Category Baltimization

I’m sure some of you have heard this term before “Eating your own dog food” it’s even referenced in this Wikipedia entry, but I think it’s high time someone appropriately draws the distinction of the DIFFERENCE of eating your own dog food and drinking your own champagne, terms often used interchangeably.   Little shared fact. They are ABSOLUTELY NOT THE SAME DAMN THING. Yes I am extremely passionate about this, because it’s misused.

Eating your own dog food

This term has actually seen some of the most widely adopted usage within Microsoft as a corporation, in fact they had a whole section of the business solely for the DogFood servers.   But what does this mean exactly?   Contrary to popular belief, Dogfooding is not “running on your own products”.   It actually consists of taking the Alphas, the Betas, what eventually will become the products that your CUSTOMERS will eventually consume, and getting a large user-base onto these applications in a Production capacity.    Imagine the difference it makes when you have hundreds of thousands of users running on an internal beta of an application.  When things break, well, they get FIXED and FOUND faster. Not only that, but it forces you to write better code, be a better developer, do better QA. Why? Because when things break, it breaks HARD CORE for EVERYBODY.    So what came out of these interests was not only better written, QA’d and run applications, but also harder and more rigorous testing from your own experiences.   Sure you start off small with a pilot group, but then you continue to expand and extend that out to an even larger base.   At the end of the day and a product cycle you have your business running in production on what started in Alpha and grew to release; long before you introduce your first beta customer.   THAT is eating your own dog food.

Drinking your own champagne

Now there are these “cute” folks out there who are all “We drink our own Champagne” because they don’t like the message, the vision associated with dogfooding or dog food in general (Perhaps they hate Dogs, and likely hate cats? Who knows)   But here is the thing about Champagne and drinking your own champagne.    The production process to go about creating dog food takes approximately 5 minutes.  Sure it can take more or less than that, but you can produce consumable, or horrible dog food almost instantly.   Champagne on the other hand involves Harvesting, Pressing, Fermenting, Blending, Fermenting AGAIN, Lees Aging, Riddling, Disgorgement, Dosage, and Re-corking.

While this is not to be a fully in depth technical advisory on the process of actually MAKING champagne the interesting point of the metaphor is, the Aging process alone requires a MINIMUM of 15 months, not to mention all of the other efforts associated with things.   So when you consider what it takes to drink your own champagne you’re looking at a minimum investment all-in of ~5 years minimum.   I’ll tell you, if I had a solution, a technology, a product, and by the time I got around to actually consuming it, it was 5 years in the making; Yea. That is not a differentiator.

Oh but wait, your trite marketing or wacky sales guy is saying “No! Drinking your own champagne means we run our own products” Uh, I better damn well HOPE you have faith in your own BAKED and READY products you’re trying to SELL or POSITION to me, that you fricking run it internally.   So no, I give you no grace period, I give you no safety net.   Those who drink their own champagne better damn WELL run their own products, and that does not infer they are betas or early release or anything; because it’s eating your own dog food which really shows me you’re committed to your product.

Mixing Champagne with your Dog Food

So when you go out there on the road to message and position your latest and great product, or to talk about futures.  I encourage you to understand your metaphors, your analogies and take heart that I expect you to drink your own Champagne and take great pride when you choose to eat your own dog food.   Just because you eat your own dog food, does not mean it is GOOD, but at least it shows me you’re committed to the success of my business and yours.

Hey Guys! Friends, fellows, colleagues and peers, hearty analysts, random readers, dear twitter and facebook friends.. All of you!

A crazy year of shifts, changes and updates!

This has been a raucous year of adventures, updates, new technology, new transitions and directions in the industry; so many different ways in which things have gone and so many different paths in which things possibly could go.    We’ve seen shifts and changes in the way we manage our Clouds, build our clouds, LICENSE our clouds.   The terminology we use to define our Infrastructure and the underlying component has taken a new rhetoric towards Software Defined Data Centers.   You name it, there has been *much* going on, much indeed.

My emphasis this past year

My Emphasis for the last 12 months has been solely focused on the business of Virtualization, on the increased automation and driving high levels of consistency, availability, deliverability and sell-ability of Clouds, Infrastructures as a Service, IT as a Service, and general purpose Transformation; and let me tell you that was an AMAZING and extremely successful journey.    What has occurred in this time was the creation from the ground up of an entire suite of services around Cloud, IaaS and ITaaS Delivery working with an absolutely *amazing* team.   The creation of a whitepaper on the principles behind IaaS Best Practices which hits at the core the very message which we’ve all been struggling with for a decade.    The building, bridging together, and leading of my personal team of over 250 Virtualization Professionals around the world, not just peers and colleagues within the business here at EMC, but the building of a community who can lean on each other, work with each other, and most importantly grow each other.    And particular emphasis to my own senior manager and leadership team comprised of Ed Lynam, Bob Martin, Steve Nassif and Michael Gong;  These rockstars in particular helped to keep my message and vision on target with the business at large, allowing me to continue to apply that vision so resonant throughout the industry; I wouldn’t change them for the world!    Three particular rockstars I have had the pleasure to work with closely and grow individually with; Damian Karlson, Brian Ragazzi and Brian Graf – Total rockstars in their own right and if you don’t know them, you should take the time to GET to know them, you won’t be sorry!

Looking back 20 years

Let’s consider the previous 20 years for a moment.    In the beginning where I spent 6 years of my time as a kernel hacker, security researcher, and consultant I looked ahead of me, around the industry and what interested me most and took on what became the first of many adventures.    Leaving behind Linux and security in its infancy I went into the wicked realm of Year 2000 Preparation, and Microsoft Application centricity, but it was also about this time in 1996 that I started playing with and getting into VMware Virtualization.    When I wasn’t advising startups in my spare time, I did what I did best which was act as a visionary… Look ahead 10, 20 years and figure out what the trends were, what the capabilities and skills which were going to be needed and leveraged soo sooo far in advance.    I began focusing my attention and efforts in developing in those areas, growing those businesses, and growing those communities.    It was only 6 years ago I switched from full-VAR play to join the world of Vendor life, and more particularly Storage Vendor life where I took on my Hybrid and adventurous role over at NetApp.    The years I spent there were amazing and wonderful, only to be further enchanted by the launch into the next stage of my adventures with my time spent at EMC.     And then changing from my Pre-Sales, Enterprise and business focused role from 2009-2011; to my role as a Global Leader, running a successful and adventurous business with some *amazing* and smart people in in the industry with emphasis on two areas I care very much for and about; Cloud and Virtualization.    

Returning to my role as a Visionary

However, the time has come to take a step back from this role, from this opportunity, and to take a step back from the entire industry as a whole. For several years now I’ve been looking ahead, in what I do best as a visionary to ensure that people are making the right investments in their futures, that the right areas of focus are getting the attention they need so when the next wave comes along (whether pushed by me, or pulled by me), that wave WILL hit and its success will hinge upon our ability as an industry and as a community to adopt and support it. But my vision has been clouded (no pun intended :)). Clouded by various fits and starts in the industry, changes in direction, in trends. We’ve had multiple changes in a very short period of time, but also really no sheer leaps of innovation, of direction of the future, primarily speculation by analysts and short-term visionaries.

It is for that very reason I am entirely taking a step back.    Stepping out of and away from the business a moment, taking a step away from everything and looking at everything as a whole.   I need to get my visionary game back, so I can look ahead the 5, 10, 20 years and beyond and start to direct my focus and attention on what WILL be that next major change.    I heavily focus on the Macro and the Micro respectively and I’m taking several months off and away from pure-play business to clear my head and see what the future unveils.   Albeit, this won’t impact industry obligations I’ve already planned for, Presentations, Books, Live meetings, and so forth.   It is you the customers, the community, the industry which helps unveil that future through conversation and discussion, thus I’m not going to hole myself up to predict the future based upon my own crazy assumptions!

Building a Phoenix on the ashes of industry; new directions

So as I take this step back I am no longer bound by the constraints of a particular business, industry or emphasis area.   My subject matter expertise which many of you have grown quite familiar with are all on the table as I look ahead and look forward to where I want to invest my time, passion and employment.    Something you may not know about me is that I passionately *love* work.   Some people get stressed out by work, whereas I get stressed out by NOT working.    Some of you who have caught wind of my Sabbatical are already lining up interviews with your respective businesses and organizations and I respect and appreciate that.    Looking ahead past these next few months as I finalize my industry analysis I want to ensure that the next door is already open and waiting on what and where I’ll be investing my pure-play passion which you’re all QUITE familiar with.    I’ve always been one for very well defined and clear roadmaps, objectives and plans.     After spending years as an Individual Contributor, Researcher, Analyst, Consultant, Principal Architect, Engineer, Pre-Sales Sales Engineer, Advisor, Manager and and Global Leader of a prospering business my next direction is ready to be pursued.

At this point in my career, growth and capabilities my future calls for me in a Senior Director or Vice President role within an organization whom will embrace the sheer impact I make and bring to a business.   I love and adore EMC and will be looking in tandem for an opportunity which will be fitting within our fine organization to stake my next claim of Global impact influencing the industry as a whole.    Thus this open declaration is free-game for all businesses, all industries, all focus areas and more.    My skills, leadership and evangelist thrive will shift, shake and cause that next ripple which will turn into a raucous wave to set this industry off in directions many cannot even begin to perceive yet.    But where I dedicate and focus that time and attention; Well, only time will tell.    …. And yes, those of you who have been waiting for me to be free, to jump all over me and recruit me; Yes I’ll take your calls. :)

This industry is ready for an upset the likes of which we haven’t seen in a decade

So you big tech incubators out there or you smaller startups who have that next generation game changer; I’ll be looking at you.   Not only for my future and how we’re going to change this industry and hard; but also how we’re going to create that next generation major impact of tidal proportions.   A lot of people like to look at technology in terms of environmental factors, comparing the next big thing to come as a ‘wave’, well, here’s what I’ll tell you.

The next technology to make an impact will be another moon causing a tidal disruption

Welcome to the big time boys and girls.    Welcome to the big time.   The question is; which side of that tide do you want me on? :)

Those interested in being a part of the consideration process don’t hesitate to hit me up via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Phone, Txt, oh and Email! ;)

Look forward to an update on where I call home post sabbatical at the kick off to the New Year – 2013.

Wow. VMworld is a Week away! 7 whole days! (Unless you count events on Sunday then 6, or when I get there on Saturday, then 5!)

But what does this mean?! Are you ready? Are you prepared? Have you gone back in time and read my Previous Posts on the subject in how to prepare?!

Disclaimer: Be SURE to go back and read at least the VMworld Tips/Tricks post as I’m referring and citing data from there, but not replicating it

• VMworld Tips, Tricks and Prize winning #vmworld
• Recruiting Virtual Talent: Tips and Tricks to hire and get hired at #VMworld

I know some of you felt all of the content wasn’t entirely relevant to San Francisco compared to that of Las Vegas, so here goes … the Definitive Guide to Prepare for VMworld 2012 in San Francisco! I’ll try to cover everything which is important… Transportation, The Food, The Parties, the Crazies.  Yea. All of it.

Packing

It’s a whole week away, who’s thinking about packing now? (I know @StorageMistress is already packed!) and likely so should you begin planning for this!

Must Have Items to Pack and Consider:

• Comfortable Shoes:   I cannot stress this enough (I feel like I’ve said it before, and I have, and I’ll say it again, Oh and again.) BRING COMFORTABLE SHOES!.  Whether you’re sticking ENTIRELY to the show floor or you walk outside anywhere (a lot of the events are OFF-Site at times) you’ll find yourself walking.   Not only walking streets, but hills and environments the likes of which Cable Cars were designed for! So bring your comfortable shoes; You can thank me later!
• Bring Business Cards: I know who you are, I met you, you’re the guy who has a QR code! You’re all SCAN MY QR CODE TO GUARANTEE WE’LL NEVER TALK EVVVEEEEEEEERRRRRR!!!! It’s true, it’s serious. People don’t exchange QR codes and remember each other.  You don’t enter that random contest to win an iPad or a Nexus 7 by giving them your QR code in a bowl.   You exchange Business Cards. Deal with it. Oh and PACK SOME BUSINESS CARDS!
• Laptop:   If you don’t need your laptop because you’re not going to be working while at the show, leave it at home.   If you bring your laptop because you need to work (like me) and you want to accomplish anything of relevance, LEAVE IT IN YOUR ROOM.  The last thing you need to do is worry about where your laptop is, especially because once you bring it, you will NEVER take it out of it’s case when you hit the show floor, less than 3% of people do. (Exceptions: Blogger, Analyst and other folks who specifically are demoing and using the laptop at set intervals) Save yourself grief though and leave it in the Hotel room, or leave it at home.
• Clothing:    If you’re a suit guy, bring suits.  If you’re a T-shirt and Jeans guy, bring that.   This is a conference like any conference so you’ll likely end up with random T-Shirts, random this and that’s.  (Oh if you’re job hunting here… Dress above your station, Seriously, no SERIOUSLY DO IT. ;))    Pack appropriately don’t over-pack, per se, but be sure to pack adequately.   If you can survive with Carry-On only (My Preferred way to live) you will WIN!   If you find yourself needing to buy things once you hit the ground it’s not a major problem, but consider San Francisco’s Sales Tax is 9.5%….
• Cell Phone:   I added this at the last minute.   If you find your ATT Phone doesn’t work to save your life for Data. I heartily welcome to you San Francisco.   … Mobile will be a challenge in every case, if it’s improved you are a lucky beast! If it doesn’t work, just operate on that expectation!

Transportation

Whether this is your first VMworld, or your 50th VMworld; your First time in San Francisco, or you’re an old school native… Transportation is an IMPORTANT one to address.   – All of these rules apply especially going TO or FROM the Airport, so find some buddies and group up!

Options:

• Taking BART:   A lot of you say “Yea, I’m gonna take BART and I’ll be all good”   Don’t get me wrong. BART is a great idea.  If you have time to burn, I highly encourage it.    Whoa, Whoa, hold on a minute, are you openly bashing public transportation?   Yea, kind of, but not exactly.    Allow me to explain :)
  • If you are within 1 Mile of Moscone staying at the JW Marriott, Renaissance, Marriott Marquis, Serrano, Inter-Continental and so forth?  WALK. ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER.    Yea, You should be walking, it’s not a difficult task.   If you have a lot of stuff to carry, or there’s a bunch of you staying a mile away and you’re lazy (What?! Lazy people in IT? WHERE?!) Then hop in a cab, it’s semi-efficient.   But otherwise, WALK.    But wait, what about hotels farther away?!
  • If you like a lot of very sad folks are staying at the SFO Marriott (~15 miles away) Get a car and car-pool, it’ll be cheaper.    Consider the following calculation.    Taking BART from the SFO Marriott only costs $5 One-Way! However it entails a 60 minute one-way trip, including walking 1.5 Miles all-in.    If I’m in San Francisco on my own dime and I have time to burn this is a great idea.   However, I like you are here for a fixed amount of time, and the burden taking public transportation losing a minimum of 2hrs a day in transport with walking 3 miles a day guaranteed is no way to spend your extremely valuable time.
• Renting a Car:  WTF? WHO RENTS A CAR IN SAN FRANCISCO!??! No one.  Unless you’re staying at the SFO Marriott, and I suggest ONE of you rents for every 4-5 people you have in a group or party. (Or find some friends! :))  FYI, the time/distance by car is ~30 minutes.   Which means you lose an hour of your day traveling, but at least it is on YOUR terms.   There is no “Last car of the day” and Parking in/around Moscone seems fairly reasonable
• Taking a Taxi (~1-2M):   If you’re within ~1-2 miles of Moscone, sure, take a taxi if it’s fitting… Sometimes we all have deadlines we need to support, I respect and understand that!
• Taking a Taxi (~15M):    If you’re staying at the SFO Marriott for example and you take a Taxi, That is a $45 one way trip.  If you have that kind of money to burn, I have a bridge to sell you (and potentially some licensing… HAH!) But seriously, That CAN work out if you load that car up with 4-5 of you and group together, but do not do it solo.

Taking a Shuttle:

Many of you may not have known about this, it seems to have been a hidden fact for some so I wanted to ensure the details are documented here for you!

The secret fact:

• Here are the hotels which will HAVE shuttle Service (According to VMworld Registration Support Team)
• Hilton San Fran Union Sq; Hotel Adagio; Milano; Monaco; Nikko; Palomar; Triton; Hyatt at Fishermans Wharf; Hyatt Regency; Intercontinental Mark Hopkins; Intercon San Fran; JW Marriott; Marriott Union Sq; Omni; Palace; Parc 55; Prescott; Ritz Carlton; San Fran Downtown Courtyard by Marriott; Mariott Marquis; Serrano; Sir Francis Drake; St Regis; Stanford Court; Westin San Fran Market St; Westin St Francis; Villa Florence; W San Fran;
• Interesting facts I’d like to note:
  • This list is in Alphabetical Order for your convenience
  • This list DOES NOT INCLUDE SFO/AIRPORT HOTELS
  • This list does include the W. (Have you ever seen the W? It’s ACROSS THE STREET FROM MOSCONE) 
  • Take this list with a grain of salt.   I’ve heard conflicting opinions that there aren’t shuttles and yet I got this list… so find a good transport plan, commit and roll with it.

  Transportation
  VMworld shuttles between the airport and hotels are not provided. Conference shuttle service will be provided at select VMworld 2012 official hotels to Moscone West.  Service offered every 20 minutes during the following AM and PM Peak hours of the conference:

Shuttle Drop Off: Moscone West Convention Center
Shuttle Pick Up: Information on shuttle routes and pick up locations can be found at select VMworld 2012 hotels and at the designated drop off location at Moscone West.

Networking and Sessions and Labs

No, this section is not about Nicira or SDN. :)   

For those of you who are veterans to VMworld or if you’ve never seen the inside of a conference session before.   This section applies to you, regardless.

• Networking is KEY.     Chances are if you want to do something, someone there has already done it before and can share their experience.   Some people are sad and lonely and are looking for others to talk to about how they backup their Virtualization environment.   Let’s be honest.  You’re all geeks in one way or another and you have your particular area of focus, of interest, of… whatever.    And there’s bound to be at least a dozen more of you there who share the same interests, so it’s important to FIND each other, Exchange business cards and “buy” each other a drink at some Vendors Party    – Not sure who’s doing what you want, or on and so forth? Find ME. I know all of you and can help ‘matchmake’ you SDN guys with you other neurotic vCloud guys. :)
• OMG I WANT TO ATTEND THESE 3 SESSIONS ALL RUNNING AT THE SAME TIME.
  • You guys know that the sessions are available after the fact in video+PDF format, right? Seriously? You know that right?!?!  Don’t kill yourself to attend a session which is full or 2 1/2 miles from where you are that you forgo eating just to get there on time….
  • I said this last year, and guess what. It still applies.  So don’t kill yourself for the sessions.   If you have to choose between two sessions which are applicable to your business, choose the one more likely to involve ‘interaction’ instead of rote lecture.    Or pick the one with the full-er room :)
  • I list a bunch of other very good reasons on this in VMworld Tips, Tricks and Prize winning #vmworld so go back and read it :)
• LABS LABS LABS!!!    Some of you don’t have access to labs, or nearly the comprehensive set of labs they have here.    Since I’ve found it a challenge to get access to these labs Post-VMworld “Hey, we’re fixing that … yea I’ll believe it when I see it” – I encourage you to spend time going through the labs, learning the material… Camping out in the Lab room and just getting into the material deep! The Lab Proctors are GOOD guys who’ve been in the game a long time and can help you out with more than just your lab (shhh… don’t tell them I told you to do that ;))    So get your LAB ON!

Friendships Forged in Fire and Wine

VMworld is not just about Virtualization, Learning, Sessions, Labs and Networking.   It is about Friendships Forged deep, often over some kind of spirit and intensive conversation.    Battles will be fought, People will transition from Company to Company, Customer to Partner, Partner to Vendor, Vendor to Competitor; but with all said and done.   We are still friends.    And we stick together and get the opportunity to share in each others experiences again.    You are not excluded from this category.    If you walk away from VMworld without having met at least 5 new people, or forged some ridiculous potential life long relationship; You have Failed.  Yea I said it. FAILURE.    If you’re on a distribution list that I created and Managed for this event for internal communication and you don’t take advantage of the mindshare of folks attending in person to get to know each other and do business… You are failing your future, upwards!     So take those moments.   See your friends, Meet and Make New Friends, Think outside of your box and reach outside of your comfort area.    And if you need a push in the right direction, Find me – I’ll nudge you, introduce you and more.

#CXIDinner, Cat Ears, and my Schedule

This has been a question of CONTROVERSY for quite some time OMG IS CXI THROWING HIS FABLED #cxiparty this year.   The official answer is; no.    Why? Because San Francisco is RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE OMG.    And I would never wish that burden upon ANYONE, And I seriously mean ANYONE. NEVER, NOT THAT BURDEN.    You think San Francisco is Expensive, Imagine at SCALE (#CXIParty had >1200 people last year, where the hell do you store that many people in this city?!)    So, no, I will not be throwing an official #CXIParty at that level of scale like seen in Las Vegas last year (You can count on it in Vegas again though ;))

That said though.    Here is what you can count on.    VMworld 2010 in San Francisco gave birth the creation of #CXIDinner – It’s very informal, very comfortable, very much a different kind of event, usually after all is said, done, and settled (starting anywhere from 10PM to 2 or 3AM… really depends on what we’re doing is over)    So you’re more than welcome to find out WHERE the #CXIDinner will be hosted on any given night.    None of them are (officially) Partner sponsored at this time, so you’d be catching your own tab, but we keep it honest, practical, affordable and friendly.    So if you’re a late night guy who is hungry like we all are, I encourage you to monitor twitter for updates on where #CXIDinner will be happening, or my regular @CXI Feed…

FYI: #CXIDinner will be a daily activity occurring at some random variable time – No registration, just show up / notify / txt (630.362.1320), whatever. :)   Hopefully #CXIDinner veterans such as @HPStorageGuy will be there too! :)

Speaking of Cat Ears; Yes I will have *many* of my fabled cat ears, my new Brain Wave controlled cat ears, and even a CUSTOM set of ears I’ll be unveiling early (These will also be my ears to celebrate my birthday coming in September.   – Let’s celebrate my birthday at VMworld… and again in Chicago on September 8th! :))

Some of you may wonder “You keep saying come find you, but WTF how am I supposed to do that!@!@!@”  – Well, here is a copy of my schedule to make that a TAD easier… :)

As you can see I took advantage of the “Personal Time” which most likely involves me being on the Show Floor or diagramming something using random sticks or something somewhere, but either way… you *might* be able to find me in those locations at those times… In theory of course!    As far the “After Hours” goes… I’m playing that by ear.  It’s been awhile since I’ve NOT been organizing or throwing some kind of event so I like the freedom to do whatever the hell I’d like in those circumstances. (Yes I’ll be at the #VMUnderground on Sunday, you don’t have to worry about that! ;))

Oh and I’m bound to head over to Chinatown for Foot and Hand Reflexology at the place which is hands down the best I’ve experienced, even across China and Asia!  So come on down – I’ll also be doing some vegan meals at random points too if you want to experience pure OMG.

But wait, that’s not all!   Last but not least (Yes, as you’ll see this is an area OFTEN left as an after-thought…)

Security and Safety

I promised myself I wouldn’t write something on the Census.. this is after I initially silently complained about the LETTER I received informing me that the Census is coming soon. (Although I did do some pretty extensive searching on the cost of Permit G-58 items, and what the likely cost to us for that single mailing was)

And then I got the actual census, riddled with inaccuracies and insanity – I’m sure if I mail in my Census now.. it’ll be invalid since it speaks about “April 1 2010” as the date I get to choose who ‘lives’ here.   But even that… I simply tweeted and vocally complained.. but I didn’t actually go so far as to write this post.

However, I can remain silent no longer.   … Why you might ask?

I received this in the mail today.

Seriously? Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY FRANCINE?!  WTF IS THIS?!@?

That’s right.   Not only did I receive one piece of post which effectively said “Save the date”, and then I received “the date” and now I’m given… not a tutorial.. not anything which WASN’T disclosed in previous mailings… No.  I’m not even sure WTF this is about and why my tax dollars and TREES, screw the tax dollars, my frakking TREES are going to waste for this utter BS. (Yes, first time I’ve ever used the acronym BS)

I totally get that you need to do this Census.  I’m willing to let it slide that in the year 2010. What’s that? the Year twoooooooo thousand and ten.. you don’t have a DIGITAL option, yet all of your forms you mail are effectively keyed to individual.. but no, I get that.   But do you seriously need to SPAM my frakking home mailbox? Destroy millions of trees? Make me write stupid blog posts?

So what will come next? Can I expect to receive a swimsuit catalog of the Census?   Will there be a “Best of the Census”, or a continuous revisiting of this experience again?   I hope I don’t see YET another mailing to come on this same topic, but we’ll see…

I’m not sure what the cost of this is to the tax payers (hey, that’s me!) but I thought TWO mailings was a bit severe.  Three is downright idiotic.

Though for what it’s worth… I’d love to hear if you agree, or disagree even, especially disagree! 

So, there has been a lot of controversy by people on how do you actually get to vote when trying to vote for people in the RedEye Vibin Bachelor/Bachelorette contests.

Hopefully this little tutorial will give you the basics you need in order to vote! (And if I’m still in this contest at the time you read this, a vote for me ;))

First step is to Find the contest in question – My contest is accessed via this URL  Hello Bachelors! Voting is now open

You’ll see something looking like this: And once you scroll down a little bit, you’ll see this which tells you how to vote, yet obscured by other text on the screen! Leave a vote for your favorite bachelor in the comments…

So, it seems pretty straightforwardish now – I simply need to comment, right?! Well, that requires me to log in via Twitter, Facebook or ChicagoNow!

So, if you want to login via each of the services you’ll get different options

Clicking on Twitter gives you: Enter your credentials and it grants you the ability to comment using Twitter as your auth!

Clicking on Facebook is mostly a wash – comes up fine! but after putting in creds I get FAIL!

Leaving your only other option to be “Create an account”

I’m not opposed to the create an account function (okay, seriously I really am.. At that point, I’d rather you create a twitter acct ;))

So, once you’re finally logged in, scroll down to the “Leave a Comment” box and say something like “I love you christopher!” or whatever ;)

And there you go then! You aren’t the first to hit challenges while trying to vote, and may not be the least! so until then… here are the tools you need to vote!

So get out there, vote early and vote often (Hey, that’s a chicago thing!)  And if you’re looking to vote for me, I appreciate the vote!