Beware of IPtables

A lot of people who use Linux would like to make their server visible to the world. Ubuntu is usually pretty good with that, everything is straight forward. Fedora (at least Fedora 9) is a little bit more annoying. After configuring everything correctly as you think, you may come to the point where stuff is still not working.

It is probably is your iptables. Iptables are basically the firewall for the Linux box. They are enabled by default in Fedora and Red hat as far as I know. If you become root and run the command: services iptables stop.

A good reference from Linux home networking is available here: |Link|

Prepare for Talks and Meeting

My experience during my internships and doing research is that meeting with managers are just as important while the project is going on as when the project is completed. Typically, my manager and I would set up meetings so I could show them my progress on a project and tell him my next directions. To make these short meeting go smoothly, I typically I will prepare something like a script to show where I am. For instance, say I am working on a website. I will first quickly show some decisions I made to get to the point I am at currently, then spend some time showing what I have - explaining where necessary, and lastly I will show places where I plan to improve or further develop.

To make sure this meeting goes smoothly, I will try to allocate 15 minutes or more before meetings to prepare these points. I think ahead and have answers to questions that my boss or manager may have. I may also quickly produce PowerPoint or OpenOffice slides that will show what I have done. These slide graphs can also help later when you are presenting a large talk or demonstration.

It is important for a manager to be confident knowing what he can expect during the next time you meet. Even if you do not accomplish as much as you would like, clarity during this meeting is important. Also, the less time you spend on fluff the better it is for both of you.

Below I have listed some "points to remember" I compiled when giving a research talk:

• Explain up front why the problem is important. This gives some meaning to your work and avoids wandering.
• It may be good to memorize the first few slides so you can start off well even if you are nervous.
• Smiling at people will usually cause them to smile back. So be enthusiastic.
• Its good to start with a question to gauge the backgrounds of the people at the talk.
  
• “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them.”
• Memorize the 7 key points you have so you can know what to cover in the case you are side tracked.
• If people are not using the slides as notes use more pictures and less words. Words are for the people who miss the talk. Even those people can just read the paper. People read at different rates and you may get a confusing rippled reaction to slide content.
• Be able to skip ahead at any point.
• If you know people in the audience, use their names, it makes it more personal.
• Slides cost zero dollars, so it is okay to use put extra content on another slide
• It is a good idea to use crop/blur/fade techniques to draw attention to a particular part of a picture while still showing something as a whole.
• Showing a video, and narrating what is going on is a good idea.
• Demos are always great (use Alt-Tab to switch between programs)
  
• If a question is difficult you may 1) Ask them to repeat it 2) Ask for clarification 3) Question the motivation behind the question 4) Be political and answer the question with a question. 5) If it is a long answer or off topic answer the question off line.
• At the begining introduce yourself if someone else has not and if it a job talk be sure to name drop and toot your own horn "toot toot"
• During Q/A have a slide that has everything you talked about so people may remember question they wanted to ask you but forgot.
  

Sunday Trip

So today is Sunday and I made plans to attend a new San Jose church. Because finding a church that was within walking distance was a little bit unreasonable, I reached out to my campus church group Chi Alpha for help. The leaders of the University of Florida group, Steve and Charlene Michaels reached out to an alumni who lives in the area. She and her husband recommended two churches one being Jubilee Christian Center.

So I used google maps with their public transportation feature to find the right bus/trains to make it to the church. This application, although not highly publicized because more people have cars, is pretty amazing. The whole architecture is well put together and Is worth checking out! The trip took about two hours (just like it said) and I easily found the HUGE church.

Right before church I met an extremely nice member who made me feel welcomed. I was introduced to a lot of people, and learned a lot about the church. After the church, the lady took me to McDonald's. I also found out that her daughter is a designed who makes wedding dresses. She gave me her daughters card and I told my bride to be who would like to check it out.

On the train back I actually met another man named Jay who told me I should check out Bethel Church. I will probably make plans to do that.

This weekend was a good break from work. I am definitely having my troubles, most beyond my control. However, I am looking forward to a successful and productive week!

This Sunday I have softball practice. I missed the first game, which they lost, but I plan to come in and make an immediate difference.

Jesus is Lord and I love him! No matter what your going through run to him, he will give you a peace you haven't experienced yet.

That hair style has got to go!

Ok, this is a topic that I just want to get off my chest. Hair.

There are some styles that need to go! Below I have compiles a small list, if I forgot anything or disagree please comment below!

Jheri Curl
It doesn't matter if it is wet or dry. This has got to go! Wikipedia says that is "a wash and where style." But in most cases it looks unwashed and worn. Some people have tried to disguise it by cutting it short, it is still jheri curl and everybody knows it! If you are thinking about this I guarantee you can do better.

Hillary's Hair
Vote for which ever candidate you like the best, but please impeach Hillary's hair. This hair style says "I am past my prime." This is not an offense on any person just style has to go! This style is OUT and the public need to know. Clay Aiken has also been spotted with a similar version of Hillary hair.



The Blowout
This hair style says "I am overcompensating for something." I think it is a failed attempt at a new type of fade. It is not cool. It is hard to describe... An internet search will show that it is worn by "Guido's". This is the first time I heard this name, but I have seen the culprits! Below is a picture I found:




Please comment!

Friday!!

Okay first week in IBM is done! Woo-hoo! It seemed like a semester. This is a big pace change from school last semester.

The discussions with intelligent people is a fun challenge. Being able to coherently express yourself is extremely important in the sciences. A lot of time is spent in design meetings attempting to debate points where often it is the case that both parties agree but view an issue from separate perspectives. Being able to wholly describe your ideas increases productivity. This is an area I will be focusing during my IBM group meetings.


The work environment is great. Its the weekend in Cali but I will be at home because I am broke and the govenator wants 8.25% sales tax!! I can't wait until PAY DAY!!$!

Off to the races!

I am officially swamped. Because I recently graduated I took an extra two weeks to have to my self before I started working, a little more than some of the other interns. So now it seems like they were waiting for me to start the real work! The last couple day I spent "finalizing" design documents for the system that we are building. This was an extreme amount of work. But this should make the actual construction of the system relatively easy.

I will discuss at another time some of the technologies we will be using. One of them may be some JetSpeed from Apache.

Yesterday (Thursday June 6), the interns had a small get together and I got my first IBM t-shirt. I am going to try and stock up on that and as much other free stuff as possible!

Also, One year from today I will be getting married!! This is our -1 anniversary! How many people have those? So I surprised her with flowers and a note. I got her calla lilies because those are the type of flowers she wants in the bouquet and at the wedding in general. They were in a pot so we can grow them and save money on flowers. And I scored major points, oh yeah!

At any rate, because of the occasion I will start the count down at 365! I will put a countdown widget some where on this blog.

First two days as an IBMer

So I completed the first two days of my IBM Almaden internship and I am actually looking forward to the end because of the cool project we are working on. Before I give a few hints as to what the project is I will give sort of a chronological ordering of my days starting with Sunday.

Sunday June 1
I began planning to go to a church I found on google maps. This church was about a mile away. So I began walking and i was surprised to see my house mate and his wife driving off, they asked me for a ride and of course I accepted. I told them the intersection I was going and he said ok... I assumed he knew of the church. As I we reached the area were I though the church was I saw no church but i though he knew where he was going. So he drove a little bit more and we found a church about 4 blocks from where I expected the church to be. I walked in and the first thing I saw was a fountain in the middle of the church. Puzzled, I continued into the church to use the bathroom.
Unfortunately, I forgot that with a one percent African-American population in San Jose I would stick out like a sore thumb. So a nice lady came up to me (because I was 20+ minutes early) and asked we questions that summed up to "what are you doing here?" She was nice, I conversed and nervously ran to take a seat and wait for the service to start. I thumbed through the program, and that is when I realized I am at a catholic church.... However, with no where to go i stayed for most of the one hour service. I'll pass on commenting anymore about the church itself.

Monday June 2
After the typical first day paperwork and exciting orientations I finally met with my team! Again, the project I am working on is the HealtheAssistant. The remainder of my day we spend attempting to configure the applications on my fully loaded Lenovo laptop, 22" wide screen LCD screen. I am in a cube but the atmosphere is great. Additionally, there are two other gators in the lab where I work, namely, Florin Rusu, Fei Xu. Both of them are also members the Database Group at UF and extremely bright. I believe they were authors on a SIGMOD best paper.
The cafeteria has nice selection, but it is hard to find time to eat! While waiting at the lobby I did get say high to Dr. Bruce Lindsay a famous IBM fellow and one of the founding fathers of the RDBMS. I saw many other famous people whom ironically I did not immediately recognize | Folks |.

Tuesday June 3
This project is going to be pretty overwhelming, but that is what I signed up for! I am excited to continue. I am working Bryan Hankerson from Georgia Tech, who I met during a visit (small world). We hashed out some plans on what the system API/module calls will be and tomorrow we will try and finalize that and start configuring the SVN/CVS and the server/client. I am excited to work with this server...
So, Almaden Research Center (ARC) is on top of a giant hill and in the middle of a state park. We received several warnings about deer, wild turkeys, mountain lions, rattle snakes, and a few other animals. I have not seen any wildlife yet, I think its a ploy to get people to stay in the lab. Nonetheless, the view outside the window is beautiful, I cannot wait until I receive that camera!
To get to ARC from where I am living I currently walk to the bus stop, take the bus down the street, walk to the IBM shuttle which takes me straight there. Its takes around 45 minutes to get there. Its is a bit of a walk but at least the bus and the shuttle are free. The walk does seem like it will start to become annoying, that is when I am going to look into renting a car. At some point I am also going to look up scooter prices...