Tag Archives: Info

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the unattended garden

After a most excellent weekend, my thoughts are heady and deep. Yeah, I did have a great weekend, thanks for asking. Today, on the wind down, I was listening to Ian Brown and Massive Attack. They both sound so good on my new receiver. The guy across the street let me borrow the Ian Brown CD and I was telling him how good Massive Attack was and that he should check out the “Lemon Song” by Led Zeppelin. I used to forward people websites as a way to introduce people to new things. But I backed off of that since many of my reference websites have been left to wither, or as Nick Cave refers to in “Bring it on” an unattended garden.

My case in point. Check out the once awesome and mighty Massive Attack website:

When I first saw this site, I was awestruck. It was one of the more advanced and ellaborate flash sites I had seen. Now, you can’t help but be distracted by the xanax and Viagra spam. Now a days, it isn’t rocket science to block this pharmaceutical spam, but obviously no one in charge of the site gives a rats ass or even is aware of the current state.

So this brings me to my next point. For the last year, I have been cultivating an online presence. As I mentioned before, this was a conscious shift in my thinking. Up until this year, I tried to remain more or less anonymous on the Internet. Then I decided to change things around when I decided to look for a new job.

Some of the fuel for tonights post came from the latest issue of Details Magazine, (no, I would never subscribe to this myself buy my wife got me a free subscription). There was an article about networking in it. The article didn’t have anything new to me or any secret knowledge, but it was a reminder how much networking is an important activity for anyone in the job market and arguably any professional.

What does this mean? Well, if you go through the effort to have an online presence and have it mean anything, you got to care and feed and water it. Now a days, that can be a small chore. Personally, I’m on the following sites to make me look like I actually know something:

All of these are important components of what makes my online presence. Yeah, I know potential employers might be looking at this so, so I try to keep it somewhat clean, but I want to make sure it is an accurate representation of who I am. I can do that without being smarmy and cursing without due cause.

I am surprised to find out that I really enjoy this aspect of the Internet. I guess it really is like taking care of a garden and making sure it grows. You got to make an effort to keep all of it up to date. Actually, it’s not that bad if you enjoy doing it… and i do.

Keep the weeds out and make sure your online presences it lookin’ good. I’ve been at the same company for 12 years so I consider myself to be a n00b when it comes to networking, but I am getting more and more clearer on how it is all supposed to work. I love talking to people so this is a great extension on who I am. Part of it is a little about me growing out to be more of an extrovert, or at least a little outgoing.

View Jeffrey Pabian's profile on LinkedIn

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a couple of minutes of fame

Tonight, I had the sheer pleasure of being in the live studio audience for a TV special.  If you live in Georgia, you might know who Clark Howard is.  He’s great.  I’ve been listening to him for years and think he’s a great person that has helped a lot of people.  Tonight we taped a show for next Monday’s airing of a real estate special.  My sister-in-law and I were picked to be in the audience.

Some of you know that I am a real estate investor, property manager, and  agent.  My sister-in-law is my broker and we have worked together on a couple of interesting deals.    I have intended this to be my “Plan B” but as you might know, now is not the best time to fall back on this… maybe just not yet.

Anyways, we both enjoyed the show and the message Clark had to say.  If anything, I am more convinced that my philosophy on real estate is definitely solid and on track.  So, that’s a good thing and I am looking good, (if I do say so myself).

I don’t want to take anything away from the show so I won’t post pictures or what was discussed until the show airs.   The show airs on 9/10 @ 8PM Eastern on Channel 2, WSB.  Be sure to set your TiVos’.

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good things afoot

So, those of you paying any attention know that I got notice that I am let go from my current employer. But fret not since I am in excellent company. This year, I have been focusing on creating my “online presence” from blogs, to Twitter, LinkedIn, and recently Facebook. Honestly, I am very proud of my efforts since it allows me to talk about stuff that really gets me excited and even happy. At the very least, it’s an expression of who I am.

On to the future! I am ready to find my dream job and do something that I completely love. An old friend, Lance Weatherby, wrote an excellent post for folks in my position.

Lance pretty much summed up everything I had learned and read about this year. I found it a very helpful post. And I am sure it will help other people in a similar situation.

My wife’s cousin who has done international business gave me a similar lesson, although it was in a 45 minute care ride. His tactics were more for non-tech jobs, but the premise is the same; you got to network.

Having been at the same company for 12+ years, I heard that “you got to network” from every angle. But what does that mean? I had a really hard time figuring that out. For me, it really meant, be yourself. That’s a tough lesson. I guess some people can “sell themselves” but networking with other people means to me to be able to talk about what you know, love, do passionately. Don’t try to bullshit the bullshitter, (as my Dad used to say). Somewhere, along the line, someone I really respected said, “To be free you have to be totally responsible.” That means be honest. I can’t / won’t lie to my wife, employer, friend, etc. I simply can’t do it anymore. It’s not always easy, but I now see it’s the only way I can be. Having said that, I defer to Henry Winkler in “The Waterboy.”

Back to the “networking” issue. Of course I realize you have to sell yourself at some point. That’s the part I need to know more about.More later, but I am feeling very positive.

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yeah, I removed a post…

If you happened by earlier today, you might have seen a post about my currently employment.  I did get a severance package today, and since they were very clear about the risks of losing the package and gave very specific guidelines, I’ve decided to take down the post I made previously, since my wife would kill me if I lost the package!  😉  I am playing it safe and did this of my own accord.

Thanks to you that sent words of kindness.  Whew, I’m glad it’s over.

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facebook

The inevitable happened.

I joined Facebook tonight.  Okay, I’ll admit… I do think it is pretty cool.  I’m not going to write about how cool it is or why I like it since I am sure there are plenty of people doing that.  But, I will say a friend of mine recommended I join and I’m glad he did.  Actually, it came about since he was showing me a Facebook Widget for his iPhone.  I was surprised to see many names I recognized in his “friends” list.  It look appeared it was the thing to do…

My wife has a MySpace account.  I like the idea of MySpace, but I just don’t want to deal with the “overhead” MySpace has… “Thanks for the add, man!”  Facebook seems to be between LinkedIn and MySpace; that is something I could deal with.

Now, I don’t think there is anything wrong with MySpace; I just haven’t been bitten by the bug.  I have thought about (for a long time) setting up a pseudo-name and going to town, but given how much I got on my plate these days I don’t feel like I have the wherewithal to  commit to it.  At least with Facebook, I see it more as a “professional” social network.  Oh well.

If you’d like to be my “friend” on Facebook, look me up.  You know how to find me!

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Barcamp… Atlanta

Man, only once in a while do I get lucky enough to find out about something very cool ahead of time.  And, it doesn’t hurt to know people.  Check this out:

 Save the date: October 12th and 13th, 2007

Location: Georgia Tech Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Tech Square in Midtown Atlanta

Check back soon for more information and details.

And:

What? You don’t know what BarCamp is?  ‘s okay.  Here’s the Wikipedia page for it:

I’ve never been to anything like this before but I am really excited that I might get to go, (limited number of signups).

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Babe, I’m on fire…

The horse says it, the pig says it
The judge in his wig says it

Man, I don’t know what is going on but so many electical things have been breaking.. and I mean breaking in a big, bad hard way. Here’s a few things:

  • A/V Receiver
  • Roku Soundbridge
  • My Powerbook, sniff sniff sniff
  • Harmony Remote (taken apart, cleaned, and repaired!)
  • Sun Shade on our deck
  • check engine light in the car
  • BSOD’s on our PC (think that might be fixed, I got good at debugging core dumps in WinXP)
  • My Trixbox server had three kernel panics

And this is all within a couple of weeks.

The fox and the rabbit
And the nun in her habit says

I am pretty bummed that my Roku M500 is dead. I took it apart and see that if I can get a new part I probably good fix it. The question is, will I be able to buy just the part or do I have to shell out for a new complete one? I love this thing as it has profoundly changed me and my families life.

I am even more bummed about my Powerbook. It is unlikely I will get a new one from work and more likely I’ll get a Windows laptop. It isn’t that I have anything really against a Windows laptop, but I do love my Mac a lot. Maybe it can be repaired…

My mate Bill Gates says it
The President of the United States says it
The slacker and the worker
The girl in her burqa says

I’ve been learning Ruby on Rails lately. So far, I love it. My first project will be to do a UI for the Linux webcam software Motion. How did I get so far without knowing more about Ruby!?!?! This will be something you, the casual reader won’t ever see as it is intended for family and friends.

The general with his tank says it
The man at the bank says it
The soldier with his rocket
And the mouse in my pocket says

I am still loving my T-Mobile Wing. I have installed many apps, but the one I spend the most time with is Chess Genius. I might actually register it. No one ever IM’s me on it. sniff

The drug-addled wreck
With a needle in his neck says it
The drunk says it, punk says it
The brave Buddhist monk says

My brother-in-law has gotten a Nintendo Wii. What a neat thing! I want one! One an unrelated note, I’ve been learning quite a bit about Ethernet cameras; wired and wireless. I foresee some in my future.

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hoo-boy

It’s been a while since I last updated.  I was in Pasadena last week for an offsite.  It was great.  Sometimes I get the heebee-jeebies at my current job but then I spend time with some of these folks and I get all jazzed about things.   So traveling took some time out from me keeping up with the updates and I feel like I should post a minor update… even if it seems a little disjunct.

While in Pasadena, I presented on VoD and IPTV. I didn’t present on the technology behind it, (leave it to the NetEng guys…) but rather the market and the analysts’ predictions.   It was well received and I enjoyed doing the research on it.

Sunday morning, our audio receiver finally died.   Today I placed an order for a new replacement.  I can’t wait for it to get here! It will be a world of difference!  Thanks to the members over at AVSForum.

I’ve been doing some cool stuff with the Webcam/Linux/Motion set up.  I got in trouble with my wife so I pulled it all down.   In the meantime, I am learning Ruby on Rails to make it better.

I’m also spending a lot more time with Subversion for personal docs and projects, since my webhost gives me a ton of space.  I’m debating if I should just punch holes in my firewall or use my webhost for svn storage.  The jury is still out.

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Linux Webcams

Oh boy! I’m using the Safari beta on WinXP tonight. I have to say, that I was getting tired of Firefox slowing down my Powerbook that I decided to try Safari. So far, so good. I liked it so much, I am trying the Safari beta at home. So, I’ve been busy. Things have been good and I feel like I’ve been flexing my mental muscle. I’ve been spending my last few nights trying to get webcams working under Linux. I have a cheap-o webcam and was trying to help someone set up a situation where their family from overseas can “check in” on them from time to time.Again, as in most of my projects, I don’t want to pay for software and I want to remain legit. For WinXP, I found this site to be really useful:

(ah, a bug with safari… mental note and switching back to FireFox).

This was an incredibly useful site. I found this software linked from it:

I was really impressed with YawCam. It did everything I could imagine and then some.

  • live stream
  • password protected (various users)
  • scheduling
  • logging
  • tweaks

If you are running Windows, I’d recommend using that. It was really great. But, I wanted to take it further. I have an old Dell Laptop running Ubuntu. I’ll write a much more comprehensive post later about all the different options I found, but in the meantime, I have come to love Motion:

Motion For Linux

I ended up building it from source, (which was a pain in the ass getting all the right dpkg’s installed). But it is slick. Ken is my new hero:

  • Kenneth Lavrsen’s Web Cameras

The tar.gz Ken distributes has config files that are outdated. It took me a little while to figure that out, but if you read the wiki, then you should be able to figure it out. Maybe I’ll release my configs.

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A guest post…

I’m not typically one to promote myself shamelessly, but I do consider it an honor in some regards.   I recently had a guest post on the Earthlink blog, Earthling.    This is my personal blog, not related to Earthlink in any way and is my own commentary.  However, the post is work related.