Book Review - What I've Learned... So Far Part III: Banjos, Boats And Butt Dialing by Mike Ball
Mon, May 20th 2013 6:52a Thomas Duff I was recently offered the book What
I've Learned... So Far Part III: Banjos, Boats & Butt Dialing
by Mike Ball for reading and reviewing. I know I end up turning down most
of the offers I get for review copies because I'm so far behind in reading
and reviewing, but it's hard to turn down a book that can somehow link
banjos, boats, and butt dialing in a title. It also helped in that he delivered
on it.
I've never heard of Mike Ball, but it's
probably easiest to think of him [read] Keywords:
90
Book Review - Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A. J. Jacobs
Sun, May 19th 2013 10:13a Thomas Duff I've always been amused by people who
are health fanatics following some particular trend or fad that promises
to fix every issue known to medical science. A. J. Jacobs decided to follow
all the health advice he could find for a year, and the result is his book
Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection.
With the type of humor displayed in his prior books, Jacobs shows just
how impossible it is to follow all the health advice out there (or even
a small part of it). [read] Keywords:
147
Sun, May 19th 2013 9:10a Thomas Duff Nate Silver is the current rock star
of statistics and predictions based on the overwhelming accuracy of his
forecasts in the 2012 election results. His book The
Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don't
does a good job in explaining the fundamentals of statistics, probability,
and predictions. If society understood these concepts, we'd spend far less
time arguing from polarized positions "supported by facts"...
Contents:
A Catastrophic Failure of [read] Keywords: notes
network
117
Book Review - Learning to Play With a Lion's Testicles: Unexpected Gifts From the Animals of Africa by Melissa Haynes
Wed, May 15th 2013 8:45p Thomas Duff This book had me in tears, both by laughter
and emotional impact... Learning
to Play With a Lion's Testicles: Unexpected Gifts From the Animals of Africa
by Melissa Haynes. The title was enough to intrigue me into considering
it for reading and reviewing. It didn't take long before I knew it was
a great decision.
Haynes went to South Africa to volunteer
on a wild game reserve, seeking to find some perspective and purpose in
her life. What sounded like an adventure quickly turned in [read] Keywords:
112
Book Review - Judaism For Dummies by Rabbi Ted Falcon PhD and David Blatner
Sun, May 12th 2013 7:40p Thomas Duff This was a book that I had put on my
library "to be read" list, but decided that getting it via Amazon
Vine was faster and better... Judaism
For Dummies by Rabbi Ted Falcon
PhD and David Blatner. I felt this was a *perfect* example of what Dummies
titles are good for... context on a complex topic, enough so that you know
where to go for more information. Toss in a fair amount of humor along
the way, and I had a great time reading this (while learning lots).
Contents:
Introduction [read] Keywords:
123
Book Review - Tell No Lies by Julie Compton
Mon, May 6th 2013 8:40p Thomas Duff Tell
No Lies by Julie Compton is the
first of a series (two so far) of novels centered around District Attorney
Jack Hilliard and his fellow lawyer and one-time lover Jenny Dodson. That's
"one-time" as in "slept with her once", but it happened
at a time and under conditions that made the two of them front-page news.
Dodson was put on trial for murder, facing the death penalty. Hilliard
was her alibi, as the night of the murder was the night he visited her
house. He's convinced that [read] Keywords:
166
Book Review - How Data Science Is Transforming Health Care by Tim O'Reilly, Mike Loukides, Julie Steele, and Colin Hill
Sun, Apr 28th 2013 2:24p Thomas Duff How
Data Science Is Transforming Health Care
by Tim O'Reilly, Mike Loukides, Julie Steele, and Colin Hill is not a large
book... in fact, it's only 26 pages. But it's a solid 26 pages that makes
the case for how health care can (and will) be transformed by the use of
massive and detailed data on patients and outcomes. Given that you can
download it for free on Amazon, there's no reason *not* to give it a read.
It's enough to shift your view of how health care technology can be much
[read] Keywords:
134
Book Review - Storm Kings: The Untold History of America's First Tornado Chasers by Lee Sandlin
Sat, Apr 27th 2013 10:09p Thomas Duff Tornados... powerful, fearful, unpredictable...
and a source of controversy over the years as people tried to figure out
what they are (or if they even existed). Lee Sandlin tells the story of
those who first tried to solve the puzzle in his book Storm
Kings: The Untold History of America's First Tornado Chasers.
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, but it could well
be due to incorrect expectations rather than the fault of the content or
quality of the writing. I'll [read] Keywords: connections
120
Book Review - Six Years by Harlan Coben
Tue, Apr 23rd 2013 6:06a Thomas Duff I picked up Harlan Coben's latest novel
Six
Years from the library a week
or so ago. I enjoy his books, and I was looking forward to a few days of
leisurely enjoyment. What I got instead was a book I had a hard time putting
down, as Coben kept me guessing right up to the end. Granted, I read a
lot and don't necessarily do a good job of being able to remember plots
and story lines of books I read even six months ago. Still, this is one
of the best non-Bolivar novels he's written.
[read] Keywords:
156
Book Review - Calculated In Death by J. D. Robb
Sat, Apr 13th 2013 8:49p Thomas Duff Yay... another J. D. Robb (aka Nora
Roberts) novel... Calculated
In Death. This time, Dallas is
tagged on a woman's death that looks to be a mugging gone bad. Her body
is found on the street at the base of a set of stairs leading up to a building
in the midst of remodeling. But Dallas and Peabody find evidence that she
was actually killed inside, and the street scene was staged as a diversion.
Further investigation reveals that in her job as an auditor, she had just
been given three new [read] Keywords:
152
Book Review - Keep No Secrets by Julie Compton
Sat, Apr 13th 2013 3:20p Thomas Duff I've not read anything from Julie Compton
before, but the premise of her latest book Keep
No Secrets sounded like a interesting
novel. Since it's a sequel to Tell No Lies, I got that one from the library
intending to read that first before this one. But too many books and forgetfulness
found me starting Secrets first without remembering the sequence. No matter...
Once I got started, this was pretty much a "won't put it down"
story. I'll be starting Tell No Lies tonight. :)
St. [read] Keywords:
176
Book Review - Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
Tue, Apr 9th 2013 1:17p Thomas Duff When it comes to motivating people on
the job, what is the most common approach? It's the carrot-and-stick. But
Daniel Pink makes a case that what science knows and business does are
two entirely different things. Drive:
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
was an interesting read about how studies have shown that autonomy, mastery,
and purpose are the real drivers of motivation in today's world, and business
needs to shift their practices to account for this change.
Conten [read] Keywords: notes
application
applications
office
widgets
181
Book Review - The Racketeer by John Grisham
Sun, Apr 7th 2013 2:16p Thomas Duff I'm stepping back into the John Grisham
stream with his latest novel The
Racketeer. It's been a while since
I've read a Grisham novel, mostly because my enjoyment of his work seemed
to be on a good/bad/good/bad cycle. For whatever, The Racketeer caught
my eye when it was put into circulation at the library. Having finished
it this weekend, I'm more inclined to want to catch back up with his books.
The Racketeer was pretty good...
The storyline revolves around Malcolm
Bannister, [read] Keywords:
230
Book Review - The Riptide Ultra-Glide by Tim Dorsey
Sat, Apr 6th 2013 11:17a Thomas Duff I'm always ready for a romp through
Florida with Serge and Coleman leaving a trail of mayhem and madness behind
them. Tim Dorsey's latest Storms novel is The
Riptide Ultra-Glide, and it's
typical Dorsey craziness in terms of plot and twists.
As usual, there are multiple plot lines
swirling and intersecting at random and bizarre moments. It's nearly impossible
to offer up a synopsis of the story, as the explanation sounds like a half-remembered
dream that went off in ten differen [read] Keywords:
269
Product Review - Belkin 2-Port Swivel Charger
Sat, Apr 6th 2013 10:47a Thomas Duff The Belkin
2-Port Swivel Charger is now part
of my "must pack" bag when I go anywhere with an iPhone/iPad/Kindle.
It's going to prevent a lot of the "but I need to charge my device
too" arguments during vacations.
The charging base that goes into the
outlet is nice in its own right. Slender and light, it also has retractible
prongs that won't get snagged or bent. The beauty is that the prongs swivel
in the base, so you can rotate it 90 degrees from horizontal to vertical
depe [read] Keywords: iphone
ipod
53
Product Review - Acase Leather Case Folio for Apple iPad
Sun, Mar 31st 2013 10:54a Thomas Duff I was recently contacted by Acase asking
if I'd like to review the Acase
Leather Case Folio for the iPad.
Looking at the information, I decided that'd be a fun thing to review,
as all the cases I've tried to date have pros and cons that kept me looking
for that "perfect case". I also was at a bit of a disadvantage,
as I was still using an original iPad, and many of the nicer offerings
these days are for iPad 2 and beyond. Since this one would fit my original
iPad, it was a no-braine [read] Keywords: apple
security
wifi
199
Book Review - How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You by The Oatmeal (Matthew Inman)
Sun, Mar 24th 2013 2:27p Thomas Duff One of the more amusing/interesting
web comics these days is The Oatmeal, written by Matthew Inman. Although
raw and crude at times, he has a unique sense of humor that doesn't pull
punches when it comes to skewering those who deserve it. How
to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You
is a compilation of some of his cat-related cartoons, along with (I think)
some original material. If you like The Oatmeal, this is a fun read...
especially if you haven't been a long-time follower of the [read] Keywords:
180
Book Review - Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
Sun, Mar 24th 2013 11:20a Thomas Duff I've always found Scientology a fascinating
topic. Not for the philosophy behind it, but for how it came about and
how it's shrouded in secrecy by those who lead the organization (I refuse
to call it a religion). I picked up Going
Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
by Lawrence Wright at the library, and it was one of those books I had
a hard time putting down. Wright did a thorough job in documenting the
history and lives of those involved in Scientology's leadersh [read] Keywords:
193
Book Review - Poseidon's Adventure by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler
Sun, Mar 17th 2013 1:08p Thomas Duff I got a bit burned out on Clive Cussler
novels a while back, and I didn't try to keep up with all the "Clive
Cussler with..." variations. It seemed like the same story repeated
in different ways, and I needed a change. I recently saw Poseidon's
Arrow by Clive Cussler and his
son Dirk Cussler at the library, and I decided to dip my toe back in. It
was a good decision. Poseidon's Arrow is the typical "action never
stops" type of Cussler novel that I've come to expect, and I was in
[read] Keywords:
196
Book Review - BrandingPays: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand by Karen Kang
Tue, Mar 12th 2013 5:26a Thomas Duff For many, getting a dream job consists
of trying to submit enough resumes and go to enough interviews to finally
hit the perfect combination. But some jobs aren't resume-based, and some
jobs aren't necessarily determined by a sit-down interview. They're found
and established as a result of who you are and the story you tell... your
personal brand, so to speak. BrandingPays:
The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand
by Karen Kang is a well-written book that explains the conce [read] Keywords: community
245
Book Review - The Book Publishers Toolkit: 10 Practical Pointers for Independent and Self Publishers Vol. 1
Sat, Mar 2nd 2013 4:30p Thomas Duff While it's easier to get your ideas
into a book and available for others these days, there are a different
set of problems to deal with in the brave new world of self-publishing.
The
Book Publishers Toolkit: 10 Practical Pointers for Independent and Self
Publishers Vol. 1 by various IBPA
contributors is a compilation of articles that address various facets of
today's publishing landscape. If you're looking at trying to publish your
own book, this is a good read to get an idea of what [read] Keywords: connections
networking
twitter
236
At what personal point does the cost of healthcare outweigh the cost of life?
Tue, Feb 26th 2013 8:20p Thomas Duff A warning up front... this is a rather
depressing blog post on what many will find a disturbing topic.
If you don't want to think about death vs. the cost of healthcare for whatever
reason, don't read any further. I know a number of people for which this
would be very painful to think about... so just stop here if there's any
reason you don't want to go down that path.
Time magazine ran a story last week
that I haven't been able to ignore and forget...
Bitter
Pill: Why Medi [read] Keywords:
564
Book Review - Opting In: Lessons in Social Business from a Fortune 500 Product Manager by Ed Brill
Tue, Feb 26th 2013 5:50a Thomas Duff Having worked with Notes and Domino
software since the mid-90's, I've known Ed Brill (or at least known of
him) for at least 15 years. Over that time, I've seen and been part of
the move from business conducted at an analog pace to things happening
at the speed of digital. Ed asked me if I would be willing to read and
review his first book Opting
In: Lessons in Social Business from a Fortune 500 Product Manager.
It's a bit of a quandary, however... If I review the work of a friend or
[read] Keywords: domino
ibm
notes
331
Book Review - 20,000 Days and Counting: The Crash Course for Mastering Your Life Right Now by Robert D. Smith
Sat, Feb 23rd 2013 8:10p Thomas Duff "I know I will die, but I do not
know how long I will live."
That statement sets the foundation for
Robert D. Smith's 20,000
Days and Counting: The Crash Course for Mastering Your Life Right Now.
It's a statement we all know is true, but it rarely drives what we do each
day or with our lives in general. This is a good read if you want to change
up the way you view your life, and as I get older this makes even more
sense.
Contents:
Section 1 - The 20,000-Day Mind-set:
20,0 [read] Keywords: notes
294
Book Review - Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar: Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion by James Marcus Bach
Fri, Feb 22nd 2013 9:50p Thomas Duff I'm frequently told I need to read particular
books as they are great, excellent, or whatever. Because I have a horrible
backlog of reading material, sometimes I finally get around to getting
the particular title. If I go that far, usually I'm predisposed to like
the book. On a few rare occasions, it goes beyond like... more into the
realm of "I'm not going to be the same after this".
Secrets
of a Buccaneer-Scholar: Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion
by James Marcus Bach [read] Keywords: apple
264
Book Review - Sign Painters by Faythe Levine and Sam Macon
Mon, Feb 18th 2013 7:40a Thomas Duff Sign
Painters by Faythe Levine and
Sam Macon is an interesting and nostalgic look back to the times when advertising
often meant you hired someone with pens, inks, and brushes to label your
business. So much of that has been lost to computer generated vinyl lettering
and less permanent means of creating signage. But there are those around
who still generate those hand-painted masterpieces that cause almost everyone
to take a second glance when they walk by.
The book is structured aro [read] Keywords:
Book Review - Arrogant Wealth by Thomas Thompson
Sun, Jan 20th 2013 6:40p Thomas Duff Arrogant
Wealth by Thomas Thompson is a
near-future reality novel that presents some interesting ideas and concepts
for a novel. Set in 2031, the US is financially strong with low unemployment.
A breakthrough in solar power has led to some technological marvels, primarily
an underground transportation system that is like a high-speed conveyor
belt system for vehicles. To fund this development, there is an extra tax
on those who are extremely wealthy. A new agency, the Federal Bureau of
C [read] Keywords: development
325
Tue, Jan 15th 2013 6:36a Thomas Duff Orbiting
the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace
by Gordon MacKenzie is one of those rare business books that teaches you
how to avoid getting sucked into the ginormous hairball that is most corporations.
In the hairball, you follow endless rules and regulations that may have
made sense at one time, but nobody knows why they do now... they just know
they're the rules. MacKenzie advocates for a creative approach to work,
one that allows you to orbit the hairb [read] Keywords: office
287
Book Review - On Both Sides Of The Wall by Vladka Meed
Sat, Jan 12th 2013 4:14p Thomas Duff I learned of On
Both Sides Of The Wall via a BBC
radio program where Vladka Meed's story was being told. She was a survivor
of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during Hitler's occupation of Poland. This
book is her telling of life in the Ghetto, the hardships the Jews faced,
the struggle for survival, and the eventual resistance and battle that
destroyed the Ghetto. It's an incredible story of perseverance in the face
of constant death, and it's a story that should never be forgotten.
[read] Keywords:
372
Book Review - Ask The Dice by Ed Lynskey
Mon, Jan 7th 2013 7:33p Thomas Duff The hunter becomes the hunted in Ask
The Dice by Ed Lynskey. This was
a dark "crime noir" type novel that was different than most crime
stories I've read. It felt like something out of the 50's, something reminiscent
of a criminal version of Mike Hammer.
Tommy Mack Zane is something that doesn't
happen often... an aging hit man for the mob. A black kid raised by white
parents, he was hired as a teen by a local crime boss to carry out a contract
killing. It certainly beat mowing [read] Keywords:
419
Book Review - TerraFae by Sabrina Zbasnik
Sat, Jan 5th 2013 2:20p Thomas Duff Generally speaking, fantasy stories
don't do a lot for me. But Sabrina Zbasnik has a way with words and characters,
and I loved her first book Tin Hero. Her second book, TerraFae,
is just as entertaining, and I enjoyed it immensely.
The story revolves around Cas, a killer
for hire when it comes to removing troublesome monsters and ghouls. She's
sitting in an inn one day with her partner Humphrey, minding her own business.
That comes to an end when an elf shows up looking for a her [read] Keywords:
430
Book Review - Don't Let Me Die In A Motel 6 or One Woman's Struggle Through The Great Recession by Amy Wolf
Sat, Jan 5th 2013 12:09p Thomas Duff In today's economic environment, all
it takes is one unexpected job loss to completely destroy your concept
of "normal". Amy Wolf had that happen when Washington Mutual
(WAMU) went belly-up, and she tells her story in the book Don't
Let Me Die In A Motel 6 or One Woman's Struggle Through The Great Recession.
Wolf writes with a dark and morbid sense of humor, being open with her
struggles and successes (many more of the former than the latter). I have
to hand it to her, though... I th [read] Keywords:
437
Book Review - Frozen Heat by Richard Castle
Thu, Jan 3rd 2013 6:40p Thomas Duff I still have a hard time believing that
the Richard Castle novels starring Nikki Heat are as good as they are.
I just finished Frozen
Heat, which is number 4 in the
series. I would expect that real books "written" by a writer
character on a TV series who wrote said titles would be a schlocky gimmick.
But in reality, whoever is ghost-writing these novels is doing an excellent
job.
Frozen Heat revolves around the unsolved
murder of Nikki Heat's mother ten years ago. Heat's team ge [read] Keywords:
468
Book Review - Political Suicide by Michael Palmer
Tue, Jan 1st 2013 2:55p Thomas Duff Political
Suicide is Michael Palmer's latest
novel, and it brings back Dr. Lou Welcome as the main character. Of
the Palmer novels I've read, this is probably my favorite to date. I
like Welcome's character, the plot was interesting, and there wasn't an
overt medical or health agenda that was being propped up by the story.
It was an enjoyable two day read...
Welcome is overseeing a doctor who has
drinking issues. Dr. Gary McHugh needs to get that under control
or lose his li [read] Keywords:
442
Book Review - The Suicide Effect by L. J. Sellers
Mon, Dec 31st 2012 6:20a Thomas Duff I picked up The
Suicide Effect by L. J. Sellers
from Amazon as a free Kindle book the other day. The premise sounded
interesting (pharmaceutical company hiding information about their blockbuster
drug undergoing trials), so I had moderate expectations of an interesting
read. Unfortunately, there were too many character and story line
issues that I couldn't get over.
The basic plot follows Sula Moreno,
a PR representative for Prolabs. Prolabs has a new anti-depressant
drug that i [read] Keywords:
391
Book Review - Lethal by Sandra Brown
Sun, Dec 30th 2012 5:29p Thomas Duff Sandra Brown is one of those authors
I need to start reading on a regular basis. A friend gave me a copy
of her novel Lethal,
and I loved it. I would have liked a little bit more at the end,
but still... a great read.
Honor Gillette is a single mom living
in a small Louisiana town with her young daughter. Her husband was a police
officer who died in a traffic accident. After a mass shooting at
a local trucking company, she finds what appears to be a vagrant lying
injured in her [read] Keywords:
401
Book Review - The Fridgularity by Mark A. Rayner
Sun, Dec 30th 2012 3:40p Thomas Duff The
Fridgularity... when the 'net
becomes a sentient being... and communicates to man via a web-enabled refrigerator.
That's the driving force behind Mark A. Rayner's novel, and it was
one of the more entertaining and funny books I've read this year. I
had a hard time putting it down, as I wanted to see how everything turned
out.
Blake Given is a lowly peon in an advertising
agency, and he doesn't want much from life. In fact, a promotion
to work in the Creative Department w [read] Keywords: facebook
interface
twitter
325
Book Review - Bullspotting: Finding Facts in the Age of Misinformation by Loren Collins
Sun, Dec 30th 2012 1:39p Thomas Duff Bullspotting:
Finding Facts in the Age of Misinformation
by Loren Collins is one of those books you'd like to force everyone to
read before they post anything online or express their "beliefs".
Collins does an excellent job in categorizing the different types
of misinformation you often encounter when people are trying to convince
you that their "alternative" views are legitimate. Once
you understand how people support those opinions, you can effectively counter
the arguments. Of [read] Keywords: notes
461
Book Review - Hacking Healthcare by Fred Trotter and David Uhlman
Fri, Dec 28th 2012 6:53a Thomas Duff One of the ways often cited for cutting
health care costs is to have electronic medical records. On the surface,
it's easy to think that it can't be all that difficult, right? Actually,
it's a nightmare. Fred Trotter and David Uhlman do a good job in
explaining the huge number of issues inherent in electronic health records
(EHR) in their book Hacking
Healthcare. If you're in
Information Technology and you touch the health care industry in any way,
this should be a must-read.
[read] Keywords: office
516
Book Review - Federal Prison: A Comprehensive Survival Guide by Jonathan Richards
Mon, Dec 24th 2012 6:41p Thomas Duff While I have no plans to use this information
(and I hope I never need to), the subject intrigued me... Federal
Prison: A Comprehensive Survival Guide
by Jonathan Richards. Written by someone who went through the system
for financial fraud, it's a well-researched and well-written guide for
what to expect if you find yourself facing the prospect of doing time behind
bars.
Contents:
Why I Wrote This Book And Who Should
Read It; Who This Book Can Help; Introduction; Quick Facts About [read] Keywords: security
681
Book Review - The Moscow Club by Joseph Finder
Sun, Dec 23rd 2012 5:36p Thomas Duff I thought I had read all of Joseph Finder's
books, but the re-release of his first novel The
Moscow Club reminded me that I
had missed that one. Through the magic that is the InterLibrary Loan
system, I was able to get the original hardcopy and give it a read. I
finished it today, and it was an enjoyable read... plenty of espionage
and intrigue set during the time when Gorbachev ruled the Soviet Union...
The story revolves around a CIA analyst,
Charlie Stone, and a rumored documen [read] Keywords: community
466
Book Review - Delusion in Death by J. D. Robb
Sat, Dec 22nd 2012 1:30p Thomas Duff I am still in awe that J. D. Robb (aka
Nora Roberts) can crank out new installments of the In Death series at
the rate of about two per year... not even counting all the writing she
does under her real name! I'm even more amazed that each new story
involving Lieutenant Eve Dallas still retains a freshness that all too
often disappears the longer a writer goes in a series. Delusion
in Death is the latest In Death
novel, and like all the others, I devoured it.
In Delusion, Dallas [read] Keywords:
465
Book Review - Thursday at Noon by William F. Brown
Sat, Dec 22nd 2012 12:27p Thomas Duff I've enjoyed reading William Brown's
novels in the past, and I welcomed the chance to read and review Thursday
at Noon. It's an interesting
espionage tale set back in the 60's, when the Middle East and Egypt were
in turmoil. Of course, that could just as well be said for now. Some
things never change.
In Thursday, Richard Thompson is a CIA
agent that's approaching the end of the line for his career. His
last operation failed, and he's been exiled to Egypt in hopes that he [read] Keywords: agent
676
Wed, Dec 19th 2012 6:30a Thomas Duff I just finished Off
The Grid by P. J. Tracy the other
day. It's the latest in the Monkeewrench series, and it's been a
while since I've visited the main characters. If you're new to the
series, don't start here. Go back and read Monkeewrench (the first
book in the series), as it will set the table for the cast of characters.
If you jump in here, you'll get a moderate story with very little
context. If you have been keeping up, Off The Grid isn't too bad.
It's a good vacatio [read] Keywords: development
362
Book Review - The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle
Sun, Dec 16th 2012 7:19a Thomas Duff It's become an expected response in
sports these days... someone tests positive for performance enhancing drugs
(PEDs), and immediately the denials start. Nowhere is this more prevalent
than in cycling, where scandal after scandal has rocked the sport. The
Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups,
and Winning at All Costs by Tyler
Hamilton and Daniel Coyle peels back the code of silence among riders,
and tells the story of Hamilton's rise and fall [read] Keywords:
404
Book Review - Crisis of Faith by Eliza Wood
Wed, Dec 12th 2012 8:15p Thomas Duff Doing a review of Crisis
of Faith by Eliza Wood is a bit
difficult, as my reactions to the book are all over the map based on what
part I'm talking about. This is one of those book where your reaction
and enjoyment are dependent on what you were reading it for...
I'll state my bias up front: I generally
do not like what I call "soapbox novels". This is where
the author has a very specific view on some topic, and the story is secondary
to the message that they are trying to conv [read] Keywords:
427
Book Review - Mad River by John Sandford
Sat, Dec 8th 2012 6:00p Thomas Duff While I've gotten burned out on the
Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford, I like what he's doing with the
Virgil Flowers character as a separate series of novels. Mad
River is the latest installment,
and I looked forward to getting it from the library when my name made it
to the top of the hold lists. I wanted to like it... I really did.
But it seems like the book was about a third too long with an ending
that fell flat (in my opinion). I never got lost in the action, as
much as [read] Keywords:
544
Using Amazon Locker As Your Delivery "P.O Box"...
Fri, Dec 7th 2012 9:32p Thomas Duff About a month or so ago, this big orange
"thing" appeared in the 7-11 I normally frequent for my cold
carbonated diet caffeine fixes. After a little research, I found
that they had installed an Amazon Locker. What's an Amazon Locker,
you may ask?
Basically, it's like a post office box
for your Amazon deliveries. You add the Amazon Locker to your account
as a delivery address, and you can then have things shipped there for pick-up.
This would be perfect for packages (wit [read] Keywords: email
office
795
Book Review - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Twitter Marketing by Brett Petersel and Esther Schindler
Sun, Dec 2nd 2012 9:07p Thomas Duff It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking
that using Twitter to promote your company is easy. Technically, typing
140 characters *is* easy. In reality, you can do far more damage to your
company's image and reputation with Twitter if you don't think things through
and understand how Twitter functions. Esther Schindler and Brett
Petersel do an excellent job of covering that topic in their book The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Twitter Marketing.
From a corporate or organizational angle [read] Keywords: policies
community
twitter
435
Book Review - New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City by Julia Solis
Sat, Dec 1st 2012 4:38p Thomas Duff With the recent storm (Sandy) that hit
New York and caused massive flooding, I wondered how all that water that
would affect the various underground infrastructure in the city. Specifically,
what would happen to all those various parts of the subway system and tunnels
that have been closed off and abandoned over the years? Couple that
with my fascination with urban exploration, and this was a logical book
to check out... New
York Underground: The Anatomy of a City
by Julia Solis. Whil [read] Keywords: foundations
699
When you look in the mirror and hate what you see...
Fri, Nov 30th 2012 9:00p Thomas Duff This is one of those introspective,
"likely more dramatic than it really is" personal posts. If
you're here for book reviews or technical info, you can safely ignore this
and move along. But writing is how I deal with things, and "my
blog, my rules"...
Over the last few months, I've come
to the realization that I'm really struggling with who I am. More
accurately, the question is probably... who am I?
I don't like what I've let myself become
physically. Body image h [read] Keywords:
432
Book Review - Victory at Yorktown by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen
Fri, Nov 30th 2012 1:10p Thomas Duff I recently received a copy of the final
installment in Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen's Revolutionary War
trilogy... Victory
at Yorktown. While I'll
never end up reading any of Gingrich's non-fiction material (due to philosophical
differences), I do enjoy his historical novels when he teams up with Forstchen.
Having said that, I think that Victory at Yorktown is the weakest
of the Revolutionary War trilogy, as the rawness of the wartime conditions
was missing. It was more f [read] Keywords:
674
Book Review - Loss of Control by Scott Good
Fri, Nov 30th 2012 10:47a Thomas Duff Occasionally I get the chance to read
a novel from someone I've been associated with over the years in my "day
job" career. It's interesting to me to see how they mesh their
interests and passions into a story, and it's like an Easter egg hunt to
see if you can find the character pieces that are fragments of their real
life. I recently had that pleasure with Scott Good's first novel,
Loss
of Control. This was an
enjoyable read with a number of "I know that person/event/location [read] Keywords:
399
Book Review - The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Fri, Nov 30th 2012 7:38a Thomas Duff A good friend pointed me towards The
Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers. Set between 2003 and 2009 during the
Iraq war, the novel tells the story of a soldier's mental and emotional
descent into hell, both during the war and in his post-war existence. It's
a brutal look at one's loss of humanity and stability, and how the unthinkable
becomes normal when faced with atrocities on a daily basis.
Powers does a good job, especially given
that this is his first novel. His primary writing st [read] Keywords:
301
Book Review - The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.
Tue, Nov 27th 2012 5:50a Thomas Duff Why is it that we don't do the things
we should be doing, and we end up doing the things we know will not help
us in the long run? Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. covers that very topic in her
book The
Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You
Can Do To Get More of It. While
it might sound like yet another self-improvement book, Willpower actually
explains the "why" of how the brain works (backed by her experience
with students in a course with the same name) an [read] Keywords: notes
Book Review - A Wanted Man by Lee Child
Sun, Nov 4th 2012 8:29a Thomas Duff I like the Jack Reacher series by Lee
Child... a lot. Unfortunately, the last few installments have been
uneven in terms of quality. Some of the episodes advanced the Reacher
character and story, while others felt more like placeholders tossed out
to keep up the "book per year" pace. A
Wanted Man started out in the
placeholder category for me. But by the end, it had picked up sufficiently
to keep me turning pages past the point where I would have turned out the
light.
A Wanted [read] Keywords: agent
191
Book Review - The Data Journalism Handbook, edited by Jonathan Gray, Liliana Bounegru, and Lucy Chambers
Sat, Nov 3rd 2012 8:08p Thomas Duff Occasionally I grab a book that far
surpasses my expectations and shifts my perspective of an entire business.
This was one of those books... The
Data Journalism Handbook, edited by Jonathan Gray, Liliana Bounegru, and
Lucy Chambers. As a writer,
I was thinking I'd pick up a few points on technical reporting. WRONG!
This is about how data is changing the world of journalism in terms of
how a story is told and how the reader interacts with it.
Contents:
Introduction; In The News [read] Keywords:
281
I'm Coding... Dead or Alive...
Wed, Oct 31st 2012 6:59a Thomas Duff (with apologies to Bon Jovi...)
Coding Dead Or Alive
They're all the same, only the variables will change
Everyday it seems I'm wasting away
Another place where the bugs they are so old
I'd code all night just to get back home
[Chorus]
I'm a coder on the ethernet I ride
I'm coding dead or alive
Coding dead or alive
Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days
And the programs I meet always link their separate ways
Sometimes you tell the day
By the Ma [read] Keywords:
170
Book Review - A River Closely Watched by Jon Boilard
Sat, Oct 27th 2012 7:50p Thomas Duff I'm not quite sure how I came to get
on a list for this novel... A
River Closely Watched by Jon Boilard.
I'm guessing it came from a publicist, but I've misplaced the release
that came in the envelope. Regardless, seeing an albino snake on
the cover gets your attention. :) Rather than set it aside, I decided
to give it a read. The writing was excellent if you're looking for
something that is dark and gritty. The story didn't do quite as much
for me...
The story takes plac [read] Keywords: community
272
Sat, Oct 27th 2012 11:50a Thomas Duff You ask someone a question... is what
comes next an honest answer? The challenge is figuring that out so as to
determine the actual truth. Spy
the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception
by Philip Houston, Michael Floyd, Susan Carnicero, and Don Tennant lays
out a method that cuts down the chances of you being led astray by lies.
There's no perfect way to detect a lie vs. the truth, but they show
there are ways to tip the odds significantly in your favor (provided yo [read] Keywords:
145
Book Review - Stolen Prey by John Sandford
Sat, Oct 20th 2012 9:20p Thomas Duff It's been a while since I've opened
up a Lucas Davenport novel by John Sandford. The last few weren't up to
the enjoyment level I had with the earlier installments. I picked
up Stolen
Prey from the library hoping that
Sandford and Davenport were back on track. It might be due to the
break I took on the series, but this one was better than I expected. It's
not vintage Davenport, but it may be that the character has evolved to
a point where that's no longer possible...
This in [read] Keywords:
225
The Rise Of Women In Tech...
Tue, Oct 16th 2012 9:25p Thomas Duff In my technical circles, I don't give a
second thought about women colleagues. In fact, for the longest time
I never released there was even an issue of bias against women in technology.
They were my coworkers, and they were female... so? It wasn't
until a few high visibility incidents in the larger tech world opened my
eyes, that I became aware of the larger problem and the inherent sexism
that's constantly in play. It's not a matter of whether a female
tech worker is good... it [read] Keywords: community
Book Review - Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects
Sun, Oct 14th 2012 12:30p Thomas Duff It's one thing to be able to build a
Hello World application using a new technology. It's another thing
entirely to take the next step and build something that is actually useful.
That's the jump that Microsoft
SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects
makes. The authors, Jennifer Mason, Christian Buckley, Brian T. Jackett,
and Wes Preston take ten different business scenarios, explain the business
requirements, discuss the different architectural options (along [read] Keywords: application
microsoft
sharepoint
127
Book Review - The Click Moment: Seizing Opportunity in an Unpredictable World by Frans Johansson
Sat, Oct 13th 2012 6:44p Thomas Duff Business books that purport to offer
up the key to success are a source of frustration for me. Take a
company like Apple or a leader like Jobs, analyze it/them, and come up
with a five step plan to replicate their outcomes in your situation...
easy to follow and results guaranteed!
Not so much... The problem I have
with those books is that, while the information may be sound, they ignore
the multitudes of unknown failures... companies, ideas, and decisions that
*didn't* work out. [read] Keywords: notes
apple
desktop
microsoft
105
Starting a new blog/Twitter account for sharing SharePoint jobs...
Sat, Oct 13th 2012 1:41p Thomas Duff In my life as part of the IBM Notes/Domino
community, I run a blog called Lotus
Jobs. This was a "pay
it forward" project of mine to share potential job opportunities I'd
run across on Google News Alerts, in hopes that people who were out of
work could find a new home somewhere. I worked at Enron at the time
of the implosion, so I know what that unemployed feeling is like. It's
NOT pleasant... I post whatever I find in a single daily post, and
then tweet it on an account called @ [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
notes
community
google
sharepoint
twitter
114
Book Review - The Book of Neil: A Novel by Frank Turner Hollon
Sat, Oct 13th 2012 11:27a Thomas Duff The Book
of Neil: A Novel by Frank Turner
Hollon deals with a question I've thought about on occasion. If Jesus
were to return to today's world, would he be noticed, followed, or written
off as a psycho? The answer is probably all three (as that was the
reaction 2000 years ago), but it's interesting to bring it into a modern
setting. The Book of Neil wasn't something that caused me to stay
awake at night, but it's a well-done treatment of the question.
Neil is a normal guy wi [read] Keywords:
103
Book Review - Wicked Portland: The Wild and Lusty Underworld of a Frontier Seaport Town by Finn J. D. John
Sat, Oct 13th 2012 10:20a Thomas Duff I have a fascination with the history
of Portland Oregon, especially as it relates to the 1800's when Portland
was growing up. Finn J. D. John has a great book on that topic, titled
Wicked
Portland: The Wild and Lusty Underworld of a Frontier Seaport Town.
When you think of the wild west "anything goes" stereotypes
of towns during that time, you can pretty much figure that Portland not
only met those images, but completely redefined the limits. With
the glasses of nostalgia, it's [read] Keywords: notes
Book Review - Don't Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman
Tue, Oct 9th 2012 9:43p Thomas Duff Unlike a couple of other books I've
recently read and reviewed, I would have been thrilled for Don't
Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman
to go on for another 100 pages. It was a great story with a memorable
cast of characters (especially the main protagonist, Buck Schatz), excellent
dialogue, and perfect pacing. What's even more amazing is that this
is Friedman's first book. If it's any indicator of future direction
and success, I'll be grabbing new Buck Schatz installments as soon a [read] Keywords:
97
Book Review - L: A Novel History by Jillian Becker
Tue, Oct 9th 2012 6:20a Thomas Duff Alternative history novels, while not my
normal reading fare, appeal to me as it's an interesting mental exercise
to imagine how a single changed historical event could alter the world
in which we live. With that draw, I selected L: A Novel History by
Jillian Becker to read from NetGalley. In short, this was a painful
read...
It probably says a lot that while the
publication date is listed as September 2012, I can find absolutely no
reference to the novel on Amazon. She has a num [read] Keywords:
112
Book Review - 12.21: A Novel by Dustin Thomason
Mon, Oct 8th 2012 9:26p Thomas Duff 12.21
by Dustin Thomason is one of those interesting beach reads if you're into
Crichton medical thrillers or Mayan doomsday novels. If you're into
both, then this is perfect, as the plot line is a blend of both.
The main plot revolves around two events
that become intertwined. An unknown neurological disease breaks out
in Los Angeles, and the mad cow-like condition kills off its victims in
a matter of days as they can't sleep. There's no cure, and it's highly
contagious. Th [read] Keywords:
146
Packt Publishing reaches 1000 IT titles and celebrates with an open invitation
Fri, Sep 28th 2012 6:40a Thomas Duff Packt Publishing reaches 1000 IT titles
and celebrates with an open invitation
Birmingham-based IT publisher Packt
Publishing is about to publish its 1000th title. Packt books are renowned
among developers for being uniquely practical and focused, but you’d be
forgiven for not yet being in the know – Packt books cover highly specific
tools and technologies which you might not expect to see a high quality
book on.
Packt is certain that in its 1000 titles
there is at l [read] Keywords: community
development
236
Book Review - Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman
Mon, Sep 24th 2012 8:30p Thomas Duff You'd think that in IT, the most important
component of a team would be its technical prowess. Wrong... it's
the ability to work with each other. Team Geek: A Software Developer's
Guide to Working Well with Others by Brian W. Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman
make the case that respect, personality, and team culture is just as important
(if not more so) than the ability to come up with the "perfect"
code that passes geek inspection. After 30+ years in the industry,
I have to agr [read] Keywords:
148
Book Review - The Accomplice by Charles Robbins
Sun, Sep 16th 2012 7:59p Thomas Duff I had hoped that The
Accomplice by Charles Robbins
would be an interesting novel given that we're in the midst of the election
season. The story revolves around Henry Hatten, the newly hired communications
director for a senator making a run for President of the United States.
He failed in that role when he was working for a governor who was
running for reelection. This new position promises redemption, and
he decides to do whatever it takes to be on the winning team. But
as the rac [read] Keywords:
151
Book Review - Broken Piano For President by Patrick Wensink
Sun, Sep 16th 2012 11:20a Thomas Duff Normally, Broken
Piano For President by Patrick
Wensink would not come up on my radar screen. The only reason it
did was publicity over the cover (which resembles the Jack Daniels logo),
and how the company handled the situation with class and humor. Anyway,
it was enough to get me to pick it up at the library and give it a read.
It turned out to be one of the most "out there" novels
I've read of late. It reminds me of a very dark version of a Tim
Dorsey novel.
Deshler Dean, [read] Keywords:
132
Book Review - Losing It! Behaviors and Mindsets that Ruin Careers: Lessons on Protecting Yourself from Avoidable Mistakes by Bill Lane
Mon, Sep 10th 2012 6:19a Thomas Duff While there are many things you should
be doing to further your career, there are just as many things you should
*not* be doing. You can be doing everything perfectly, but one mistake
in the "don't do" list can torpedo years of excellent work. Bill
Lane covers some of these areas in his book Losing
It! Behaviors and Mindsets that Ruin Careers: Lessons on Protecting Yourself
from Avoidable Mistakes. Given
that he was a speechwriter for former General Electric CEO Jack Welch,
he's s [read] Keywords:
Book Review - What Do You Want to Do Before You Die? by Jonnie Penn, Dave Lingwood, Duncan Penn, and Ben Nemtin
Sat, Sep 8th 2012 7:57a Thomas Duff What
Do You Want to Do Before You Die?
by Jonnie Penn, Dave Lingwood, Duncan Penn, and Ben Nemtin (collectively
known as The Buried Life) was one of those spur-of-the-moment pick-ups
at the library. As I get older, the whole "before you die"
thing starts to make a little more sense. This particular book is
much better than most when it comes to posing the question, as there's
an actual story behind this list. It's that framework that makes
this book work as well as it does...
[read] Keywords:
113
Book Review - Advertisers at Work by Dr. Tracy Tuten
Sat, Sep 1st 2012 5:57p Thomas Duff Through a friend of a friend, I was
asked if I'd be interested in reading Advertisers
at Work by Dr. Tracy Tuten. That
wouldn't be my normal reading area of interest, but I've been called an
"eclectic reader" more than once. :) What I got was
far more than I expected, even if I'm not in the advertising field. This
was a valuable read for me on a number of levels.
Contents:
Introduction; Chris Raih, Co-founder
and Managing Director, Zambezi; Kristen Cavallo, Chief Strategy [read] Keywords:
107
There's a new blog in (my) town... SharePointDuffbert.com
Fri, Aug 31st 2012 5:35a Thomas Duff I have a new blog in my small collection
of content I offer up to the world at large... SharePointDuffbert.com.
SharePointDuffbert will not be replacing
this blog, nor will I cease to talk about SharePoint on this one. It's
more of case of recognizing that I write to remember stuff, and a lot of
the stuff I need to remember revolves around my ever-increasing focus on
SharePoint in my day job. Duffbert's Random Musings was started out
of a focus on Notes and Domino technology, and [read] Keywords: domino
notes
sharepoint
187
Yes, Virginia... There *is* still a Lotusphere...
Tue, Aug 28th 2012 8:12p Thomas Duff Kristin
Keene commented today on my blog
post about Lotusphere becoming IBM Connect, and my concern that the Lotusphere
content of prior years might get lost in the "new"...
Hi everyone! Here is some positioning
we put front and center :) on the site today.
"Why the name change? The new name reflects an EXPANDED focus on the
broader IBM social business story. The technical content for which Lotusphere
is known is still predominately featured through hundreds of deep dive
tech [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
lotusphere
show n tell
community
twitter
158
Book Review - The Storm by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
Sun, Aug 26th 2012 12:48p Thomas Duff I used to read all of Clive Cussler's
books as soon as they came out. I liked the characters (Dirk Pitt
was great), I liked the edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger chapters... it was
an escape from reality in 350 pages. But once he started "franchising"
his name to various series with co-authors, I got a bit burned out. Most
were still OK, but it felt like I was beginning to read the same story
over and over. After a hiatus of a couple of years, I decided to
jump back into the Cussler st [read] Keywords:
119
Sun, Aug 26th 2012 11:55a Thomas Duff This is one of those rare books that
force you (if you're honest) to confess that everything you thought you
knew may well not be as true as you belived... You
Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory
Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself
by David McRaney. What's worse is that even after knowing about these
influencing factors, you'll still likely make the same mistakes. It's
a fascinating look into how we think and proces [read] Keywords: notes
facebook
taking notes
199
Lotusphere2013 gives way to Connect2013...
Fri, Aug 24th 2012 8:23p Thomas Duff So if you head to lotusphere.com,
you'll find out that "Lotusphere" is no more...
morphs into...
Here's the explanation...
con-nect:
verb - to become joined, as in ideas that connect easily to form a theory.
To join two places, making it possible for people and things to move between
them.
This definition of the word
"connect" couldn't be more appropriate.
In January 2013, we're joining
two 'places' — long-standing Lotusphere and last year's [read] Keywords: connections
domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
lotusphere2013
notes
quickr
sametime
development
147
Book Review - Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See by FranCoise Mouly
Fri, Aug 10th 2012 8:57p Thomas Duff While I don't read the magazine, I have
always appreciated the covers of The New Yorker magazine. To me,
they rank with Life and Saturday Evening Post magazine covers in terms
of telling a story without needing a single word of text. Our library
recently purchased Blown
Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See
by FranCoise Mouly, and I finally got to the top of the hold list. It
was an entertaining read that added a great deal of background information
into how covers ge [read] Keywords:
109
Book Review - The Past, Present, and Future of JavaScript by Dr. Axel Rauschmayer
Wed, Aug 8th 2012 8:53p Thomas Duff I apparently haven't been keeping up
with what's going on in the JavaScript world, as I learned a fair amount
from the O'Reilly ebook The
Past, Present, and Future of JavaScript
by Dr. Axel Rauschmayer. I was doing pretty well on the past and
present, but the future was all new material to me. And Dr. Rauschmayer
makes the future look pretty good...
Contents: The Past; The Present; The
Future; Evolving The Language; JavaScript As A Compilation Target; Writing
Non-Web Applicatio [read] Keywords: applications
javascript
104
Book Review - What is DevOps? - Infrastructure as Code by Mike Loukides
Wed, Aug 8th 2012 7:50p Thomas Duff O'Reilly produces some useful (and short)
ebook reports that help clarify and educate those of us in the tech industry.
I just finished What
is DevOps? - Infrastructure as Code
by Mike Loukides, and it fits squarely in that "short ebook"
category. In fact, you could make the argument that this is really
a long blog post instead of an ebook, since it's only around 16 pages.
But when the price is free, why quibble over semantics?
Loukides makes the argument that the
NoOps movem [read] Keywords: application
applications
development
110
Book Review - Data Jujitsu: The Art of Turning Data into Product by DJ Patil
Sun, Jul 22nd 2012 8:45p Thomas Duff O'Reilly recently released one of their
free Radar Reports titled Data
Jujitsu: The Art of Turning Data into Product
by DJ Patil. This short (24 pages) report is packed with interesting
insights and actionable information that will change the way you look at
your next project. It's very much worth the minimal investment in
time to download and read.
Contents:
Data Jujitsu; Use Product Design; When
In Doubt, Use Humans; Be Opportunistic For Wins; Ground Your Product In
The Re [read] Keywords: connections
application
interface
linkedin
152
Book Review - Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez
Sun, Jul 15th 2012 6:43p Thomas Duff I'm a fan of Daniel Suarez's novels,
as I like how he can take advanced technology and push it to the edge to
create a nightmare scenario. In Kill
Decision, Suarez takes the topic
of unmanned aerial drones, combines them with software to make autonomous
decisions, and you get a form of warfare that has few defenses. Even
worse, you have some powerful vested interests who want to make sure that
the public has the correct "opinion" of these drones. Suarez
paints a picture that is bo [read] Keywords:
143
Book Review - Ron Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired by Brian Doherty
Sun, Jul 15th 2012 1:14p Thomas Duff It seems like today's politicians will
pretty much say and do anything to get elected these days. If it's
convenient to flip-flop on a position to gain a few more votes, count them
in. One of the few people who seems to have a set of beliefs that
don't change a whole lot is Ron Paul. You may not *like* them, but
at least he's consistent. To find out a bit more about Paul, I picked
up the book Ron
Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired
by Brian Doherty at the lib [read] Keywords: policies
113
An adjustment...
Wed, Jul 11th 2012 10:03p Thomas Duff Based on an email exchange I had this evening
with someone whose input is important, I've decided that talking about
GBS is something I'm going to shelve. I haven't changed the way I
feel about GBS as a company or the direction it's headed. What I
feel *was* a valid point is how my comments were interpreted.
To be clear... I do not wish ill will
on the employees of GBS, nor will I be (nor am I) happy that the company
is having financial difficulties.
I went through the En [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
xpages applications
email
exchange
exchange
186
Book Review - F My Life World Tour: Life's Crappiest Moments from Around the Globe
Sun, Jul 8th 2012 3:39p Thomas Duff This is the book you need to read if
you think you're having a bad day... F
My Life World Tour: Life's Crappiest Moments from Around the Globe
by Maxime Valette, Guillaume Passaglia, and Didier Gudej. It won't
change what happened to cause your bad day, but you *should* end up laughing
at others who haven't exactly enjoyed their day either. I finally
had to leave the room as I kept interrupting my wife with "let me
read you just one more..."
F My Life (yes, it's the F word [read] Keywords:
135
Book Review - Subduction by Todd Shimoda
Sat, Jul 7th 2012 9:52p Thomas Duff I picked up Subduction
by Todd Shimoda from the library earlier this month, expecting something
different than what I ended up getting. I don't recall where I first
noticed the book, but the description was along the lines of a seismological
murder mystery. At its core, that's technically accurate. In
reality, it's more a story of how a person's actions from the past continue
to cause tremors in the lives of others over the years. Add in the
cultural aspect of the story being set [read] Keywords:
111
Book Review - Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson
Sat, Jul 7th 2012 2:44p Thomas Duff In terms of bizarre, "I-have-to-read-this-to-you",
laugh-out-loud funny, it doesn't get much better than this... Let's
Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)
by Jenny Lawson, a.k.a "The Bloggess". Generally when I
read material I consider humorous, I'll smile as I go along, not disturbing
anyone around me. With Let's Pretend, I wasn't ten pages into the
book before my wife had to ask me what was so funny and what was I reading.
I don't know what parts were "most [read] Keywords:
140
Looking for advice/input...Does anyone have experience in sponsoring a cycling team?
Thu, Jul 5th 2012 6:08a Thomas Duff So here's the deal... If you've followed
my blog/Facebook/Twitter account, you might know that Cameron (my 24 year
old son) is an avid bike racer. His speciality is track racing, and
in the three or four years since he's been racing as part of various teams,
he's worked his way up to being a highly competitive category 3 rider.
There are three other riders who are constants on the team, comprising
a mix of gender and racial diversity. All of them are committed and
continue to move [read] Keywords: email
facebook
twitter
100
This is why I reject *both* parties in American politics... (rant coming... change the channel if you'd like)
Mon, Jul 2nd 2012 7:13p Thomas Duff Politics is one of those topics you're
not supposed to discuss in polite company because it's divisive and often
generates more smoke than heat. It's also right up there next to
religion in terms of beliefs that people will adhere to and identify with
regardless of whether a particular element makes sense or has been shown
to be completely false. It's why we can have a thousand cable and
satellite channels of programming... people will do anything to get their
daily dose of confirma [read] Keywords:
