Oh Yeah! I'm in I.T.

	A week ago Friday, I had the pleasure of attending my wife's Holiday Christmas Party and yes, much like everything in life, these types of events have degenerated into venerable nothingness where many people pretend to like and respect each other. Now, don't get me wrong, I do have a keen sense of affection for many of my wife's co-workers whom I truly respect. They are truly the essence of good people. Unfortunately, I really can't say that for everyone. During the course of the soiree, I realized that my wife's small team was bundled into one of the organization's many I.T. Team's party. Perfect, I should have lots in common with these folks. Think again. What most people don't realize about me, is that all-in-all I'm a pretty quiet person , not introverted, but I usually wont speak unless spoken to. It certainly hasn't hampered my ability to lead teams, conduct meetings, and challenge the best at their own game. I'm thoughtful and mindful of what needs to be said to win my point of view and I don't easily back-down. Yes, I do have a boisterous side and a temper, but they never get the best of me. So to break the ice, I started introducing myself to these like minded people and engaged in some light hearted conversation. Mistake! Here's one of my discussion with a 30-something (more like 40-something) Nana Mouskouri look-alike while I was waiting at the bar for my gin and tonic. - Sylvain: Hi, I'm Sylvain Perrier, Michelle's husband. - Nana: Hi, I'm Nana and this is my husband Frank. I'm sorry what was your name? - Sylvain: It's Sylvain (using an overly french accent at this point) but most people just call me 'Sly'. - Nana: Ah yes, 'Sly", but your not Italian (tell me something I don't know). - Sylvain: Nope not Italian. Not even since the last time I looked in the mirror. - Nana: Ha Ha! (fake laugh-bitch). I know Michelle, she's such a nice person. I hear that you've been travelling quite a bit. - Sylvain: Yes I have. All part of the process of building a strong company and certainly part of what I do. - Nana: What do you do? - Sylvain: Vice-President, Technology & Innovation. - Nana: Hmm! (at this point she tunes out). - Sylvain: And you? (I just want to walk away) - Nana: I'm in I.T. (which doesn't really mean a f#@$%ing thing) - Sylvain: So what exactly do you do? - Nana: Well (I'm about to be fed some bull@#$it) I answer phones, install software, change toner cartridges, schedule meetings... -Sylvain; Great meeting you (and yes, I walked away). My readers, let me make one thing clear to all of you. No one is in I.T. if you do what Nana does. You can support I.T. but it certainly doesn't mean your part of the core team. You're at the door honey and always will be. I'm not trying to belittle people or various roles in any organization. What I'm trying to make clear, is that you should never under any circumstances miss represent yourself. For example, on a day to day basis, I work with five (5) of the most competent legal minds of our generation including my mentor, all holding roughly twenty plus years of experience. Yes, its true, I have participated, in organizing mutual non-disclosure agreements, negotiated contracts, participated in arbitration meetings, and assisted inventor disclosure meetings. But, was I the one who drafted the multitude of paper work, led the strategic discussions, and performed the countless hours of study to gain the right to practice law. No! Am I going to lead anyone to believe that I'm lawyer. No! Guess what Nana, your not in I.T. and I'm not a lawyer. By the way, I am in I.T.

Confessions of an iPhone User

	It's certainly no secret, I'm a technology aficionado, even an über geek as some might say but even I have my limits. Roughly one month ago, I conceded to my wife's demand to go shopping states-side and together we made the trek to Rochester, NY. Yes, I hate shopping, and I certainly detest that fact that I might be yet again delegated the position of personal shopping assistant and have to cater to my wife's every shopping need. But, I had an ulterior motive, purchase a new Apple iPhone.  During our drive (4 hours) through New York State, I kept the car steady on the road, and plotted my purchase. How would I walk into the store, should I casually stroll-in with a smile and ask for help, or should I use the little lost boy look. One way or the other, they're both very effective methods in securing a purchase, and in any case, I knew for a fact that I'd be spending roughly $700 on a new device that Time Magazine has voted invention of the year. I needed it, I wanted it, and I was determined to get it. After checking into the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Rochester, we made a mad dash to the local shopping centre so I could strike at my purchase. Needless to say, I elected to use the dumb consumer method. I walked into the Apple store looking like a deer staring at on-coming headlights bewildered in the moment. It worked, and I scored my new toy. At that point, I made a regrettable decision to abandon my wife and I proceeded to sequester myself in our hotel room for the next 48 hours to hack this little sucker and get it connected to my Canadian Service Provider. Unbeknownst to me, my wife knew this was coming and she had already planned her days around various shopping expeditions sans sherpa (yours truly). Two days later, I emerged from our room victorious. I had successfully unlocked the iPhone (firware 1.1.1) and could make telephone calls and check my e-mail. Thirty (30) days later, I've put the phone up for sale on eBay. Go figure, what happened, did I get got-up in the hype? No not me. I can tell you for a fact, that the device is the best in the industry but it's a consumer device, not suited for the hardcore road warrior who gets over 100 e-mail messages a day. Pull-Technology is not for me and when a device or system becomes an impediment to me functioning accordingly or just staying in-touch, that's when I tune-out. I'm sure, that after sometime, the iPhone and I will catch-up and date again, but for now me and my RIM Blackberry 8800 are best buds.

Action at Thirty-Five Thousand Feet

	The Situation Picture It! Two days before U.S. Thanksgiving and I'm stuck in an airport flying from Charlotte, NC to Seattle, WA and the place is congested with occasional travelers. Awkward but luckily, I'm flying first-class, up-front, and right next to a window. At around 18:10 pm, we start to board the plane, and I find myself sitting next to a Diane Keaton look-alike who just can't stomach the fact, that she's sitting next to a young 30-something Technocrat. 30 minutes later, without a hitch, the plane takes-off. We, up-front in first-class, are being tended to by our male airline attendant who's a definite Sean Hayes (a.k.a. Will & Grace's Jack McFarland) wannabe, who's doing a great job. Now, I'm going to go-off topic here, for just a few sentences. It's no secret, US Airways is not the best airline. In 2005, the airline had the largest decline in its key customer satisfaction index falling to number twelve in the industry from number five in 2003. Ok, so what? But, lets give them credit, since the report was published by the University of Nebraska and Wichita State University, they've been working tirelessly to shore-up their satisfaction scores, and its working. Back to the story. We've reached our cruising altitude, the pilot level-offs the plane, and our attendant approaches Diane and me to seek our first refreshment order. Diane orders a glass of white-wine, and me being me, I order a gin-and-tonic. No less than 5 minutes later, our steward teeters our way with our drinks mounted on a tray the size of a match-book. Suddenly, the plane jitters, and Sean, or just Jack for others, proceeds to catapult, the glass of white-wine, two (2) ounces of gin, and one open can of tonic soda onto Diane's bosom. In a moments notice, Diane jumps-up, a radom "Oh my god" is lobbed-out from the back rows or maybe it was me, Sean runs back to his station for napkins to douse Diane, and I proceed to hide behind a newspaper. You have to understand, I'm unaffected, and I want nothing to do with this situation which is to become a chicanery, and so I pretend to blend into the background. Upon his return, Sean profusely apologizes, offers dry cleaning certificates, cleans the seat, the seatbelt, and proceeds to rubdown Diane. Where at which point, she bluntly blurts out, "don't touch me and you've ruined by sweater". Sean being Jack, tucks his tongue into his cheek (a la Cher), and clearly says "honey, I could spit on that sweater and it still wouldn't look good". He drops the napkins, and goes back to his station. Diane's fuming, and she decides to run and hide in the bathroom. Eventually, Sean exchanged places with another airline attendant and moved to the back of the plane, Diane came out of the bathroom and took her seat, and not another word was said, not even by me. The Conclusion Having reviewed many customer satisfaction programs, mined through countless hours of qualitative research, and considering the circumstances, Sean did the right thing albeit for the wrap-up (or rubdown). Diane on the other hand, well, that's for you to decide, and me, I eventually got my gin-and-tonic.

Unlock iPhone (firmware V1.1.1)

	Assumptions Please take note of the following assumptions: Your Apple iPhone is new (still in its original packaging), running firmware v1.1.1 and has not been tampered with. You have yet to attempt to run jailbreakme and/or iBrickr. If you have, drop-me a note and I'll try to assist you as best as possible to try to re-store your iPhone to its original state; You have access to a Personal Computer running either Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Vista connected to the Internet; You have installed the latest version of Apple iTunes; You have access to a secure Wi-Fi network connected to the Internet; You have sufficient knowledge of TCP/IP to perform simple operations such as Telnet and FTP. Steps Lets make sure you have firmware v1.1.1. Slide to make an emergency call. Press "*3001#12345#*" and hit the "Call" button. A new window will pop-up called "Field Test". Select "Versions" and confirm you have firmware version "04.01.13_G". If your firmware version indicates an older version such as "03.14.08_G", I recommend that you upgrade your iPhone's firmware through iTunes to v1.1.1. (search Google for assistance). Note, do not upgrade to firmware v1.1.2 as you will not be able to unlock your iPhone; Once you've confirmed you're running firmware v1.1.1. click-once on the "Home" button. Slide to make an emergency call. Now enter "*#307#", and press "Call". The phone will start ringing; Clear all the numbers by pressing on the "Back" button. It's the one that has an "X" through it. Now enter "0", press "Call", than press "Answer"; Now, press the "Hold" button, the phone will ring again. Press "Decline". You should now see the contact list; Add a new contact. Choose “add new URL”. Enter “prefs:”. Add one more home url, this time enter “jailbreakme.com”. Save all the informations; Click the “home page”, it will pop-up the settings now. Connect to your Wi-Fi network. Also, make sure it will not go to sleep mode by going into General -> Auto Lock -> Never; Press "Home" to go back to the “activate iPhone” screen. Slide for emergency call, and press “0″ to call. Answer the call than hold the call. It will ring again. Press decline and you will go back to the contact list; Select the contact we created in Step 5. This time, press the home that is “http://jailbreakme.com” to let the Safari open it. Scroll down and choose to install the AppSnapp; Your Safari will crash and go back to the “Activate iPhone” screen. Do not touch the iPhone or any other buttons now; It will restart itself. If it is not for more than 10 minutes, repeat the steps from Step 7 - 9. If you see a blue dot, restore your iPhone completely with firmware v1.1.1.; You should now get into the main home screen with Installer on the springboard. Click-once and choose “All packages”, install the “BSD Subsystem”; Now, install “OpenSSH” through the Installer.app; Go to your Personal Computer running Microsoft Windows. Use WinSCP, connect to the iPhone SSH system by typing the correct iPhone’s IP. You need to type “root” as username, “alpine” as password. Note, you can verify your iPhone’s IP by clicking once on Settings -> Wi-Fi, and click-once on the blue arrow that you connected to; Download the anySIM 1.1.1 application and extract the content of the ZIP file to your desktop. Upload the AnySIM.app folder to the “Applications” folder on your iPhone; Through WinSCP, right-click “anySIM.app” and choose “properties”. Make sure that the folder “anySIM.app” is set as 755, and make sure “Set group, owner and permissions recursively” is checked; Restart the iPhone. Now, run the anySIM program and get ready to free your iPhone; Download the 3 files here and extract to your desktop; WinSCP to your iPhone again. Go to “/var/root/Library/Lockdown/”. Replace the existing files. Restart the iPhone again. You can now run YouTube; Now, fix your "EDGE" settings. Click-once on "Installer" and select "Sources"; Add a new source "http://i.unlock.no"; Once the new source is added, in the "Installed" go to "Install" and select the "Unlocking Tools" category and install "EDGE Setting Fix"; Restart the iPhone; Setup your "EDGE" settings. Go to Settings -> General -> Network and configure "APN", "Username", and "Password" based on your network; Don't forget to reset the sleep mode by going into General -> Auto Lock -> 1 minute; Restart the iPhone. That's It!