Smoke and mirrors September 22, 2009
Posted by Matsu in Fun, Photography, Random, Travel, Uncategorized.add a comment
Century Plaza Hotel in L.A.
During my recent visit to Los Angeles, I stayed at the Century Plaza Hotel. It was very nice. But, what I really liked was the view from the room that was randomly assigned to me for my visit. It was on the front side of the hotel facing, dead center, the uniquely architected (is that a word?) office building directly across the street. I couldn’t help but take some snap-shots of the view using my iPhone. The purpose of this blog post is to share those photos.
View from Century Plaza Hotel Balcony
The unique building across the street has a hole in it, literally. It’s hard to see if from the above image, but what you see through that hole is part of two other buildings. One of the things I really enjoyed about this room, in addition to the view, was the fountain seen in this photo. It helped to drown out (no pun intended) the city noises. The sound of the fountain was a little bit like the sounds you hear at the ocean. Or, it was as close as you might get to it in a metropolitan area like Century City.
View of buildings in L.A. at sunset
This wider-angle photo of the same view of the building across from my hotel room gives you a much better idea of how there are two separate buildings behind the building with the hole in it. To add to the strangeness, the two tall buildings behind are triangle shaped, not traditional buildings with four outside walls.
Yes, the hole is real. I’m not sure the thinking behind it, other than making it very unique, but there is no magic trick at play in these photos (no smoke or mirrors were used to produce these photos).
My stay was more pleasant because of the view and the sounds produced by the fountain. Oh, and the weather (65 F degrees at night), didn’t hurt, either.
The new phone books are here (or, I’m on the list) September 21, 2009
Posted by Matsu in Information Technology, Management, Random, Technology, Uncategorized.add a comment
Last week I attended the Midsize Enterprise Summit (MES) conference for CIO’s. This year it took place in Los Angeles, California. At that conference, which is made up of CIO’s from many different industries all across the United States, the organizers picked what they called the top 50 CIO’s. Well, today I found out the list was published on the Internet by Reuters news agency.
If you know me, you’ll see my name in the list. If you don’t know me, then you probably don’t care. I am really just posting this link so extended family, friends, and colleagues can know about it. I e-mailed a couple of people already but I don’t intend to e-mail anyone else about it. Obviously, this kind of thing would never happen if it were not for my staff. It is because of their hard work and dedication that we were included in the list. So, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank them for making this possible.
The title of this post? Yup, I took the inspiration from Steve Martin and his movie, The Jerk. Do you remember that funny scene when the new phone books arrive and he discovered his name is included? Well, that’s a little how I felt when I discovered the list was out and I was included.
Fuel shortage drives increase in telework October 3, 2008
Posted by Matsu in Business, Education, Information Technology, Management, Technology, Web.1 comment so far
Working at home
Teleworking, the term used to describe working from home through the use of technology, is on the rise in the hardest hit areas of the country. The recent severe gas shortages in Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte has caused employers and employees to take a long hard look at ways to avoid the daily commute while maintaining or even increasing productivity.
An article in Network World talks about this workplace phenomenon, including the benefits and pitfalls of adopting telecommuting or teleworking policies. Before you jump in and start providing your employees with the option of working from home you might want to think through the problems and create some clear policies to address potential problems before they arise. To get you started, you should read this TAI article listing the Pros and Cons of teleworking.
If you are serious about starting a teleworking policy for your employees, then you might want to read this post that gives advice on the things that OSHA says you must address before you launch that new work-from-home program. It also includes a boiler-plate agreement that will help you get started on building your own policy.
Also, as you consider the affect that teleworking may have on those who stay home (and their productivity) don’t forget about those workers who still go to the office… here’s an article about that problem.
To Dallas and back – lessons for a CIO September 18, 2008
Posted by Matsu in Information Technology, Management, Open Source, Technology, Uncategorized.2 comments
This week I attended a conference in Dallas, Texas (USA) for CIO’s — also known as Chief Information Officers. As corny as this may sound, it has changed me, professionally.
Many of the sessions were led by Gartner research analysts. They gave me a lot of “food for thought.” In fact, I filled an entire legal pad of paper with my notes from just the Gartner sessions.
I have begun to see my role as CIO and my job where I work as far more strategic. I almost never have time (or take time) to conduct strategic planning — yet, that is my job. I must rethink what I do and how I do it in order to do what’s important — my job.
In one of the opening keynote addresses the speaker quoted Charles Darwin. I haven’t looked this up and verified it, but I will do that before too many days pass. Anyway, here is the quote:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.”
There certainly seems to be a lot of truth to that when it comes to technology and IT projects and support.
On a positive note, I took the Gartner CIO leadership survey and scored very high, compared with my peers (other CIO’s across all industries who took the survey). Of course, I have areas where I am weak and all areas could use work and improvement, but I was pleasantly surprised that my overall results were significantly better than the norm. To quote my friend, Stuart, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me.”
I guess I’m at least going in the right direction.
When do you read? August 29, 2008
Posted by Matsu in Education, Random, Web.4 comments
I love books. I love to read. If you are like me, you read a lot. So, how do you get all the reading in you want? I never feel like I ever get close to reading everything I want to read.
If you know me or work with me, you know that my office (and outside my office) is full of books, magazines, printed copes of articles or blog posts I’ve found on the Internet and much more. I can’t possibly read it all, but I also can’t just get rid of it without reading it. Otherwise, I’d be giving up the opportunity to learn and grow and become better equipped to do my job.
Because of my heavy meeting schedule at work (during the day) I tend to do most of my reading after I get home — nights and weekends. Often, I find myself reading well into the night, well past what could be considered a healthy person’s bed time.
In addition to reading a home during the evenings and on the weekends, I also like to always have something with me to read if I have to wait for something (like in the dentist office or waiting for my son’s physical therapy appointment to be over). I read anywhere and everywhere at any time. Still, it’s not enough. I just can’t obsorb all of the information I need or want.
Welcome to the information age where one can’t possibliy ready everything and learn all that is availalbe to one that tries to keep their knowledge current and relevent.
