Monday, February 18, 2013

The Greatest Play in Baseball - Ever

Enjoy true baseball talent and respect!


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Two Minute Drill - A Perspective on enthusiasm and focus!


The Two Minute Drill

Have you ever noticed, while watching professional football, how exciting the last two minutes of each half are?  Two mediocre teams can play an entirely boring game right up until the officials stop the game at two-minutes before the game to notify the teams that there is now only two more minutes of playing time left in the game.  All of a sudden, when the networks come back from commercial, the tempo of the game magically picks up.  Players that looked lethargic when the network broke for commercial are all of a sudden are making great plays and putting forth extra effort!  The quarterback makes use of every available second.  Multiple plays are called, everyone moves with new quickness, the clock is worked judiciously.  The enthusiasm of the team, the crowd, and even the television audience is raised to a new high.   As a viewer I find myself asking why isn’t the whole game played this way?

Then you realize that the really good teams do play the entire game with the same degree of intensity and excitement for the entire game that the mediocre teams do only in the last two minutes before each half.  The teams that play with intensity and excitement the entire game are the consistent winners.  Well the same is true in your life and your career!

Those individuals who put enthusiasm and excitement into everything they do somehow always to be the same individuals who are given the best promotions, who rocket through the corporate ranks or who own and operate their own successful business.  These same individuals also seem to be the ones who have the best families, and enjoy all the better things in life, and always seem to have what appears to a lot of free time.  Their success is simply not an accident!  Their success is a direct result of the effort they put forth.  They operate as if they are always in the last two minutes of the game where every second counts.  They approach all aspects of their life with enthusiasm and excitement, and work consistently to seek out additional opportunities and challenges. 

So why don’t we all participate in the two minute drill?  We all have the capability to do so; we just don’t always focus on the tasks at hand.  Think about the last two days in the office before you left on your last vacation.  You probably attacked every opportunity presented to you with consistent, enthusiastic effort, and you persistently pursued each opportunity as if every second counted.  You knew that those tasks not completed before you left would be there to stare you in the face when you returned.  Your pace quickened, you didn’t waste anytime or energy.  You were committed to clearing out the back-log!  Chances are you accomplished more in those last two days before you left than you had in the last few weeks.  The reason you were able to accomplish so much is that you now HAD to complete those tasks and you knew you simply couldn’t put off any task.  You became focused! 

So why don’t we approach all our opportunities and challenges with this same degree of effort and enthusiasm? Honestly the reason is that for most of us, without an absolute time limit (the last two minutes of the game), we all tend to misuse our time and resources.  After all, if we don’t get that task done today, we can always complete it tomorrow!  But can we?  There always seems to be some new opportunity or some unexpected diversion!  You know you just had to see that new YouTube video everyone is talking about or check out the latest sports scores, or check your Facebook or Twitter account or knock off a few “Angry Birds”.   

But what if you practiced the two minute drill everyday?  What if you played the game of life with enthusiasm and excitement?  What if you methodically and persistently attacked each opportunity that presented itself, when it presented itself? 

One way to find out, try it!  My bet is that you will feel better, discover a new level of confidence in yourself, and begin to feel refreshed and relaxed!

Give it a shot!

God Made a Farmer - Texas Aggie Version


Gig Em'

Marc Lockard '72

Monday, February 11, 2013

LTE to become the most successful mobile phone standard


In an article featured in ElectronicsWeekly.com, Richard Wilson writes:
LTE is set to become the most successful mobile phone standard with the fastest commercial deployment, according to the GSA mobile suppliers association. ..."With 145 LTE networks commercially launched and over 560 user devices announced in the market supporting millions of customers worldwide, LTE technology is mainstream and firmly established as the fastest developing mobile system technology ever," said Alan Hadden, President of the GSA.AdTech AdGSA forecasts that 234 LTE networks will be commercially launched in 83 countries by the end of 2013.

I learned many moons ago not to be too skeptical about the future of wireless technology.  I do remember thinking and verbalizing, "this cellular stuff is just never going to be more than a business tool, there is no way we will ever be watching videos on our phones!"  

My "crystal ball" was I admit just a tad out of focus on that one!

Heard today there are more mobile devices in service in the world than there are people in the world!  

Marc

Monday, February 4, 2013

Dell Board Considering Offer to Take Dell Private

In perhaps THE deal of the last five years, the Dell Board is meeting tonight to consider a leveraged buyout to take Dell private!  In a $24 billion deal, Dell founder Michael Dell is in for $4.00 billion + of his own cash and assets.  I would say here is a founder who believes in his company!

Read more.  

T-Mobile Pushing Commission for Mobile Broadband at 600 MHz


Finally a plan for the use of broadband spectrum at 600 MHz and above that makes some sense!

T-Mobile pushes its own plan for 600 MHz mobile broadband

T-Mobile supports much of the FCC's plan to reallocate and reassign 600 MHz spectrum from broadcast TV to mobile broadband use but is suggesting a number of tweaks, wrote Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile's vice president of federal regulatory affairs, in a blog post on the company website.

A group of wireless carriers, broadcasters and manufacturers recently suggested locating all paired spectrum above TV Channel 37. "While we are open to further study with the FCC on the best plan to maximize paired spectrum in the auction, this approach has the benefit of avoiding certain potential interference issues that exist with the FCC's lead plan and would encourage rapid development of devices that meet consumer expectations for cost and size," said Ham.


Read more: T-Mobile pushes its own plan for 600 MHz mobile broadband - FierceBroadbandWireless http://www.fiercebroadbandwireless.com/story/t-mobile-pushes-its-own-plan-600-mhz-mobile-broadband/2013-02-04#ixzz2Jy0BrUx9
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Vendor's getting anxious about FirstNet!

Seems that some vendors are getting a tad anxious and concerned about what they claim to be a lack of transparency in the FirstNet process.

From Fierce Broadband Wireless

The board of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) will hold its next meeting on Feb. 12, giving it a chance to respond publicly to a barrage of complaints regarding the board's perceived lack of transparency and responsiveness.

"We are concerned that there has been something of a cone of silence dropped around the process," said Brian Hendricks, global head of technology policy for telephone-equipment maker Nokia Siemens Networks. Meetings with the FirstNet board are difficult to set up, which "leaves most of us with the sense that we're sort of fumbling around in the dark for the light switch, and that is a concern," added Hendricks, who was quoted by Bloomberg.

"It seems FirstNet has kind of shut themselves off," said Donald Hairston, a senior vice president at Textron. "How do you build systems if you don't talk to your users?"
Panelists expressed frustration that despite FirstNet receiving 133 NOI submissions before the end of 2012, there still has been no official acknowledgement of the suggestions that were offered, according to Urgent Communications.



True Professionals at Work

Working on a telecom tower is always dangerous work, here is one "incident" that had a happy ending for this tower climber.  This guy is alive today because was smart enough to call for help and because his employers had well trained and responsible people to help him.

Sorry about the commercial but watch through it, it is short.  The tower rescue is just after it.

 http://wj.la/SCn3Q1


Marc