Let's Ride - Fred Faulkner's Blog About the Road Called Life

Last weekend Cyndi and I went to Hog Days in Kewanee, IL. Our friend Shari is from this quaint small town and for the last 27 years they have had the Hog Days Festival over Labor Day weekend. All through college we talked about going. It only took us close to six years after college to make it there. Specifically we went to play mud volleyball. Somehow I was the cleanest of the bunch when it was all over. But that just meant that everyone else got to wipe their eyes of the mud on my shirt instead of theirs. I wanted to get dirty...really I did, but somehow my mad volleyball skills didn't require me to dive into the mud. It was a blast and look forward to doing again.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks for the education Steve.  We all learned a lot.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 5:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 5:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I wanted to let everyone know who has reads and subscribes to Let's Ride that I have launched a new project called From the 21st Floor. From the 21st Floor is my new personal/professional Web site that has replaced what was FrederickFaulkner.com. I have been told that I often take a look at situations from a "big picture" perspective. I take into consideration many aspects besides the task at hand and point out observations where decisions could conflict or mesh nicely with other business strategies and decisions. It is this concept that I developed From the 21st Floor. If you look out a window on the 21st floor of a building you can get a good lay of the land – a "big picture". Yet, you can also make out individuals on the ground without too much of a problem. So you can say that from the 21st floor you can observe and keep in mind the big picture while still seeing the task at hand.

I should note the following disclaimer: The concepts, discussions, and articles written on From the 21st Floor do not reflect the thoughts, perspectives, or have any direct correlation to my job at the ABA. They are my opinions and perspectives only.

Now that the legal stuff is out of the way, I will also republish articles I write, presentations I give, and provide links to resources that I think are relevant to anyone who reads the site. If you are a reader of Let's Ride, you can subscribe to the new feed here. I hope you wil subscribe and take a look out the window From the 21st Floor.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Did anyone see Cathy Schulman from the Oscars yesterday. Did you see the guns on her when she gave her acceptance speech. HOLY CRAP is she ripped.

Oh, and Ben Stiller too....anyone who gets dressed up in a green leotard voluntarily is scary.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hello World! Ok, I'm back for a short minute to do some rants and give some updates as to what is going on here at Let's Ride.

iPod Update: Still not connecting like it should. I seem to get it to work by disabling my USB drivers and then re-enabling them until it catches. Sometimes this is three times, other times I just give up. For some reason my laptop didn't update the USB controllers when going to SP2 and I can't find a way to do it manually because the computer thinks it is up to date. Ugh...

Shure Ec2: I can hear!! Got myself a pair of good headphones for my new iPod. These bad boys are worth every penny. Nicely snug in your ear you can block out the rest of the world and jam out to your iPod at a quarter of the volume level you might otherwise. Here's to not going deaf by 30.

Websites: Lots of projects going on. I'm building a totally new Website template for work which is completely CSS driven. Moving us out of the stone age. The documentation for the accompanying Standards and resources Website has consumed my life at work. The good news is that the roll-out is in the next week, so I can get on with other things.

Weddings: Got to see a bunch of friends over the holiday break at a wedding up in Milwaukee. Saw my old roomie AJ and his wife Courtney. It was good to see them. Of course I got to see the rest of the gang (minus Scott) as well. Always a good time. Oh, and congrats to Chad and Sarah!

New Years: Hung out with friends for New Years at our place. Last minute decision due to the wedding and some miscommunication, but it all worked out. Didn't have to drive which is always a plus. Pizza, cards, DVD Trivia Pursuit, and darts. I hate that bulls eye!!!

Go BEARS!! Gotta hoop it up for the Monsters of the Midway. Looks like we are going to open a can of whup ass on Carolina this weekend. My man Orton is out, but he did his job. Now let's use the Pro Bowlers and make it to Detroit next month! Yeah you heard me...Super Bowl bound. Brady..you listening. That roar is from the West.

24: Jack is back and this time he's pissed that someone is messing with his identity. 24 kicks off its season with a two day season premier on Sunday and Monday. We'll see if he can save the U.S. one more time while torturing some terrorists.

Ok, enough for now. Should be back to regular programming in about a week. I'll try to get some New Years Resolutions down befor then. But until I do that here is a question for you:

How many stories up can you be where you can get a good overall picture of the land while still being able to make out people on the ground? Give your guesses in the comments.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

OK, here is the situation. I received a great iPod video for xmas. I have only successfully connected it to my laptop (IBM Thinkpad T40p). Initially I was not on Windows XP Pro. SP2, so I upgraded. Now I can't get power to stay on my USB devices and my Thinkpad will not recognize the device (iPod). I'm gathering from what I'm reading on the net that I need USB 2.0 drivers for my laptop. I have no clue where to find them. IBM's (Lenovo) site says I'm up to date. Windows says SP2 should have handled the problem.

OK, here is the other wierd thing. I have only two USB devices on my laptop, but I have eight (yes, 8) USB drivers. 4 that seem to be in conjunction with my IBM and 4 USB Root Drivers, which seem to control the two ports. I'm at a loss here. Can anyone provide any help/insight?!

Thanks...

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Note: Normally I would have posted this on FrederickFaulkner.com, but I'm doing some back-end management that is limiting my posting on that site. I will re-publish this post there as it is more of an appropriate forum than Let's Ride.

So WordPress.com launched today. Everyone at once now: "Hurray!"

That’s not a sarcastic statement. It is a good thing...competition is a good thing. That is how Six Apart has to look at this with WordPress.com being a direct competitor to TypePad. But while WordPress.com will get a lot of fan fare into the medium as an alternative hosted blog software, TypePad has some advantages going for them (even with the service
issues) that most bloggers don’t think too much about when they pick services. In one word: Portability.

Recently at BlawgThink! Peter Flaschner of The Blog Studio had a session on "Costly Mistakes for Newbies." One of the few mistakes that most newbie bloggers do that is not just a monetary mistake, it is a flexibility mistake, is not owning your own domain.

I couldn't agree more.

Most bloggers who picked TypePad did it for the stable platform that it is and for the cheap monthly hosting fee. They wanted the down and dirty, basic version of Movable Type. Sign-up, give them a credit card number, pick a blog name, and you're off and running in 10 minutes or less. It is a great model. This model has made Six Apart a lot of money, and money that WordPress.com won't see because their service is free (still a great selling point), but I digress. One of the most overlooked features of TypePad, and one that costs extra money, hence why it is overlooked, is domain mapping.

Once you publish your blog with a http://myblogname.typepad.com
you were sunk whether you knew it or not. Now if you mapped your TypePad account to a domain name like http://www.yourblogname.com you could change your back-end system (like from TypePad to WordPress.com) almost seamlessly and your visitors wouldn't even know it. In reality, if a TypePad user were to switch blog services the financial implications are minimal, the readership issues are HUGE. HUGE because there are a lot of readers who do not use RSS, and hence will not know you have changed locations. Those readers may not visitor your blog daily, but rather weekly, monthly, every other month, or just when they have time to surf the Web. Now you have lost readers. Maybe forever (though the loyal ones will find you via tools like Technorati).

A related issue comes with your News Feeds (XML, RSS, Atom syndication feeds). If you never changed the default setting you have the same problem with your domain name. Now if you set up an account with Feedburner from the beginning, never giving visitors an opportunity to subscribe to the raw (XML file, you are in somewhat better shape. By giving your subscribers a feed that is actually a third party feed that can change the source, you have enabled a part of your site to be portable.

Now SixApart does have their fair share of making up to do. They have already announced a rebate for up to 45 days fo service for free depending on who inconvenienced you felt with their outages. An interesting take on this type of customer service for sure. But even after the rebate offer there are still reports of outages that are causing customers to pause and seriously debate the cost/benefit analysis of moving hosts.

Just today Paul Cheney over at Radiant Marketing Group posed the quesiton with Toby Bloomberg about what features could TypePad add on that will be more appropriate for small business owners? Personally, I think TypePad is not geared for SBO. If you really want a blog system, one that can do much more than blog, get MovableType (or WordPress). Spend some time and energy to find someone who will build your blog (on your own domain name) for relatively minimal ammounts of money (yes, blogging is a marketing strategy and should be spent like one). Some hosts already have MT or WP ready to go (see Dreamhost and MediaTemple). These systems are built to do more for SBOs and have much more flexibility than TypePad does. Now, I understand that a lot of SBOs like TypePad because they don't have to get their hands dirty with code, hosting,
and stats. They are just "users." I say MT makes you a "power-user" and opens the door to so many features that TP can't give you. I also agree with Paul that this is a huge vertical market that someone is going to capitalize on sooner
or later (like LexBlog has done for the legal market) and if I had the resources I would do it myself.

So just like Will Smith and Martin Lawerence say "Bad boys. Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do?" Are you going to stay or switch? I think many more still have to debate all the costs involved before making that decision.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 6:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

About a week ago an interesting ad was put in the Red Eye. “Calling All Fred’s” it said. Calling all Fred’s for what? Well, a major beer company, who wanted to remain annonymous, was casting for a commercial to be shot in Chicago the next week. The hitch…all the candidates has to be between 25–35 and legally named Fred. WHAT?! This was a one in a lifetime opportunity!

Now I didn’t see this ad when I picked up the paper that day. I was quickly had visitors to my office that morning asking if I had seen the ad. I got some e-mail messages, phone calls, etc. Normally I’m not one to just go and cast for a commerical, but not only was the commerical going to select “multiple Fred’s”, that name is unique enough that this should almost be a slam dunk. I mean, how many Fred’s could there be in Chicago? The casting agency happened to be right around the corner from my office, so I auditioned.

The casting experience was short. I filled out some quick paperwork, took at head shot with my name and literally a 20 second video stating my name, what I do for a living, and “what I’m all about.” That caught me off guard. What I’m all about? Hmmm…I had to think quick on my feet. So I blurted, “well I’m all about computers, blogs, the Internet, podcasts, etc. Then on the weekends I’m all about sports, football, and beer.”

Yeah, I didn’t get cast. Might have had something to do with that answer. That and maybe the fact I was the only one that showed up in a tie and had shaved that day. I can just see the casting agent who watched my video…so this guy is a geek….NEXT! Oh, but I’m so much more Mr. Casting Agent. I can chug a 40 oz. with the rest of them. I was in a Frat in college. It’s always Miller Time in my household. Oh well, it was a fun experience. My biggest fear was that if I did get cast, that the commerical also cast a bunch of “Tom’s or Mike’s” and all the “Fred’s” were going to be made to look stupid. So if you see a commericial in the near future with a buch of “Fred’s” in it, know that I did try….they just didn’t like me.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been struggling lately. Struggling to find a voice. Struggling not to rant. Struggling not to talk about work. Struggling to come to grips with finding my space on this big digital world called the Internet. Struggling to find brand "me." You see, I have mutliple spaces I like to live in. First, I live in the world of Let's Ride where I talk about personal stuff: music, Fantasy sports, TV, ranting about life, raving about life. That space is very clear for me. Anyone who wants to read it can and my audience isn't that much of a concern for me. I classify Let's Ride as one of the millions of irrevelant blogs on the Web.

Second, I live at FrederickFaulkner.com where I attempt to discuss mostly suff about the Internet. It could be related to marketing on the Internet, cool technology, Google, Yahoo!, etc. I haven't really found my voice there, which frustrates me. The most frustrating part is that I'm not sure who I want my target audience to be. Some might say that if you write they will come. Your audience will find you. I don't buy it. I don't buy it because I think sites that don't know their audience ultimately fail. The goal here is to be one of the better blogs on the Web. One that has a purpose. So who might my audience be? Well I can see myself serving a couple audiences:

• the legal industry (where I work)
• online marketers
• other Webmasters

These are the markets/audiences that I am closely related to. I work in the legal industry, I have a marketing degree and love the Internet and how it all works together. Finally, with my recent promotion, I have a new relationship with other individuals that run Web sites, establish policies, and create standards. More on this later.

Then there is the third world I live in, and this ties into my struggle with finding my voice for FF.com. I am the Webmaster for the American Bar Association, the largest volunteer member organization tapping out at just over 407,000 members. That world presents me with a great opportunity to share my knowledge about the World Wide Web and how to publish, build better Web sites, create content, code properly, etc. I'm looked to as a local "expert" and I do have a lot to give, but no outlet to do it in besides meetings or one-on-one conversations. This is a problem that needs a larger outlet. A larger megaphone to spread the good word.

Part of my problem with blogging more on FF.com regarding all the stuff at work is because of potential ethical questions regarding where I work, what I do, and the knowledge I'm attempting to share, thus promoting myself. It may not be as touchy as I think. I may have to talk to our legal dept. to clarify. The point being is that I want to build brand "Fred Faulkner" and at the same time not interfere with what I do for a living, that pays the bills.

Of course one of the best ways to build your own personal brand it so blog. I could also do more traditional methods like writing articles, but I'm all about the digital world. To create freely available content for others to benefit from. To share your experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly so others don't fall into the same traps. To guide newbies to greatness. To establish conversations between other readers, visitors, and people who think like you.

So there is my dilemma. I know this is all possible. I need some guidance. I need some help finding that voice for an audience. The audience helps define the content. The audience helps give me focus. So anyone out there want to lend a hand? Dish out some adivce? Anyone? Beuler? Send me a note at faulknef {at} gmail.com.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and not a lot of time to write about them, or not enough to have a good post (not that a one liner can’t be a good post).  But with all the things going on in my life at work and home here is the short and sweet list; a brain dump per se of what I’ve been thinking lately. 

No more Marshall Fields on State Street.  Federated Department Stores will dump the Marshall Fields name for Macy’s in 2006.  One more store I, and many more in Chicagoland, won’t shop at when the conversion happens.  This was a good marketing move why?? Hey Federated!  We’re NOT NEW YORK! Here’s an exhustive list of other lost nameplates.

Marty Casey lost the frontman job to JD Fortune on Rockstar INXS last night.  Oh well, our local boy d.  But all is not lost, now Marty (and the Lovehammers?) gets to open for them on their upcoming world tour. 

I’ve been busy at work dealing with the aftermath of Katrina (in a good way), it is good to know that Ernie is ok.  Rita is on her way, building strength, and that worries many in Texas and the rest of the Gulf Coast.  Which reminds to ask, what’s personal your disaster plan?  Do you know where to go if something happens to you or your family?  If not, better get a one.

iPod Nano came out last week. Very slick!  Very sexy in true Apple fashion.  Still won’t get one because Apple refuses to put an FM tuner on their musical bundles of joy.  Just makes it impractical for me for how I use my MP3 player.

Note to all hotels, if the fire alarm goes off at midnight, make sure your front desk staff know what to do, how to handle guests, and to apologize.  The Grand Geneva Resort needs a lesson.  “It was not our fault” is not an acceptable answer. Nor is “We didn’t ask you to evacuate your room, why are you here at the front desk?”  err..because last time I checked when a fire alarm goes off your instincts is to evacuate your room and we are here to see if it is safe to go back to our rooms.  Oh, and they never said they were sorry for the inconvenience.

Continue reading "Short and Sweet: Brain Dump of Recent Thoughts" »

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This was one of the headlines on the Chicago Tribune Web site this morning.

Title: Barbara Bush sees sunny side
The president's mom says Astrodome evacuees "were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."

err...25,000 displaced citizens (not counting the entire city here) who had to live in the SuperDome with little or no food and water for days is seeing the sunny side? I won't get into my opinion too much on the government's timely response to aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina, but this is just plain silly. Now I haven't read the article, but headlines like this make me not want to read it.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Filled up my car with gas last night. Should have done it earlier in the week like a smart person. But noooooo (add whiney emphasis) I decided to stay home that night.

Gas Price for Regular: $3.09. ugh...

Driving to the train and other locations just became optional.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 7:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That is about how I feel after 9 hours of fun in the sun yesterday.  Pool side, with some beers, and no sun screen.  One of those memory lapses.  Must have been Miller messing with my mind.  Now I can’t move my arms without pain. 

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 7:24 PM | Permalink

Steve Jobs had the pleasure of giving the commencement speech at Stanford this year.  It is actually a really great speech.  Forget the fact that he never graduated college.  Forget the fact that he was adopted.  Remember that through his life he has overcome challenges that have brought on bigger and better things.  Remember that he found what he loves to do and is passionate about it.  Remember that even when you get fired…something better is around the corner.  Great speech.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In the last two weeks the U.S. has seen a variety of earthquakes in both California and most recently in Kentucky.  So it begs the question: Are these a precursor to "The Big One?" Or at least something bigger? Fault lines don't move for no reason, so something is happening down there.  I just hope it releases enough of its energy in these other earthquakes and not something that will cause mass destruction/devastation.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dan feels about how I do some days. To date I have about 22 days worth of time off coming to me. Maybe I should start taking some of this...

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been away from my computer for the last week and upon catching up last night I noticed that Gmail bumped it's storage space up to 2 Gigabytes per user! Now if that doesn't beat the pants off of MSN, Yahoo!, Hotmail, and AOL I don't know what does. I have 50 invites left from my account...who wants one? E-mail me through my contact form.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

You were an inspiration to the world. Thanks for everything.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ABA TECHSHOW 2005 is finally over. We had a great conference and the highest attendance in years. Now that I have some more time on my hands I will be back to blogging. I got to meet some really cool people this year and I will share more on that later.

LexThink! is tomorrow and should prove to be a great networking experience for me as well as a professional one. So look for more from Let's Ride next week.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been out of touch lately and it has been very frustrating. Work has been very busy for me with an up-coming confernece and expo we are hosting in Chicago next week. TonightToday was an early morning and long night at the office (and $22 for frickin' parking!!) and I still didn't get all I wanted done...well done. Tomorrow is going to be another L O N G day. The end of the tunnel will be sometime around April 7th. So if you've been wondering where I've been...it has been hordeing behind a computer, just not Let's Ride.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just saw a news teaser for the 10:00 news about how milk isn't enough to give kids the calcium they need. My question is when will beer brewers make beer with calcium in it? I drink beer more than I drink milk. It would eleviate me from taking a dietary supplement pill to give me the calcium I need. So Miller...you listening?? Give me an MGD with some calcium in it. I bet your sales would go up. Beer that's good for you...and I'm not talking about some Ultra beer either. I think it could work.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 6:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Chicago RedEye today featured the addiction of an iPod on America, let alone Chicago. According to the RedEye,

Apple has sold more than 10 million iPods, thanks in part to the last quarter of 2004, when the company sold about 4.6 million iPods�a 525 percent boost from the holiday quarter of 2003.

I see them everywhere. My bother got an iPod mini for himself. I've debated getting one as well, but have opted for a Creative Zen Touch on my Amazon Wish List instead. I do see the "how can you NOT miss them" white ear-buds everyday when I walk to and from the train station. I can see how it can be addictive. It is almost if you don't have the white ear-buds, or an iPod, you aren't "in the cool club." We'll see. It just shows how much music is a part of our lives, and that isn't a bad thing at all.

LINK UPDATE: Here is a new link to the Crack Pod article on the Chicago Tribune Web site (Free Registration Required)

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Happy Birthday big guy! Welcome to the 27 club. Hope you survived the east coast blizzard.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I learned a very powerful lesson while having drinks with two other bloggers after work on Friday. Frist, let me say thank you to Dennis and Matt for taking the time to catch up while they were in Chicago. While talking about their future projects and my future plans for my online presence, they both shared some very valuable advice about the blogosphere. It is all about connections. The Internet, and blogs specifically, have not only become the world's soapbox/sounding board/publisher, it has broken down the walls of communication. But taking the communication one step further, like actually calling someone who either linked to you or commented on your blog, is what gives you the ability to build and create new relationships you might not have had otherwise. It is what makes industries grow, and the sharing of knowledge greater. So thanks for the lesson guys. It was great catching up!

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

Please excuse the mess while I update Let's Ride. It will probably be another day or two before I can get all the bugs out. I also got a cool new book for Christmas that should help with the managment of all my Web sites that use Movable Type.

Stay tuned to ride again!

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 10:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Comment spam sucks. It is one of the roots of all evil that comes with the territory of blogging. MT came out with an upgrade to help fight it. I will be very cautious about enabling comments on Let's Ride V3, which BTW is due out next week.

So TAKE THAT COMMENT SPAMMERS! BOOYA!

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

With a pending week off coming soon, Let's Ride is taking a short hiatus from our current Aston Martin theme. We will resume our regularly scheduled theme programming sometime the week of Dec. 27th. It just makes it easier when you start from scratch sometimes. Please note: due to reasons beyond my knowledge, all individual templates are still in the old format. Don't know why...and right now I don't have the time to figure it out. Thanks to MovableStyle for the Holiday look and feel (with some slight modifications by Let's Ride).

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This time there is no rant. It is after Thanksgiving and I'm now looking forward to the holiday season. In fact, this is what I woke up to on Thanksgiving this year.

and

Pretty funny if you ask me. We haven't see that much snow on a holiday in Chicago in years. Christmas doesn't even get that much anymore! Holiday shopping has begun and less than a month to my birthday...can't complain.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tomorrow is when we will find out if we have a new Commander in Cheif or if Dubya stays in office for another 4 years. While I remain to keep my political views private (though they have been somewhat engaged every now and then) I like to keep them separte from my public life. Similar to the separation of Church and State. But I will engage in some general views of the system. While not perfect, not by any means it is the best we have to work with at the moment.

First I have to say I loved the John Stewart interview on Crossfire. He made a very real statement on that show when it came to the media's involvement in the election process. The media as a whole (not all outlets nor all columnists) is doing a poor job. Instead of reporting on the good (which apparently is not worthy news) most media outlets will only comment on the bad or mud slinging. I find this all too similar to the reporting on the War. If it doesn't have a body count, we won't print it. For some reason it is the media who is making us feel that nothing is progressing over in Iraq when it actually is. But I digress....

The media needs to uphold the responsibility of reporting the truth. Many undecided voters will make thier opinions on what the hear from TV and read in newspapers. If the media does not provide an objective look at BOTH sides of the story then it does nobody any good in the long run.

Here is where I will make my political statement of the year: Tomorrow I get to pick the best of the bad. Neither are perfect nor will either solve all the problems issued or charged with during their campaigns. Neither can protect us from evil. Neither can stop a nuclear weapon from entering this country. Neither can make our kids smarter by increasing standardized tests. Neither can stop outsourcing to other countries. Neither can. Period.

Continue reading "Elections Tomorrow - Go Out and Make Your Voice Heard" »

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Ever wonder what the President and Senator Kerry say to each other when they shake each other's hand during the beginning of the debates? This picture is from the last one, and here is what I think they said.

POTUS BUSH: "I swear if you make fun of how I pronounce 'nuclear' one more time I'm going to drop one on the state of Massachusetts."

SENATOR KERRY: "Come on Jeb, er, I mean Mr. President. One more time. Did you find any 'NU-CLEAR' weapons in Iraq?"

or

SENATOR KERRY: "How are your girl's drinking problem? They in rehab yet?"

POTUS BUSH: "OUCH! Don't squeeze my hand so hard!"

What do you think they are saying?

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Welcome back non-reality TV shows! It is about frickin' time! I have found (and so has 33 million other viewers) the refreshing sight of non-reality TV shows hit the airwaves. I have to say that I'm addicted to Desperate Housewives and Lost. I also can't wait for the premier of 24. It has been too long since we had some real character developement vs. this whole cat-fighting, money hungry, twisted network TV they call reality shows. Yes, they can bring you in, but let's face it, everyone is just watching to see pretty faces, controversy, and who can backstab the other most effectively. That is not my cup of tea. I find myself yelling at the TV, or making fun of the losers who are on them, more often when I watch those shows than not.

Now we have two shows that riddle our minds, waiting to see what happens next week, but this time with written twists and turns and a real story line. Yes, I know I am a little weird by watching Desperate Housewives, but you know, just as I do, that we can all relate to it. Each of us has some secret that not even our closest neighbors or friends know. We all know the snooper in the neighborhood who always asks the nosy questions. Just like the show Friends, Desperate Housewives could be Anytown, USA. We all know someone in each role.

Lost is appealing to me because of the new additions to each characters past that gets brought in during each episode. Who was the one that was in the handcuffs and why? What is up with the quiet bald guy? And what is that thing in the forest? My only disappointment is that I really can't see this lasting more than one season, two tops. After that it becomes a modern Gilligan's Island, and that show is coming to a TV network near you soon.

These shows give me one more reason to want a Tivo/DVR.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 7:34 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Christopher Reeves passed away this last weekend and it brings me to think of the individuals who either have some ailing disease and are fighting for their lives and that of others by advocating for a cure. Michael J. Fox is another who comes to mind. Both of these courageous individuals have set up foundations that will continue their work after they are gone. But these are just celebrities. I know of many others, ordinary people, who have MS, brain tumors, and breast cancer that fight everyday not only for their lives, but also for a cure. It is that dedication to not only trying to live (as best of) a normal life while raising awareness and funds for a cure. So to the Reeves family, we mourn with you. And to all the others, Karen, Liz, Hubert, and Michael, we fight with you for a cure.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 7:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The alarm goes off. It is 5:00 a.m. on a beautiful Sunday morning and the day had finally arrived. After making a bet four and a half months ago, the procrastination and mind games came to a head and reality had come to fruition. You get up, eat some food (toast with peanut butter) and get in the car for a quick drive downtown. You find a place to park what seems like eternity from the starting line. Turns out it is as it takes you almost a half an hour to walk to the festivities. You get your race packet and stretch. Soon it is 7:15 and you need to start making your way over the starting area. You kiss your wife goodbye. She wishing you luck and reminds you how insane you are again and how glad it was you running and not her. You stand at the starting line. 7000+ strangers of all calibur stand with you. Your heart starts to race. You double check your watch is set on Chrono to track your time. You look down to make sure your timing chip is still tied to your shoe. It is. No turning back now. Everyone is watching, especially your wife. Can't look bad in front of her. Everyone starts cheering. You see heads start to bob in front of you. Time to go.

Continue reading "13.1 Miles, 2 Hours 5 Min., and a little bit of insanity" »

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It feels good to get things done. I've had this growing "To Do" list that has been nagging me for the last couple of months and now I can say that I am finally making that list smaller and smaller. I took this vacation to re-energize from work, but more importantly to "Get Things Done." It is amazing what a little sleeping in can do for a body, but yet, still feel like you have accomplished something by noon. I've actually purposely put off getting on the computer until today. Now between the loads of laundry I can finalize some Web work and post some stuff up that I have been putting off.

After this vacation I will be focusing on some reading that I attempted to get done earlier this summer. And now that summer is officially over, I need to make these books my Fall Reading List.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am in the midst of a week-long vacation where I plan to go�nowhere! One week of �Fred Time� at home. Needless to say I am a little excited about this on a couple levels. First is to get a break from work. I need a break to get refreshed. While this level would have been nicer to take when I was able to be with my wife while she was on summer break, it just didn�t work out that way. Second I have had a bunch of personal projects that I have been putting off all summer long. Those are at the top of my �To Do� list next week. Third, I plan on working on some personal Web projects that have been waiting for some attention. Finally, I have some time planned to spend with on golf course, in my running shoes, and hanging out at night with some movie stars (aka the movie list I�ve been waiting to get caught up on).

Oh, and there will be some catching up on blogging. I�ve had a ton of things I have been waiting to blog about, but my energy lately has not been there, so the posts have dried up lately. That will change very soon. So here is to the next 48 hours of work, launching two conference Web sites, a new e-newsletter, and some other projects to be completed (and two very long days and late nights).

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been crazy busy lately trying to catch up from being sick. I haven't been sick in a really, really long time and this one took me for a whirl. (caugh caugh) I still hack my way along during the day. I'm sure my co-workers are getting fed up with me.

I've been busy reading and publishing this great new edition of Law Practice Today, my department's Webzine. I've never learned so much about legal technology as I did for this upcoming issue. It is all about e-discovery. Lord help the poor sap who gets into a litigation case and one side decides to ask for some hard drives, servers, and back-up tapes. So you thought you deleted that incriminating e-mail?? Think again buddy. ;-) So that's what's up. A whole lotta work and no play.

I'll be back to the grind next week.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ok, one more post before I call it a night and head to Vegas. I will hopefully not gamble my life away in Vegas. I plan on doing some reading (on the plane at the very least, if not by the pool for a while). So here is my summer reading list for the next couple of books. Of course I'm posting this without having an Amazon afflilate account, so I will make $0 if anyone clicks on these links. Oh well.

Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, and Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin
So what if it was published in 1999, the content is still very good and relevant.

Free Prize Inside! The Next Big Marketing Idea! by Seth Godin
Do we see a theme here? Am I a marketer at all? You take a guess. How could I resist the book in a cereal box?

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
This book has been all over the place in the blogosphere. I have read many people rave about it and I even read David's blog. But I have to read the book to get the full effect I think.

So that is the summer reading list for now. I will hopefully get some more in there like some James Patterson books.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There were reports last week that Gmail, Google's free e-mail service currently in beta, was expected to roll-out in the next 60-90 days. Turns out, they are slowly rolling it out as a viral marketing plan. There were a few thousand that got to try Gmail (features include a gig of storage, Google search capability on all your mail, and �not sure if this is a feature�tailored ads based on your mail content, just to name a few) in the beta version about three months ago. Those who have gotten the opportunity have had mixed reviews. Some were concerned about how Google knew what AdSense ads to display (it scans for keywords and then serves them up). Some were concerned that the ads looked like part of the e-mail itself (unless your messages had a defined right border, most probably don't). Then there was the concern that Gmail would take off at all after patent/trademark issues. Well either the boys at Google either feel confident enough that those battles are under control, or they're really going out on a limb by expanding their service.

So how does one now get a Gmail account? Well you can continue to bid on one at Ebay, or you can be one of the lucky ones your friend picks to invite you to play in the new Google playground. Beta users get three invitations to give out to others to get a Gmail account. Then after thirty days, those three get three invitations. Why the power of 3? Who knows. Why did Google pick their odd number of money to raise in their IPO (there is actually a random answer for that)? So now with the invitations flying out...I come to my request...anyone want to invite me to get a Gmail account? If so, check send me an e-mail through my Contact page and I'll hook you up with a real email address to invite me at.

Posted by Frederick L. Faulkner IV at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For some reason I have felt that this weekend was a long weekend when it really wasn't. I have atributed this to a very productive weekend...at least for me. Friday night was dinner and a movie. Saturday was the gym in the morning, shopping in the early afternoon, a retirement party and then a graduation party later that night. Today I cleaned the condo while my wife was gone. I did some shopping to fix my computer and give it a couple of upgrades and I got my network back up and running (writing this in bed while watching TV). Tonight we went to dinner and wrapped up a little laundry. For some reaon, this seems like a lot to me.

To top off my productive weekend I got a wiki up and running on my Web server. So come play in