Libby Says...
Perhaps now you might understand why I've been fairly quiet over the last few weeks. Yes, the e-Pro relaunch announcement has been burning a hole in my blog and I've been wanting to tell you all about it, but I didn't want to steal my own thunder. Plus, it's been taking up a great deal of my time. So. e-Pro Magazine is no more in print. But, as Duffbert and Ed point out, that doesn't mean e-Pro has stopped bringing you valuable news, insight, technology how-to, analysis, and product coverage. e-Pro is dead; Long Live e-Pro! Our relaunch does two main things: first, we have stopped covering all things WebSphere (WAS, WebSphere MQ, WSAD) as an equal partof our coverage. We will continue to cover WebSphere as it might be of interest to a Lotus reader -- after all, it does provide the underpinning for the new Workplace platform in some ways, as well as for WebSphere Portal -- but it will be more "What a Lotus technologist might like to see on WAS/WSAD" rather than what a WebSphere technologist would like to see. This does not mean that we will not cover WebSphere Portal. In fact, we will be increasing our WP coverage with a monthly e-mail newsletter dedicated to all things WP. I have been describing our technology focus, when I talk about the relaunch, as Lotus, Workplace, and WebSphere Portal product portfolios. Second, we have stopped our focus on print. Lots going on with that change, and yes, there's a bit of melancholy on my part - it was my baby; however, I think that spending our time and effort (specifically, a lot of my time and effort) on bringing news, opinion, and analysis directly to you via electronic format will be a higher payoff. At the moment, the "electronic format" consists of a relaunched family of e-newsletters (Sign up here!). We are also in the process of a complete redesign of the Website. The relaunch of the Website will also serve as the exciting launch of our new blog: the Lotus Informer. I'll be front and center on that blog, with interviews, opinions, links, coverage of all your blogs, and other tasty tidbits. I won't be alone, however. If you have something to say and want to say it there; let me know. My contributing technical editors (Chris Miller, Tom Duff, Ben Malekzadeh, and Michael Fromin) will participate. Some of our authors and other tech editors may contribute. It'll be a group effort. In addition to the enls, revamped Website, and blog, you'll see RSS feeds for more than just our news headlines, as well as a continuing focus on electronic learning with Web conferences, Webcasts, and e-learning classes. I'd love to hear what you think about our relaunch ideas as well as what you'd like to see in our future and how you might like to participate. We're only as good as the participation we get from our readers -- it is a community, after all. Feel free to comment here or send me e-mail (you know where to find me!). Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Before we return you to your regularly scheduled programming, let me offer one more personal update. Things they are a-changing. But while change may not always be comfortable, it is both inevitable and necessary. So. Look for some exciting new changes over at the magazine. There's also some changes going on here at home. Hopefully both sets of changes will bring the kind of growth and opportunity that are the hallmark of turbulent times. For those of you who have been kind enough to act as a sounding board and have allowed me to vent my frustrations over the last month or so, thank you. You've made it all possible. Your regularly-scheduled Libby has now returned. Mostly. Oh yes, and that includes notesgirl.com e-mail -- we're back up. I may have lost (or accidentally deleted with all that spam) some real e-mail, so if you're feeling ignored... Well, please send again. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Just in case you've been trying to reach me, Notesgirl.com e-mail is down for a few days. It should be back up soon, but if you've been trying to get in touch and need me for something, you can reach me at libbys@e-promag.com or libbynicole@hotmail.com until it's back! In other news, I'm just back from my long and lovely week in Boston. Got to visit with lots of great folks while at the Admin2004 show -- the folks who run the show, the attendees, speakers, and friends around the Boston area. I did three regular sessions and a hands-on Jumpstart. I saw Chris thanked Kathleen for her help during his jumpstart -- she also came in and added a set of hands during mine. So, thanks, Kathleen! Now that I'm back, I'm back in the thick of dealing with life and work, so things might still be a bit scarce here for the moment, but I'll get back to you soon. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Okay, so that's actually a K-mart-ism but you know what I mean. Have you ever noticed that you can't walk into a place like Target, K-mart, Sam's Club/Costco for just one thing? Or get out with spending less than $100? I went in for a new milk-frother that I saw in their ad for $19. A pretty good price. Of course, you get what you pay for, but that's another story. I ended up with some socks, a few CDs (Jason Mraz, Santana (I like the song "Why Don't You and I"), and some 80s mixes (yes, I like 80s music; so sue me), a DVD (Sex and the City, season 1... a guilty pleasure... oh wait, I don't really feel guilty... let's amend that to a girlie pleasure!), and a few other little items... Ah well... I'm off tomorrow for Boston for the Admin2004 show -- hope to see/meet you there! Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
Well, if you know anyone in Houston who's looking to buy an adorable 3-2 in the Heights, send them on over to me, or even better, to my realtor. Here are some pics of the house: Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
As we go into the next phase of life with e-Proand our family of publications, we continue to need input from you -- our readers (or, at least, I hope you're readers!). So, please take a few minutes to tell us what it really is you want from our family of publications by completing our short survey, and we'll do our best to provide it. But as my dad used to say, if you don't tell me, I can't fix it! Plus, as an incentive for those of you who don't just want to talk to me out of the goodness of your altruistic little hearts, I've also got some Amazon.com gift certificates ready to go for a random drawing of winners. So, there you have it. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
FYI -- thanks for those of you who've been commenting. The comments are working, folks, but the count for comments is still not fixed. Sadly. :-( So, keep up the conversation! The referrers is broken too -- all alpa order, for no apparent reason. Chris has rebuilt the darn thing a bunch of times, but I guess we need some help from the template designer himself... Oh great template designer? Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
My mom says that the beautiful yellow plant we were seeing was scotch broom, rather than the forsythia. I'm inclined to agree. So, mystery solved. Regardless, it was absolutely beautiful and soul-restoring to see. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link
So, over the weekend while I was up in Portland (a much-needed visit with my favorite person: my mom), we took a few hours and drove up to Seattle. First, let me say that it was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on -- the weather was perfect and warm and sunny; the grass was that new spring-shade of green that it only is for a few weeks each year; the trees were fully leafed; there were mounds of yellow wild flowers and bushes (I thought they were forsythia, but my mom says they're something else) that made a bright yellow band between the green of the grass and the green of the trees. Exquisite. The purpose of the drive was to visit my friend Chris, who recently moved to Seattle with his SO, Jason. Chris and I have been friends since we met my first year in college, and at some point, he'll make bonebox.net live again. But not yet. Chris introduced me to a new word that he's trying to get into the common parlance while I was up there visiting, so I thought I'd help out by sharing it with all you folks. Deroganym: A derogatory play on the name of a company, for example "Microsucks" or "IBM stands for I've Been Moved..." < We also spent some time playing a game that Chris is testing out before sending to his godchild. The game, which I think is called Landlocked (although I haven't been able to find it on a few game sites) is a logic/math/strategy game that's actually quite addictive and fun. You have cards that have pieces of a river and cards that have pieces of a land path. Your goal is to try to connect either water or land (depending on which one you are) so that it creates a path through the 6x6 grid you're creating by placing these cards. You are also trying to prevent your opponent from doing the same thing. As you draw cards, you might be able to turn his path into an island by surrounding it with water, or make his river a pond by cutting it off with land. There are also some bridges, gnomes, and other creatures that you place in the grid to earn points, prevent points, or link segments. While we were playing, I was convinced that there was some kind of benefit to playing water, but when you count up all the cards, there isn't a mathematical benefit -- it seems completely equal. It maybe more like tic-tac-toe, however, in that there's a benefit to going first, and it just happened that in all three games the winner both went first and chose to play water. Fun game and I recommend it to any of you with children who might think they're not so great at math -- play this with them. And then, long after they've already decided they like the game, you can begin to explain how logic and math are related and that they've just been improving/using those skills. ;-) Update: Ah -- Chris tells me the full name is actually "The Legend of Landlock" and it can be found at the mensaboutique's list of games. Permanent Link to this entry: Permanent Link |
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