now I wonder, how about for you?

Oh Joy!

Dharmesh Talks to Startup Entrepreneurs

Dharmesh Shah has just written an oustanding article on his Onstartups blog entitled 9 Pithy Insights on Venture Capital.

This is a damn good article and in my view... essential reading for startup entrepreneurs in the Software and Web 2.0 worlds.

BTW Dharmesh and Brian Halligan are the very experienced and very cool co-founders of an exciting new start-up called HubSpot... exciting because of their focus on helping very small business (VSBs) to grow relationships with new and existing customers and thereby... increasing associated revenues for VSBs.

I look forward to having the opportunity to play with HubSpot's beta version in the near futre and will post about it right here.

Oh Joy!

Entrepreneurship and Learning... A Chuckle

When I was a younger fellow in my thirties I enjoyed an unreasonable amount of professional and economic success over a decade and... got to thinking "I am a genius" (the dreaded big head syndrome!).

Then... TA DA... lost a million four in 1991! Can I say "oh the wailing and the tears to learn (rather harshly I thought) that I certainly was not a genius"!

After the few months it took for me to get over the shock, and of course, permitting time for my head to return to an appropriately normal size, I decided to find out why I lost the dough-ray-me.

Up the that point I was a pretty good problem-solver and I demonstrated classic signs of newbi entrepreneur (great idea, great services, totally ignorant of business and financial management skills). Thus I went to the totally cool and totally awesome business librarians at the Toronto Reference Library, explained my oh so sad tale and asked if they would help me by putting together a reading list covering the stuff I ought to learn, hopefully including therein an answer as to why I lost all that dough (did I say "ouch!").

Well, those lovely (and knowledgeable) business librarians put together a list of 200 books, some going back to 1910 and I read every one. There's what I learned:

1. Other men and women had embarked on the journey of entrepreneurship and business and some had also taken the time to record and share their lessons learned.

2. With the degree of ignorance I previously held regarding business and financial management knowledge, and as I had been dealing in millions, it was a bloody miracle that I had not lost way more money way faster.

3. I added the important attributes of executive management and financial knowledge to my problem-solving and entrepreneurial skill-sets.

4. I learned how to "smell risk".

5. I learned that Peter F. Drucker's writings on management and society best suited my inclinations and long-term interests. In particular, Drucker introduced me to a few key concepts:

• We live in a knowledge world!
• There is no meaningful theory addressing knowledge work!
• There are few meaningful measures for evaluating the effectiveness of knowledge work, and...
• The great questions (which drive me daily!)... How does one make knowledge work productive? How do knowledge workers learn how to effectively collaborate with one another in order to accomplish meaningful and mutually shared objectives? How does one manage knowledge workers? What are the implications of knowledge work and knowledge workers for society and for the future?

6. I added a question to Drucker's insights "How does one enable knowledge workers to earn sufficiently within a personally and professionally satisfying environment such as to thereby create personal economic security and independence while they live a balanced life (e.g., accomplishing their dreams, work, personal, family, play, learning, travel, friends)?

7. I also created a distinction qualification to Drucker's insights "Whoever knows least in the knowledge world stands the best chance of getting their *ss kicked!". A few years later I rephrased this fundamental reality with a bit of humor "Knowledge workers have to love their burro, because... whoever knows least in the knowledge world will end up getting their poor burro's *ss kicked!".

Oh joy!

Women in Technology: Guardian Article

The Guardian has written an excellent article which addresses the issue of Women in Technology. The insights and observations made by talented, competent and dynamic women (successfully) working in technology are well-worth reading!

Sarah Blow, awesome UK software engineer, Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners, my good friend and a technological mentor was interviewed and liberally quoted within this Guardian article.

Speaking of Girl Geek Dinners and for all you wonderful women in technology... Sarah has organized two (Wow! two!!) great girl geek dinners in Barcelona for November. These dinners coincide with (per Sarah's blog post)... "...Barcelona Girl Geek Dinners are just starting to come together, as such I have opened up the registration on the wiki pages. The event is open to anyone at TechEd and ITForum 2006 and also to those girly geeks based in Barcelona itself! It's even open to the guy geeks so long as they are invited by a girly geek who is also attending the event."

Exciting happenings and great news all around!

Oh joy!

Hackers not Crackers

Eric Steven Raymond has authored an extremely interesting and informative article entitled How To Become A Hacker. Well worh a read!

Eric also makes an important distinction in the preamble to this (excellent) article, "Hackers build things, crackers break them".

As a person who has dedicated his life to learning and to solving economic performance problems... I LOVE "The Hacker Attitude" as defined by Eric:

1. The world is full of fascinating problems waiting to be solved.

2. No problem should ever have to be solved twice.

3. Boredom and drudgery are evil.

4. Freedom is good.

5. Attitude is no substitute for competence.

Oh Joy!

Visual Model for Complex Problem Solving

Marshall Clemens of Idiagram has developed an exciting visual model to describe a process for complex problem solving. Well worth a visit and some thoughtful consideration.

Resolving Business Problems 001

Well, let's get busy... I am putting into action an idea recently suggested to me by my good friend from the UK, Sarah Blow (talented software engineer, and Founder of London Girl Geek Dinners). That is, (paraphrased) "Sheamus, share your knowledge, experience and problem-solving capabilities with others".

The questions which follow are equally applicable to traditional companies and to technology oriented firms, including startups.

• Do you own a business?
• Do you want to create a startup?
  
• Do you want to own a business?
• Do you have business problems which you want to successfully resolve?

I intend to present a methodology that will enable you to successfully resolve business problems (i.e., what to do and how to do it). FYI... I am an older and increasingly fit fellow (ancient and increasingly fit to some of you young people) with almost forty years of knowledge and experience in helping people within large and small companies to successfully resolve business problems. Along the way I founded my own small consulting company and had the wonderful experiences of both losing and making a million while working on great problems with great people in Canada, the USA, the UK, Hong Kong and Mainland China (PRC). If you want to know a bit more about my journey then by all means please feel free to start here and then follow the links which recount the story of my professional life.

Also, please feel free to state your business related problems as comments to my posts or via email: sheamusj[at]gmail[dot]com. Then, where reasonably possible, I will make best efforts (not perfect) to analyze and resolve some of these problems with you and... Let's have a ton of fun along the way!

Travel and New Perspectives

We are born into a specific place, time and culture, and each culture has an influence on our ideas and ways of perceiving the world.

I have come to realize that one way we can influence our ideas and ways of living is through travel for work and pleasure to differing countries and differing cultures... Thus two questions come to mind:

• I wonder if it would be fun for you to take a little time and name each country you have visited?
• And, upon brief reflection can you now easily identify three positive changes that have come about in your life as a result of your travel experiences.

It's only fair that I go first and I look forward to learning from you.

Travel for work and pleasure

Canada... Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

USA... Maine, NH, Vermont, Mass, NY, NJ, PA, Michigan, Ohio, Idaho, Wisconin, Illinois, District of Columbia, the Virginias, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, Florida and California.

United Kingdom... England and Scotland.

Caribbean... Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Jamaica and St. Kitts.

Mexico... Cabo San Lucas

Hong Kong

Mainland China (PRC).

Three positive changes as a result of my travel experiences

1. I now have the ability see, hear, feel and think about situations and experiences from a variety of very different perspectives... In technological terms somewhat akin to the principle of requisite variety.

2. In China I was blessed to have the experiences, for the first time in my life at age 51, of becoming an immigrant and a person in the minority. These very personal experiences have enabled me to relate to people in entirely new and wonderfully useful ways.

3. The magical journey toward mutual understanding, respect, acceptance and successful adaptation between people of differing cultures is at times challenging, at other times joyful and always... a gift.

The Extraordinary Women in Technology

Girly Geekdom in Monday's post writes about a minor change undertaken by someone at .Net Magazine which resulted in a major change of meaning with respect to the participation and contributions by women in technology at a recent London BarCamp.

I wonder if the person at the magazine who made this faux pas was male? And, I wonder if this error may have been an unconscious expression of negative culturally held values and attitudes toward women in technology?

The HUGE issues of respect and equality of acknowledgement regarding the contributions of women in technology... I'm beginning to feel that women in technology are going to have to fight for equal rights and opportunities in the same way that women successfully fought for the right to vote.