Baby Laith

In mid March, partially as a result of a fabulous web focused marketing campaign, baby Laith Dougherty was admitted to the Pittsburg Children's Hospital, to wait for a donor heart. Earlier this month, the wait was over and Laith had a successful heart transplant. All indications are that he will be fine and be able to come home soon.

Subsequent to the operation his mother came back to Portland for a brief visit. She talked about the stress and the joy and thankfulness, then she shared some facts. Heart transplants usually last up to 15 years, then they wear out. For some reason, part of the rejection process fails to keep the heart itself alive. Also, an unduly number of teenagers with donor hearts die. Why? Because teenagers think they are invincible and they stop taking the drugs that keep them alive. They will feel fine, and be convinced they don't need those stupid drugs, then suddenly keel over.

I could see myself doing that - since I still have a tendency towards invincibility though I'm a bit off my teens... :)

Dynamic Web Foray

Today was a successful day for this crotchety old web developer/marketer wannabe. Today I was able to use PHP to connect to a mySQL database, query for a user and password, and then set a session variable to grant access to a restricted area of my website. It was especially difficult because I had to chase an interesting bug.

I was loosely following some instructions from PHP 4, which included defining the table entry for my encrypted password as CHAR(32); meaning I was setting aside 32 characters for the encrypted size. PHP 4 probably uses this size just fine, but I am running PHP 5 on my MacBook. When I inserted the data I ignored the “warning” figuring I’d get to it later, and proceeded to drive myself crazy writing and rewriting queries. In the end I tried inserting the data with the GUI application, rather than via the UNIX command line, and low and behold it told me the actual warning, rather than just saying warning. Something about "your data has been truncated" That was the encrypted password. This is not good because a7838297d7c8b09 will never equal a7838297d7c8b09f7e245, if you see what I mean.

So, PHP5 users, when you encrypt with the PASSWORD(), you need 42 characters, or you’ll never get a successful compare. Funny, huh?

Anyway, I am on my way being able to write PHP and use it to access a mySQL database. Now, I wonder if there is someway to import the 26 tables from my Filemaker database into mySQL without having to enter them all by hand. The other thing I'm trying to do is determine if there is any value in doing the thing in Drupal. I am looking at it but I think I'm too much of a control freak, so I just want to write all my own stuff.

Aron Szurek - Not Forgotten

I have been a loner most of my life. I have always been able to count my friends on one hand. Sure, I’ve had acquaintances that were in my sphere of influence, people I got close to on this project or that, but only a very rare few that I got close enough to consider true friends.

I would like to say that two out of three of my ex-wives fall into this category, but this detracts from what I really want to talk about.

Sometimes in a man’s life there is another man that you get to call your friend that you care about from your admiration of their character. This is very different from the sports/military/dominating relationships frequently experienced by men. Many of us participate in sports or wars, which put us into relationships driven by an external force; we end up working together to conquer the enemy, whatever that means. A few of us don't really care if Kansas wins the NCAA basketball tournament, or if Kobe Bryant can pull another championship.

I’ve always been interested in my friends because I wanted to help them. That probably means I pried into their lives at inappropriate places and ended up on the sidelines, either weird or inappropriately nosey and rude. However, it was just this curiousness and caring that changed my life.

Aron Szurek was an employee of mine. He was the fourth person I ever hired and the first person who had a four year degree in Economics; he was someone who should have been very far from driving a soldering iron and repairing computer system sub-modules. Yes, there was something quite charming about him. Back when I was 22 I tended to use my emotional response to a person way more than my logic, when it came to hiring folks. So, I hired Aron.

He was a great employee. He lived by a code of beauty and perfection that no one else on the team could meet. He got along with everyone, even Mark Loofburrow, who was the second biggest asshole I ever met, to this day. Aron knew how to play to Mark’s vanity, disarming him and forcing Mark to contribute his best, with no intervention from me.

Aron was ten years older than me, and I always enjoyed his “older and wiser” views of the world. He was the one who introduced me to the Portland Blues Scene; he introduced me to Paul Delay, Lloyd Jones and Curtis Salgato, all major players in Portland at the time. I really learned to love the Blues hanging with Aron.

When Aron and I hung out, we drank a lot. This caused us to talk and frequently argue. However, my Ham Radio training was usually in evidence and it kept me from getting into trouble. When I got my license it was a Ham Radio creed to “Never Talk Politics”. Aron was a political guy, so I paid attention and stayed out of his way.

I knew Aron was a Democrat and I didn’t hold it against him. In 1986 I was a strong Regan supporter, in the “right” and I knew it. However, one night Aron had me over to his place and somehow we ended up slowly and methodically tearing down my Republican heritage, while in parallel deconstructing my social awareness. Somewhere around 4 AM Aron declared “And that is why I believe you are truly a Democrat in your heart.”

I had to agree. The evidence was overwhelming. Ever since that fateful evening, I’ve been voting Democrat.
Aron was also a wonderful fan of the Portland Trailblazers, our local pro basketball team. During my last few years at ADP I was no longer part of Aron’s organization at ADP; I worked downtown in the R & D group. But whenever I could I had him over to the house to watch the Trailblazer games in my basement. Those were wonderful times. However, when I left ADP to work at Sequent I lost touch with my dear friend Aron. I think I saw him twice since 1996 and only briefly, yet I think I’ve told the story of him converting me to “Democratic” at least 30 times.

It saddens me to say that Aron was one of my few close friends. I loved him as much as I’ve ever loved any person. It has taken me three months to be able to write anything about his being gone, to accept that my dear friend Aron is gone. He chose to leave last December. I would have gladly done anything to save him, as I feel his influence truly saved me. Too bad he never knew.

The truly sad part for me is that I think he would be here if I were a better friend. But I dropped the ball and let him go.
I have only one or two people in my life that have touched me to my core. Besides Aron, I’d say Dave Pfeffer and Jana Ferguson are about the only two that got that close. And of course, neither of them are close to me today. If they were I’d tell them about my friend Aron… and how one night he convinced me I should have been Democrat all along…. And how sad I am for his loss…

It is a sin to lose track of those you love. There just isn’t enough extra love to go around that we can toss aside what we have… so don’t. So - Happy Birthday Jana!

Health Insurance is NOT Health Care

There is nothing new about me, but I ask anyone who reads this to check out the linked site. 

My good friend Ghadah from my Masters' cohort had a son in December and they recently learned he will die without a heart transplant.  They have health insurance but insurance has spending caps.  It is hard to realize that if my friends were wealthy, their son would have a chance... Laith Dougherty

Resolve

Not to say that I necessarily have any, but it is interesting that this is the idea that sticks in my mind this morning. The time of year between Christmas and New Years' has always been somewhat magical to me. I usually take this time off of work (at least I remember doing this when I was working) and look inward to measure this year's journey, outward to envision the following year's path.

I think most people respond to change with some level of anxiety, even if it is change they initiate. And I think most people seek out those things that are unchanging for comfort. This produces an illusion of control. The most successful products/brands in the world either consciously or unconsciously utilize this fact to their advantage, and to the comfort of us all; the Catholic Church and McDonald's, just to name a couple that come to mind.

The great thing about being a student was the fact that I was in control. Sure it was drinking from a fire hose, but I always knew I was holding the hose. Being a student for over 5 years means I have been isolated from many of the out-of-control aspects of life. This anxiety that comes with the change from student to contributing societal member seems like a whole new fear. On top of that, it is a buyer's market for new employees in this economic downturn. There is not much control right now, and lots of change; political, societal, economic, not to mention the major long term changes measured in the environment, from food pollutants to global warming. The fear ought to be paralyzing if we are paying attention.

We observe Action in the face of fearsome situations as Courage. (Of course, True Courage really comes from the Wizard of Oz, along with Brains and Heart. As I remember it there were three choices and we could only hold one in each hand, unless you got a really big one and you needed both hands to carry it - but I digress)

Success and failure both come from action, but success rarely comes from inaction. Courage may be the past tense evidence of Resolve. So I think this idea of Resolve is a way of deciding the Action. Resolve demands eliminating options and stepping forward in a single direction. This is what I will focus my attention upon during this week of reflection leading up to the beginning of 2009. Despite everything we see to the contrary, it is going to be a year filled with Courage.

Rumors of my Demise

I was recently reminded that I had not posted to this blog for nearly a year. It is hard to believe it was only one year. What has happened in a year?

By the time the Masters' of International Management program hit term 2, the reality of the effort became clear: I had time for nothing but studying. Yet despite the fact I was studying the core MBA curriculum, plus a series of global focused classes such as international trade and cross-cultural communications, as well as daily study of Japanese, it turns out the most important aspect of the program was the relationships I formed with the cohort. The full time students were 45 in total, 16 of us were U.S. students. Most of the other students were from the Pacific Rim, with the largest contingent from Thailand, followed closely by Taiwan. Now that classes are over and I have my MIM degree, all I can say is that this was the best experience of my life. Sometimes I felt like I was one of the young people. On our tour of Asia the only difference was that I could not dance all night and still make it to the bus on time in the morning. But sometimes those crazy Thai girls could get me to dance.... (if we had an off day or a travel day in the morning.)

I am excited to rejoin the work force, and apply my knowledge and experience in some kind if international role. In the meantime, I'm learning some of the things we didn't cover in Japanese class; specifically writing Kanji and Hiragana, with the goal of qualifying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level 4 (to start).

Even though I've been rather silent, I have been very fortunate. I will tell a few stories about my year in the next few posts.

No, I'm not dead yet.

Term 2 starts with a Bang!

Let’s see, this term is kind of relaxed, compared with last term. At least I think so. Maybe I am at a point of delirium from last week’s focus, but it seems like it will be better. My first new class was Marketing, or some form of Marketing with the word “Global” in it. I felt right at home here. I think I may have picked up a few actual marketing perspectives, processes and terms while I was hanging out with the other marketing dudes, pretending to actually be some sort of marketing professional. No matter how noble I find the Sustainability stuff, I think Marketing is a much better fit for me and my interests. We shall see how my team does in the game.

Our marketing class is doing a game, where each week we have a quarter’s worth of business to do. We are starting a line of personal computers back in the day when companies actually went into the computer business, and there were no real major players. The cool thing is the whole program is done in this computer simulation that allows us to compete with four other student teams. All fun stuff.

The other classes this term include International Accounting (I have no idea what makes it international) and Global Human Resources. The HR class includes some sore of 15 page paper, but I have plenty of help with an energetic team, so there should be no problem.

The friendships in the program are getting stronger as we go through these adversities together. My one young student friend from PRC just invited the entire class to come with her to her hometown after the trip, Qingdao. This is also known as Tsingtao, the home of the famous Chinese beer. I don’t know if that is a German or English spelling, but Ruby (her nickname) spells her home Qingdao. (and it is pronounced Ching Dao, just to keep you hopping) We studied her province during our history class last term, at it was a German colony prior to the end of WWI. Hence, there is beer there, and some German castles.

My young Thai teammate, who calls herself Peet because her actual name is very long and easy to mispronounce, says I should go to Thailand after the China trip. There are six Thai students who clump together and I think at least a few of them intend to host visitors. All the Thai have very long names, so they adapt 4 letter, single syllable names. Knot for Pacharapol, Poom for Kamolwan, Golf instead of Tunvarat. And their last names are way worse. Golf is this little Thai woman, and her last name is Rungrojwittayakul. This is pretty much impossible for an American to learn very quickly, so Golf it is. I guess Thailand is famous for its hospitality. When I was checking the medical requirements for all this travel – it appears I would have to take even more shots to visit Thailand than the ones I should take to visit China.

I do have to decide my “deviation” from the school’s three-week plan pretty soon. So far, the month of March looks like this:
March 2nd: Leave for Tokyo
March 3rd: arrive in Tokyo
March 3rd – March 9th: Tokyo
March 9th to March 13th: Seoul
March 13th – March 16th:Beijing
March 16th to March 22nd: Shanghai
March 23rd: Group returns to Portland with Jeff
March 24th to March 30th: PSU Spring Break
April 1st: Term 4 classes begin

So, what I do during that week of March 24 must be decided. Originally I was planning on more Japan time, but if everything goes the way I hope, I’ll be going much more often to Japan than China. The opportunity to visit more of China and get a better understanding of that culture and spend time with a modern, financially successful Chinese family seems like a rare opportunity indeed. Right now I’m headed that direction. ☺