It’s my favorite programming language. That’s my argument. A lot of people don’t have better arguments for their own implementations.

I use Perl for system administration, automating tasks, and as my web programming language of choice. With all the computing power out there, who’s going to argue that Perl is going to perform for most web scripting needs.

Here’s a good article about how perl’s problem isn’t power, it’s popularity. I can’t agree more. So I’m going to stay a perl programmer. Why? Because I just don’t program enough to need anything else… and perl works on every platform you can think of.

This is John Scott Dot Net. Showing of my PERLy whites.

The call of ambition is making my heart itch. I’m getting that craving again for newness and for growing something small into something bigger as my company’s Atlanta branch nears a key milestone that we’ve all been waiting for. The future after the milestone is one that demands perfection and the highest professionalism.

Sometimes an affable and passionate guy like me gets a little lost in stability. I’m so proficient and so willing to sort through and improve chaos and to help build and define things that when the time comes that things are well built and well defined, part of me wants to (and sometimes does) create a little chaos. I lament over this little flaw of creating chaos, probably needlessly. Hopefully, my passion and desire to get things done, my humor, and my approach to challenge is seen as a mostly very positive attribute by everyone, but I know that isn’t always true. I have been told that people of my personality type have to really fight to be perceived as a well oiled managerial or executive prospect for the next level within a larger framework. To use a metaphor, if I hold the key, my key has to fit the lock and turn the tumblers to open the door. Am I cutting my key properly?

On the bright side, new professional frameworks of my own can be created, to which I can own both key and lock. Creating a new framework takes big courage. I told a friend this week that I have a hard time wanting to risk everything for my own ideas to the point of ceasing to refine and focus them for productive use. However, I love getting behind others, helping them refine theirs. I’ve done this inside of and outside of my regular 8-5 grind. I’ve been privileged to work in some great startup companies. I’ve been privileged to know and help out a few entrepreneurs on the side. I love the build phase. I need to learn to appreciate the stable phase of a business, too.

My mind wonders:

What truly makes success? What truly makes a happy life? Perhaps I’m focused too much on the professional facet of life. As a man, I naturally gravitate toward work as my identity. Though if I look through the lens of this blog, I almost never touch the work subject.

So I say to myself: “Self – wait a second. There are several ways to become a huge success.”

We all know people who are a success at places like at church, on a stage, making art, playing sports, making a great family. The list is boundless.

I want it all. I want to be a HUGE success in all areas. One of the hardest things for me is realizing that I have to make choices, and the choices get more difficult over time. Thankfully, they get more rewarding, too.

My biggest challenges are as follows. I need to focus forward. I am always looking back. When I look back, I need to smile, but instead I lament and ruminate in the shadows. Throughout all facets of life, I’ve gotten better and better, week after week, month after month, year after year. The future is bright on all fronts. However, all too often, I scowl. I look back and think about how stupid I was or how much I could have done differently, mostly on small things that are so far gone and certainly unchangeable. Why spend time on it? Everything has turned out very well. Nobody’s perfect. Sweating the small things (and the past) really gets me in trouble and keeps me from enjoying this great life. Even though I’m very generous and thoughtful a lot of the time, I’ve thought to myself that my problem might be self centeredness, not just self-criticism. Perhaps the two go hand in hand. Focusing forward not backward is huge. Just plain focusing is part of it, too.

I leave you with the following parting thoughts.

Happiness is created. Even though it might sound lame, this all I can come up with at the end of a very reflective and busy week to cheer myself on. “Take the happiness you create and run with it, and run hard.” “Enjoy the run and take others with you”.

It’s been a whirlwind of a week. Our condo is under contract. My wife is gone to the beach with her family while I save up vacation time awaiting our first child so that I can be totally in the moment for a week or so when the wonderful time arrives. Personal life couldn’t be a whole lot better except for maybe a little too much alone time. Molly’s family gave her a baby shower at the beach. I wish I could have been there, but I heard all about it!

This week, I’ve made progress on so many different fronts.

In the plight to sell our condo, I’ve completed most of the minor repairs on our punch list that the seller gave us. I’ve let the appraiser in to do the appraisal.

In my extracurricular professional life, I’ve helped out a professional organization with some web server administration. This organization is committed to growing the video gaming industry within the Atlanta community and my company is partnered with them. Thanks to the help of a talented young programmer and friend, we got some key things solved in their web portal. I helped the same friend with some linux systems work in return at his office late tonight. I met with a local entrepreneur who is desperately trying to fund his business and I’ve enjoyed hearing his stories over pints of ale.

At work, I’ve served my customers and vigorously pursued deliverables. All in all, It has been a really fun week. This is one of my last weeks with this much free time. I’ve been a workaholic, spending until 2 in the morning working alongside friends on pet projects and also working the day job. I won’t be able to do this later without some kind of sacrifice on the part of a growing family.

What a week! Time to take a break!

I must admit I’ve been once again addicted to CNN over the past couple of months. What once was a broken habit has now become a habit again. Today, I read the most inspiring story I’ve read in a while.

Check out this hero, Margaret Delfino, a 200 time blood donor. It takes a tremendous amount of commitment to come in and give blood every time you’re eligible for nearly 50 years. But look at it another way. Why not? Once every 8 weeks for an hour isn’t much to ask. Some heed the call and never look back.

I’m just waiting for my August 19th red cell deferral to expire before I start giving platelets again. What are you waiting for?

It’s rhetorical to say that the news of Michael Jackson passing is not the most important news of the day in terms of how it affects us. I heard that on one of my favorite political talk shows this morning. I agree with that assessment, and there’s no doubt the man had issues. But I still couldn’t resist coming into work this morning and spending a few minutes remembering the King of Pop. You just can’t let a legend like Michael Jackson pass on without comment. Commenting is what everyone else in the world is doing, so I figured I’d join them.

The first point I want to make is that I don’t know anyone who wasn’t just wild about Michael Jackson. By wild, when it comes to people my age, I mean breaking into dance or song or trying to imitate the moon walk as soon as a song from the Thriller Album came on. When I was 6 and 7 and probably 8, too (maybe even longer), Michael Jackson was my favorite musical artist. My cousin had an imitation rhinestone glove. A friend at school had an imitation red leather jacket with the diagonal zippers, (as seen in the “Beat It” video). My brother even named a gerbil after him, which ironically, seems appropriate when reflecting on it. None of us could moon walk properly, but oh how we tried! All funny business aside, I literally didn’t know a person who didn’t know the words to at a very minimum, “Beat It” and “Billie Jean”, and probably “Thriller”, too. At the time, maybe every American knew those songs. I bet more people know the lyrics and tune to one of those three songs than the national anthem. I knew the words to every song on the Thriller album, including the cheesy “the girl is mine”. My next door neighbor and good friend also knew most of the words to every song on the “Off the Wall” album. People were wild about Michael Jackson like no other artist. In my lifetime, there has never been a musical artist that has created wildness in more age groups. My grandparents liked Michael Jackson. My parents were almost as wild about him as we were. This phenomenon of cross-generation and cross-cultural wildness about one performer has not occurred again in my lifetime and probably never will again.

The second point I want to make is, there was never and will never be another stage performer of the same intensity as Michael Jackson (at least in Pop music). The only person who even came close is his sister, Janet. Go “YouTubing” today and watch his old performances. Compare him to anyone you like. See if you don’t come to the same conclusion as I have. Michael Jackson had the most brilliantly choreographed shows. He had the most skill in improvising dance. To still be able to sing unbelievably clearly and rhythmically during these routines is a complete amazement to me. Michael Jackson was the total package. He had the moves. He had the voice. He had the style. He was, through and through, a 100% genuine performer of the highest caliber, something you just can’t say about most pop stars.

The third and final point I want to make is that Michael Jackson will be remembered for the bad things but let’s not forget his merits. I don’t even feel the need to repeat the negative points, because you’ll hear enough about those. I’m a firm believer that the end of life, if at all possible, there should be a celebration. I’m celebrating the wildness of his fan base in the 80’s. I’m celebrating the fact that no other artist has ever or will ever capture and exude the same energy. Lastly, I’m celebrating a model performer. Michael Jackson truly is the “King of Pop”. If anyone ever one-ups him, it’ll have to be on a galactic, not just worldly, scale.