*Words of Wisdom From The Elder

I tend to stay out of two circles of public discussion, 1) politics and 2) world affairs.  But given our government spent $700 billion dollars last week makes me take up the keyboard and come to life. 

Dan Gilbert, the Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans (full disclosure – I work for QL), and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has a solution to the problem at hand.  It is a plan that, while lengthy, for me makes a lot of sense. 

It makes sense on a lot of levels including only costing $50 billion dollars instead of $700 billion dollars.  It makes sense because people can keep their homes and get more money circulating back into the economy.

Before you pass judgment, read the plan.   If you don’t know Dan, know that he’s a great thinker and a man that has a deep understanding of what is going on.  Also understand this plan is not just something Dan wrote down on a whim.  He’s been doing a lot of work on this with our Chief Economist Bob Walters and the Former Chairman and CEO of Pulte Homes, Jim Grosfeld. 

If you like the plan, let Dan know as well as others.  If you hate the plan, let Dan know.

Here is the plan:

http://choosethinking.com/2008/10/a-solution-that-works/ 

With the stock market today losing over 700 points we need to do something and fast. 

Just this morning I got an email stating I was renewed for my MVP award!  There is a change though.   The award is no longer in the “Client App Dev” category.  I am currently in the “Connected Systems Developer” category. 

What does this mean?  Well, it just means that my focus the past year has been more on things like Workflow Foundation, WCF, and others.  I think this category is a better fit, especially for my current role at work. 

A big thanks to Microsoft for this recognition, it is truly an honor.  

Coming up with a name for something is one of the hardest things to do.  A name says the intent, can lock you into certain genres and much more.  I need your help in naming my up and coming podcast show.  Before you cast your vote here is the intent of the show.

A show with a Southern Flavor telling tales and stories about technology that is available today from the perspective of those who have gone through the learning curve of the technology and are ready to tell their story in a simple and easy to understand manner.

There are three choices currently on the table at the moment.

• Gumpology.Com – Technology explained so even your Grandmother can understand it.
• RustyWashers.Com – Seperating the shinny pennies and rusty washers in technology so you don’t have to.
• DevTales.Com – (no tag line, name is self explanatory)
• DeepFriedBytes.Com – Anything deep fried is good c’mon!

Here are the pros and cons of each one after shopping the names around.

Gumpology Pros

• While the first impression may be about Forrest Gump, it isn’t about Forrest at all.  It is about explaining technology so it is easier to understand.  The dumbing down of technology if you will. 
• A unique name.
• Broad, could cover a lot of things.

Gumpology Cons

• Has too much Forrest connotation with it. 
• Over used.
• Possible copyright troubles.

RustyWashers Pros

• The name is more in line with what the show is about.  The show is about tales and stories from the trenches, an aspect of that is finding the rusty washers and shinny pennies within a technology. 
• Easy to theme.
• Not technology specific, could cover lots of things
• Easy to spell 

RustyWashers Cons

• People may not identify with the name immediately.

DevTales Pros

• Fairly short name.
• The word “tales” sort of sets the show context.

DevTales Cons

• Very generic and plain
• Not very Southern sounding
• Locks the show into only development technologies

DeepFriedBytes Pros

• Everything Southern is deep fried
• Sounds techy and Southern
• Kinda funny

DeepFriedBytes Cons

• I can’t think of one

A lot of things to weigh in on no doubt.  You see why I’m struggling with this?  When in doubt, create a Poll I say!  Vote for your favorite show name here:

http://poll.pollcode.com/FPJy

UPDATED:  Add a new domain so I started the poll all over.  Revote!

For years my wife and I have argued about Dinner vs Supper.  Believe it or not depending on which part of the country you are in saying dinner can actually mean lunch.  My wife thought I was just stupid for years when I would argue with her that I had heard people use dinner to mean lunch.  I searched the Internet over for proof that I wasn’t crazy and finally found something.

Standard Version

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner

Southern Version

• Breakfast
• Dinner
• Supper

The word “supper” typically means the last mean of the day but for whatever reason it isn’t used much outside of the South.  I lived in Michigan for eight years and cannot recall a single time I ever heard someone say supper.  The word “dinner” means the main meal of the day.  Obviously this is more vague and since you are not suppose to eat a heavy meal before going to bed I think this is why people have adopted saying dinner to also mean lunch.  Dinner is usually eaten in the evening, but it can be eaten at lunchtime.

To fix the world’s confusion I think this is what we should do.

My Version

• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Supper

This solves the problem of even using the word dinner and avoids confusion since supper is the last meal of the day.  Logical, easy, no confusion.

No this is not an April fools joke because it isn’t April, it is January 19th, 2008.  This morning around 7:30 AM a buddy of mine called me and asked if we were in Michigan.  Still being groggy from waking up I said “What?”.  He then explained it was snowing outside.   I expressed my concern that he was probably still drinking from the night before but sure enough I walked to the bay windows in my home office and low and behold SNOW!

I immediately grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.  The last time it snowed in Hattiesburg, Ms was 22 15 years ago (according to my wife).  It is truly something that is a rare occurrence in this part of the US.  The snow is probably due to the really low temperatures the North is going through right now. 

The reason this is a rare occurrence is the fact that we are only 60 miles from the Gulf of Mexico.  For those of you geographically challenged here is a map showing the location.

How warm is it usually down here?  Well let’s just say that last year around this time a bunch of us went camping at the river and watched the AFC and NFC championship games in HD while cooking out on the grill and wearing shorts.  It was 72 degrees that weekend, sunny, and beautiful outside. 

Here are some numbers to help cement this rare occurrence in your head.  As you can see in the following weather statistics according to http://www.weather.com our average low temperature in January is 36 degrees with an average high of 60 degrees.  Obviously too warm for snow. 

Don’t worry, the snow will turn to a slush before too long and will be gone.   Snow ice cream anyone?

If you want to see all the pictures I took, they are posted on Flickr.

UPDATE: Corrected years since it snowed.