John Burkholder

So, unfortunately my daughter Shae has challenged me and her sisters to the ice bucket challenge. Honestly, I am fine just paying my way out. But then I thought, why not. I will still donate to ALS, but I have nothing better going and this would be a cool project. So I turned my little video into an action packed trailer! http://youtu.be/exZxk6sZbjs

Father's Day is a bit different for me. I actually have 3 fathers. There is my birth father that I am currently searching for in order to understand my health and lineage. L R Stone is still the strong lead and I think he is in California still. I tried calling phone numbers, emailing all kinds of email addesses, and messaging on Facebook but have not had much luck getting a response.  My second father is my adopted father, Lloyd John Burkholder. Everyone called him Bud. Bud was in World War II as a cook in the Navy. He met my Mom by going the the Navy facility in Battle Creek, Michigan where my Mom grew up. When the war ended he came back and married her, had Gary John, and Janeen Lou and then 13 years after Jan, adopted a 6 month old John Henry (me). Much like me, he got bored easily and felt it was time to move on from place to place setting up and selling off bakeries across the US. Clinton was the last bakery though. My Mom had found a place she liked, made friends, and wanted...

My life feels like a constant ebb and flow. Spring time comes around and we (the family) feel it is time to take a new job, move, and/or have a major life event. It has happened so often that we don't even think about setting down roots. Friends are always at arms length, and fortunately or unfortunately, I think I may have engrained that same mentality into my older kids.  Then comes Bloomington. It seems like the perfect middle ground for us. The pay is competitive, Andi has her business and it seems to be growing, and everyone except for me has managed to make good friends. I am still arms length friends with everyone. I guess this is the nearly 30 years of constantly moving that is hard to break through. Being a consultant means two things, good pay but with the trade-off that you may end up taking your next job in Austin or Redmond. There are other consultants that are road warriors and keep a home base. When I watch their Facebook updates, they also seem to have a very limite...

I normally avoid talking about politics, religion and sex as my blog is viewable by anyone including prospective employers. I guess my age is catching up with me because I could really care less when it comes to this subject. I have sat back and watched for a long time regarding gun control and the 2nd amendment. I will start with the summary: Gun control needs to start happening. No, this is NOT an infringement on the 2nd amendment. Yes, I do believe in the right to bear arms. But let's think this over for a moment before hopping on the NRA bandwagon. This is how the second amendment as passed by Congress reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Now let's think about when this was written, what was happening in the newly formed United States and how that pertains to today's debate. The colonies had to mutiny against the crown for a right to be represented...

Today, I received the following email: Hi Everyone, We have opening for  SharePoint Developer in Vienna, VA . Please reply with your updated resume.  Interview - Monday   Regards, Vignesh  | Technical Recruiter Urbane Systems LLC 703-496-7772   |  vignesh@urbanesystems.com *Urbane Systems LLC *2325 Dulles Corner Blvd, Suite 500, Herndon, VA - 20171 *Fax: 703-991-9126 At what point did it become a best practice to try to recruit somebody without addressing them personally? Is this really the image a company wants to portray when it is recruiting someone to fill a position? Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm. My experiences as of the last month have been as such: I had 3 different people from the same company overseas try to recruit me for a position in the United States. All 3 called my mobile phone...repeatedly. All 3 emailed me. I replied back to one of them that I was not interested, but the other ...

I really have been off and on with studying for my MCSD. Well, I purchased some study material and I am off to the races. What I am finding is... it is a lot easier material than I thought. The gaps I find are not nearly as far fetched as others have told me...of course, I have not taken a test yet either. All of the documentation and study guides in the world may be off from the content in the test itself. Overall though, I may be able to blow this battery of test out in a few months. *Fingers Crossed* One of the biggest helps was a consolidated lists for each test from Matt Menezes . Since I started working for the client I am on, I don't have the luxury of publishing all of the development tips and tricks I learned out here on my blog. I really miss that. It is one way that I can retain certain aspects of business process, development, and training. Additionally, the client doesn't use all of the SharePoint features so that makes the study gaps a bit more obvious. My b...

For quite some time now I have been searching for my birth parents. I have some clues in my search like my place of birth, my birthday, a letter from my adopted mother about some of the information she had, and now my DNA. So now what? Where does someone go for the little information I have. Ancestry.com is a good start. Fortunately, they have a database of all of the births, death, marragies in California. Then simple logic kicks in. According to my letter, I was given the name "Stone" by the adoption agency. So in my search of births in Los Angeles County, California, I found Baby Boy Stone born on the same date. Coincidence? I think not. Especially since that was the only "Baby Boy" birth certificate. This means the child was not named for the birth certificate as a replacement birth certificate would be assigned later. The birth certificate had the birth father listed as L R Stone. The birth mother was Ashlock. Back to the letter from my mother: She states...