Dec 30
I’ve started using a Mac again after many years. I still have my Vaio for work but now I can’t imagine going back to the PC. Apple makes a much higher margin on their computers than their other iDevices and I’m now understanding their ‘ecosystem’ strategy. They made me a customer again, gradually over time. First, the original iPod, then the iPhone, then the iPad, and now … the iMac. As Darth Vader would say, “the circle is complete”.
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Jan 22
As I was mowing the lawn yesterday, listening to my iPod, I had a not so profound thought (I had plenty of time to think … the lawn is 60 acres). My 80G iPod is packed to the limit and when I play it on the random setting, I usually skip through half of the songs – not because I don’t like them but because it depends on what kind of mood I’m in. However, there are some songs that I just can’t skip. No matter how many times I listen to them or what kind of mood I’m in. The album and version are important – some songs are much better live some are much better as a cover by another artist. Some are great songs in the history of music, some are mostly unknown, and the rest are just plain corny. I’ll let you be the judge. Here is Matthew’s Top 100 Unskippable Songs:
Jan 26
My interest in ECM (enterprise content management) is purely based on the value it can deliver to the business. I think much progress has been made, but the focus is still very much on technology. I would start with your users and ask them what would make their lives easier – that would be my feature set. Some of the things business users often ask for seems impossible, but the basic theme I usually get is this: they want the system to handle the difficult, time consuming stuff and shift the complexity away from the human and put it onto the machine. To most users, this was the point of buying the system in the first place.
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Jun 2
Today seemed full of strange coincidences. Jung used to call this synchronicity – like the popular 80′s tune by The Police. I decided to come up to Philly on a trial basis to see just how messed up this organization is. If it’s beyond repair, I told them I would give them some recommendations and be on my way.
Anyway, as I get into the heart of Philadelphia, ‘Philadelphia Freedom’ starts playing on my iPod … out of the 8,000 + songs. There were some other weird things, too, but none of these events seemed to contain any real meaning. These seemed more to make sure I was paying attention. Then, I check into my hotel room – room 316. Last night I was reading an old yearbook.
My freshman science teacher was a retired minister. He signed my yearbook, John 3:16. He was always trying to preach to me … in a good way. I was never turned off by his message. His intentions were too pure. So, here I am … hit over the head with 316′s. Obviously, synchronicity only works if you’re paying attention and making connections. Whether they are caused by something supernatural is another discussion. The key is that the connections are meaningful to us. It usually means that something deep inside of us is trying to communicate a thought or an idea. So, why would the one key passage to the New Testament be a message that something inside of me wanted heard?
3:16 is too literal to be taken as purely symbolic, though the passages before it are about being born again: dying to our past and being reborn. Nicodemus asks how it’s possible for an old man to be born again. Jesus’ response is that being reborn is dying to the flesh and being reborn to spirit … only then does 3:16 apply. I think that means that you have to be willing to die, yourself, before you can be reborn. I guess that makes sense. Those that stop short of really being willing to die, are never really saved. Of course, only God would know who the tricksters are. I guess baptism could be a sort of symbolic drowning. So, back to me… I’ll keep you posted. I’m not sure what it means. ;-)
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