Newbs Blog

Helping out a friend

Henry Newberry — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:29:47 -0400

Those that know me pretty much at all know that I have a redneck side that some say covers 98% of what I do. I enjoy NASCAR, throwing real steal-tip darts, going to car shows, cooking pigs and just about anything that involves drinking beer with friends. Most of those activities have been done with Dale Scholer, the guy who is as close to a best friend as I have in this world. In addition to the redneck stuff, Dale and I have gone to the Masters tournament together, attended several Blues events, poured beer at other events, eaten some exceptional food together (prime rib to roast pork to Italian sausage) and we do stuff that perhaps should not be exposed in a public place like this.

Over the last two years, Dale has declined significantly due to a genetic kidney condition. Of his five siblings, three got the condition and two were spared. Last year Dale's brother and sister both got kidney transplants, one from another sibling and the other from a deceased donor. At the time, Dale's kidney function had not declined far enough to warrant a transplant, but that soon changed. When he did get to the requisite 20% function, his eligibility for a transplant was delayed several months due to a lingering pre cancerous condition of the skin on his leg. When that finally cleared up, and the doctors checked everything out it became clear that his brother could be an effective donor.

Dale got his brother's kidney two weeks ago, and is recovering OK, though he has quite a ways to go. In order to prevent rejection and the chance of infection the doctors will not allow him to go to work or be in public gatherings for two to three months. So Dale is pretty much stuck at home. However, I setup Skype with a video feed on his computer so he can communicate. His Skype account is "dale.scholer"

Next Friday, July 3, 2009 from 3PM to 8PM several of Dale's friends are holding a benefit for him to raise a few dollars to help defray expenses. He has some insurance but has no short term disability to pay for normal living expenses while he is out of work. We hope to close that gap a bit. THe benefit will be at Tina's bar at 4th and Central in downtown Cincinnati. Here is the flyer:

Do You Care About Diversity? That might be the problem.

Henry Newberry — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:13:52 -0400

Recently a personnel change was made at a large company with which I interact quite a lot. The change affected one of the people with whom I interact. I was at the same time saddened to loose the excellent support of person leaving the position, happy for them because of the new opportunity they have, and curious about the new person and how they might continue to provide the support to which I have become accustomed. At no point did I concern myself with the facts that a white middle age American woman was being replaced by a white, somewhat younger German man. At least this did not occur to me until I read the welcoming post of someone else in the community which read "Welcome - great a European! "

Until that point I had not noticed and really did not care. With that post I had to consider if it was or was not a good thing. As a result, I am much more bothered that it makes any difference to anyone if the person is anything other than effective at their job.

This made me reflect on the recent wave of "public-service" commercials going on in the US about the value of a diverse community and that those who grew up or now live in communities without diversity are somehow worse off. What strikes me wrong is that anyone cares how diverse someone else's background might be. What they should care about is if a person can interact in meaningful and effective ways, regardless of their nonbusiness attributes.

In business, politics and most every aspect of life, how effective and meaningful our interactions with others are will determine our level of success in the long run. None of the labels associated with race, gender, national origin, political persuasion, sexual orientation mean a hill of beans if the interactions with others do not work. Those that care about the balance of these attributes which should be unimportant are simply creating and perpetuating the problem, most likely because they have found a way to profit or otherwise benefit from the decisiveness they cause.

Broken Promises. No Pork, No Earmarks, what is next

Henry Newberry — Mon, 2 Mar 2009 11:04:15 -0400

It seems President Obama has been paying mere lip service to reigning in uncontrolled pork and spending in the federal government. Today he will sign the omnibus appropriations bill with 9000+ earmarks and untold spending {link}. So clearly his statements of absolutes are are relatively absolutes unless they conflict with another part of his untold and out-of-control agenda.

So what is next. Well the Attorney General who thinks we are all cowards has declared the water boarding is "a form of torture that the Obama administration could never condone." How long will it be before that principle is left by the way side as other seem to be.

And do not try to tell me it is out of respect for human life. Confirmed abortionists have no claim to that supposed moral high road.

Newbs

Never put off until tomorrow what you can forget about forever.
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Good Politics and Bad Ecnomics

Henry Newberry — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:56:43 -0400

Do we live in the time of the "Worst catastrophe since the Great Depression" or the time of the biggest rip off of all times. The main stream media seems to ignore the facts and support President Obama's contention that we are in uncharted dire straits. But the facts, though grim, do not support the severe reaction we are hearing.

Unemployment currently stands at 7.6%, up a whopping 2.2% in the last year with expectations that it will increase more in the next year. In 1930, the first year of the Great Depression, unemployment increased by 4.8%, the first of three years of huge job losses. (see {link}). By another measure automobile production has fallen 25% in the last year contrasted to a 90% decline in 1930.

These numbers sadly show we are not in the catastrophe that our political leaders describe. But we could end up there because of the their policies and failed leadership. The promise of transparency and change has been replaced with the most completely hidden and earmark laden legislation of all times. In the name of stimulus the democrats in congress have given us a litany of social agenda spending programs, most of them totally unknown to those who voted for or against the bill.

Clearly Mr. Obama, supported by the liberal media, is a master of the political spin. Even more clearly, he and his woeful choices for cabinet members do not have a clue about the real economical situation.

Or perhaps they do understand what they are doing and they are using the crisis to move all the wealth of this great nation to their control. Either way their actions if not checked will be the end of freedom and prosperity as we know it.

I am a Grandpa!

Henry Newberry — Wed, 9 Jul 2008 11:41:10 -0400

Miriam Patricia Freire Newberry was born at 15.30 CEDT (central European daylight time) on 9 July 2008 in Acal� De Henares outside of Madrid, Spain. She weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz.

Mother: Rachel P Newberry de Freire and Father Jorge Freire are delighted to welcome her to their family.

Pat and I will be travelling to Spain on 21 July to begin the process of spoiling our grandaughter as well as visiting with Rachel and Jorge.

I will post pictures as I get them. I warned you!

A couple new friends added to my collection

Henry Newberry — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:42:03 -0400

Many of you know that, among the many loves of my life, beer, and more specifically good beer ranks pretty high up there. So this was a great weekend for me because it was almost all about beer, or Bier in the German tradition.

The first event was the 2008 Bockfest VIP Fund-raiser (postponed from late February due to snow) where they unveiled of the Rookwood Pottery and Christian Moerlein Brewery's second collaborative effort in Bier Stein making. This years offering depicts the legendary Emperor Frederick "Barbarossa" and a classic street scene from historic over-the-rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati.

The second event on Saturday was the Germania Society's fourth annual Stein Auction which is all about beer, steins and other brewery memorabilia. I have worked closely with George Hibbon to get the auction (which was also delayed due to the snow in February) to happen. The highlight of the auction was the sale of the first of the Barbarossa steins that had been donated to the auction. There also was an incredible wood carving from some unknown artist that had to be part of my collection.

Both are now part of my collection. See more pictures here

Addiction, not me, I don´t need any... what!

Henry Newberry — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:49:09 -0400

I would have never thought of myself as being more than 50% addicted, perhaps 20%. Sill not blogging that much.

54%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Newbs

Lotusphere 2008 Speed Geeking - DOJO Digit Editor

Henry Newberry — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:00:44 -0400

WOW! Twelve five-minute presentations in a row. Talk about buring it hard from both ends. I hope those that heard it learned a little, and if you are here, then perhaps you will try the next level, and download the examples!

Here is the sample database: . The instructions which I showed in the demo are included in the Help-Using document.

Enjoy!

Newbs

Lotusphere 2008 Hands On Session files

Henry Newberry — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:44:16 -0400

Here are the files from the hands on session Scott and I did on JSON and AJAX usage form Domino.:

Newbs

Lotusphere 2008 Best Practices Session Updates

Henry Newberry — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:21:22 -0400

The Best Practices session Scott and I did went very well. Here are the updated slides:

As we said the code will be releasable when the ageements with IBM get finalized. Several of the techniques we used are available from other presentations.

Newbs