ABSILVER's World

  (All images courtesy of ChatGPT) I sit here at the Silver Grizzly, drinking coffee. The day before Christmas Eve, as Christmas is Monday.  I have been struggling all week for the top ten predictions for IT. It has been hard to get to ten when the top 9 are all AI-related.  However, I will share more this week. The other change in my life was when I turned 59 a month ago.  I don't know how this snuck up on me.   It's not my birthday because it is on or near Thanksgiving.  So, it would be hard to forget or miss. I carefully hide this from the public and am truly grateful that it is around Thanksgiving.  There is a great holiday to share, and my birthday can easily slip unnoticed.  The older I get, the number goes up, the happier I am about this. That said, 59 is an odd age.  I see celebrities celebrating their 70th birthday, and my reaction is much different as I can see 70 a lot clearer than 40.  I can't say I am mid-life when the oldest person is 117.   It is not that I f

It has been twenty-two years since 9/11, and as we look back on one of the moments in my life I can remember exactly where I was, who I worked for, what I did, and how the country and city I worked near responded. This is a blog I wrote about 9/11 22 years ago.  People say where were you? It is not perfect. No Grammarly applied, no ChatGPT analysis to make it perfect, or even format improvements.  Because, as 9/11 should seem like yesterday, twenty-two years is not that long ago. I don't feel healed, and honestly not sure the country has either. I am in Las Vegas for an IBM conference, something I have done numerous times since and before 9/11. As Frank kindly drove me to DFW, we saw a sign on a Whataburger that said we remember 9/11.  I wonder if they remember 9/11 and the immediate aftermath. A country in the horror of attacks that spanned more than the Twin Towers, as well as the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.  A country that forgot who was a Democrat or Republican.  A country that

Behold:  To be or not to be Bald! Sitting here on a Sunday, after a nice brunch near Longview and an extra cup of coffee, I am left with a smirk.  We picked up Frank's stepmom, Norma, and went to Brunch.  On the way, with his sister Leslie to pick Norma up, we saw a man watering his yard standing there naked.  This was not his first time, as there were no tan lines.  It made us all chuckle, and we were concerned on the way home that we may see the other half, but we did not. This also made me think about other entertaining ideas, and one started in my head this morning.  There is much discussion about being bald.  There is much investment in the issue of the lack of hair.    There are a number of different treatments, such as Rogaine, hair transplants, and even the odd toupee.   So, I decided, as a bald man, to share my top reasons I am happy that I am bald and the five reasons I wish I had hair. If you read to the bottom, you will read how I feel. The Top Five Benefits of Being Ba

  We live in a time when we feel we don't have much control over our lives.  We can't change the weather.  Can't change the electors, can't change managers. I spend, possibly too much energy, focusing on things I do control so I can respond to those things I don't and surprises.  Here are a few things I remind myself, and you may also want to consider: 1) I control what pictures I post on Facebook, Instagram, or any site or text.  If I don't like a picture of myself, I don't share it.  If it makes me look old, sad, or mad, or the few hairs I have are a mess, I choose to share or delete. Why? Because these pictures have a long, long life.  How often do I see a suggestion from Facebook or Google about pictures in my past that are memories I wish were forgotten? 2) I control what I eat.  Sometimes this is good for me, and sometimes it is not.  The Kroger here some days puts out individual donuts in the case, and sometimes not, quite unpredictable.  For a while,

  I would like to do an odd top ten. It has been a long time since I have done one, so here it goes.  I didn't start with a theme in mind, but as you read it, you may notice a theme after all. 1) If you think turning on your turn indicator while turning is the point, you are wrong.  Or, more importantly, you have yet to be a pedestrian crossing that intersection.  The point of using your turn indicator is not to show off as you turn but to let us all know what you will do ahead of time to keep us all safe. 2) If you want to complain to me but don't want to solve what you are complaining about, please don't.  I have spent most of my career trying to fix problems and move the ball forward.  Nothing is more frustrating than hearing complaints, giving good advice, and realizing that all the person wanted to do was complain. 3) Generative AI, led by ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Meta's LLAMA2, creates a unique moment in history.  It will change the jobs of white-collar workers i

  Another First Father’s Day. 58 years ago, around this date, I celebrated my first Father’s Day. I don’t remember that one as I was about seven months old. This one is my first Father’s Day since my Dad passed, and there is much to share about my Dad. June is sort of my Dad’s month. It starts with his and my Mom’s anniversary, which would have been their 64th anniversary. There is, of course, Father’s Day, and then his birthday was June 24th. So, June this year has many dates to remember my Dad. That said, I am diverted to memories from yesterday evening. I was going to Savannah to see my Mom, my sister, and my family and to “check” in. I was lucky to find a reasonably priced flight from Longview, Texas. The only airline to choose is American. To say that American Airlines didn’t show their best service yesterday is an understatement, especially in the last leg of my journey out of Charlotte, but that is not the point of this Father’s Day. After a few delays and odd gate changes