Curt's Island

'Teaching Them How To Use It'

2010-02-10T19:07:00.002-05:00

My title of this post comes from an excellent blog post by Rob Novak.

The blog post is awesome as a recap of Lotusphere 2010 for anyone who needs an assurance the platform is still awesome after all these years. One quote in the post really struck me and it's something we all deal with and have dealt with since forever.

If the organization I'm working in has Notes, most of the Battle has been teaching them how to use it and how powerful it is. - Mike Griffes

Wow! Let's break this down a bit.

"If the organization I'm working in has Notes" - Isn't this a bit funny but still true. The organization has Lotus Notes but doesn't know how to use it. From end user training to application awareness to Lotus Notes capabilities, I've been doing this for 11 years and I'm teaching or evangelizing ALL THE TIME. I'll admit it's frustrating and sometimes seems as a threat to my future employment, but fun also that I can provide so many cool solutions to a business problem or improve productivity with minimum cost.

"most of the Battle has been teaching them how to use it" - This statement reminds me of a project I worked on this past Fall. We extended one of our major Lotus Notes applications to a new support area. Now, the Sales group used the application for submitting business and they were easy to implement this solution. The enhancement actually improved their workflow and they were an easy "sell". The back office folks were a bit different. Although the application has been in place for many back office functions, this new group was totally new to a workflow system. They built an MS Access application in the business for recording their work. They were experiencing growth issues with performance and lack of network capability. There was no real workflow. The back office people entered all the requests themselves with no integration with Sales and Sales could not see the requests. As I built and taught this system, people were AMAZED like they were seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. Dudes, it's in version 6.5. It's circa version 3. Not sexy at all and I wouldn't be invited to Lotusphere to speak about it. Long story short, it's up and running and kicking ass and few of my IT friends understand it. :)

"how powerful it is" - The business folks now "see" the power. They don't care what platform it's on. They don't care about Bill Gates's Microsoft or if it's OOO Java technology. It works and it was fast and cheap to implement.

So, keep on keeping on ... Teach, Teach Teach.... Your business will love you for it.

Ok, now I want an iPhone

2009-06-18T17:51:00.002-04:00

Just got this news in my email. Plus, with the new 32 gb version, I'm ready to join the iPhone craze.
Dear Mom, Dad would like this for Father's day. :) Love, Dad

Dreaming of Wildwood

2009-06-16T11:46:00.003-04:00

Will we go this year? Still being considered.
Love this picture of friends and family enjoying the Beach Life.

20th Wedding Anniversary

2009-05-20T13:24:00.002-04:00

20 years ago today, we joined in holy matrimony. It was a beautiful day just like today in CT. Where does the time go? She's still the love of my life and if I can say, we've built a beautiful life together. Looking forward to more time together as the kids grow and move out of the house. Son # 1 graduates High School this Spring and goes off to College this fall. Our kids gave us a very nice picture frame with a collage of pictures and a scrapbook of vacation pictures. It's been a great ride and looking forward to the future. Real busy right now with kids activities. Hope we can do a mini honeymoon soon.
Here's to LOVE!

Top 10 Reasons why NY Yankees suck(from a fan)

2009-05-05T19:54:00.004-04:00

Ok, I'm a long time Yankee fan. In my youth, I idolized the late 70's teams and the young Jeter teams. King George sometimes upset me with his firing and hiring of managers. What's going on now is extremely frustrating! So, here's the top 10 reasons the Yankees suck from a fan's perspective. (I don't care that they're the Evil Empire, that's just fun with Red Sox fans).

10. Forcing out Joe Torre - I liked Joe. We had some good years under him and he did some good managing in times of injuries. Didn't like the way the whole deal went down.

9. ARod mess - Steroids, injuries. No huge surprise. I like his numbers. Otherwise, he's an idiot.

8. Teixeira performance to date - He signed a contract worth 180 million over 8 years. He's batting .195. 'Nuff said.

7. Sabathia performance to date - 7 years/161 million - record 1-3 with a 4.85 era. Huh?

6. Can't Beat Red Sox - 0-4 and losing again tonight. Wasn't the plan to acquire all these big guns to beat the Red Sox? Uh.... seems the Red Sox have the Yankees beat in every category not the least of which is attendance and excitement from fans(we'll bring this up again don't you know)

5. Overall Record - 13-12 With this payroll? Losing 22-4 in the new stadium? 4 games behind first place Toronto? Plllleeeaaaaassseaseeee?

4. Pitcher ERA - They're dead last in all of MLB! Are you kidding me? Can you believe that stat with this payroll? You probably don't believe me so here's a link to prove it. That's an under achievement beyond belief.

3. Hank Steinbrenner - I had frustrations at times with King George. But, over the years I've come to really respect him and he mellowed a bit in firing managers. He has great respect for the fans and the Yankee tradition. He ran that organization with a iron clad rule. Now what? Idiot brat son Hank with his idiot statements, ticket prices and firing Joe Torre. Cutting ticket prices in half from 2 grand to 1 grand. The organization is crumbling and the pride is falling.

2. Locked out of stadium after rain delay - This is infuriating!
Get a grip! This greed is driving fans away. If you can't afford a 1.5 billion dollar stadium, keep the old one. Which leads to number 1.

1. Ticket Prices at New Stadium - You have to have your head examined if you pay $500 to $2,000 per ticket to see a ball game. Your a moron if you own a team and expect to sell these tickets. Where are the fans in the best seats? Where's the excitement? Where's the respect for the fans? "Honey, I'm dropping 5 grand to take the kids to the game tonight. Wanna come?" At what level do these ticket prices make sense? I'm really struggling. I'd like to take my 13 year old son to a game but this is nuts. I thing $100 a ticket is a big stretch for a premium seat. If I took my whole family that would be a $500 bill plus convenience charge, tax, food, gas. Probably $700 to take them to the ball game. Hello, YES Channel.

Did I miss anything?

Free Phish

2009-03-04T21:31:00.002-05:00

This is pretty cool if your into the band Phish. They're offering free downloads of their concerts coming up this week. That's three free shows to download from a band that's been on hiatus for a while. Hope they have plenty of bandwidth! I've added them to my shopping cart. :)

Love this story - Student with Down syndrome helps basketball team to victory

2009-02-05T05:12:00.002-05:00

I saw this story early this morning on a early morning NBC tv station. This video shows the student hit a shot early in the game. The tv story showed him hit one from the corner at the end of the game. I hope my PTI guys cover this in today's ESPN PTI show. Just an awesome human story.

Inbox is EMPTY !!!

2009-02-03T09:40:00.003-05:00

At Lotusphere, I attended two sessions by Eric Mack and David Allen. BOF and general session were based on their world famous productivity work known as GTD or Getting Things Done. At last year's Lotusphere, I picked up the GTD book by David Allen. One thing that stuck with me from this years sessions was to clear your Inbox and have a "System" to do this. Now, I still have much to learn and practice but I've made some progress and it feels GOOD! David was very animated in his speaking and how great it feels to gain emotional control. Cleaning the inbox is one of those things. Basically, my system and goal is to deal with each line item and have a way to get it out.

First, if I can respond in 2 minutes - Do it and delete/file. (I use the Send and File button a lot)

Second - if it requires more time, add it to my ToDo database. (I use the Copy To New - To Do action button)

Third - if it's informational and something I want to have for later review, I'm adding it to my Personal Journal database. I created this database while sitting in the session with my laptop. I also used it as I went to sessions to record my notes on the Lotusphere sessions. Loving this tool and way to keep my notes and thoughts.

That's a quick note on how I'm getting to that clear mind David talks about. Now, I got three emails while I was writing this post so back to work. :)

Exciting Stuff

2009-01-26T19:34:00.001-05:00

Lotusphere2009-109
Originally uploaded by Greyhawk68

Did I enjoy Ben Zander's closing presentation at Lotusphere 09? Seems I did. Thanks to Greyhawk68 for catching this moment. Plan on picking up Ben's book this week.(After I pay the $4.15 fine on my library card)

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-01-26T18:35:00.001-05:00

DSC02210
Originally uploaded by Curt Stone

Spent part of my birthday at Disney Hollywood Studios. So glad I ran into Disney friends Declan and Terri. We had a nice lunch at Sci-Fi. Thanks guys!

Lucky Guy going to Lotusphere

2009-01-16T05:59:00.006-05:00

I won a free admission to Lotusphere thanks to TechCrunchIT and IBM. How cool is that?
If you want some of this luck to rub off on you, shake my hand and say "HI". I plan on being seen all over the place. I'm staying at the Dolphin (another break in luck) and arriving just in time for BALD on the boardwalk. ESPN is a favorite hangout for Saturday night. Can't wait for sessions and "after hour" sessions. Sunday Night reception, product reception, Universal Studio's, Jam Fest and etc. are all musts. See you all soon!
I'm a tshirt guy so look for the guy always wearing a tshirt and I'm packing Grateful Dead and Lotusphere shirts.
I had this picture on my desktop for heads on Twitter, Google etc. I'm the guy on the right and this is from a fun trip to Yankee Stadium a couple years ago meeting up with Chris Whisonant. I usually have a big grin too. :)
Woot! Goin' to Lotusphere!

I (state your name) do hereby devote my life to Lotus Software

2009-01-12T20:20:00.001-05:00

DSC03918.jpg
Originally uploaded by Curt Stone

Only four days and counting till the faithful travel to Orlando for the Lotus Love fest that is Lotusphere! Salute me or say Hi if you see me!

FinallyFast.com and iMac

2009-01-12T17:54:00.002-05:00

Had a little chuckle today. This tv advertisement for FinallyFast.com begins with a guy behind an iMac. I've had some performance issues on my iMac so the ad intrigued me. For kicks, I went to the site. As I suspected, it's only for Windoz and PC.
P.S. I added 2 gb of ram and all is well.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

2009-01-11T16:59:00.004-05:00

Practice, Practice, Practice. And, be a member of the Torrington High School Chamber Choir like my daughter is. We just got back from a fund raising concert. The choir put on an awesome display of talent. Singing, playing piano, flute, duets and solos were performed. My daughter did a duet with her friend, Ellie. They sung a favorite of theirs from McFly called Do Ya. I've heard them sing this in the car many times. Sounded awesome on stage with the guitar compliment. It's going to be an awesome experience for the kids in March. The ol' man will enjoy as well. :)
Note: My daughter is just left of the gentleman in the middle.
Knock'em dead Lindsay!

Ripoff? 30% charge for DRM free music on iTunes

2009-01-10T01:02:00.002-05:00

Yea, DRM free music on iTunes. All the new wi-fi radio gadgets should be able to play my iTunes music. There's a catch for your old purchases. You can upgrade but they charge you 30 cents per song or 30% per album. Sounds greedy to me and not a great strategy considering all the other DRM free alternatives available now.(Walmart, Amazon) The other alternatives are already cutting prices. $8.99 for album. $5.00 specials. 79 cents per song and etc... Apple better get with the program instead of getting greedy with their iPod monopoly.

Pre-Blogger Dinner

2009-01-09T05:56:00.000-05:00

Great to see my friend Chris Whisonant in New Haven last night. We met up at the world famous Pepe's Pizza. I believe some claim it to be one of the first places to bring pizza to the U.S. It's great thin sliced brick oven pizza. I'd not made the trip down to New Haven in a very long time. I used to make that run many times 20 years ago for a girl. Much has changed on the ride down with many new stores and restaurants. Bertha(GPS) got me there without issue after I put in the right address. Pepe's was easily found too. Thanks Santa(wife)
Chris, the extra slices were gone when I woke up this morning. Teenagers.
See ya in a week at Lotusphere! Hope it's warmer there.

Two new agenda items for Lotusphere?

2009-01-08T13:24:00.001-05:00

Two agenda items jumped out at me today while looking at Lotusphere web page.

Mon-Thur
7:00am - 7:50am New! YOGA: Lotus Positions for Lotus Geeks
Tue
7:30pm - 9:00pm Symphony Karaoke

I can't find an explanation. Wonder what these are? Sounds fun.

Book Review: The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch

2009-01-02T13:39:00.000-05:00

I was looking for a self-help book recently on Amazon and I came across this one.
I checked the local libraries and it was booked solid. I had to put it on hold. I mentioned it to my wife and she knew all about it. A friend pointed me to the YouTube video.

I was up later than normal one night and figured I watch part of it before I fell asleep. I ended up watching the whole thing in one sitting.

The video covers much of what's in the book. It's a really fast read (206 small pages) and I would suggest reading the book first. It's simple principles, emotional and really makes you think about what's important in life. Randy has terminal cancer as he writes. His thoughts are crystal clear and get right to the point. I love the title of his lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". It's a different approach to shedding light on goal setting or just how to be happy. The dream can be simple. It's just so much fun achieving dreams even if they're simple. One of his that seems idiotic is to win large stuffed animals at carnivals. He made it fun and it really adds to the thought of dreaming like a child.

I've always been the most happy when in pursuit of a dream.

Some stuff from the book I really enjoyed:

He had a tough football coach that he learned a lot from. I can relate. He wanted to be a pro player but realized he still learned a lot chasing this dream even though he did not go pro.

Allowing his niece and nephew pour soda in the back of his nice new convertible. People are more important than things. They'll never forget that.

Brick walls are there for people who won't make the effort to go through them. His stories on how he broke through the Disney Imagineering and NASA's weightless program brick walls are awesome inspiration.

There are many quick chapters with great titles and info like for example, "Look For The Best In Everybody". I liked this one too "If At First You Don't Succeed..." This one talks about cliche's.
"Dance with the one who brought you"
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity"
"Whether you think you can or can't, your right."
"Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

I walk away from this book wanting to pay most attention to the things that matter. Your family, your dreams, help others and not wasting time or thought on ridiculous things.
Thanks Randy.

Comment comparing Sharepoint and Lotus Notes

2008-12-29T16:49:00.001-05:00

I really enjoyed a comment made on the recent TechCrunch article comparing Sharepoint and Lotus Notes. "Toolkit" really make some real world points about functionality we take for granted in Notes that just is not easy in the Sharepoint world. Let's just hope innovation in the Notes world continues to keep us ahead of the Sharepoint world.

Cheap memory upgrade

2008-12-29T11:09:00.000-05:00

I've been searching for a memory upgrade for iMac for several months. I just had not yet pulled the trigger on the order. It was about $60 US at crucial.com last I looked. After listening to SWMBO complain again this weekend, I took a look today and ordered a 2GB kit for under $30. That should improve things. Don't understand why they can't add the proper amount of memory for a standard machine. Only allows unknowing folks to complain.

Proud: Oldest son gets accepted to college

2008-12-28T07:54:00.000-05:00

I was over my in-laws house before Christmas and was looking at old pictures of my kids. Man, they grow up so fast. Seems like yesterday my oldest was saying his first words as we laughed at his pronunciation. Now, he's a high school senior. He's been accepted into the Graphics Arts program at The College of Saint Rose. We were very impressed with this college during our tour. Funny how your life can turn and direction it goes. We discovered this school during a national portfolio review day. We waited in long lines to see many of the very popular art colleges. We didn't have to wait in line for the College of Saint Rose and we wanted to hear their perspective of my sons work. Well, the professor that we spoke with was awesome! She was very enthusiastic and genuine. She encouraged us to check the school out during their open house which was the following weekend. My son has been talking about Boston based colleges but we went up to Albany, NY anyway. Again, we were very impressed with the faculty, staff and students who went out of their way to meet and work with us. They are very proud of their students who have gained employment 100% of the time after a year of graduating from the Graphic Design program. They intern in NY city and seem to really gain practical, real life skills.
We're so proud of him and wish him all the success in this exciting field!

If Santa brings me a new iPod and iTunes gift card...

2008-12-20T07:14:00.000-05:00

Any music fans out there? If Santa brings me a new iPod and iTunes gift card, what should I add to my music collection? I've been hooked on a playlist lately consisting of Ryan Adams, Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews, Van Morrison, Grateful Dead, Mark Knopfler, Wilco and etc... Need to add to it for variety.
I'm thinking of exploring some artists I don't know and/or some cd's that I do know of with newer material.
How about...

Ray LaMontagne - Gossip In The Grain
Coldplay - Viva La Viva
Neil Young - Sugar Mountain(Live) $9.72 on Walmart.com :)
* Neil has a huge 10 DVD collection coming in Feb 2009

Exploration?:
My Mourning Jacket
Wilco
O.A.R
Flogging Molly
Fleet Foxes (Wish I bought this at Starbucks when I had the chance)

Note: Bruce Springsteen has a new release end of Jan 2009!

Any other suggestions?

Why end users don't know the power of Lotus Notes

2008-12-19T09:22:00.000-05:00

What a great Taking Notes Podcast from Bruce and Tom speaking with Getting Things Done author David Allen and eProductivity specialist Eric Mack!
Half way through, David makes a point and drives it home like no one I've ever heard on how amazed he is about the lack of respect Lotus Notes gets from end users. I'll offer up some opinions on this. David trys to understand why end users don't know the power the have in their hands. One reason for this, I've found, is that IT folks are not keen on feeding an end user freenzy. They fear the end user application that will grow and need the IT resources to support it. IT resources/costs are watched like no other. We lock down the end users from adding new databases to our servers which limits their ability to collaborate to the magnitude that David envisions. Tools like QuickPlace have emerged for that purpose.

Here's another one: Has an IT executive ever been fired for recommending a Microsoft solution? On the other side of that. People who push alt-Microsoft technologies are taking a risk.

One last thought related to the expanding adoption of Notes overall. The pool of resources available for supporting Lotus Notes is small and getting smaller. Management has little choice but to move to other technologies because they can't find resources for Notes.

Wish I were going to Lotusphere to see the GTD session. I'd love to do some real world Lunch and Learns with my end users. With exception of unleashing the Wild, Wild West of applications. :)

Winter just got longer with signing of Sabathia and Burnett

2008-12-14T07:34:00.000-05:00

As if the ice storm wasn't bad enough and winter just starting, my Yankees are reeling in some big fish making the wait for Spring unbearable. :) I'm dancing in my cold house as I see the new guys signing up. A.J. Burnett is awesome. My only worry is past injury issues. But, when he's on he's lights out. C.C. Sabathia and A.J. will make a great 1,2,3 punch added with Wang. Hope we can get to a game in the new Stadium this spring. Next, let's sign Andy Pettite. I heard he was holding out for 16 million. Come on! Please see it in your heart to take 10 million. You can get buy even in NY with a little pay cut like that. Just think how cool it will be pitching in the new Stadium with the team that's assembling. I'm divided on Joba Chamberlain. Bullpen or Starter? Of course we want more innings like he's pitched in the 8th. But, we don't want to burn him out. If they pick up one more starter and sign Andy, the question for me is easy. Shorten the game to 6 or 7 innings with Joba, Mariano and whoever else in the 7th inning. Tell you what. I could coach this team to the World Series with that kind of pitching.

ICE - Yikes!

2008-12-12T08:58:00.000-05:00

Northwest corner of CT is iced today. Many roads closed and power lines down. Weird that the roads were not iced to bad in my neighborhood. I did see 2 trees down in my neighborhood and one was uprooted across the road. I was able to make it to work. Funny thing was, a mile from my house towards work, no ice on trees. Just a bit farther north, they'll be without power for days. I post this for those who don't get this lousy weather like us.