Gurus of Tech! - AKA - My Oddball Brothers

Well, if you've been following my tweets at all... and all of you are right?  (@charon79m) You know that I've been spending the early part of this week at a conference in Louisville, Ky.

Contrary to what you might be thinking, this is NOT the type of conference where I find myself in common company.  This conference is for Church Tech, ie. Sound, Lighting, Camera, Creative Directing, CG, Motion Graphics, etc.  These are the guys (and gals) that make sure that the the production that happens around the service goes smooth.  These are the guys wearing the black shirts running around that you really don't know who they are.  Yep, that crew.

I must say, although I'm out of my element, I've never felt more welcomed and involved at any other conference than I do here.  This conference is filled with talented individuals all figuring out how to put on professional looking productions on a tight, if not non-existent, budget with a volunteer team.

Let me tell you, what these guys can do with some can lights and gaffer's tape boggles the mind!!!  I'm partially kidding here, many of these guys play with geeky toys that would make the most well budgeted IT team jealous... but the ingenuity they display is breathtaking.

What I've found most amazing is that they are a truly interesting breed, unlike any other.  They are very creative and artistic individuals, but they're not stuck in a totally creative mindset.  At one point in one of the events, the entire crowd cried out in horror.  It was a painful scream... almost like they were watching a loved one being tortured!  As it turns out, this isn't far from the truth.  See, one of the MCs was preparing for a "Tech Olympic" event where members of the audience would compete to see who could perfectly wrap an audio cable fastest.  What was his crime?  He was doing the ol' wrapping a cable around your arm trick.  Yep, the punishment for his crime, death by stoning!  OK, not that bad, but he was definitely getting some stern looks and scoffs even though it was just part of the show!  It was like when someone calls your sister ugly, it doesn't matter if it's true that guy's getting corrected... know what I mean?

Yeah, it's that alien of an environment... but it's very welcoming.  Like most of us IT guys, these individuals are fighting for a small piece of the budgetary pie.  They have to walk that fine line of letting their equipment properly depreciate, then age, then atrophy, then be held together with tuck tape before they can even think about asking for a replacement.  They work long hours, and when their job is done well you don't even know that they exist.  They have a very thankless job where one little mess-up can have far reaching consequences.  Sound familiar... sound like this person could be your cublicle neighbor?  Well, let me say that I now consider them my brothers.

I have learned so much wisdom in this short conference:

"I want to be exhausted when I'm done so I know that I gave it my all."
Rob Thomas (Ignighter Media) @robwthomas

"Do you push the envelope enough to make a bold mistake?"
John Weygant

"Accidents are going to happen, carelessness is unacceptable!"
Tim Ancovac (probably spelled this name wrong, sorry!)

"I'm the whitest black guy you'll ever know!"
George (last name unknown) Poor guy got drug up on stage w/ a friend, Jose, to wrap about Gurus Of Tech.

There are many others, but I think you get the picture.  This conference is filled with my bothers.  They're artistic and not quite like me, but we certainly share a similar DNA.  Thanks for making me feel welcome at this conference.  I hope to some day be able to repay the hospitality and knowledge that each of you has shared with me.

Two things I'd like you to take from this post:

1:  Appreciate that an amazingly huge amount of well coordinated hard work went into providing you a visually and audibly appealing worship service.  Don't get caught up on the glitter, that's not what they want the focus to be on... let yourself be lost in the message and your emotions to flow and react.  A truly authentic worship is about the best thanks you can give this group of people.

2:  If what I've posted above sounds interesting to you or you think it might interest someone in your church, point them to http://www.gurusoftech.com for future events, the @gurusoftech on twitter, and the AMAZING group of people in the Church Tech Director Roundtable (http://www.ctdrt.com/). 

Sharepoint, the other pig of a M$ product

OK, you might as well know now.  I'm a Free and Open Source Software bigot.  There, I've said it, so nobody can label me in the future, I've taken care of that.

Well, earlier this week I had the pleasure of troubleshooting my first SharePoint issue.  This is a 2007 installation, so forgive me that it's not up the the most recent product.

My issue was this, I needed to upload about a dozen files to our internal Sharepoint site so others could access them.  They were some training videos I created (yes, with FOSS).  The version I created in Ogg video format uploaded without issue; however, I started to run into issues when I tired to upload the larger mpeg1 versions.  Oddly, I did not receive any specific error message pointing me in any direction.  Well, after some quick tests, I found that there was a file size issue around 30MB... anything larger was not permitted.

Hmmm... well, a quick google and bingo.  Hop into the central administration console, configure the virtual server, check the general settings, and bingo set the upload size limit.  Good ol' point and click M$ administration.  But, what's this?  It's set to 50 MB and I'm having an issue at 30.  Well, we'll take it to something more respectable like 200 and give it a shot anyway.  Nope, wrong answer.  Hmmm...

Google!?!?  Oh, Google!!!   Well, look at this:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925083

Yep, looks like I have to config it in two places... and WHAT'S THIS!?!?  A text editor?

Well, after following the KB and hitting the "recycle" button on each site things appear to be working.

OK, last step!  For those who want to use the smaller OGV files, I'll upload the codec install packs for 32 and 64-bit platforms.  Hmm... fail again!?!?!  They're small files; what's the deal?  Oh, they end in .EXE.  Yep, that's got to be it.  Zip them up and upload, golden.  Wow, great security there M$.

So, morals of the story time:

1:  Even though it's all M$, it's no necessarily well integrated.

2:  When you really want to get things done, go to the text editor.

3:  When in doubt, zip it.

4:  Google, you're the Man gender indeterminate site of knowledgeable goodness.

Lession #1: KniselyKnows that time flies!

Really... over a month? It's been that long??!!!

Yes, I hear you my throngs of fans waiting on my every word.  I've let you down.  In my defense, I never said I was going to be all that good at blogging.  Hey, I'm just starting out!

The joys of parenthood, summer sun, agony of work, and a myriad of other things have distracted me from the very important task of sharing my technical insight, however myopic, with the world.  Here's a shot at sharing where my mind has been recently.

I recall a lesson shared by Admiral Jim Stockdale regarding what it took to survive an incredibly challenging time, in his case being tortured as a POW.  He said that you should not be an optimist, setting arbitrary time lines of hope.  He said that when those goals come and go it can crush your spirit.  Instead, embrace your current situation in all the reality of it... even those dark scary things.  Once you have that reality, look for the little wins to let you get though the day.  It's those little wins that will keep your spirit up helping you to press on. 

Now, I'm not equating my situation with that of Admiral Stockdale, but I don't want to allow myself to get all rosy glasses either.  Here's the connection:

I recently attended a conference where I received a vendor branded snuggie (http://yfrog.com/izrmmj).  That in itself would have been worth the trip, but it was great sitting with others discussing strategy in our market.  It is interesting being the equivalent of a late teenager in this market.  I see how we're still making some stupid choices, but we're also able to share our wisdom with the adolescents in the market too.  It was great fun, and I feel like my organization can really come of age soon.  Like all that graduate into adulthood, I'm sure that harsh realities are around the corner too, and it's in this where Stockdale's message echoes in my mind.

 My organization has been going though a lot of turmoil lately.  From trying to re-invent ourselves, to having a half dozen leadership changes over 5 years... it's been tough, and there's one thing that I can say with almost complete certainty:  We have not yet completely surveyed our situation.  Those dark scary things, while known to exist have not been clearly studied and understood.

We all know that we have deficiencies, but it's not until we explore those deficiencies that we truly understand the depth and impact.  With the most recent shakeup today, I'm hopeful that we are started on that path.