So, there is one more update from WordPress. This time it is version 3.0.1 and when I installed it I found out that I have to upgrade all my plug-ins, too. I feel a little guilty complaining, since the WordPress is free. But I have lost count of how many times I have had to upgrade the program this year, and each time causes me a lot of anxiety and concern over whether it was done correctly and whether there will be any problems like my template perhaps not working any longer, etc. But that is all part of the package, I guess.

Wow! Twenty-five years.

AOL launched on this day in 1985. I remember their first headwuarters building in Reston and how several of our technical support guys and engineering guys abandoned ship at C3 and took jobs with this exciting new internet service provider. They encouraged me to come with them – and I did go walk through the building, talk to their people and decided against it.

They are not even close to the big company they used to be, but they still have some loyal subscribers. Happy Birthday, AOL.

I’ve been waiting an entire day for my cell phone to adjust the time display for Daylight Savings Time. I mean, when I fly across country, the cell phone adjusts for the time zones in real time. So here it is the second day after the Daylight Savings time setting and the time is still wrong on my cell phone. What’s up AT&T?

My desktop would not turn on this morning. Yes, if was plugged in. No we did not have an electrical storm or power surge. So I unscrewed the cover and took a look inside. After all, that’s what guys do when the car breaks down – open the hood and stare at it.

One of the cool things about Facebook is that you re-connect with a lot of people with whom you might have otherwise completely lost touch. It is so much easier to search for former co-workers and associates on Facebook than it is to use the phone book based people search. Even using Google makes it hard to find up to date contact information on a lot of people.

Once I latched onto one of my former employees from the computer company, it was easier to start finding more of those friends. It turns out that a great majority of my former co-workers from the computer company have changed to the telecom industry now.

There are a lot of very cool things going on in the telecom industry, even though people appear to be abandoning their home phone lines. Cell phones continue to evolve and I believe that there will one day be a complete merger between telephone, cable and computer systems into one service that uses the best of all worlds.

When I got tired of bumping my head on the glass ceiling at the computer company I gave a direct sales a try. At the time it seemed all my friends were in sales and they were all very convincing that I should be in that line of work, too. But to be honest, I don’t like face to face sales. Not because of the rejection and objections and the daily frustrations of a dozen unfruitful sales calls. I don’t like the dishonesty in the face to face and phone to phone conversations. But I do like the marketing side of sales.

Isn’t it amazing how phone to phone is such a vital part of doing business? You have to wonder how anyone got things done before the advent of the telephone and sometimes I wonder how we managed without having cell phones.

Now the forward thinkers in the business world are realizing the advantages of business voip for telephone service. It is a concept that you have to introduce to old timers very slowly and deliberately. Unless the boss is an early adapter by nature, the idea of switching from traditional land lines and Ma Bell type of phone service to using the internet – even for PBX functions now! – is hard for some people to grasp.

I like to educate people on the possibilities of the internet and the different ways to send, receive and use data over the internet. VOIP is becoming more accepted as stable and reliable, and now it is proving to be more economical, too.

Way back in the computer caveman days of the 1980′s, I was working for a computer company and loved the excitement of being on the leading edge of technology. Our company was developing and building computer systems and solutions for the Federal Government, the military, and a handful of private industries.

It was obvious early on that this field was another exclusive men’s club type of business. The only women welcome to the company were secretaries and administrative workers. There were only two women in management level positions, me and the Director of Purchasing.

The company focused heavily on technical engineers, repair technicians, and field service representatives. All of these positions were filled by men. On the sales side of the business we did have program directors, who were like customer service representatives and there were a few women in that department.

Otherwise, it was my department that had as many women in it as we had men. Not that it was a deliberate choice or any kind of plan. It just worked out that way. Women seemed more suited to the roles of taking care of those kinds of details and did not get bored as quickly with the repetitive nature of library and duplication work.

The state at the top of my list for where I would like to live if I had to move away from here is North Carolina. It is very similar to Tennessee in so many ways. We share the same type of mountains and climate zone, we have a handful of major cities and a lot of beautiful rural areas. And North Carolina has some wonderful Atlantic beaches – the one thing that I miss the most being in landlocked Tennessee.

Another attraction of North Carolina is the opportunity to buy furniture direct from the factory. Thanks to the internet, you don’t have to live in North Carolina to be able to shop at www.furnitureoutletworld.com and save money on North Carolina Furniture.

On one hand I feel grateful to the people at WordPress for coming up with another fix for security issues. But on the other hand, I can’t help feeling a little annoyed that we are expected to upgrade our WordPress versions AGAIN so soon after the last one.

I love the WordPress blogging platform and it is free. So I am grateful for a lot of things. I just wish they would test their program’s new versions a little better before they release it and expose us to the problems.

Tried to talk with a broker in Alabama today while he was driving to an appointment, but he got cut off. How frustrating to be talking to someone one minute and then have dead air the next! And no idea when the call can resume!