I get excited this time of year as the snow (or what little snow we had) starts to melt away the doldrums of winter and gives way to spring and hope of a great year. With this, comes EntreFest! It's a two-day battery re-charger for me. I get to rub shoulders with hundreds of other entrepreneurs in the state of Iowa and compare notes on what does and doesn't work in small business these days.
EntreFest in the past has been held in Cedar Falls, Coralville, Des Moines, Dubuque, and this year in Ames. I'm glad for the fact it is centralized this year, with gas being up over $3.50 a gallon, that many people who wouldn't drive to the out edges of the state can congregate in Ames. Past conferences have featured speakers I have become personal friends with. Al Lautenslager, Bob Clements, and Susan Solovic to just name (drop) a few of the keynote speakers are people I have had interactions with since EntreFest. Susan even featured me on her TV show last March! I was thrilled!
EntreFest! is coordinated by the UNI MyEntre.Net staff who with the assistance of a collaborative group of Iowa's premier service providers, work together to bring this great event to fruition every year -- and I'm glad for that!
See you at the party!!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Life -- Is Too Damned Short
Last year I put about 30,000 miles on my vehicle doing service calls, contract work, and other such computer jobs. I get in the Vue or my van, take off and away I go. To be honest, I haven't read a weather forecast since my radio days that ended in 2000, except for once on KIA when I did some advertising there and we were horsing around in the studio. I hear the forecasts and sometimes take their advice, but this year I really haven't, just due to the mild winter we've had.
Wednesday my heart sank when I heard the news about a fellow tech and business owner in Hampton who was killed in a traffic fatality between Hampton and Latimer on an icy Highway 3. Joel Eddy lost his life Wednesday in what would seem to me, on any other day, a routine drive to Hampton heading to his office. I'm saddened, as this is quite a loss for Franklin County and Northern Iowa.
Joel and I were competitors and there were times we really didn't see eye to eye, but we had a couple of things in common -- service to our customers and the knowledge we gained on our own to serve those customers in the best ways that we could. Joel was a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), no small accomplishment, that's for sure. He was pretty much at ground zero for Internet providers in our area when things started to take off in the mid 90's. He was a pioneer in Iowa in the WIRELESS Internet realm. He had technology that was ahead of the times in that field -- by YEARS -- ahead of what is available now with handheld devices and Internet access.
Joel will be missed. Since his office is 3 blocks from my home, I drive by it daily. His white pickup with ladder was his trademark, while on nice days, I'd see the bikes out on the side of the building. If we needed parts, many times, we'd check with each other first. I remember a good conversation with him at the high school last year, when all the kids got the laptops to use -- naturally, he was trying to see if there was a way around the security in the laptops for more functionality. He was always thinking, that's for sure.
He was a good business man and a great husband and father. Joel's death at age 53 certainly put a lot of things into perspective for me as I was driving around on Wednesday, that's for sure.
Life... is too damned short!
Wednesday my heart sank when I heard the news about a fellow tech and business owner in Hampton who was killed in a traffic fatality between Hampton and Latimer on an icy Highway 3. Joel Eddy lost his life Wednesday in what would seem to me, on any other day, a routine drive to Hampton heading to his office. I'm saddened, as this is quite a loss for Franklin County and Northern Iowa.
Joel and I were competitors and there were times we really didn't see eye to eye, but we had a couple of things in common -- service to our customers and the knowledge we gained on our own to serve those customers in the best ways that we could. Joel was a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), no small accomplishment, that's for sure. He was pretty much at ground zero for Internet providers in our area when things started to take off in the mid 90's. He was a pioneer in Iowa in the WIRELESS Internet realm. He had technology that was ahead of the times in that field -- by YEARS -- ahead of what is available now with handheld devices and Internet access.
Joel will be missed. Since his office is 3 blocks from my home, I drive by it daily. His white pickup with ladder was his trademark, while on nice days, I'd see the bikes out on the side of the building. If we needed parts, many times, we'd check with each other first. I remember a good conversation with him at the high school last year, when all the kids got the laptops to use -- naturally, he was trying to see if there was a way around the security in the laptops for more functionality. He was always thinking, that's for sure.
He was a good business man and a great husband and father. Joel's death at age 53 certainly put a lot of things into perspective for me as I was driving around on Wednesday, that's for sure.
Life... is too damned short!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
I Still Call Him "Mister"
In my travels, I see a lot of neat things -- one was on Saturday, pretty close to home. In fact, it was in my hometown of Hampton that I fixed the computer of our retired school superintendent. From the time I was in Kindergarten until today, I have had the utmost respect for Jim Alexander.
When he called and said who he was, it was very hard for me to just call him, "Jim." From when I was a little guy, his first name was always "Mister." I don't know what it was about the man, but he just demanded respect. I'm sure there were people/students/teachers/etc who may not have cared for him, but I never met one. If there were the same people who didn't care for him, I bet they damn well respected him.
A little slower to answer the door, a little hard of hearing, but a whole lot of Mr. Alexander was still in the room. I'd never been to his home before, but when a cat greeted me, I knew it was a friendly house.
When he asked me, "Where did you learn all this??" I knew I'd be a fool if I didn't say "Hampton High School!" I told him that when I was in 11th Grade, it was just Mr. Reibsamen and myself who played/studied/learned on the Apple II that the school had gotten free. He had a big smile on his face.
Mr. Alexander said, "When I left the school district, we had 96 computers. Now, every kid has one." Yes, they do.
So, after an hour or so on his computer, he was getting his email again -- from what I could tell, some stories and jokes from a few other retired teachers. I'm glad they are in good company.
When he called and said who he was, it was very hard for me to just call him, "Jim." From when I was a little guy, his first name was always "Mister." I don't know what it was about the man, but he just demanded respect. I'm sure there were people/students/teachers/etc who may not have cared for him, but I never met one. If there were the same people who didn't care for him, I bet they damn well respected him.
A little slower to answer the door, a little hard of hearing, but a whole lot of Mr. Alexander was still in the room. I'd never been to his home before, but when a cat greeted me, I knew it was a friendly house.
When he asked me, "Where did you learn all this??" I knew I'd be a fool if I didn't say "Hampton High School!" I told him that when I was in 11th Grade, it was just Mr. Reibsamen and myself who played/studied/learned on the Apple II that the school had gotten free. He had a big smile on his face.
Mr. Alexander said, "When I left the school district, we had 96 computers. Now, every kid has one." Yes, they do.
So, after an hour or so on his computer, he was getting his email again -- from what I could tell, some stories and jokes from a few other retired teachers. I'm glad they are in good company.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
What Happens at BarCamp, Stays At Bar -- Sort Of
I went to an entrepreneur's event last Saturday in Cedar Falls called, BarCamp. I didn't know what to expect, never been to one, never heard of it before.
There were two parts, the Friday night "Bar" part, which was a bit of un-organized chaos at first, but ended up being a neat event. I took Becky and promised her some Red Lobster, so we didn't say too long.
The next day I got up earlier than I wanted to on a Saturday, picked up another person who had an interest in the BarCamp and we headed out. We got there early to some more organized chaos, 50 people who had no clue as to what to do. The day was split into 3 segments -- Tech, Creative and Economic Development. Each room had its own classes -- a cool concept. Anyone who wanted to present, could do it. Obviously, there were people who had done this before, as the showed up with presentations that had been practiced before. Reminder to self, next time, I will have a presentation ready.
I was in the Econ room for the day -- 9:30am - 1:00pm and took in the 6 seminars. It was somewhat informative. Web development, SEO stuff, whining about why Cedar Falls isn't Des Moines, a class on the upcoming 140 Character Conference, a guy talking about losing a job and finding work online through various programs and also how to crowdsource funding for your new business.
To address one topic, there's a reason why Cedar Falls won't be Des Moines, and it's networking. From a few of the Cedar Falls events I've been to, the folk there are a bit stand-offish. In the Des Moines events I go to, I'm always included in the discussion or the crowd. This happens to a lot of folks. Many stand in the corner, it happens. In Des Moines, I've been invited out of the corner and into a social group. I can't say the same thing for the nice folks in Cedar Falls.
The event, including lunch and social time was supposed to go from 1pm to 5pm or so....We left at 1:15pm. There was little inclusion and maybe it was me, but I just didn't feel a part of the group. Maybe it was their age (younger) or my age (older) but it was just one of those things - hard to explain.
I took my free tshirt and we left. It was worth the $5, it was worth getting up for, and I would do it again -- but let me know when they are having BarCamp in Des Moines -- OR in Hampton -- then you can count me in!
There were two parts, the Friday night "Bar" part, which was a bit of un-organized chaos at first, but ended up being a neat event. I took Becky and promised her some Red Lobster, so we didn't say too long.
The next day I got up earlier than I wanted to on a Saturday, picked up another person who had an interest in the BarCamp and we headed out. We got there early to some more organized chaos, 50 people who had no clue as to what to do. The day was split into 3 segments -- Tech, Creative and Economic Development. Each room had its own classes -- a cool concept. Anyone who wanted to present, could do it. Obviously, there were people who had done this before, as the showed up with presentations that had been practiced before. Reminder to self, next time, I will have a presentation ready.
I was in the Econ room for the day -- 9:30am - 1:00pm and took in the 6 seminars. It was somewhat informative. Web development, SEO stuff, whining about why Cedar Falls isn't Des Moines, a class on the upcoming 140 Character Conference, a guy talking about losing a job and finding work online through various programs and also how to crowdsource funding for your new business.
To address one topic, there's a reason why Cedar Falls won't be Des Moines, and it's networking. From a few of the Cedar Falls events I've been to, the folk there are a bit stand-offish. In the Des Moines events I go to, I'm always included in the discussion or the crowd. This happens to a lot of folks. Many stand in the corner, it happens. In Des Moines, I've been invited out of the corner and into a social group. I can't say the same thing for the nice folks in Cedar Falls.
The event, including lunch and social time was supposed to go from 1pm to 5pm or so....We left at 1:15pm. There was little inclusion and maybe it was me, but I just didn't feel a part of the group. Maybe it was their age (younger) or my age (older) but it was just one of those things - hard to explain.
I took my free tshirt and we left. It was worth the $5, it was worth getting up for, and I would do it again -- but let me know when they are having BarCamp in Des Moines -- OR in Hampton -- then you can count me in!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
I'm In A Hurry And Don't Know Why!
Well, CBS found out the hard way that patience may be a virtue in reporting news from Twitter. The case of the (now) late Joe Paterno. They picked up a story from a source they thought they could trust and it burned them. Geez, how would you like to have been one of JoePa's family members?? How sad.
Maybe Dan Rather could apply for the job or maybe next time the over-zealous media could just take a step back and think for a minute?
Now, this has also happened locally. I had posted several things on my Facebook page that were "newsy" and the local media in Hampton and Northern Iowa had picked it up as news -- but at least it was factual, but still didn't stop one media outlet from receiving a verbal lashing from someone who was quoted from my post.
Anyway -- Think before you re-post, re-tweet or copy and paste.
Maybe Dan Rather could apply for the job or maybe next time the over-zealous media could just take a step back and think for a minute?
Now, this has also happened locally. I had posted several things on my Facebook page that were "newsy" and the local media in Hampton and Northern Iowa had picked it up as news -- but at least it was factual, but still didn't stop one media outlet from receiving a verbal lashing from someone who was quoted from my post.
Anyway -- Think before you re-post, re-tweet or copy and paste.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
SOPA/PIPA - "Blacked Out Sites"
So today is the day that some webpages have decided to go dark to raise awareness of people who pirate music/movies/etc, basically stuff that isn't their stuff. I see that Google has thrown into this as well, but not enough to go "all in" -- Gee, they would HATE to lose that ad revenue and shift the searching to Bing or other search engines.
The Obama administration has said repeatedly that it's not right for the piracy of movies and other entertainment, but also said that this bill will get vetoed. Odd, why can't anyone believe that?
Until the internet quits making money for people, it will be fair game for everyone.... and maybe it's time to create some ORIGINAL content anyway, instead of stealing other people's stuff. Now there's an idea!
The Obama administration has said repeatedly that it's not right for the piracy of movies and other entertainment, but also said that this bill will get vetoed. Odd, why can't anyone believe that?
Until the internet quits making money for people, it will be fair game for everyone.... and maybe it's time to create some ORIGINAL content anyway, instead of stealing other people's stuff. Now there's an idea!
Monday, January 16, 2012
New Web Site
Well, you are here, most likely, because of my newly re-done website!! Thanks for stopping by. A HUGE thanks to Kristen and KayLynn at Ultimate Web Design and Pam at Click & Ink Designs. There may be a bug or two, but they will be ironed out soon.
This new site is MORE customer interactive. Live chat features, Live appointment booking and the list goes on and on. Each area of the site is customer focused....enjoy!!
Pat
This new site is MORE customer interactive. Live chat features, Live appointment booking and the list goes on and on. Each area of the site is customer focused....enjoy!!
Pat
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