Telecosm - Ike Elliott

Back To The Mother Ship

After exactly five years of part-time consulting, I have decided to get back into the full time work force with a return to Level 3 Communications, where I'll be working in Corporate Development, starting tomorrow.

I'm thrilled to be joining the Level 3 team.  In my five-year absence, the company has performed a magic act, growing into their balance sheet by doing a string of acquisitions.  The team, from the rank-and-file all the way up through the management ranks, has perservered through the hard work of acquisition integration and the uncertainty of the inevitable post-acquisition layoffs.  Now, thanks to the efforts of that team, Level 3 may be on the verge of becoming the company it has always believed it could be.  I am humbled to be accepted back into the ranks of such a scrappy, battle-hardened group.

Readers of this blog may be wondering what my return to Level 3 will mean for my blogging, and the short answer is that I don't know, at least not yet.  Clearly, I will be subject to the standard restrictions of working for a public company, so at the very least, I won't be able to blog about Level 3 in any specific way.  I don't know how far those restrictions will extend, though, so I'll let the readers of this blog know what to expect, as soon as I know what to expect. 

Also, the time demands of the new position could limit the amount of time I have for blogging.  Again, once I figure out my new schedule I'll let you know what you can expect in terms of how frequently I will be writing new posts.

Since starting the blog in late October, 2007, the readership here has grown to nearly 400 subscribers. For the loyal readers of this blog, thank you for taking the time to visit this little corner of the Internet.  I hope to continue writing, and will keep you "posted" on whether I can do that.

 

The Gift Of Work

After a five year stint during which I divided my time between consulting, family, and non-profit work, I have decided to return to the full-time work force.  I have been privileged to find fun part-time work with some terrific clients for the past five years, and it enabled a once-in-a-lifetime chance to spend a ton of time with my two boys as they grew into their teen years.  The past five years have also given me the freedom to help raise over $1M in donations for Global Hope, a charity providing homes and care for abandoned and orphaned children in Romania and Kenya.  However, it is time to turn the page. 

Some of you probably suspected that's what I was preparing to do when I started this blog last October, and if so, you guessed right.  But you are probably wondering why I would choose to work full time again, when a great many people would gladly jump at the chance to make ends meet by working part-time. And it's true, there have been wonderful benefits from being the master of more of my own time.  The time I have spent with my family has been priceless.

So why change it?  For me, it's about being put to my highest and best use.  How can my time on this earth be best spent?  It's a question I ask myself all the time.  Five years ago, the answer was simple: my kids were 8 and 11, my wife wanted to start a new career, and a non-profit that has done a world of good for dozens of children was in desperate need of new leadership.  I weighed those opportunities against the opportunity to continue in a senior role at Level 3 Communications and, with a ton of support from colleagues at Level 3 and from my friends, I launched into a part-time consulting practice as an interim phase allowing me the time to focus on other needs.

Now, the boys are 13 and 16 and my wife is established in her career and new leadership is ready to take the reins at the non-profit, and I'm itching to get back into full-time work in telecom.  To be totally honest, I think that work is a gift, and I've missed it.

I discovered telecom early in my work life, and it was a truly lucky find for me.  Not everyone gets to work in a job that they love.  Sure, there were days when the work wasn't fun, and sometimes those days turned into weeks and months of drudgery, but more often than not, I was excited to go to work.  My telecom roots are with MCI and Level 3, companies with reputations as upstart competitors, which suited my personality well.

But why not just stick with part-time work?  The truth is that part-timers are never really full members of the team, and that daily interaction with a team that you respect and admire is a big part of the reward I get from working.  Also, part-timers often don't have full ownership of a task or function.  I miss that, too.  Lastly, I'd be telling a white lie if I left out the fact that I am looking forward to the full-time paycheck.

So, sometime between here and January, I hope to join a great team and put my shoulder to the wheel again.  If you are interested in talking with me about an opportunity, please contact me at ike@practiq.com.

      

Best Albums Every Year Since Birth

Adam Thierer over at the Technology Liberation Front alerted me to a meme that is making the blog rounds, the question being "What are the best albums every year of your life since birth?".   Adam's list and mine intersect in places, but honestly there are albums and artists on his list that I have never heard, so it will be fun exploring the new music on his list.

My list goes back a little further since Adam is the same age as my little brother.  I was born in '64 but my list goes back to '63 because I just had to include Coltrane and Hartmann. 

Without further ado:

1963       John Coltrane and Johnny Hartmann      John Coltrane and Johnny Hartmann
1964       Wednesday Morning, 3 AM                     Simon and Garfunkel
1965       Rubber Soul                                          The Beatles
1966       The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly          Ennio Morricone
1967       Are You Experienced                              Jimi Hendrix
1968       Astral Weeks                                         Van Morrison
1969       Led Zeppelin II                                       Led Zeppelin
1970       Sugar                                                     Stanley Turrentine
1971       Tea for the Tillerman                             Cat Stevens
1972       Harvest                                                  Neil Young
1973       Dark Side of the Moon                             Pink Floyd
1974       The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway           Genesis
1975       Born to Run                                            Bruce Springsteen
1976       Boston                                                    Boston
1977       Rumours                                                 Fleetwood Mac
1978       The Cars                                                 The Cars
1979       Look Sharp!                                             Joe Jackson
1980       Peter Gabriel                                           Peter Gabriel
1981       Ghost in the Machine                               The Police
1982       English Settlement                                   XTC
1983       War                                                         U2
1984       Reckoning                                                REM
1985       Hounds of Love                                        Kate Bush
1986       So                                                           Peter Gabriel
1987       The Joshua Tree                                      U2
1988       Tracy Chapman                                        Tracy Chapman
1989       Full Moon Fever                                       Tom Petty
1990       Pale                                                       Toad the Wet Sprocket
1991       Achtung Baby                                          U2
1992       Little Village                                          Little Village
1993       Perfectly Good Guitar                              John Hiatt
1994       Under the Table and Dreaming                 Dave Matthews Band
1995       Jagged Little Pill                                     Alanis Morissette
1996       Crash                                                      Dave Matthews Band
1997       Urban Hymns                                           The Verve
1998       Mutations                                                Beck
1999       Ten Thousand Days                                  Bebo Norman
2000       Tourist                                                    Saint Germain
2001       Love and Theft                                         Bob Dylan
2002       A Rush of Blood to the Head                      Coldplay
2003       Chutes Too Narrow                                   The Shins
2004       Summer in Abaddon                                  Pinback
2005       In Between Dreams                                   Jack Johnson
2006       Lemonade                                                G. Love
2007       Raising Sand                                             Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

Obviously, opinions differ on what makes good music.  However, if I were forced to select only 44 albums to listen to for the rest of my life, I might survive with just the above list. 

This was a really hard exercise, though.  Some years there were too many great albums to choose from, and some years there just weren't many that seemed to make the grade.  The hardest choices seemed to be from the first dozen years of my life...lots of legendary music made back then.

How about you?  What are your favorites?  Any glaring omissions on my list? 

A Message From The Bandwidth Council

The following bandwidth-demand-enhancing message is brought to you by the Bandwidth Council:

(Just click the play button to enjoy.  Rob Powell comments that if you are using Firefox, you may have to right click and select play after clicking on it.)

Obsessive Blogging Disorder

For those of my colleagues who, like myself, sometimes suffer from Obsessive Blogging Disorder (OBD), today's Pearls Before Swine strip is a classic. 

I don't think I'm the only one with OBD out there.  About 6 months ago I got so obsessed with blogging, only three months after starting my blog, that I found myself spending 2 hours a day, then 3 hours a day, and then sometimes even more than that, reading and writing blogs.  I certainly learned a lot by doing that but to be honest I didn't really have three for four extra hours a day to devote to it, so I decided I needed to "let the blog know who was boss,"  and I imposed a discipline of no more than an hour a day. 

Unexpectedly, once I scaled back, I think my blog writing got better, and I certainly enjoyed it more.  Yes, there are days when I break the cardinal rule of "blog every day or you lose your readers," because some days I simply can't finish a post in the allotted hour.  So be it.  Frankly, I think the readers of this blog prefer quality of quantity.  And, the stats back that up.  Readership has continued to grow steadily for the last several months, to a recent peak of over 350 Feedburner subscribers.   And, I am deeply grateful for all of the regular readers of the blog...hopefully we are learning a lot from each other.  I know I learn a lot from you.

So, for my fellow bloggers: don't let the blog run your life, and show the blog that you are the boss.  Maybe your blog will even improve!

Self Esteem is Overrated

I've been reading this book called When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, by John Ortberg, and ran across some funny statistics:

"In one survey, 800,000 high school students were asked whether they were above or below average in social skills....Want to guess what percentage of students rated themselves below average? Zero Percent!  Furthermore, 25 percent of all students rated themselve in the top 1 percent!"

And then there are these gems:

• "88% of college professors rated themselves above average.  25% rated themselves as truly exceptional."
• "Another survey of two hundred sociologists found that half believed they would become one of the top ten sociologists in the world."

It makes me wonder about all those theories about the supposed self-esteem deficit in the nation's schools.  The theory goes like this: "If our kids just felt better about themselves, they would have the confidence to try more things, and try harder."  So, teachers are encouraged to lavish praise on students.

Some managers take this approach with their employees, too.  I have a problem with that.  Heaping more praise on students or employees that aren't really making the grade just exacerbates our built-in tendency for self-deception.  As Mr. Ortberg's stats say, most of us already vastly overestimate ourselves.  I suspect I do.

In business, taking this "everyone is above average" approach is a sure recipe for underperformance. 

Don't get me wrong...I love the idea of taking a positive, encouraging approach with employees, and I am all for good coaching.  The key, though, is to set clear standards for performance.  Then, you have to be consistent about applying that yardstick. 

Or, we could take the Scott Adams/Dilbert approach and go on living without a clue.    

Tornado Demolishes Windsor, CO

A huge tornado ripped through Windsor, Colorado, just before lunch yesterday, destroying much of the town of 19,000.  Miraculously, only one person was killed, a camper at a former missile silo now turned into a campground, just to the southeast of town. 

Windsor is about 50 miles north of where I live, in Broomfield.  I'm an assistant scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 767, and we camped at the missile silo campground about 8 months ago.  The troop got to know Peter Ambrose, the caretaker of the campground, and his collie, K.C.  Ambrose survived the twister while holed up in a cinderblock restroom, but the dog ran out into the storm and was so severely injured that he had to be euthanized after the storm.  Ambrose's mobile home was swept away.

Troop 767 is going to try to raise some money to help Peter Ambrose and his wife, Sharon, get back on their feet.   If you would like to help, please let me know at ike@practiq.com, and I'll connect you with the Troop's treasurer.  We might also put together a work team to go up to Windsor to help, once we know more about the best way to help out, so please let me know if you're interested in helping out with that, too.

Thanks, Telecosm Readers: We've Hit A New Milestone!

I want to say a big thank-you to all of the many Telecosm readers on a big occasion.  The blog has now hit a high water mark of 301 Feedburner subscribers!  Not bad for a blog that started only last October, and of course, it is the readers that make it possible.  Thanks for reading and commenting both on the blog and offline.  It is gratifying to know that people are enjoying it as much as I am.

Thanks,

Ike

Spring Break Vacation Photos

Pop quiz:  Where was this photo taken?

I know it looks like Arizona, but if you guessed the Grand Canyon, you would be wrong.  This photo was taken last week in Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific", on Kauai.  My family visited this beautiful and varied little island over spring break, and what a trip!  It was my first time to Hawaii...now I know what all the fuss is about.

We went to Kauai on the advice of friends, and it was great advice.  What an incredible place!  From superb hikes through deep canyons, to great snorkeling, to whale-watching on the north shore, it was a dream. 

Rather than bludgeon you with all the pictures here, I've put them up on Windows Live Spaces, so if you are interested in seeing some cool shots of Kauai, you can view them here.  Enjoy!

PS - Yes, the vacation explains why there were several non-technical posts from my Uncle Fred and my late Grandfather this week. Thanks Uncle Fred, for filling in!  The vacation also explains why I didn't respond to some comments in as timely a manner as I usually try to achieve.  What can I say?  We all need a break now and then!

Thank You, Telecosm Readers

The Telecosm blog hit another milestone this week, exceeding 200 subscribers for the first time, after about 3 months in operation.

 

Thank you for reading and commenting on the Telecosm blog!

Ike

Eight Things You Didn't Know About Me

Thomas Howe pinged me in a post last week, asking me to divulge 8 things you may not know about me...so I'll continue the meme.  Here goes:

1. I was a music major for my first year in college, and had once hoped to go pro as a singer of classical music.  At 19, I got wise to the fact that tenor voices don't mature til their mid-30's and even assuming I was good enough to make it by then, I'd have to make a living doing something in the meantime, so I switched majors to computer science and discovered I liked it.  A lot.
2. I got married fairly young, at 23, to my high school sweetheart, and we are happily married with two teenage sons.  Kim is a 2nd grade teacher.
3. I was born in Ohio, but growing up I was a Navy brat, moving around from port city to port city every two years or so before the family finally settled down in Northern Virginia for the final few years of my childhood. Kind of made it hard to make life-long friends as a kid!
4. My cousin, Colin Kelley, is CTO of CallWave.  He is one year younger than I am, and we used to visit his family over Thanksgiving for many years, up in Philadelphia.  One of the many reasons I used to love to visit him was because he had a TRS-80 computer, and we used to spend the entire weekend programming the thing to do interesting graphics displays and games.  The "disk drive" was a standard audio tape player.  That's when I first got hooked on computers, I think.  Colin was a super-smart guy so I always admired him.  He studied VLSI chip design at Villanova, but ended up in telecom just like me.  Strange world.
5. I help run a non-profit called Global Hope that provides homes and care for abandoned and orphaned children.  We currently have three children's homes in Romania and are considering expanding to Kenya.  I've been to Romania four times for short trips to visit the kids.  It is a blast watching them grow up and seeing the difference the organization is making, one life at a time.
6. I learned a little guitar in college and in recent years have picked it back up and now play in my church band.  I started writing some songs a couple years ago, and a small record label thinks they are pretty good and the band is rehearsing to go into the studio and record a few of them.  I'm just enthralled by the experience and am having a great time learning about the process.
7. Staying physically fit is important to me, so I try to exercise five days a week.  My latest regimen includes running, yoga, and weight-lifting.  I change it up every now and then to keep it fresh. 
8. I got really burned out on going to technology conferences back when I was at Level 3, and I have managed to avoid going to any conferences for almost five years.  I think the streak will probably end this year, though.  There are too many people I want to see again, and conferences are often the most convenient places to meet.

Thanks, Thomas, for pinging me.   I'll ping Tim Lee, Mitchell Ashley, Brough Turner, and Moshe Maeir next.

An Attitude of Gratitude

Wow, do I have a lot to be thankful for!  It is Thanksgiving day here in the US, and I have a roof over my head in a warm home, family by my side, plenty of food in the house, great friends, 145 great subscribers to this young blog...the list goes on and on. 

A friend of mine who is building a very successful VoIP service provider tells me the most important characteristic he looks for when hiring people is "Do they have an attitude of gratitude, or a sense of entitlement?"  I think most folks would agree that they like to be around grateful people.

That's part of why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, a full day set aside to be thankful, to cook and eat great food, to be with family and friends.  And, as a reminder to myself that I have been blessed, I try to remember that there are many people around the world and in our communities who are far less fortunate, and I try to share my good fortune with them. 

Most countries don't have a Thanksgiving holiday, so I often ask my American friends who live in foreign countries what they do on Thanksgiving.  They generally celebrate as best they can (they can't always get the same kinds of food), and try to share the celebration with the people around them.  That feels right to me...we can do a lot to spread the attitude of gratitude to everyone we come into contact with by keeping perspective and making sure we remain grateful ourselves, and by sharing.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Ike Elliott

Thank You, Telecosm Readers

I want to thank all of the folks who are reading this blog on a regular basis.  The Telecosm blog is less than three full weeks old, and we already hit a peak of 100 subscribers this week.  Thanks for visiting, reading, and commenting at the Telecosm!
Ike

Another Good Week in the Telecosm

I'm having more fun with this blogging experiment every day, and it looks like the readers and commenters on this blog feel the same way.  We finished the week peaking at 58 subscribers according to feedburner, and are usually getting 200 hits a day.  Thanks for checking out this blog!

Lots of New Subscribers and Readers

Wow!  We've had a ton of new readers over the past three days, and a lot of new RSS subscriptions.   We had over 700 hits on Friday and Saturday, and feedburner says there are now 33 RSS subscriptions...much more than I expected for a blog that is just a little over a week old.  Thanks for coming, welcome, and I will do my best to earn the attention you have given to this page.

For all of the newcomers, an overview is probably in order: I plan to post daily, except when I am on vacation or holiday.  Posts will mostly be in the web/tech category, but I will share other things from time to time. 

I hope all of you feel comfortable sharing your comments here...the community will benefit from your thoughts.

Welcome aboard!