John Burkholder

A question was posted on LinkedIn about how the industry is dealing with the lack of SharePoint talent when companies are deploying. In my opinion, they aren't. In order to better understand this point of view, I am going to give you a scenario. An energetic and technology driven systems administrator wants to stand up and play with SharePoint in his company of 200 people in order to get his hands on it and see what it can do. He stands it up and shows how document management and shared calendaring works to his boss and co-workers. The out-of-the-box functionality of SharePoint creates enough interest that the company adopts it and starts rolling it out to the entire company. The proud technician is happy he was able to fit a technology in that will move the company forward. A few months later after the new sales manager starts, he requests a reporting capable excel services, and a business intelligence application for his department. This is what he had at his last (Fortune

So...this is not meant to be discriminatory, it is just a light-hearted observation.  Our landscaping company employs a substancial amount of people from the hispanic background. They often wake us up on Saturday mornings with the sounds of lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Did I mention it is always on a Saturday? So today, we are officially having a blizzard. At least according to the weather service. To me, it looks like a snowfall, not really a blizzard. Of course, living in Maine and Chicago, I have seen my fair share of snow. So, the same landscaping company ALSO plows and shovels during the winter season. The individuals of the southern persuation may know how to mows and deal with the summer heat, but they have NO idea how to deal with the white stuff falling from the sky. Driving in it is only a humorous activity in futility. I saw the snow plow running back and forth trying to get off the patch of ice it created. This brings me to my point, as I mostly have one. You should

I sometimes wonder why people do what they do...but that is not unusual. So, I was at work today and the toilet that USUALLY has the blue water in it because I am the first person to use it. I love the feeling of ruining the blue water. It just feels good to sit on a clean toilet. I digress, so today, I went to the toilet to be totally peaved to see not only was it used but it was one of THOSE guys. You know the guy who walks right by the 3 open clean urinals to a stall so he can pee in the toilet. WHY man WHY? Not only do you walk right past the urinal, but you don't have aim and/or it is shorter than you think! FIrst, lift the damn seat. Second, FLUSH! Lastly, after you did ALL of that, you don't even stop at the sink to wash up and grab that handle to walk right out of the bathroom. I watch you dude. I damn sure do not want to shake you hand. So, here is my point (as I almost always have one), dude, grow a pair and act like a man. Stand up to pee. Have a little hygiene

I hate holidays. There is just too much crap wrapped around holidays. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays... I never really liked it to begin with since it represents the Natives saving the lives of the Pilgrims, whose spawn later murdered what was left after the diseases went through. Most other holidays are really no better. The expectations surrounding costumes for Halloween, presents for Christmas, sex for Valentine's day (wait...that one isn't so bad). I just think that having plans for a holiday are bound for failure every time. Therefore, I plan to stop all holidays from this point further. Tomorrow, I will be attending a Capitals game downtown. Thursday, I will be eating a turkey sandwich without all of the fixings...because honestly I don't want the entire meal. I really like the turkey sandwich the following day. Even with the 6 year old, it would be nice if we could cut out Christmas. Not very likely since she has done nothing but want Christmas since Decem

I am sitting here watching the Eagles beat the Bears and a commercial runs repeatedly during the breaks. It is 30 seconds of irrellevance: So, after watching that, I have to think to myself that maybe I am just too old to get it. That commercial did not make me want to join the group of people already using a Jeep. It didn't make me feel like I need a Jeep because it has something I want. It didn't even make me think at all. Fact is, I feel like I lost 30 seconds of my life waiting to see a drawing of a Jeep on white paper. What happemed to the Jeep climbing a mountain so someone can take their snowboard back down? What happened to the Jeep commercials showing the evolution and history of the Jeep? Even if you showed me a commercial with a hot chick fawning over the overweight plumber crack guy stepping out of the Jeep with a tool belt on. NOW THAT would be a commercial that would make me consider a Jeep. The plumber picking up the supermodel because he drives a Jeep. Not

How your cloud provider interacts with you can be very overlooked. You may be able to email customer support if there is a problem and wait for the allotted 24 hours for a response, or you can always call...if they have phone services available. Most cloud computing environment (especially the large ones) have forgotten that it is not just providing a service, but it is providing you with the information you need BEFORE you (the IT person forced to sit in the basement under the leaky water main) are asked why the system is not responding as it should. Cloud services should focus more on the service aspect than the clouds. I am so punny. Where was I? Oh, so, cloud services are often more about how much does it cost for me to stand up a virtual machine rather than: who will contact me with a problem; what is the problem and who is fixing it; when will the problem be resolved; why did this happen; where is the resolution to prevent it from happening again; how does this affect

Someone threw this term across my screen today thinking it would impress me and I would have to explain the way a Community Cloud would differ from the standard Public, Private and Hybrid clouds already recognized by the IT community. Here is my explanation: A Community Cloud is much like a Community or Junior College. You can go to a community college for the cheap and receive an "OK" education and when you finally graduate, you can be accepted to any Public College using you transfer. You could also apply to get into a Private College as a transfer but it is going to cost you MUCH more to attend. A Community Cloud follows this same principal...NOT! There isn't a "Community Cloud". There is a Public Cloud which is freely available to anyone on the internet, a Private Cloud which is basically kept from direct Internet access, and Hybrid which uses a combination of the two to meet the needs of the business. One of the reason the term is trying to be adapted

Well, Wikipedia calls it "Cloud computing is an example of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them. The concept generally incorporates combinations of the following: Infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Platform as a service (PaaS). Software as a service (SaaS). Other recent (ca. 2007–09) technologies that rely on the Internet to satisfy the computing needs of users. Cloud computing services often provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers. " You have to love that answer...or lack thereof. I find that wikipedia entries are either written for the Nobel Laureate, or for the pet rock. Nothing really in between. So, here we go for the normal people...JB's descriptio

I took a few minutes after lunch today to check my Facebook. I found out...my Daughter Shae is married...over 2 weeks ago. I had NO idea. To my dismay, she didn't feel it was important enough to tell us she is married. I bought her dinner last weekend and she didn't tell us she was married. Yes, she IS 19 and old enough to make her own decisions. She has known the guy for 3 months and much like I did at 19, married quickly. No, she didn't invite us to the JP wedding much like the Queen and I didn't invite the kids. So I guess the logic behind it all...or the reasoning is not far from my own. However, the Queen and I always thought that we had an open communications with the kids. Something as important as a marraige would be one of those things we would expect to at least be told, not something we find out about on a social networking site with 250 of the closest friends. I guess from this point of view it is much like the Queen not telling HER mother that she married.

So, it HAS been a while since I actually wrote a blog entry. Fact is, I am a happy person and the need for my written form of therapy is not as necessary. There was a rough patch over Christmas, but after changing jobs yet again, and boosting my medication slightly, all is good. I have a new job. I like it tremendously. Multiple reasons, first...everything is a challenge. Second, I am building a new division in the company. Lastly, I am treated as a valuable person in the company. Moving on...Sydni has a Dean's scholarship at Aurora University in Illinois. For this I am extremely proud. She will be attending in the Fall. She never gives up and for this, she is rewarded. I coached Odyssey of the Mind for the first time this year. It was truly exhausting and rewarding all at the same time. I coached 5th and 6th graders in a Division II team against 6-8 grade kids. We placed 9th out of 12 which I think is excellent considering the team could not get the vehicle to actually function an

At a meeting of the AARP (American Association of Retired People) they showed a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old. The contest was Titled 'u @50'.So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it. Be sure to read along. I just had to post it. Creative out of the box thinking...true or not.