Georgia Navigator :: Cameras
Speaking of traffic problems, today is a wondeful day. A Tractor trailor lost control hit a sign and all southbound lanes of GA 400 are closed (with a detour in effect) until approx 10:20PM today.
However, the GA DOT does have some nifty cameras online if you want to check out some of the Atlanta traffic. (Just be happy you are not here ;))
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Road Enhancements
One of the problems with the Atlanta metro area is the traffic. Anyone can and will tell you about it. (Hell you want an earful just ask me). Well in my neighborhood, they are working on some proposed road improvements. Namely converting a two lane road into a four lane. This is something so desperately needed in this area and the entire metro area it is not funny… Well it appears that some people are standing up to say no. (This is the reason the traffic situation already is so bad) Well in this great country we have the ability to free speech and to express our thoughts and desires. That is our right!
There are well over a 50,000 people in this area (EDIT: Link to census numbers Ack! 650,000+). However, these 22 people have organized and are planning a campaign to stop this enhancement project. Okay, they have that right. However, the elected officials are listening to them, and actually proposing alternates (That will only make the problem worse because there is a clear right and wrong way to fix this problem) or scratching the system all together… In this situation I am of the mind the needs of the many out weight the needs of the few.
If 22 people have a complaint about this upgrade project, fine, state your option. However when 22 people can actually impact the lives of well over 50,000 other people who are not speaking out on this issue then there are some serious issues in play here. That is the reason we have elected officials to think about the needs of the many (including those who do not and cannot speak out for themselves)… not to listen to the clear minority. If there are efforts to turn out the vote or campaign for or against, and those against win the battle. Fine, I will accept that, however I will reserve the right to bitch about how everyone is a moron!
A member of the subdivision I live in has passed out a leaflet outlining the issue. Great care was taken to present the facts of the issue, without attempting to influence anyone’s thoughts on the subject and has asked those who are concerned for or against to speak up on the matter. I can state that I will be speaking up on this matter, and I can also publicly share, I will be for the efforts. For if we fail to do what is needed now, we will pay the price later, whether in lost time or in lost tax payer money to go back and fix it later a much greater cost.
Hell, despite all the news of how the economy is lackluster in this area if you look around you see nothing but construction. New subdivisions, apartments, business offices, retail establishments. There are not any (none-what so ever) road enhancements (other than beatification projects). There is the interesting issue of Wal-Mart turning up to build yet another super center in the area. The only interesting thing at this point is that there already is a Wal-Mart Super center less than 4 miles down the road. Two massive super centers within 4 miles… What gives!?
Perhaps, the folks at Wal-Mart have the correct thought-lines and are thinking ahead for when this area is fully built up. (Let’s say the next 7-10 years at the current pace). Hell they can always turn one of them into a Sam’s Club (which they have stated in the press they have no intentions of doing).
All I can say, is there should no dissent to road enhancements, failure to enhance the road infrastructure in our area, the greater Atlanta area, or any urban area in the U.S. is foolhardy and will cost us all time and money. If you want more time to spend with your friends and family you need to support these enhancements, otherwise you will be sitting in a line of cars 50-60 or more in length waiting to go through a four-way stop sign on a two lane road, in a major urban area.
There are well over a 50,000 people in this area (EDIT: Link to census numbers Ack! 650,000+). However, these 22 people have organized and are planning a campaign to stop this enhancement project. Okay, they have that right. However, the elected officials are listening to them, and actually proposing alternates (That will only make the problem worse because there is a clear right and wrong way to fix this problem) or scratching the system all together… In this situation I am of the mind the needs of the many out weight the needs of the few.
If 22 people have a complaint about this upgrade project, fine, state your option. However when 22 people can actually impact the lives of well over 50,000 other people who are not speaking out on this issue then there are some serious issues in play here. That is the reason we have elected officials to think about the needs of the many (including those who do not and cannot speak out for themselves)… not to listen to the clear minority. If there are efforts to turn out the vote or campaign for or against, and those against win the battle. Fine, I will accept that, however I will reserve the right to bitch about how everyone is a moron!
A member of the subdivision I live in has passed out a leaflet outlining the issue. Great care was taken to present the facts of the issue, without attempting to influence anyone’s thoughts on the subject and has asked those who are concerned for or against to speak up on the matter. I can state that I will be speaking up on this matter, and I can also publicly share, I will be for the efforts. For if we fail to do what is needed now, we will pay the price later, whether in lost time or in lost tax payer money to go back and fix it later a much greater cost.
Hell, despite all the news of how the economy is lackluster in this area if you look around you see nothing but construction. New subdivisions, apartments, business offices, retail establishments. There are not any (none-what so ever) road enhancements (other than beatification projects). There is the interesting issue of Wal-Mart turning up to build yet another super center in the area. The only interesting thing at this point is that there already is a Wal-Mart Super center less than 4 miles down the road. Two massive super centers within 4 miles… What gives!?
Perhaps, the folks at Wal-Mart have the correct thought-lines and are thinking ahead for when this area is fully built up. (Let’s say the next 7-10 years at the current pace). Hell they can always turn one of them into a Sam’s Club (which they have stated in the press they have no intentions of doing).
All I can say, is there should no dissent to road enhancements, failure to enhance the road infrastructure in our area, the greater Atlanta area, or any urban area in the U.S. is foolhardy and will cost us all time and money. If you want more time to spend with your friends and family you need to support these enhancements, otherwise you will be sitting in a line of cars 50-60 or more in length waiting to go through a four-way stop sign on a two lane road, in a major urban area.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Product or Process?
Wow… Another week runs by. Just when you get used to the daily grind and you don’t think it can get busier… Well it does. My current employers a medium sized organization, which has grown rapidly, through both acquisitions and business growth.
They are currently struggling with the operational and managerial framework that is required to shift from a small time IT environment to a large scale enterprise environment. Progress is made, however there is still a lot of room for growth.
Topics such as desktop administration, asset management, domain administration, delegation, and locked down workstations, licensing controls, SOX Compliance (Sarbanes-Oxley), and others are coming to the forefront in additional to the daily tasks that have already existed in the organization.
One of the current realizations this organization is undergoing is that of, Product vs. Process. Most small and some medium sized companies are able to solve problems with a single item called a product, you have a need for a service or function you buy a product install it and then use said product.
Many larger organizations have already realized that you often need to replace the word product with process. Desktop administration is a process. This process can be made easier with a number of products, but the larger the organization the harder it is to find a product to single handedly resolve the pain in an area.
The following products are some that are viewed as solution by some medium and larger organizations when they also should be looking at the process that needs to be wrapped around those products.
Desktop Deployment
Managed and Locked Down Workstations
SMS 2003
Patch Management
You can find many products, which will advertise they can solve the pain points associated with these areas of IT management, however, if they are not wrapped in a solid process the root problem will only be marginally mitigated or only covered up to rear its ugly head again later. (At the much greater expense)
If you have installed products and they are largely underused, misunderstood or failing in the implementation it may not be the product itself (although it could be) it may be a failure in the process surrounding the product or the lack of any coherent process in the first place.
They are currently struggling with the operational and managerial framework that is required to shift from a small time IT environment to a large scale enterprise environment. Progress is made, however there is still a lot of room for growth.
Topics such as desktop administration, asset management, domain administration, delegation, and locked down workstations, licensing controls, SOX Compliance (Sarbanes-Oxley), and others are coming to the forefront in additional to the daily tasks that have already existed in the organization.
One of the current realizations this organization is undergoing is that of, Product vs. Process. Most small and some medium sized companies are able to solve problems with a single item called a product, you have a need for a service or function you buy a product install it and then use said product.
Many larger organizations have already realized that you often need to replace the word product with process. Desktop administration is a process. This process can be made easier with a number of products, but the larger the organization the harder it is to find a product to single handedly resolve the pain in an area.
The following products are some that are viewed as solution by some medium and larger organizations when they also should be looking at the process that needs to be wrapped around those products.
Desktop Deployment
Managed and Locked Down Workstations
SMS 2003
Patch Management
You can find many products, which will advertise they can solve the pain points associated with these areas of IT management, however, if they are not wrapped in a solid process the root problem will only be marginally mitigated or only covered up to rear its ugly head again later. (At the much greater expense)
If you have installed products and they are largely underused, misunderstood or failing in the implementation it may not be the product itself (although it could be) it may be a failure in the process surrounding the product or the lack of any coherent process in the first place.
Friday, June 3, 2005
Mark Rein On Next-Gen, Rising Costs, and More
"Every year, there seems to be an article on the "death" of the PC gaming market..."
Mark Rein On Next-Gen, Rising Costs, and More
There is always the talk of a death knell for the PC gaming industry. I always was on the opposite side of that thought line as the PC is still central to everything (including console development), I was stunned with the advances on the next generation consoles and started to consider that PC gaming could soon fail, but as Mark Rein states in this article the PCs will still be central around console gaming development, and with further hardware integration the PC gaming side of the industry could see a growth spurt.
Entirely possible. Time will tell.
Mark Rein On Next-Gen, Rising Costs, and More
There is always the talk of a death knell for the PC gaming industry. I always was on the opposite side of that thought line as the PC is still central to everything (including console development), I was stunned with the advances on the next generation consoles and started to consider that PC gaming could soon fail, but as Mark Rein states in this article the PCs will still be central around console gaming development, and with further hardware integration the PC gaming side of the industry could see a growth spurt.
Entirely possible. Time will tell.
Thursday, June 2, 2005
XChange - BellSouth Completes Contracts for Next-Gen Network
XChange - BellSouth Completes Contracts for Next-Gen Network
Oohh! Even more news on the planned upgrades for BellSouth's Broadband network. Yay!
Oohh! Even more news on the planned upgrades for BellSouth's Broadband network. Yay!
Just Say No!
"He said that he would sell me the bed frame without collecting any information, and that I was in the 1% of people that was not willing to give him their drivers license number or personally identifiable information. I didn't doubt this information, as it was probably the first truth that came out of his mouth."
From JD's Blog on MyItForum
I am sure this is too true, when someone asks for your personal and indentifing information, Just say no, or if they persist, just ask them for their credit card number. That will shut them up.
From JD's Blog on MyItForum
I am sure this is too true, when someone asks for your personal and indentifing information, Just say no, or if they persist, just ask them for their credit card number. That will shut them up.
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Reply To All: Syndrome
Most people who work in a larger organization (e.g. anything over a few hundred employees) have more than likely encountered this situation. Internal company SPAM emails. What is this?
It is email that is sent from an internal user of the company to multiple other employees of the company. Most of whom have no idea what they hell they are talking about or no abilities or responsibilities to correct the issue they have, yet this clueless, hopelessly flustered person thinks that the entire (internal)world needs to know about their problem.
I just call it internal SPAM. Before you hit the send button make sure all people who are included on the email need to actually read it. Otherwise… DO NOT CLICK THE SEND BUTTON!
As an additional thought, if your organization uses internal mailing lists and you do not know who will receive the message? DO NOT CLICK THE SEND BUTTON!
Those who wonder about proper email etiquette, here is an link to email etiquette…
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/p_emailett.html
Note, you can also Google: Email, Etiquette
If you know someone who suffers from excessive CC: syndrome, Reply To All: Syndrome, or any other please email some of these links to them!
It is email that is sent from an internal user of the company to multiple other employees of the company. Most of whom have no idea what they hell they are talking about or no abilities or responsibilities to correct the issue they have, yet this clueless, hopelessly flustered person thinks that the entire (internal)world needs to know about their problem.
I just call it internal SPAM. Before you hit the send button make sure all people who are included on the email need to actually read it. Otherwise… DO NOT CLICK THE SEND BUTTON!
As an additional thought, if your organization uses internal mailing lists and you do not know who will receive the message? DO NOT CLICK THE SEND BUTTON!
Those who wonder about proper email etiquette, here is an link to email etiquette…
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/p_emailett.html
Note, you can also Google: Email, Etiquette
If you know someone who suffers from excessive CC: syndrome, Reply To All: Syndrome, or any other please email some of these links to them!
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