For the most part, social media is a nice way to develop a sense of community. Social media is also a colossal distraction and occasional frustration, but on the whole, it’s useful. From a career standpoint, I can make the case that engaging effectively with your peers via social media is a boost.

If you don’t get the whole Twitter thing, that’s fair enough, and the best thing I can suggest is to build an account and follow technical people you might know from reading their blogs. Then find out who they interact with and follow them, too. Eventually, you’ll be keeping up with the conversation and getting a sense of it. From there, you should be able to jump on in and start participating within the proper context.

Some other thoughts on how to make the most of the Twitter experience.

1. Don’t be a tool. If you’re about to hammer on someone for their opinion, it’s possible you don’t understand it. Even if you do, then there’s still nothing wrong with a mature, reserved discourse. Twitter’s a terrible venue for that sort of discourse, though. 140 characters minus all the handles you’re tweeting to means your message is likely to be too terse or cryptic for your no doubt nuanced and well-informed viewpoint to be clearly articulated. It’s hard to have an adult conversation via Twitter; a twitpiss rarely ends well for anyone.
2. Don’t be ignorant. If you’re going to say something, understand completely what you’re talking about. If you’re not sure of the details, pose your tweet as a polite question instead of a firm statement. That way, you’re gathering information instead of demonstrating that you don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing. There’s a lot wrong with not knowing, but acting as if you do. Or worse…thinking you do, when in fact you’re wrong.
3. Don’t be a vendor shill. If you work for a vendor, you’ve got to be balanced in your comments. Most of the vendor employees in my Twitter lists are very good at this. They don’t beat up on competitors. They don’t sound like a non-stop ad for their employer. They engage with others in the Twitterverse about technology, but sometimes other things, like bacon. A profitable and enjoyable experience is had by all. Some other vendor employees elicit an inward groan everytime they pop up, because I know I’m about to hear a commercial or other comment colored by the mother ship. I want to read thoughts shared by a human with brain, not a soulless marketer spewing out recommended tweets.
4. Don’t be a fanboy. Worse than the vendor shill is the vendor fan boy (whether employed by the vendor or not) who bashes other companies at every opportunity, usually uninvited. I’m glad you have a favorite vendor, but if you really think they are *that* superior to every one else in the marketplace, you haven’t been playing the IT game long enough. IT practitioners are the brokenhearted, the disappointed, the cynical and the jaundiced. You *will* experience problems in your data center because your favorite vendor has failed you…if not yet, then soon. Probably very soon.
5. Don’t be a vendor shill fanboy. (See what I did there?) This whole post was inspired by a Very Special Vendor Tweeter & Blog Commenter who says things are are, at various times, abrasive, ignorant or an overt attack on competitor’s products. If you’re going to be obnoxious, at least have the benefit of a well-formed point of view on your side. Otherwise, no one cares what you have to say about two tweets and/or blog comments in. You’re just embarrassing yourself and your employer, who’s probably going to be cranky when they grok what you’re on about. I can tolerate a certain amount of hyperbole & drama when you know what you’re talking about. I can’t when you don’t.
6. Do…engage. Listen. Be witty. Create. Think. Share. Offer. Question. Apologize. Help. Thank. Research. Acknowledge. Collaborate.

The point of the “do” section is that social media isn’t about followers or about *you*. It’s about the larger community. When you come at it from that perspective, my take is that it works better.

But please, follow me @ecbanks. Please oh please oh please oh please oh…

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/ccdegroupstudy

As of this morning and to the best of my knowledge, I’ve invited everyone to the list who expressed an interest via e-mail, Twitter, blog comments, or LinkedIn. Going forward, CCDE candidates can sign up for the list at will using the URL above.

The group is global with a variety of networking backgrounds – looking forward to a good information exchange.

1. I’ve created a Google Groups mailing list for CCDE group study, and I’ll be sending out invitations shortly to everyone that responded to my query. The idea is to use the mailing list to coordinate study activities, exchange information, and engage in technical discussion. I believe there is at least one CCDE study mailing list already in existence. I don’t mean to step on anyone’s toes if that’s how creating a new list is perceived. It’s more that I’m trying to get together a specific group of folks that responded to my inquiry about putting a study group together.
2. I’m talking with Cisco about the possibility of a CCDE wiki that would help organize the knowledge domains and provide candidates with a better plan of attack for the program. I’m a big believer in organization when going after certifications. Right now, the CCDE plan of attack seems to be “read a lot of books,”  ”take the tests,” and “good luck.” Cisco might not want a wiki outside of a domain they own (like the Cisco Learning Network), so I don’t really know how this is going to work out yet. I do have support for the wiki idea from one person closely associated with the CCDE program; they agree with me that such a tool would be valuable to candidates, and that it doesn’t already exist. I’d like to build this wiki outside of the CLN to be honest, because I don’t care for the busy and “social” CLN look and feel. CLN needs a lot of clicks to find anything, and the column format they use is too narrow for my tastes. (Which isn’t to say CLN isn’t popular…because it clearly is.)
3. I’ve gotten a good head of steam up reading “Optimal Routing Design“, and plan to start blogging through the big ideas as a way to keep important concepts in my brain. This approach seemed useful back when I was doing this same thing in 2007-2008 for CCIE prep, so I’ll try it again. Now, *if* the wiki idea comes together, I would most likely turn from blogging to writing wiki entries instead. TBD.

Related articles

• CCDE – Study Group, Anyone? (ethancbanks.com)

In short, Las Vegas is not my kind of place. When I need some downtime, I like to drive in my car…by myself. I like to hike in the woods…by myself. And just in general, I like quiet. Serenity. Springtime in my New Hampshire home office is glorious, as I can sit with the windows open and listen the songbirds accompany a Beethoven piano sonata while I do network design, research and write. That’s living.

With trepidation then did I step off of a plane and into the Las Vegas airport. It was as if a purpose-built assault team had assembled to create a place that would make an introvert wilt on contact. An army of slot machines, bright lights, and advertising placards greeted me, with half the place covered by screens, lights, or signs. And there’s noise. Noise, noise, noise. Such an unholy racket of machines clanking and computers blarting and recorded voices inviting you to do this or that.

Las Vegas airport welcomes you with a slap in the face. BOOM!

This is three steps inside the airport, mind you. It gets worse.

After weeding through the sea of signage to find the ones that told me how to get out of the airport, a cab ferried me to “the Strip.” The quick drive from the airport to the strip was yet another assault on the senses. The cab itself had a screen inside spewing forth a virulent diarrhea of advertisements. The approach to the strip was exposure to some of the largest ads in the world, where lighted billboards taking up the entire sides of buildings would beckon viewers to come see a show. After roughly ten minutes of travel, I was dumped at a resort/hotel/casino property, and walked inside.

Oh. Oh, my.

Mandalay Bay is a mall, casino, hotel, and collection of restaurants all in one massive complex of stone, glass and electricity. And where the Interop convention I was attending was held. Because, oh yes, Mandalay Bay is also a full conference venue that could house the reported 13,000 attendees, no problem. This was not a merely complex of buildings – I never went outside once I went in – as much as a city all its own, with every service & luxury you can imagine available to those who can pay.

This shot below is from an area near the MB lobby. Not whatever the official casino area might have been. Not deep within the bowels of the massive complex. Just inside the door. This was taken very early in the morning as I was on my way out to the airport, thus the dearth of people. But still. Just look at it. All the lights and sounds. And that carpet! Ugh. Everything is just so busy and over the top.

Mandalay Bay will kindly thank you to leave all of your money in these convenient collection devices.

Las Vegas is everything I’m not into. (I might have to make an exception for the reported buffets, which alas I was not able to explore during my brief trip.) I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there again, certainly not for vacation.

Now I’ve a question for you well-traveled readers. In the context of how Las Vegas felt to me and assuming my spouse aligns with me on the introvert scale, would we like…

• An Alaskan cruise? We’ve discussed perhaps visiting Alaska at some point, and a cruise seems like an interesting way to do it. Or is a cruise ship just Las Vegas in the water?
• An all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean? This is another idea we’ve had. Or are these places just Las Vegas on the beach?

1. Finding success in the CCIE program back in 2008 convinced me that nothing is out of reach, assuming proper study and self-discipline.
2. The CCDE is not Cisco-specific in the way that many other Cisco certifications can be. The program purports to teach vendor agnostic network design principles. This is what I want.
3. I am more interested in design and architecture than I am in implementation and operations at this point. I’ve been doing both for a long time. While I don’t want to walk away from the equipment, I do want to get my brain opened up to new approaches building networks. I’ve become myopic, and it bothers me a lot. I want my ingrained patterns to be challenged.
4. I have just under 12 months to recertify my CCIE. This is my third recertification cycle. The last two, I’ve done at the last minute by recertifying with the CCIE routing and switching 350-001 exam. The CCDE written also recertifies a CCIE, so I’ve got lots of incentive to at least get the 352-001 CCDE written exam passed.
5. I’m getting to a point in my personal life where I can see more freedom to travel and consult coming. Right now, I am Dad to two kids, and so I’ve been loathe to travel or consider consulting engagements. Instead, I’ve stuck to day jobs where I can be home more or less predictably. While my kids will still be at home for a few more years, they are getting old enough now where I can start thinking about what’s next for my career. Being a CCDE titleholder along with CCIE will, I believe, open up interesting opportunities to participate in projects I might not have been considered for otherwise.
6. I sincerely love networking (still), and don’t have any interest in doing anything else. There’s so much more to learn and know, as well as ways to contribute to the community. I see the CCDE as a way to get deeper into the belly of the beast.

Despite all of those very good reasons to go after CCDE, I believe that the program will be a challenge for me to complete.

1. Time is a big problem right now. I have, effectively, two jobs. My day job is as a global network engineer on a small team, where there’s a lot of work to be done and no one I can delegate to (although I’m working with the new guy, and my boss helps out when he’s not in his fifteenth meeting of the day). I’m responsible for all of the backroom infrastructure – routing, switching, security, LAN, WAN, wireless, optimization, load-balancing, etc. Some weeks are mercifully quiet. Some weeks are intense. It’s a full-time job, to be sure. My other job involves creating content for the networking industry. I write for trade magazines, create and produce podcasts, edit a community networking blog, and also do much of the accounting work related to the business, among other things. There’s quite a lot to it. Between the two jobs, I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to make CCDE work. Yet.
2. My background is that of an enterprise network architect and engineer. I have done nothing in the service provider space. Therefore, I’ve got some challenges in that there’s certain technologies at play I’ve never had occasion to use, and certain architectural problems I’ve never had to think through. Then again, that’s a big part of the point of going through the CCDE program. I want to get a handle on aspects of network design I’ve not done previously.

All of that said, I’m interested in forming (or participating in) a CCDE study group. I’m not sure how such a study group would work or make sense as yet. But I want to explore the option as a way to enforce progress in study, and discussion of CCDE practical issues. If you’re serious about the CCDE program and are similarly interested, contact me via ethan.banks@packetpushers.net.

SUMMARY

The Apple TV boots quickly, is completely silent, and responds instantly to input. It connects to your home theater via a standard HDMI cable. The form factor is a 4″ square black box with only a single small white light to indicate it’s powered on. My Apple TV disappears into my media room equipment rack. At $99, some competitors are cheaper, but I don’t think price is likely to be the deciding factor in a purchase like this for most people.

As an arguable downside, there’s no internal disk storage on an Apple TV. The device can only play content from external sources.

MUSIC

Apple TV will access your iTunes music library you’ve shared via Apple’s “Home Sharing” (sorry, no DLNA support), which you can enable via an iTunes client running on any PC or Mac on your home network. So, you can stream your entire music library through your home theater system. This is the best looking music browsing and playback system I have used thus far. The on-screen display includes album art, artist, track, etc. If you’ve invested a lot of time in getting your ripped CD collection named correctly and the proper album art included, you’ll appreciate this.

Of course, your iTunes music purchases are also available. You connect your Apple TV to your iTunes store account, and off you go.

MOVIES

Apple TV lets you rent or purchase movies through iTunes. I rarely purchase movies, content for the most part to see them once and be done with them. So, for me, my interest is in renting recently released films that I can watch with the family. I’m finding a large selection that’s easy to browse, and complete with trailers and descriptions. The costs are, for me, a little less than video on demand through Dish Network, my main TV provider. While Dish was renting The Hobbit in 1080p for I believe $8, Apple TV via iTunes was offering it for $6.

With a house full of Tolkien readers, I rented The Hobbit. The rules are that once you rent the film you’ve got 30 days to watch it. Once you start watching it, you’ve got 24 hours to finish it. After that, I guess the movie turns into a pumpkin. I rented The Hobbit, then switched over to Dish to watch something else since the family wasn’t ready to sit yet. After we had gathered, I flipped back to Apple TV, and found that over half of the movie had already downloaded. I know there’s supposedly no storage in the Apple TV, but clearly there’s some sort of storage, since it was able to hold onto about 90 minutes worth of an HD film.

As far as watching the film itself, I found it comparable to watching an HD movie on Dish. The picture quality was very good, and the sound was Dolby Digital. While it’s not quite as good as Blu-Ray, the differences aren’t likely to matter to you unless you’re a hardcore audio and videophile. Also, I could pause, stop and resume the film at will.

Although purchasing movies isn’t an interest of mine, I noticed that pricing was about $20. I assume this is the normal iTunes store pricing. Apple TV is just another way Apple is offering folks to consume iTunes content.

TV

iTunes offers TV series that can be purchased by the episode for $2 or $3 or by the season for anywhere from about $20 to nearly $40. I have never bought TV shows via iTunes, but at that pricing, it’s an interesting model. I pay $82 a month for a Dish subscription with HD, their 722 model DVR, and I believe the Top 250 channel package. I get no premium movie channels. Now, with all that selection, I don’t watch all that many shows. I could make a list of maybe 20 programs that would cover what the entire family watches. Throw in a movie here and there for variety, and you could buy and awful lot of content on iTunes for $82 a month.

Tempting thought. Kind of interesting…especially with some of the other Internet content that’s offered.

INTERNET CONTENT

For me, there’s three significant choices offered by Apple TV.

1. Netflix. I used to have a subscription, but cancelled it a while back. It’s $8 a month for all the content you can stream. Netflix keeps growing their library in interesting ways, and even has some original programming now.
2. HuluPlus. I have never had a Hulu subscription, but it seems to have an awful lot of network TV programming for $8 a month. I also know there’s some advertising on Hulu that I probably can’t skip like I can with Dish, but still.
3. YouTube. There’s content on YouTube that interests me, and I don’t mean (just) funny cat videos. There’s lots of technical presentations by networking vendors, and other interesting talks like those from TED.

There’s many other channels as well, mostly sports. I don’t watch sports other than F1 racing, so they didn’t interest me all that much.

APPS

Oh…right. There aren’t any. Kinda weird.

REMOTE

There’s a little silver remote that came with the Apple TV. It would be gone in the average couch cushion in seconds. I put it back in the box after completing the Apple TV setup, because my Logitech Harmony One remote supports Apple TV just fine. Also, there’s a “Remote” app for the iPhone that’s useful as well. The Remote app lets you control the Apple TV, but also gives the benefit of the iPhone keyboard. Therefore, when you’re searching for something on YouTube, it’s a whole lot faster to do it via the iPhone Remote app than to scroll around the Apple TV keyboard, selecting one painful letter at a time.

AIRPLAY

Apple TV has one truly magical feature, which is the ability to act as a remote monitor for devices like iPhones and Macs. Apple calls this “AirPlay”. When attached to your network, the Apple TV shows up automatically on your devices that are capable of AirPlay. For example, you can play a video on your iPhone, but then view it via the Apple TV instead. Or use your TV as a gigantic laptop monitor. This works really, really well, and it’s easy. No drama. No authentication or security in the default configuration (I think you can add a password if you want), but in a home setting that’s the beauty of it. Or not? (I just had a vision of children with dueling iPhones trumping one another with their content over and over in a force of wills.) Anyway, I think the feature is absolutely great.

PHOTOS

Along with a lack of DLNA support, this is my my other disappointment with the Apple TV. Yes, you can view photos with Apple TV. But getting at them involves a pact with demonic forces. It seems the best way it via your Apple “Photo Stream”. So…if you’ve got a million or so photos that you’ve not got in a Photo Stream, then there’s no easy way to view them. There is a Flickr app, but…I’m not a Flickr user. You’re supposed to be able to share photos through iTunes and Home Sharing, but I’ve not been able to get that working (maybe it’s me). The best option for viewing photos for me has ended up being AirPlay through my MacBook Pro. I can view what I want from anywhere on the laptop, and just view it on the TV with the family. Works.

CONCLUSION

There are other streaming boxes out there. Lots of them. So, if DLNA is a requirement, or if you have a collection of ripped or downloaded videos, you probably want one of those. But if you’re married to Apple anyway (especially if you’re a heavy iTunes consumer), then the Apple TV might make sense.

Presumably, the points of view held by these thought leaders have made them as successful and well-regarded as they are. Therefore, following thoughts leaders implies the following benefits:

• Learn the inner thoughts of successful people, improving one’s own chance for success.
• Break out of the mold of entrenched thought patterns, and take on challenges in a different way.
• Discern what’s really important to think about, by learning what thought leaders cogitate on.

Richard Branson

As Richard Branson’s name seems to be the one marketed most heavily as a LinkedIn thought leader, let’s take a look at his current blog post. You can read it through for yourself to let the entirety of the thought leadership contemplative experience flow over you and change your life, but we’ll just talk through a few points.

People often ask how I am able to keep on top of businesses in dozens of different countries and industries. Well, having an assistant who is on the ball 24/7 is one of the main ways it is possible…We do an awful lot of traveling and my assistant can smooth the journeys through, helping with the nitty-gritty details and logistics that would otherwise be a distraction. This frees up time for me to think about the bigger picture.

Ah, so Richard has a highly competent assistant who’s at his beck and call at absolutely any time. What I learned: busy, overcommitted people benefit from competent assistance. Uh…okay. I didn’t actually learn anything, because that’s really obvious, even to non thought-leaders like me.

Many people are using technology to make assistants a thing of the past. However, for those businesspersons in a position to do so, they may be missing a lot by going it alone. Assistants are a great sounding board for new thoughts and spark lots of fresh ideas. Plus, business travel can be pretty mundane sometimes and having company is very good for people.

Hmm, so not all businesspersons will be able to afford an assistant. Good to know. But if they can, a human is better than a smart phone. What I learned: Richard lives in a world beyond the reach of most of us, and so we little people better get used to Siri.

Meg Whitman

So perhaps Richard isn’t quite useful to me specifically, and perhaps I’m being unfair by picking on one post. So let’s try another thought leader that’s more in my wheelhouse: HP’s Meg Whitman. Here’s her parallel thoughts to Richard’s in her latest blog post.

Since competing in high school, I’ve tried to make swimming a part of my regular routine. The physical exercise and time alone in a pool is a great outlet for focusing my thoughts and relieving stress.

While some turn to drugs and alcohol to relieve stress, Meg takes the novel approach of regular physical exercise. What I learned: Meg likes to swim.

I keep my phone loaded with playlists that I use to tune out the noise and help me concentrate while traveling.

Traveling is noisy. Earbuds can help tune that out. What I learned: not a thing. What human is unfamiliar with using music to tune out the misery of traveling in close quarters with humanity’s horde?

I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t include at least one plug for HP. One item I can’t travel without is the HP Envy x2, our latest laptop/tablet hybrid.

Oh, so Meg can use technology to her advantage a bit. Good deal. What I learned: Meg knows how to use a platform and social media following for marketing purposes. She’s not even shy about it. Good for her. Goodness knows her marketing team isn’t doing much marketing, at least not in the networking division.

My Take

Success or achievement doesn’t make a person a thought leader. Marketing a person as a thought leader doesn’t make a person a thought leader, either. Richard and Meg spit out common sense platitudes in terse blog posts that demonstrate nothing more than they are people just like the rest of us. You can’t find thought leadership in people who say what is self-evident or a repackaging of someone else’s ideas. Thought leadership implies that one has thoughts that break new ground. That’s what it takes to lead – to take others in a direction that’s not been visited before. To share that which is novel, new, different, unorthodox, and possibly contrarian.

An interesting implication of thought leadership is you should follow. And that means precisely one thing – you’re not leading yourself. You’re following. Don’t get me wrong – following might be completely appropriate. If you’re inexperienced at a given task, then following the thoughts of someone who’s been there before might be exactly the right thing to do. That said, you need to be picky about who you follow. Are Richard and Meg thought leaders? Well, to be fair, perhaps they are in their own way and for the right audience. That doesn’t happen to be me. But are there people I consider thought leaders that I do follow? Yes. As a technical person in a demanding field, I follow people who understand the problems of the networking industry and how vendor solutions help to solve those problems. Those people are leading me in the sense that they’ve perhaps thought through the problem and solution before I did, explained it, and maybe voiced their opinion. I may or may not agree with the expressed opinion, but they are leading off with that which is new and novel.

We are all capable of being thought leaders. We all have a point of view crafted from our unique way of looking at the world. Don’t let LinkedIn define who the thought leaders are. Arriving at the place where you understand and have an opinion about something for yourself is critical to being able to break free of following everyone else around you. If you want to be a thought leader, thinking for yourself is really the only way you can pull it off. Then see if anyone else follows. If my excerpted quotes above are typical fare offered by so-called thought leaders, then all of us have something to offer.

I’ve owned the Linksys E4200 v2 wireless access point & firewall/router for over a year now. I bought it because primarily because it tested reasonably well for performance when first released, and it had radios for both 2.4 and 5GHz. I have a number of devices that can take advantage of the higher throughput and less crowded 5GHz spectrum, so that was important to me. The rest of the features (like attaching USB storage to turn the E4200 into a NAS) was nice to have, but not driving the buying decision. Also, I’ve owned a bunch of Linksys gear over the years with consistently good luck. I used to believe brand reputation meant something.

For the most part, the AP has been okay. The throughput for things like file transfers between a wireless laptop and my Synology NAS would clip along consistently well. But a couple of other aspects have become so annoying as to make me want to fling the thing into the backyard.

1. Devices connected to one radio can’t talk to devices on the other. This came up when trying to print. I have a wireless printer that only talks on the 2.4GHz band. I was unable to print from a system that was on the 5GHz band – couldn’t find the printer. As soon as I switched the system to either wired or 2.4GHz, the problem went away. I haven’t researched to find out if this issue is common with dual-band radios, but I can’t think it should be – makes no sense that a dual-band AP wouldn’t be able to bridge between the two radios as a normal function.
2. Video streaming is painful. I’ve started watching a fair amount of YouTube content in recent weeks, as I’ve discovered quite a lot of useful technical content there. Some of the content I watch really needs to be at 720p or 1080p, because it’s a screen capture of a computer application where you need the HD resolution to read the characters on the screen and follow what’s going on. This device just can’t handle Internet video streaming, especially higher bandwidth streams, when using it as a firewall. My consistent experience through several software versions is that the stream will start, freeze several seconds in, and then buffer/play/freeze/buffer/play/freeze in painful fits and starts. Streaming was almost unwatchable as a result, unless I was very patient.

I’m using the E4200 as a simple AP now. I’ve replaced the firewall function with a standalone firewall, and my video streaming issues have gone away, even on wireless devices still running through the E4200 v2. That’s a real shame, because at the time I bought the E4200 v2, it was one of the priciest consumer grade APs. But not even the “reassuringly expensive” (to quote a friend of mine) price tag of a device is any guarantee of quality. A further disappointment has been that keeping up with firmware (the device is current as of this writing) has made no useful difference whatsoever. Linksys has been focused on dumbing down the interface to make it more consumer friendly, as opposed to adding functionality. Indeed, the interface is shiny now, but it’s nothing I’d inflict on anyone with technical chops.

Filed under: Tech ]]> http://ethancbanks.com/2013/04/03/disappointment-linksys-maximum-performance-dual-band-n900-router-e4200-v2/feed/ 5 ebanks http://ethancbanks.com/2013/03/18/getting-busy-it-people-to-show-up-for-your-meetings/ http://ethancbanks.com/2013/03/18/getting-busy-it-people-to-show-up-for-your-meetings/#comments Tue, 19 Mar 2013 01:00:30 +0000 Ethan Banks http://ethancbanks.com/?p=1553 Continue reading »]]> Scheduling a meeting with a busy IT person can be hard. And even if you manage to schedule the meeting and they accept, there’s a chance they might not show up if you do it wrong. To avoid meeting fail, first of all, understand the IT person’s viewpoint on meetings in general.

• They think meetings are boring. Why? Because they are. Compared to doing almost anything else that would interest a technically minded person, your meeting is BORING. I promise. This is why you’ll see all the IT people in the room paying more attention to their laptops than the meeting. They’re multitasking to prevent their brains from turning a pulpy mass of sadness and dribbling out of their ears.
• They are busy. Assuming even a basic level of competency, IT people have more work than they can cope with and astonishing amount of pressure to get it all done. Your meeting isn’t an excuse for them to set their pile of work aside for a while to enjoy donuts and camaraderie. Instead, it’s a impediment to getting their work done. Why? Your meeting eats 30-90 minutes of time they could have spent doing something otherwise productive.

That mindset is what you’re up against in general. More specific to meeting invitations in general, there’s other caveats to stay away from to avoid meeting fail.

• Realize that not all meetings are necessary or productive. Don’t schedule a meeting just because you’re feeling lazy. Too many people schedule a meeting as a way to put off making any real progress on a project or finding out what they need to find out for themselves. IT people can see through that nonsense, and don’t like their time wasted.
• Don’t schedule at a clueless time. Don’t schedule first thing in the morning or during lunch. IT people use these slots. First thing in the morning, the IT person has to review system alerts, check for infrastructure abnormalities, and deal with issues. Lunch is…lunch. Don’t schedule during the lunch hour, even if you’re a workaholic who works through your lunch hour everyday. It’s just rude and demonstrates social ineptitude on your part. Also consider that IT people often work strange hours, because they have to do their equipment maintenance at a time that the business will not be impacted. Therefore, the time you’re asking for might be hard for an IT person to make, depending on the night they had previously.
• Don’t forget an agenda. That agenda should explain exactly what’s going to happen in the meeting as well as a link where people can find key information about the topic or project. This will define the purpose of the meeting and the contributions attendees are expected to make. A meeting with no agenda sends the message that you either don’t really know why you need to have the meeting or couldn’t be bothered to exercise the courtesy required to explain what the meeting will be about. Both situations are disrespectful of your attendees, and this is not lost on an IT person with a lot to do.
• Avoid standing meetings at all costs. Standing meetings are calendar black holes that inevitably accomplish almost nothing and/or involve more people than are necessary. Often, standing meetings are the result of projects. Therefore, every person that’s ever been involved with the project no matter how minor the contribution gets invited to the standing meeting forever and ever, even if they have no ongoing role. A standing meeting is often a way of saying that you can’t be bothered to think about who really needs to be at your meeting or why, so you’d like everyone there, just in case. Rude, rude, rude. IT people are going to skip these meetings if they can’t see any real reason to be involved.

My final word on meetings is to work hard at being such an effective communicator day-to-day that you don’t need to have them. So very much can be accomplished via e-mail, IM, and intranet web sites. USE THEM. Let the IT people do what they need to do. That said, if you have to have a meeting, do it right to avoid meeting fail.

In the digital media business, content is king. I’m constantly looking for new content that I can blog, present, or build a podcast around. Keeping track of seed ideas and brainstorms has been a challenge for me; sometimes good ideas have fallen through the cracks because I’m away from my main workstation. Looking for a tool to help me organize the ideas, research, and inspiration that fuel my content generation, Evernote came highly recommended by the Twitterverse. One person even confessed a total Evernote addiction, describing a relationship with the software both highly personal and consciousness-invading…sort of a friendly virus he was happy to host. With such a rabid fan base, I thought I’d apply Evernote to my content management challenges.

The Terse, Right-To-The-Point, Really Short Review

I love Evernote. Get it now. All that happens in the rest of this article is that I explain my affection for this tool that occupies a deserved place on every workstation and touch device I own…and some I don’t.

The More Considered and Poignant Review

Evernote is a cloud-connected application that helps you organize bits of information into notebooks. The bits of information are things like:

• Sudden vocal blurts. Have a thought, aim your largest face hole at the mic, and Evernote saves an audio file for you.
• Clipped web articles. Chrome is my co-pilot as I surf the Internet seas, and there’s an “Evernote Web Clipper” plugin that lets you capture a web page and drop it into Evernote. Great for stashing articles you want to reference for research or just to catch up on later.
• Text. Evernote has a nice editor that lets you type tidily, complete with the usual features of bold/underline/italics, bullets & numbering, block indent, hyperlinks, etc. I often use Evernote to compose entire pieces, and then paste them into WordPress (some reformatting may be required).
• PDFs. Evernote will embed an entire PDF into a note, which is research gold. I frequently read academic papers or IT vendor whitepapers in PDF format. With Evernote, I can browse the PDF right in the note, and make my own text notes above the PDF embed object. With Evernote Premium, PDFs are even searchable.
• Annotated screen caps. Evernote has a free companion application called Skitch that lets you do partial or full screen grabs, and then annotate them. When watching vendor slide decks, Skitch is a great way to grab a slide and then save it as a note.
• E-mails. There’s an Evernote plugin for Outlook that lets you snap an e-mail straight to a note.

There’s probably more data types Evernote supports, but those are the highlights for me; they are the ones I’ll be using often enough to matter. No matter the data type, each note can be given a custom title and tags, making it easier to find that note later.

As a cloud-connected application, Evernote synchronizes your notes across devices. So, I have Evernote running on my iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, laptop and workstation. Any device I have on hand is ready to capture a sudden idea or outline. Outlines are a big deal for me. I sometimes think of blog article in an unbidden burst, where I’ve got a central idea and supporting points flooding into my brain all at once. No matter where I am, I probably have a device with me where I can quickly dump that mind crackle into Evernote and get back to it later when I have time to compose a proper article. I think I just confessed to a sort of attention deficit disorder, but that’s part of the point for me with Evernote. If I’m somewhere that I can’t sit down and write because my attention is on something else, I still want to be able to get a hold of those special moments that my brain conjures seed content.

Other Evernote users can see your notebooks if you share with them. For example, I took detailed notes during a vendor webinar, and then shared the containing notebook with a fellow Evernote user for his perusal. My daughter is also a bit of a writer, and has shared a notebook of her fiction short stories with me. I like that process better than sharing attachments via e-mail.

If you’re thinking about trying Evernote, there’s both a free and premium version. The paid version is $45 a year per account, not device; when I upgraded to premium service, I got premium on all my Evernote-equipped devices. Premium gives you 1GB worth of uploaded data per rolling 30-day period. 1GB might not sound like much, but I’m finding it to be a LOT. Even uploading PDFs and a bunch of screen caps into Evernote hasn’t made much of a dent in that 1GB limit. There’s several other benefits of going with premium service, but the biggest one for me is that Evernote notebooks can be set to work offline. For example, I uploaded a PDF as a note from my PC, and then synced Evernote on my Kindle before heading to the gym. The gym has no wireless Internet service, but I was able to read the PDF during my workout.

Evernote is brilliant. At this point, I have no complaints. I think we’ll have a long and fruitful relationship together.

Fuel economy is as-stated. I get 30MPG on the average or better. I did a post on that earlier, but the summary is that you need to baby it to get the mileage.

Power is a little better than I expected, but the CVT takes some getting used to in the way that it delivers power. If you floor it, the CVT will lock into the preferred power band and keep the engine there, meaning that you get an RPM drone, aka “boat-motoring.” But since I almost never floor it, this isn’t an issue. It’s just a little weird at first.

Space is great for a family of four. We all fit comfortably. No knees into the back of the front seats.

The rear hatch is the best thing ever. If you’ve never owned a hatchback, but are constantly hauling around gym bags, computer equipment, and hiking gear (like me), the hatchback is a great design. I opted for the rear seatback protectors and the cargo tray in my Impreza, which means I have a well-protected area to throw sharp objects (like crampons or trekking poles) or dirty objects (like…uh…crampons or trekking poles) with no real concerns that I’m damaging the interior of the car.

Subaru AWD in the snow is simply amazing. AWD is a sort of automotive super power when it comes to climbing slippery, snow-covered hills, which abound near my home after a storm. That said, cornering still is what it is. AWD doesn’t help the front tires to bite when you’re making a corner on a greasy road. Only snow tires would help there. But really, AWD is amazing. I’m still running the factory all-season tires.

I have the NAV head unit. I don’t love it, but I’ve come to terms with it.

• The display is a little small, at around 6″. It’s big enough I suppose, but it’s not large. It’s smaller than your iPad. It’s smaller than your Kindle. It’s bigger than your smartphone.
• The screen layout and overall user interface was designed by…no, wait. Not “designed”. There’s little about the interface of this head unit that suggests design, unfortunately. The layout of the audio, phone, NAV, and various other menus is a hodgepodge of icons and buttons, with fonts that rarely take advantage of the pixel real estate afforded to them. While the information the unit provides is adequate, it functions more like a Rolodex than an iPad. It’s genuinely bad, and there’s no excuse for it with so many stellar examples of decent user interfaces in the hands of most smartphone & tablet users.
• The NAV head unit does offer full iPod integration, which it does well enough. I use it every day.
• The NAV head unit talks to my iPhone 4S with Bluetooth fine, including streaming audio. Even streaming Pandora, I usually get the artist, song title, album and elapsed time on the head unit. Not always, for some inexplicable reason…but usually. With some experimentation, I found that callers could understand me the most clearly at highway speeds if I dropped the mic sensitivity down to the bottom (-5, I believe).
• The NAV head unit offers XM, but I did not subscribe. XM is expensive and most of the channels are not all that compelling, plus there’s still a load of commercials on many stations…so…meh. Between iPod, Pandora, and HD FM radio (yes, the NAV head unit does that too), I have more music, talk radio, and podcast choices than I can listen to in a week.
• As far as that actual…you know…navigation part of the NAV unit, it functions adequately. I’ve used the guidance on a few trips from dozens to hundreds of miles, and it chooses routes that make sense. It’s easiest to pick out repeat destinations ahead of time, save them as a “Favorite”, and then map a route to the saved favorite. Far fewer keypresses that way if you’re in flight.
• The voice activation system is almost completely useless, to the point of comedy. I almost never even try to use it.
• The head unit won’t let you do certain things if the vehicle is moving, not an uncommon trait in our safety conscious age.

I bought the upgraded tweeters and speakers. I also bought the subwoofer, which was a travesty of car audio engineering as it had no adjustments, took up a ton of space in the hatch, and overpowered everything else in the car. I took that unit out, and put in an under-seat Sound Ordnance B-8PT. It’s small, it’s not a great cabinet shape for a subwoofer, etc. But the unit was affordable and good enough. I mean, if you’re an audiophile, forget it, but for most of us, it’s useful. The B-8PT has plenty of adjustments; I fed it off of the harness left behind from the factory subwoofer install, mated via a custom harness from ae64.com. The B-8PT sits under the driver’s seat, completely out of the way. Functionally, it fills in the bottom-end of the sound.

The A-pillar interior plastic molding comes off easily, hiding an airbag. There’s plenty of space in there to run a wire, which I did. The wire runs from under my dash, up the A-pillar, tucks inside the headliner, and down another plastic shroud that hides the wires feeding the auto-dimming HomeLink mirror with compass. I use the wire to power a radar detector…although why I put it in, I’m not sure. My boy racer days are long behind me. I guess when I installed the subwoofer, running a couple more wires for the radar detector seemed trivial – so why not? And in fairness, it’s useful near home where the small-town cops frequently set up traps near my neighborhood. Even though I’m not a habitual speeder, it’s nice to be spared a ticket for a moment’s inattention.

I have a dash rattle that I haven’t tracked down yet. It’s not super loud. I suspect it’s from the speaker grills in the top of the dash.

The car in general is a little louder than I’d like at highway speeds, but I don’ t have to raise my voice to be heard. My wife’s 2012 Subaru Outback is quieter inside.

The Impreza rides well for my tastes. Comfortable, a little sporty without hitting too hard over bumps. Rebounds & settles quickly, but gently.

I use the seat heaters on low almost every day when it’s at or below freezing outside. They don’t get too hot over time. High will crisp your tush – only useful to kickstart the bun-warming process as best as I can tell.

Visibility is wonderful in this car. The greenhouse is tall, and the side mirrors are large. Definitely possible to set the car mirrors up for “circle vision.”

If you have the rear window wiper on interval, and then put the Impreza in reverse, the rear wiper will go on full until you put the car in drive again. That’s a nice little touch.

If you buy a Limited, you get leather. Them’s the rules. But I would have been very happy with cloth. The leather is fine, don’t get me wrong. But I wouldn’t go out of my way just to get the leather that Subaru puts in this car. If you’re thinking of a Premium, don’t bother upgrading to a Limited just to get leather is my point. Make sure you want the Limited for other reasons.

The TPMS works pretty well. Too well? Not well enough? “Too well” in the sense that it’s quite sensitive to pressure loss. TPMS warning light came on simply because a tire was at around 28 psi instead of the recommended 30, due simply to changes in the weather. “Not well enough” in the sense that I had picked up a nail causing a slow leak, but the TPMS didn’t tell me which tire had caused the warning light. You have to guess which tire has the issue.

I have fog lights, and wouldn’t want to be without them for low-beam lighting. From the factory, they fill in the gap between the front of the car and where the low beams start to light the road. The low-beams are adequate, but I wish they punched a little further in front of the car. The high beams are quite bright (especially for halogens), but the dispersal pattern is not even. They converge a little too much in the center front of the car. I am content enough with the lights that I probably will not go after aftermarket options.

Overall, I’m happy with this car. I expect I’ll do what I do with most of the vehicles I’ve owned: drive it to around 150K miles, then decide if it makes sense to keep it on the road or not.

Then I see these articles:

1. From Forbes. Antarctic Sea Ice Sets Another Record.
2. Linked from the Forbes article is a blog post by Steven Goddard, who is of I’m not sure what sort of authority, but he does present a straightforward graph. Antarctic Ice Area Sets Another Record – NSIDC Is Silent.

Here’s the graph, showing the trend in the number of million square kilometers of ice coverage in the Antarctic region:

The trend is, oddly, up. Not down. Does that mean there’s some global conspiracy of scientists with an agenda to make the world believe the earth is warming out of control due to man’s evil influence? No. But it does mean that the climate change science is observing is a more complex phenomenon than, “We burn stuff. The planet has a fever. We’re all gonna die, and it’s all our fault because we drive cars.”

To express my natural skepticism of pretty much everything, is the graph above representative of ice surface area, or cubic area? I don’t know, and that’s a very important distinction to make. Why? An interesting program I watched recently discussed glaciers receding in the Alps, and how they measure it. The glaciers are receding; this isn’t a hard thing to measure. Drill a hole in the ice. Stick a rod in the hole. Come back next year and see how much more rod is sticking out of the ice than when you left it there. Now, glaciers are complex structures that move constantly, exerting tremendous pressures on themselves and their surroundings as they do so. As such, you might think the rod measurement technique is overly simplistic. But coupled with time lapse satellite photography, it seems clear that glaciers are losing size at an unusual rate not just in the Alps, but in other places as well.

And yet, it would seem we have more ice coverage in Antarctica at the moment. Sigh.

My point is this. Just because some authority believes X, Y, and Z is happening doesn’t mean it’s happening. The conclusions of scientists and talking heads are often wrong. While I doubt any these folks purposely lie about their beliefs (okay, maybe a few), being mistaken is just…normal. So come to your own conclusions and be open minded as new data is discovered and presented. Forget your political bias and stick with the facts.

As for climate change, yep…it seems pretty clear that something is happening. But for what it’s worth, I don’t think climate change is the catalyst that should be our primary motivation to stop burning fossil fuels. The far greater catalyst for that should be that we’re going to run out of stuff to burn. So if the first-world economy wants to keep doing what it’s been doing for over a century, it better figure out some other way to keep our data centers and transportation systems running.

The Screen

The 3rd gen iPad screen is a retina display, and it’s to die for. The super-high density of pixels makes for an unparalleled view portal into the digital world. Even the smallest of lettering is crisp, clean, and legible.

The Fire screen is, frankly, not very good when it comes to rendering certain fonts. Small sans-serif fonts rendered by the built-in Silk browser seem to suffer the most. Amazon made an effort similar to Microsoft’s ClearType to sharpen up the fonts, and the results are okay. Just not great. Reading text from Kindle books is a better experience, but it’s still not as sharp as a retina display or e-ink.

Winner – iPad.

The Keyboard

The iPad is a 10″ form factor. I am a touch typist, and find that my speed is not bad in landscape mode. It’s not dissimilar to typing on a real keyboard. In portrait mode…well. You know. It’s okay. My biggest complaint is that I seem to keep hitting the backspace key accidentally.

The Fire is a 7″ form factor, so in that sense, this is not a fair fight. There’s no way to generate a keyboard with natural spacing if you don’t have the real estate. And the Fire doesn’t. So, it’s easier to type on than your smartphone, but not great. My biggest complaint is the tiny space bar.

Winner – iPad.

The App Store

The iPad has more apps than you can think of available at the Apple app store.

The Fire runs an older version of Android, and Amazon is picky about what apps it allows in the official store. So, choices are limited, although I found many of the same apps as I found in the Apple app store. However, the apps, while similar, are not identical in look and feel between the two platforms.

Winner – iPad.

The Size

The iPad is a 10″ form factor. For me, it’s too big. While that size does give an advantage for the keyboard and applications like e-mail where there’s enough screen real estate to offer a folder panel, it makes it less handy to cart around.

I love the Fire’s 7″ form. It’s great, especially for reading pure text.

Winner – from my perspective, the Fire.

Battery Life

Battery life has been a non-issue on both platforms, as they offer several hours of continuous use doing about whatever you want. My non-scientific “seat of my pants” opinion is that the Fire is slightly easier on battery life overall.

Tie.

Networking

Both devices connect to 802.11n wireless access points, including enterprise infrastructures with complex admission requirements, but only the iPad can do it at 5Ghz. Plus, if you’re willing to spend the money, the iPad can connect to mobile networks. Therefore, you have an option with the iPad to be always connected. With the Fire, you need to be in wifi range.

The iPad has a Cisco VPN client built-in, which allows me to connect to my work network from anywhere. The last time I checked, there was no such VPN function for the Fire.

The iPad has built-in GPS, and it’s scary accurate. I can be sitting in my media room which is downstairs with no view of the sky, and the iPad can stick the blue dot on a Google satellite map exactly on top of my house…and not just the house. The room I am in as well. The Fire doesn’t have GPS.

Winner – iPad.

E-mail

I gave up on using the e-mail client on the Fire pretty early on. It’s just not a good client. I set it up to talk IMAP to a Gmail box, and it behaved strangely. I live by IMAP, as I have multiple e-mail clients on multiple platforms, and I need my mail to have the expected messages in the database wherever I am. The Fire was unpredictable in IMAP synchronization, and I gave up on playing with settings after a week.

The iPad mail works the same way as iPhone mail, which is to say, perfectly.

Winner – iPad.

Web Browsing

The Fire’s Silk browser is okay. Supposedly, your Silk traffic flows through a magical Amazon unicorn factory to make the browsing experience faster on Fire. I guess. It seems about the same as any other browser. Functionally, it’s similar to Safari on an iDevice. Double-tap a column of web text, and it zooms in to biggify.

The iPad’s Safari browser is similarly just okay. I’ve actually been using Google Chrome on the iPad more than Safari, as Safari still renders certain pages oddly, which is the reason I gave up using Safari on the Windows platform back in the day.

No winner.

Reading

The Kindle Fire is good at reading, managing your book library, and providing easy access to the Kindle store. If you’re into books, the Kindle excels. I have read many Kindle-format books on Fire, and I love it. In addition, the Adobe Acrobat reader app is obviously good at reading your PDFs. Plus, you can dump PDFs onto your Fire just by plugging in into your PC’s USB port and treating it like a file system.

The iPad is somewhat annoying for reading PDFs, because it’s a pain in the butt to get files onto it. To get a PDF onto the iPad, you have to use iTunes, add individual files to your iTunes library, and then sync books to the iPad. Then you have to use the iBooks app to consume the PDFs. There is also a Kindle app for iPad, which works pretty much like any other Kindle app you might have seen. The Kindle app will talk to your Amazon cloud book collection, and you can e-mail documents to the iPad Kindle app as well.

The Kindle form factor makes it handier for reading on the go – around the house, in bed, or at the gym. I don’t like to lug around the iPad if all I’m going to do with it is read. That said, the font rendering on the iPad is such a joy to behold that it almost makes up for the large size.

Winner – Fire, but mostly because of my personal preferences.

Overall

The iPad is a superior (but expensive) all-around device in almost every way. But you knew that before you started reading this. The Fire is a cheap tablet for people who can’t justify the cost of an iPad, who wanted a portable reading device with more functionality than an e-ink Kindle, and who can live without being connected all the time.

If the rumored mini-iPad comes to market, I’ll be looking at it seriously as a Fire replacement, mostly because I’m assuming it will have a retina display. It’s hard go back to the Fire’s screen after staring at a 3rd gen iPad for a while.

I’ve driven the car for about 1,500 miles, and here’s what I’ve ended up doing to meet the published numbers.

• The ECO gauge is important to pay attention to, as it will reveal the bad habits you have with your right foot. I’ve learned a bunch of tricks to swing the needle back into + territory. The ECO gauge is a game of sorts, because the center mark represents your average MPG since the last time you reset your tripometer. So, the value that center mark represents is always changing. The longer you go, the harder it is to keep the needle on the positive side, assuming you’ve been trying to raise your average MPG.
• The rated 36MPG highway is attainable if you keep your speed around 65 and use cruise control. If you drive at 75 or 80, you’ll drop several MPG. The car is just not suited to a racy driving style. The Impreza can easily keep up with 80 MPH traffic – it’s got adequate power – but you’ll pay for it.
• Keeping your foot out of it when launching helps conserve fuel. If you romp on it after stop signs, race it around town, or push it hard to get around people on the highway, the MPG will suffer.
• It helps to not overshoot your target cruising speed. Get to the speed you’re planning to go, and get your foot back out of the gas.
• In the city, the car does really well at speeds around 40-50 mph. I was surprised to see the instant MPG readout will display the low 30’s.
• Air conditioning is a little bit of a penalty, but not much. Maybe 1-2 MPG? That’s an estimate. Even though the penalty isn’t much, I turn the A/C off if I don’t need it.
• Coasting as far as possible before having to brake or coming to a complete stop helps a lot.
• There’s no fuel consumption penalty if using the paddle shifters for engine braking. I do it all the time.
• The dash displayed average MPG is higher than actual MPG, at least in my car. If you compute your MPG at a fill up, the car’s estimate is about 5% high. For example, if indicated is 30.0, actual will probably be around 28.5. I’ve heard that a Subaru dealer can calibrate the average MPG computation, but I haven’t asked about this yet.
• During stints of pure highway driving where I’ve been able to use the cruise control the whole time and made no stops, the indicated average MPG has been as high as 38+.

I’ve filled up 4 or 5 times. My worst tank so far has been an indicated 30.0MPG, and that was when the A/C was on the whole time, I did some 75+ mph stints on the highway, and I was romping on it once in a while. My best tank so far was the most recent one: a 33.6 indicated MPG, and a computed 32.1. I babied the throttle as much as possible, and killed the A/C if I didn’t need it. I was caught in quite a bit of stop-and-go traffic, which of course hurts, but most of the miles were highway.

In summary, my feeling is that the Impreza is right in line with what Subaru says it should be getting. If you just drive it without obsessing over the ECO gauge and do a mix of city and highway driving, you’ll probably be right around the 30MPG combined rating…unless you’re a lead foot. If you use the throttle carefully and let the ECO gauge be your guide, you’ll be able to break into the low and mid 30′s with no issue, especially if you do mostly highway miles.

I registered the car this morning, and here’s the temp plate:

So, what’s clever about that? “UP-UP” has multiple, albeit personal, meanings…three, to my peculiar mind.

1. I am a network engineer. On some network devices, when an interface is physically connected, working properly, and administratively configured to pass traffic, the interface will report an “up up” status. When the interface is “up up”, generally speaking, all is well with it. This is widely known, so much so that network engineers might say to each other, “I checked the interface, and it’s up up.”

   NETWORKDEVICE# show interface Gi1/1
   GigabitEthernet1/1 is up, line protocol is up (connected)

2. I hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire more than the average bear. Those trails feature a whole lot of “up”. Believe me.
3. I am a fan of the J.R.R. Tolkien Hobbit & Lord of the Rings stories. I read the books repeatedly as a child (and adult), and have also consumed the extended cut of the LotR movie trilogy more than once. In the Hobbit, Gollum uses “up up” in one of his riddles to Bilbo. In the film version of “The Return of the King,” Gollum in one his schizophrenic monologues says, “Up, up, up, up the stairs we go. Until we come to… the tunnel!” Which isn’t to say I fancy Gollum overly much. The sneak. But I am a LotR fan, and that tie – however distant – is enough that I feel I’m at least giving a tip of the hat in the direction of Middle-Earth with my plate.

So good news for you if you share the road with me. Now you know who just ran you into the ditch.

Let’s start by answering the “how would it sound” question. Paired with the Subaru nav head unit as well as the factory upgraded speakers and tweeters, the Kicker sub is (to my ears) overwhelmingly too loud. As in, the bass threatened to shake the car apart. I tried dropping the 80Hz and 160Hz frequencies all the way to the bottom and all the other frequencies as high as they could go. That did make a difference, but not enough of one to balance the sound, although maybe that’s just me. I suppose other people with other ears might love it. If I might hazard a guess…young ears especially. I don’t have golden ears, but I listen to (among other things) a lot of classical & acoustic music, plus I grew up in the home of an audiophile. So, I have certain expectations of any stereo. Young ears with a different background might think the sub is amazing.

So…sound quality issues aside, how’s the Kicker subwoofer look in the back of 2012 Subaru Impreza 5-door? See for yourself. Note that this vehicle has the cargo tray and rear seatback protectors also installed.

The first mounting screw is revealed after folding the left-hand rear seat forward.

The second mounting screw goes into the interior wall behind the left seat. There’s a third mounting screw down below the seatback (not shown).

Detail of the harness that connects the subwoofer.

Looking back through the hatch to the sub after dropping the rear seat. The sub doesn’t move. You’re expected to remove the sub if you want to get at the spare tire.

1. Some people still use FourSquare. I probably don’t want to know where folks are. When an audience is global, geographic location is rarely interesting to the aggregate audience unless it’s unusual and there’s a sweet picture to go along with it. Use Facebook if you must announce to the world your mayoral status.
2. Not everyone tweets interesting things. And by “interesting,” I mean “interesting to me.” I like nerdy tweets. Computer networking tweets, of course. Insightful tweets. Tweets linking to content worth reading or viewing. Some folks just tweet things that bore me, which is admittedly too easy to do. My brain jumps around a lot. OH LOOK! A butterfly!
3. Not everyone tweets in English. If the majority of a person’s tweets aren’t in English, then…meh. Whatever.
4. Not everyone tweets. Lurkers aren’t curating an audience, obviously.
5. Not all Twitter accounts are humans. There are plenty of bots and auto-responders that follow accounts whose tweets match certain keywords. I don’t purposely feed the bots.
6. Many Twitter accounts are scammers. If there’s a picture of some risque female with a naughty description following you, it’s not at all real, and therefore you can only infer the worst intentions on the part of whatever force IS behind the account. I block these when I catch them. And even if it was a real account? Ewwww.
7. There’s more data for the scary profilers to use. Who you follow and who follows you are data points for the social media profilers to use, probably against me in some way. This is a tinfoil hat suspicion of mine, but I’m really trying to thin down what can information be easily gathered about my online life. At the moment, I’m not following anyone on Twitter, at least not in the form of being a “follower”.

But I *am* paying attention to Teh Twitterz. How am I paying attention to Twitter, but not following anyone? I use private Twitter lists. I add people to the list, then monitor the list. This is especially easy using HootSuite. HootSuite lets me monitor Twitter in columns. I have several lists, and each list gets a HootSuite column. My lists are marked as “private”, meaning no one else can see who’s in my lists.

Have I defeated the data miners? Hmm. I’m not entirely sure. Certainly Twitter knows who I keep in my private lists…as does Feedly, HootSuite, and DISQUS – apps I am willing to link to my Twitter account. I suppose if I dug into the terms of use for those products, I could determine in just what ways I’ve agreed to let them use my information. But overall, I’ve got to be doing better than before.

privacy (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Note the raised suspension (useful for making it back to your home deep in the NH wilderness…very, very deep), bungee cord tailgate (lightweight, aerodynamic, and easily replaceable), and wooden pallet accessory kit (making any load as portable as your nearest forklift).

This vehicle is a snow plow away from perfect. You know you want one.

That’s a look at the Impreza in Limited trim. It’s not the most handsome car around, but after driving it a couple of times, I know it’s the right fit for me. So, I ordered a silver “Limited” back in May. Why not take an Impreza from dealer stock? Well, I’m a fussy middle-aged guy, and my last car (a 2006 Acura TL) spoiled me a little; it has a bunch of toys on it that I rather like. Since the Impreza is available with a moonroof, navigation system, and upgraded stereo, I went for it. Finding Imprezas equipped with roof, nav, and all the other options I was looking for in the color I prefer was just not possible to come by in stock. Anywhere. I looked. So, I made a deal with the dealer I was happy with, and then checked the boxes for options I was interested in. Order up!

And now I’m waiting. The way an order works with Subaru, at least this late in the production run for this model year, “my” car would come out of whatever the factories in Japan produce. Subaru dealers nationally are allocated a certain number of vehicles each month. If there’s a car Subaru has made that matches what I’ve ordered, and the dealer is high enough in the priority list to have it allocated to him, then I’m in luck. And the manufactured car only has to match as far as color, model trim (“Limited”), and roof/nav. The rest of the options I specified, like the upgraded stereo components, splash guards, rear seat protectors, etc. are installed once the car arrives in port.

From what I can tell trolling around the Internet, Subaru will be making the 2012 Impreza until sometime in July 2012. Then, they retool the factory to start cranking out the 2013 Impreza sometime in August, with a presumable delivery date of sometime in September to American shores. The point being, if my 2012 Impreza order isn’t fulfilled via dealer allocation in July or August…then I think I’m into the 2013 model year. Not that that’s a bad thing (and I can wait if it comes down to it), but wow. Who would have thought this was such a tough car to get a hold of?

In the meantime, I’ve been reading (and re-reading) reviews of the Impreza, as well as lurking around the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club forums. Reading the comment of folks who own this car has been interesting.

• The typical buyer seems to be younger than me – I’m 40. That’s an impression formed based on the language and slang used, inferences I’ve made based on lifestyle, marital status, etc.
• Complainers are far more vocal than satisfied owners. So, folks with problems are getting a lot more “press”, so to speak.
• 2012 Impreza issues folks have had include the following: less than expected fuel economy, although this seems to go away after 7K – 10K miles; lousy stereo in the base and premium models especially, but either aftermarket or factory speaker upgrades make this problem go away; interior squeaks and rattles, although this seems to be a rare complaint, and the drivers’ seat is easily made right if you take a few minutes to unzip the cover and tape up the offending bits; and finally, excessive oil consumption, although this is a very rare one as well.
• I’ve seen many, many posts from people who love the car, and describe how they love it more and more as time goes on.

I feel like I’ve lined up behind an automotive cult. People are passionate not just about the Impreza, but Subaru in general. I used to be a “Ford guy” back in the day, growing up on cast-off State government Crown Vics and Fairmonts purchased at auction, plus owning a ’95 V-8 Thunderbird, several Taur-ii, and the odd Mercury Sable. But after my wife’s car had suspension springs break, stranding her (with the kids) twice, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to Ford, even though I had my eye on a Mustang for years. But I never “loved” Fords as such. I was never rabid about them. Ford was just comfortable, and I knew the product line, so that’s where I was mostly happy.

Subaru owners are really, really into their cars, though. Really. I hope that means my Impreza is worth the wait.

Links

Official Subaru Impreza Landing Page

Cars101 2012 Impreza Page (excellent resource, listing option packages, insider news items, detailed photos, etc.)

North America Subaru Impreza Owners Club Epic 2012 Impreza Thread

InsideLine 2012 Impreza Long-Term Test

Edmunds 2012 Impreza Consumer Discussions

AOL 2012 Impreza Overview Page (quite good)

Search YouTube – 2012 Subaru Impreza videos (several worthwhile reviews)

My Facebook account has been deactivated. Before I did that, I cleaned out all of my connections. I de-friended everyone, un-liked everything, and emptied my profile settings. The idea was to end whatever data mining Facebook was doing with my personal information. The cat might be out of the bag as far as that goes, but at least I’ve done my best to hide from Zuckerberg’s all-seeing eye.

My Klout account has been deleted and disconnected from various other accounts. Klout was fun, but I don’t want to offer them that much insight into my SoMe presence by cross-connecting all of the accounts I might post something under. It started to give me the willies.

I had accounts with Yahoo! and Windows Live that were probably over a decade old, only I haven’t used them for a long time. They’re deleted. Seems like keeping them around could only be a bad thing.

There’s more stuff I deleted, not that all the details matter. I also pulled down some of the more personal information about myself on my remaining accounts, such as replacing my employment history on LinkedIn with a generic entry that summarizes a whole bunch of working years. If folks want my resume, I can provide that on a case-by-case basis, but I don’t think at this point in my career that I really need to have everything I’ve ever done out there.

Privacy is a big deal, and the Internet can take that away, especially when you help. I’ve had it happen to me before through oversharing. When you’re active in SoMe, you give up a little bit of your soul by being so public. That’s just the way of it. I’m just trying to get a little bit of my introverted soul back.

Twitter, G+, and LinkedIn are still useful as I can interact with techies who know me through the Packet Pushers podcast or blogging. So, I still have those accounts, but like I said, I have curtailed what’s shared in my profiles on those sites.

I tend not to talk much, in general because I’m an introvert, but also because I don’t like to say much unless I’m very confident in what I’m saying based on a very defensible and studied position. I also need to believe that the other person is actually interested in what I’m saying, or I just won’t bother. Lots of people like to talk over others, which is fine for an introvert. I’ll just terminate whatever I was saying and let you talk if you feel the urge to run me over. Or let you keep talking if I never got the chance to start, as the case may be. I’m a decent listener. (As an aside, I think that’s why I’d rather blog than talk most of the time. I don’t get interrupted. )

So whether you’re a talker or a listener, a lurker or a debater, I have a few simple opinions points about forming and holding onto opinions:

1. Don’t form an opinion based on someone else’s opinion. Go to a truly authoritative source on the topic you want to have an opinion about, read up, and think about how it applies to your existing knowledge and experience. Then decide where you stand with the weight of facts and logic behind you. Then you’ll know what you’re talking about, at least until new information comes along.
2. Remember that you don’t have to have an opinion. Most of the things that wind people up or that people get passionate about aren’t worth the emotional energy expended. I reserve far more opinions than I actually form. Most of the time, I neither know enough nor care enough to have a strong opinion about most things I find people excited about. From my perspective, sensationalism is tedious. In addition, there’s too many things to know about. You’re under no obligation to have to care about everything that comes at you in this busy world.
3. You’ll understand an issue better by learning to argue both sides of the debate. In technology, there are endless little wars about what solution to a given problem is superior to another. So learn both sides of the story well enough that if you wanted to, you could take either side of the argument. That’ll take the wind right out your opinion sails, because most of the time, there’s good reasons for the opinions that have formed either way.
4. Things change, and therefore opinions have to also. So, it’s usually better to be a moderate than a radical. Be persuadable, reasonable, and balanced more than outspoken. For example, naive fans of the Apple Macintosh’s OS-X have bragged vociferously and frequently about how much MS Windows sucks in comparison. Being nearly insusceptible to viruses was one of the big OS-X talking points, so much so that many Apple users have told me that they do not burden down their systems with anti-virus software. That is, until over half a million Macs became infected with a pretty serious botnet trojan. Maybe its time to come down from the mountain, be a responsible netizen, and run anti-virus now? Perhaps?

People with opinions are not smarter than you. About 90% of them are just hot air balloons with little more than a tiny clue and tenuous grasp of reality hoisting their opinions aloft. They rise into the air with great pomp, and then drift away wherever the wind takes them – preferably, away from you. The remaining 10% are merely better read, as opposed to being “smarter”. The only way you can form an opinion worth having is to think for yourself while considering the facts.

And now I must to go read something. I have some opinions to form in preparation for a test I need to schedule in next week or so.

• It’s a GREAT read. I enjoyed every page, and I’m not an atheist.
• She’s the most reasonable angry person I’ve ever read. Most angry people taint their logic with bile and/or excessive snark. Using sarcasm or caustic, venomous words to make a point is amateurish and simply uninteresting to me. Greta has an edge, but I never felt like I showed up for amateur hour.
• Her logic is outstanding.
• I’m angry with most of same things that she is, although I tend to think that getting rid of religion in the world wouldn’t stop people from being utterly horrible to one another. They’d just find some other lousy rationalization for being oxygen bandits. Love of money and power seem to be recurring historical themes, even when they are couched inside of religious fervor. People just can’t seem to leave each other alone.
• She and I are politically similar on some points. While I don’t think she’s a libertarian (not really the point of the book to identify her political affiliations), as one myself, I related to her wish that all people had to freedom to believe whatever silly nonsense they’d like to believe. Right up to the point where it impinges on my own freedom. Then you can just step off. Thanks.
• I wish that more people of faith would recognize the right that non-believers have to challenge their faith. If you’re religious and someone challenges you about that, the person challenging you is not wrong just because they think your ideas are stupid. If you get mad, consider that what’s probably happening is that your own insecurities are being uncovered – a tough issue to cope with.
• One of my favorite points that came out in the book was that Christians often don’t actually know the tenets of their faith. It’s not a “pick and choose” faith. When you read the Bible, there’s content in there that you very probably won’t like and/or understand fully. And if you think you grasp all of the Christian faith and can put it all together, that’s excellent! I look forward to reading your book of systematic theology that will settle the theological puzzles that have boggled minds for centuries. But until your book comes out, I’ll simply point out that systematic theology has thus far been man’s best effort to put Christian doctrine together in a way that is cohesive and makes sense, not because it’s easy, but because it’s really, really hard. When you dig into systematic theology to determine what the Bible actually teaches and therefore come to your own worldview, you’ll be frustrated by the sheer volume of intellectually honest approaches that vary (sometimes widely) in their end result. Atheists make a fair point when critiquing Christians (as well as other religions) on this issue.

For me, the key issue of Christianity is very simple. Christ rose from the dead – or not. If Jesus is alive, then that makes Him God, and Christianity is what it is. Like it, or don’t like it. Reject Christ, or accept Him. Take Christianity and the Bible with all the things you don’t like or don’t understand (plus of course the things you do), and do your best to live a life that’s pleasing to God. But if Jesus Christ died on that cross and stayed dead, then I’m okay becoming an atheist – because honestly, faith would otherwise be utter lunacy. If God is dead (or never existed), what would the point of religion be, really? Absolutely none – and any argument to the contrary is just silly. Faith takes time, study, and money. There’s a lot of devotion involved if you’re the least bit serious about practicing a faith. Why would I bother with any of that if God is dead? There’s better things I could be doing with my time than playing pretend.

So, I’m going to invigorate some cursory work I did some time back on what we know about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The trouble is finding good books on both sides of the equation. I’ve found one book on Amazon that seems to be regarded as a more or less serious scholarly work that’s pro-resurrection. I’m trying to find a serious book on the negative side. I found a couple of titles that seemed plausible, but the reviews indicated that they were really bad as far as the scholarship went. Even (and especially) the atheists panned these titles. I shall keep digging, as I’m sure someone has written a serious work taking the viewpoint that, “Christ did not rise from the dead, and here’s how we know.” The last time I looked at this topic, I couldn’t find anything that plausibly discredited the witness of those who claimed to see the risen Christ.

As far as Greta’s book goes, go read it if you like to think through hard issues. Either you’ll become an atheist, or your faith will be reinforced. She doesn’t leave any room for you to be ambivalent, that’s for certain. I highly recommend it.

I have been an observer of strident atheism for about 20 years now, as the thoughtfulness behind it appeals to my intellect. Atheism has picked up steam in recent years, as the atheist remonstrance against religion has become militant in tone. The Reason Rally recently caught my attention because it was trending on Twitter, at least with some people that I follow. As I scrolled down the list of Reason Rally speakers, I noted that one of them just wrote a book, the title of which grabbed my attention: “Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off The Godless” by Greta Christina. So – I picked it up. $8 for the Kindle edition seems like short money for a book that I’m reading as a sort of a “state of the union” address for mainstream atheism.

I’ve started consuming the book, and it’s easy reading so far. No new ground broken at this point. It’s what I consider to be a normative atheist approach to why religion is bad, which I can summarize as follows.

1. People are moronic, i.e. incapable of satisfactorily debating matters of faith or lacking knowledge about the faith they claim to adhere to.
2. People are hypocrites.
3. People have done and continue to do horrible things to each other in the name of their religion.
4. People cling to faith despite incontrovertible facts.
5. People believe in things that can’t be proven, which is patently silly.

The opening chapter, which is about all I’ve gotten through so far, is a list of the “99 things,” mostly provided with at least a little context so that you know what’s she’s on about. Greta’s logic is sound, thoughtful, and doesn’t come across nearly as angry as the book title might lead you to believe. The book is far from an irrational rant, although it is fair to categorize what I’ve read so far as passionate. Although Greta’s worldview is burdened with the same challenge my own is burdened with (that of built-in assumptions), for the most part, I found what’s she upset about to be things that all people should be upset about. That said, it’s more a condemnation of bad religion, human rights abuses, and manipulation of the legal system than of “God” as such. At least so far…I presume that, as an atheist, Greta will take God to task explicitly rather than implicitly before the end.

I’ll finish reading in the next couple of weeks or so, and post some more specific comments.

Chemical structure of Caffeine. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve given up on caffeine almost entirely. Why? My sleep was lousy – not deep enough for me to feel rejuvenated in the morning. When I don’t sleep well, my mood goes downhill, heading towards depression and easy frustration with the world around me. When I get to that point, the cumulative effect on my mental health is bad. I start thinking…oddly. Even though I know my thinking is irrational, I find there’s little I can do about it but get properly rested.

Now that I’ve quit beverages that are highly dosed with caffeine, here’s a few observations.

• I couldn’t do it cold turkey. The headaches were intolerable. So instead, I stepped the daily dose down over the course of two weeks so that the discomfort of the caffeine withdrawal headaches was manageable.
• My heartrate isn’t as elevated when I work out. I think I’ve gotten back 15 bpm, although I’m not 100% certain my change in caffeine consumption is the entire explanation. This morning, a workout that normally pushes me to around 160bpm at peak didn’t push me more than about 145bpm. I don’t think that’s because I’m just rockin’ my cardio health that hard, so I’m blaming the chemicals.
• Sleep is definitely deeper. I fall asleep more easily. I don’t wake up as often or as easily during the night, and when I’m awakened in the morning by my alarm, I feel *awake*. Although I still can’t pop off my pillow like my spouse manages to, once I get going, I feel pretty good without a java-based jump-start.
• Living entirely caffeine-free in this world would be difficult. Lots of beverages have caffeine in them, naturally occurring or otherwise – tea most notably. Colas are caffeinated as well. Therefore, you have to pay attention to what you’re consuming. I’m not *that* picky, but if a completely caffeine-free life is important to you, don’t overlook the fact that coffee isn’t the only thing in the world with stimulants built-in.

Fundamentalism lives on today, although it’s morphed greatly from its original purpose of fighting modernism. The fundamentalism I’m familiar with is a fragmented, finger-pointing collection of independent churches that form a loosely connected network of introspective, isolated religiosity. Fundamentalism features:

• Churches that frequently fly the banner of “independent fundamental Baptist.”
• Christian day schools often tightly coupled with a specific church.
• Colleges and universities that are perhaps less strident in proclaiming their IFB affiliation but cater to the IFB world nonetheless
• Camps for their young people to attend.
• Printing houses for publication of Sunday school and home school literature (as well as the odd book or two).
• Musical styles complete with songwriters, songbooks, and recordings, nearly all published by and for the fundamentalist world.

Some inside of fundamentalism would take issue with the idea that there’s a “network”, which is why I carefully described it as a “loosely connected” network. For while there are certain associations, conventions, groups, and fellowships that IFB folk have created over the decades, there is no single, formally recognized network of fundamentalism as such. Instead, the network is more analogous to what happens when folks become a part of an online social network. For example, I am a part of one such loosely connected network in the form of people who blog, tweet, and podcast about computer networking. We know each other through Twitter, comment on each other’s blogs, participate in forums or e-mail groups together, record podcasts and chat on Skype together, and are invited to similar events. Occasionally, we meet up in “meatspace” (usually at a trade show), but for the most part, we only know each other from a distance. Therefore, the connection tends to be a loose one.

Fundamentalism has a similar set of loose connections, and so I feel it not only fair, but accurate, to describe it as a network. Folks meet at fundamentalist schools, and connections are made. Fundamentalist kids marry one another, and thus the families become connected. Pastors of churches hire assistant pastors, who then go on to be the senior pastor elsewhere, resulting in a connection between the churches. Fundamentalist churches spin off other churches, and the new church plant is connected to the original work. A church supports a missionary, who is a part of a mission board, which has close ties to a college, etc. A camp director invites a college friend to come speak, who recommends an evangelist he knows, who works with a group to publish his music, which sells to fundamentalist churches and bookstores. Fundamentalism is like the Kevin Bacon game. Everyone knows everyone else…more or less.

But not everyone gets along. Fundamentalism as a movement has been broken into countless fragments and factions, descending into a morass of ugly, angry self-righteousness, confusing even to those who understand the issues. The element of independence in fundamentalism tends to rise above all else, and disagreeing parties go their separate ways. The impact of this ripples throughout the network. Letters are sent from one church to another, stating grave disappointment in the errant ways of the church they formerly enjoyed a friendship with. Pastors call other pastors, explaining to them their bold stands and Biblical obligation to take them, and subsequently why fellowship is now broken. Open letters from “Very Important Fundamentalist A” to “Very Important Fundamentalist B” reside on random blogs and church web sites, denouncing the actions of others within fundamentalism. Fight modernism? That fight is over. Modernism is what it is, and those issues are of scant concern to today’s fundamentalist. Instead, fundamentalists have found fresh passion in picking on one another.

I can’t say I understand quite why this is. I can say it’s what I’m used to, so much so that I mentally divorced myself from the notion of fundamentalism many years ago. The movement is bereft of merit, and in this layman’s estimation, would do well to dissolve itself. If you aren’t seeing the logic behind that suggestion, take a look at the movement through my eyes. In my experience, today’s fundamentalism is characterized by the following:

• A persecution complex. When a fundamentalist institution is called on the carpet for running afoul of local authorities, the message trumpeted from the pulpit is one of persecution. I have seen this happen in cases of tax evasion, building code violations, and child endangerment, just thinking quickly of issues that leap to mind from the last 25 years or so. Fundamentalist institutions rarely take responsibility for their wrong actions, instead shifting blame anywhere else. It’s easier to put up with issues if you believe you’re being attacked. Therefore, categorizing every controversy as an attack allows fundamentalist leaders to retain their dignity, and often their power. Is this characteristic of every church that might call itself fundamental? Of course not, and clearly there are those institutions that try to do the right thing in all circumstances no matter how unfortunate or condemnatory. But more often than not, I’ve seen the persecution flag raised as the first line of defense against any meddling by outsiders.
• An “us against the world” mentality. Only, “the world” means every other church and religious organization that doesn’t hold to the same precise list of dogmatic distinctives that “us” [sic] do. No doctrinal difference is too small to cause a rift, ranging in nature from associations with para-church organizations and Bible translations to worship styles. It’s not unheard of for a fundamentalist church to stand entirely and purposefully apart from *all* other churches, including (and especially) other fundamentalist organizations.
• A confident arrogance that everyone else is wrong. This goes right along with previous point. Ironically, while yelling about the evils of Billy Graham, the compromise of conservative evangelicalism, and the perils of most Christian books, the pulpit bully will confess to humility and a willingness to change positions if someone can show him where he’s wrong. In practice, this is a false humility, as such a confrontation would result in a blackballing of the challenger.
• A dictatorial, unapproachable leadership that rules with a rod of intimidation. Pew dwellers are, generally speaking, discouraged from thinking or having an opinion, unless those thoughts or opinions directly reflect the pulpit view. People like me, when in churches like that, learn to keep their mouths shut. Or get out.

There is little Christian about fundamentalism these days, at least not to be found in the brand I am familiar with. Little compassion. Little self-sacrificing love. Little room for ought but one inflated ego at a time. While admittedly not every IFB church fits that pattern, the pattern is so pervasive in the fundamentalism I know that it’s hard to blame someone who’d assume the worst about any church identifying itself as IFB. Some IFB churches resent being lumped in with what they consider the outliers, but I think the truth is that the hardcore separatists are the norm. I’m afraid that the IFB outliers are the ones genuinely trying to do right before God with a sense of love and dedication to truth, service, and community. I know many good Christians trying to do the right thing before God in the right spirit who are still associated with the network. I’m one of them, despite my mental divorcement from fundamentalism. But even so…I think we’re long past the point where the term “Christian fundamentalist” can be redeemed. Long past.

The time has come for a new term free of the baggage of “IFB”. Although, I hope that we can get beyond the need for a label. As for me, I am happy simply to be called a Christian. If you need to pin me down further to understand my distinctives, feel free, but remember – I’m just a layman with a point of view. I’m not important at all, and so I don’t think all of my dogma matters, as no one’s listening to those of us in the pew. We lack a bully pulpit. I don’t even argue on the Fighting Fundamentalist forums or write open letters of accusation or defense. Mostly, I’m just a dad with a family to raise, who wants nothing to do with the brand of fundamentalist Christianity that affected my mind in so many negative ways growing up.

In my house, my kids know little of what’s wrong with everyone else. Instead, we focus on what’s right about God and Jesus Christ, and we’re members of a church that promotes the same. I am trusting that the rest will sort itself out. Only by learning intimately what is right can we learn to distinguish what is wrong.