There are only 10 kinds of people in the world.  Those who can read binary and those who can’t.
(I love that old joke)

Back a few years ago I got this binary birthday cake for my wife.  I had a lot of people confused, but my fellow gEEks knew what the candles meant!

The entire city is so extremely buzzing with excitement for the game on Sunday… and it’s not just because everyone is so highly caffeinated with Starbucks or Fofcee!

This idea is a simply brilliant marketing campaign (and I'm a MASSIVE FAN of free tech company t-shirts)...
#binary12thman

Finally, you can’t build a network unless you know how to subnet.  They test for it frequently in the Cisco Certifications.  I do it manually in binary because it’s more visual.  If you’re interested in learning how to subnet a Class C IP address, I would love to show you some time.

All I can say now is: GO HAWKS!!!
#SuperBowlXLIX

this one is for the guys.  

i have never heard any of my friends articulate the following theory.  i came up with it after observing my friends.  i also have some personal experience that backs up this theory, because sometimes life just doesn't turn out the way you think it will.  below are what i think are the two reasons why you won't see your buddies anymore after they get married.

reason #1: you don't see your friend any more because he is miserable and unhappy.  
he probably doesn't have anyone to turn to.  he is trapped in a bad marriage.  hanging out with his buddies might even be forbidden.  the absence of your friend who has gotten married is a natural byproduct of a bad marriage.  generally, one of the taboo aspects of a bad marriage is that a person can't really talk about it with the former family (former family = parents, siblings, etc).  his siblings and parents will immediately take his side and the wife becomes the evil one (whether she deserves it or not).  if he talks to his former family about his wife negatively, then it will only divide his new family (new family = him + his wife).  he can't talk about his problems with his friends because they will also take his side.  maybe his friends will be diplomatic and try to give good neutral advice.  but overall, you will be put in an awkward position if you ever hang out as a couple with your friend and his wife because you will know about their dirty laundry.  If you are single, you will be shocked at how much time and effort it takes to be in an unhappy marriage.  all of your friend's spare time will be spent fighting, or mending their marriage, in front of a marriage counselor, or reading books to try and fix his bad marriage.  your friend simply will not have the time to hang out with you like he did before.  all his spare time will be preoccupied with working on his bad marriage.

reason #2: you don't see your friend any longer because he is because he is really, really happy!  
he spends all his spare time with his new wife because they have common interests and activities.  he genuinely likes talking to his wife and spending all his spare time with his wife.  when he gets off work, he can't wait to go home to his new wife to hang out with her.  the absence of your friend who has gotten married is a natural byproduct of a good marriage and ideally, his new wife is the person who will be with him for rest of his life.  you should be EXTREMELY HAPPY for your dear old friend.  in this scenario, your buddy is moving on into the next stage of a typical guy's life.

already, look up above.  reason #1 even took more explanation than reason #2!

i once heard a pastor say "a good marriage takes a lot of time and effort.  a bad marriage takes even more time and effort."  i thoroughly believe that.  so in summary, it might sound too simple, but the reason why you don't see our buddy anymore after he got married is because he is  either #1 miserable or #2 happy.  that's it.  


you probably will never really know the complete truth until it all unwinds in a divorce, or you find that his marriage endures happily forever as long as you know him.  if he is caught in a bad marriage, you cannot count on your friend to tell you the truth.  the lie is not malicious.  don't take it personal.  It's just the sad way he has to exist temporarily.  he might say life and marriage is good until you suddenly find out they are getting a divorce.  so he lied to you!  it was partly his pride that probably wouldn't let him admit to a failed marriage.

your friend who is in a good marriage will also tell you life and marriage is good!  (surprise! - it's the same statement from the friend who is in a bad marriage).  only until a very, very long period of time has passed will you know whether he was telling the truth the whole time.  the test of time is the only reasonable way you can remove the doubt that he is truly in a happy marriage.  

I will end this post with one of my all time favorite lines: you can hide crazy for a little while, but you can't hide it forever!

-dhy
reposted from Nov 2012 with a few minor edits.
the original post at arryinseattle.

Part of the reason why INTERNET ACCESS ($$$) can never truly be a race to zero dollars.  If you want to partially understand what I do for a living, then you can get a great idea of it in 2min and 6sec here in this audio segment from one of my favorite radios shows of all time - Marketplace w/ Kai Ryssdal:

I manage to-do lists.  But more fanatically than to-do lists, I manage my calendar very, very closely.  Getting double-booked for important customer mtgs is never a fun situation to sort out with demanding sales people and even more demanding customers.  My wife and I are extremely vigilant with our work calendars.

For our personal shared time, she and I have developed a shared calendar methodology that is working really well so far.  When we want to schedule time with our friends, we can check our shared calendar, and if the time is free, we simply book the event.  She knows I am at happy hour with Cornelius on Thursday and if she doesn’t say anything all week, then I know she’s okay with it.  No need to text, call, email, or IM the spouse to see if she has already booked the time for us.  If she wants to do something and her friend is tentative so far, she can go ahead and block off the time as a courtesy, so I can be thinking about where I want to eat pizza for dinner by myself on Tuesday night if her friend confirms.  If we are together and we’re talking about doing something over a particular weekend, then I’ll take a quick look at our calendar and know immediately that we’re both free.

As much as I love having task lists, even though I have been trying for years, I cannot manage both a calendar and a separate program for tasks too.  It’s just the way it is.

So I create 'zero time' calendar items.  For me, they are the perfect way to keep something on my calendar to take action on, think about (like Valentine’s Day), or to snow plow to the next day.  A zero time calendar item is simply an item that starts at 1pm and ends at 1pm for example.  It’s super easy to create on my iPhone.  And I leave all the the other options blank.

My calendar ends up looking a bit manic as you can see by the second column which is the present day.  But being so much of a ‘if i don’t see it, then it doesn’t exist’ kind of person, I have to have it on my calendar.  If I put zero time items in my work day, then I know it is something that MUST be taken care of during the work day.  Like 'call mechanic' to figure out what is broken with my really old jalopy today.  For other fleeting thoughts during the day like ‘buy hair gel’ I put that during the evening hours.  One quick glance at my calendar after dinner, and I pop on amazon and buy my hair gel.  Delete task aka calendar item.  Done.  They are not always zero time items.  If it’s a bit more important, then I block off 30min.  If it’s really important, then I block off an hour or more and clear away all my zero time items.

I can’t use a separate task list.  And my system is working so well, I don’t want a separate task list.

But remember how I need to see the task, and figure out:
1. take action
2. think about it ('valentine’s day is coming up, so get creative!')
3. snow plow

Well if it’s a non-urgent to-do item, I need it to be snow plowed to the next day. 
WHAT I NEED IS AN OPTIONAL CHECKBOX FOR ROLLOVER. 
An option to AUTOMATICALLY MOVE my calendar item to the next day if by 2am the item is still sitting in the present day.
Right now the only painful inefficiency with my system is that I have to manually pull items over to the next day.
So this is my plea to Apple and Google and Microsoft, and every other maker of calendar software in the freakin’ universe.
PLEASE BUILD A FEATURE TO ROLLOVER CALENDAR ITEMS WITH AN OPTIONAL CHECKBOX.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH if you made it this far.
Now that I’m done writing this blog, I have to go buy some hair gel.

-dhy

p.s.  if you’re trying to figure out what is on my calendar…
last night i blocked off time for us to go see a movie. 
yes.  i snow plow a lot.  
this Sunday i blocked off the Seahawks vs. Green Bay game.
this Sunday arry blocked off time to get a couples massage - but she had her event first.  So we'll miss at least the first quarter.

In my world acronyms fill my day from beginning to end.  Acronyms are so abundant, there is even an acronym to make fun of acronyms.  The TLA: Three Letter Acronym.

Today, it is about CDP: Cisco Discovery Protocol.
In short, Cisco Discovery Protocol is a proprietary protocol from Cisco to find other Cisco devices and obtain/exchange vital technical statistics in real time.  There are hundreds of sources online to get a much more  in depth explanation of CDP.  Here is one source: CDP.  If you ever get involved with Cisco devices and get on the path of obtaining Cisco certifications, then it is something you need know.

So, why do I have a photo of the best lasagna I have ever had in my life at the top?  It is extremely timely for this post because my wife made it recently and was partially the inspiration to complete this post.  Yes, I am a subjective eater.  Yes, it is still the best lasagna I have ever had!!!

Now here is another explanation for CDP: Conservation of Dishes Principle.

My wife and I have a semi-spoken house rule.  When she cooks dinner, I wash the dishes.  It's a common spousal exchange.  And I think it is an extremely fair exchange of services.  But sometimes I wonder...

When I was single, I would cook and I would clean.  So from my perspective, I had a natural incentive to conserve the use of utensils and dishes/pots/pans when cooking because I knew I would be cleaning it all up a little later.  But if one doesn't have to face the consequence of cleaning up later, then does the food preparer still conserve the use of kitchenware?  For me, it'a habit.  I can't help but conserve dishes and utensils when I prepare food.  It comes from a long life of singlehood.

Now you have two very useful definitions of CDP.  
One definition to keep in mind if you have a lot of Cisco gear in your network.  
One definition to keep in mind as you wash the dishes after dinner.
:)