Joseph Topinka

Gonna miss Asheville this year

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:35:00 +0000

This will be the first year we miss the arts and crafts show in Asheville this year. Love the blue ridge mountains and the moderate climate there. We will have to make a trip there this summer.

Mexico and Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:32:00 +0000

It has been a week now since returning from Mexico. We explored Mayan ruins and relaxed on the beach. Our time there seems so long ago now; especially with temps in the single digits here in Minnesota. Come on spring!!!!!

First Snow

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:50:00 +0000

Why am I always surprised by the first snow? Only 6 months till May!

Working Outside

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 17:26:00 +0000

Spent the weekend working around the house. A little yard work, putting up speakers on the pergola and mowing the lawn. It makes you appreciate the warm weather and being outside. The temps are perfect, today in the 70s. Not bad.

Winter is on the horizon so get out there while you can.

Don't Look Now

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:27:00 +0000

The sun is finally out...time for a walk in the woods.

Happy Fathers Day Dads

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:56:00 +0000

So far it has been a relaxing weekend. It has been raining all day so far. Just chill'n on the porch listening to great music and spending time with Danielle. It doesn't get any better than this!

Warm Weather & Rain

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 21 May 2011 16:58:00 +0000

It has been raining since yesterday - I bet we have more than an inch of rain...I love the warm weather but hard to get anything done outside. We had some thunder a few minutes ago...maybe a glass of wine is in order later today...

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:41:00 +0000

It is never too early to wish your mom and all moms out there happy Mothers Day!

Good housing market advice...

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sun, 01 May 2011 13:21:00 +0000

A good article on surviving the current housing market slump...click here!

Home for Easter Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:24:00 +0000

Heading home for Easter with the family. We are fortunate to live so close and the drive is beautiful along the great Mississippi.

Snow in April

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 15:20:00 +0000

At least the snow wont last long...It is melting fast. Nice weather is just around the corner. Mother Nature is clever...the warm summers and colorful falls make you forget about the long winter...today is just a reminder that winter will return again; but not too soon I hope.

Apple Troubles

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:08:00 +0000

For all the good you hear about Apple and the endless raving about the quality and ease of use of their products, I seem to find trouble with my Apple products more often than not. My iPhone 4 camera and pictures are no longer accessible - clearly some software glitch. I have wiped the phone and reloaded it more than once, searched blog posts and more to find solutions but to no avail.

I am an early adapter and bought three Apple TVs for our three home theater environments. Apple's announcement last year to not release new software updates for the original Apple TV was a frustrating and surprising turn of events. Apple fans too often give the company a pass when it comes to product quality and ease of use- Apple has problems just like every other vendor. I use both Mac Books and PCs - the user interfaces are different; not better or worse than one another. It is a matter of what you get used to. We have some new Mac users at work and they have trouble adapting to the platform just as people who go from Macs to PCs do.

Don't get me wrong, I love the products and am a fan in that regard. I will keep looking to them for innovation and I will keep using their products; at least for the foreseeable future. I just wish they supported them better and didn't cut customers off so early in the life cycle of a product.

Microsoft outsells Apple in Consumer Electronics Space - for real!

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:37:00 +0000

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Kinect sold at "an average of 133,333 units per day making the connect the fastest selling consumer electronic device ever! Yes, faster than the iPad and iPhone...Surprised me!

Here is the original post...

You can fly with our shoes!

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:34:00 +0000

I know this is a bit of a commercial but here is a cool video produced by one of our loyal Vasque customers. Enjoy!

Technology & Patience

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:21:00 +0000

Thanks Tory for reminding me of this funny Conan moment!

Jambox fun

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:13:00 +0000

My wife and I recently completed a long road trip (2,000 miles in all). We had a blast in North Carolina. As you can imagine, the car seems to shrink after a few hours. We traveled through the New Found Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains; very beautiful and worth the 2+ hour detour.

In the car we have XM radio and 10 gigs of music on our iPod Touch. We were tired of news and music after 4 or 5 hours in the car. We decided to download some comedy (Jerry Seinfeld to be exact) on our iPhone. While it took a bit if time on the sometimes 3G network, we got it done. My new iPhone doesn't integrate into my car sound system (thanks Apple for changing the interface again). We brought our Jambox on the trip to listen to music in our hotel room. This turned out to be a handy gadget in the car.

Since my iPhone car interface wasn't working, we just leveraged the Bluetooth connection from my iPhone to the Jambox and we were in business. We set the Jambox on the dash and we were able to listen to the iPhone with great sound quality. It helped to pass the time. Just another fun toy that has its practical side too.

Doing more than email & browsing on an iPad

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:18:00 +0000

I have had my iPad for more than a year. Love it for email and browsing the Internet. I still find it hard to create and edit documents. I have a wireless keyboard and that helps. Not being able to update native Microsoft documents is a problem. I have third party apps that help but it is still not very seamless.

I ran into another challenge yesterday. I received a zipped file from our auditors and had to go get another third party app to open it as well. In most cases I have found tools to get by limitations but the user experience falls short on the favorable user experience meter. I still love the portability and instant on of the iPad and I do think it has it's place as a standard offering for IT departments. Security is still a challenge as well. I expect this will get better over time as Apple and other providers respond to enterprise level concerns. A new iPad is due out this summer, let's see what it can do in terms of filling some of the current enterprise level gaps.

Relying on technology

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:15:00 +0000

I am in Asheville this week and working from the Grove Park Inn. Just thinking about how much we rely on technology to stay connected. They have a free guest wirelss connection which works well most of the time however there are some gaps in coverage while moving about the complex.

It reminds me how far we have come these past ten years. Good wifi was not a concern for most of us not that long ago. Some say that days without cell and wifi were simpler...maybe true but somehow I don't think better. I just dont want to be like that guy in front of the microwave saying "come on!" watching the seconds count down when the wifi connection is bad.

iPhone Vs. iPhone - Apple Wins!

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 18:12:00 +0000

Apple can't lose in this deal but what about consumers? I watched a performance comparison on CNET which clearly shows that Verizon's network outperformed AT&T's network for both upload and download speeds. I am sure that some AT&T customers may want to switch because of the performance benefits.

One big drawback with the Verizon iPhone is that it won't let you surf the web and talk on the phone. I find this useful for example when I am talking to someone and trying to to help them find a location on a map. I guess for Verizon users it won't matter much since they haven't experienced this benefit. That is a deal breaker for me.

What do you think; Is simultaneous voice and data important to you?

How to help vendors!

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 20:31:00 +0000

We all get calls from vendors, that is the way the world works and there is nothing wrong with that. However, I have some tips for sales reps that will both enhance the likelihood of a response and make it more efficient on the people receiving sales rep messages. Here are a few of them:

Don’t send an email and leave a voice message – Every week I get a couple of sales reps that call me to tell me they sent an email. This is annoying and time consuming. I always imagine these folks wearing belts and suspenders.
Send email versus leaving voice messages – I find it a lot easier to process an email message versus wading through someone’s voice mail ramblings. You can process an email so much faster and there isn't the juggling act of trying to take down an email address or phone number. You also don’t have to contend with bad connections or hard to understand reps.
Leave very short voice messages – if you have to leave a voice message (maybe you are driving and dialing) be sure to leave a very short and succinct message. There is nothing more frustrating than waiting through some rambling sales commercial to get a phone number of email address. Unified messaging makes this a little easier with inbox tools that let you pause and restart with ease.
Don’t expect a call back every time – if you are making a cold call and ask for a return call, don’t be surprised or distraught if you don’t get a call back. It is likely that your service offering isn't of interest and talking won’t change anyone’s mind.

I am sure you have more tips…love to hear them – post a comment and I will add to list…

New Years Resolution

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 22:56:00 +0000

If you have worked in IT for any length of time you are have no doubt heard someone utter one of the following phrases:

- IT and the business should be aligned ...
- Lets dedicate IT liaisons to the business ...
- IT and the business should be in sync ...
- We should connect IT's strategic plans with the business ...

Well, you get the idea...

As the profession of IT matures (it ain't no baby anymore), more and more people are recognizing that IT is a business unit and not some separate entity to be treated differently. I think that IT folks often create this us-and-them mentality when we say what we say. I am guilty myself.

So here is my resolution; I am going to eliminate this type dialog in my approach going forward. Instead I plan on talking about "other" business units or just simply calling out the name of a business unit or brand group. No more IT-and-the-business language for me.

I have been open about this with "other" business unit leaders at my company. I want them to know why I am doing it and how I think it helps. IT is in fact a business unit and critical one at that. There aren't too many processes or systems in company's today that don't have some connection to IT and the services we perform. I think it will help to cement the role IT plays as a critical aspect of a company's operation and it will lift the perception that non-IT leaders have of IT professionals.

I have to admit, I have slipped a few times since the beginning of the new year but the instances are becoming less frequent. Now the challenge will be to see how it makes a difference with other business leaders.

Little WOWs

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:11:00 +0000

I saw a speaker from Disney this past weekend at our yearly kickoff meeting in Arizona. His message was focused on customer satisfaction and how Disney focuses continuously improving in this area. They have a very high percentage of return customers. If I remember correctly at any given time at Disneyland, over 70+ percent of the people there are return visitors.

They encourage all their "cast" members to deliver little wow experiences every day. They aren't necessarily looking for the big WOW; just a series of little WOWs. He gave some examples; a maintenance worker when asked by a family with young children where the nearest restrooms were led the children in an ad hoc parade, children marching in tow to the nearest WC. Another small example enables Disney customers to have their purchases sent to their rooms so they don't have to carry packages around the park.

The speaker talked about these little WOWs as their secret. People react subtly and positively. He described the physical reaction people have when a little WOW is delivered, a tilt of the head and an upbeat hmm!. They say lots of little WOWs add up to one big WOW. With a high percent of return visitors to their theme parks they are clearly having success with this approach.

I think the little WOW approach is message and approach that we can adapt in our business. That means everyone from our help desk to project managers and supervisors need to look for ways to deliver little WOWs...We are going to try an incorporate this thinking in our teams. This wont be another program of the month but more a way of thinking. We have to encourage one another to think this way and recognize people that do. Should be a fun and rewarding journey.

WiMax sadly not for me...

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:18:00 +0000

Well I tried Clear.com's WiMax service over the past several days with mixed results. At times, performance was excellent however there were too many instances of lost connectivity. My laptop is my office phone when I am on the road and at home. While on conference calls from home I could hear 75% of conversations and as you can imagine that isn't quite good enough. I switched back to my cable modem and the problems were eliminated.

I will try again in a six months or so. I know they are working on adding more towers and improving their service. I really like the idea that there is a solid (and portable) option to cable or DSL in the not to distant future. For me however, WiMax isn't there just yet - at least not in my neighborhood.

WiMax 4G...checking it out

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 11:57:00 +0000

I picked up a a 4G WiMax modem yesterday to take it for a test drive. Basically all you do is plug it in for power and connect it to your existing home wireless router and you get instant internet access.

So far the speeds have been very good. I am seeing between 5 and 6 MB download speeds and .5 to 1.0 MB upload speeds; consistently better that my Charter service. I have a 10 day trial. The cost is about the same as cable...$50/month. . So far so good.

Have your tried WiMax yet?

What to do when it snows (over a foot so far)...

noreply@blogger.com (CIO Mentor) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 01:11:00 +0000

Tonight we are playing Scrabble and watching the snow fall. Blizzards seem to having a way of chill'n the family...no one is thinking about texting or Facebook. Maybe I shouldn't be blogging...

Let it snow!