As a kid growing up in England, I used to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix races on Sunday afternoons. My Dad and I were TV-buddies, sitting enthralled as the drivers raced at over 200 miles per hour, on twisting, winding tracks in exotic cities across the world. When I moved to the US, I… Continue Reading
Network Ops
What I learned from my first game as a soccer coach
My younger daughter is in 3rd grade, and last summer she joined our local recreational soccer league. Our first season continued through the fall, and she had a great time. She prefers to play defense and she’s become very good at aggressively intercepting the ball and booting it up the field as far as she… Continue Reading
COBOL and the telecoms brain drain
Early in the pandemic, state unemployment departments experienced unprecedented strains on their resources. Many of us have blocked out memories of those days, but in March/April 2020 the number of people applying for unemployment benefits was 860% higher than at the peak of the 2008 financial crisis – and the infrastructure had not been designed… Continue Reading
Training courses don’t work
I studied French for 9 years. I spent around 1000 hours being trained to speak French by my teachers in middle school and high school. Not to mention a bunch of time doing homework and learning vocabulary. I got the highest available grade in all the formal exams I took. So I can speak French… Continue Reading
Cow pies
A couple of weeks ago I took a beautiful hike with my family along a ridge of hills near our home. It had rained a few days before, and the ground was pretty muddy, so we had our boots on, and it was slippery in places. As we rounded a corner, the skyline blossomed into… Continue Reading
Horses, mouse-droppings and resilient networks
I was recently browsing rural accommodation options for a future vacation, and came across a ranch in the mountains in a good location. That’s a good start, so I started looking at reviews for this place. The average rating was 4 stars (out of 5), which is pretty good, but I also noticed quite a… Continue Reading