Well, I am finally over the Patriots loss to the Giants. I know that this is a little pathetic, however after the Superbowl I could not talk about the Patriots and I moved all of my Patriot gear to the basement. Yesterday I wore a Patriots sweatshirt for the first time since the Superbowl.
It was a grey hoody. I am not going to get a Red Hoody.
I have been at MIT for almost four months now and have really settled into my role. Don't get me wrong, I still have a lot to learn about our applications and support of our home grown applications, however I am comfortable with both the technology and process and thats a nice feeling. Also, from a team perspective, the awkwardness is gone and the team is relaxed and doing well, and that really helps.
There are a number of things that are different about MIT, that I have never experienced anywhere else.
The first is choice. For each individual user, there is more choice at MIT than I have ever experienced. You can choose your username (Kerberos id) and do not have to follow some standard, just as long as your choice is not already in use. You can choose which operating system you want, you can have a MAC, Windows or any flavor of LINUX that works for you. Another choice is your email package. You can choose what you are most comfortable with. This certainly makes collaboration and calendaring a chore as most calendar products do not work well together. But, all this choice gives you freedom to do your job and get the job done in a manner that is most conducive to you.
The second is the thought or premise that we can change the world.
Wow, I know that changing the world is a lot to ask, but that is the premise that is out there. For me, all I do is support a bunch of Student Systems that keep the Institute moving forward, however MIT's President Susan Hockfield is an advocate of this premise, and it carries all the way down to my boss, myself and the folks that work with me. I know that there is a lot of MIT new research going on (in Energy, and Medical Biology), but the part that I am most impressed with is the fact that my boss and his boss and her boss are all open to hearing about how we can improve our processes and better support our Systems. So, if we improve our process and systems, is that going to change the world ? The thought is that we help the Students, Faculty, Staff and researchers with the business side of running the Institute, and helps them gain access to grants and endowments that allow the learning and research to flourish and continue. So indirectly, we are changing the world by supporting the efforts of Students, Faculty, Staff and researchers.
Why is this so different. Because, when working for a Business (as opposed to Higher Education), the Business priorities always overruled the Technology or System priorities, especially when cost was a factor, and therefore, our priorities were often ignored or reviewed and rejected each year at budget time. And, that is not to say that some of this is not happening at MIT, however the talk here is about being a catalyst for change and that is the first step toward improving what we do, which indirectly helps others to Change and Improve our World.
I was in my glory on Sunday until the end of the Super Bowl, however the better team won as the Giants took it to the Patriots. I know that it is old news now but I could not think about it or talk about it for three or four days. The Giants won the way the Patriots usually win, so my hat is off to them as they deserve congratulations on winning the Super Bowl.
However, Sunday wasn't a total loss as this Super Bowl had the best Halftime show ever as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came out and played 4 of their greatest hits American Girl, I Won't Back Down, Free Falling, and Running Down a Dream.
Here it is for those who missed it .....
Life goes on ....
Well I am in my glory today ....
The Patriots are in the Super Bowl, playing for the perfect season, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are playing at halftime.
Here is nice little interview with Tom Brady and Randy Moss
SORRY, But I had to get rid of this. If you really want to watch it you can follow this link ...
http://mefeedia.com/entry/6189210/
For those of us coming to age in the late 60's, here is a great reminder of what the music was like....
There is so much great music on YouTube, I encourage you to search for all those old songs on YouTube.
Try searching for Aerosmith Dream On, Beatles Let it Be, Tom Petty I Wont Back Down or whatever you favorite song was.
You just may find it on YouTube.
I would like to wish everyone a Health Happy and Prosperous New Year
A very special Christmas gift from my son Kevin and his friends Jake, James, Mairead Caitlin and Cindy.
I have accepted a new position at MIT and yesterday was my last day of employment at Multiplan (formally PHCS). I am really excited about this new opportunity at MIT and can hardly wait to start. The role will be very similar to my current position however the emphasis will be on Unix infrastructure as opposed to Windows infrastructure that is predominant at Multiplan.
About a year ago I started writing about some of the changes that were happening at work, and as time has moved on, we came to realize that the majority of positions in our facility would be eliminated. Now of course, this is not the company line, and I can understand management being very carefully in their communications, however in many cases there is little or no communication, and the actions of our Management speak louder than words. They continue to say that they are going to get us involved and do not, they have engaged 2 out of 9 staff members and continue to assign work to the 2 engaged members while others are often ignored. As key folks leave, they do not backfill but instead reassign the duties to folks in other states. And, as time goes on, it will get worse as more and more folks leave, the current workload will shifted to the folks that remain.
That is why I left, I could see that I did not have a future at Multiplan and I acted on it.
I really enjoyed my time at PHCS/Multiplan. There were times when it felt like a roller coaster, however it was made more than bearable by the folks that worked there, and in particular my staff of dedicated technology professionals. I really feel guilty moving on and leaving them behind and will help whenever asked. I urge everyone to continue to take a closer look at their situation and please feel free to reach out to me for help.
Thank you to the Red Sox and the DropKick Murphy's
Congratulations RED SOX
Thank-you for a Great Year
