I've never really been one for gifts, and my family's much the same way. One year, my mom said that for her birthday, she'd like to receive sturdy plants for her garden. Another time, she requested books. One year, I asked people for letters. On another birthday, I asked people for their two-year plans. (Seriously. I gave seatwork.)

This year, I wanted to celebrate my birthday by sharing stories. I realized that a large part of being homesick is missing the sense of being known, and I wanted to share both my Philippine stories with W- and my Canadian stories with my family.

I celebrated my 25th birthday with my parents, my middle sister Kathy, and my partner W-. In the morning, my dad took W- and me around the electronic shops at Raon, the combination of Catholicism and superstition around Quiapo, and the photography shops at R. Hidalgo. I'm looking forward to trying out the SB-800 flash my dad gave me as a birthday gift. =)

After our trip, my mom took us around Ateneo, UP, and Pisay. W- and I had watched "Philippine Science" at the Toronto International Film Festival, so it was nice for him to see where I'd gone to school. We told a lot of stories along the way.

In the evening, my dad and my sister gave the commencement speech at the graduation of the photography students at Benilde. It was a quick, informal affair accompanied by a photo exhibit, which inspired me to think about shooting more.

After the commencement reception, we went out to dinner at Chateau 1771 in Greenbelt. We told tons of stories over dinner, and W- got a better idea of the crazy adventures that my family finds ourselves in. =D It was just the way I wanted to spend my birthday. (Or, well, it would've been if I'd remembered to bring a way to record the stories…)

Tomorrow, my godparents are having a tea party at the house in Alabang. It'll be fun seeing them again. =) The day after that is Diane's wedding - hooray! I just finished sending a few of my high school pictures to Mario, who's putting together a slideshow. Can't wait to attend!

25 years. So far, so good. Next up - even better!

Reusing my /home partition made it really easy to get up and running. I've also symlinked a few shared directories such as /usr/src and /usr/local. End result: a system that's pretty much like my RHEL system, but much more current.

Hooray!

I spent some time working on the Wicked Cool Emacs today. Spam filtering - not something I'd set up before. I'm writing it because I promised to write it, but I can't shake off the feeling that this part would be better done by someone who's passionate about Emacs and spam filtering. I have Google handle my spam filtering for me, so I haven't needed to do anything more sophisticated. Still, not everyone's going to have the same set-up, so it would be good to document that too.

I'm tempted to jump to a different chapter and start working on that, just to make working on the book fun again.

Although we have a terrific centralized corporate directory at IBM, I've found it very useful to also have a simple professional profile with a short biography, my contact information, and links to the other services I use on the intranet and on the Internet. Having one site that brings all of these things together makes it easier for me to help people get to know who I am, what I'm passionate about, and where they can find out more about me. I include this URL in my e-mail signature and in my presentations so that people can find me easily.

I use Wordpress as a content management system so that I can quickly add links and pages without editing HTML. On my internal site, I use the Blueprint theme for Wordpress. It's clean and easy to read, and it fits with Big Blue's color scheme. The front page explains who I am, what I do, and what my team does. It also links to places where people can check out my bookmarks, download my latest presentations, and so on.

To set up something like it:

1. Download and install Wordpress.
2. Download and unpack the Blueprint theme to your wp-content/themes/ directory.
3. Choose the Blueprint theme from the Wordpress administration interface.
4. Create a page called "About". Fill it in with details about yourself.
5. Set the About page as your site's front page in the Settings - Reading menu.
6. Create links to your profiles on other services and other related websites.

Technorati Tags: wordpress

Technorati Tags: passion

Here's what I love about Pass It Along, and I think you'll love it too:

• You can find out who's learning a topic and see what else they're interested in. Sharing what I know becomes a lot more fun when I can see who's learning, because it gives me feedback that what I'm sharing is useful. Lists of people are much better than anonymous hit counts because I can view their profiles to see what else they're interested in.
• You can learn from other people's contributions. People can add links, related presentations, discussion topics, and other updates. For example, the "How to Make the Most of Your Commute" topic I started within IBM drew lots of interesting suggestions.
• You can create a place for discussions. I give a lot of presentations, and Pass It Along topics are a terrific place to hold follow-up discussions and reach out to more people. I post my presentation material using the Presentation Wizard and include the URL of the Pass It Along topic on my slides. It's a great way for learners to connect with each other, too.

I also really like how a newbie like me can create value for other people by sharing what I'm learning. =) Whee! I'm copying some of my public content over, and you can find my topics on Pass It Along.

IBM Pass It Along on Alphaworks is a public site open to everyone. Access controls will follow soon, so you can limit topic access to just your organization if needed. IBM Pass It Along is even better inside your organization, where you can link it up with your employee directory or do all sorts of other cool stuff.

Check it out - it might be a great fit for your organization!

IBM Pass It Along

Technorati Tags: enterprise2.0, ibm, km, learning, passitalong, social, web2.0

Limits work on the messages that are currently displayed, so you can
apply multiple limits. If you make a mistake, use / w
(gnus-summary-pop-limit) to remove the previous limit. You can repeat
/ w (gnus-summary-pop-limit) until satisfied. To remove all the
limits, type C-u / w (gnus-summary-popl-limit).

If you specify a prefix, the limit's meaning is reversed. For
example, C-u / a (gnus-summary-limit-to-author) will remove the
messages from the matching author or authors.

You can use Gnus to search the currently-displayed messages by using
M-s (gnus-summary-search-article-forward) and M-r
(gnus-summary-search-article-backward).

If you want to search a lot of mail, you'll find NNIR handy. NNIR is a
front-end to mail search engines which can index your mail and return
search results quickly. If you want to use NNIR with a local or remote
IMAP server, you will need to use nnir.el and imap.el. If you download
your mail using fetchmail or connect to a POP3 server and use an nnml
backend, you can use NNIR with a search engine such as swish-e to
search your ~/Mail directory efficiently.

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/elisp")
(load-file "~/elisp/imap.el")
(require 'nnir)

mknmz --mailnews -O ~/.namazu-mail ~/Mail

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/elisp")
(require 'nnir)
(setq nnir-search-engine 'namazu)
(setq nnir-namazu-index-directory (expand-file-name "~/.namazu-mail"))
(setq nnir-namazu-remove-prefix (expand-file-name "~/Mail"))
(setq nnir-mail-backend gnus-select-method)

Technorati Tags: emacs, gnus, mail, namazu, nnir, search, wickedcoolemacs

1. figure out the gist of what I want to say
2. write down some titles
3. sketch a couple of ideas into my idea book (thanks Mom!)
4. pull the storyboard together
5. draw it on my DS
6. copy the files using the USB adapter
7. convert the DRW files to PNGs using a scale of 2.0 (nice and not too blurry even blown up)
8. batch-import all the PNGs in a directory (OpenOffice.org extension or Microsoft Powerpoint Import Image -> Photo Album)
9. post the presentation to Slideshare.net
10. blog about it

=)

I really wish I could just automate step 7, but oh well!

This will be a little shaky for the next few days as I move more things over, but things should be much more zippy now. Next steps: get my domain name sorted out, then move my non-blog content over.

Thanks for your patience!

I felt anxious about the keynote because we hadn't had a lot of face-to-face time to prepare for the four-part presentation. Because of the Best Practices Conference, the Technical Leadership Exchange, and the Web 2.0 Summit, I had hardly any time to work on my part of the presentation, much less rehearse it together with the others. After agreeing on the general structure for the presentation, we split up and worked individually. I took the section on the Demographic Revolution because it was something I was interested in and I could use some of the research I'd done for my TLE talk on I.B.Millennials. Four days before the keynote, though, I still hadn't nailed down the words for my part of the presentation. As we rehearsed, I experimented with what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it, listening to myself to find good ways to say things. If my teammates were worried about the way I kept saying things differently each time we ran through the content, they didn't let their nervousness show.

I was nervous about a different thing, too. I like highly interactive sessions, but our presentation would have no opportunities for questions or insights from other people. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough light to see people react. While giving a presentation, have you ever felt hyper-attenuated to the audience, listening with an almost physical reaction to people as you're sharing your thoughts? That feeling is one of the things I love about speaking, and I wasn't sure if I could get into that zone with such a large audience. I was afraid that I might be oblivious to people's reactions.

On Sunday–one day before our big show–I mindmapped my speech and added keywords to my speaker notes. After sending my presentation to my teammates, I threw a suit into a bag and dashed to the hotel. I checked in for one night and left my clothes in the hotel room. I then headed to the hall to meet up with Aaron, Bernie, and Jen. We rehearsed the entire presentation three times. Each time, it got smoother and smoother. I even practiced getting up on the tall stools on the stage. I didn't want to trip in front of all of those IBMers! Not the best way to become memorable… =)

Monday was our big day. I ironed my suit and made it down in time to grab some breakfast, hoping that I wouldn't have any problems on stage. After the opening speech, we went on stage. Then there was nothing to do but reach out and connect.

I loved listening to my team members' parts. Somehow, things came together in the two days we'd rehearsed. When it was my turn, the speaker notes helped me remember all the points I wanted to make, and my presenter remote allowed me to step away from the podium. There was a hiccup when Aaron's laptop ran out of power, but the backup computer that Aaron had brought along (hard-won experience!) got us through the rest of the presentation. Bernie ended up speaking without notes, and he didn't seem fazed at all.

I'm glad I was part of that presentation. It stretched me and made me want to learn even more about giving presentations and reaching out to hundreds of people. I want to get even better at sharing that energy, that fire. So–relentless improvement!

What worked:

• Presentation style: The four of us agreed to use large pictures to give our presentation a distinctive and consistent style. Aaron used Keynote to make it pretty. (It made me want to get a Mac just for presentations!) 
• Metaphor: I used the metaphor of a river to describe the demographic challenges of the North American workplace. It wasn't easy to find just the right image. I knew I wanted a wide river with a narrow middle part, but how do you search for something like that? I searched for rivers, river necks, bottlenecks… Eventually, I found a Creative Commons Attribution-licensed Flickr photo of a river canyon. I cropped and magnified the section that looked like what I wanted. The resulting image was obviously pixelated, but I just couldn't find any other image that resembled the one I had in mind.
• Transitions: Our speech connected well with the other keynote speeches and the advertisements. We couldn't have planned it better. We knew a little bit about the theme beforehand, and we tapped into the zeitgeist.
• Technology: My totally awesome Logitech presenter remote meant that we didn't have to worry about being behind the computer to control the slides. It beat the infrared Mac remote, which only worked with certain angles.
• Preparation: When the main computer died, Aaron's backup Mac saved the day. The lack of speaker notes didn't bother Bernie at all. Good work!

What I can do to make this even better next time:

• Watch out for in-jokes: We assumed people would understand the elephant pictures as references to Gerstner's "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?". People who weren't familiar with IBM's history picked up negative associations, though.
• Learn from other people's successes: Aaron's preparation of a backup computer and Bernie's smooth transition are two things I'd like to emulate.
• Get a Mac? Just for Keynote?

That was fun!

• I spent Sunday to Wednesday at the IBM Technical Leadership Exchange in Orlando, Florida. Here are some of the highlights:

• Networking workshop: Looks like I've got the basic networking stuff down pat. Well, maybe I could find a better way to do follow-up - a quicker way to do data entry and mass e-mail? Hmm. Also, it might be a good idea to try teaching social networking sometime…
• Presentation secrets from comedians: Some great tips in there, such as establishing the space at the beginning of the presentation and getting the hang of walking backwards.
• Animal Kingdom - It's really quite a different experience, chatting about tech while going up a rollercoaster… =)
• Keynote speeches - Loved the energy! Someday I'm going to be able to do something like that…

Thought for the week: I like this, but I'm also looking forward to slowing down and catching my breath. =)

Technorati Tags: weekly

He has come up with “the kind of shots that have eluded some of us, even with years of training,” said ace advertising photographer John Chua, who introduced Ian to his new hobby by chance.

That's my dad - random acts of kindness turn into front-page news! =D

Technorati Tags: emacs, gnus, wickedcoolemacs

I have a few days on the ground before flying off to another conference. I have yet to write up my notes and e-mail all the people I've met. I will need to do that today.

It makes me wonder what I am doing right, so that I can teach that to others.

Another interesting technique I picked up was the Fist of Five, when people hold up five fingers to indicate full agreement, four fingers to indicate that they mostly agree with something, three fingers to indicate that they can live with something, two fingers to indicate that they have minor issues, one finger to indicate that they have major issues, and zero (a fist) for a flat no.  This technique works best in an established team where people feel comfortable about sharing their opinions, and not quite so well in a new team where people might not feel at ease with disagreement. 

It was interesting to hear the international perspectives from the audience. One of the audience members pointed out that in China, this technique might work with employees from multinational companies, but not with state employees because of their sensitivity to hierarchy.  The audience member also noted that this technique can be used with small companies, but not with the founder present.

Another audience member mentioned that building consensus, especially in Asia, is easier when you focus on the positive. Asking for suggestions for improvement can be less confrontational than asking if anyone has any objections. Asking people to e-mail their private comments also gives other people opportunities to share what they think.

Dick Orth walked through two models for problem-solving: a process-oriented model and a change-oriented model. The process-oriented model focused on generating lots of possibilities with many people, and then developing and narrowing them down with a handful of people. He noted that large groups take a long time to narrow a list of items down, so this should be handled by a smaller group. The change-oriented model focuses on the future state, the current state, and the gap between the two. Both models can be used together, with brainstorming used to identify the future state and the prioritized possibilities, the current strengths and issues, and the actions for moving forward. Dick noted that brainstorming the strengths is a great way to get everyone involved and energized, and that no narrowing down is needed for the strengths.

I took advantage of the break to go to a different session. Dick Orth was interesting and I was looking forward to the case study, but there was another workshop that I wanted to learn from. I explained it to Dick before his presentation, so I didn't feel so bad disappearing. Still, those were pretty interesting two hours, and I learned a lot. =)

• Drink plenty of water. It's easy to forget to drink water on a plane. I usually ask the flight attendants for two glasses of water. This has the side effect of also making you stand up and exercise once in a while, which is good for avoiding deep-vein thrombosis.

• Bring noise-isolating earphones. An eye-mask is also helpful. You can usually plug the earphones into airline seats, giving you better audio than the earphones provided by the airline.
• Bring a variety of things to do. A pen, a pad of paper, and an MP3 player will keep you busy throughout the flight.

How do you fly over the ocean?

I spent most of yesterday putting together a photo book. There were many memories omitted because we didn't take pictures. I may work on something a little more verbose some other time. Still, it's not a bad first photo book. There, that's one new thing I did this week that I've never done before.

What are my goals for this week?

• I need to finish and rehearse the two talks I'll be giving over the next two weeks.
• I need to prepare for all the networking opportunities by having business cards printed and by getting a card scanner.
• I need to finish my article on personal finance with ledger.
• I want to develop a blogging plan for the various blogs I need to contribute to.
• I want to write about 4000 words for my book. My goal is to finish the raw material for the chapter on BBDB.
• I want to exercise first thing every morning, slowly inching up what I can do. I'm keeping track of my progress on a chart in the kitchen.

That should be enough for starters. =)

I've been thinking a lot about generational differences because of my upcoming presentation on I.B.Millennials. I had a hard time figuring out how to speak about my generation without dealing with too many generalizations, and what to say to people who think that oh, it's just about age. Today, I finally came to understand why I want to talk about this topic. It's not about drawing lines, it's about connecting people.

No one will argue that society today is very different from society in the 1950s or in the 1900s, and that there have been massive technological and social changes. One way to see this is to look at ads and newspaper articles from fifty years ago, many of which would be unacceptable today.

Why is a discussion about generational differences important? You have lived through these changes and adapted your ways of thinking to them, but for people of my generation, this is all we know. We will have all sorts of assumptions. We will take all sorts of things for granted. We will understand some things intuitively, and be stumped by others. ("What was life like before the Net? before mobile phones? What's job security? Why would you want to work for just one company? Wouldn't that be boring? If I can do my job in half the time it takes other people to do it, why shouldn't I get the rest of the day off?") Perhaps some of these differences come with being young. Perhaps some of these differences come with growing up in societies that are radically different from the ones you grew up in. Perhaps we face our own questions and challenges that we are only now learning how to articulate.

Most of us will have neither the experience nor the perspective to recognize these differences or work around them. That's why it's important for leaders to be aware of trends, to spot opportunities and weaknesses, to bring people together. And that's why this conversation about generational differences is important: not to draw lines, not to praise one generation over the other, but to recognize potential conflicts and work around them, and to build on each other's strengths.

I don't want to make excuses for my generation. I want people to be able to challenge us to be all we can be instead of shrugging things off with "Oh, they're kids, they'll change as they grow up." But the world can't wait until we grow up. We can't wait until people of my generation are thirty or forty, settled, 'normal'. We are here and there are more of us coming; how can we all work together more effectively?

People of my generation are coming into a workplace that's very different from the workplace you started in. The long time between generations can make companies forget the lessons learned the last time around. Every generation brings unique strengths and weaknesses. That does not make a discussion of those challenges irrelevant. Indeed, it shows that if organizations can learn to manage this transition well, they will reap the benefits with succeeding generations.

And why is making the most of this generation important? Many organizations recognize a need for massive cultural change when it comes to adopting new collaborative and social technologies that can require not only changes in behavior, but even changes in corporate culture and values. It reminds me of the very things that bewilder many parents - my generation's reliance on electronic communication and virtual social networks, collaboration despite previous norms in education and other areas, and an inescapably globalized world. If organizations can make the most of our energy and our skills, then they can ride that wave into organization-wide cultural change. If not, then they will miss opportunities that their competitors will take.

Generational differences is a political topic, an emotional topic. No one likes being reminded that they grow older each year. It is easy to dismiss it with the same words used to dismiss the voice of youth: "They'll grow up eventually." But if we can harness those differences to bring us to where we want to go as an organization and as a society, if we can anticipate and deal with the potential conflicts that many might encounter, then wouldn't that be a valuable conversation?

I need to revise my TLE presentation. I've just found the kernel of passion in my talk. I'm not going to have the time to link this to all the conversations happening around this topic, so please feel free to cross-reference the other great discussions happening around this. But anyway, that's what I had to say.

This makes me want a Tablet PC.