Greyhawk's Meanderings

Happy Birthday Bear

Greyhawk68 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:41:56 +0000

napbuddies, originally uploaded by Greyhawk68.

This is a picture of my youngest who was born six years ago today (yes, my daughters birthdays are 4 days apart.)

This was taken two weeks after she was born, and she still likes to snuggle just as much.

Today, a joint birthday party awaits... at a CANDY STORE!!

Satan Nods Approvingly

Greyhawk68 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:39:27 +0000

Satan Nods Approvingly, originally uploaded by Greyhawk68.

Even though the blog has lost a couple followers, this seems apropos :-)

Happy Birthday Pumpkin

Greyhawk68 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:09:48 +0000

eightyears, originally uploaded by Greyhawk68.

Eight years ago my life changed forever with the birth of my first daughter. I never thought I'd enjoy being a parent as much as I have. All the bad days in the world can be made better with hugs and snuggles from the girls.

Happy birthday pumpkin, you'll always be my little girl!

Lotus Traveler Comes to the iPhone

John Roling — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:20:18 +0000

For those of you who still didn't know, the recent 8.5.1 release of Lotus Domino came with an additional piece of software called Traveler. This allows Apple's iPhone to finally sync with Lotus Notes. My October article for Intranet Journal discusses how Lotus Traveler Comes to the iPhone

Ever since Apple's iPhone was introduced, fans of Lotus Notes lamented the fact that there was no push email solution that supported the IBM Lotus product. You could use IMAP to get your mail, but there was no real-time two-way solution like you could get on a Blackberry. That all changes with the release of Lotus Traveler 8.5.1.

Traveler requires the recently released Lotus Domino 8.5.1 in order to run, but it finally gives Notes fans two-way synchronization of email, calendar and contacts to the built-in iPhone applications. Traveler is included with Domino 8.5.1 and gives you a great reason to upgrade your servers today.

My article goes through installing the software on your Domino server, and then setting up an iPhone to connect to that server to start syncing. It's drop-dead easy, so if you were on the fence, check out the article and get synching!

That whole epiphany thing...

John Roling — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:18:27 +0000

A few months ago, I came to a personal epiphany of sorts. Basically, you never know when life is going to end, so you need to live it to the fullest, let the people around you know that you love them as much as possible, and don't sweat the small insignificant things in life. Since then, I've been a much happier person overall in pretty much every facet of my life. I've also worked hard on getting healthier. In fact, since the beginning of August, I've lost nearly 30 pounds. I did it by decreasing my portions, eating healthier and actually exercising. I know, weird how that actually works huh?

Anyway, despite all of that, and how great things have been for me lately, I was strongly reminded how it can all be taken away in an instant. A friend from high school passed away in his sleep from a heart attack this past weekend. He was 38 years old.

His name was Tim, and he's another one of those people whom everybody liked. I don't think I could find a classmate if I tried that didn't think Tim was a wonderful person. To have him lose his life at such a young age is a real tragedy, and I feel absolutely horrible for those who were still really close to him.

I'm not sure why, but this has hit me fairly hard. It could be that it was a peer who was even younger than me who passed. It could be the simple 'out-of-the-blue' nature of it. It could be that I'm three days from my 39th birthday. It could be that I'm missing my family as they've been out of town for almost a week, and I feel desperately like I should be giving them hugs and telling them how much I love them right now. Whatever it is, the feeling sucks.

It's this feeling, which I've been reminded of far too much the last few years, that reminds me to enjoy what precious little time we have. The next time something insignificant bothers you, try to remember the big picture, and take control on how you react. You have the power to control how you feel, and how you go through life. Use it.

Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 Coming Soon

John Roling — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:33:24 +0000

Okay, I guess this makes the 47th article for Intranet Journal.

Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 Coming Soon gives you a preview of some of the features and changes you can expect when Notes and Domino 8.5.1 ship in October. I really believe that this is what most businesses will end up with as a gold release for some time to come. I've been using the beta for a couple months, and it's very good. So check out the preview, and put in front of the noses of people who make your upgrade decisions!

When Notes 8.0 was released, it was a beautiful update to a very stale looking client. It looked great, and had features users had been clamoring for, but unfortunately it was slow. With each point release since, the speed has gotten better, but with 8.5.1 is really feels like they finally got it right. The client uses less memory than it did in 8.5, so there's more left for other system processes. In addition, everything from startup, to switching between apps is much faster. Simply upgrading a user to 8.5.1 should really alleviate previous speed issues.

Six Years of Ramblings

John Roling — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:15:19 +0000

Yesterday marked six years that I've been maintaining my public blog. Six years! Wow how time has flown. In that timespan my second daughter was born, I got laid off at the previous job, spent three months searching for the perfect gig, found the perfect gig, refinanced my house (three times), switched to Mac, wrote 46 articles for Intranet Journal, 7 articles for other publications, 885 blog posts and over 3500 Tweets.

Over the last year I've slowed down quite a bit here, and it's for a few reasons. When it comes to Lotus stuff, I generally try to use it for my job writing for Intranet Journal. I still post some stuff here on occasion, but if it's bigger topics, it's nice to actually get paid for my writing. Next, microblogging with Twitter has been wonderful for me. My blog has always been a creative outlet for me to write and bitch and ponder things in life, but Twitter has allowed me to do those same things with far more immediacy. I can post what's on my mind quickly and get feedback quickly. I admit, some of it is inane babble, but quite a bit of it leads to very useful conversations. Also, Twitter is something I can do quickly any time from anywhere with my iPhone. For the blog, I have to find time to write, and since I now drive to work, those two hours a day I used to spend blogging are spent trying not to get run into on the Chicago freeways.

Also, the new job demands a little more time, and I want to spend as much additional time with my wife and daughters as possible. It doesn't leave a lot of extra time to put up as many blog posts as I used to. That's okay. I have many outlets now (still including this one) that keep me feeling creative. And that's really what it's all about for me. Thanks for being a part these past six years, I'm thrilled (and quite frankly astonished) that so many of you follow along! I do appreciate it.

@IsEnd(Staycation)=TRUE

John Roling — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:46:49 +0000

Up until two weeks ago, I hadn't taken any vacation time all year, so in order to not lose my mind, I took two weeks off. I knew it would be sort of difficult in my new role as an IT Manager at work, but through the grace of my boss, he let me take the time off anyway. That said, I responded to email and phonecalls for work the entire time so I'm not nearly as behind as I normally am after time off. So I guess that's good!

Anyway, we stayed fairly close to home for the two weeks, and fit a lot of fun into that span. Here's what I got to do:

Upgraded a home machine to Snow Leopard
Had a poker night at a buddy's house
Was a professional photographer for a car show
Took the girls on their first train ride to Chicago
Visited the Sears (Willis) Tower Skydeck in Chicago
Had my fantasy football draft
Went to Wisconsin Dells
Visited 3 outdoor water parks and 3 indoor water parks at our hotel
Visited the Wisconsin Deer Park
Went to visit my parents in Iowa
Attended my 20th High School Reunion in Iowa
Shattered the screen on my iPhone
Rode on a horse-drawn carriage with my family in the Dubuque, Iowa Labor Day Parade
Helped out my father-in-law by driving about 500 miles round-trip to pick up a car
Had Daddy/Daughter dates with my girls
Followed the Apple "It's only Rock N Roll" event
Took my daughters to their favorite restaurant (Rainforest Cafe)
Got my iPhone screen fixed
Watched opening night football at New Trends Cigars
Visited Morton Arboretum
Had a date with the wife and saw The Hangover
Moved my desk at work to a new location while listening to the Dolphins suck

So the family and I fit in a lot in a short amount of time and it was wonderful. I'm kinda sad that it's over, but I feel pretty refreshed and ready to tackle what lays in front of me. Onward and upward!

Lotus Knows How to Secure Your Data

John Roling — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:57:33 +0000

This is short, to the point and a great message to get out there. Please help vote it up in the Lotus Knows Idea Jam going on now!

Lotus Knows (How to Market?)

John Roling — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:38:06 +0000

My latest from Intranet Journal is out now, Lotus To Launch Lotus Knows Campaign discusses the new Lotus Knows marketing initiative as well as the upcoming Lotus Knows Idea Jam where you can contribute your ideas for what 'Lotus knows..." I'm actually excited about this marketing campaign. We, as a collective whole, have been bitching for years that Lotus seemed to abandon any marketing efforts. It seems like that is no longer the case, and Lotus are going about it in a way I like quite a bit:

I find it refreshing that Lotus is listening to the community in this fashion. It’s using a product that runs on Domino, utilizing people who love the product, to collaborate on a marketing message that should resonate with end users. It’s an shining example of what can be accomplished with the platform beyond email and calendaring.

So get yourself registered for the Lotus Knows Idea Jam that starts this Wednesday. Let's help Lotus make this thing actually work.