We live in a very distractable world.  Email, Instant Messanger, Cell Phones, Home Phone (if you still have one), Text Messages, Desk Phone.  No matter where you are, you can be interrupted.  Sometimes in more ways than just one...  How many times has this happened to you:

• You're on a call at your desk, and another call beeps in.  You have to ignore it, as...you're on another call.
• Your cell phone then rings.  Again, you can't answer...and you scramble to find it and mute it so the person on the other line isn't annoyed.
• Meanwhile, your desk voicemail lights up...and if you're really cool, an email with that voicemail pops into your inbox.
• Your Instant Messanger starts lighting up (why are you looking at that while you're on a phone call anyway?)
• That cell phone voice mail finally alarms letting you know you have a voice mail.
• Soon after, a text message comes in from the same person saying, "Call me".  Really?  I had no idea.  <grin> 

Ok, that probably hasn't happened to all of us at that extreme of a scenario, but we can all certainly relate to bits and pieces of it.  These interruptions come at any time of day, and sometimes at very inopportune times (since when did the bathroom lose it's sacredness?!)  This interruption-mania doesn't even take into account the (literally) hundreds of Social Networks many use as distractions...Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn (and that is barely the tip of the iceberg).  How is it that we get anything done?

Are we handling this new found immediate gratification and communication at our fingertips well?  I suppose it depends on where you spend most of your time.  The majority of my day is spent at work, like many of you.  In most cases interruptions are quite counter productive to, well...productivity.  Don't get me wrong, interruptions also have benefits...and I'll get into those...the ones in immediate focus are those you have (apparently) no control over.  But...you do.

I was sparked into this post by an entry at the Manager-Tools blog that briefly discusses the concept of "toast".  These are the little pop-ups that slide their way into your vision located in the bottom-right of your screen.  IM's, emails, whatever...little pieces of toast coming out of the toaster that you can't help but look at.  Don't kid yourself, most of you will probably look at one while reading this post.  Frankly, if you haven't been distracted away from this post by one of them...I'd be surprised!  The irony that Manager-Tools brings forth is a nice play on words..."If you're paying attention to the toast, you're toast."

How many times have you been in a meeting, formal or not, where the person speaking simply stops mid-sentence to focus on their PC or phone?  How many people in meetings are typing away on their Smart Phones, clearly oblivious to the conversation around them?  Have you noticed while having a conversation with someone on the phone that they occasionally drift away...clearly focusing on something else at the same time?  How many times have you caught yourself pausing in the middle of something to look at a piece of toast on your screen?  Don't kid yourself, it likely happens more than you even realize.

These are distractions that pull us all away from directing our focus at the person who's kindly requested our focus. 

There's a cost associated with this type of activity.  In some ways it's directly financially tangible, but in others it's more indirect.

1. Lowered morale of those left waiting because something that can likely be dealt with later is given higher priority, leaving them with the feeling that you believe your time is more important than theirs.  As a manager, this would be an awful situation to put yourself into.
2. Opportunity cost of those waiting for the key stakeholder to return their focus.  How much of their collective time could have been spent on something productive, how much does idle time cost the company...or you if it's your company?
3. Despite how good you think you are at multitasking, you're going to miss something.  Sooner or later, it's going to be something important.  You're going to regret not paying full attention to those around you who need your full attention, and you'll be left dealing with a loss of #1 and #2 (morale and cost) all over again.
4. How long does it take you to get your train of thought back once you've finished your distraction?  Once you finally remember to get back to it, you have to get your brain back into that mode.  This rings especially true for software developers, project managers, or others who have to focus on the short-term as well as the future simultaneously.  To clearly do your job, you thrust yourself into a virtual world where you plan and make a long-term solution happen.  It's surprising how long it can take to get you back into that mindset.
5. Learning is usually compromised by distractions.  I apologize for not having direct citings, but I've read about a few studies that show that learning while multitasking is much less efficient.  The bottom line (to what could be an entire topic by itself) is that distracted learning may allow you to make similarly accurate decisions on occasion, but you may not fully understand why it's the right decision to make.  This is due to the way your brain ends up processing the information you're learning and ultimately storing (or not storing) it in long-term memory, as there are very different methods used during focused and distracted learning.

So, back to the most common types of communication many of us use...  Are they being used correctly in your environment?  Part of eliminating distractions has to do with the people around you.  If someone calls your cell phone every time they need something, regardless of how important it is, that can be a bit of a distraction.  In my estimation, a call to the cell phone is typically the sign of a very important item....but it may not be used that way by others.

Below I've listed, by order of my perceived priority, the most common types of communication available to us in the workplace.  It should be noted that there are always valid exceptions to any rule, especially this one.  I can't say enough about how important in-person communication can be to a productive working environment.  Just because it's listed as #1 on my list doesn't mean that you should never contact someone in person unless it's vitally urgent.  There are many other circumstances at play here, and there is no black-and-white definition on how communication should happen.  This is merely meant to be a framework or guideline for prioritization of communication.

Aside from prioritizing each communication type, I've also included a few bullet points on how this type of communication should likely be used.

1. In Person
   • Requires face-to-face collaboration
   • Quick or substantial discussion needing immediate attention
2. Cell Phone Call
   • Requires substantial discussion
   • Requires immediate attention
   • Is tied for #1 if the person calling does not have the ability to quickly find you in person
3. Desk Phone Call
   • Requires substantial discussion
   • Important but can wait until you're at your desk
4. Text Message
   • Requires quick question / answer
   • Relatively urgent answer required
   • Could arguably be placed at #3, but I put it here because it's usually a shorter communication
5. Instant Message
   • Requires quick question / answer
   • Important but can wait until you're at your desk
6. Email
   • Requires substantial information to be shared
   • Requires documents or other files to be shared
   • Can wait until you're in front of your computer
7. Everything Else
   • Low priority

This is all fine and good, but what do I do to enforce this?  How to I keep these distractions at bay so I am not constantly distracted?  For this list, I'm going to start from the bottom up.  The least urgent items get first attention here.

• Everything Else
  • Social Networks and other items do not require immediate attention in 99% of the workplaces.  I'm sure there are some organizations that thrive by using these systems, but for most of us they're nothing more than distractions.  Disable all alerts to your email, to your phone, or to any other place.  Turn them off.  Look at these sites on your lunch break or when you're at home.  Do not allow these sites to dictate when you should be doing something...you own your time.  If you need something specific, by all means, go for it...just don't get caught up in their notification loops.  These sites selfishly want you coming back, don't forget that.
• Email
  • Turn off your pop-up toast!  You'll be amazed how much more productive you'll be with this one simple modification.  Email is low priority, and if you get as many emails as I do in a day...that constant pop-up will keep you from ever getting anything done.  Here's a quick tutorial on how to disable Outlook 2007 pop-ups.  A little Google Searching will likely find you where to change options in whatever mail client you use.
  • There are many recommendations on how often you should check your email.  For me, this depends on what kind of project I'm working on.  If I need to sit down and grind on something uninterrupted for a while, it may be a couple hours before I get to it.  In most cases, once an hour is probably good unless you have nothing else going on (lucky you).  For some, once every 30 minutes would be OK.
  • If others are using email as high-priority in an organization that doesn't function that way, politely ask them to contact you using different methods if it's more urgent. 
  • Turn off email notifications on your phone.  There is rarely a need for this.  People grow to hate their Smart Phones because they say they can "never get away from work" because of them.  The reality is, most of these comments are based on constant harranging due to email notifications.  Turn them off and look at email when you want to, not when it wants you to.  Smart Phone life can be good!
  • If it helps you, politely ask people to start CC'ing you on things that you just need to be aware of.  This is another layer of productivity that'll help you find the important items in your inbox quickly...when you do decide it's right for you to get to your inbox.
• Instant Message
  • Again, turn off the pop-up toast!  Turn off the blinking task bar items.  Turn off any other creative "look at me" notifications the IM clients provide.
  • Don't allow people to write novels in IM, and don't allow this inflectionless quick communication to lead to misunderstanding.  It's meant for quick question / answer solutions.  If you're going back-and-forth with someone, pick up the phone and have a 2 minute conversation and get it over with instead of banging on your keyboard for 15 minutes (and being distracted all along the way).
• Text Message
  • Get comfortable with putting your phone on mute.  Do it regularly, in particular when you cannot be bothered due to an urgent in-person or phone conversation.  Granted, a text message should be used for relatively urgent communication, but some things are more urgent than others.
  • Much like IM, do not attempt to have long and productive conversations over Texting in a short period of time and without distraction.  Use the other fancy feature on that phone...the phone!
• Desk Phone
  • Turn the volume down and choose a more appealing ringer if you have that option.  I'm not saying to ignore this communication tool, that would be counter-productive.  However, turning it down and/or using an amicable ringer is less alarming and startling to your thought process.  You will be able to field the call and get back to your groove quicker if you didn't jump out of your seat or become irritated by that annoying ringer sound.
• Cell Phone
  • The same desk phone ringer suggestion applies here.
  • Additionally, much like the text messaging suggestion...get familiar with your mute button.  Turn that ringer off when appropriate.
  • See the phone email notification section under Email above...turn these off!
• In Person
  • If you're one of the lucky ones with an office, shut your door.  This signifies that you're busy and only urgent items will result in a knock on the door.
  • If that isn't enough, and you really need privacy, put a sign on the door that says something to the effect of, "Please do not interrupt unless you are on fire."  You may choose your words more wisely if you wish.  <chuckle>
  • If you have the option to work at home, that's always a solution.  I will warn, however, that in many cases the remaining communication tools will increase in their use due to you being out of the office.
  • Finally, one of the simplest and most effective forms of getting yourself some focus time is to politely tell your employees and/or coworkers that you have to focus and would appreciate if interruptions could be avoided.  This one really works wonders (as long as you're not asking that every day!)

Are distractions ever a good thing?  After reading this article (assuming you've even gotten this far), you may believe I think they are pure evil.  Not true.  Distractions are good, and can be good if used correctly.  Here are a few reasons how they can be beneficial:

1. If used on your terms, meaning, you initiated the distraction on your own because you needed to hit the mental reset button.  Get up, stretch, walk around a bit to get the blood flowing again.
2. If you've been struggling with a problem for some time and are fighting to get to a solution, step away for a while.  It's amazing how our minds can keep working on a problem subconsciously, and in many cases that subconscious thought will result in a successful solution...sometimes when you least expect it.  Sometimes sleeping on a problem is even better, as you'll wake up in the morning refreshed and occasionally with a new solution that your sleeping mind helped devise.

Some will ultimately argue with these views.  One argument that I've heard many times is, "I have to keep up on my inbox or I'll get too far behind."  So, they focus on it on-the-fly to keep it from queueing up.  I disagree with this mentality because I don't believe these people realize how much productivity they lose in distraction time (I was one of those people, by the way).  Jamming through all your emails on a 60-minute (or even a 30-minute) basis is a great way to focus on email and get it cleaned up.  Meanwhile, the other projects you've been working on don't suffer because you've neglected them due to email distractions.

If you don't agree...I'll only ask you to give it an honest shot.  I have been, and on occasion still am, a distraction junkie.  I live in the same world you do.  But, in making some subtle changes in how I manage distractions I've become more productive...and really, a lot happier.  Oh, and I still get more than my share of good, clean, positive distractions in!

CenterBeam Grows IT Services through Acquisition of Network Insight
Market-Leader Gains Deeper Network Expertise and Offers Further Redundancy

San Jose, Calif—October 28, 2008—Today CenterBeam, Inc. announced it has acquired Network Insight, a premier network management and consulting services firm based out of San Diego, California.  The acquisition strengthens CenterBeam’s position as the leading managed services provider (MSP) to the mid-size market by bringing deeper network design, architecture and management expertise. Additionally, the location in San Diego provides CenterBeam with another network operations center (NOC) for further redundancy.

Network Insight focuses exclusively on IP network systems integration and managed services to organizations from several hundred users up to Tier I service providers. The acquisition significantly increases the number of network devices CenterBeam can manage and adds deep network assessment, architecture and design capabilities to its broad service portfolio that includes PC management, hosted Microsoft® Exchange email, helpdesk support, and network and server management. The new capabilities now make it possible for CenterBeam to provide its customers with comprehensive services no matter where they are in their IT lifecycle.
 
“CenterBeam sought this strategic alliance to meet our customers’ need for comprehensive and deep network management and design services. Network Insight brings the right blend of people, technology, services as well as a customer focus that complements our services and corporate culture,” said Dr. Kevin Francis LLD, CEO, CenterBeam. 

“We’re very excited about becoming part of CenterBeam. This provides a unique opportunity to further extend our offerings to the North American marketplace and to offer our customers a more comprehensive suite of services,” said Chris Pond, CEO, Network Insight.  Chris will join CenterBeam as senior vice president, business development and consulting.

Services are immediately available as part of CenterBeam’s turnkey managed IT service portfolio or individually as a way to extend in-house IT resources. Network Insight was designated as a Cisco® Silver Partner that has achieved Customer Satisfaction Excellence and is certified as a Juniper® Elite Partner. These certifications extend the partnerships CenterBeam has secured: Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner, Citrix® Certified Partner, VMware® Authorized Consultant (VAC), and VMware VIP Enterprise Partner.  For more information, visit www.centerbeam.com.

About Network Insight
Founded in 1998, San Diego-based Network Insight, LLC, is a leader in high-availability IP network infrastructure consulting, operations consulting and managed services for enterprise and service provider organizations. With a 10 year track record of successful IP networking projects, a 24/7/365 carrier-grade NOC and proprietary customer web portal for real-time status and reporting, its clients experience significant cost savings and increased revenue from streamlined designs and processes as well as new services for end users. For more information, please visit www.networkinsight.com.

About CenterBeam
CenterBeam is an award-winning managed IT services provider with a rich service portfolio including PC management, hosted Microsoft® Exchange email, helpdesk support, network and server management. Since CenterBeam’s inception, its focus has been providing mid-sized businesses with Fortune 500-class IT management and services for a fixed monthly fee. More than 140,000 daily services are delivered in an integrated software as a service (SaaS 3.0) architecture to clients with end users working in forty-five countries. CenterBeam offers predictable monthly pricing backed by a Total Satisfaction Guarantee. www.centerbeam.com.

I was sparked by a couple things over the past few days, and they're ultimately the reason for this post.  In fact, I think the "Read, Listen, View" concept of this post just might end up being a recurring theme for my blog.  A good read, a good listen, and a good view...all on similar or related topics.

First...I'm NOT a fan of politics.  Frankly, I'm amazed I'm even writing about it.  <grin>  Don't get me wrong, I vote religiously.  More clearly, I should likely say that I'm not a fan of politicians.  There are plenty of reasons why, but I won't bother you with that here!  However, I will share one core belief I've held for a number of years now: 
Business(wo)men should run the country, and politicians should run their campaigns. 

While I may or may not have agreed with their stance or capabilities, I've been happy to see the likes of Ross Perot, Steve Forbes, and other successful businessmen run for the presidency over the years.  I wish more would do so.  This country is a complicated machine, moreso than the majority of companies out there, and just like any successful company it deserves a solid business mind at it's helm (and throughout it's Executive Branch).  I believe the recent talk of a CTO position being created for the United States is discussion in the right direction.  Do I believe it's the right thing to do?  Will it induce unnecessary or useful insight and/or regulation?  Too early to say.  Conceptually, however, I believe it's on target.

Our country is in a world of hurt and we need the best and the brightest available to help us right things.  Whoever takes office next year, I truly hope they're able to bring a team of proven individuals together that can steer this monstrosity of a ship.  I think one of the bigest questions might be, are the best and brightest willing to sign up?

Below is a read, a listen, and a view that I've tagged over the past week.  I felt they should be shared...which is the main reason for this post:

• READ:  CIO Magazine discusses who might be the best CTO for the USA.
• LISTEN:  This American Life has an audio discussion full of interviews and insights into what really has caused this sub-prime meltdown.  It's a really insightful listen, and well worth it.  There are things going on that most of America has no idea even exists...and these unknown and unregulated activities are exactly why we're in this mess today.
• VIEW:  ...and finally, remember the days of "Whhaaaasssssaaaaaaaap?!"?  It's been 8 long years...see where they are now (an entertaining video, to say the least).  You can see it below.

I was disappointed to see that the YouTube extension for BlogEngine was no longer available for download, so I decided to create my own.

I had recently installed Sean Blakemore's Silverlight Extension, and since I have never coded an extension for BlogEngine I figured I'd learn from a similar application.  Thanks for the head start, Sean!  I really used the base of his code and modified it to work for YouTube videos instead.

UPDATE 05.11.2010: Version 1.2 Released.  Includes heavily-requested feature to add YouTube videos to BlogEngine.NET "Pages" (as well as Blog Posts)!  Thanks to Dobin Fernandes for the updated code!  Now if we can just get him to figure out how to apply this to RSS feeds, we'll be all set!

UPDATE 10.28.2008: Version 1.1 Released.  Instructions modified.

Version history at end of this post.

So, installation is quite easy:

1. Take this ZIP file - YouTubePlayer-1-2.zip (1.45 kb) - and extract the YouTubePlayer.cs file into your /App_Code/Extensions folder within the root of your BlogEngine installation.
2. Log into the "Extensions" portion of your admin panel, you should see the YouTubePlayer extension.
3. Click the Edit link to change settings.  NOTE: You do not need to modify these settings if you don't want, you can skip to step 4.
   • Width and Height are set to the default YouTube size, you can change them if you wish but I don't believe it will change the size of the video.
   • Show Border is nice if you want to blend the video border into the color scheme of your website.  By default this is turned off (0).  Turn it on by changing the setting to "1".
   • Primary and Secondary colors are used for the border and need to be entered in Hexidecimal value.  The example below uses 709397 for the secondary (the aqua in this site) and 000000 (black) for the primary.  You can see how it looks below.
4. Create a new entry and add this code to your blog to insert a YouTube video:  [ youtube:YourVideoCodeGoesHere ]  (without the spaces).
   • Note that the "YourVideoCodeGoesHere" part is typically random characters and letters.  You can see them in the URL of your YouTube video.

That being said, the code entered for this is [ youtube:Ddn4MGaS3N4 ]
(minus the spaces)

The video looks like this:

Enjoy!

=================
VERSION HISTORY
=================

05.11.2010
Version 1.2
YouTubePlayer-1-2.zip (1.45 kb)

Change: System now allows for YouTube Videos to be posted to BlogEngine.NET "Pages" as well as just the "Posts".  Thanks Dobin Fernandes!

--------

10.28.2008
Version 1.1
YouTubePlayer-1-1.zip (1.39 kb) 

Change: Code used within [ youtube: ] tag is no longer the entire URL (i.e. http://www.youtube.com/v/Ddn4MGaS3N4).  On occasion, if the WYSIWYG editor set the URL as a hyperlink, the rendering of the video would fail.  Now, it's only required that the random video code is entered (i.e. Ddn4MGaS3N4)

--------

10.25.2008
Version 1.0, first release
YouTubePlayer.zip (1.36 kb)

Since the Acquisition (press release maybe this Friday?) of Network Insight (NI), I've been spending a fair amount of time trying to understand the technologies of our new company.  My responsibilities at NI have always included the technologies we used to run our business, and manage the networks of our many customers from within our 24x7 NOC (among my many other duties).  With the merger, my responsibilities have expanded to include the technologies we (including the new company) used to monitor 7-8 times as many customers, offering likely twice as many features.

I've spent the past couple weeks on-and-off with some of my new co-workers...in person, via email, on the phone, etc.  I've learned a lot...and have also learned I've got a LOT of work ahead of me.  In doing so, I realized I need a much more scalable system to keep track of:

1. All systems that currently exist today.
2. What these systems are tasked with doing...?
3. ...and what are they capable of doing?
4. How do these systems interact with each other...?
5. ...and how could they interact with each other?
6. Which systems from both companies overlap...?
7. ...and where do we need systems that neither company has?
8. What's wrong with the current infrastructure(s)...?
9. ...and what's right with it?
10. Who are the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for each system?
11. What are the business requirements of our new organization...?
12. ...and are these tools mapping to those requirements?  Better yet...CAN they?  If not, what will?
13. How can these systems be broken out into functional groups?
14. What is the best way to categorize and prioritize changes and releases to actually get things accomplished?
15. ...
16. ...
17. ... (the list really goes on and on, but I'm sure you get the point)

What point, you say?  How in the world do you organize all of this?!

Today I ventured into the world of Mind Mapping.  I've been here before, but it's been a few years.  There are a plethora of options when it comes to Mind Mapping software, and I briefly skimmed the features before deciding upon one to try out.  I spent an hour or so taking my varied lists of notes over the past couple weeks and dumped them into iMindMap.  I'm not necessarily following the strict rules set forth by the software, as I don't think that's an appropriate fit...or, I'm just too stubborn to see the perfect fit yet.  <chuckle>  Entirely possible.

So, what are my initial thoughts?  My head is still spinning a bit...but at least I've got a big inventory laid out.  If I continue down the path of Mind Mapping, I will likely end up with multiple maps.  The first one I've created lists the people and technologies involved, and is a nice looking overview of everything.  Could I have done this with a simple list?  Likely.  Was this a beneficial excercise and hour well spent?  Of course.  Trying new things is always a good idea, and this is no exception.  Even if it turns out not to be a great fit moving forward, I will very likely find a more fitting use in the future.

Right then, what might my next steps be?  Gather more information and keep plugging it in...  Then, determine if this will help me sketch out a big picture that can be modeled into a plan of attack, and result in successful changes.  At a minimum, I'm hoping it can be used as a brainstorming tool to help me devise a path to be modeled into a plan.  Regardless of the outcome, I'm excited to see where this ends up.  I'll share any future enlightenments...!

Image Credit:  iMindMap

My Goddaughter is so cool she has her own blog.

Becoming a Godfather is actually one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me...  Despite the fact that my Dad had 10 brothers and sisters, and my Mom had 5...I was an only child.  I was actually incredibly troublesome during pregnancy (it didn't really end there either...), so that's why there's only me!  Regardless, I'll never get to be a true Uncle...but thankfully I have SO MANY second cousins I get to be an "uncle" to them.

However...I've ALWAYS wanted to be a Godfather.  The parents are great friends, the father is my best friend and was the best man at my wedding.  I've known him since 1991-92 timeframe and his wife is the sweetest thing ever.  Months back, while eating at the bar at a local Sushi joint he raised his Sake glass and said, "Here's to being a Godfather".  Of course, my world came to a bit of a halt...a somewhat screeching one...and I went silent because I was just stuck with happiness.  I'd secretly hoped they'd pick me, and they did!  What a great feeling.  Being asked to help guide a child through life, in any way, is an incredible honor.

So cheers to my Goddaughter and her new found technology itch.  I look forward to future insightfulness such as:

1. How to attract immediate attention by using appropriate noises.
2. How to poop all over your brand new U of M gear and still have your Daddy love you.
3. Boobs.  Just...boobs.
4. The best tactics for recycling milk onto your new friend's shoulder.

In closing...I give you...the Godfather (in more ways than one!)  So please click play below and watch all the way through...then you'll understand what I mean.  <chuckle>

UPDATE 10.24.2008:  The acquisition is 100% official, so I'm updating this post to be a little less anonymous regarding the buyer.  I'll post the press release when it comes out.

So, the big news is that my company, Network Insight, was recently acquired by CenterBeam.  The formal press release has been delayed (due out the week of 10/27/2008), so I won't announce the buyer just yet...although all of our clients and most of our colleagues are already fully aware of the details.

What does this mean for those of us at NI?  It means we're becoming a much larger organization, with much better funding, a much larger footprint, and are gaining a number of very (very) complementary offerings.  The Professional Services and Managed Services that Network Insight provides to it's customers is very similar to what our buyer CenterBeam does for theirs, but the overlap in services is incredibly minimal.  We'll finally be able to accomplish many of the things we've been hoping to over the past few years.  Additionally, it will allow the employees of NI to have a broader spectrum of peers surrounding them, and have more opportunities for career growth.

What does this mean for our acquirer CenterBeam?  Much of the same, ironically, despite our size being much smaller.  We will allow them to take on business they've had to turn away over the years, add to their experience, and help them spread their wings.  They will gain efficiencies, redundancies, and skillsets they do not have today.  I will say that everyone I've worked with over the past couple weeks has been incredible...this truly appears to be a great company that has "it" figured out, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing how things pan out.

Network Insight has always been a company that does very well during economic booms, and very well during economic busts...but just does average when things are in the middle.  Right now, we're in an economic bust and we've been doing quite well over the past months and years of the downturn.  The most recent accelerated downturns, and this acquisition, will bode quite well for both companies.  Singularly, we were each able to substantially reduce costs (both OpEx and CapEx) for our customers...together we'll take that benefit to new heights, which is exactly what CFO's have their eyes open for today...more than ever.

As for me, my life just got a whole lot busier!  I'm going to be responsible for much of the integration with respect to all of our (and their) technologies, and have started the process of researching and learning what each company has to offer so we can make educated decisions on our future product catalog...not to mention the systems used to service that catalog and our customers.  This will certainly be a daunting task, but believe it or not...I'm really looking forward to it!

Hi folks,

Some major career changes are afoot, and I felt the need to start a public blog.  It's something I've wanted to do for quite some time now, and just recently got a very good excuse to do so (more on this later...)

In the meantime get prepared to hear about my work, technologies, and business...as these will likely be the core focus topics.  I'm sure a spattering of personal information will be thrown in for good measure.  <grin>

Cheers,
AL