Expansion: 2006 Style

As we move towards February 2006 and Cupid Day (14 February 2006)...

I have keeping my on-going "LUV" relationship up with Southwest Airlines. And it occurred to me that other people want to create a value for value LUV relationship with you! I know because I was busting my butt behind the scenes.

So soon to be publicly announced, I bring you:
Great Rates from the Network Professional Association http://snipurl.com/NPA_1

The NPA is a vendor neutral ORG focused on networking and has positions open for the folks just starting out to the old farts like me and Ed as well as everything in between.

This is a great org! I was surprised to read the newsletter and find out that my old buddy from way back, Ed Tittel and I renewed with the NPA and CNP status in the same month!

The great rates deal is currently only available to a few of our friends north of me (Canada) and to ETA-I.ORG members. Now don't get me wrong. I don't tell Newfie jokes. And I'm not Canadian but I have been an ETA-I.ORG member for years. So you can understand my nature prejudice to say this is also available to ETA-I.ORG members.

Not an ETA-I.ORG member yet? Got A+? => Get a 2nd Certification (Computer Service Technician) from the ETA-I.ORG for $49.00 AND get all (CompTIA/Microsoft) RU Ready practice tests from http://www.studyexam4less.com/rollover.asp

This gets you an entire team effort for your future career AND covers you with a 2nd certification as well as a direction otherwise not open to you. In closing... If you are known by the company you keep... I have been a proud member of CompTIA and the NPA going well back to the previous century; I joined StudyExam4Less and the ETA-I.ORG as this century dawned.

Looking in the rear-view mirror of my life, these we're some of the better choices I made. Please learn from my wins. The bonus is for most of you, this comes from the cheap seats to boot.

Above all, to thine own self follow thine own advice

With apologies to Shakespeare I think when he said that it is most important to look at yourself honestly it logically follows that if you’re giving advice, you damn well better be following it.

Well it’s not exactly like I fell off the wagon.

For a while there I just wasn’t studying new topics in a big way. Sure I keep up each day with the new news: how about 10GB 1” micro drives for cell phones?

http://www.computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107422,00.html?SKC=storage-107422

Excuse me --- that is small stuff. To be honest, my brain hasn’t been challenged to take on a major project such as say, learn a new language. Like many of us, I did the New Years Resolution thing. Unlike some, I usually stick to what I say I’m going to do (even when it starts hurting). If you’re new to the name of doing what you say you will --- I got some great news: If you make a promise to yourself or someone else and it becomes painful, the mouth quickly learns to become a self sealing entity.

The odd thing (for me) is my next major thing isn’t IT related. I have decided I am going to become reasonably fluent in reading and speaking Spanish. I guess writing will become the next logical step afterwards.

It is my approach that is typical of Tcat but isn’t typical of the world. First, a confession: – My personality style is both damn lazy and very short on patience when the results column is coming up a bit short. Given that I want to satisfy those two traits I have to find “outside the box” ways of getting things done, without looking for something for nothing.

So for more than 30 years I have been an advocate of learning while sleeping. If you are of the belief that because you are sleeping you are somehow “temporally dead” you can either stop reading this now or go get a bit more information.

I started this game in life with a carbon microphone and a reel-to-reel tape deck. It served me well back then. However technology changed life (BIG TIME). And in this entry I’m detailing how I am moving on the Next Big Learning while sleeping.

Really it is a combination of technologies, all really interesting.

I’ll start with my MP3 player. It is from SanDisk. It weighs in @ about 40 Grams (About 1.5 ounces), with its single AAA battery. While it’s mere 512MB can only hold about 18 hours of instruction I can stick upwards of another 2GB of flash memory in the side while adding approx. 4 grams of weight. That RAM takes me to over 60 unique hours of instruction. This is more than a typical class week of a boot camp or nearly double the regular working hours of a week (assuming 100% productivity).

Now the 18 hour thing of 512 MB works out really well because that is what the player is rated for on a single AAA alkaline battery. However I’m an eco friendly guy so I went to Radio Shack and get a modified version of the Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable battery system. They say a single charge lasts 4 times longer than an alkaline and it can be recharged in 15 minutes. So now I got a solid week worth of instruction with no batteries to buy or chargers to haul around.

Total investment (so far) about $100.USD

Now the i-Pod like ear buds that came with the SanDisk may be fine for the Greyhound @ 30 K FT (Southwest Airlines) for daytime learning and I’m not thrilled at the idea of rolling around in my sleep getting tangled up in sound cord. I have always said “go to Radio Shack” for a pillow speaker. Well it turns out Sharper Image has a similar just more expensive offering too.

Well in my digging into tech 2006 style I found @ http://www.dreamessentials.com/a_relax_pillowsonic.aspx , which is a stereo version and flat as a bug in a rug for $20. Trust me, its great. I’ve added about 30 grams to my backpack for my road warrior days.

To complete the tech tour and major brain upgrade I am happy to receive input. Google fails me, completely and utterly. This is because while the most fantastic http://www.wordsgalore.com/ (freeware, several languages) works perfectly while sitting in front of my laptop, however seems to stutter and struggle with making working MP3 files. While I will put in time to see if I can fix Words Galore remember I said I’m pretty focused about getting hash marks in the win column, QUICKLY ?

Google shows me commercial offerings starting @ $40 --- for young children who will interact with the computer (and I want to sleep). Moving up the wallet draining offers what I am looking for is hovering about $250-500 USD. It appears instant gratification (3 days by postal mailing) isn’t cheap.

eBay to the rescue. I found new from an established seller the same 8 CD set that was $400 as a 2005 edition (updated and used) for less than $30 delivered with insurance. Now we are talking a total investment that is doable on a teacher’s salary.

Back to the MP3 player. RIP the CD’s cheer to MP3. Plug in the USB V2 cable. The MP3 player wakes up and becomes a removable disk drive. 10 minutes of Copy/Paste. Like a magician, a week worth of training in a package not much bigger than the Zippo lighter I packed in the Army.

Isn’t technology wonderful?

No, I have not gone to the trouble of “time warping” and burying the data in subliminal format (yet). This is the first week of the New Year. Funny, but it took time to research the best shortcuts for a major brain upgrade, 2006 style.

I can tell you that even without the subliminal format I began to have dreams about my brain upgrade on night 3. Right on time for me! What I found so funny was: the dream incorporated the fact that the data was not subliminal. The dream was making it OK to be back in the Army and learning this “new” way. And I must be getting old: the women in my dreams we’re way cuter than the one’s I remember from the Army. Let me think about this till next time…

Tcat

An insecure state of affairs

Ok. I admit I love meeting the new folks. And 3.5 weeks (straight) as a road warrior has taken a bit out of me. I switched over to a cross country backpack instead of a rolling duffel bag. It's great for rougher terrain... And my body is paying ;-)

So back to the real world.

I was contracted to do all sorts of different classes from Northern CA to the Baja Border. And being a professional, I delivered what I was contracted to do.

Notice I didn't say this is what the students actually wanted.

They all wanted Security.

Notice I didn't say they wanted Security+.

As a trainer who has been around the block a time or three, I know how to handle this. Race like a bat out of hell through the contracted course then create custom training for each students experience level based on what they really wanted.

Here is the funny part. Not one person wanted to know how to do bad things. They all wanted to be able to identify how to know when bad things are happening to them, and they cannot even tell. Well I made a quick flash movie showing how the typical bad guy works now. Forget script kiddies. These guys are pro's. I showed them the hiding in plain sight communications systems. A couple of those revealing clues brought rapid classroom attention and glowing heads.

After the feeling of utter despair had sunk in, I showed them free work from the US Govt. that will cover your (ass)ets really well, if you use them.

So my real point in this entry is its time for the IT training industry to get off its certification status smug feeling and start showing people what they really want. They want reasonable security, not impossible to get or outdated certifications.

So yeah. It was a rough almost 4 weeks. And the warm handshakes and hugs I got from the folks telling me I showed them what to show their employees and their children made the current feeling of rode hard, put away wet... All worth while.

Seasons Greetings,

Tcat

Hey Amigo! Want a Taco? An HP Pavillion?

Ok. It's obvious this week, I'm late.

I was on the Greyhound @ 30K Ft (Southwest Airlines) heading to San Diego for the next week's gig. I didn't let any moss grow under my feet getting to Mexico. Its a favorite (food) place of mine for decades.

Before you get the impression I'm Jet Setting about the planet... I spent $2.50 USD for the bus and trolley, door to door from landing @ San Diego to walking into Mexico. I was planning on spending almost $8. USD to take the 90 minute 1st class bus south however a dude from New Jersey who knows his way around Tijuana I meet on the bus from the airport suggests I follow him for a few minutes around TJ. My first reaction is to blow him off. I've seen enough of TJ to know it just rip-off tourist city. And not keeping an open mind is being dead, just waiting to be buried. So I say: Great and thanks.

Damn. I thought I knew TJ.

It turns out I only knew what I saw. The hotel he showed me (bottom line $32) had a bed close to Hilton comfort. Internet cafes are pretty much on every block. Average is 20 stations with lease retire about 3 years old. Rate? About 10 NM (About a dollar) for 30 minutes; 50% more for a full hour.

I settle on Harry's favorite (because its 20 meters from the motel) with Armando Meza's place on 8th, just east of Revolution (Main St and tourist central). I like the fully private booths and headsets with microphone so Skype is an option to my personal extranet.

Checking out prices, Baja has all the goodies of the good old USA. That includes speaking and writing English. This is good because Geek is my first language, English my second. I haven't had time to fit in a third, like Spanish or German.

Oh yeah. MasterCard and Visa are welcome along with the cash of many countries. I feel like Hong Kong has camped south of Los Angeles. The only difference I see between Fry's or CompUSA and TJ is they dance like wolves to fill an order rather than pull it out of the back room. And... For Sure! They keep you happy while some poor soul is humping butt to get you your product from some secret location. The US mass marketers could learn a thing or three from this "backyards" part of the planet.

So my geek tastes are pleasantly surprised and fulfilled.

Going 9 meters south of my 24 hour "casa", I found a cart that only offers oysters, clams and soda. I asked about the oysters (in English since I cannot say this in Spanish). I'm offered a dozen for $4.50 USD. OK. I'm expecting some death on a half-shell since I can spend that for *one* oyster at Shuckers in Seattle (my home town).

Since my TJ shock has been positive, I take a risk. I ordered six, and got back to the motel casa and watch (in English) the Sunday edition of the Wall Street Journal and wait to get sick. I figure the oysters we're so tasty and cheap --- something had to be wrong.

Two hours gone by and I'm --- hungry for more. I get another dozen. A local, who can speak Spanish and English did strike up a chat with my "cart" about things in Spanish. The gringo (me) enters the chat because the local tells me the owner was happy I found her place so cool that I came back the same day.

Sunday started early and it's time to get a nap before my teaching gig in San Diego this week. Been there before. Good place. (New Horizons in north San Diego). I'll cut them a deal, if I can come back at least once a month. It’s a good training center, well run. - And I could get wrap almost 4 days around a week’s class to learn more about TJ and their yummy food.

Based on the data I collected this weekend, don't be surprised if I have an entry that says something to the effect of: Good Riddance! and greetings to President Fox and the citizens of Mexico. 2-3 days for a broadband connection install in a 200-500 USD a month Casa? Let me think. Ok, done thinking: potentially Paradise, here I come.

I'm forgoing the frog of the week to get some sleep to be 100% for my class this week. If I'm a little late next week --- like this... you know where I am. It's OK to be very jealous.

Tcat