Last year I did a big post on those that we lost and big news stories. This year, I’m changing formats. I’m focusing more on myself and the changes that have occurred within my life, while still bringing in some of the big stories. I won’t go month by month, I’ll go story by story instead.

2011 brought the biggest change that I could have imagined, and one that I did not plan for. Sure, it was always in the back of my mind that it was possible, but I never expected it to happen. My fiancé decided that she no longer wanted to get married, and subsequently moved out. Yeah, it was a big change. To this day, I am still not 100% sure what the main catalyst for her decision was, nor will I ever truly know. I tried to get her to stay, but it didn’t work. I can’t say that I don’t miss having her around, because that would be lying. I was expecting to grow old with her, despite the fact that she never said she was old, that was my job, to be old. But now it won’t happen. The hardest part is that my best friend decided that I was no longer what she needed. It’s hard to live with that fact. Despite her leaving, I still support in whatever she decides to do. Alas, that was my big story of 2011.

Another thing happened during the year, both of my sisters had kids. My Niece, Zoie, and my Nephew Aiden are rather cute kids. Zoie seems to like me for some strange reason, I’m not sure why. It’s probably my fleece sweatshirt that she like and not really me. I hope to spend more time with them.

World events shaped 2011. From the Arab Spring uprising that began in December of 2010, and continued all the way through 2011, to the Earthquake in Japan, and subsequent Fukushima Nuclear power plant meltdown, and even Osama Bin Laden’s death, and the resignation of Apple Founder and CEO Steve Jobs.

The biggest stories of the year cover a wide range of topics, from big resignations, to high profile deaths, to scandals, and even uprisings and speaking out. The biggest story , that affected me, was the resignation, on August 24th, and death, on October 5th, of Apple’s Founder and CEO Steve Jobs. I’m not afraid to admit it, I cried. Why did I cry, good question. I think I cried because it was a big loss for the technology community, a loss for Apple, and the loss of an icon. Steve Jobs helped Apple push technology forward and setup a company that is envied by many of its rivals. Apple is the juggernaut that every technology company tries to emulate, and re-create the same success for themselves. Steve Jobs will definitely be missed, let’s hope Apple keeps up the momentum. Steve Jobs never took crap from anybody, was a tough individual and knew what he wanted and was not afraid to speak his mind. There are a lot of admirable qualities that Steve Jobs had that one could admire.

The second biggest story is the Death of Osama Bin Laden. On May 2nd, 2011, Osama Bin Laden was killed by US Forces in an attack on his base in Afghanistan. Why is this such a big story, it broke on Twitter before other mediums. It was also big news, because it may had brought some closure to the troops, and families of those who have died fighting for freedom and in trying to bring Osama Bin Laden down. As details of how Bin Laden kept up his communications began to be reported, I found myself wondering why all of this high-technology that we have was fooled by the use of sneakernet. In case you were not aware, Osama bin Laden was holed up in a bunker with 10+ foot high walls, and no telephone or internet connection. How does the most elusive man in the world still communicate without telephone or internet, simple, have a lackey do his dirty work and local internet cafes. That’s how. Billions spent on a war, where the enemy used somebody else to do his dirty work. Way to go US Government.

The third big story that had an impact on my life was the Death of World War II Major Dick Winters. Major Winters was a main character in the 2001 HBO Mini-Series Band of Brothers. Despite never meeting Major Winters, through the mini-series, as well as books regarding the 101st Airborne Division, including his own “Beyond Band of Brothers”, Major Winters was an inspiration for the type of leadership, as well as the type of person that I want to be.

The next story that caused some shock, was the Death of North Korea’s Kim Jong Il. North Korea has been the biggest fear of the US, regarding Nuclear power, since Russia during the cold war. It came as a shock to many, and the story again, broke on twitter.

Another death, which affected me more than Osama and Kim Jong Il, was the death of Actor Harry Morgan. Harry Morgan was Colonel Sherman T. Potter in the show M*A*S*H, and Detective Bill Gannon in Dragnet. M*A*S*H has provided me with countless hours of entertainment, and Harry Morgan will forever be remember for his role in the biggest show featuring the happenings of the Korean War.

One of the most memorable shows from the past 30 years is 60 Minutes. If you watched 60 Minutes for any number of weeks you would know the name Andy Rooney. Andy Rooney was a beloved commentator and satirist. His insights and voice will be missed by many.

The racing world lost a driver this year, Dan Wheldon. Wheldon was only 33 years old when he died from his injuries suffered at the Las Vegas International Speedway. I’m not a big racing fan, but I know he will be missed by the fans.

Singer/Songwriter Amy Winehouse became part of the “27 Club”. The “27 Club” is a club where the members all died at the age of 27. Some others include Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison. Winehouse was loved by fans, and had a great career ahead of her, she died too young.

Television lost another famous person, Sherwood Schwartz, creator of the “The Brady Bunch” and “Gilligan’s Island”. He was 94 when he died, but his ideas will live on forever.

Author Lilian Jackson Braun, creator of the book series “The Cat Who…”, died at the age of 97. Her work, like many others, will be read by future generations.

You may not know the name Lynn Hauldren, but you sure know the jingle, 1-800-Empire. Lynn Hauldren, was the face of Empire Carpet. For those in Chicagoland, you will never forget 800-588-2300 Empire.

Anybody who knows anything about car or home stereos, knows the name Harman-Kardon. Sidney Harman, owner of Newsweek, and namesake in Harmon-Kardon died at the age of 92.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor died on March 23rd, she was 79. Not enough can be said about the three-time Academy Award Winning actress.

Other big stories have occurred during 2011, including the end of NASA’s space shuttle missions. When they announced that the Space Shuttle missions would be ending, it was a big blow to America’s space efforts. While it is expensive to send somebody to the moon, it is our mission to explore beyond our boundaries, beyond our planet to see what our Solar System and Universe have to show us. It is a big mistake to cease space shuttle missions, if anything we should have more of them, not fewer.

The last big story of 2011 is the formal declaration, by the United States, that the War in Iraq has officially ended. It was something that came way too late, and should have been done before 2011.

Some final thoughts. A heartfelt thanks goes out of a group of people who helped me through my big story of 2011. Those people include, but are not necessarily limited to, Steffanie Housman, Joel Housman, Alison McQuade, Tori Sproat, Samantha F, Moriah_XO, Joanna Kenyon, Jenn Messina, Jen Clayton, Amanda Parziale and my family. Without you guys, I don’t know what I would have done.

Here’s to 2012. A Year that I hope brings joy and good changes.

Tags: 2011, Year in Review

Back when I first started blogging back in the early web 2.0 era of 2004/2005, when my blog was hosted on a computer using my parents high-speed internet connection I started blogging weekly about the top stories. It would be categorized and have brief descriptions. I’ve been thinking of reviving that weekly post, although with a different light.

I haven’t been blogging lately, why, I’m not sure, maybe too many other projects and other things that I have been up to. I do post a couple articles a week for macgasm.net. Maybe that’s why. Maybe I have been quite unhappy since my twitter posts haven’t been working for over 18 months.

I’ll probably be posting stories daily. Am I positive that I will be posting daily, no. It might end up being closer to three times a week, or maybe more, maybe less. I’ll be bringing everybody a list of the day’s top news stories, not broken down, probably not in any order except for when I read it. Maybe they’ll have descriptions, maybe not. We’ll see how this all runs down.

Along with adding a potentially daily post, I’m currently in the middle of switching hosting providers. Why you may ask, because godaddy is slow as molasses in the middle of January in the frozen tundra.

So we’ll see how all of this goes, whether or not I keep up with it or whether it falls to the wayside like most other aspirations I seem to have.

Tags: Daily, Daily Run Down, history, ideas, New Posts

So Apple announced an entire refresh of their Desktop line. Everything from the Mac Minis, to the Mac Pros, and even some other peripherals like Time Machine, Airport Extreme and new keyboards.

With this, I’m debating on whether to get a new Mac Mini to use as a server, media center, or development machine. Or whether I should get the Apple Server Maintenance for the copy of Server I already have.

I’m leaning towards the Server Maintenance, therefore I don’t have to plop down $500 for each version of OS X Server that is released in the next 3 years. Since I can always buy a new machine later, since I have to have the Apple Server Maintenance before the next version of Server (which is 10.6) arrives. I’m not sure when that day will be, which is why I’m leaning towards the maintenance program.

I’m not 100% sure what to do, but I guess I’ll sit and think about it for a bit before actually acting.

Tags: Decisions, Mac Mini, OS X Server

These are purely my own flaws and thoughts.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do and where I want to go, long term. And I got to thinking, long term, I always seem to be thinking long term, not really short term, not really mid-term, but long term. Everything in the future, never the present. I know this is completely different than most others, and I’m not entirely sure why I take this type of view over any other, nor do I know exactly how I managed to develop this viewpoint.

The goofy thing about the whole thing is that I have also noticed that I tend to know where things are going to end up, given the evidence. Let me show you an example. Now, I usually don’t write about work much, but in this case it’s pertinent.

The City of Aurora built a fiber network to replace the one that they’ve been leasing from Comcast. Seeing as, at the time we had only a single 1.5Mbps T-1 lines between our Main Library and each of our three buildings, the city putting in fiber was going to boost that percentage up 666% to 1Gbps. This type of bandwidth is completely unimaginable without spending a ton of money a month than most non-profits would be able to afford.

As soon as I found out that we, the library, were in the city’s plan for fiber, I already knew where we were going to end up, what were we going to be able to do, and what we were going to be able to change and consolidate.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I do think about short-term items, and can easily focus on short-term tasks and even mid-term projects and the like, but I guess I’m just more of an end-goal type of person.

The biggest downside to being an end-goal person is the fact that you can easily get discouraged when things start to become a bit to daunting in the short-term, it’s difficult to pull back and look at the long-term again. Since you’re not used to the issues that come up with short-term problems.

I don’t know, I could be entirely wrong, it’s been known to happen.

Tags: flaws, long-term thinking, thoughts

I’ve been working on a webapp for the last few weeks. I haven’t come up with a name, website, or even finished the thing yet. I do have a domain, so we’ll see how it goes… It’s nearing the 1.0 completion. There are still a list of things to do, but it’s getting there. I’ll post links and the like when I get everything going.

The big question with the project is where to stop development for the 1.0 release. I don’t want to do a beta, that’s just ridiculous and it shows that you have no clue where to go with your application. The main item that I’m asking myself is ‘What is the best way to monetize it?’. Should I do the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, whereby you give away the software but have people pay for support. Or do I sell the application and the support?

Let me know by filling out the poll.

[poll id='2']

Tags: software, support, webapp

So, I’ve created this support system at work and I’m working on making it web standard in order to be able to sell it.. I’ll have to do some major changes to it before I can actually go ahead and sell the thing. I’ve setup MYSQL on my macbook and I’m using it for all of my development of this. You would think I wouldn’t have to change anything, but alas I do, since the code that is currently been done on a Windows server and it works on Windows, but is not cross-platform. Which is my goal, so it’ll be a while before I get it done. But good things take time.

Tags: Apple, Business, Idea, macbook, mysql, php, windows

It’s been Ten years since a fatal accident that killed three teenagers. Here’s what I remember from that day, it was a cold, windy October day. I had gotten up and noticed how cold it was, despite having the heat on in the house, but none the less I got up, got ready for school and went. It was Friday of homecoming week and everybody was gearing up for that. I wasn’t too excited about anything because I wasn’t going to homecoming, so it didn’t matter much. I was walking to school when I noticed that the stadium lights were on at school, which was odd, but I thought little of it, except I do remember them facing North.

So I went to school, and did my normal morning this, going to my locker, checking on people, seeing how things were going. I went to my Intro to Physics and Chemistry class and we were all kept in our first period classes for a couple of hours, I started hearing rumblings of something going on, but nothing concrete. The whole day had a bad vibe. Once we were let out of our first period classes, I went to my second period American Studies class.

There were a bunch of people not in class. Then about halfway through the class a teacher came in and informed my teacher, Mrs. Hennigan, that there was an announcement from the school. This announcement informed us that one of the students in our class had died in a car accident that morning. I started looking around and I kept thinking of whom it might be, going through who wasn’t there. Before they said who it was, I knew, I looked right at Jennifer Robert’s seat. It was not a very good day overall. I remember the administration allowing people to leave because they were too distraught. I’m sure most left early because they could. I, of course, stayed since that’s what I always tend to do. Below is the article from the Chicago Tribune for 10/18/1997.

High school homecoming high jinks ended abruptly early Friday when three 16-year-old Naperville girls and a 27-year-old Aurora mother of three were killed in a two-car collision that police say was caused by a drunken driver.

Allison Matzdorf, Jennifer Roberts and Jenni Linn Anderson, all students at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, died when a 1991 Toyota Camry driven by Matzdorf was struck about 4 a.m. by a 1992 Pontiac Grand Am driven by Randy J. Visor, 28, of Aurora, police said

Visor’s passenger, Anna Louisa Pryor, 27, of Aurora, also was pronounced dead at the scene at Eola Road and New York Street in Aurora, according to police.

Authorities allege that Visor was drunk while he was driving west along New York Street at a high speed. They said he ran a red light at Eola and struck the Toyota, which was traveling south on Eola.

Friends of the three teens said Friday morning that the girls were among a group of students out toilet-papering the homes of football players and others involved in homecoming festivities when the accident occurred.

Visor was in serious condition Friday at Copley Memorial Hospital in Aurora, where he was being treated for chest trauma, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Visor’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, and there was an open bottle of liquor in the car, according to Aurora Police Chief Larry L. Langston.

Visor has been charged with four counts of reckless homicide and was under police guard at the hospital, according to DuPage County State’s Atty. Joseph E. Birkett. Upon his release from the hospital, Visor will be taken to the DuPage County Jail, Birkett said. Bond has been set at $4 million.

The secretary of state’s office has revoked Visor’s license, officials announced Friday. If convicted, Visor would face a possible prison term of 3 to 14 years, Birkett said. Birkett added that the accident investigation was ongoing, and additional charges may be filed.

Some two dozen neighbors of Matzdorf and Roberts, who lived in the same Naperville neighborhood, tied lavender and white ribbons on their mailboxes Friday afternoon in memory of the girls, both of whom baby-sat regularly for neighborhood tots.

Small children “adored” both girls, said Carol Bax, a neighbor who had employed both teenagers as baby-sitters.

Anderson’s aunt, Renee Steffan of Lemont, described her niece as a “firecracker” in terms of her energy and spirit.

“She was a good kid doing a fun thing,” Steffan said. “She just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The tragedy cast a pall over weekend homecoming festivities at Waubonsie Valley High School, where the three students were described as lovable, active, spirited and energetic by those who knew them. All three were student council members; Matzdorf and Anderson were members of the school swim team, and Roberts was a soccer player.

Student council members and swim team members learned of the deaths at a 9 a.m. assembly, while others heard of the tragedy from teachers during the first class period.

Arezoo Riahi, a junior from Naperville, was among the students involved in the toilet papering. Riahi said she was in a second car that drove past the scene of the accident no more than 15 minutes after it happened.

“When we saw the accident, we didn’t think anything about it; we just said, `My God, that’s terrible,’ ” Riahi said. “At the time, we just thought it was a good thing that it didn’t happen to any of us.”

A homecoming pep rally scheduled for Friday afternoon was canceled, but the football games and a parade were held as scheduled Friday night; a homecoming dance Saturday night is expected to go on as scheduled. Moments of silence in memory of the girls will be observed during homecoming events, school officials said.

During the junior-varsity football game, members of the junior class gathered in front of the class float, huddled together and cried on each other’s shoulders.

In the stands nearby, friends of the victims wore yellow ribbons in memory of them. The junior homecoming float, decorated with yellow roses, was scheduled to come out last in the parade and stop in front of the stands for a moment of silence.

Standing near the football field sidelines was Roberts’ father. “We wanted to be here for our child,” said Richard Roberts.

Waubonsie Valley officials did their best to keep the school day as normal as possible Friday. No classes were canceled, but students who had difficulties dealing with the tragedy were allowed to go home, with parental permission.

Those inside the school said there were audible sounds of grief in each classroom as news of the tragedy spread.

Rev. Ed Doepel, a local pastor and chaplain of the Aurora Police Department, was at the 9 a.m. assembly where student council members and swimmers gathered to hear news of the tragedy.

“There was just a loud gasp and then the sounds of crying,” Doepel said. “It was so bad, nothing was said afterward for a few minutes so we could gain some control.”

Waubonsie Valley Principal Gary Elmen knew the three through their student council involvement. He said a crisis team of more than 20 staff counselors, social workers and psychologists was at the school Friday to help students deal with the loss.

According to Elmen, the news that the accident may have been caused by a drunken driver compounded the grief at the school. In February, assistant football coach Jeff Still was killed in an accident in Aurora in which alcohol was involved. The jerseys of the Waubonsie Valley football team bear Still’s initials.

Naperville junior Jennifer Engle had known the three girls since their days at Thayer Hill Middle School in Naperville. Engle said she had spent much time with them this week building the junior-class float and attending festivities that included a sock hop at Waubonsie Valley the night before the accident.

“Last night they were so funny; they sang and did karaoke,” Engle said. “There are so many lives they touched. There are a lot of people who will miss them tremendously.”

Pryor, Visor’s passenger, was the mother of an 9-year-old boy and two girls, ages 3 and 5. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services awarded custody of the three children to Pryor’s sister, Lydia Ramirez, 28, of Aurora.

Ramirez said her sister had returned to her hometown about five months ago from California to bury her husband, who died in a car crash. Pryor and her children were scheduled to fly back to California on Wednesday to restart their lives there.

State driving records indicate Visor was cited for speeding in September, and that case had yet to be resolved. He also was cited for speeding twice in May and June 1996, the records indicate. There was no indication of previous charges for driving under the influence.

Tags: JAJ, October 17 1997, Rememberance, Tragedy

Apple decided to ship their 1.1.1 firmware update for the iPhone. Now, this broke all unlocked (as in Non-AT&T) iPhones. Additionally, you can no longer have 3rd Party Applications and the iPhone Dev Team is working hard on breaking this, and I don’t have my custom ringtones. Based on principle, I refuse to purchase ringtones, there’s just no reason to force people to purchase them. I’m eagerly waiting the ability to get my ringtones back.

On another note, I think I’ve decided to get the Apple 10.5 Leopard Family Pack once it’s available with my $100 Rebate and my Gift card that I got for our 6th Month Anniversary, from the beautiful Jenny. Either that, or I’ll end up getting a 160GB iPod Classic. I’m pretty sure it’ll be Leopard.

On a completely separate note, I’ll be moving in with my Grandma after my Grandpa died last weekend. I’ll be paying rent, so we’ll see how that goes. I’ll probably be moving some stuff over, starting next weekend, but we’ll see….

Tags: 1.1.1, Apple, Firmware Update, iPhone

Today was the funeral/wake/burial of my grandfather. All went well, it was a great day outside, he would’ve loved it. I wasn’t too bad off, until they started to play ‘Taps’, since he was in the Army during the Korean war (1951-1953). Thanks for all of the well wishes from everybody. Here is the Obituary,

“Bruce A. Olson, beloved husband of Kay Olson, nee Schmitt; loving father of Daryl S. (Donna) Olson, Cynthia (Wayne) Dixon, Shari (Raymond) Cheehy and the late Brian Christopher Olson; grandfather of 12; and great-grandfather of one. Visitation Wednesday 10 a.m. until time of service 1 p.m. at Adams-Winterfield & Sullivan Funeral Home, 4343 Main St. (1 blk So. Of Ogden Ave.) Downers Grove. Interment Clarendon Hills Cemetery. 630-968-1000″.

Tags: Bruce Olson, burial, Funerla, grandfather, obituaury, wake

Well, with the Nintendo DS Lite Browser coming out in June, I’ve ordered that, and am probably going to use that for a while, and see if that will be enough for me… but we’ll see… it’s a hell of a lot cheaper only $35 versus $400 versus $750… so I’ll see how it works…

Tags: browser, ds, Nintendo, price