My 1999 Honda CR-V has been making a rattling sound for about 2 months. Now, it’s making a different sound, and the ‘Check Engine’ light came on, so I had to put it into the shop. My brother-in-law referred me to Downtown Mobil Service here in Detroit. Sam Zammit greeted me and took my keys. I have a good feeling about him and this place.

I just wish I could have waited until after the holidays. This is just another bill I just can’t afford…

Thanks to Santa, I’m going to Lotusphere!!! I even found a picture of Santa to share…
Thank you! I am forever in your debt!

LONG LIVE OPENNTF.ORG!!!

I redirect any my from "TheLionKing @ thepridelands(dot)com" to my Gmail account. Over the last few days, I noticed that I haven’t received a lot of mail at Gmail. I sent a test message from one of my other accounts and found that I never received it. Could this be because of Gmail’s new anti-virus scanning?

For ANYONE that sent me email over the last couple of days, PLEASE SEND IT AGAIN to TheLionKing (at) thepridelands (dot) com! I’m redirecting my email address to another account.

My 3 year old daughter, Kiara, is becoming quite the Internet addict. She goes to just 2 or 3 sites, including PBSKids.org. Thanks to them, my daughter made me a story about the Berenstain Bears. I thought that it would be nice to share it with you. Remember that she’s 3 years old…

I picked the words myself daddy! Mom helped alittle.Love you Daddy

One sunny day, Mama Bear decided to go to the park. There were plenty of butterflies about.
Suddenly Mama heard a sound, and thought it might be a dog. The noise was coming from the water.
It was a big dog with a green nose. Mama stopped to ask a question.
”Do you need some help?”
The dog nodded. ”My name is Guiseppe. I was out dancing when a purple wolf with feathery scales took my ice cream.”
”Maybe I can help you?” Mama replied.
Guiseppe sneezed. ”Thank you. My ice cream is very special, and I need it for my family”.
”Let’s try looking east.” Mama said.
They headed out together along a path in hopes that they would soon find the missing ice cream.
It was a few minutes later when they finally saw the wolf that had taken the ice cream.
It was busy eating when the two approached.
The wolf growled and quickly pulled out a hotdog from a sack. The wolf looked rather happy.
”Excuse me,” Mama said. ”Did you take a ice cream from this dog?”
”Yes, I did,” It replied. ”It’s in my sack. I needed it for my science project.
”But it is not yours,” Guiseppe replied. ”You cannot just take things that are not yours.”
The wolf looked angry. ”How about I give you this hotdog in exchange for the ice cream?”
Guiseppe accepted the offer and took the hotdog. It was striped and pink.
”My name is Harry, and I’m sorry I took your ice cream” the wolf said.
”Please just remember to ask next time,” Mama replied.
Guiseppe was happy with the new hotdog. ”Thank you for your help, Mama”.
They left together and went home.

Moral of the Story – Do not take things without asking first.

THE END

Look out JK Rowling… Here comes Kiara Bilyk!!!

Usually we here in The Pridelands just make a regular donation to the Salvation Army, but because I’m a geek and thanks to their website, I’m trying something different…

Please donate to my online Red Kettle for the Salvation Army. My goal is to raise $50 for them. They do great work here… PLEASE HELP BY CLICKING HERE!

By the way, for my ‘Lotus Friends’ out there… The Salvation Army in the USA uses Lotus Notes/Domino!!! (Click here and check out the URL.) I’ve trained a few of them!

According to the December issue of Clippings, the online newsletter for Certified Lotus Professionals, the Lotusphere 2006 Discount for Lotus Professionals has been extended until January 5th. (You must be registered for the certification private site to access the article they mention and to get the discount.)

Maybe one or two (two?) of my fellow professionals out there can answer this for me:
Is this a bad sign? Could giving this kind of discount so late in the process be a sign that the numbers are down for the ‘Sphere? My hope is that IBM/Lotus is in the ‘giving mood’ this holiday season and have decided to get as many of us as possible to Lotusphere. Your thoughts???

Anyways, it doesn’t matter…. I’m still in the same financial situation as last time. Unless my fairy godmother/godfather got certified and needs a companion to share the room costs, I’m still not going to Lotusphere.

Where are you, fairy godmother and/or godfather???

I have about 24 hours to decide if I can afford to attend Lotusphere 2006. In the past 28 days, I’ve been hit with just about every known bill/tax/fee I could. I really, really wanted to attend this year, but unless I find me a fairy godmother and/or godfather, I’m going to be on the sidelines…AGAIN!

I know that this is vitally important for my career, but after adding in the hotel & plane ticket, I couldn’t even get enough money to eat or drink. It probably wouldn’t be good to find me passed out from hunger in a session.

If anyone out there has any ideas how I can pull it off, please…now would be the time to let me know…

I see that although my abstract did not get selected, Lotus is still placing a session (a ‘Birds of a Feather’ actually) regarding Lotus Education. Here was my suggestion:

Suggested Track:
Track FOUR: Best Practices
or
Business Development Day

Session Title:
Knowledge is Power (and Productivity): Education Options for Lotus Software

Description:
With the emerging technologies of Lotus Software, technical training has become more important than ever. This session will show the reasons why training is so important, as well as show the different types of training available for Lotus Software, from classroom training to online learning. This session, presented by an award-winning IBM Certified Instructor, will also demonstrate what companies can do to get “more bang for their buck.”

Here is the one that Lotus is using:

Building IBM Lotus Training & Education to Meet Customer Demands

Session ID: BOF501

Session Track(s): BOF – Track FIVE: Communities of Interest

Speaker Name: Nancy Haynes (Speaker Company: IBM)
Speaker Name: Tom Gibbons (Speaker Company: Element K)

Session Abstract: It is critical that the training and education developed on IBM Lotus products meets the needs of the technical and end user customers using them. This interactive session with Lotus education product managers and courseware developers from ElementK, the vendor that produces Lotus courseware, will provide a forum to ask questions and provide insight into customers’ training needs. Learn about the curriculum plans for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 7 and IBM Workplace products, as well as the multiple form factors and options available to increase flexibility and customization of learning plans.

First off, let me state for the record that I am not complaining.
I guess if you want to learn more about Lotus Education and options with Lotus Education, it’s best to go to IBM & Element K (the company that is developing the courseware now). I just hope that they discuss other options available outside of the direct IBM/Lotus revenue stream (like TLCC, LEOnline and training from GREAT educational centers). Could that have been my flaw? Also, considering who will be the audience for something like this, I would not have considered submitting it under the category of ‘BOF: Track FIVE – Communities of Interest’… Go figure!

No matter who’s doing the presentation, I would strongly suggest that you attend a session like this. Companies will find more productive employees with just a bit of education.

WWE Superstar Eddie Guerrero was found dead this morning in his hotel room in Minneapolis. He was born in 1967. He left behind a wife and 3 daughters, ages 14, 9 & 3.
By now, readers of my blog know that I’m a wrestling fan, and have been my entire life. Stuff like this brings the reality to what is a mostly fictional world. They are athletes. They work hard. They train hard. They also work very hard to keep their families together. They’re on the road almost constantly. Like other wrestling fan, we going to miss Eddie.
As a father and husband, my thoughts go out to Eddie’s family. RIP Latino Heat!!!

From ClickOnDetroit.com (WDIV-TV Detroit) – Clerk Shot In Liquor Store Robbery

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, you just won the election for Mayor of Detroit… what do you want to do next???
HOW ABOUT GETTING RID OF THE CRIME???

I wonder why I want to get my pride out of here…