Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s the time of year again, when committed women get excited with anticipation and committed men scratch their heads in an effort to devise some sort of romantic scheme to win over the hearts of their better halves once more. Single women are likely to drink their sorrows away, only to regret tonight’s decisions tomorrow morning. And single men, well, I think today’s goal for them is pretty much the same as any other day.

Last year I wrote about how we ought to appreciate the women who keep us committed men in line. I quoted the phrase that “behind every great man there’s a woman kicking his butt,” and while I certainly do not claim to be a great man, there is definitely a great woman kicking my butt.

So to my one and only Carin, or as I like to say Carina Katarzyna Kozłowska , thank you for being ever wonderful, I love you!

So today is a pretty significant milestone in my life, I turned 25 years old. I remember wishing for this day when I was younger, thinking that this would be the last great birthday as it would be the time I could finally rent a car. However, with the emergence of Enterprise onto the rental car scene and some company contracts with rental car companies which bypass the whole “no renting until 25″ thing, much of the aura of becoming a quarter centurian has vanished.

It goes without saying that my life has changed drastically over the course of 25 years, but what strikes me as particularly amazing is how much the world has changed in 25 years. I didn’t intend on writing a post of this nature in the days leading up to today, however now I feel like a bit of reflection is appropriate for the situation.

Back in 1982 — from what I can remember — we used VCRs, had home telephones only, changed ribbons on typewriters, drove 55mph on freeways, had Reagan as President, supported Saddam, thought professional sports had integrity, drove station wagons, watched sitcoms, wore neon colors and incredibly short shorts.

Now, we use HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Discs, have more cell phones than home phones, change computers every few years, drive 65mph on freeways, have Bush as President, executed Saddam, criticize professional sports scandals, drive SUVs and hybrids, watch reality television, wear t-shirts with sayings on them and incredibly baggy shorts.

What I really want to focus on with this post, though, is technology. As I write this I am heading North on highway 95, about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C., while my girlfriend Carin is driving. 25 years ago this would be impossible. The laptop that I’m writing on, the aircard that gives me Internet, and the blog that stores this information online, none of them existed when I was born.

Today, in just 25 years since my birth, so much has been accomplished from a technological standpoint that it’s quite difficult to grasp everything. The World Wide Web has completely turned our lives around, as now we can do everything from banking, grocery shopping, making travel plans, getting directions and much more right from the seat of our home. Satellite technology has evolved much as well, and now usage in activities such as weather tracking and flight management has enabled us to increase the safety and security of our everyday lives. And of course, the emergence of the personal computer has made nearly every single aspect of life easier and more efficient.

I could go on forever about the technological advancements of the last 25 years, but that is out of scope for this post and I just wanted to make the point that it has evolved more than anyone could have anticipated.

However, with all of the technology success stories it is easy to forget that much of the time technology is used for malicious purposes. For example, to develop increasingly lethal weapons, or to enhance the ability of the government to spy on its citizens. With all of our new technology, the world has seemingly become a much smaller place, and thus the potential for conflict has risen sharply.

Technology has the ability to make human life better than anyone can ever imagine. Conversely, it also has the ability to destroy every single one of us. While I absolutely hope that I will be able to write another post of reflection in another 25 years, I hope more that humanity will not allow technology to be used with harmful intent.

To a more peaceful 25 years,

Jon

I generally don’t like to write administrative-like posts about this site, however I feel that it’s necessary given the circumstances recently. As you may or may not know, a post I wrote a little over a week ago got (luckily) picked up by Reddit and displayed on the front page. While this was very good for me in that it brought tens of thousands of new users here, it also exposed a flaw in my web hosting at the time that needed to be addressed. Notably, this server crashed three times in a matter of 90 minutes and I was forced to disable large chunks of code in order to keep it running.

The very next day (last Friday) I signed up for Media Temple, as the research I had conducted showed that their server grid has been tested and is able to accommodate large fluctuations in traffic like the one I received last week. As a result, I was unable to make a post during the time of the server changeover so that I didn’t lose any data. To my knowledge not so much as a single comment was lost during the move. The move was completed Sunday.

So that explains why there were no posts from the last one until last Sunday, but what about this week? The very next day, Monday, I started a new job at an amazing company, which I am refraining from listing for the time being. The drawback here being that in order for me to get to the training location by the appropriate time I must leave my house at 5:30 AM, so this week I’ve been going to bed at 10:30 PM and waking up at 4:30 AM. Now, the problem is that I don’t get home until 7:30 PM, so what remains is virtually no time for blogging; thus why you have seen no new posts this week.

But fret not my beloved jonholato.com fans, there remains always plenty of topics for me to write about, and I will be posting more frequently again very soon once I get a handle on my schedule and can manage my time more efficiently.

Let us not forget that the iPhone comes out one week from tomorrow!

A few days ago I was tagged by Joe Cheray to be In The Spotlight. In a nutshell what that means is I have to answer a few questions and tag some other bloggers to be in the spotlight, who will then answer some of the same questions, tag others, and so on and so forth. I guess the idea behind this is that everyone gets to interview themselves and be “in the spotlight,” while the collective blogosphere learns more about its bloggers.

So without further ado, here are the questions I have selected and my answers to them:

What makes your blog unique?
It’s about me, duh.

When did you start blogging?
This site started in September of 2006, but I didn’t start taking it seriously and posting regularly until January of this year.

What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?
I don’t necessarily have any goals for my blog, I just like to write about what I’m interested in and share some knowledge with others, if you find it interesting then that’s just dandy.

What are your feelings on the “blog popularity” issue?
This isn’t high school. Nobody is “cooler” than anyone else. Blog because you love to write and have something to say, otherwise don’t blog at all.

If you were stranded on a deserted island what three things would you want to have with you?
My gf Carin, survival supplies, and radar-jamming equipment so nobody could ever find me.

Are you a spiritual person?
Yes.

Do your moral values affect the way that you blog, and if yes, how?
Yes, I refrain from profanity and posting anything obscene that could offend others.

OK so there you have it, my answers to some of the questions. As for the bloggers I will tag to be “In The Spotlight” next, here they are:

Bart

Carin

Erika

Malcolm

Mikey Boom

Tony

Blogging has exploded over the past year or two and continues to grow more and more each month. I, for one, will concede that I thoroughly enjoy blogging. I started this site back in September as sort of a casual side activity. Now I’ve set up five additional blogs for co-workers and friends and have a large part of my office reading blogs and commenting daily.

But when did I/we cross the line from hobby to addiction? To answer that, Search Rank has put together an article that outlines 10 signs that you might be a blog addict:

• 1. Bloglines, Google Reader or some other RSS reader is constantly open on your computer’s desktop.
• 2. You tell customers that you missed a project deadline because “some things” came up but in reality, you were blogging.
• 3. You periodically dream that you are blogging.
• 4. You get inspiration for new blog posts at the strangest times - in the Jacuzzi, sitting on the toilet, during marital activities (cough, cough)… you get the picture.
• 5. Before blogs, you used to tuck the kids into bed at night. Now you check for unapproved blog comments before heading to bed yourself.
• 6. In order for your family to keep up with what’s going on in your life, they have to read your blog. Furthermore, if they want to communicate with you, they have to comment on your blog.
• 7. You have actually considered setting up a blog for your pet of which you would post the entries pretending you are your pet (weirdo).
• 8. You can’t remember dates for your wedding anniversary, kids birthdays, etc., but you know what your Technorati rank is.
• 9. You blog about anything and everything including bad meals, your pets, getting your car stuck in snow, conversations you have in the bathroom, etc.
• 10. Keeping a blog is no longer enough but you now have to record your every move on Twitter.

So there are the 10 signs, but do they apply to me? Let’s find out.

• Response to #1: Google Reader is set up at the very top of my personalized Google home page, so yes, guilty.
• Response to #2: Work always takes priority and blogging at work is a strict no-no, not guilty.
• Response to #3: I have awoken in the morning with fresh, new blog ideas in my head, guilty.
• Response to #4: Absolutely, guilty.
• Response to #5: I don’t have kids but I am always blogging or customizing my theme just before bed, so yes, guilty.
• Response to #6: I got my girlfriend Carin blogging now, guilty.
• Response to #7: I don’t have a pet, not guilty.
• Response to #8: I do pretty well at remembering dates, but I definitely know my Technorati ranking and Feedburner subscribers at all times, guilty.
• Response to #9: Without a doubt, guilty.
• Response to #10: You’ll notice my Twitter badge in the sidebar, guilty.

So 8 out of 10 guilty; I am 80% of a blog addict. There’s still some hope for me.

How do my fellow bloggers out there rack up?

We knew the positive praise of New Jersey Transit from a few days ago couldn’t last. FOX 5 NY News announced this morning on their newscast that New Jersey Transit will be raising ticket prices on buses and trains by 9.6% starting June 2007.

For a company that can hardly seem to get anything right I don’t think charging more for horrible service is the answer. The newscast noted that the reasoning behind the fare hike is to make up for a $60 million budget deficit.

Ummm, hello, why do they think the $60 million budget deficit came about in the first place? It’s time to revamp the operating policies and procedures. Raising the fare may be a short-term solution, but this time next year they’ll find themselves needing to raise the fare yet again to make up for the deficits that will come from mismanagement in 2007.

Some of you might have been as baffled reading the title of this entry as I was when I wrote it, but yes, New Jersey Transit has actually done something positive. Generally my posts about New Jersey Transit have to do with them “biting the dust,” however for once I am actually going to commend them.

Yesterday a Nor Easter came into town and dumped absolutely torrential rain everywhere. I don’t have an exact figure, but last night on the news they were reporting 6.74 inches at Central Park, so I’m guessing by this morning that total was easily over 7 inches. Yes, 7 inches of rain in a little over 24 hours. It goes without saying that this amount of rain can certainly wreak havoc on any public transportation system.

To my surprise, however, the amount of delays on New Jersey Transit this morning were pretty minimal. The trains were operating only slightly behind schedule (save one line that was shut down due to massive flooding). I didn’t truly appreciate the train service this morning until I arrived in Hoboken and saw that all of the tracks throughout the entire station were flooded. None of the trains were able to pull completely into the station because all of the tracks were underwater.

So even though the rail system was one you’d expect to see at Atlantis, New Jersey Transit held their own and managed to get people to work today with very little delay. Here is a picture of the flooding at Hoboken (pardon the blurriness, I was on the move while snapping this shot):

Lately as I’ve been surfing around the blogosphere I’ve seen a lot of blogs where the author writes down a bunch of their stats with respect to geek stuff (computer, OS, etc.) Having always thought this was a pretty cool thing to do, I have added a section to my about page that details my geeks stats. However, seeing as very few of you seem to realize that there is an about page (or don’t care enough to click through to it), I am posting them here for your perusal.

So without further adieu, here are my geek stats:

• Computers: 3 — 2 laptops (MacBook and Sony Vaio), 1 desktop PC
• OS: Mac OS X, Fedora, Windows XP
• Browser: Firefox, Safari
• IM Client: iChat, Trillian, Gaim
• E-mail: Gmail
• Programming Language: PHP
• Text Editor: Emacs
• IDE: PHP Designer Pro 2005
• RSS: Google Reader
• Gaming Console: Xbox 360, Wii

To anyone who reads through that and knows what all of those are, I applaud you, and there should be more people like us.

Please feel free to contribute your own geek stats below.

Poland’s Zycie Warszawy daily is reporting that attractive Polish girls are being bullied and harassed by jealous British girls, as British boys are losing interest in unattractive British girls and vying for the pretty Polish girls.

Since Poland’s entry into the European Union in 2004, there have been a wave of migrants into Great Britain. Naturally, the Polish adults who migrated have teenage children who attend local schools with British teenagers. This has not only caused a stir between Polish girls and British girls, but also between Polish boys and British boys, as the Polish boys are upset that the British boys are going after their women.

I for one think this is pretty hilarious. The common stereotype is that British women aren’t exactly all that and a bag of chips, so it’s pretty remarkable to see it actually hold very true in real life.

Thank God I have a Polish girlfriend. Kocham Cię Kochanie!

Here we go again. Another day, another problem with New Jersey Transit. I boarded my train to return home from work today and upon arriving at our first stop, the main power source in the train died and everything went dark. It’s like a swamp in here right now as there is no circulation and I’m not seated near any of the doors they have open.

This is just the latest in an unending series of unfortunate events for this company. I wish they had any kind of competition, so that they would actually have to make trains that didn’t break down everyday. Luckily for them, tens of thousands of commuters rely on them for transportation into New York City during the work week. This company is strong-arming its commuters worse than the US government is our civil liberties.

So we finally got power back about 10 minutes ago and just arrived at the next stop, and *drumroll* the power died again! At this rate I won’t get to my stop for 3 hours, should be an interesting rest of the way home…