tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22002140764722505042016-08-11T12:19:11.897-05:00My Thoughts, by Nigel FortlageWelcome to my personal space in the whatever we call it today -sphere. Here you will find my personal thoughts on technology, life, and the world around us. The comments on this site are strictly my own and do not reflect that of my employer.Nigel Fortlagenoreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-88283319288868496802016-05-24T10:39:00.004-05:002016-05-24T10:39:56.141-05:00Transgender frequently asked questions<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How did you choose your name Cynthia Alison Fortlage?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I kept my last name as I wanted some connection to my birth name. Many trans people change it completely.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I chose my first name because it was my paternal grand mothers name that I never met.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My middle name is Alison, according to my Mom that was my first name as she thought for sure that I would be born a girl, just took me 50 yrs to figure that out.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Wow, so you wanted to be even trendier than Ellen DeGeneres?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It's nothing new, but it's been in the media more lately. Transgenderism appears throughout history and is documented worldwide. Medical advances in this century have made it possible for male-to-female transsexuals to achieve nearly identical physiology as genetic females.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Most people don't differentiate between sex and gender. Basically, <b>sex is biological, gender is social</b>. There really isn't much difference between men and women physiologically-- just a chromosome and a couple of chemical levels. The bulk of the difference is social. From the earliest age, boys are expected to act this way, and girls are expected to act that way. Because these social pressures are so pervasive, they almost seem natural unless you step back and think about them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, this is a sex issue?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Because the word transsexual has the word "sex" in it, people often think it's mostly about sex. While that's sometimes part of it, transsexuals are usually more interested in getting their bodies to match their feelings. For me, it's really about how I am perceived in day-to-day situations.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, this is a gender issue?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Yep. There are many kinds of transgender people, and among them are transsexuals. <b>transgender</b> is a general term for crossdressers, transsexuals, female and male impersonators, drag queens/kings, intersexuals, gender dysphorics, and those for whom other gender labels do not fit. I usually tell people I'm a transgender women to be specific, and that I'm part of the transgender community, which encompasses all of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I totally understand your situation. After all, I saw "Tootsie."</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">No, it's not like "Tootsie," or "Some Like It Hot," or "Bosom Buddies" or "Mrs. Doubtfire." Comedies like those are funny because the male characters are forced by necessity to dress as women, after which the hilarity and hijinks ensue. The Ladies' Night guys for Bud Light are funny in the same way, because in the real world they would never pass as women. Let's hope I'm not humorous for the same reason.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, more like RuPaul?</span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Um, no. RuPaul is a drag queen, as is Dolly Parton. They are entertainers who use excessive femininity in their acts. Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage Aux Folles, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the Birdcage, Paris Is Burning-- they're all about drag queens. In the same vein are female illusionists whose goal is to portray a convincing act of femininity onstage and sometimes off. Maybe you saw The Crying Game or have been to the Baton nightclub. Those would be examples of very good female illusionists (they get touchy about the word "impersonator," and you don't want one of them mad at you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, more like Marv Albert?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Um, no. Marv had a crossdressing fetish of some sort. Same with Dennis Rodman, J. Edgar Hoover, and a huge list of other rather masculine men. Crossdressers get sexual or emotional satisfaction from touching or wearing women's clothing. Almost all are straight males. The generally accepted number is around 1 in 50 men. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, like a hermaphrodite?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I've been describing what I'm not to clear that up first. One last thing I'm not is intersexed. An intersexual (hermaphrodite) is a person who is born between (inter) sexes, having partially or fully developed pairs of female and male sex organs. "Intersexual" is usually preferred over the word "Hermaphrodite". These conditions are genetic and occur about as frequently as twins. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">OK, OK, you're a transsexual. What does that mean?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Transsexuals</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> feel their body does not match the way they think and feel, and they seek to remedy this by changing their body to match their mind. There are almost as many female-to-male transsexuals as there are male to female. For some reason, FTMs are largely ignored-- probably because they almost invariably are indistinguishable from genetic men. The effects of testosterone on females is more dramatic then the effects of estrogen on males (think East German olympic swimmers). Plus, I've never met a female-to-male whom I could tell without their outing themselves to me. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As much as I hate to admit it, Yes Caitlyn Jenner and I have this in common that we are both transgendered women.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So are you, like, gay or something?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Gender identity and sexual orientation are separate traits</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">, although most people don't think about them as separate. There are straight transsexuals and gay transsexuals, etc. I am in a committed 30 yr marriage where I am fully committed to continuing to be Monogamous. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">While transsexuals are different from gays and lesbians, we have many of the same issues, since we are all going against what society has constructed as appropriate gender behavior. The Stonewall Riot that sparked the gay rights movement in this country was instigated by drag queens, which is why they marched first in the Stonewall 25 parade. Several women's groups have also embraced our issues, most recently the National Organization of Women. NOW has acknowledged that transsexuals totally disrupt gender-based stereotypes by forcing people to think about how much of it is merely social instead of "natural."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How did you get this way?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Plain truth is, <b>nobody knows what causes this</b>, although theories abound. Many people believe there is a biological component. The most common theory involves hormones affecting fetal brain development. But again, no one knows for sure. Personally, I don't really care what the cause is, anyway. I've felt this way as long as I can remember, and I think it's better to look forward than backwards.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I don't think of being transsexual as a blessing or a curse. I just think of it as a trait, like being right-handed or tall. Unfortunately, any trait carries with it certain social stereotypical presumptions. The misconceptions transsexuals have to deal with are that it's all about sex, or that we're just gay people who hate being gay. I just find that living and interacting with others as a female feels right.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How did you know?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I knew something was up from earliest memory. I have several specific memories from around age 9. I was scared to death to tell my parents how I felt, though. By the time I got to middle school, I was starting to have a lot of problems with classmates because I was effeminate, so I made every effort to act the way boys were expected to. This strategy worked, and I decided that I'd be better off putting all that behind me. Eventually, I decided I could manage my feelings without doing anything about them.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">By a few years ago, I started to realize that I was getting more and more unhappy because I wasn't addressing those feelings. I started therapy and quickly concluded what I suspected early on.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I have begun planning for transition, getting everything taken care of prior to going full-time. This includes telling everyone outside of work, having laser & electrolysis to remove my body hair (yeouch!), having manicured nails, piercing my ears, cleaning up my brows, starting hormone therapy, growing my hair, developing a female voice, and some cosmetic surgery. I will also legally change my name on all documents.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How did you go about this?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The medical community has developed its own standards of conduct regarding sex reassignment surgeries. They were created at a conference in the mid-60's and were adopted as the world standard for sex reassignment surgeries. My transition will be done according to these standards.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">How long have you been doing this?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I got serious about it two years ago, and I've been living as female outside of work for almost 5 months now. All my family know, and everyone has been great so far. I hope you'll continue that trend.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why are you switching at work?</span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The final stage of the Standards of Care is the <b>Real Life Test</b> (RLT), which involves living as a member of the desired sex for a period of time. This is to help transsexuals determine if sex-reassignment surgery is right for him or her. Most psychiatric professionals require a minimum of one year RLT before giving their approval for sex-reassignment surgery. That's the stage that I will communicate with you again in future as I prepare to arrive at work as Cynthia to begin my Real life test.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sex Reassignment Surgery</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(SRS) is the final event in the sex-reassignment procedure. Although transsexuals have no reproductive organs (uterus/ovaries) the final result is cosmetically and functionally indistinguishable from that of genetic females. Some decide not to have this surgery, at this time I anticipate that I will have that surgery.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">What bathroom are you going to use?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I don't want people to feel uncomfortable about this, there is no gender neutral bathroom in the building that I can use to avoid the issue. When I am dressed as Cynthia I've been using women's restrooms when necessary without any problems-- it's just a bathroom, after all. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When dressed s Nigel I use men’s restrooms. I will attempt to find a bathroom on another floor that can be used without issue before I appear at work as Cynthia, in the case of an urgent need I will use the one closest to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, when do you appear on Jerry Springer?</span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Every group has its share of kooks and idiots. Unfortunately, that's true of transsexuals, too. Problem is, the morons who go on shows like Jerry Springer end up getting more media coverage than the doctors, lawyers, and other professionals I know.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">For example, my four closest transsexual friends are: a bus driver, an engineer, a teacher, and a computer programmer. They lead very normal lives and seek to blend into society rather than stand out. That is my goal as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The other group of transsexuals who get noticed are those who are visibly gender variant. While they should get as much respect as those who are accepted as female, they must deal with additional discrimination and harassment. They also have become the cliché of what a transsexual is, since those who are accepted as female well do not get noticed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I'm sure you have encountered several transsexuals without even knowing. I have been fortunate enough to go about my life without getting "read" or "clocked" very often. While I'm not ashamed to be a transsexual, I hope it eventually becomes a very incidental part of my life so I can get on with more important things.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">What if I call you the wrong name?</span></u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I know that's going to happen. Don't worry about it. You'll use the other name, other pronouns etc., even if you're trying hard. I'm not touchy, and I try to have a very good sense of humor about the whole thing. I know this is prime comedy material, and I can laugh along with good-natured joking. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></o:p></span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">What should I do if I have other questions?</span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">1. <b>Everyone is welcome to stop by and talk with me</b>. I'm happy to answer any questions (well, almost any), and I assure you I will tell no one what you asked me. Obviously, I'm pretty good at keeping things secret.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">2. If you don't feel comfortable talking with me, <b>you may ask Jocelyn</b>, who can then get an answer from me and get it back to you anonymously. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">3. If you need to talk with someone we have the new <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Solareh service</b> available to help you talk through your questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">4. If you don't feel comfortable talking with Jocelyn or I, check out the list of books available the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Rainbow Resource Library</b> here in Winnipeg. They also provide resources for friends, family, and co-workers who need support.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My most helpful book to date is:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism--For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and Helping Professionals<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">by by <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&field-author=Mildred+L.+Brown&search-alias=books-ca"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Mildred L. Brown</span></a> (Author), <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_2?ie=UTF8&field-author=Chloe+Ann+Rounsley&search-alias=books-ca"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Chloe Ann Rounsley</span></a> (Author)</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Can be found on Amazon.ca link:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/True-Selves-Understanding-Transsexualism-professionals/dp/0787967025">https://www.amazon.ca/True-Selves-Understanding-Transsexualism-professionals/dp/0787967025</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In Winnipeg, Rainbow Resource Center, 170 Scott St, (204) 474-0212<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">PFFOTI: PARENTS, FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF TRANS INDIVIDUALS<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">2nd Tuesday of the month. 7PM-9PM. The Qube. Year round. Social support group for parents, friends and family members of trans individuals. Open to the general public. Group facilitators can be reached at pffoti@gmail.com.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Winnipeg Transgender Support Group has a list of reading materials that you may wish to look up, many of these titles are available from the Rainbow Resource Centre library. Links to both are provided below.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://winnipegtransgendergroup.com/resources/books/"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">http://winnipegtransgendergroup.com/resources/books/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Cambria;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 11.0pt .5in; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-20829462726497938002016-05-24T10:09:00.000-05:002016-05-24T10:09:06.760-05:00What's in a name, quite a lot actually . . . .On Friday, May 20th, 2016 I shared this communication with my GHY family . . .<br /><br /><div class="p1">By now there might be some information circulating around the office about me and if not, well, this should be an interesting read for you. I am about to share some personal information with you and although I do want to be up front with everybody that I work with, some of you might think that this information is a joke. I assure you it is not. Comprehending this information, in fact, may take considerable patience, understanding and compassion. I expect that some of you will require a longer time to fully process this as it is not a minor issue like a haircut or a bit of nail polish.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I am transgender. Specifically, I am male-to-female transsexual. I have been aware of being different most of my life, but only came to a realization in the last few years that it had a name and the extent to which I felt like this. This has caused me an almost inexpressible degree of personal grief and confusion.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">After many decades of struggling with my gender identity, I have finally come to grips with who I am. I have been in therapy since the beginning of this year and it has become very clear to me that I cannot continue with the status quo in regards to my life without creating a union between my body and my spirit (for lack of a better analogy, my mind, heart and soul do not coincide with the physical body that I was born with).</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Fortunately, transsexuality can be treated. Most of those who have embarked upon their journey of “transition” do go on to live fulfilling and joyful lives. I have support from my wife, family and close friends and for that I am very lucky. This is not always the case for some. There is a well-established protocol for treating those with the condition of “Gender Dysphoria” (pretty fancy words!) that has been adopted by the Canadian Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, as well as many other mental health care associations. This protocol is known as the “Benjamin Standards of Care,” and it constitutes a rigorous set of procedures, ensuring that the patient is an appropriate candidate for gender affirmation.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">If you have read this far, it’s quite possible you feel the top of your head is about to blow off. Most of us have no personal experience with transsexuality, and lack even a basic language for talking about it. If you find this strange, embarrassing, or even wonderful, you should know that your reaction is not atypical.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">GHY executives have all expressed their respect and understanding for the journey that I will be embarking on, and have pledged their support. To some degree, all of you will be embarking on this journey with me and I will apologize now for the potential chaos that the hormone treatments will put me through.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I am confident that my transition at work will be relatively smooth once the initial surprise wears off. I expect the first day that I present as female will cause some disruption, but I will give everybody sufficient warning so said disruption can be minimized. That being said, even though I will definitely look and sound different I am still the same person I have always been. You will however notice a few different mannerisms.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">You might be wondering what you can or should do next:</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">First, if you wish to learn more, check out the Frequently asked questions attachment I have posted seperately for you.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Secondly, please ask questions. Knowledge is power and the key to understanding and compassion. Ignorance and hiding yourself is the path to hate and mis-communication. I am completely open to answering any questions you may have in regards to the process, or whatever else you may be curious about. I also want to be very clear, I am still the same person you have known up to this point, and will remain relatively unchanged, well, with a few distinct changes of course.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I realize that jokes may be made and while humour can be a therapeutic tool, I do not want to be the object of malicious intent. My adventure (and yours too) in the coming months will require honesty and courage. I am hoping that with your understanding and acceptance, I will be able to complete it.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">It has been a pleasure to work with you all over the last 28 years, and I look forward to continuing to work with you as your colleague for many years to come.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><br /><div class="p1">As I noted, I will give plenty of notice to everybody prior to the new me showing up for the first time. When that day comes I will be going by my new chosen name Cynthia.</div>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-61208412001017676342012-09-19T09:32:00.004-05:002012-09-19T09:32:34.932-05:00Were Hiring: Network Administrator (Linux) <style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Tms Rmn"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:77; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Tms Rmn"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:77; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; 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margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Network Administrator (Linux)</span></u></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If you have the skills and abilities to work with a dynamic team and want to be empowered to deliver unparalleled service to a diverse range of internationally active companies, you’ve come to the right place!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In business for over a century, GHY International is one of the oldest established customs brokerage and international trade service providers in Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with offices across Canada and in the United States, we are a progressive organization with a reputation for innovation, quality service and comprehensive “one stop” cross-border solutions. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In the first month you will:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Come to understand our office environment and how we function</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Make reviewed changes to production systems</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Execute routine change requests, hotfixes, and upgrades</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Learn our processes by shadowing other team members</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Document your changes and improve existing documentation wherever possible</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Within six months, you will:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Collaborate with team members to make our production environment secure and compliant</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Respond to incidents and alerts</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Plan, co-ordinate and execute non-routine changes to production and office infrastructure</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Collaborate with other teams on projects which require IT-related input</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Provide technical solutions and advice in response to user requests</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Perform standard administration tasks (installation, performance tuning, move/add/change, patch management)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Long term, you will:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Work on automation in all areas of the organization</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Stay current with the latest technology and practices</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Propose and execute technical and process improvements</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Participate in the local and worldwide IT and DevOps community</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: -6.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Skills & Experience</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We need you to have:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fantastic troubleshooting and problem-solving skills</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">solid understanding of Linux system administration and networking concepts (3-5 years of experience)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Ability to write scripts in an administrative language (sh, perl, python, etc.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Experience implementing fast, reliable and secure servers and networks</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Exceptional communication skills</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A passion for professional system administration practice</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This position requires some after-hours and call in support.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We'd like you to have:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Familiarity with configuration management and revision control and implement standards</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Experience with our stacks: Apache, Perl, PHP, MySQL</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Familiarity with Windows and OS X</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-autospace: none; text-indent: -.25in;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If your only experience is Windows Network Administration, you need not apply<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How to apply:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If this is your perfect fit, please apply to </span><u><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">hr@ghy.com</span></u><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> and tell us why this is a role for you</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">GHY International is a Professional Trade Services provider for Importers and Exporters in North America and anywhere in the world. </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We are an equal opportunity employer offering a highly competitive compensation and employment benefits package together with a challenging, fast-paced work environment in which to develop your professional skills and realize your career objectives. </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: black; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We help make International Trade a strategic advantage for our clients of all sizes and industries. We are one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies four years running. We have an award winning IT department and looking for like-minded individuals to contribute to our shared success.</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></div>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-7496364592248522652011-12-23T08:31:00.000-06:002011-12-23T08:31:28.021-06:00A Nondenominational Holiday Greeting . . . Bah! Humbug!<h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"></h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"> <span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">The ultimate Politically Correct Greeting! Please appreciate it for the humor it is . . .</span></h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"></span></h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><i>Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.<br /><br />I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2012, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere.<br /><br />This wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.<br /><br />My best to you and yours, </i></span></h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"> </h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading">This is why I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!</h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"> </h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"><br /></h1><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading"><br /></h1>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-4053166824586074392011-09-15T12:00:00.000-05:002011-09-15T12:00:21.261-05:00Empowered IT executive leading social media change - Page 3 - IT Workplace<a href="http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/empowered-it-executive-leading-social-media-change/143954-pg3#.TnIvE_m4Z8E.blogger">Empowered IT executive leading social media change - Page 3 - IT Workplace</a>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-22290947314780922772011-08-31T10:00:00.000-05:002011-08-31T10:00:40.539-05:00A Week with IBM Power Systems and Linux<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">Insights from the road…</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>1130</o:Words> <o:Characters>6446</o:Characters> <o:Company>GHY International</o:Company> <o:Lines>53</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>15</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>7561</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>14.0</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch> <o:TargetScreenSize>800x600</o:TargetScreenSize> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">The temperature wasn’t the only thing that was hot when I visited Austin, Texas, and <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon/">LinuxCon 2011 North America in Vancouver, Canada</a>,</span> this past week. I took to the road to share insights from <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.ghy.com/">GHY International</a>, which uses</span> the powerful combination of <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux">Linux</a></span>, the open-source operating system, on <span style="color: red;">IBM Power Systems </span><span> </span>in a production environment. I also wanted to get a sense of the current state of <span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/software/linux/">Linux</a></span> on Power hardware.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From a corporate perspective, GHY has invested in state-of-the-art technology that allows it to seamlessly communicate with its customers and customs offices in the United States and Canada. It also prides itself on providing its customers with the human touch.<br /><br />“We offer the best of both worlds: As companies look at their options for trade services, they’re looking for partners that can deliver all the important technology-based solutions but also maintain close personal relationships and accountability for performance,” says Reynold Martens, executive vice-president.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">GHY International is in its second decade of using Linux in the enterprise, the last nine years on IBM Power hardware. Approximately two-thirds of our server environment consists of virtualized machines running on our IBM Power 750 server. We use SUSE Enterprise 11 Linux on our server instances.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">We run very diverse workloads from core network services including a firewall on an IBM Power LPAR, to email and Web services, and finally to an application-development platform based upon the industry-standard <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)">LAMP</a> (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Using this powerful combination we have created solutions that save the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. These savings are calculated in real hard dollar savings from licensing, maintenance costs, training, etc., to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-time_equivalent">FTE</a> savings. As an example managing email, spam, anti-virus, context filters, etc., saves us an estimated 9.5 FTE annually.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">It’s because of our use of Linux that I attended LinuxCon an event of <a href="http://www.linuxfoundation.org/">The Linux Foundation</a>, which is a non-profit consortium dedicated to the growth of Linux. This year’s North American event was held in Vancouver, BC, Canada, from Aug. 17 through Aug. 19.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Of special note during the LinuxCon North America 2011 event was a keynote with Dan Frye, vice president, Open Systems Development, IBM Systems and Technology Group; Jon “Maddog” Hall, executive director, Linux International; and Eben Moglen, director-counsel, Software Freedom Law Center. The keynote was moderated by Jim Zemlin, executive director, The Linux Foundation. From a commercial position it was the feeling of the group that Linux is where it is today because IBM stepped up and made its original <a href="http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-249750.html">$1 billion commitment</a> back in 2001.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">News of the Week was poorly timed when Phil Robb, director of the Open Source Program Office at Hewlett-Packard presented his keynote the morning of Aug. 18, just as the news broke from HP corporate about the company’s withdrawal of WebOS based products, The audience, which was plugged in, was aware of this news before the keynote even wrapped up. Unfortunately for HP the keynote was all about how the Linux technology-based WebOS was so great. Needless to say, HP’s booth at the event was bare after that.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">I did some recon at the event to understand how the market sees the IBM Power platform’s position. In light that the “Jeopardy!” playing computer, Watson, is an IBM POWER7 processor-based system running Linux that speaks volumes to the masses, IBM has a home run with Watson.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Currently, Red Hat and SUSE are the IBM enterprise partners that provide distributions for Power Systems. Red Hat is the North American market leader in x86 Linux workloads, while SUSE, the new/old standalone business unit from the recent acquisition of Novell by Attachmate leads in non-North American markets as the choice for enterprise Linux, but during a conversation with one executive from SUSE he indicated that their figures indicate that the company also accounts for at least 50 percent of the IBM Power market and more than 80 percent of the IBM System z marketplace. Of special note for me is the fact that historically SUSE has been in step with IBM Power hardware releases and not a fast follower like Red Hat.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">For those wondering, yes I did have very detailed discussions with SUSE executives about the whole Attachmate deal. While a number of issues that reassure me of SUSE’s future in this market were discussed, such as Attachmate is investing, not divesting of this product portfolio, some nagging questions still need to be answered as to the long-term future impact to the open-source marketplace and potential indemnification that vendors will still need to put in place for enterprise users. If anything I think it plays very well for SUSE, which holds perpetual rights to use all products and their intellectual property without license.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Surprises and Delight<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">It was with great surprise and delight that I found some interesting tidbits that the IBM Power community should be aware of.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Gentoo, which is generally regarded as the Linux distribution that is like getting a box of Legos without the instructions for those who like to build things, has a community build of its distribution for IBM Power Systems.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">Canonical, the distributors of Ubuntu, also have a community build for IBM Power Systems available. Since Canonical is already in the business of selling enterprise distributions, maybe the company will consider a future opportunity to make its community build an enterprise offering.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt;">The last tidbit is more a future opportunity than a solution for today, maybe. IBM’s love/hate relationship with Oracle is no secret. It’s also widely known that IBM Power Systems with enterprise Linux can be a good solution for Oracle application users. Oracle, of course, bought MySQL, the “M” in the LAMP stack abbreviation. IBM has offerings to migrate to DB2 (a great database) but that breaks the industry standard of the LAMP stack, and at this time I am not aware if the DB2 team has done anything to make DB2 more of a drop in replacement to MySQL. The original developers of MySQL now have an offering called Maria DB, only available in an x86 distribution directly, but it is a direct binary replacement to MySQL, thereby preserving the LAMP stack and requiring no re-development while migrating to a different database, away from future concerns of what Oracle may do with MySQL. I found it interesting that this may not be as hard as it sounds as Gentoo’s public distribution already contains the IBM Power version of Maria DB. This is definitely one case that requires some R & D to understand what it can do and again increase choice in the IBM Power market.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: small;">A<b>bout <a href="http://www.ghy.com/">GHY International</a></b></div></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">GHY International has pioneered customs broker and international trade solutions through Canada and USA borders while providing trade compliance solutions to meeting the trade needs of our clients. Since 1901, the depth and breadth of our services at GHY have expanded to create one of the most successful, knowledgeable, and experienced customs brokers and trade compliance specialists in Canada and USA.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-18545811568792604912011-06-10T00:41:00.001-05:002011-06-10T00:41:08.727-05:00Video Games Future in Doubt<p><h1>Online Game Play Future Cash Cow</h1><p>I am sure that those that read this may think I am crazy, but from my own personal experience as a player and parent of an AVID player, the future of video games is in doubt because of the many enterprise players who are trying to figure out how to monetize the future of video game play. IE: we pay way more for broadband connections than we pay for a game itself, who wouldn't want a residual model for game sales?</p><p>Combine that with my belief based upon interviews with gamers that today most game sales are made to players wanting access to the online play world, that's where the real game play happens.</p><p>In my home that is Xbox Live and to a much smaller degree the Nintendo WII world.</p><h2>The Current Money Pit</h2><p>Xbox live has a tidy additional sum of $60/yr for access to play and interact with friends, regardless of interface used including the newest Kinect type interactions, why else would skype be so appealing to an organization where they sell a simple audio/video interface into the home for game play that could be leveraged with a Kinect device to be the core VOIP/Video station to the home. That means new services on the backbone of that and perhaps future acquisitions of broadband service providers so they own the future of the last mile to the home?</p><h2>The Real Money</h2><p>Regardless the real money they seem to be focusing on based upon all the chatter is subscription based online play. The chatter is in some cases just noise, in others a real concern as leading titles may become free or less expensive in order to draw a larger audience who start by paying for premium access to dedicated game servers, additional game content not already in the online store’s, or even access to play online. This last point is the real crutch of the matter.</p><p>As identified earlier, I believe that the bulk of game sales today are to players who go online, so removing online access, as a standard part of the game you buy will detract from future game sales. The strategy may be to reduce the cost of a product for replaced revenue for online play, BUT I would argue that no one talk about online play as a 1 time cost, the SaaS software market has already proven that. It is a subscription service model that really works for software developers, and games are after all just another type of software.</p><h2>Future Implications</h2><p>Sure there may be subscribe and get games for free models, Gamefly already has a simple model that can be used to understand how that could work, but the real question is what does that new model mean to game companies? Do we see title being retired and even though you love playing it, if not supported you can’t play it anymore? Then you need to get more content?</p><h2>Summary</h2><p>This is an area to watch, my predication is watch what the game console companies do an the top 5 game developers in each platform market, folks like EA are in everyone’s top 5 virtually as a simple example. The companies actions in the next 1-3 yrs will dictate the next 5-10 yrs of what will happen with game sales and if they can master that content, watch out Video producers as that is next target, but due to bandwidth concerns in just North America alone, it is doubtful if even 10% of the population could get enough bandwidth to service all the video, audio, game, voip needs. That is another story.</p><div></div></p>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-74106517814140427962011-03-29T16:41:00.000-05:002011-03-29T16:41:53.708-05:00Check out my new Posts on Blog IdolThis year I am again participating in the Computerworld Canada Blog idol Contest.<br /><a href="http://www.blogidol.ca/"><br />Check out the Blog Idol site and my posts.</a><br /><br />Thanks for Listening . . .Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-80387374574951173442011-03-28T13:29:00.000-05:002011-03-28T13:29:24.479-05:00GHY International is hiring a Marketing ManagerGHY International has an exciting and innovative employment opportunity at the Winnipeg, MB location for a Marketing Manager in a dynamic team environment in the field of International Trade.<br /><br />Reporting to the Vice President, the successful candidate will be a direct support to the Senior Management Team responsible to lead and manage all aspects of the Marketing function including: profiling and outreach, outgoing communications, proposal revision, marketing material production, social media campaign arrangement, and industry research.<br /><br />The ideal candidate will have post-secondary education in Marketing/Communications and/or Business Administration complimented by previous work experience in a Marketing role. <br /><br />This position being offered may be an internship position that is funded in part by the Federal government’s Sectoral Youth Career Focus program and that as such candidates must meet all of the criteria for the internship. Therefore, as it is a mandatory criterion to receive funding, the candidate is required to provide a proof of their age to participate in the program. <br /><br />We offer competitive compensation and benefits as well as exceptional career growth potential.<br /><br />For more information regarding GHY International, please refer to our website at <a href="http://www.ghy.com">http://www.ghy.com</a><br /><br />Interested applicants should forward their cover letter with salary expectations, resume and 2 writing samples to <a href="mailto:hr@ghy.com">hr@ghy.com</a> or fax to (204) 947-3306.<br /><br />Competition closes April 23, 2011.<br /><br />Checkout our ad on LinkedIn: <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=1507795">Hiring a Marketing Manager</a>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-32030864778678325532011-02-16T09:55:00.001-06:002011-02-16T09:55:48.739-06:0020 Things I heard at TEDx Manitoba<p style="font-size: 14px;">I was privileged to be selected as one of 100 attendee's at today's <a href="http://tedxmanitoba.com/">TEDx Manitoba</a>, held at the <a href="http://www.parktheatervideo.com/cafe/">Park Theatre</a>. Now the last time I was at the Park Theatre, I was about 30 yrs younger, lived in the area, and it was a still an active local movie theatre. Now it is a chic renovated destination for entertainment and cultural events. I never visualized the potential of the location, it was great!</p><h1 style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Back to TEDx Manitoba</span></h1><p>Our MC, Kevin Hnatiuk did a great job keeping things going today.</p><p> </p><p>The day began with some African drumming from Chango. A great way to get the day going, although I felt rhythmically challenged first thing today :-)</p><p>Next up was <a href="http://www.sfwriter.com/">Robert Sawyer</a>, SCI Fi Writer. He talked about consciousness and how the internet if the first technology approaching the number of synapses, in discussing his concepts with other attendee's it would appear that there is a shared belief that the internet could be considered a growing shared global consciousness.</p><p> </p><p>Not as impactful I believe was our second speaker Nicole Buckley, from the <a href="http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/default.asp">Canadian Space Agency</a>. What she did share was that the amount of research that must go into addressing the challenges still ahead of us if we wish to consider travel to distant planets. Most uniquely was the research to solve those issues appears to have a correlation to solving diseases associated with ageing.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://fabbaloo.com/">Kerry Stevenson</a> raised some very interesting questions to which there are no immediate answers related to the impact of 3D Printing. Yes 3D printing. If someone can print a knife that is banned in a country, how to we control that if the 3D model is a file shared online?</p><p> </p><p>For me one of the most emotional stories shared was that from Karen Latourneau, Ultrasound technician. She initiated a review of procedures (protocols) in order to improve the discovery of prenatal heart disease. Her initiative and review with her peers resulted in a drop of infant deaths from approx. 27 deaths a year in Manitoba to ZERO, her dream is to share the simplified protocols they created with other jurisdictions.</p><p> </p><p>L<a href="http://www.aerosportsresearch.com/">en Brownlie</a>, shared his insight in Olympic sport. It was interesting to note that the time differential between gold medalists and silver medalists was .measured in hundredths or thousands of a second. Using sport technology can contribute to that success.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.mrsi.ca/plummerlab.htm">Dr. Frank Plummer </a>shared an interesting story about sex trade workers in Aftrica that appear to have natural immunity to the HIV virus. The story isn't complete regarding his research and we were left hanging. The implications to the developers of vaccines is huge as this heads in a completely different direction than they have ben going.</p><p> </p><p>A very encouraging story was shared by Shaun Loney, BUILD project. It makes me wonder why I never heard of this yet and why we aren't endorsing projects like this? Maybe electoral votes has something to do with it?</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.phillyd.com/beyoga/presenters_2/philly_d_phil_doucette.html">Phil Doucette</a>, shared a strong and impassioned story about Forgiveness and Monopoly.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://tedxmanitoba.com/lin-lin-wang">Lin-Lin Wang</a>, Chinese Musician impressed all with her performances on the 2 stringed Chinese instrument called Erhu.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.educause.edu/Community/MemDir/Profiles/RichardVanEck/49394">Rick Van Ec</a>k, educational reform enabled through the use of concepts from Video Games.</p><p> </p><p>John Weigelt, a National Technology Officer from Microsoft Canada came to share the understanding he has over the development of the economy that is recovering and rather than talking about a "Digital Economy", he talked about an economy enabled through technology.</p><p> </p><p>Leslie Silverman & Columpa Bobb, I am sorry I didn't understand this session and what message they were trying to share. As an artistic dialogue it was very engaging and enjoyable.</p><p> </p><p>Scott Striton, As CEO of local <a href="http://www.smithcarter.com/">Smith Carter Architects</a> he talked about Intelligent Buildings. It made a lot of sense and was an impressive approach that he shared.</p><p> </p><p>I had a chance to talk to the father of <a href="http://www.ladybugfoundation.ca/">HannahTaylor.</a> Her presentation about caring and how such a small act of recognizing a homeless person can make a difference was inspiring. As her father shared, Hannah shares an insight and maturity not found elsewhere, she may just be an "old soul"</p><p> </p><p>While I will admit I am a listener of <a href="http://tedxmanitoba.com/terry-macleod">Terry MacLeod's</a> morning radio show on CBC, the story he lead with his 3 Guests left me awestruck at the back ground and brutal honesty of his 3 guests, all former gang members. They also deserved the standing ovation they received as I believe there is hope and they are striving to be better citizens as they re create their lives for the betterment of them and their families. POWERFUL</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://peer-ed.com/aboutus.aspx">Les Foltos</a>, Peer Coaching for teachers. Interesting concept that delivered a part of the solution on how to transform education to utilize 21st century techniques to educate our youth.</p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_04/winners/mccoy.html">Bernard McCoy</a> - He is a monk and CEO of<a href="http://lasermonks.com/"> lasermonks.com</a>, His presentation about Social Entrepreneurism was very intriguing. Basically a concept of creating for profit business that fund non profit organizations. This idea of doing things for the GOOD of the masses was a new approach to the perpetual question of funding for non profit organizations that do social good in our communities.</p><p> </p><p>The final high energy presenter was Terry Godwalt - Teacher and contributing founder of <a href="http://dfa.tigweb.org/">DeforestAction</a>. He presented so much high impact material, I am still absorbing it. But basically the message was about developing meaningful ways to have children invloved in global issues. The key here is that they get to see meaningful results as part of their contribution thereby reinforcing the message that they can bring change.</p><p> </p><p>The final item that I heard was not from any speaker but from discussing these ideas with others in attendance. We have so much to contribute and now the goal is to decide how each of us will play a part. It was inspiring to see that we do have a hidden resource in Manitoba with so many great thinkers, now it's time to share these idea's, and I am beginning with this post.</p><p> </p><p>Thanks for listening . . .</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-29291697795441787512010-10-26T09:52:00.000-05:002010-10-26T09:52:13.364-05:00How to avoid printer jams!These hints apply to all devices that use paper not just printers. <br /><br />The weather is changing and that means so does the occurrence of paper jams. So what can you do about it? A lot in fact! <br /><br />Winter weather is dryer and therefore causes more static, but just like our hands that tend to dry out and get more hang nails, etc. This same weather affects paper. So to avoid printer jams here are some things you should keep in mind:<br /><br />1) paper of all kinds are shipped in boxes for a reason, they protect the paper from the elements, don't remove packets of paper from the box until it is needed.<br /><br />2) Just like above the reason the paper wrapping isn't recyclable is because it is coated in a wax to protect the paper inside the package, open packages not fully used after opening allows the paper to dry out. Paper left in an open package will be more likely to jam than fresh paper.<br /><br />3) Flip the paper like a fan in your hand when inserting in a machine. The drying out makes it more susceptible to static, fanning the paper will reduce the inherent static so it won't discharge when trying to print for you.<br /><br />4) Use the right side. Yes paper actually has a right and wrong side to print on. The only way I can tell is when removing it from the paper package it has indicators showing the correct side to print on. Printing on the wrong side will increase the risk of jamming.<br /><br />5) If it works at home, it will here. Always a controversial topic but using a no scent fabric software, watered down and sprayed on the carpet around a printing device will reduce jams. We use this for extreme cases only due to sensitivities to fabric software by associates.<br /><br />Thanks for listening . . .Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-14757281660545914732010-08-16T10:08:00.000-05:002010-08-16T10:08:43.480-05:00IBM Power 7 Video and GHY InternationalHere is the end result of a lot of work and planning to acquire and install the world's first commercially sold IBM Power 7 server.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ovJwn7FDOl4?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ovJwn7FDOl4?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-42840648711209382092010-04-30T13:24:00.000-05:002010-04-30T13:24:30.674-05:00Social Business....the next BIg thing?The world is still a buzz about all things digital, not the conference, the perspective that our world is fast becoming digital in all that we do.<br /><br />Take Social Business, not a main stream phrase yet. Today you hear about Social Marketing, Social Media, or Social Networking. Form a business perspective they are relate to one thing, how do I reach out and connect with more potential customers. It's about building the bottom line.<br /><br />While my focus is business I am not new to this world, I have a whole 9 months under my belt. In that time I have already been named by Network World as one of 12 CIO's who twitter. I am also ranked #26 out of 50 by Top 50 CIO and IT Leaders in the Social Media<br /><br />So what does this really mean? and Why do you care?<br /><br />For me the perspective is future customers. For each business the focus may be completely unique. If I am Apple and I have a hot new product called iPad, then social business is about securing more clients now. At least that is how Dell approaches it. Maybe you are in a food products business like Immaculate Baking who are creating a community for ongoing customer relationship, product development idea's and more. As I said for each company the why will be unique.<br /><br />Depending upon your customer (the person not the business) and in general their age group, the younger they are the more viable this medium is today as a valid sales/customer service channel. These 20-30 somethings today are starting their careers and as they mature in their business roles, they will increasingly bring these tools they grew up with into the way they do business. So for us being ready to participate in future conversations about international trade is our reason for looking at Social Business as a viable channel to start investing in today.<br /><br />The rule of thumb is that we do business with people we like and trust, not unknown - nameless business entities. So the question is what are you doing to be more personal with your clients and your future clients?<br /><br />Thanks for listening...Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-82784909502990743272010-04-30T13:23:00.000-05:002010-04-30T13:23:53.118-05:00Virtualization, beyond the hype...<strong>Background</strong><br /><br />My team has been doing virtualization in the data centre since late 2001 using IBM's Power based technology. We were recognized by IBM and the Common User group with the very first ever Innovation award for Infrastructure Simplification. I was lucky enough to help IBM in 2005 kick off their Power systems Analyst event in New York at IBM's Palisades facility. Based upon what we were doing at that time, many analysts praised us privately for the work we accomplished and it was even indicated to us at that time that we were using IT to gain a leadership position and were amongst maybe the top 4% world wide for what we were accomplishing. In 2005 we took that work and advanced it even further to consolidate systems and storage into a single IBM Power system, at that time running i5 OS, AIX, and Enterprise Linux from Novell as operating systems in their own hardware virtualized space in a single system (about 15 virtual machines using those 3 operating systems). We also had 4 Intel based blades in that system (IBM called them IXS (Integrated X Series Servers) cards back then) running windows workloads with the disk storage virtualized into the internal disk in our IBM Power System. This internal disk was nicknamed "SAN in a can" because it was internal disk but for and IBM power system it treated it as though it was an internal SAN without all the hassle of fibre cables, switches, and licenses, etc. It is from this perspective that I share this experience of inside virtualization beyond the hype.<br /><br /><strong>Planning for Tomorrow</strong><br /><br />For the past 18 months we have been working on the 3rd phase of this journey. Taking into account all the leading edge gains we have made using IBM Power technology, looking at industry best practices in order to maintain a leadership position, looking to address all past concerns that were either marginalized previously in solution design or became new issues during the time since our last system was implemented. And to do so in a cost effective manner that was affordable to our business. That last one is always a challenge in solution design and usually creates trade off's between technology versus cost.<br /><br /><strong>Today's World</strong><br /><br />Todays solution we are currently implementing consists of the following components<br /><br />- IBM Power 7 server - inherent hardware based virtualization, 64 bit, supporting 3 operating systems (AIX, i OS, Linux)<br /><br />- IBM (netapp) 3600 SAN - FC, SAS, & SATA disk arrays<br /><br />- A pair of 3850 servers running VMware Vsphere 4 ESX, using Vmotion failover to each machine<br /><br />- A single 3650 server acting as Manager/Console for all servers/tools<br /><br />- All connected via Fibre 4gbs/8gbs on a Brocade switch fabric<br /><br />We are using IBM director to manage the entire solution and monitor energy efficiency. This solution provides virtualized capabilities across all server platforms including network and storage. So now to the focus, what does this really mean to the organization having the environment virtualized.<br /><br /><strong>Beyond the Hype</strong><br /><br />As I don't consider myself as a technical person this is not meant to be a technical debrief, but rather a review of the hype surrounding Virtualization and what it looks like when you begin to achieve the much talked about Panacea.<br /><br />> Virtualization is Best Practise - while virtualization may be best practise it does not equal doing IT simply in every case. There is truth to the saying that not all solutions are created equal. IBM Power systems treat disk as internal disk but deliver all benefits of a SAN, while a traditional SAN we have learnt about fibre switches (SFP's, Licensing, Zoning), The SAN setup (Aggregates, Volumes, LUNS, etc.) to name but a few.<br /><br />> Just because you can virtualize multiple operating system's into a single system, does not mean you do not need to know how to work with each of those operating systems. Management tools while better, still are not a panacea to mange an entire solution. So if reducing operating staff for each OS is a goal, you may make some limited headway by combining teams and sharing skills sets and responsibilities, but the real savings comes from reducing physical foot print as that is real savings through consolidation.<br /><br />> Patching, a nightmare for most os us before, does NOT get any easier with virtualization. What we are finding that the more we leave the pure IBM power solution which truly embodies the art of simply regarding virtualization,and move to "mainstream" Intel based virtualization including storage virtualization through use of a SAN, that the task of patching is even more complicated. We now have to worry about managing multiple patching requirement's: firmware, os, patch, fixes, Service Packs. This is not the world of an IBM Power solution, but it is today's answer to best of breed approach to data centre virtualization.<br /><br />So while we have made forward movement with 100% data centre virtualization as an SMB, we are learning that the fine line between doing IT SIMPLY and Best Practise is a very fine one. You may be thinking that hey this guys hates virtualization, far from it, what I do hate is vendors creating complex solutions that take more effort than I know is possible. To finish this up let me share this one tidbit with you, I personally could in 5 minutes in a pure IBM Power environment, carve disk, create server, and boot. Now I need my SAN administrator to carve disk and create LUN's. Give those LUN's to an environment. Have my environment administrator carve me a virtual server space and associate the disk to the server, and then boot. Not a 5 minute task without multiple administrators involved, why has it gotten harder to achieve virtualization, I suggest it because vendors haven't learnt from those who lead, that's my iBM Power server and that's no hype.<br /><br />Thanks for listening . . .Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-18861642183339075542010-04-30T13:22:00.000-05:002010-04-30T13:22:02.031-05:00Social Media A CIO View<strong>Social What?</strong><br /><br />Social Media, Social Networking, or Social Business as I prefer to call it. The name itself doesn't really matter but the end goal is clear, for business users the ultimate goal doesn't change, impact to the bottom line. The dot com era taught us that the models may change but the fundamentals of business remain constant.<br /><br /><strong>The Stereo Typical CIO View</strong><br /><br />Many of my peers including myself took an initial approach to social media that because it was unknown, feared, or even considered just a waste of time that to protect our business organizations we must block and restrict access to it. While many still feel that way, some for very valid reasons beyond their control (think compliance reasons), the result is that what can be another valid channel for many things is being ignored.<br /><br />We know based upon some of the latest stat's we hear that these networks are growing, Twitter only had 12 million users when I started, now there are over 50 million based upon statistics released last month at Twitters first developer conference. Of course the king of social media today is Facebook, with over 350 million users last time I heard any stat's.<br /><br />Some where along my journey I felt that this couldn't be right and my goal this year is to reverse our current policy of fear and concern, with one of knowledge, awareness and access where appropriate.<br /><br /><strong>What did you change?</strong><br /><br />This piece isn't about my views on the social journey, see my series on CIO to Marketing Guy!<br /><br /><strong>So What is it Good for?</strong><br />Also Known As: what do I use it for<br /><br />Personally - I network with folks much smarter than I, I learn about things through chat exchanges, I find out about try before you buy opportunities, I keep up with friends<br /><br />Business - it's all about connecting with future customers<br /><br /><br />Overall it is an interesting mix of: exposure, status, blogging, connection, IT support, knowledge sharing that drives me to see social media as a viable network we need to be engaged in and as such our corporate policies must match that vision as well.Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-74144887626720849032010-04-22T14:02:00.002-05:002010-04-23T13:19:04.749-05:00Shifting the Mindset of IT to Cause Transformation in BusinessThe title for this post came from a speech presented by Steve Rosenthal, Vice President, Gap International, you can read his Bio <a href="http://www.gapinternational.com/about-us/executive-team/steven-rosenthal.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Shifting the Mindset of IT to Cause Transformation in Business</strong><br /><br />While I was at the east coast <a href="http://www.cmpxchange.com/mese10">Midsize Enterprise Summit </a>in Boca Ration, Fl. Steve presented this topic. Here is my perspective on his presentation.<br /><br />Steve began by sharing that his goal for this session was for the IT leaders in the audience to discover at least 1 thing about themselves or their IT. The problem of course is that we need to be aware that we learned something which was a point that Steve addressed later in his presentation.<br /><br /><br /><strong>The Three Questions</strong><br /><br />To initiate this process Steve asked the audience three important questions. In order for the process to work you must think about each question and have answered before you go to the next question. The three questions are:<br /><br />1. What is the specific value I provide to my company?<br /><br />2. If I could provide greater value to my business, industry, community, planet: what would that be?<br /><br />3. What barriers are in your way?<br /><br /><br />It was interesting to hear that during the session a lot of CIO's mentioned that others in their business are barriers, to which Steven confirmed that the goal will be to change their minds.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Changing a Mind</strong><br /><br />Steven went on to discuss what is a mindset and defined a mindset as a "Fixed mental attitude that determines responses....." I took some editorial license on that as Steve's definition was much longer.<br /><br />So the key to changing ones mind was to change the fixed mental attitude.<br /><br />Steve also let us all in the BIG secret, we Can't change anyone's mindset but our own.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Why Change, I like it the way it is</strong><br /><br />Steve presented a number of stories to reinforce his point that by being satisfied with the status quo can be dangerous for business and why then changing ones mindset was very critical.<br /><br />One statistic that Steve shared was the fact that studies show CIO's spend about 20% of their time getting buy in from others. Or as I call it selling idea's<br /><br />It was very poignant when Steve related the 10 year stock price fall of Kodak due to the fact that their business executives had a mindset that digital photography wouldn't hurt them for at least another 10 yrs. when the business executives did focus on digital photography and made millions upon millions of strategic investments, their stock price returned. A very hard lesson to learn.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Change your Own Mindset</strong><br /><br />Since Steve had already set us up to know that we must change our own mindset in order to be able to change some else's, he elaborated on that point. He explained his study of the brain with neuroscientists and the like. The brain is a system and must be tuned. Of particular note was the fact that each part of the brain had an ability to carry out instructions it had learned and using his own personal study of a bicycle accident when he was younger the fear part of the brain kicks in every time it is at the top of a large hill on a bicycle because of his accident when he was younger. BUT the secret is that the Frontal Cortex can override every part of the brain. But to make it work you must "Think about Thinking".<br /><br /><br /><strong>Break Through Performance</strong><br /><br />Steve shared that in order to create the ability to change your predetermined responses in your brain, you must use your Frontal Cortex to create new rules. The most effective way that Steve found was to "Think about Thinking" when you wanted to think about something new. It sounds very odd but being conscientious about the act of thinking, creates the ability to think new thoughts.<br /><br />Not that strange if you agree with the premise that our current way of thinking gives us current results. If the current results aren't satisfactory then you must find a way to think differently. In order to get breakthrough performance you must have break through thoughts. Steve summarized the process this way:<br /><br />In order to have Extra Ordinary Outcomes, they are derived from Extraordinary Actions. These actions originate from Extraordinary Thinking.<br /><br />So the 3 step process to "think" about is;<br /><br />> Extraordinary Outcomes<br /><br />> Extraordinary Actions<br /><br />> Extraordinary Thinking<br /><br /><br /><strong>Closing Thoughts</strong><br /><br />Wow, what a topic. To think that Thinking about Thinking will result in extraordinary outcomes is very exciting to me. I found his presentation powerful and uplifting knowing that we have techniques that can be used to help us advance our business and ourselves. What Steve didn't cover here were tactics to learn to think about thinking when we aren't used to it. Thankful the journey with Steve didn't end here as he invited all of us to join him for a webinar June 2, 2010 at 11:00am ET. Goto this link to get more <a href="http://www.gapinternational.com/CIO.html">information</a><br /><br />"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." - A.Einstein<br /><br /><br />And as always, Thanks for listening . . .Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-78411624144593409592010-04-20T22:59:00.001-05:002010-04-20T22:59:51.827-05:00Day Three (final) at Midsize Enterprise SummitThe third and final day has come to a close as I write this. This years event is wrapping up about a 1/2 day earlier than it used to, that is OK as it enables us all to travel home for some rest :-).<br /><br /><strong>Day Three</strong><br /><br />The third and final day had many of the same dimensions as the previous day; large all attendee keynote sessions, private boardroom sessions to hear from vendors, and a sprinkling of trade show time to see those that may not have been in your boardroom or to see those who peaked your interest to learn more about their offerings.<br /><br />The day began with a General session lead by Ellen Kitzis, Gartner who spoke to the audience about "IT Strategy for the Midsize Business". Like other mornings, my late night blogging left me little time for sleep but I did indulge in this case and missed most of her presentation. The key concepts she shared revolved around answering the following key issues:<br /><br />1. Why do enterprises ned an integrated IT and business planning process?<br /><br />2. How do you succeed at developing an integrated strategy?<br /><br />3. What best practises can help you avoid the pitfalls of planning?<br /><br />The next event was a product presentation by ca. internet security, or Computer Associates as we used to know them. George Kafkarkou from ca presented their product road map including some of the latest innovations.<br /><br /><strong>Back to the Boardroom</strong><br /><br />Our next few hours were spent in a boardroom listening to vendors share their insights and we heard from;<br /><br /><strong>Commvault</strong> - presenting their Simpana backup solution. The vendor walked away with an event award later in the evening for their efforts. This slick product impressed this blogger for many reasons including:<br /><br />- Data Dedup built in, no extra licensing required<br />- They are already integrated to the emerging storage cloud architectures (Amazon S3, EMC Almos, Windows Azure to name a few)<br />- Java based even restore files from your blackberry<br />- Single level store for all data stores down to low levels such as a single email with an attachment in exchange or domino<br />- Remote management service that is inexpensive to allow for out tasking the backup role or for support during sickness or absence of your key staff<br /><br /><strong>HP</strong> - a major sponsor of this event and also a multi award winner with their partner Intel. It is clear to me that HP has thought of this mid market category a lot and they are executing that strategy in a strong way based upon this event. Unfortunately for this blogger there still appears to be some holes as the execution at an event like this is stellar but I know first hand that follow through at the regional level fails. This is the last time I have offered HP an open door to talk with a firm like mine, lets see if they follow through.<br /><br /><strong>Toshiba Corporation</strong> - I don't know why they are here. They have products that fit the mid market, but the under delivered their message and the potential of being here. Not once did any of their representatives ask if anyone was a client. It was clear after the fact that many of us use Toshiba laptops. The most interesting tidbit I acquired from this exchange was the fact they have acquired approximately 80% Fujitsu the hard drive manufacture. I know Fujitsu first hand as not only do we use their drives, we also use their imaging scanning products as well.<br /><br />We took a break as lunch time was upon us and after lunch we had an amazing speaker, Steve Rosenthal from GAP International. Steve spoke about "Shifting the Mindset of IT to cause a Transformation in the Business". I will do a detailed blog posting later this week on Steve's presentation but he began by asking 3 questions I will leave you with to consider until I post the rest of his story.<br /><br />1. What is the specific value you provide to your organization?<br /><br />2. If I could provide greater value to my business, Industry, country, Society what would that be?<br /><br />3. What barriers are in your way?<br /><br />Watch for my posting on Steve's presentation.<br /><br />By this time I am as water logged with information as a submerged log. There were 3 tracks to pick from for the next sessions, They covered topics in virtualization (desktop and data center), and technology in retail. They were presented by Carl Claunch & Charles Smulders from Gartner, and Brian Kilcourse from RSR Research. I didn't cover any of them. I continued to network with other peers.<br /><br /><strong>Back to the Boardroom</strong><br /><br />The balance of the afternoon was spent with 2 more vendor sessions in the boardroom. Here is who we heard from:<br /><br /><strong>Radware</strong><br />A security solution that helps you manage many aspects of your networking world. Topics of interest they focused on in their presentation included Bandwidth management right down the traffic type. They also handle the live monitoring and reporting.<br /><br /><strong>Tango04</strong><br />A vendor based out of Spain with offices if South America and the USA. Their focus in life is also in the security and networking world, but they go way beyond that. I can generalize that they cover 3 main area's with their product:<br /><br />- IT Operations<br />- Security and Compliance<br />- Business Service Management (application Business Services) - watching your business process is what I call it.<br /><br />This is vendor to watch in future.<br /><br /><strong>The Final Countdown</strong><br />The last remaining piece of the event was to have a big Party, and they did. The Gala wind up with awards for vendors, great dinner conversation, and funny man Juston McKinney <a href="http://www.justonmckinney.com/"><br /></a><br /><br />A good time had by all as we wrap up another year at the MES event. If you want to learn more about the MES events, check out this link <a href="http://www.everythingchannelevents.com/mese10"></a><br /><br />Thanks for listening . . . Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-27605314612950729692010-04-19T23:53:00.001-05:002010-04-19T23:53:46.845-05:00Day Two at Midsize Enterprise SummitFor any tweeters out there the hash tag to follow the live tweets for this event is #ecmes<br /><br /><strong>Day Two</strong><br /><br />WOW what a full day, starting at 6am I needed to get my daily work out in, by 8am I was in the first keynote, by 10:30pm my day finally ended, here in summary was that day...<br /><br /><strong>Morning Keynote</strong><br /><br />Carl Claunch and David Cearely from Gartner co presented a top 10 strategic initiatives<br /><br />1.0 Virtualization<br />2.0 Cloud<br /> 2.1 Infrastructure<br /> 2.2 Services<br /> 2.3 SaaS<br />3.0 BI<br />4.0 Client computing<br />5.0 Social Computing<br />6.0 Mobile<br />7.0 Active Security<br />8.0 Reshaping the Data Centre<br /> 8.1 Lessons learnt about dedicated hot and cold aisles as one example<br />9.0 Greening IT<br /> 9.1 Support for remote communications<br /> 9.2 Teleworking<br /> 9.3 Content and Document Management<br /> 9.4 Transportation Analytics<br />10.0 Storage<br /><br /><br />The message was followed up By Kevin Hooper from HP, who made a short, yes a short presentation and then they invited a client, a fellow CIO, to come and speak. Very innovative for a vendor to allow their clients to speak for them on the big stage at this event. They also mixed it up with a message for MES attendee's from Mark Hurd the CEO of HP. Their message was very simple, it focused on 3 elements they boil it own to that they are focused on delivering.<br /><br />1.0 Manage<br /> 1.1 Help their clients manage and simplify IT<br /><br />2.0 Protect<br /> 2.1 Protect investments<br /><br />3.0 Grow<br /> 3.1 Help their clients grow<br /><br />A good presentation by HP.<br /><br /><br /><strong>The Boardrooms</strong><br />A key element of these MES events is they are vendor sponsored so you MUST devote time to hear from the vendors, but before you get cynical about that, when a vendor paid to be in front of you they get very focused at delivering their true strategic value message, the ons who don't get that this is different try the usual sales pitch.<br /><br />You will never hear from all vendors, but here is who I heard from today:<br /><br />Information Builders, their web focus BI product is the basis for the IBM DB2 web Query tool we have<br /><br />CA Arcserve Backup has many features that were interesting including:<br /> - De Dup built in, no extra licensing to buy<br /> - De Dup is an inline process<br /> - They integrate with Hyper V and VMware<br /> - They support windows, Linux, and AIX the environments I run<br /> - They do support Intel based systems and Non Intel based systems<br /><br />Cast Iron Systems - A data integration/normalizing/ process flow data appliance<br /><br />Cognos - IBM's BI solution<br /><br />Life Size, a division of Logitech, there very impressive video conference solution that not only does boardroom to boardroom but also supports boardroom to desktop user, via Skype, competitors system, Google Talk and so on.... a new benchmark in the video conf space. A desktop license costs $200 1X for their software based solution on your laptop.<br /><br />Tri Geo - An innovative and leading SIEM (Security Incident Event Management) appliance, not only reporting but reactive abilities as well.<br /><br />Shoretel - a evolutionary vendor in the VOIP systems market. One key differentiator was they have in all models of their products a fail back to POTS lines. Other key features of note;<br /> - They support LDAP and AD<br /> - The will in next release support natively running in a virtualized space.<br /> - Pricing including handset starting in the $500/user range<br /><br />Each vendor did a 30 minute presentation so a lot to absorb today.<br /><br />I was fortunate enough to catch up with Abbie Lundberg, formerly Editor in Chief of CIO Magazine, and share some time chatting about my vision for social business as it relates to my firm, our plans are looking good. Thanks Abbie!! You can follow Abbie on twitter at @abbielundberg<br /><br />By this time I was feeling pretty beat so I stepped out for a break while Gartner presented a detailed session on cloud computing.<br /><br />The Trade Show portion of the event opened up around 6pm and that gives me a chance to stop by vendors booths and get more info and express any interest I have in having a conversation with. Some of those vendors who we already deal with that I say were:<br /><br />- kaspersky - Desktop Security<br />- Microsoft - Seeing latest edition of Hyper V and first intro to windows 7 for me<br />- Numara Software - hep desk and asset management tool set<br /><br />Time to wrap up day two, final day tomorrow<br /><br />Thanks for listening . . .<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-63916682331897797562010-04-18T22:05:00.001-05:002010-04-18T22:05:25.587-05:00Day One at Midsize Enterprise Summit<strong>Day One from Boca Raton, Florida at the Midsize Enterprise Summit (MES) event.</strong><br /><br />The MES event is a unique event in that it has a number of unique characteristics that determine why I make room for this event each year on my calendar. The leaders on this list are an opportunity to network with 300-400 of my CIO peers from Canada or USA. From them I learn some of the best tips and techniques you don't read about elsewhere as they come from the trenches. The other leading factor is that analysts from major firms like Gartner are here to share there insights, giving you the other half of the equation in what may be happening that you missed because you were focused elsewhere. Together these two top issues provide <br /><br />Day began early with a round of golf on one of the hotel's courses. A 6000 yard course that was very picturesque if not challenging at times. Played in a scramble format fun was had by all including the winners of the scramble with a 10 under who walked away with a HP mini netbook as their prize, The winners of longest drive ad closest to the pin also received the same prize.<br /><br />The first official event for all attendee's was registration immediately followed by Peer Networking. While crowds who attended the Peer Networking were thin, they missed one of the first gems in this event and that was a chance to chat with other CIO's about topics as specified by the Peer roundtables, or chosen a topic of their choice.<br /><br />After introductions and welcome remarks by our event organizers the keynotes began.<br /><br />Abbie Lundberg, www.lundbergmedia.com, who is a twitter friend who kicked off the event talking about profitable growth and IT's role in helping their company change. She laid out a framework on how CIO's can resolve the conflicting roles of making IT more responsive while also helping the business run more efficiently. Her vast experience as former Editor in Chief at CIO magazine helped provide lost of content and quotable quotes of many leading CIO's in North America.<br /><br />A technology demo was next from Life Size, a Logitech company presented their video conferencing solution. While video conferencing technology has become ever more popular and vendors in that space have been taking advantage of demand for their products and services, LifeSize differentiates it by full HD quality starting at a price point of $2400 and they see their role as driving the market price even lower. This approach not unexpected as Logitech already owns almost 70% of the personal video camera market.<br /><br />Finishing it off for the formal part of the first evening, was a presentation by Randy Baklini, Enterprise Architect for HP. He shared HP's own story about how they transformed and it matched with Abbie's story very well, reinforcing the message she delivered.<br /><br />The rest of the evening was a cocktail reception for more meet and greet.<br /><br />If you would like to follow my live tweet feed you can either follow me on twitter @nfortlage or follow the tweets by others at this event using the hash tag on twitter of #ecmes<br /><br />Thanks for listening . . .Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-19429716911021458862010-04-13T12:54:00.002-05:002010-04-13T12:54:39.174-05:00My ideal iPadSo much has been written about the recently launched ipad I was reluctant to share this.<br /><br />In my humble opinion, the initial iPad devices missed the mark. I am also confident that Apple will most likely release a version that does hit the mark<br /><br />For me that mark is seeing the iPad as more than an advanced e-reader. I see it as a real device that could bring a revolution to web video conference capabilities such as Skype. By supporting applications like Skype which to my limited understanding it can not do currently, but also add a front facing camera to enable video conference features.<br /><br />Whether it's Skype, iLinc, Live Meeting, Lotus Live, and so on the fact is there are already solutions out there that could be leveraged with the right device, the iPad could be that device.<br /><br />If I could acquire iPads in this configuration it would make for easy roll out to branch office for a mobile video conference enabled platform.<br /><br />If it had that, I will take 8 of them please.<br /><br />Thanks for listening...Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-8264635568472006012010-04-12T23:13:00.000-05:002010-04-12T23:13:17.561-05:00The Cloud, why do I care?I was recently speaking at a Computerworld Canada event in Calgary and Edmonton, the focus was on Linux as the proper operating system for the cloud. While I brought over a decade of Linux in the enterprise experience to the discussion, my real focus was on the solution for business rather than the fact it was delivered as a cloud application or service.<br /><br />The cloud, and why do I care?<br /><br />When we think of the cloud it is clear that there are a number of different perspectives on what is a cloud, as well as offerings from the cloud. Basically as rule of thumb cloud offerings fit into these categories:<br /><br /> * Infrastructure<br /> * Services<br /> * Software<br /> * Storage<br /><br />Storage is the newest type of offerings in the cloud. My personal experience has been focused on the most popular category which is software. More commonly known as SaaS (Software as a Service). We use solutions for Payroll, HR, Sales and Marketing CRM, and our US Core Business suite so I have gone through this discussion and software selection multiple times.<br /><br />It's not about the cloud!<br /><br />The fact is that the solutions we choose were not about the cloud at all, they just happen to be delivered via the cloud. This again re enforces the the old axiom that you should select software based upon your business needs and not by the technology. The cloud is after all just an alternate delivery model, not some revolutionary new technology. In fact without divulging my age, I remember when you bought IT services (because computers cost too much for most business') in time multiplexed models. That was a cloud of sorts based upon the general definition used for a cloud today. The clouds of today though are uniquely identified because a key requirement for today's cloud is the use of the internet as a connection methodology.<br /><br />So why do I care?<br /><br />The fact is you shouldn't care. When I define a software need for our organization, I don't start or include the platform, the environment, or even the database that it MUST run on. I focus on the right solution for our business, how user friendly is it, does it deliver functionality that we can turn into a strategic advantage, does it meet the users needs, managements needs, and executive needs. After they are all satisfied I then take into account the IT part of the business. The fact is that IT impacts must be considered as part of the overall business decision to select an application, BUT they must not be the driver of that decision. Chosen a solution because of the technology is akin to chosen a car because of the engine.<br /><br />In closing<br /><br />The key message here reminds me of the dot com era were everyone starting believing that business fundamentals changed, they of course hadn't. With cloud solutions today there appears to be over enthusiasm that they are the new panacea, when in fact it is just another way to deliver very valuable solutions. As IT professionals it is good to consider new delivery models if the solution is the right one to start with. So keep an open mind when looking for new solutions, regardless of how it is delivered, but don't look at the cloud as a panacea for how you should be delivering solutions.Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-86658853933597338262010-02-19T12:48:00.003-06:002010-02-19T12:49:28.971-06:00My response to, "Can IBM POWER 7 hit the C-spot?"<br /><br /><meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></meta><meta content="Word.Document" name="ProgId"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 10" name="Generator"></meta><meta content="Microsoft Word 10" name="Originator"></meta><link href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5COwner%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml" rel="File-List"></link><o:smarttagtype name="country-region" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype name="place" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:smarttagtype><style>
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</style> <br /><div class="MsoNormal">Original Post is <a href="http://www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/2010/02/18/can-ibm-power-7-hit-the-c-spot/">here </a><br /><br />James, I am not sure that the definition of processor chip defines what a cloud is or how a cloud works.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">After all, the ultimate "business" goal of a cloud is a virtual infrastructure that is in the form of a service, an application, actual infrastructure to build upon, or storage as a new form of cloud offering.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The reality is that very few are offering a real cloud solution of any kind other than SaaS which is still very relevant but not as sexy to talk tech about these days. So instead we talk about cloud.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Which reminds me that when talking about cloud, it harkens back to my very early days and using multiplexed time as no one could really afford their own computer system?<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now my disclosures; <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">1) I am an IBM client<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">2) I am running the first Power 7 system in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">3) I am a client of Redmonk<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal">4) I provide customer testimonials for IBM on Power, Linux, & Virtualization</div><div class="MsoNormal">5) I am a Novell Enterprise Linux (Suse) client and customer reference on Power<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So there are <st1:place>LOT</st1:place> of items touched on in this article, my take on power as a processor.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The Power 7 processor brings new processing power and speed to the table for IBM Power customers. Keeping in mind that HP, Sun/Oracle, and Dell - CAN NOT run 3 different operating system simultaneously in their virtualized environments. Even VMware only handles Windows and Linux workloads. The number of unique operating systems speaks to number of solutions available for a business to choose from that leverages the hardware investment. In other words it's about software choice without infrastructure costs. IBM wins hands down.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Now for the Oracle part. Larry has always been a flash in the pan kind of guy. Saying or doing something to get him front page news. Now he wants to rule the world and adopt IBM’s 1960’s view on being a total solution provider for his customers. IBM learnt the hard way that customers want choice, not a good direction for Larry. The reality to all this posturing is that Oracle enjoys very high end mission critical respect for its database and solutions, which by the way generates a lot of mtce revenue that Larry is desperate to protect. He believes that by owning the whole process he can guarantee his clients the most reliable experience that he controls. History tell’s us that unless choice is available in hardware, operating systems, and support they are destined to fail. Just look to players like WANG who dominated the early imaging market as one of many stories that tell this same tale. I wont even get on my soap box to talk about Larry’s Linux as that is a whole series of issues behind it. In the end if all you do is Oracle, then a 100% Oracle solution may be best for you, but reality is no one is 100% any one product, let alone just one product.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A few words from a business perspective on database. When you run a lean shop which is the reality for all of us today, having technologies that are self healing, self managing that don’t require a DBA are of value. That is what DB2 does for us. As I understand it that is not the world of many database providers including Oracle. It is rare to find DBA’s in a DB2 shop, especially in an SMB space, I can’t say that for my counterparts that run other main stream database technologies.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">As far as powering the cloud, if it’s about choice then IBM has a unique offering in the Power system, but again I don’t see cloud as the end goal for a processor. The management tools for ALL vendors are not what we want today, that speaks to your point about creating front end tools in order to offer a service. I am not sure that business is really ready to jump to a cloud, so this posturing is about being ready, not what is ready today. That includes the way you can manage a cloud or offer services from the cloud. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">James knows that I push the Power envelope so Unbuntu Vs Debian Vs Red Hat Vs Novell Suse is again about choice, they all run Linux on a Power platform. I always stress caution to an enterprise audience about Linux in that if we are to learn from the past and adoption of Unix, the world of Linux must learn to not become to proprietary, which in the end is my biggest beef with Larry’s Linux. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">In summary:</div><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>A chip technology does not define the cloud</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Power 7 is just the next generation in a roadmap of chip technology, guess what’s next Power 7+ and then Power 8</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Power systems are a virtualization engine which is about choice for business</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Oracle may be at risk of alienating it’s clients by eliminating choice</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Running lean means deploying technologies that self manage</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>The cloud is a great concept but not widely deployed other than SaaS</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Business is not ready to adopt the cloud</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Nobody is managing the cloud really well yet</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>We have to be wary about splintering Linux the way Unix was</li>
</ul><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Thanks for listening . . .</div>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-38693281583832167982010-02-18T13:51:00.000-06:002010-02-18T13:51:26.356-06:00Chapter 5 - CIO to Marketing GuyThis will be my final posting on this journey topic, not because it's done but because I am now getting into the tree's of this, what I learn will refine and change, part of that I want to keep private, other parts aren't germain to this story.<br /><br />As a wrap up here are some of the other things I learned along the way so far.<br /><br />- CRM is important to support this type of initiative. We choose a Canadian provider <a href="http://www.luxorcrm.com/">Luxor CRM</a> instead of the market leader Salesforce.com or the others we short listed. You will have your important factors to judge which is best for you, Luxor was our winner.<br /><br />- Social Marketing is not about selling, it's about being part of the conversation. <br /><br />- Social Marketing is not about Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, My Space, etc. although those tools may be used as part of your social marketing efforts. For the record Yes people do business on facebook.<br /><br />- Finding a strong network to help you shape your idea's and perhaps filter what you want to do versus what you should do is necessary. I found <a href="http://community-roundtable.com/">The Community Roundtable</a> as an unbelievable source not only for social marketing and community management but also a great depth of experience regarding other marketing efforts also.<br /><br />- Don't under estimate the effort required to formalize a sales/marketing process. Going from an ad hoc approach to a focused and strategic approach is taken a lot of effort, getting it right is the difference between being dismissed by a future customer, or engaging in a conversation that enters the sales cycle.<br /><br />- One of the ways we have learned to be better at our approach is engage an expert and friend of the organization. We found that with <a href="http://www.engagedinnovations.com/home.html">Engaged Innovations</a>. If you want to make sales/marketing strategic these folks do it right..<br /><br />- While there are many folks that I like and trust and wish to engage in helping me learn, one thing is clear. Some providers believe that what they know is "national security" and they believe that by doing it for you is the value they deliver. It is clear to me that by sharing and allowing me to decide what part of the process I wish to own, I can decide when I am able to spend money, who I will spend it with. This does NOT mean I want to learn for free but I use our own principles in approaching a customer to win their trust before the meter starts ticking.<br /><br />I hope those of you reading this series have enjoyed it, I have had little feedback so unless I get anything further, I will continue to post occassionaly updates but not a large focus on the journey story.<br /><br />Thanks for listening . . . .Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-52483569891181098712010-02-03T16:35:00.000-06:002010-02-03T16:35:53.720-06:00Chapter 4 - CIO to Marketing GuyChapter 4 is all about my first lesson on social marketing.<br /><br />When I began this journey I thought there were 2 types of marketing; email and social<br /><br />Reality there are numerous, commonly divided into;<br /><br /><ul><li>Email Marketing (Push)</li><li>Adword Marketing (Pull)</li><li>Social Marketing (Pull)</li></ul>We are all familiar with email, or the spam it creates in some cases. There are many sub lessons to be learned but here are a few;<br /><br /><ol><li>Don't send mail as XYZ User name, Send it as organization name where your business has name clout in your industry</li><li>Business messages are primarily text based (not images) so focus on a good, SHORT, message with links or attchments to other materials. Links are better because you can track who went to it.</li><li>There are many types of campaigns you can run, the more high value the contact information you have, the more you should use a permission based approach to sending emails.</li></ol>The next category is truly a science unto itself, Ad-word advertising. I don't claim t know enough except to be dangerous in this space. Here are some things you should think about when considering a campaign like this.<br /><br /><ol><li>Does your audience search for what you are offering on teh web. General assumption is everyone "Googles" or whatever you favorite search engine is for everything these days, reality is Adword engines can tell you what is being searched in order to achieve better results.</li><li>You can control your time of day and geography of when your ads appear. It could be all of Great Britain, but more so if within 150KMS of London as an example.</li><li>You can control how mush you spend, but be prepared to put serious money to this if you get good at it.</li></ol> Final category is social marketing, not really marketing as you would suspect because nobody wants to be sold to, and on a social community where you interact with members they can revolt against you very quickly if you too aggressively sell to them, so here are few tips.<br /><ol><li>Remember that it is you they want to buy from not your company so create a level of interaction where you are focused over the organization, ie: you act on teh organizations behalf but they interact with you</li><li>Cappy Popp shared a real killer line re use of branding, unless you are a lifestyle product, a passion, or a cause don't use your brand as the community, focus on your industry as the community. eg: lifestyle product is Harley Davidson so they can create a community around their name. My company isn't a world wide known brand so I should focus on my industry, International Trade.</li><li>Start small and manageable. If you try and start initiatives across too many social technologies you divide your audience and risk losing focus too easily.</li></ol><br />My final lesson I believe is this, today we talk in terms of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter as top of mind social technologies, this market moves fast and what these are today could become the myspace of yesterday, so don't focus on the technology as much as the strategy.<br /><br />Thanks for listening...Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2200214076472250504.post-489342318042811292009-11-11T11:47:00.001-06:002009-11-11T11:47:49.912-06:00Shawn Hlookoff Soldier<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/rd5_YZbhtl0' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/rd5_YZbhtl0'/></object></p><p>This is such a moving song that really helps us REMEMBER what sacrifices that are made on our behalf each and every day. <br /><br />Whether or not you support the cause, we must always support the people asked to carry out that task on our behalf.<br /><br />THANK YOU!!! I will not forget</p></div>Nigel Fortlagehttps://plus.google.com/118113990735692805954noreply@blogger.com0