Friday, October 2, 2009
Update from Tokyo - October 3rd 2009
Where do I begin?
Well, first we want to let everyone know that with God’s help, WE ARE OK!.
We are finally back home in Tokyo and although we are not out of the woods yet, slowly but surely things are beginning to get better.
For all of you that might be a bit confused, here is a quick recap:
Let’s just say that in the last few weeks the Haas Family has been tested to their limit.
First, my precious Wife suffered from a series of serious strokes accompanied by a heart attack in the last trimester of her pregnancy. This forced our Daughter to be born prematurely and she had a huge struggle with her life, same as her Mom. Thanks God they are both tough fighters. The “health storm” seems to be over, and they are now taking small steps into full recovery, against very negative odds.
Second, we were “victims” of the natural disaster that affected the Philippines, since we were staying in Manila since early August. I cannot begin to describe the devastation and desolation that I witnessed. Lots of beloved friends and family were lost and the scars are going to take some time to heal.
Leaving behind all pain and suffering, we took advantage of my Daughter and Wife’s improvement and decided to fly back home where my Family will continue their medical treatment, hoping for the best.
I have no words to thank EVERYONE for their encouragement. Thanks for the emails, blog replies, phone calls. Thanks for the gifts and the “unlimited flower supply” sent to the Hospitals. Now I can plainly understand what having friends is all about. Real friends. I’m astonished by the quality of people that surrounds us. For all I know, God will return your favors as blessings.
The next few weeks will continue to be critical for everyone. Please bear with us. I’ll try to get online as much as I can and follow up with all of you individually.
Again, THANK YOU for being there for us. I will never forget your actions.
May God bless you all.
The Haas Family
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thank you!
I want to thank each and every one of you for the overwhelming support and the 100s of emails that both my adored Wife and I have received in the last few days. She is taking little steps into full recovery and our baby is healthy and strong.
Please keep us on your prayers at all times and once again THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for your kind thoughts.
As a friend recently pointed out to me: MIRACLES DO HAPPEN
Monday, July 6, 2009
Who is hiring in this economy?
Here are a couple of good sources:
Mark Cummuta’s Blog
Jobangels
emurse
Liz Lynch's Blog
As always, I wish you all the best of luck in your career quests. Remember what Milton Berle said: "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
SHOULD I.T. CONTROL EVERYTHING?
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Slow Internet Mumbo-Jumbo
As I had previously posted, I have to thank both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett (may God bless their souls) for opening my eyes once again about Internet topography, backbones et.al. In the last 24 hours global networks have experienced severe bottlenecks, overflows, latency and saturation in levels that I have not seen in a long time. Breaking News=Slow Connectivity. Yeah right. Basic questions come to mind, such as…is it the architecture itself?...or the people managing it on a day-to-day basis?...I’m frustrated by the amount of resources (and the $$$ associated with it) that ISP’s and similar spend every day on this issue(s). We are getting too used to terminology such as “Black Holes” (go Hubble!), “DNS war”, “Cyber-bullying” or “Maxed-out bandwidth” (I heard that one today like 100+ times)…so…what is the solution?...no, please don’t tell me again “let’s add more routers”…and do not pitch me the “one-hop source” design. We have to look at all 7 layers and promote a factual Internet Governance approach. One with real engineering minds, no politicians allowed. And please let’s do it before the daisy-chain-effect brings us to a place where we need to start all over again (if we travel back in time, I reserve the right not to use the name ARPANET). That, or let’s finally outlaw breaking-news casts…
Internet traffic report
Real-time web monitor
On real-life Global ERP projects...
On real-life Global ERP projects...
ERP packages have altered the way Companies go about overall I.T. processes and procedures. For us global conglomerates, instead of using standalone tactics, we are slowly but surely moving into internationally-sourced packages that reflect best practices at a worldwide level. The encapsulation epoch is over. Because of the new (and rich) choices, we are able (or at least try to) tailor packages and modules in ways we never did before. Here is the catch: the mammoth growth rate in global ERP adoption has slowed down considerably. It looks clear to me that some of us I.T. leaders are not fully conscious about the benefits/results equation. We need new perspectives, new collaborations, new alliances that will bring us to the next level. In my humble experience, a fresh pair of eyes is the key to success in these kind of macro-projects. I’ve decided to share an excellent white-paper that my good friend from Cyprus, John McGrann just published. I am pretty impressed. I believe King Cinyras and Pygmalion would be very proud of him!.
As always, I appreciate all input.
References:
How to drive ERP systems to success