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I Finally Gave In
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Yes the rumors are true ... After nearly 7 years with SprintPCS and several different Palm Treo smartphones, I finally gave in and made the switch to AT&T and picked up an iPhone. I figured I would let all my friends be the early adopters this time around before I took the plunge. I have to say I'm quite thrilled at the moment. Cheers!
*UPDATE* I posted this in my comments but thought it might be good to include it on the main post for anyone who is curious. The iPhone does integrate with and full 2-way sync with Outlook. It's done using iTunes as the middleware connector application. When you setup up your iPhone in iTunes, you choose where you would like to sync contacts, calander and even email from. Outlook is fully supported. I'm personally using Outlook 2007 and when I setup and sync'd my iPhone today for the first time, it immediatly downloaded all of my contacts and appointments from Outlook. I also tried the reverse by adding and editing contacts on the iPhone, and it added the new contact and made the changes to Outlook.Labels: Random Thoughts, Technology
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Windows Vista Rocks ... Sort Of.
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So after many hours of frustration and several unsuccessful attempts at installing Windows Vista on my desktop computer I finally gave up and restored the backup image of the primary hard drive containing Windows XP SP2 which I created before going down this horrid path.
 I've actually been trying to get Windows Vista installed on this desktop since Beta 2 with no luck. I'm sure its some combination of the motherboard, drive array, video card and memory that's not working correctly but I just don't have time to deal with and spend any more precious hours trying to figure out why it doesn't work. The kicker is that it's pretty new high end hardware, so one would think it actually would work but it doesn't.
I did however manage to upgrade my Dell D820 Laptop to Windows Vista Ultimate last night and that installation went without a hitch. I really didn't want to install Vista on my laptop eventhough the upgrade was free for me from Dell, because I use my laptop for work and I didn't want to take the chance that it would be crippled. Fortunatly for me it's not, everything works fine including all the applications that I need.
It really is amazing at how two different systems can cause someone such a different experience when it comes to the installation of an operating system. I find it questionable that Microsoft didn't work out many of the problems they were having with the software before releasing it, but as a former Software Engineer, I realize it's impossible to catch almost everything. People are simply human and mistakes are commonplace. But, so far so good with the laptop, Vista is running smoothly and I haven't experienced any problems yet, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Yeah I know this is probably a pretty boring, geeky, tech post, but it's what I've been doing for the past 2 evenings and sometimes I just can't help the fact that I'm a closet geek at heart. Cheers!Labels: Technology
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Wednesday, February 21, 2007 |
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Update Your Links Please
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Sorry kids ... but I've decided to move.
Instead of http://rich.cyrek.net/blog/ I'm now viewable at http://rich.cyrek.net and http://rich.cyrek.net/atom.xml Yeah that's right I decided to take the bigger room (web path) down the hall. It was a bitch moving all my furnature (files) but I finally decided to do it because I really hated that /blog/ at the end of my URL.
Next up ... new decorating (web design) ... Yeah right! Like I have time for decorating.Labels: Technology
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Finally My Big News!
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This post has been a while in the making and comes with much excitement and just tiny amount of anxiety. While many of you already know what's going on in my life, I've only recently given some hints here on my blog that I had some big news to share.
Over the past few years since I've started frequently blogging, I've written only a few postings regarding my work, all being very vague and having no specific reference to my employer, or my personal feelings about my job. I've always made a conscious effort to avoid that path for fear of job related repercussions for anything negative I may have been tempted to write.
Well all that's about to change. For those of you who don't already know, I've been working for Bank of America as an IT Manager responsible for the Risk Operations Business Intelligence team. It's really been a very stressful, love-hate relationship over the past 4 years, and I'm happy to announce that Friday, February 2ND will officially be my last day with Bank of America.
While this is significant, it's only one small part of the big news I have to share. The reason I'm leaving Bank of America is not because I've found a better job, but rather because I had an amazing opportunity presented to me which would allow me to finally take real control over my life, my career and my future. I've decided to start my own company and become an independent consultant. My new company, Aventera Consulting, was formed on January 1, 2007 and as of February 5, 2007 I will officially become the first full time employee of my new company working on contract for move software & move marketing.
Leaving a large corporation to start a company, and follow your dreams can be both exciting and extremely stressful. Justin and I have talked in detail about the direction I'm taking, and he's been incredibly supportive of me taking this step. I can't even begin to express how great it feels to make this decision, and how much of an impact it's going to have on my stress level and overall happiness.
After 4 years, leaving Bank of America was not an easy decision to make. Great benefits, 5 weeks of vacation, bank holidays, some job flexibility and a small amount of perceived stability are all difficult to give up. Only a few months ago I had personally resolved that I would just plan on staying with Bank of America and continue to create a long-term career with the company. While many factors influenced my final decision, it really came down to the point that I would now have to ability to work for myself, make my own decisions, and ultimately be responsible for my own success. At this point the future of my success all falls upon me, and I'm content with having that weight on my shoulders.
After much soul searching I decided that I really didn't want to pursue the path of executive management, but rather continue back down a more technical road, further sharpening and broadening my technical skill set. I've had several long conversations with Mark and other friends regarding this trend, and while some say the next logical step for technology professionals is management, I now know that I disagree with that thought. While management may be a good step some, Mark and I both agree there is so much opportunity out there for technology professionals like us with broad backgrounds and many years of diverse experiences.
With so many changes caused by the merger between BofA and MBNA, this past year has been a rough year for many of us at Bank of America. Working for Bank of America has been a great learning experience. While I've had the opportunity to meet and work with a lot of fun people, it's also been an exercise in navigating the waters of a global enterprise while trying to deal with an enormous amount of corporate politics, some dysfunctional personalities, and even some incompetent people harbored by the safety net of a well defined HR policy. Be it good or bad, it's all just one more experience I can put under my belt to help me become a more effective technology consultant.
Well I know this was quite a long post, and if you've actually gotten this far then you've probably learned quite about bit about me. With that I'll end this post with a few final comments and thanks of support. First to say thanks to my good friend Jerry Timms, of Timms Media, who helped me make this decision and introduced me to the great people at move software & move marketing. To say thanks to my best friends, Andrea, Philip & Bernard for listening to my concerns & helping me to make a rationale decision, and to Mark for his insight, encouragement, support, guidance and friendship over the last 12 years. Lastly, thanks to Justin for his unconditional love, being extremely supportive of me and believing in me and my crazy ideas. I'm extremely happy right now and excited about my future. Cheers!Labels: Aventera Consulting, Technology
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My Sexy New Dell Latitude D820 Notebook
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According to Jerry Timms my brand new Dell Latitude D820 is not nearly as sexy as his fancy white Apple whateverbook. I guess it just comes down to the simple fact that some of us are already sexy enough sans notebook. :-)
Actually my new dell notebook came last week and the delivery was promptly received and signed for by Berger.
  
This probably isn't a very exciting post for many of you to read, but trust me when I say that the actual event was pretty exciting for me. I literally agonized for a few weeks over which notebook I was going to buy, and in the end it came down to another Dell. I built a new desktop computer last year when my old Dell laptop's hard drive crashed, but now that things in my life are changing a bit, I'm back in need of a good quality professional notebook.
For those of you who are are fairly geeky, the stats are an Intel Core Duo 2.33 with 4 GB of RAM, 15.4" display, 100 GB hard drive, integrated wireless, bluetooth and Sprint mobile broadband card. It screams. Cheers!Labels: Jerry Timms, Technology
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