Mozart-motorcycles-healthcare-technology
Serving on boards, both corporate and non-profit, is a very rewarding experience. Not financially — but in the sense that you have been able to help with a new idea, or to share an experience that can be helpful. I am privileged to have many affiliations including a number of boards. (read more)
Conducting Mozart with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra was a special opportunity in many ways. Not only did I meet great musicians, but I also met a number of people before and after the concert that I did not previously know . At a brunch today I met John Grissmer, writer and director. John has directed a number of films including Scalpel, and Blood Rage. In spite of these “grizzly’ sounding titles, John is quite involved in producing children’s musical programs with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. He is also producing a new CD called The Perfect Game. Click to hear an mp3 of one of the tracks called “Demonize Your Old Archrival”. (read more)
The conducting lessons with Maestro Sidney Rothstein were over. He had taught me a lot in a short time and was about ready to push me out of the nest to raise the baton and conduct. The first rehearsal broke the ice and I realized it was actually possible for me to conduct not just an MP3 on the home audio system but real people — professional musicians. It is the people who make all the difference. The key question for me was whether the musicians would accept me as their temporary maestro. No doubt, the question on their minds was whether I had learned enough about conducting to not embarrass myself and the orchestra or would they have to stare at the floor for fear that my conducting would distract them from playing the music. (read more)
Yesterday was my third conducting lesson, thanks to Maestro Sidney Rothstein. He pronounced me as “acceptable”; i.e. that I had learned enough about conducting to not embarrass myself and the orchestra. He magnanimously offered me many great suggestions for how to improve my technique and add more expression to the conducting. (read more)
There won’t be any motorcycle riding in my neck of the woods today. The snow has already started and up to eight inches may accumulate by the end of the evening. Unfortunately, I have to drive to Pennsylvania to meet someone this morning and hope the return trip this afternoon won’t be too difficult. I appreciate all the emails and visits to patrickWeb. Two weblog postings are in development — and a long list of others pending. There is definitely more that I want to write about than there are hours in the day to write. The two things that I hope to have posted in next few days are my long-promised paper about the significance of blogging and a story about knovel Corporation. I have joined knovel‘s board of directors this week and want to share what that is all about. Stay tuned.
Just back from a wintery motorcycle ride. It was beyond cold. The Widder gloves and vest do a good job but when the wind howls across your chin, you can really feel it. It is best to wear a thin head covering that covers the neck and chin (there is a name for it that I don’t recall) but I forgot to take it along. Riding is a bit tricky on the roads too — a lot of sand from recent snowfall — but safe if you take it easy. I am looking forward to giving a talk about “The Future of The Internet” tonight at the Danbury Area Computer Society. It is a treat to see so many friends there every year.
Micah Alpern, who is about to get his masters in human computer interaction (HCI) from Carnegie Mellon University, said he was happy to see Blogging on my list of “the next big things” but he was disappointed in the page I had linked to. The page he refers to was a very basic page I had created to define some of the basics of blogging — primarily for newbies. Micah correctly points out that it didn’t do much to explain the significance of blogging. Several of my former colleagues at IBM have also challenged me to better explain why I feel that blogging is such a big deal. I have been working on a story to bare my views. Not to make excuses, but blogging really is a big deal and to explain the significance is similar to what it was like to explain the web back in 1994. Micah has done a good job explaining how blogging has been significant for him personally and it is a worthwhile read. I promise to complete my blogging story shortly. Maybe even today! Micah, thanks for the nudge and best of luck as you head out into the world with your new degree.
“Weblogs – Improving Internet IO” by Micah Alpern
Bob Sutor, IBM‘s director of Web services and one of my former colleagues, just had an article published on C|NET entitled “The Five Biggest Myths About Web Services“. It very clearly addresses the key questions that I have received many times over the past couple of years and so I wanted to share his story. I couldn’t possibly say it as well as he has. The other question I get a lot is, “What is the next big thing?”. My answer is that there are a lot of next big things! My current top-five list includes the following (in alphabetical order):
| Autonomic computing | |
| Blogging | |
| Grid Computing | |
| Web Services | |
| WiFi |
