Describing my blogger role, Fiercely Independent Guy (FIG)

I've been having a good time at 7x24 Exchange, and many of the people I see are good friends who I chat with and see regularly.  Part of going to a conference is to meet new people, and many times I am introduced as a blogger which many times brings up why I blog and how I make money.  One of my friends was describing what  I do and he made a description that is sticking in my mind.  Dave is a fiercely independent guy.

independent - free from external control and constraint; "an independent mind"; "a series of independent judgments"; "fiercely independent individualism"

I just ran into one of the new guys who I met at 7x24 before he headed out the door.  We chatted a bit, and he brought in up again.  "You are the FIG, fiercely independent guy."

This could be a fun title to put on a business card. FIG-Fiercely, Independent, Guy

Being a Blogger is not what it used to be (humor)

I saw this cartoon and my kids are not old enough to make this point, but I also don't tell my kids friends I am a blogger. 

I didn't want to be a blogger, but now I can't stop. 

The best thing about blogging is I get media status.  The downside of being a blogger is people think I am media. 

A huge part of my career was in publishing technology - fonts, print drivers, color, and apps (PageMaker, QuarkExpress, Photoshop).  I used to take regular trips to Altsys, Macromedia, Adobe, and Quark to discuss publishing technology.  I guess after all that time being a technical geek, I got the itch to publish and communicate.

Every once in a while I get asked for speaker engagements, but quite frankly I don't think it is worth the time to speak at conferences given I can blog on topics.  I've had the scary task of keynoting in front of 5,000 people at a Microsoft Windows Hardware conference, and I've spent plenty of time preparing keynotes for executives like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.

For all the effort though to prepare presentations, I would rather write a dozen blog entries or more in the same amount of time it takes to prepare a presentation.  Thanks to this blog, I reach a targeted audience world-wide, and I know they want to read the topics vs. people are looking to kill time at a conference by sitting in my presentation.  There may be dozen or two people who enjoy my presentation, but an average blog entry is read by at least 500 people.

One thing I know is my kids like it when I stay home and blog versus getting on a plane to go to a conference.

Maybe that's what keeps me blogging so much.  Knowing if I write up ideas as a blogger, I don't have to get on a plane to present the idea.  I can tell my kids friends, "I am a blogger and get to work from home."

4 years of writing on the Green Data Center Topic

I went up to Google Trends to search the "green data center" topic.

The Green Data Center topic has ridden the wave of overall data center coverage by the media.

In 2006 is when I started researching the green data center topic, then in Oct 2007 is when I published an article in Microsoft's TechNet magazine on green data centers.

Building a Green Datacenter

TechNetArchive

17 Sep 2007 5:05 PM

The upcoming October 2007 issue of TechNet Magazinebegins what we hope will be an ongoing dialog on the topic of Green Computing. This is an exciting topic for us, given not only how much there is to cover, but how much potential this topic holds - to improve IT, save a great deal of money, and have a really substantial and lasting impact on the environment.

Dave Ohara kicks off the conversation in his article "Build a Green Datacenter". In it, Dave discusses the concepts that define the topic of Green computing, and also gives some specific, practical advice on how you can get started.

A few months later another Microsoft friend Bob Visse encouraged me to blog on the green data center topic.  I worked with Bob on Windows 2000 when one of the duties I had was program manager for Windows 2000's power management features.  Back in 1999, I was talking to OEMs about power savings, and I was crazy enough then to try and have conversations with the Server OEMs who thought I was being silly to discuss power management features in servers.

Twelve years later, performance per watt is top issue for servers with Intel Atom and ARM servers challenging the established players.

I am in the early stages of researching some other data center ideas.  It will be interesting to see where the data center industry will be in 4 years.

Thanks for continuing to visit this blog.

-Dave Ohara

Can't make it to Google Zurich event on May 24, extremely busy and distracted moving into new house

Unfortunately, my long house construction project is conflicting with the date with for the Google Zurich Energy Efficiency summit, and we are in the midst of moving in.  I just couldn't spare the time as my family needs me to do things around the house.  I'll try to blog about the Google event remotely as the Google team shares information from their event.

Many of my data center friends ask about  how my house project is going, I'll share an update.  The move was not far as we move from our Beach House which is 200 steps below our house where we have lived for the past 20 months.

10 years ago, I wanted to build my staycation space, and this month in Aug '08 Sunset Print Magazine our "Backyard Beach House" is featured. The article is not online yet, but here are some images from the article.

Here are some pictures of the house rebuild we did.  Local friends from APC, Microsoft, and Lee Tech have able to drop by, but we have made a lot of progress in the last 2 months.

Here is the front of the house.

A garage bay long enough for a boat trailer with tankless water heaters to the left.

The front door entry.

With a kids organizing area.  Above right you can see the Mitsubishi heat pumps that are scattered around the house for heating.  There are 14 separate units the house to heat/cool specific rooms.

From the open attic you overlook the entry.

When you come down the stairs to the main living area you pass the study and enter the kitchen. Note the ladder in the picture below is a 10 foot ladder.  The ceilings are 12 1/2 feet tall.

Here is a current picture of the 4 french doors to the deck.

And the before picture we used for our Xmas Card.

Looking from the French doors is the entertainment area.

And my Woodstone Pizza oven with handy pizza tools.

From the pizza oven, there is great view of the Lake Sammamish.

Next to the pizza oven is the pantry which we call the "bunker."

Why the bunker?  The room is 12 x 12 x 12 surrounded by concrete and sheer walls.

I have lots of work to do in the wiring closet.  POE intercom, Security Camera PVR, Slingbox configuration, Cable TV, Wireless, VOIP.  I am so glad I have an APC J35 backup solution.

My kid's rooms are in the best shape as they were done a month ago.

Give us another couple of weeks and the master bedroom will get there too.

Which brings me to ultimately one of the reasons why I decided not to go to Zurich.  When I told my kids I might not go to Europe, they both cheered that I wouldn't be gone for another week.  If I am lucky, I'll not get on a plane for a month.

But starting June 12, I'll be at 7x24Exchange in Orlando, then GigaOm Structure, and Data Center Dynamics in less than 2 weeks of travel.

Data Center Thought Leadership, gathering a dozen people in a private room for good wine and food

Data Center events like Uptime are great to connect with people in the industry, but rarely can you dive into difficult topics in hallway conversations.  People are constantly being interrupted by vendors who are looking to exchange business cards and sell their wares.  It is actually quite funny sometimes when a vendor will start talking to an executive and not know who they are talking to.   "you work for company X (top 5 data center operator WW), what do you do." DC executive responds,  "I work on data center construction (yeh, he runs the whole god damn team)."  Vendor, "oh, here is my card, we do blah, blah, blah."

Recognizing some of the top data center thought leadership was coming into town, some friends and I have spent the last month organizing a data center social to allow a dozen people to spend hours sharing stories, looking for where there is a common ground, and all without vendors.

Who was there? Sorry, no specific names, but trust me any vendor would have dreamed to be in the room.  A couple of the people there are keynote speakers. A good amount have VP titles or should.  The people run tens of thousands of servers for web critical infrastructure.  Many people had worked for each other at previous companies which helps create the glue between the group.  One person who would qualify and be invited is the late Olivier Sanche who we all knew and miss.  At least half the room has had lengthy passionate data center discussions with Olivier and would welcome his presence.  Also, he would have helped us drink the bottles of fine wine served that evening.

What was discussed?  Much of the topics revolved around the reality vs. the myths.  How difficult it was to get the data center industry to move. What are really the issues and how misguided decisions are like bad investments that waste resources.  Many of the conversations revolved around people, not technology.

One of the guys gave me a hard time and said Dave how come you aren't taking pictures this is an awesome crowd of people we have in the room.  It would be great to have some pictures showing the old team back together.  I talked to the friend later, and told him I've learned that taking pictures doesn't help future discussions as what gets discussed in the room, stays in the room.

This was our first data center social in this format and we are working on the next one for 7x24 Exchange in Orlando.    If you see a room of 12 people in a private and you want to exchange a business card, sorry you can't get in, we're too busy, having some good laughs, telling great stories, and enjoying a good glass of wine.  Discussing what the future of data centers should be like.

Many times what is promoted as thought leadership is who has the biggest market budget to sponsor an event and present a keynote.  I think thought leadership comes from people who have the chance to exchange ideas that challenge the norm and break the rules.  Like a Chaos Monkey.  FYI, there were no Donkeys at our event.  (see this post for explanation of Chaos Monkey and Donkeys.)

Eeyore is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy,depressed,anhedonic