ColinAke.com…until I write a book.

Well we finally know what it takes to stop Tiger Woods.  A torn ACL isn’t enough.  That happened while jogging last July.  He went on a run after that with seven straight victories.

This year he won 5/7 tournaments he played in, including coming in 2nd in the Masters.  On a torn ACL.

And it isn’t two stress fractures, which happened three weeks ago.  After the doctor told Tiger he needed three weeks on crutches followed by three weeks of inactivity, Tiger’s swing coach Hank Hanley relates:

“Tiger looked at the doctor and said, ‘I’m playing in the U.S. Open, and I’m going to win.’ And then he started putting on his shoes. He looked at me and said, ‘Come on, Hank. We’ll just putt today.’”

Then he played 91 holes of walking golf at Torrey Pines.  And won very dramatically - it was a great tournament, for those of you who missed it.  Here’s the scary part - he’s out for the rest of the season getting the torn ligament repaired and recovering from the surgery - but Hanley says “He’s been playing way less than 100 percent for a long, long, time. It has limited him a lot in practice. He’s going to come back better than he’s ever been.”

If I were a tour player, I’d be scared.  I’m looking forward to Tiger coming back better than ever and seeing how good he can actually be.

We’ve been looking at SugarCRM as an open source CRM solution to customize.  The more I dig into Sugar, the less impressed I am.

There are a few elements that could be viewed as crucial for a large organization’s adoption of a CRM.  These three key things I need to implement a CRM properly

• Team Functionality - Allows me to group users by team or group.
• Workflow - Automatically assigns tasks to users upon certain events (I’d use this to manage leads)
• Outlook Integration - Links contacts, emails, and calendars from Outlook to Sugar.

The problem with Sugar is they’ve got an Open Source version of their software, but none of these features are there.  If we want these features, we have to pay $275 per year.  Per user.

Now, when we’re a 1200 person organization that will eventually require people to use this to manage their potential opportunities, that gets prohibitively expensive.  If we wanted everyone to be able to log in, that’d be $330,000.  Every year.  Even if you wanted only 100 people to have access, that’s $27,500/year.

So I’m looking into vTiger - a true open source “fork” of the SugarCRM software.  It has all three functions built into it, completely open source.  There are a couple hangups, but I’m less and less impressed with Sugar right now.

Open source shouldn’t mean “We took out all the really useful features and would love to charge you for those.”  That’s not true to the purpose of open source.  And that’s why vTiger made the split.

Til next time,

Coin

I may be the only one who gets these, but after you go to a movie (Kung Fu Panda, which is funny) and eat movie popcorn, do you ever just wake up feeling crappy the next day?

I don’t know what it is - maybe it’s the butter that makes it taste so magical on the way down, or maybe it’s the massive amounts of carbs one intakes when eating the delicious crappiness, but I feel pretty disgusting right now. Drinking a bunch of water should help, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.

On the other hand, Kung Fu Panda was funny. Hearing Jack Black as a panda is a bit of Tenacious D in PG form - funny but actually bearable to listen to.

Go watch it if you like Jack Black. It’s enjoyable and not just the same animated recycled movie that comes out every other month. I’m off to drink water out of my pessimist’s mug and try to escape this dumb popcorn hangover.

There are no good wireless companies, no, not one.

I needed more than the minimum 450 minutes this past spring while running around crazily planning two trips for 20+ people, one being overseas, the other to Carnegie Hall. That said, I kept my rate plan at the 900 minute level to build some rollover up before switching back down to 450 minutes.

Then I went to switch back to 450 minutes, and they shot me back to the stone age. Apparently when you switch down in minutes you can only take as many rollover minutes as you have anytime minutes. So I got taken from 1500 to 450. Wasted my money, you stinky dumb decision makers. At least make it twice the anytime minutes, so I’d have kept 450.

Now, there are some who say Verizon is so much better, but I don’t think they really are. There are just as many pissed off Verizon customers as there are AT&T customers. And, why would I switch if my family and girlfriend are on AT&T? Well, and the iPhone, of course.

And I want an iPhone. I’ll stick with AT&T.

But why must all wireless companies shaft their users so?

Really, how could I not want one?

Cheaper, faster, real GPS, thinner, and without a doubt better than my Samsung CrapJack (I’m on my third CrapJack in around a year, by the way). For $200 I can own a shiny, extraordinarily usable device made by the ultimate company - Apple

Let’s take a look at it.

*drool*

I think I’d use it mostly for the email, internet access, and calendar/organizer features (can’t wait to have it all linked into my Google calendar). Then again, text messaging will be nice, as will IM. And the iPod option is just a plus. As if the GPS. And the Camera. And YouTube.

It’s just such a sweet little device. I’ll likely be waiting in line on July 11 when they come out. Anyone coming with?

Colin

Blogging can sometimes seem like a worthless exertion of energy. We spend our time writing and writing, thinking up topics, making sure we’re as well-written as possible, but rarely do we ever get much attention. I want to take a moment to link to the blogs I read regularly to encourage their authors to keep up the good work (or write more, as the case may be).

BravesBlast.com - An Atlanta Braves Blog
I’m one of the main writers here, but the other contributers (Jonathan and Akshay specifically) are good writers and their articles are a joy to read. We also feature articles by other contributers every now and then - all focused around the Braves, our favorite baseball team. -visit-

TimAke.com - Dad’s Blog
Dad’s got six kids (five of them living at home), and he works fulltime for TransUnion as well as helps homeschool some of the younger kids, so his time to write is limited. Let’s encourage Dad to at least link to cool stuff or write more often. -visit-

Zarias.com - Zack Arias’ Blog
Zack is one of the more talented photographers in Atlanta I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. He’s the guru on simple but professional lighting. His blog is peppered with tutorials and examples that make people like me want to try studio photography. Ever since I got to visit his studio after a Strobist meetup last fall, I’ve wanted to play with a cyc wall. And the man loves Newcastle, so I know he’s a good person. -visit-

JonathanTorrell.com - Jonathan’s Blog
Jonathan and I work together on the aforementioned BravesBlast.com. He needs to get back to updating regularly though. Great guy, good writer, and a photographer as a bonus. -visit-

BravesBlog.net - JBinATL’s Home Blog
JB is a good guy - fun to hang out with and a solid writer. He follows the Braves as well and actually knows a lot of the same people I do. He’s also going to buy an iPhone with me on July 11. -visit-

StephenAke.com - My Brother Stephen’s Blog
Stephen posts stuff about life and what’s going on with him - but he doesn’t post enough (noticing a common theme here?). Post more, Stephen. -visit-

Cooper’s Blog - Cooper Welch’s Blog
My friend Cooper just moved out to California after graduating from Tech. He’s working for a small internet company out there. Cooper is a great guy and a very entertaining writer. I hope he updates his blog a bit. -visit-

Strobist - The Budget Lighting Blog
Strobist is a great read for any budding photographer. Get your flashes out and get them off automatic every time. Don’t be afraid of it. Strobist walks you through the details of getting off-camera flash going and gets you over the “I’m scared of manual settings” hump. -visit-

Drop by some of these sites - give em a read if you like and give them some comment love if you enjoy what’s going on. And if you blog, let me challenge you to take some time and encourage the blogs you visit by linking to them. Let them know you read them and encourage their writers that their thoughts are not unheard.

I upgraded WordPress just recently. Playing with some new schemes, a Twitter plugin on the right side bar, and more frequent postings. I really don’t know if anyone reads this anymore - I haven’t posted regularly enough for it to be on anyone’s blogroll. But we’ll see if we can change that.

Besides the Twitter widget on the right hand side, I’ve installed a Twitter Firefox plugin that allows me to post straight from my Address Bar. Social networking stuff like that has always interested me. I want to see how it works over time.

I’ll try and post more here for a bit. Let me know if you’re reading - it encourages the writing to continue. :)

Colin

I wasn’t planning on working this summer.  I was planning on taking classes this summer and fall and then graduating in December.  But that didn’t work out - turns out Georgia Tech doesn’t offer the management classes I need to take this summer.  So I’m working this summer, doing school in the fall and spring, then graduating in May.  It’ll work out.

I started looking for a job, and sent out resumes to some friends.  But with just a couple weeks left in the semester (and a trip to NYC, finals, and a trip to the UK) coming up, I had limited time to look around.  Fortunately, my friend Josh Davis, who works at the Georgia Tech Research Institute as a research scientist, passed on my resume with a recommendation.  I got the job and now I’m working there as a co-op for the summer.

My job is to help implement SugarCRM, an open source customer relationship management software system, to help improve the efficiency of business development across the organization.  I’m really enjoying it so far - it’s my first job where I have an end goal and have to find my way there.  Definitely a change from a task-oriented job.  There’s a lot more freedom to learn and think and come up with some good solutions.  I’m really enjoying the change.

Also my first job with my own office.  Ordered a poster for the wall and brought in my mini fridge.  Stocked it with water and Mountain Dew and we’re good to go.  More updates as we go throughout the summer.  I’m really looking forward to it.

You may have heard of Twitter - if you haven’t, check it out.  I think it’s pretty cool.  About to figure out if there are enough people using it for it to become an effective means of communication.

Check out My Twitter - follow along with what’s going on with me.  And get one yourself.  I always need to follow my friends.

What’s everyone up to?  Does ANYONE read this thing?