Thursday, November 26, 2009

If you don't want my opinion...

...don't ask for it.

If you are a female, and you send a text/e-mail/letter/telegram/smoke signal to a guy and expect something in return, you are testing him. Whether you realize/acknowledge it or not, that is what you are doing. If you really want a guy that is intelligent and in tune with what's going on around him, he will recognize this. It is a leverage play.

Some of those intelligent, nice guys that you claim you want, don't really take kindly to that sort of thing. If you want someone you can just push around and exert your will on, then, by all means. Knock yourself out with the leverage plays (which range from passive aggressive behavior to blatant ultimatums), but at some point, though, any guy of quality will recognize it for what it is and rid himself of it/you.

Truth.

Addendum: If you are a girl I met at a wedding, got your number and then went out with you once the day after my birthday before you dropped off the face of the earth and reappeared today on Thanksgiving...why? Seriously. You're confusing.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Article of the Day - People who Deserve Got It: Jimmy Clausen

Source: Clausen punched by irate fan

By Joe Schad
ESPN.com
Archive

Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen was punched in the face by an irate fan outside a South Bend restaurant early Sunday morning and has a swollen eye, a person briefed on the incident said on Monday.

Read full article...

...although past the first 10 words, it's just speculation and lack of facts. Do you really need to read it? Probably not. Plus it's from ESPN, so it's probably not credible anyway.

Also, the title of the blog is a play on this site's content. See disclaimer below.

DISCLAIMER: I've poked fun at this story because I am not a Jimmy Clausen fan, and the first 10 words of the article are "Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen was punched in the face." However, it's pretty bush that this happened if it went down the way this ESPN story is making it sound. If he got into a fight and got drilled, well, then I feel better.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Confessions of a Social Media Junkie

Those of you who read my blog regularly are well aware that I am a social media whore user. Those of you new people who may be followers of @jennicake on Twitter and have stumbled into the blog of @dlegas05, welcome. She makes me sound pretty interesting...hope I can deliver for you. (Also, if you are a blog regular, follow her on Twitter. Do it.)

Since there may be this major influx smattering of new readers coming it, I figured this was a good time to re-introduce myself and publish the bio I wrote for a PRSA-YP profile that never made it to print. It ties directly to the content in this blog and the link I have to USC (and, thus, the folks who brought you here).

--
Dale is a Sr. Account Executive at the David James Agency, a boutique agency focused on cutting-edge high tech. As a former baseball player at USC, Dale brings to his work a tangible competitive streak that greatly benefits his client base of primarily startup and emerging companies.

In his SAE role, Dale has handled media and analyst relations for a number of B2B accounts ranging from semiconductor and enterprise software companies to network systems integrators—all the while being amazed at the number of high tech companies located right here in the greater Los Angeles area.

Even growing up locally in Burbank, Dale shared prevailing perception that high tech was completely dominated by Silicon Valley. However, with only one northern California-based client, it's clear that tech is alive and well all up and down the west coast, and he's confident that the DJA is in a great spot to thrive right along with it.

On weekends in the spring, you can find Dale on high school baseball diamonds sharing his passion and imparting his competitive fire on the freshman team at his alma mater, Crespi Carmelite. He splits the rest of his free time among spending it with friends, trying to learn new songs on one of his four guitars and complaining about the lack of a playoff in college football.

--
For the record, it's weird writing in the third person.

But the major takeaway is that I am a former USC baseball player who is now a tech geek PR guy dealing with all kinds of complicated stuff I never knew existed before. I broke this down in a post when I was added to the PRSA-YP blogroll, but as you peruse, you will see client-inspired tech acronym explanations, general musings about sports-related topics, rants about non-sports related stuff, articles, songs and some actual real-life issues.

I hope you enjoy your stay, and please feel free to leave comments. I love comments. I love them so much I removed the obnoxious "word" verification thing. Even when you're telling me that I'm an idiot.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Blogroll Addition of the Day

Discovered this fine gentleman this evening when he retweeted my quip about the basketball team giving up fewer points than the football team:

@uscpsycho I laugh. I cry. RT @dlegas05: and in a bizarre turn of events, USC's basketball team may give up fewer points than the football team :(

That's right, Trojan fans. It's the dude who's been front and center at every USC football game since USC opened Pandora's box hired Paul Hackett as its coach (and probably before). I watched games with pops long before I ever signed and went there, and this guy was there with his signature USC SYCO California license plate.

Well, he has a blog. He's archived his travels and experiences watching the Trojans everywhere all over the country. It's a unique perspective and a pretty entertaining read. Check him out. Leave him some comments. Follow him on Twitter!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

It's a Celebration! (Kind of)

I had designs on putting together an aggregated history of the DL on this momentous occasion of my angry defection from myspace its first birthday (even though this is a rather nondescript 191st post), but that's just not going to happen. This week has included pitching a story of a multi-vendor latency/features test of a 48-port 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch that scales to offer data center architects the density necessary to enable cloud computing. Apparently, the pitch went over so well with one pub that it decided to break my embargo. (The full announcement doesn't go until Monday.)

Now, in this gent's defense, this is not exactly his area, and it was a mistake that he pulled quickly. But as my gchat status said, when the morning starts at 6-something with a broken embargo, it does not bode well. Small victories by getting a major analyst firm to agree to stop by the Fulcrum booth next week at SC09, but other than that, the day was rough.

On the way home I called Ganser, with whom I have been playing phone tag, and found out that there is some crazy all-you-can-eat deal on Thursday nights at Acapulco. So, I met him over there crushed some ridiculous amount of Mexican food, rolled back to see his new place and have a beer. This now brings me to this minute...in which I am trying to write a blog post but have pretty much zero motivation to do so.

So...happy birthday, DL from DL. Congrats on one year and 191 (mostly inane) posts about sports, work, tech, friends, family, fortune cookies, songs, articles, rants, raves and just general stupidity. It's been real, and...let's not kid ourselves. We'll be right back here tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Article of the Day - Dear Cisco...

...Bite me us.

Love,

HP (and 3Com)

--
HP to Acquire 3Com for $2.7 Billion

Will create networking industry powerhouse with a proven, edge-to-data center set of solutions and global reach

HP and 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) (“3Com”) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase 3Com, a leading provider of networking switching, routing and security solutions, at a price of $7.90 per share in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion. The terms of the transaction have been approved by the HP and 3Com boards of directors.

Read full release...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Article of the Day - The Dogpile Continues...

Since I'm just dogpiling on conservative media anyway...

NEW YORK POST LAWSUIT: Shocking Allegations Made By Fired Employee Sandra Guzman

The New York Post editor fired after speaking out against a cartoon depicting the author of the president's stimulus package as a dead chimpanzee has sued the paper. And as part of her complaint, Sandra Guzman levels some remarkable, embarrassing, and potentially damaging allegations.

Guzman has filed a complaint against News Corporation, the New York Post and the paper's editor in chief Col Allan in the Southern District Court of New York, alleging harassment as well as "unlawful employment practices and retaliation."

Read full article...

Monday, November 9, 2009

Perspective I Gained Today

I learned something today. There is no constitutional amendment mandating that a news outlet be credible. Truth. It is not against the First Amendment to suck at your job--even if you claim to be a news outlet.

It's been well-documented that the advent of social media and advancement of all forms of other technology have driven a vast change in the way people get their information. How do you filter out the commentary from the news? Frighteningly, most people don't.

Shocking as it may be, at the center of this controversy is Fox conservative propaganda passed off as factual News, which is attempting to block Google from using "news" content from its companies. While part of me is inclined to argue, "Who cares? They're not credible anyway," the fact of the matter is that we all should.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a leftist-leaning, First Amendment as a shield and a sword journalism guy. I love the free exchange of information afforded me by the Constitution. Per the (then) groundbreaking decision in Near v. Minnesota, it is in violation of said First Amendment to stop people from saying something before they've said it. This is known as prior restraint. It's a no no. Has been since 1931.

What am I missing? How does this business about Murdoch trying to block Google spiders from picking up information and disseminating through the same channels as...oh I dunno...everything else on the Internet not violate this Supreme Court decision?

Furthermore, in what context is this even smart? Google has kind of become the ubiquitous search engine, and when people want to find something, it's where they go. Microsoft and Yahoo couldn't compete, so they combined to produce Bing...and got to about 26% market share. (They're still separated out in the graphic as the rollout is still in process, but I combined the numbers.)

As I reread the article, I suppose it never does specify that this is taking place in the US, but it's the Internet. It's ubiquitous and omnipresent. I just fail to see how this works or in what context this is a good idea. Sell ads like everyone else on the Internet. You have a ready-made market segment just by virtue of your content.

Oh, and since you're in Australia, if you get an iPhone and jailbreak it, you may end up with wallpaper that's never gonna give you up and never gonna let you down.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Article of the Day (again) - Cloud Computing in Plain English

A trip into the secret, online 'cloud'

By John D. Sutter, CNN
November 4, 2009 1:00 p.m. EST

San Jose, California (CNN) -- One day, while uploading yet another text file to the Google Docs Web site, I started to wonder: When I save this file online, where does it actually go?

I store tons of information on the Internet instead of just on my laptop or work computer. Often, I do this specifically so I can access information from both places, or from my mobile phone if I need it on-the-go.

Without realizing it, I'd started cloud computing, that nebulous term that refers to the idea that computing power is moving off home PCs and laptops and onto the Web.

Read full article on CNN.com

This is a pretty good overview for non-geeks...solid vid embedded as well.

Article(s) of the Day - PRSA Quality Time

Just noticed that these hit the Interweb in the last couple days/weeks. Good times!

Saturday Shift: PRSA Quality Time Event
What do supporting underprivileged children in Mexico, giving up a year of one’s youth to serve the community, helping others battle through addiction and saving the arts in the face of education budget cuts and stiff competition have in common?

On one sunny Saturday in October, the answer was the Public Relations Society of America—specifically PRSA’s “Quality Time with PR Minds” event.

Read full post on DJA Blog...


What'd you do this weekend?
Guest blog post from PRSA-LA YP member Dale Legaspi:

It’s a common question asked on Mondays in offices everywhere. A few weeks ago, though, my answer was an enthusiastic “work!” The quotes are certainly apropos, though, as I “worked” at PRSA’s Quality Time with PR Minds event, which was certainly nothing that resembled the weekday norm. I could not be happier with my decision to participate, and I wasn’t alone.

Read full post on Next Generation blog...

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Photo of the Day

Halloween. Brothers and Barley (even though he looked away from the camera)


And, yes, I did flag Tania for dressing that poor defenseless animal in a costume. Repeatedly.