John Burkholder

 I watch technology all the time. I see where it is going, how it can help people in their lives and in business, and how it can be used to harm humans. Right now, we have some humans fighting change as much as possible and some pushing for progress. It divides not only our country, but even the lowest levels of community. A good friend of mine lives in a very small town in central Illinois and he observes the push back to the times of Jim Crow laws, lower educational standards, and "heal thy self" mentality and struggles to understand why they dismiss science when they use that same science to get better crops in the field, drive that new pick-up truck with all of the creature comforts included, and purchase their flags to show how much they wish to support a traitorous regime from the 19th century.  It is the other side... the science-driven, cancer-solving, social structure that are pushing toward a singularity. Even with the continuous advancements to making things happen...

 It wasn't until I found out my birth mother had Behcets that I could finally put all of the pieces together of what I have dealt with all my life. Behcets is a rare disease that may or may not be genetic. In my case, it is. My birthmother had it, I have it, one (possibly more) child has it. For me, I have shown symptoms throughout my life. It most commonly shows in puberty, but I suspect they will find the genetic version is life long. This week, I had the worst flare-up I have had in a very long time. I have counted 3 mouth ulcers around the teeth and gums, and one nasty bastard right by the vocal cords in my throat. Talking is an impossibility. Accompanying this round is joint pain. That means the few stairs I need to climb become more of an effort. Anyway, I hope you all are staying healthy. I hope this all goes away soon.

  I signed up for Twitter on December 3, 2009. Today I closed my account. I was very hesitant to do so but after thinking long and hard about whether I felt the platform was the right place for me, without moderation, with a rapidly dissolving corporate hierarchy, I felt it was time to move on. But to where? Mastodon? Hive? Post? I can't just join all of them and companies like Microsoft, Salesforce, and my local governments haven't adopted another platform. So back to when it was "harder" to contact them. "Harder"... Like picking up the phone to call a human being. Yes, the human is now often a computer. Yes, now the company doesn't have a physical phone, but the point is, many of them have some way to contact them directly instead of through a social media platform. But "harder" could mean it is mentally harder for you to make a phone call. It could also mean your preferred asynchronous method of communication that allows for you time to thin...

  What have I done? Why am I doing this? Over the past 7 years, I have been a manager of platforms, people, and knowledge. Prior to that,  #management  has always been part of the job, but not the entire job. When I became a manager I was told to "make a choice... you can't do both." Now that I have been doing it, I understand why they said it. Being an effective manager means you aren't building it, fixing it, or maintaining it. You help your people gain the knowledge, resources, and communications necessary to succeed. But what kind of impact has that had on me personally? Yeah... there is the rub. I don't like it. As an architect, developer, or engineer, you build things. You have a solid result. I would have built a new website and I could show someone I built that. I created a new software, I can show it. I built a new network operations center and could show how it was effective in preventing issues before they happened. As a manager or director, your people...

 A few days ago, T-Mobile announced a data breach consisting of Social Security numbers, drivers license information, and credit cards for over 40 million people. I was a Sprint member until T-Mobile purchased Sprint and all of my customer information was assimilated into their terrible data protection system. No, this is not the first time T-Mobile had a breach and you'd think they would buckle down and strengthen their network to avoid such things. This is not the first time my data has been breached. Equifax, Target, and smaller company like the parking app used around Chicago. This begs me to ask, when are we going to fix this? First, we need to take data protection and privacy seriously. The social security number you have was not intended for credit reporting. There aren't enough safeguards in the system to protect the money you have invested in social security once a person has your number, and all of the items found on your drivers license.  Your drivers license and id...

  I rarely make mistakes. I am one of those people who checks out every move, option or path before committing to a decision. As my wife puts it, "It isn't often you make a mistake, but when you do, it is epic." My wife had been writing letters to my adult children for a few months. I'm more of a texting dad but decided it was time to give my wife a run for her Parent of the Year trophy. I planned everything out so perfectly, it was going to be heartfelt, memories, they would keep with them for all time...because my competitive nature with my wife runs deep. During lunch one day, I decided to walk over the the Art Institute of Chicago to get some ideas for my artsy children. I walked through each gallery looking at the paintings, taking some photos, and reading each plaque explain who the artist was and if there was some sort of story involved. Many of them didn't match the personality for each. Portraits were just dead people on canvas, the sculptures (although i...

 Even the most experienced house remodeler can be surprised by what the world has to provide it. Tearing apart the 1990s version of a kitchen was more work than she expected. The cabinets were screwed directly into the studs and the electrical was placed in locations that didn't make any sense for the modern kitchen. So instead of just replacing the cabinets, Alex demolished to the studs. That is when Alex noticed the envelope. An unmarked stationery sealed with a gold sticker on the back. Even though it sat in the wall for decades, it appears to be in good condition and oddly enough, waiting for someone to find and open it. As she reached down to pull the envelope, she also noticed a small wristlet hanging from a nail next to the envelope. Walking back to her couch, Alex grabs a wine goblet and the bottle of Merlot to sit down and open the envelope. After pouring herself a healthy glass, she peals back the sticker and opens the envelope. Taking another sip, she unfolds the letter....