Finally a president that get's technology.

Matthew Dillard (Matt@dogtailsolutions.com) has invited you to add the "Obama HQ" RSS Feed to Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

 

You can subscribe to this RSS Feed on any computer with an RSS-compatible program installed, such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. To view and subscribe to this RSS Feed, copy and paste the following Web address into your Web browser:

 

http://feeds.feedburner.com/obama08blog?format=xml

 

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Obama has finally hooked me.  Not because of his political party, his background, his policies, or anything that draws many people to support a particular political figure.  He has hooked me because he gets technology and how to use it.  He carries a Blackberry to stay in touch with his family and close advisors.  He has a linked in page (I certainly would like to be in his network.  He posts his videos to YouTube.  He even has a blog (see the attached rss feed).

 

Obama is finally working to add transparency to government.  He is implementing methods to communicate with me as an American in a way that I want.  Whether you agree with how he plans to handle the economic struggles, foreign policy, taxes, education, name the issue the divides red/blue America, he is taking a new and refreshing approach.  Al Gore may have invented the internet, but Obama is showing everyone how to use it.

 

He has already broken historical barriers.  From the looks at what he has done so far with technology in government, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.  This may be a challenging time for so many of us, but it is also an exciting one and I am enjoying the ride.  Hope on, there is plenty of room.

 

Summer comes to an end

Another summer is coming to a close. Another year where I make grandiose plans in May for the summer, only to become depressed in September when I look back at all the new projects I didn't get done.

For all the personal objectives I didn't get done, I have to remind myself of what was accomplished:

• Business continues to grow. July and August have been stronger this year than the last 2 years combined.
  
• Business processes continue to improve and refine. We now have an official helpdesk, trouble ticketing system, and robust monitoring platform
  
• I focused more on playing with my kids even though we didn't get to everything we hoped for
  
• I was able to take a week off to spend at Scout camp with my son and had a blast
  
• My wife and I have a stronger marriage than at any point in the past 10 years
  
• We completed a major home renovation project (and started a second)
  

Sure I didn't get to go golfing, fishing or camping as much as I promised myself, and my kids, but looking back on the summer what I did accomplish was probably a lot more than what I planned that late spring morning.

Great Music Web Site

A neighbor of mine turned me on to my favorite new web site: www.pandora.com  It’s an internet radio station.  You type in an artist or song, and it creates a radio station with songs that are similar.  You can guide the choices by clicking whether or not you like it.  You can also use links to buy the songs from other vendors.  It’s great in its simplicity.  Anyone can figure out how to use it.  AND it plays great music.  It has already turned me on to loads of new artists and songs I had never heard before or never would have through traditional radio.  Check it out!!!

 

 

 

Perspective

A couple of events recently give me pause for reflection.

 

The first is an annual fundraiser held on ESPN to support the Jimmy V foundation.  This is an organization to support cancer research founded by Jim Valvano.  If you don’t know him, he was a college basketball coach in the 80’s coaching NC State to a miraculous win over Houston for the National Championship.  He died of cancer in 1993.  Shortly before he died, he set up this foundation with ESPN.  Here is the speech he gave at the 1993 ESPY awards when he won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award.  WARNING:  This is a tear jerker http://youtube.com/watch?v=8neQJlTvMSs.  If you have had a bad day and need a pick me up, just watch this speech.  I actually met him once at a bar in Charlottesville, VA.  He really lit up a room and joked with me like we had been friends for years.  He was quite an extraordinary person.

 

The other event was the passing of Randy Pausch.  Professor Pausch inspired millions with his speech called “Achieving  your Childhood Dreams” AKA “The Last Lecture”.  Professor Pausch recently lost his battle with Pancreatic cancer.  His lecture and book tell us how to live our dreams and to appreciate life.

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo  It’s an 1:15 long so be sure and have time to watch the whole thing.

 

It is amazing to me how these men could face death with such life.  They are a lesson to all of us who look at the current times with such pessimism and dread.  They teach us to embrace every day as if it were your last.  As Jim Valvano reminds us, we should try every day to laugh, to think, and to cry.  “If you do that, you’ve had a full day.” If each of us lived like that we wouldn’t have time to worry about the price of gas, or the value of our home, or wars thousands of miles away.  They remind us to take each relationship and treat it as if it were the most important.  To enjoy the time with others, appreciate the gifts and the times we have, and to perceiver through adversity.

 

While the media and wall street try to tell us we are living in such turbulent and dangerous times, I remind myself how lucky we are to live in times of such opportunity.  Every generation has had its doomsday.  We are no different.  I remind myself I have never suffered through a depression,  I never had to have a fallout shelter  buried in my yard, and I have never had to fight in a war.  That’s pretty lucky compared to the generations that have preceded  me.  Our lives are what we decide them to be.  We must decide to see what is good and what each of us can do to make it better.  Don’t get me wrong, I know there are bad things all over this world.  My point is they have always been there, and they always will be there.  Each of us just need to keep a little more perspective and enjoy and improve what we already have.

 

 

 

How do people keep these things up to date?

I'm really not sure how people keep their blogs up to date. It's all I
can do to update this blog every couple of weeks, much less every couple
of days. Anyway, the past few weeks have been very busy for our family.
Here are some of the highlights:

Mom's house is SOLD. Yes, after over three months of cleaning and
preparation, we finally closed on the sale last week. We were all a
little emotional over the whole thing, except Mom. She was happy as I
have ever seen her. She's really glad to have this behind her. She is
finally settling into her new place. She seems to have made many new
friends. She has joined the knitting club, and she FINALLY has a
computer. Now we're just waiting for her internet connection to be
setup, then she'll be ready to go. We're all very excited to have her
join us online.

Nell went to the Oscar's. Anyone who has spoken with us in the past 6
months knows all about her trip. In the words of Bill and Ted, she had
a "most excellent adventure". Here is a link to her pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ay3jfhh9.cduwu1h9&x=0&y=-e27o41

If I can ever find her email outlining your trip, I'll be sure to post
it.

Dogtail Solutions has moved into a new office. As of 2 weeks ago we
have moved into an office in Fairfax Virginia. The commute is a lot
worse than it used to be working at home, but it's good to have an
official home. The past couple of weeks have been pretty nuts getting
settled in while keeping our client's happy. Things seemed to have
settled down this past week, so hopefully we can begin to move forward
again in growing our client base.

On the family front, we just got back from going to see the Harlem
Globetrotters. I swear I don't think that show has changed in the 30
years since I last saw it. It doesn't matter because we all had a fun
time. Everyone should go see that show at some point in their lives.
Ben found out his class play is going to be Pinocchio. Ben thinks he's
going to have a role as Jiminy Cricket. Jack earned his wolf badge a
few weeks ago, after a mad finish to meet the remaining requirements.
He was very proud of that achievement.

Hope this note finds you all healthy. We miss you all and look forward
to a time where we can catch up in person.

check out this snow.

last sunday's snow

The old homestead

Well, after 3 months of brutal labor, the old homestead is on the market for sale.

 

http://www.villanirealestate.com/listings/Details.cfm?EmpID=243

The fact that our family has not done any bodily harm to each other is quite an achievement.  It was a lot of work, mostly by Vivian and Betty, but the house is finally ready for sale.  It officially went on the market last weekend, so we will see how it goes...Hopefully Fast :)

 

I'm surprised that I don't have any more emotion than I do about the house being sold.  Other than about seven years in my twenties, I have only lived in 2 places; 1503 Oak Grove Drive, and 3055 Shadeland Drive.  You would think I would be emotional about the place being sold, but I'm not.  Who knows what will happen when someone buys it.  I may be an emotional wreck.  The truth is, I think its been time to move on for a few years now.  That combined with the process of going through 43 years worth of "stuff" has made me ready to close this chapter. 

 

Besides 43 years of figurines, plates and wall hangings, I went through 21 years of memories.  Over the past couple of months, I have watched a lifetime of Christmas mornings and birthday BBQs, evenings on the porch shelling butter beans from the garden, playing with my friends in the backyard woods, riding bikes, playing hide and seek in the summer dusk, and sneaking on the golf course to watch July 4 fireworks.  This was a great house and a great neighborhood to grow up in.  A small enough house to be close with your family, no traffic, big yards, and woods to play in.  Every child should be allowed to grow up in such a great environment.

 

As with all things, there were painful memories to go through as well as the good ones, but that is part of the process I guess.  There was the time I set the woods on fire, Dad going on one of many angry episodes, the day Peanuts, our Chihuahua died.  There was the last Christmas I spent at home with both parents sick, and the warm spring day when my father past away.  Without these memories to go along with the happy times, we are only half a person.  Memories are a powerful thing.  We don't realize at the time how these events shape our lives, but if we take the time to go through that chest, we can see how they all fit together and shaped us into who we are today.

 

Thank you 1503 Oak Grove Dr.  You were a wonderful home to us.  We can only hope your next family will live, love, cry and grow between your walls as we did.