Securing your every... thing

The king is dead. Long live the king!

2009-06-29T09:39:00.002+03:00

I realize that blogging about me or my life cannot have a real priority, right now. Although I tried, it is by far an activity that, still, does not belong to my structure. Thus I will freeze this blog for now and try to revive it at a later time, should it be the case.

In the meantime I will continue to write about some of my beliefs that belong more to my system than my personal thing-ys, here. I invite all of you there, to discuss about our very lives.

Kudos.

One day, long time ago...

2009-05-17T22:01:00.003+03:00

[About... nothing.]

I decided that I need to have a blog. A new toy, a new approach.
I decided I have something to say. Otherwise I wouldn't need a blog.
I decided that I need to start again as it has been a long time since I haven't been posting.

These days I remembered about this...
I need to start it all over.
I still have something to say.
It has been a while but this time, I will succeed.

Keep your finger crossed.

One

2008-08-20T09:26:00.004+03:00

About how to celebrate one year of marriage in 7 easy steps...

1. Decide that Sony Cybershot T300-B is the perfect gift for this occasion. Then discuss about this with one of your colleagues in US in order to get it directly from there (as the entire pack costs a lot less than it does in RO);
2. Place a reservation request on the exact apartment that you had for the wedding night (at the exact same hotel). Include in the request the exact same cake (a bit smaller though) and a bottle of champagne;
3. Wait for everything to come in place and announce that for that weekend you already have plans so nothing else should interfere with this;
4. Get into a huge fight and cancel everything;
5. Make up the following day and run for getting the plans back in action;
6. Get into the nearest cab and go there - make sure to get your WII console with you;
7. Finale: reach there, check in, get the champagne and the cake, play, relax, jacuzzi, take pictures with your new camera and the sky is the limit.

Happy anniversary!

Figures and percentages

2008-08-11T09:04:00.004+03:00

About ways of seeing things...

During the past two weeks I have been closely connected to the business plan review process and all the involved activities: analyzing the global activity on the first half of 2008, justifying the number of hired persons, presenting the plans for the second half of 2008 and reducing budgeted costs (where from, only God knows). I have transformed live human beings into numbers - figures and percentages -; I have found numerous areas where the human effort was not properly measured; I have found a lack of transparency and visibility which led to my team having a bad image within the organization.
During this time I have found areas from which to cut peanuts. It seems that we need a certain ratios on paper so what I have done was to make sure that we reach the respective ratios. However the way it was put the entire idea was in a certain way... This lack of visibility which I have mentioned earlier it sure does impact a great deal over the current actions and credibility.
Nonetheless, things are moving into the good direction now - all we need is time to show it. And I still have something to learn where letting go is concerned.

BTW: have I told you that this week we will celebrate our first year of marriage?

Sometime weeks ago

2008-07-08T09:38:00.001+03:00

About a small vacation...

Quite a few weeks ago, actually, in late June... My wife and I together with a couple of friends (they really are a couple) went on a trip to Greece. We got into a car (dear old me, it's been a while since I last saw my car) and drove all the way down to the beach of Katerini (approximately 80 km south of Thessaloniki) for about 5 nights. It was a great vacation although a bit exhausting as the girls insisted in visiting all of Greece within 6 days: Mount Olympus and Dion in one day, the Meteora the next day, the Waterpark in Thessaloniki the next day and finally the Mediterranean Cosmos (quick trip around the biggest shopping mall in the Balcans) during another one day. Add one day for the trip to Katerini and one day for the trip back and there you go: 6 days.
The two male representatives of the group insisted to stay for at least one day on the beach of Katerini as it is one of the nicest beach in Greece. And we obtained it: two hours in the second day (from 6.00 PM to 8.00 PM) and two hours in the last day (same time interval). Of course, the result was that we got back having the same ten as when we left, but none of that mattered as we had quite a nice time over there.
One side note though: the Bulgarian drivers are just insane... So pay attention while you drive in Bulgaria!
In the end the trip was a well deserved break from the overloaded workdays that I currently run into. I got back at work and for a week I needed time to update myself with the latest news and email exchanges.
But I sure would like to go on another vacation for one more week... Until next time, I salute you.

A new beginning

2008-06-29T12:26:00.002+03:00

About a new challenge...

A long awaited new challenge has begun. The sad - but in the same time challenging - part is that there are so many things to build after being totally torn apart by others. We'll see how this works out.

Peace.

180 degrees spin

2008-05-28T09:18:00.005+03:00

About unexpected events that can change your life...

I always believed that you are your own guardian and you drive your own life as you find suited. I did not (actually I am not sure that I currently do) embrace the idea that we are all born with a predefined path that you cannot change. I like to believe that I can change my own life and destiny whenever I want to. But is this true? Can we drive our own lives as we want or is there something more to this? I agree, there is a certain random factor in our lives. And by this I mean a sum of events that affect our lives but over which we do not have any power whatsoever. But would this be just a random factor that affects us temporary or is this a real predefined destiny?

Sunday afternoon I was driving back home after visiting my old grandma. I had some plans to clean the car and to spend some quality time with my beloved wife on what I predicted to be a nice looking Sunday evening. However, something that I could not think of happened and ruined everything. I was approaching a regular junction on a 2-lane per way street (I was driving on the first lane). I remember the SUV from the second lane slowing down probably to turn left. I remember the green light. Then I remember the impact... the acute and obsessive sound of my tires blocked on the ground... the 180 degrees spin the car performed after the impact... that helpless feeling that you cannot stop the car sooner... watching the spare tire passing next to my window and then stopping somewhere on the street... and, finally, the obsessive question: was it red???
And irresponsible ambulance driver thought it would be fun to cross the junction on the red light with the sirens off; an ambulance that I did not see because of the SUV; an ambulance that was not even during a mission...
The funny part is that an ambulance run into my car - an ambulance... The only possible thing for which I stop, for which I yield... An ambulance...

A series of unfortunate events made this happen: the irresponsible driver, the SUV, the sirens off. A series of fortunate events left me live and kicking: the strong car that I have, my reflex to try to slightly turn right when feeling the ambulance approaching, the fact that I did not have time to slow down, using the safety belt. Put together, it was an event that couldn't have been predicted and could have changed my life for good - period. One note: yes, the event could have been prevented by me, by stopping the car before the junction, on my green light. However, I refuse to be afraid that at each junction that I meet I need to stop the car because a possible lunatic can appear. I refuse to live in fear that each driver could pass on red. I refuse to be afraid that someone else could change my life.
Or am I wrong?

Communication, in general

2008-05-25T10:26:00.003+03:00

About communication...

A community (regardless where it resides - at work or home) will always depend on (and always have as major challenge) communication.
I ran, lately, into several situations in which lack of communication led to bad scenes or could have seriously impaired collaboration at certain levels. People tend to let primal individual instincts to take over during times in which team work is very important. We tend to forget that we are in the same boat and only together we can drive the boat to the final target. We tend to focus only on us, on our needs and forget about the rest. We tend to see or own interest and forget that there is a higher common goal; that there are several individuals just like us which need the same level of attention as we do...

Communication (effective communication, that is) is a big challenge everywhere. It depends on us, and us alone, to make sure that we take everything into consideration when we express ourselves in a debate. But, it is better to leave the professionals speak about this. They will do a better job than me: Daniel Goleman and Robert Sutton.

Enjoy and try to understand something from these two posts...

Opinions

2008-05-06T09:55:00.002+03:00

About too many opinions...

Isn't it interesting that lately everybody has an opinion about everything? We seem to be the know'em-all type of persons... no actually we are the feel'em-all type as we even do not have opinions... we only feel things about stuff that happens. Lately I only hear it seems to me that...i feel that... Are we are too afraid to admit that we just do not know everything? Is it that hard to admit that we are not perfect, that we are not machines, that we are - after all - only human?

It is very good to have an opinion when you know what you are talking about. It is perfect when you can admit that you do not have an opinion, that you do not know stuff about everything, that - after all - you are only human... Usually only relationships are built upon feelings, not the surrounding world.

My toy. Reloaded

2008-05-02T21:51:00.002+03:00

About what I experience with my iPhone...

I will begin with an update to one of my previous posts. Lately the community created several tools that transform the mentioned procedure into a one-click-away one. I will mention two such tools that I successfully used: ZiPhone and iLiberty+. Note: the community opinions differ some say that one is better and some that one sucks. Whatever they say, I used them both and had no troubles whatsoever.
After I managed to unlock my phone my attention was no longer drawn by it. I was just so happy that I was able to use my toy that I payed no attention whatsoever to what was new. Instead I focused my attention on being able to cope with my company's HQ move and to plan my vacation in late June.
iPhone came back into the picture when one of my colleagues bought one from the States and asked me to assist her in unlocking it. It was at that time when I got up-to-date: version 1.1.4 was released and there were all these tools available for cracking purposes. I was completely mesmerized: there is a certain 'je ne sais quois' that iPhone has, compared with the other phones available on the market, that drives people into creating all these free tools. Yes, right now everybody can enjoy iPhone regardless where they are based from (even more, some gain some serious money from this).
I waited for a couple of weeks before I was finally convinced to upgrade my 1.1.2 to 1.1.4 - which I did, today. I can say that despite what others have to say about the iPhone, I really like the toy it is. All the programs available to install makes one's life easier and more entertaining. One very nice program I found was Maps Offline - I will be able to save the road-map to Greece, where I will spend my vacation in late June, remember?

Relax...

2008-04-10T14:53:00.001+03:00

About one of my hobbies...

Some time ago I was mentioning the fact that sometimes we forget to relax. Having this figured out all I needed was to actually do something about it. Which I did - while continuing to attend the dancing courses I went back to my first love: football (or soccer for my American fans - if any). I will not even try to explain how much I enjoy playing or what this sport means to me as the focus is right now on my playing.
For quite a while now the company I work for signed a contract so that we will be able to play football for two hours a week. Imagine several colleagues, professionals at this, trying to run for it and give 110% so that the team wins... No really, weighting from 70 to 110 kilos (it's just a coincidence in figures) all we try is to have fun - until the first ego shows and screws everything up.
Of course, I have great expectations from me since I know that I play good (for an amateur as I am - and among other amateurs). I wasn't very happy, however, about my latest performances even though I lost some serious weight since my last match. I know that I am out of shape however this was not it.
It took me some time to realize something else and I need to thank my beloved wifey for this. One of the most important reasons for my performance was the fact that I did not have something even close to this. Imagine a pair of shoes similar to the one in the picture - the only difference is that the shoe in the picture is designed for outdoors-pitch and my pair is designed for synthetic surfaces (plastic).
I took my new shoes out this last Tuesday and the results were absolutely fantastic. I did not score a lot as one might expect however I gained something else: trust my own moves (oh God, it feels like ages since my last successful dribble), trust my own feet (as the beauties will not allow me to slip as I did with the previous pair of shoes), remembered how to shoot from various positions with various curling trajectories and the examples can continue like this...
In one word, I am thrilled by what these shoes brought me: they took me way back, in my childhood when I played like crazy and taught everybody what this sport is really about. And I owe everything to my dear wife who bought me this pair. THANK YOU.

It gets worse

2008-04-08T09:31:00.004+03:00

About being speechless...

I will not talk much about this. Yesterday it took me 3 (three hours) to reach work from home. Today it got better, only 2 (two hours). Not to mention that I did not move to the new location... yet. When there is no traffic on the streets it usually takes 7 minutes to take this road... No comment, indeed.
You can read more here and here.

The longest wait

2008-04-03T08:34:00.003+03:00

About waiting for unwanted things to happen...

In the very near future I will move... Far away... Far from everybody and everything. Just me and the hay stack in a warm blow of the sunny wind... Don't give me that look! I know what you're thinking but you're wrong: no, I will not go in vacation; no, I will not move to live in a different place; not even into a different apartment in the same town; no, I will not change the company I work for (a lot of nos so far...); the company will move form the current old building to a brand new (not even completely finished) one. So far so good. Except for the fact that I will switch between two very crowded areas of my home town (from the NE side to the extreme W). There you have it: starting with April 14th, instead of spending 30 to 45 minutes on the road driving through the street madness of Colentina-City to the current building, I will need to add up (as the driving directions will take me on the same road up to here) another 60 to 75 minutes needed to reach the new place. A brief total of at least 3 hours spent daily on the road, between home and work - not a very good perspective, in my opinion.
I would think that I do not want to move there anytime soon... However, coincidental or not, things are not that good in the current location, either: the building looks like a ruin and we seem to be survivors of a nuclear war (one of the elevators is gone - and there is dust all over the place because of this, two floors are completely wiped - no more people working there - don't think of anything else -, no more flat water, no more freezers, no more salt or sugar - we do have a lot of pepper to compensate, though -, no more coins for free coffee, no more toothpicks, no more doors, and the story could go on like this for a couple more pages - not even to mention the environment outdoors...). Next week is going to be even more interesting: another floor will be wiped, there will be no catering company and God knows what's next... From this perspective, I want to get the hell out of this dump in which I have worked during the last 5 years and a half. I am not eager to leave but I do want decent conditions where I work.

Yes, I want to leave despite having to face some demons about it. It will take a while to see how I can cope with the new challenges but I guess the smart thing to do is to take one step/day at a time.

Enjoying the prize

2008-02-19T09:10:00.004+02:00

About unlocking the iPhone...

In one of my previous posts I mentioned my well earned prize for my activity at work in 2007. It was a brand new iPhone (OTB 1.1.2). For those of you who are not familiar with this, OTB means out-of-the-box and 1.1.2 represents the firmware version. What made this version different that others was the bootloader version (v4.6) - the most difficult to crack so far.
I was one of the most patience persons to have a not cracked iPhone as I did not agree with the idea of either a hardware unlock of the device nor with turbosim.
So there I was just minding my own business when someday the good news finally reached me: it was possible to unlock OTB 1.1.2 using software cracks! And so my quest to completely unlock my iPhone started - here. I do not want to even begin to say what research activity this process involved. I will however write about my experience - to sum up all steps taken in order to accomplish this. As an initial note, make sure that you have a wireless router that your iPhone can use to connect to the internet.

1. Connect the iPhone to the computer using iTunes and downgrade the firmware from 1.1.2 to either 1.1.1 or 1.0.2;
2. Jailbreak the newly downgraded iPhone;
3. Open Installer, locate the 1.1.2-1.1.3 OTB G-Unlock package (the one from ModMyPhone) and choose to install it;
4. Open Installer, locate the OkToPrep package and install it;
5. It is now time to upgrade the firmware back to 1.1.2 using iTunes (similar to point 1);
6. Of course, after the firmware upgrade you will see that the phone is still locked, however OkToPrep allows you to jailbreak 1.1.2. Read more here. This time you will need a small utility available here.
7. Is this all? Well yes, you can input your SIM card and you will see your iPhone connecting to the network. But you cannot send or receive calls. At this point in time I was almost prepared to toss it away. However one more question well placed offered me the solution: open Installer again, locate the iWorld package and install it. Afterwards, open the new icon and choose your home country (for me it is Romania).

Was this all? Yes for the most part. I still saw that the phone did not recognize my contacts from the SIM card, so I needed to install and use SIMPort in order to accomplish this. And there is one more catch: in order to install a package from Installed you need to use the original AT&T SIM card. This inconvenient stopped me from actually trying the various packages available for installation.

Other than that I am pretty satisfied with the device. It is really something else...

One sunny day

2008-02-12T14:21:00.001+02:00

About good things in life...

Back to the regular activities for quite a while now... During which time everything got slowly but certainly into place. Everything is beginning to work just as planned and results begin to show their smiley faces. Oh, yes, this is starting to pay off and I get time to stand back for a second and realize the long way I have walked during the last few months. Of course, this is not the endpoint and there are still a lot to be done, however work is not the aim of this post.
I feel like sometimes we forget to relax, we forget that the word relax even exists. We tend to remain connected somewhere within our work and we go home with the same load we carry around during work hours. And even if you do not talk about it there still remains a small bit of you that drives, at least your dreams, to solving work related issues...
I guess that somehow it is kind of normal... but only if you acknowledge it, you try to work it out (to release the pressure) and to do something to relax from time to time. I need to admit that I am still working on the relaxing part which seems to be the hardest thing to do.
But, once I manage to find resources to relax (!?) I remember how good things are in life: spending time with the wife, with the friends, go dancing, go to a movie, play a nice game of whist, unlock the iPhone (I need to create an entire post about this) which was the prize I received for last year's activity and so on. And, of course, I can't wait for the spring to come for a football match with my colleagues and friends.
Yes, there are good things in life that are worth living for.

New

2008-01-11T09:50:00.000+02:00

About resuming the normal activities...
After a short, but well deserved, break I am back on track, resuming my activities and trying to regain the speed I had in late December. I must admit it is not easy nor pleasant :) But it sure is demanding and not leaving me time to get bored. Plus, I fight the snow in all parking areas on a daily basis.
So I should be up and running in the shortest time possible - meaning next week, probably on Monday!? And, damn, I miss playing a football match...
Come on, spring.

2007-2008

2007-12-17T17:52:00.000+02:00

About drawing the line...

After receiving the prize for 2007 there were a lot of 'year-end' activities to take care of. I was so busy that at some point in time I found difficult to draw the line between the professional life and the personal one. I even postponed one visit to the doctor...
Nevertheless it is time for me to take a break. The final one on 2007 - my long desired and deserved vacation. It is time for me to concentrate on some other things such as me, my wife and my marriage.

Hone, if you read these lines please remember that I love you with all my heart.

So, I wish you all a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year and may you have many unexpected successes on 2008.
Yours truly.

Finally!

2007-11-29T16:39:00.000+02:00

About waiting for my 30 seconds of glory...

At last!
5 years of working... hard I'd say; with achievements and disappointments; with frustrations and arguments; with trips all around the country for interactions with the customers; with a trip to US to start the new office; with open-mind and stubbornness; with a twisted road up and down-hill; with a constant orientation to achieving the overall goals; always taking part of my team - and fighting for it.

Good and bad moments... But in the end I will always remember the thrill (half happy, half not believing) of my 30 seconds of glory for which I have been working during the past 5 years. 30 seconds during which I was the in the center and during which everybody learned who I really am.

"The prize for outstanding activity during 2007 goes to..."
At last!

Further instructions

2007-10-29T18:51:00.000+02:00

About the steps to follow...
Day by day I am closer and closer to my personal objectives for the current year. A lot of projects which were thought of as not needed are now in progress with big chances of successful completion. Projects that will change things around here in good and for good; projects that will mean something in the future and that will help the persons to come on all levels...
The changes are now visible to everybody and bring hope to those that lost it somewhere in transit. A wave of fresh air enters the room and embraces us with promises. We now really believe! Sure, there are some re-iterations to be made in order to have at least one cycle completed but they will come and continue.
It's very rewarding to hear people asking you why not? You should be next in my opinion; it is rewarding to know that you bring trust, motivation, attitude and the like; it is rewarding to see how life is changing as a direct result of my actions; it is rewarding, from a personal perspective, to see that I can do it.
But does this help? Should I feel better knowing that I could but the one that needs to see it does not? Or, perhaps, should I follow what people around me are saying?
I guess that, for now, all I have to do is wait for further instructions...

Awaiting results

2007-10-17T18:49:00.000+03:00

About how to sit and wait.
I sit down and think about how things are, where they are going and how they should be. Thus in my previous post I wrote about how one can stop you from doing what's right for him. From behind the lame excuse of analyzing and re-analyzing one will delay the right thing to happen if not even block it forever.
So I guess that the only thing left to do is wait for some results to show up. And trust me, friends, they will!

Hand break

2007-10-09T20:57:00.000+03:00

About that distinct feeling that you have when you feel, smell and almost touch the success; the feeling that makes you tick; the success of your well-driven actions.
There are moments in life when you just need to go ahead, take the wheel and slam the gas. You know what you are doing and you know you do it well. You are the best at this and nobody and few people could do it better - at least not with the speed you are capable of. You can take on several simultaneous projects and track them until they complete successfully. And you know that the sooner the projects will complete, the sooner the results will be shown. Results that can change the life of an organization forever in the right direction.
But for some wacky reason one will pull the hand break - some others will move way too slow for you. How much empowerment do you need to bypass everything and succeed? Where do you get that kind of power when the person you need it from is the "hand break puller"? And even more! This is also the person that will benefit of the success of your actions! I mean... Come on, God dammit!
This is the border... the thin line between the professional and the mercenary. Both of them will complete their actions. The main difference is that the professional works with passion, pleasure and feeling; the mercenary works... for money, no feelings, stone cold. Do we really need to turn into mercenaries?

Switch

2007-10-08T21:47:00.000+03:00

The time to look back and enjoy has been gone for quite a while, now. We need to push the button, we need to change, we need to go to the next level. It's time! But what to do when the button is out of reach?

I guess the best thing to do right now is wait...

The dance master - conclusion

2007-09-19T08:59:00.000+03:00

Part 3 - conclusion

Well, yes, MC HAMMER got the moves from me. :)

The dance master - part 2

2007-09-18T11:18:00.000+03:00

Part 2...

The dance master - part 1

2007-09-17T20:44:00.000+03:00

Have you ever wondered where MC HAMMER got his moves from? Well here you have the answer - some footage from my wedding.

Part 1...

Something new

2007-09-16T16:35:00.000+03:00

Some time ago I said that nothing new will occur on this blog for a long time. Well it's time to have something new.

Perhaps you know I got married. What you don't know is that I will come back with more details. But, in the meantime, enjoy the beginning.

Nothing new

2007-07-31T18:46:00.000+03:00

For the moment there is nothing new. Nor there will be for a good period of time.