Zynga recently launched its latest game title CityVille. It is described as “Monopoly meets Main Street” – it’s a city building and management game. So far the game is growing even faster than FrontierVille, as reported in TechCrunch.
You can check out CityVille at
Build the city of your dreams.
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
After a number of years, I recently re-watched Ken Burns’ iconic documentary The Civil War (the video streamed from Netflix splendidly).
It’s a great series full of wonderful moments – Shelby Foote stealing the show, the pan-and-scan effect, and many excellent narrative readings.
(Viewing the series this time around, I was struck by several interview scenes in which the subject lighting was much more harsh than I originally recalled. Ken reports that, back in 1989, they were under a tight budget & schedule. Some things never change.)
In this viewing, I paid special attention to the details attributed to the generals. Policies & politics aside, they were a set of fascinating characters.
All great stuff.
One sequence from the series that stuck with me is this description of Grant from the Vicksburg Campaign
… the men knew they were cut loose from their base of supplies, but Grant himself gave them confidence. They believed Grant knew what he was doing, and one great encouragement for their believing that was quite often on the march, whether at night or in the daytime, they’d be moving along a road or over a bridge and right beside the road would be Grant on his horse – a dust-covered man on a dust-covered horse – saying “Move on, close up.” So they felt very much that he personally was in charge of their movement and it gave them an added confidence.
I like this because from a leadership perspective it reinforces the principles of being seen often, engaged in the activities of the team, and up to your elbows in the details (dust-covered).
A leader who stays engaged with day-to-day activities instills confidence and builds credibility. If the folks on your team are working long hours and late nights, it’s important to be there with them.
If they are dust-covered, it’s hard to explain not being dust-covered yourself.
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
We recently got this Duplo Bus for my son, which seems to feature (at least in terms of Duplo characters) a bus driver, grandfather and granddaughter (“grandfather” and “girl” in the product description).
About a week later, my son decided to involve the granddaughter in a plumbing experiment from which she did not recover (oh my).
I thought it would be nice to replace the poor lost-at-sea granddaughter.
I searched on EBay and found what appeared to be a replacement granddaughter for fairly cheap. I purchased it, and it arrived the other day.
Prior to the arrival of the new granddaughter, I had given no thought to the racial backgrounds of the characters (they appear to be European).
I observed with some amusement that the new granddaughter had a skin tone several shades darker than the one lost-at-sea (in any case somewhat darker than Grandpa). Perhaps we have spawned a multi-racial Duplo family?
I am now curious to meet the granddaughter’s parents.
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
Not everyone realizes it, but in Northern California we have warm sunny summers but cool wet winters.
I started commuting this year by bike, and needed to pick up some foul weather wear to make the trip bearable in the rain. It’s getting close to rainy season again, which means it’s time to break out my wet weather gear.
First thing I needed was a backpack that was waterproof and/or had a rain flap, to protect my laptop.
I picked up this Novara Commuter Backpack backpack from REI. It’s bright, watertight, and has reflective areas. It also has a pull-out rain flap for when it’s really storming. It’s big enough for my 15” laptop, a sweater, and some accessories.
Overall a pretty good backpack for commuting, recommended.
This Novara Statos Bike Jacket is also from REI. It’s waterproof (not just water resistant) and gives good wind protection. Wearing this jacket and a sweater keeps me warm enough while biking. It’s got a breast pocket which is handy for carrying keys, 3G wireless USB card and so on.
Nice jacket, recommended.
These Novara Stratos Pants (REI yet again) are waterproof and warm. As such, they are mostly suitable for cold rainy weather. I only put them on when it’s raining.
My two complaints with these pants are that they’re relatively hard to put on over shoes (handy when weather changes on you quickly), and that they’re not a bright color. I probably would have been satisfied with a cheaper pair of thin waterproof slipover pants.
If you want waterproof and warm, these are good though.
I also got one of these illumiNITE Waterproof Helmet Covers from Performance Bicycle, to keep the rain off my head.
When the rain is pouring, it’s an essential item to help keep relatively dry.
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
One of my major assignments at NetApp involved leading an effort to overhaul the administrative software for the company’s storage controllers – resulting in the NetApp System Manager product.
System Manager was recently back in the news in a positive light, featured in this InfoWorld article on data deduplication appliances.
It seems System Manager helped tip the balance in favor of NetApp against the products from FalconStor and Spectra Logic. I’m happy to see that, since System Manager explicitly renewed focus on simplicity and integration with Windows, making it easier to use NetApp’s entry-level platforms.
Some excerpts from the article:
IT has two options for managing the FAS2040: Web browser and the stand-alone management console, the NetApp System Manager. While the browser-based management portal was straightforward, I found System Manager much more user-friendly and intuitive, even more so than FalconStor’s UI. Both storage controllers were represented in the management utility with each major function broken into separate grouped tasks, making it very easy to locate specific items.
There are, however, useful graphs and data points, such as volume details and space saved, scattered throughout System Manager. NetApp did a good job of organizing System Manager so that the amount of information presented in it is applicable and useful, without going overboard and inundating you with too much data.
Nice work from the System Manager team!
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
Recently I started a job which requires me to commute to work via BART. BART has its own rules regarding bicycles on the trains, which meant that I needed to get a folding bike in order to commute through downtown during the rush hours.
I quickly zeroed in on the Dahon Speed D7 as an affordable and popular model. I ordered mine online (from Safety Cycle, about 430 $US). It arrived in good condition, but (no surprise) needed some initial adjustments to the rear derailleur and brake before it was fully usable.
Some highlights
Some lowlights
The bike attracts a fair amount of curiosity on the train. I’m certain that – were I able to carry a spare bike along – I could have sold a few during my commutes. Quite a few people ask for details on price, manufacturer, and where to buy.
Overall it has met my expectations and has facilitated my commute-by-subway.
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
In January 2010 I accepted a job in San Francisco (with Zynga, the company that brings you FarmVille and other fun games). Although I’ve lived in or near large cities for most of my life, I find myself commuting downtown for the first time (via BART).
Zynga is about 1.1 miles from the 16th & Mission stop in San Francisco, about a 20 minute walk, and I spend about an hour on the subway each way. Before I accepted the job, I wanted to make sure I could
A few dry runs proved that 3G service was reasonably reliable (an early dead zone at the Lake Merritt station was rectified in the past few months). This allows me to get nearly an hour of work in each way during my morning and evening commutes.
The traffic along 16th Street between Mission and Potrero Hill isn’t terribly busy in the morning, so I decided a bicycle commute would be possible. This cuts the 20 minute walk down to a 7 minute bike ride.
What I ended up with to make this all possible was
More on those soon.
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
In a fit of egomania, I’ve realized that without my voice being heard, the world is but an empty shell.
So I’ve decided to continue blogging.
Well, not exactly.
When I worked for NetApp, I authored a blog with the title Simple Steve. I wrote about design simplicity, work place issues, and other assorted topics. Once in a while I included a cartoon, often copied from the whiteboard in our hallway.
Once in a while recently a topic has arisen and I thought
Ah – I wrote an article about that!
And I would forward a link to one of my blog articles.
That worked ok for a while, but recently (and somewhat understandably) NetApp purged my blog articles.
I thought I’d get started re-creating some of the useful articles, and making some new ones.
So here goes.
(Thanks for reading – Steve Klinkner)
