Professional Auto Care

Well it’s 10pm on Thursday and I’ve found a few minutes to write. I’ve been totally overwhelmed with the selection process of a new assistant. In just a few days I’ve now received almost 70 applications. I believe I’ve got a great position, and the right person will love working here,  the work is fun, and tough sometimes, but I don’t believe in a ‘perfect’ environment.

My help wanted ad was, without a doubt, unorthodox, maybe even irreverent. Just the way I like it. And, yes, I even got some hate mail from a few people, who were downright angry about my post, calling it ‘unprofessional’ and ‘arrogant’.

A good friend and mentor of mine told me once that “you’re not even in the game until you’ve offended somebody. ” makes sense to me.

I want to thank those people who took the time to write me, and explain the ‘error’ in my ways. I wish them well with their search for a job.

I did find it a bit ironic that I’m the one with the job to give, and yet some people have the belief that they ‘know’ what’s ‘right’ and ‘best’. Hmmm…no judgment,  just an observation.

So in the process of wading through these applications, I’ve had a few ‘shining stars’. That’s exciting. See, I believe, even in the ‘down economy’ and ‘bad times’ , there are going to be some people that are going to go broke, and there will be others that will make millions. I’m choosing to participate in the latter group. Most of which, I’ve found,  is a mindset. Yeah, it might be harder to make millions now than at some other time, but that’s far from being impossible.

Work is something that I’ve never been afraid of, in fact, I find it nourishes my soul. Work that’s worth doing…

I’m looking forward to 2009 being my best year ever… and I’ve had some good ones (and some bad ones too).

Till next time….

- Bob

P.S. In tough times I like to concentrate on what I’ve got, not what I don’t’. There have been days I’ve stopped, looked at my hands, felt my face, and said to myself, ” I’m still breathing, I’m not dead. This didn’t kill me, thanks for the lesson, now I’m stronger…”

P.P.S.  Many of the really tough lessons are the ones I’ve resisted most, but also gained the most from… now that’s irony.

One of the things that I’ve always found difficult to deal with is trust and communication. I had to revisit this last night and I got angry. It seems that there are some people ( and maybe this includes me sometimes ) that find it easier to bad mouth you or express negative feelings about something behind your back, rather than confronting or discussing something with you directly.

I question why this happens. Why don’t people speak up? I would guess it’s fear that keeps people quiet. Fear of someone being angry or disappointed or whatever. I would also guess that some people are easier to talk to or confront than others. I used to believe that I was easy to talk to, but I realized a few years ago, that I had a lot to learn about effective listening.  Maybe that’s why things have gone arwy sometimes it’s a combination of their fear of speaking up, and my ineffective listening getting in the way.

Well I’ve learned a lot how to do better, and I’ll keep working on that.

People are just doing the best they can at any moment. Including me.

- Bob

This am was a typical Sunday, wake up slow, eat breakfast, don’t even get into the shower and going until almost noon. That’s nice. Slept like a rock last night too, another bonus.

So I put an add on Craigslist looking for an office assistant for the various projects I’ve got going. It’s totally amazing to me how I can give a specific request in my ad, and still 50% of the people that respond don’t even pay attention to that directive. Did you really want the job? Don’t you think it would be wise to actually READ the job posting before pushing send on your e-mail button? It makes me laugh. This job (and any other as far as I’m concerned) is all about communication and listening skills, the better you are at those two, the better I believe you can do.

I love what I do, and I want someone that can support me with me various projects…

another Sunday moves on…

- Bob

I’ve got this list in my head, the list of things to do, and sometimes it just overwhelms me and I can’t sleep. At the same time I experience paralysis from this list. Like ‘where do I start’?

It’s late and I should get some sleep, but the list… it’s growning longer, I wish there was a way to get all the things from my head out and done without me having to do them…

Maybe that’s my next big project, a neural implant so you just think something, and then it’s done. Wouldn’t that make life easier..

Ok, off to bed to try and get some sleep. I hope it’s restful, the past few nights have not been.

- Bob

I’d like to think that I know and understand computers pretty well. At least I thought I did. The past 2 weeks have put that assumption to the test. I started to re-build one of my linux servers, and I really needed to do it from scratch. The old server hosting my repair shop website was 10 years old, and by computer standards that’s ancient.

So I started by downloading a fresh copy of Fedora Core 9, which I decided to use after much debate, because I’m familiar with the command structure, and since I’m not using a GUI to do any of the work, (yeah that’s right I’m a command line user), I figured it would give me a leg up to at least know the general syntax of things.

So here it is, two weeks later and many, many nights of work, and it’s 99% complete.

I’m not sure I’ve ever had so much to learn in such a short time, it was a serious challenge. The end result?

I’ve got a state of the art server that even an internet service provider would be proud of.

It’s got a totally secure e-mail server with the latest encryption systems for secure e-mail. An awesome web server capable of hosting thousands of websites. A web interface for adding users and allowing users to customize their e-mail options, roaming features which allow any of my authenticated users to go anywhere in the world, and send/receive e-mail from any network – all securely. It’s even got a SQL server back end running the virtual domains and user names and passwords for all the systems users.

So what’s all that mean? It means, fast, secure, portable e-mail and web services….

.. and it was all built without spending 1 penny on Microsoft (or any other) software. It’s all open source FREE software. Now, that’s what I call cool.

Was all my time and effort building this system worth it? I think so. A system without half of this systems capabilities based on Microsoft software would have cost tens of thousands of dollars, maybe more.

I’m getting ready to move to another phase of my business life, and I need the technology infrastructure to be there for me, I believe this type of system is a piece of that.

Plus, it sure is fun learning how to do something like that. ( at least for me..)

On a personal note, Jack and I went to the Boces Winter party today and ran into Sid and Kristen Ragona. They are such nice people and it was a joy chatting with them while the boys played outside. Personally I thought they were crazy to be out (the high today was 18), but hey, they had fun.

Well I’m off to watch a movie and relax, calling this a job well done.

I’ve got about 1000 other projects to do, but I guess that’s why there’s tomorrow…

For the past, about a week, I’ve been working on and off building a new server to host my various businesses websites and e-mail systems. Those that know me, know that I’m a computer geek, but even with that background, building an entire server system on linux is proving to be a difficult task.

I’ve read thousands of pages, and I’ve learned more about linux, command lines, mysql databases, and the like than I really wanted to know.

I guess this is a labor of love, and on some level I do enjoy it, but there are times that the linux community crosses over from being usable to having to be a programmer to get things to work correctly and securely.

I’m almost there, and I’m looking forward to being done with this project, so I can move on to other more important items. Of those I’ve got plenty….

When I’m done, I’ll think I’ll write a new tutorial on how to build a qmail server using all the latest and greatest patches, mysql integration, and web based management. I’ll be really cool. If I ever get to it..

I’ve also added a blog, new web based system administration, and a bunch more stuff, of course if you’re reading this, then you already know about the blog.. 

- Bob

Finally I have a day free with only a few dozen things I ‘should’ do. Given the pace that I’ve been running at lately, it’s nice to have a few moments of freedom. I’m looking forward to spending some time with my kids, and maybe doing a little shopping. I heard Citcuit City is closing so I thought I might go check it out and see if there’s any good deals there.

I need to finish re-building one of my servers at work, install a new qmail e-mail server, and complete that project before the shop gets super busy again. So maybe I’ll work on that a bit today.

Then again, maybe I’ll just stay home and play…

Talk again soon.

- Bob

As is becoming the tradition, my son and I went to my favorite restaurant for dinner this Friday night. I was anticipating almost no one to be there given that the outside temperature is currently 5 degrees F. That doesn’t include the windchill which brings the temp well into the zub zero range.

But I was wrong. The place was packed, and I was thankful. All those people made the place nice and warm, and a few glasses of wine and some spicey chicken wings didn’t hurt either.

We ran into my son’s educational staff from his school and it was nice to see them having a great time. I bought them all a drink. It’s rare (at least in my mind) to have such a great community of people as we do here, and a great bar/restaurant for them to gather and connect. I loved every minute of it.

We ordered the hot wings, and my 10 year old son powered through them like a champ, people at the bar near us commented how they were amazed that a boy that age could stand the heat. I guess the apple really doesn’t fall that far from the tree after all…

So now we’re home, and I’m enjoying a glass of red, just trying to stay warm..

Sleep well to anyone reading this..

- Bob

This is my new blog that I setup this week. I had to do a ton of work to my server to allow this all to work, but it was time the servers got a much needed overhaul anyway.

I’ll be writing here as I move through my life, and I hope you enjoy reading my musings, and thoughts about events, people and places.

Happy reading…

- Bob