Live is more than just being alive

Sedit qui timuit ne non succederet.

2012-01-24T07:45:00.001-05:00

Do something each day that makes you afraid, embarassed or stupid. That way you know you're living life to the max.

Enterprise Data Management

2011-12-12T13:40:00.000-05:00

Bank of America's new Chief Data Officer, John Bottega is the current chairman of the enterprise data management council. Checked out the website and was stunned to learn that EDM appears to be evolving into a career in its own right even though the group has only been around since 2005.

Interesting convergence of Business Process Management and the Object Modeling Group (OMG) with enterprise data management practices.

Q7 with lights

2010-07-06T23:08:00.000-04:00

Love the adjustable interior illumination of the Q7 - the door handles are backlit by a red interior light.

Also never thought I would use the driver's side child override buttons that prevent children from unlocking the door or rolling down the windows on their own. Used them for the first time coming back from Wilmington to keep my 19 month old from causing any mischief.

Also took delivery of a set of Weathertech mats and cargo liner. Awesome fit and great look cosmetically!

Q7 Maiden Voyage

2010-06-21T01:35:00.003-04:00

Took the Q7 on its first maiden voyage to the factory outlet shops at Gaffney, SC. Smooth as silk 3.0 TDI V6 engine coupled with a very quiet interior made the jaunt very pleasurable. First fill up using diesel fuel took some getting used to with the different style of pump, but was working fine.

MMI nav unit is not as easy to use as the Garmin unit though - still will take some practice to figure out all its quirks.

Great looking machine though and it definitely seems to get some glances even though it looks like a big white SUV like any other on the road.

2010 Audi Q7

2010-06-18T21:40:00.003-04:00

Just took delivery yesterday of my brand new 2010 Audi Q7 Prestige TDI. WOW -looks even better in person than I could have imagined. Ibis white exterior with a cardamom (beige) interior is a stunningly classy combination with relatively high resale appeal.

I tried to find some decent reviews of the Q7 online but none of them truly captured the essence of what the Audi Q7 is in spirit - hence my attempt to correct that gap.

225hp, 404 ft-lbs torque from the 2010 Audi Turbo Diesel 6 cylinder engine. With the high-intensity discharge headlamps coupled with the Audi LED driving lights, it looks TOUGH on the road and garners all kinds of glances from those in the know.

We ended up choosing the Q7 TDI because it was different than all the Toyota Highlanders/Honda Pilots/Acura MDXs on the road that had 3rd row seating, and it wasn't a Honda Odyssey/Toyota Sienna minivan (an automotive option my wife was fighting tooth and nail).

A few years ago, I used to have a 2000 E36 BMW M3 which I loved. It was very exciting for me to rekindle my automotive passion with this very sexy machine.

After a 3 month wait, the Q7 arrived via Europe through the port of Miami. Turns out that Audi shuts down its factories every August to retool for the new model year. White Q7s with the TDI option are VERY difficult to get - so much so that when my wife and I began looking in earnest in March 2010, there were only 3 white TDIs East of the Mississippi that were scattered throughout the Eastern seaboard, one in NJ, one in OH, and the final one in Atlanta. All others were spoken for. Apparently Audi significantly under estimated demand for the Q7 and as such supply was very tight for those that were interested in getting one.

We were lucky enough to get a white Q7 TDI that was already allocated to an Audi dealership - the dealership seemed eager enough to unload its allocation before the 2011 cutover and we were able to get a decent deal on a new Q7. This was definitely the exception in terms of getting a dealership to wheel and deal on a new Q7. Out of 15+ dealerships I spoke with, only 2 were willing to wheel and deal below sticker on the Q7.

Where all of the automotive reviews lambast the Q7 3.6 V6 for its lax acceleration and laud the 4.2 V8's spirited acceleration (the Q7 does weigh almost 3 tons), the Q7 feels decent in the TDI configuration with all the low-end torque available that I don't really care about the V6/V8 premium fuel configurations.

Additionally, when trying to research the history of diesel fuel prices in the U.S., in general, the price of diesel fuel appears to lag premium by about $.03 on average. While not always the case, this became a factor in our decision to go with the TDI.

Immediate surprises upon delivery of the Q7 - it has one of the coolest nighttime LED interior illumination configurations of any manufacturer. For example: when opening the back seat passenger doors, a red LED illuminates the areas directly behind the interior door handles, a long white LED strip illuminates the door handles where you can rest your forearm, AND footwell lights situated in the bottom of the driver and passenger seats shows you where you should melt.

The latest generation MMI (Multi-Media-Interface) for the 2010 Q7 comes with its own manual illustrating the sheer depth of all the preference options that can be configured using the MMI. The level of customization options is STAGGERING. Ex. You can choose to set the Q7's clock to a quartz clock or have it updated via radio signal. The reason? Let's say you drive the Q7 across multiple time zones, by having your Q7's clock updated via radio signal, you don't have to worry about updating it to your new local time. By keeping the clock sync'ed with the quartz clock onboard, you can always keep the local time in your vehicle.

The in-dash CD player can also play DVDs, but DVDs are only viewable when the car is not in motion due to safety concerns. The MMI also allows you to set parental locks on the DVD material allowed i.e. if you set the DVD to play only G-rated type fare, any attempts to watch porn get rejected.

Another surprise - the keys of the Q7 hold seat, mirror, and temperature setting preferences. Now this in and of itself isn't all that revolutionary, but the fact that the Q7 has two buttons in the door corresponding to two memory profiles, AS WELL AS an on/off button for you to press if you let your father in law borrow your keys so that it won't erase all of your customized settings saved on your key. In addition, you can set how high the auto lift trunk opens for your particular profile settings - unheard of as an option!!!

The panoramic sunroof is so big it's stunning to see the open sky when open. Gorgeous and breathtaking at the same time. Luckily the panoramic sunroof also has sun screens to help block out all the sun to keep the interior nice and cool on a sunny day.

Our brand new Q7 comes pre-inflated using nitrogen gas. Not sure where I need to go to get refills of nitrogen gas in my car but I'm sure I'll learn that soon enough.

The Q7 has a two sets of front radar positioned on opposite sides of where the front license plate holder is. The driver's side radar operates the Homelink garage door opener emitters, the passenger side radar contains the Active Cruise Control (ACC) that can be set to dynamically detect the traffic in front slowing down and automatically adjusting speed to maintain a safe following distance.

Fuel tank is a staggering 26.4 gallons/100 liters. At $3 a gallon for diesel, a single fill up will probably set you back close to $80. But with the TDI on the highway estimated at 23mpg, you're talking a bladder-busting 566 miles between fill ups at the pump.

More to report as I spend some more time with the Q7 over the next few months.

Medical billing in the U.S. is the ninth level of purgatory

2009-11-11T16:54:00.003-05:00

I am in the midst of medical billing abomination as I'm trying to understand the blizzard of documentation that comes from medical service providers around an outstanding payment amount for what I thought was covered in my health insurance plan.

Absolutely outrageous is the amount of time on hold with customer service lines from various billing groups and the sheer aggravation of trying to correct an outstanding balance especially when you've already paid your co-pay and the medical provider STILL charges you for the co-pay.

It's the price to be paid with having a free market health care system, but the U.S. could take a page from Taiwan's health care system where you pay up front at the point of sale and there is no further paperwork short of the receipt that gets generated.

Zombieland - Tons of fun

2009-10-04T19:16:00.002-04:00

Saw Zombieland this weekend and had a blast with the movie. Didn't require a lot of heavy thinking and it was just plain fun. Highly recommended. Woody Harrelson did a great job in the movie and his supporting cast really made it a refreshed look at the Zombie movie genre.

Bravo for such a fun time!

I pity the fool that doesn't recognize this line

2009-10-04T19:12:00.003-04:00

Just learned that Hollywood is doing a remake of the A-Team. And who on earth did they get to play Hannibal Smith, the cigar chomping playmaker for the group? None other than Liam Neeson.

It'll be interesting to see if Liam projects the original George Peppard likeability and humorous nature. After seeing him in Batman begins, and Star Wars, it'll be interesting to see what he brings to the 2010 Hannibal.

MSN Voice and Video Chat Question

2009-08-04T13:10:00.002-04:00

Anyone happen to know if the U.S. version of MSN Hotmail/Messenger have a voice/video chat capability - and if so, where can I find it? My cousin in Taiwan appears to have it on their version overseas.

Livestrong Diet Tracker

2009-08-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

Excellent diet food tracker that appears to have an easier to use interface than the government's MyPyramid tracker tool.

Health Tracking

2009-06-24T13:06:00.004-04:00

Learned about a site sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture called My Pyramid that basically allows you to track your nutrition and physical activity online as a way to increase your overall dietary and physical health.

Learned about it from a friend who's has her degree in nutrition and been tracking results for almost 3 weeks now and have seen a drop in my weight of about 5 pounds. Not bad for self tracking purposes.

Blur of activity

2009-06-10T12:06:00.002-04:00

Been very busy as of late due to the apparent uptick in activity relating to the economy appearing to shift towards rehiring great talent again in greater volumes. Had some interesting recruiters contact me - including one from Singapore looking to hire talent for a European bank. Didn't even occur to me that folks would be looking to staff for banking positions in Singapore in this worldwide economy. Very interesting indeed.

Celebrated my birthday with some close friends and am looking forward to my first Father's Day.

Jobs with the government

2009-05-13T10:45:00.003-04:00

Just recovering after trying to submit an application for a project manager position with the US Department of Labor. Whomever designed the application process should seriously re-review the end to end experience for online job applicants new to working with the federal government. Not only do you have to fill out the usual resume application and cover letter sections, you then get presented with a questionnaire asking if you're familiar with the policies outlined by various government regulations using arcane nomenclature and acronyms unique to the government.

Finally, after getting through the lengthy questionnaire section, one is required to submit 4 forms by fax which coincidentally do not even present you codes for the forms nor where you're supposed to get said forms. Total time? 1 hour from initial submission to presentation of the 4 fax forms.

Not a very good initial experience with wanting to work with the U.S. Department of Labor. But, it at least demonstrates considerable opportunity to improve.

Google Docs

2009-05-06T23:00:00.003-04:00

Sharpening the professional saw today as I experimented some more with Wikipedia pages, Twitter and using the Google docs Beta function. Amazing what Google is trying to do with cloud computing integration of its documents, images via Picasa, and video. Once you throw mobile Android into the mix it's only a matter of time before Google becomes the Apple of making cloud computing integration appear seamless.

Google Profiles

2009-05-04T16:16:00.004-04:00

Just learned from www.efinancialcareers.com that Google is now beta testing its profile feature. Basically anyone who does a Google search on you will return a Google profile. Better to go ahead and update the profile such that you "own" the content of the profile ASAP.

SEO and Twitter

2009-05-02T08:57:00.002-04:00

Am spending quite a bit of time these days trying to get my hands around Twitter and just what exactly is SEO. Turns out that's exactly my problem.

It took an article in Wired magazine and a special on the Tyra Banks show for me to realize that the folks who use Twitter and just update it every 30 seconds with inane commentary about every little thing they're doing at the moment is just plain wrong and clearly don't get the real power of a collaborative environmental insight tool like Twitter.

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't get it for the first 6 months I was using it. It actually took me adding Guy Kawasaki's Twitter (former Apple evangelist) for me to get my "a-ha" moment.

When I began following Guy Kawasaki's Twitter, all of a sudden I had 5 followers within the first 10 minutes of adding him. The entire principle behind Twitter rests in some deep rooted paranoia that all of us possess that someone else knows something that we don't, and Twitter capitalizes on our innate search for knowledge and our fears of not wanting to be left in the dust in the information age.

As long as you're contributing something new in the form of links, articles or a new perspective to the Twitter online community, your followers will begin to grow organically. If you do something truly groundbreaking or infamous as the case may be, then you're followers will grow exponentially.

This is the magic of Twitter and one that I intend to explore more fully in the months ahead.

Phishing scam for job hunters

2009-04-30T21:04:00.002-04:00

Just received an email today from a guy responding to an email I sent via Craigslist inquiring about a potential open position.

I received an email from a Gmail based account that sent me a job description, a company description, and a "pre-employment questionnaire". Not only did the email not originate from the company's domain, but the company description in the attached document didn't even resemble the online company description, and the job description was very vague with some pretty lofty promises.

Just a word to the wise to exercise common sense when checking out job requests - as always, if it's too good to be true, it usually is.

Needless to say, I'm not filling it out because it smells too much like a phishing expedition.

Saying "Hi" to Obama

2009-04-29T08:55:00.000-04:00

Just decided to swing by and say hello to President Obama. All in a day's work.

Value of Meeting in Person

2009-04-29T07:59:00.002-04:00

Met yesterday with the director of a mid-sized IT recruiting firm who gave me a few pointers on my job hunt to take into consideration.

1. 70% of what you communicate is non-verbal. Be sure to schedule as many face to face meetings with people as you can. This approach takes greater precedence over meetings via phone and even more so over email (the most non-personal communication approach there is).
2. When you speak with your network, get a name of someone they know. If they tell you they'll keep their eyes and ears open that doesn't help you as much. If your contacts aren't telling you "no", then you aren't trying hard enough.
3. Be persistent and optimistic. A negative attitude will absolutely color your interview and the interviewer will pick up on the vibe. Remember that no one wants to work with a pessimist.

Ultimate Dream Jobs

2009-01-05T23:40:00.002-05:00

Ran across Edward Carter's website as I was researching how to become a recognized author on travel. Edward Carter is a PhD consultant to travel and hospitality companies around the world and the man regularly consults for high end hotel establishments around the world like the Four Seasons.

Intrigued with his job, I looked up his bio and was astounded by what the man had accomplished in his career. Not only had the man earned his PhD and served in the military, started what is known today as the Okinawan Grand Prix, he also managed to start and sell an international container shipping company, started what ultimately became universal life insurance, developed a property in the Turks and Caicos that was ultimately sold to Club Med, bought and sold a high end hotel property that was ranked #1 in the world for 4 consecutive years, and published a travel commentary that was given to all first class passengers on British Airways. Later in his illustrative career he started an internet travel business and then began a fine photographic art gallery and is now a professor in Thailand.

When I draw comparisons to what I've accomplished so far in my life, it doesn't read quite as landmark breakthrough as I would like. I realize after reading his bio, clearly he is a very learned man, and clearly skilled in many areas. The key difference being that he's actually executed something that always resulted in a much greater accomplishment using all of his god-given skills. Insightfully, I've learned that although I may be "skilled" in many areas, project management, banking, asian nonprofits, what I haven't done is executed them on a much grander scale.

My motto for '09 is to "Think bigger." This should carry through in all my activities for the year and help to pull together all of my disparate skillsets into accomplishing a much greater good. For example, if I choose to learn a new language, great. But it should be done with an end goal in mind, i.e. translate a literary work for a new audience.

That my friends, is the next great transformation for myself, both personally and professionally.