John McArthur's Random Walks and Occasional Musings

A Drive-By Shooting

2008-10-25T11:59:00.010-04:00

A car with this funny looking contraption mounted on top drove past my office building yesterday afternoon. I can only assume that the driver was being paid by someone associated with some mapping software such as Google Maps or a web-based real estate service such as Zillow.

I'm not a particularly paranoid or private person, and I make my living, in part at least, by using the web. I'm used to being visible and "out there," so I only thought briefly about the privacy implications of a guy driving by with enough hardware to record me from four angles, presumably with the date and time of my leaving the office. I thought a little bit about the photos turning up on the web. But only a little bit.

As I pulled out of the parking lot and stopped at a light, I saw the car that had just driven past me in my parking lot. So, I decided to snap the picture above. And in the interest of maintaining transparency and openness, here's the car, with New Hampshire license plate # 247 0788. The driver is pulling onto Linden Street in Wellesley, Massachusetts at 2:04 pm on Friday, October 24th, 2008. The police can cross-check my information against the data from the recently-installed video cameras at the light next to Jimmy's Cafe at 151 Linden Street. Good place to eat, by the way. Not fancy, but I'm partial to the corn and black bean salad.

On Mitzvah Mondays and Simon Shepherd

2008-07-11T11:13:00.007-04:00

The smiling fellow on the right is Simon Shepherd. He used to work as a research analyst in my European Storage Research team back when I was head of Storage Research at IDC. Simon has a wife, Stephanie, and a lovely little daughter, Scarlett. More on Simon in a minute.

Another of my former IDC colleagues, Djuna Woods, posted a recent blog entry on the idea of a Monday Mitzvah. For those of you who are Hebraicly challenged, mitzvah refers to one of the 613 Jewish commandments, but has colloquially come to mean "an act of kindness." Djuna's challenge to us is to perform a guerrilla good deed and share the good-deed idea with the rest of the world. Kind of "random acts of kindness" meets "viral marketing."

I was reading through some of my favorite storage bloggers this morning and came upon one written by Taylor Allis at Sun Microsystems. In it he writes about Simon, who left IDC a number of years ago to join StorageTek, which was later acquired by Sun. That's where Simon met Taylor. Sadly, Simon passed away recently, after battling glioblastoma, or brain cancer, for 14 months. Stephanie requested that friends and acquaintances of Simon support the search for a cure by making donations in Simon's name to:

The Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign

The Institute of Cancer Research

123 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3RP

You can donate by check or credit card online using this link:

The Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign

If you note that the donation is in Simon Shepherd's name it will be directed to the correct fund.

I made my donation to the fund today. Now, I'll say thanks to Djuna Woods for the inspiration to make this a viral mitzvah. Please join me in celebrating Simon's memory and helping to find a cure.

Independence Day: Time to Leave the Nest

2008-07-04T12:24:00.007-04:00

Like many parents, I struggle with the balance between protecting my children and being over protective. When I was growing up, my siblings and I were allowed to travel only as far as the sound of the car horn would carry. In rural Colorado, that was probably a mile. Three toots from the horn was our instruction to come home. I was five years old and free to wander independently through the neighbors farms, in the woods and across the fields. I learned, early, to avoid the neighbors pig pen. Pigs can be quite mean.

We had a fort in the rocks, a fort in the woods, a fort in the sagebrush, and a fort in the willows. I didn't think much about the independence and freedom I was given. It's just the way it was.

Times are different, I hear, and I'm told I have to watch my children more closely now. My children aren't as independent as those of my friends. It's summer now. The time when many children go away to camp. Mine prefer day camps and home to the idea of overnight camp. It's Independence Day in the United States, and I wonder just how independent I should let (or force) my children be.

I found this little fellow out beside our pool. I hope he was not pushed out of the nest too soon.

I Hate to Waste

2008-06-28T16:49:00.003-04:00

As anyone who spends time with me knows, I hate to waste. I hate wasting anything. But especially food. There's nothing like Great Depression Era parents to teach the lessons of frugality, especially when the experience is layered on top of a healthy dose of Scottish breeding.

Last night we had a barbeque with a few friends, and I made potato salad. Some people like potato salad with the potato skins on. Some don't. I could never figure that one out, but when cooking for friends whose food taste I don't know well, I will default to the blander (in my opinion) option.

Still, I can't waste the potato peelings, which leads me to this little dish. Take the peelings, toss with a little canola oil and your favorite seasonings. I use salt, garlic powder, and onion powder when going milder, and Tony Cachere's Creole Seasoning, when I'm cooking for my taste. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, and cook at 400 - 450 degrees. They are thin enough, that you don't have to turn them, but watch them closely, so they don't burn. and take them out when they look crispy, like the ones in the photo.

The best part of not wasting is eating the peels. These were gone in no time. We're still working on the potato salad.

Ciao Bella

2008-06-16T19:38:00.003-04:00

I'm a big fan of pizza, and I remember rather fondly J Burns Pizza, where I would go during my high school days back in Lakeland, Florida. The crust was crunchy and the pizza was cut into bite-sized squares, which was perfect for sharing with a crowd of hungry teenagers.

My brother and his wife, who still live in Lakeland, recently treated me to dinner at their current favorite, Ciao Bella, which is located on the north side of Lakeland, Florida.

I can't find a web site, but if you are in the area, look them up in the phone book. The restaurant is not flashy, but these guys are the real thing - Italian immigrants who love food and love to talk. The pizza is the opposite of J Burns'. The crust is thick and the slices huge. Bring a big appetite. Look at the size of that pie. Mangia, mangia!!!

Ruthless Turkeys

2008-04-10T23:00:00.003-04:00

Turkeys have made a comeback in Massachusetts and are a regular sighting around Holliston, but they are also making their way into more urban areas, such as Framingham. I saw this big tom, which has obviously escaped the Thanksgiving table for several years, on the drive through a well-established Framingham neighborhood.

The crime report in Holliston is usually pretty benign, but the turkeys can be quite vicious. The local police log, which is published weekly in the Holliston Tab, once included a report of an elderly woman who was trapped inside her house by a menacing turkey.

Before you doubt the ruthlessness of a turkey, check out the spurs on these legs.

Daffodils: The First Sign of Spring

2008-04-03T07:28:00.003-04:00

For me, the arrival of daffodils represents the first official sign of spring. Yes, crocuses come up earlier, but they just don't have the same impact. Yellow is my favorite color and the daffodil my favorite flower.

My grandmother, Pearl Stainton McArthur, was an artist, who mostly painted still life. Growing up, I had a painting of hers hanging in my bedroom. The painting was of daffodils in a brown vase. Unfortunately the painting seems to have been lost to the family, but I still remember it in great detail and spring always brings back fond memories of my grandmother, one of the most gracious women who ever lived.

Thankful

2008-03-30T22:05:00.002-04:00

This is my favorite tombstone. It can be found at a small graveyard on Gorwin Street in Holliston, Massachusetts.

It's my favorite, not because it is well preserved or beautiful. Not because it has a wise parting message for those still living. It is my favorite simply for one reason: the first name of the deceased.

This is the tombstone of Thankful Watkins, who died March 18, 1811, at the age of 71. Thankful is the sweetest name I've ever heard.

I did a little research tonight and found that she was the daughter of Henry Morse and Sarah Kebbe Morse, which created a pleasant connection to myself, living, as I do, on a street that bears her given surname. She married Andrew Watkins in 1756 at the age of 16, and became Thankful Watkins.

Changing Directions

2008-03-30T17:28:00.003-04:00

I originally started this blog as a resource for entrepreneurs and investors. But after my second post, I moved my writing on that topic to a new blog directly linked with my company's website. This site sat fallow for over a year, but I have decided to revitalize it and take it in another direction.

I am a fan of random walks. When I was growing up, my family and I used to take "penny walks." The rules were that you started walking and when you got to a corner, you flipped a penny, and if it landed heads, you went right, and tails, you went left. This meant that you never knew where you were going or who you would meet.

While I don't flip a penny anymore, when I have free time, I like to take a meandering, directionless walk. I have nothing against a brisk, purposeful walk, but my preference is to mozy. If I mozy, then I have the freedom to strike up a conversation with anyone I meet along the way, or turn a stone to see if the newts are back in the spring. And while I might be giving up something on the exercise front, I gain a lot more from the experience.

Yesterday, I saw four Eastern Bluebirds.

Blogs: If You're Out There, You're In Them

2007-02-20T05:13:00.000-05:00

Since making the decision to start off on my own (actually, I've formed a Delaware S-Corp with a very experienced partner), it's been a little bit like being back at the University. I'm learning an amazing number of new things. Here are some tips and resources regarding blogging and creating a personal brand. Over the next several months, I'll be testing the value of my personal brand, separate from my soon-to-be-former employer, IDC. The notion of a personal brand is not new, but it is not something to which I've paid a lot of attention over the years, though I've paid a lot of attention to reputation.

In discussing my desire to create a personal brand, my partner, David, passed on this recommendation from one of my former clients: "John should start a blog." Of course, I knew nothing about starting a blog. In fact, other than Jonathan's blog, (CEO of Sun Microsystems), I had barely visited any blogs. I certainly had never considered writing one and, in fact, was active in preventing one of my employees from creating one. In this particular case, I likened it to giving a guy a loaded grenade with the pin pulled. Sorry. I might make a different decision today, but I have more information now. Here's some of the information I found.

I consulted the web and found an excellent blog entry by Guy Kawasaki on how to evangelize a blog. I also consulted the one family member of mine who knows anything about blogging, my brother Ken, whose conference, jvAlert Live!, I missed this weekend (sorry Ken). Ken referred me to "The Corporate BLOGGING Book," which has taught me more than enough to get started. I highly recommend the book. Go to the site and you can preview the book. The first chapter is free to download.

One of the things that I learned from the book was that, whether or not you decide to blog, if your name is "out there," someone is probably blogging about you. And it may not all be favorable. So you might as well participate in the dialogue.

Here's a useful tip:

Type in your name, in my case [John McArthur], and the word [blog] in the Google search engine and see what is being said about you. I did, and found a posting by an industry pundit discussing the fact that I had filled in for him at the opening of a major computer storage industry event in Frankfurt a few years ago. I'm still trying to decide if he was expressing gratitude, when he wrote, "while I’m sure he did a good job presenting the IDC perspective, it wasn’t the presentation that was billed." Let me know what you think. Is there a hint of sarcasm there?

For the record, I did the speech on about 3 hours sleep and with about 8 hours notice. Actually, that presentation was one of my favorites - no slides, no graphs, no charts. I started with a rapid-fire, 3-minute recitation of all of the buzzwords that exhibitors were proclaiming in their booth banner ads and concluded with a discussion on how to move beyond the hype.

OK, I hope you find these resources helpful. If you've got suggestions or comments on blogging and personal branding, please let me know. I'd love to hear from you.

Company Startup - What's the Exit Strategy?

2007-02-19T09:53:00.000-05:00

I just finished up a great two-hour meeting with my financial advisor, who continued to reinforce the notion that, while I have no idea what I'm doing, I've got a great bunch of advisors and friends that can help me avoid the mistakes of my own ignorance.

I won't bore you with all of the advise, but one thing I thought warranted sharing with everyone is this:

"When starting a new company, always consider your exit strategy and your transition strategy."

OK, that's not exactly how Paul said it, but you get the point. In my case, I'm setting up a company with long-time friend, David Burmon. So how does this rule apply here? David is several years older and he started his family sooner than I - his kids are almost out of college, while my oldest is just interviewing for middle schools. From that you should assume he is:

a) Age-wise, closer to retirement than I
b) Financially better positioned to consider retirement

So the issues that need to be top of mind go something like this:

a) If David wants to leave the company, is there a mechanism to buy him out?
b) How do we evaluate the value of the company, if David wants to leave?

I'm off to the first meeting. I'll let you know how it goes.