Life and Times of being...me.

LAST UPDATE Housekeeping and personal note. Thank you all for making this happen tonight.  This was a FTHS team effort.  While I know that some paid and wanted to attend. We all know that “life happens”.  I am certain that there will be photos and live streams being taken all night.  Those who do, please remember to post in the group for all to see. Did I tell you that it’s a “CASH BAR”? There is an ATM / cash machine HOWEVER…there is a wedding before and during our reunion.  So, I cannot guarantee the machine will not run out of cash.   Best to get some before the reunion. Personal Note The day is here and the hour is almost upon us.  40 years is a long time. Most of us are in our late fifties, and have done some incredibly amazing things in life.  Some are still local.  Some are scattered across our beautiful country and there’s even a classmate that came from Europe to be with us tonight. I would like to ask that during the night, you...

  I don’t normally use this platform to post personal events.   However, yesterday was a proud dad moment that I would like to share. My son, Giovanni, soccer team banquet was last night, and he received this character award from his coaches.   Why am I posting about this?   At 2 years old, Giovanni was diagnosed with PDD or Pervasive Developmental Disorder. This disorder falls under the autism umbrella. His mother and I were devastated to receive this news.   It was a blessing in disguise.   Anyone who knows about this disorder, has learned the art of redirection. To refocus the child when they are distracted, or laser focused on repeating things / habits.   We were very fortunate to get him into an early prevention program at the school district. Giovanni has been main streamed in his classes since kindergarten. To our amazement, in the 6 th grade his neural developmental specialist told us that she didn’t see the need to classify him any furt...

In less than 70 days, I will be 55 years old.   How did I get this old so fast? Where did that time go? What have I done in those 55 years, that got me to this point in life?   Who am I? Am I the same person that I was in this photo?   What about this photo… who is that guy? A close friend, told me that it was 75 days till his 50 th birthday.   Which got me to think about how many days it was till my own birthday.   I have posted about my birthday’s before… my mid 40’s and my 50 th . But this one is different.   It has been weighing on me for a while. Actually since, Thanksgiving I have been thinking about my age and turning 55. Lately I have borne my thought by writing and never really knew I had so much to say till now. People say… oh you’re hitting double nickels, you are now as old as the highway speed limit or when I was 55, we didn’t have a two-dollar bill (that one threw me off for a second, as the $2 bill was introduced in 1862).    B...

I haven't posted in a while, but the last few days had me thinking about the republic and voting.  So, you are now uttering the words to yourself... "NOT another political post…please".  No this isn't about the President or who is running for the Presidency.  It's about a problem. A very simple problem.  The problem is; how we vote in America.   When I went to work for IBM, I learned the history about the company.  If you have never seen this video, I encourage you to watch IBM Centennial 100x100  Video Here  . The video is about 13 minutes long an worth every minute. Now if you don't know any of the company’s history, about three minutes into the video you will learn that IBM in 1936 started the Social Security project, deem the largest accounting project ever.    O K, Dan...what does this have to do with what you wrote above.   Well....in a word... PLENTY .  You see, Mr. Watson had a simple moto to get problems...

As a kid growing up, I was a dreamer.  I would have these dreams of running the auto parts store that my grandparents built and become a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Or getting in to local politics.  Howell Twp. back then was a small town (even though its the largest town in Monmouth County, NJ).  I never dreamed that I would leave Howell.  Sure, I had been to other places, Florida for spring break, NYC and I still remember driving to Florida in my parents van to the Florida Keys with my cousins following us.  Why did I need to leave Howell?  My dreams were not that big.  I just wanted to be married and have a kid or two. I don't remember the exact moment, but there was definitely an epiphany that came to me.  It might have been when I was working at Pep Boys in the mid 80's or when I was working at the Headliner or Stony Pony as a bouncer.  The thought of "is this it?  Is this all that life has in store for me?" ...

For the last 26 years I have been working in IT and I have grown up with the Intel x86 platform.  In fact my first PC was an IBM XT 8086 with two 5 1/4' floppy drives. Starting in 1990 was part of a group of people hired by Fujitsu Systems of America, to help our customer Pepsi, implement a route accounting system.  This system included a hand held computer (HHC), mobile printer and other printing / communication devices.  At the time we didn't know it but we were the pioneers of mobile computing. Fast forward to 18 Monday 2013. Today I start a new chapter in my career. Today is the day that I become an IBM'er.  Yes; that's right IBM. My title will be Senior IT Specialist working in the NJ / NYC area. For those who have known me for years, I have been known as the DEC, COMPAQ and HP guy; as a pre-sales solution architect.  I have held a Master Accredited System Engineer (Master ASE) certification since 2002 in HP Proliant server...

The storm is over...for now. We are slowly getting back to normal.  The second of two storms are over and we were spared in the second storm; we didn't lose the power. Although we have a generator now, the snow storm was not a welcome event given hurricane SANDY was just last Monday the 29th. I would like to take the opportunity to thank my cousin Lori for helping us out last Wednesday.  After the storm passed and the power was out for 3 days, we started to look for generators.  As you could imagine, the entire area was also looking for generators.  My wife and I decided that it was better to start looking out of state and also see if we could get supplies (milk, bread and also gas for the generator).  It seemed hopeless until I thought to call my cousin Lori who lives in Fredricksburg,VA. Well you're thinking now...why wouldn't he find something closer to home than Fredricksbug, VA.  Desperate times called for desperate measures.  And I wan...

Recently I had decided to change my employer, so that I can focus on what I would like to do for the next 20 years (given that I'm 46 now, I think 66 would be a good time to slow down...but who knows how fast things will be moving in 2032?). The Information Technology (or IT) world has provided me with an ample number of friends who I keep in touch with via Linked In. If you are not part of Linked In, I would recommend that you get a free account and try it.  I have found it very useful in keeping up with my work friends and people in the industry that I like to follow.  While most would say use Twitter to really follow someone, its hard to keep up with a twitter feed that everyone comments on (especially when that person has a large following).  By the way I do use twitter and can be found at  https://twitter.com/DLibonati  or @dlibonati .  During my employment search, I had taken the advice of an article I read from the CEO of the The Ladd...

Why is it that people in the service industry cannot seem to do there jobs or put any effort into doing things the right way?   Growing up a worked the counter at my grandparents auto parts store.  My grandparents and uncle were very instrumental in grooming my people skills.  And it wasn't easy for me, them or the customers I waited on, but I learned a great deal about interacting with the general public. I started that job ...no wait ... that course in my life very early...I was about 10 when I started waiting on customers.  Yes... 10 years old...( i hear the words child labor laws come out of your mouth...it wasn't like a was working a 40 hour work week...more like 35 hours). The store was a parts and repair facility, so I would work the parts counter and I would occasionally write up a service ticket. All the while I was learning how to speak to and deal with the general public.  I was also learning how to "do the right thing" and / or to "do the job t...

So today I start blogging on this site.  There are a few things that you should know when you are reading my blog.  I will be passionate when writing about topics.  I will not be speaking on behalf of my employer.  Any technical comments made here will be strictly my opinion (and will not be a bashing of a technology or any one company).  There may be some posts that are rants...for those I will apologize in advance; I sometimes wear my heart on my sleeve, while it doesn't make me a bad person, some of you just might not understand it. Today is Giovanni's first day back to school.  Myself and the wife watched him interact with his friends at the bus stop and get on the bus (with the 13 other kids at our bus stop).  The kids from our stop filled half the bus.  Giovanni was really excited to get back to school.  I hope that attitude lasts though college. On the career front, things look good.  I have several prospects ...