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This is why Cisco is leading the IT industry.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/28/08 at 12:06:55 amA subject that I can talk about from personal experience is the importance of including Cisco based training into your education if you’re considering a profession in the IT field. Over the years Cisco Systems has radically expanded its certification lineup, they have training for everything from basic networking fundamentals to creating an enterprise-class VoIP infrastructure - and getting certified isn’t nearly as hard as you’d think.
Cisco has become the clear leader in technology training because they are a leading innovator and manufacture of IS equipment. Cisco can give IT professionals the skills needed to perform their jobs because they created the tools that countless businesses and organizations depend on for networking and communications. In fact, Cisco certification courses are so big that many High-Schools around the country now offer students the opportunity to get certified even before they graduate.
Cisco Systems recently launched a brand new website called The Cisco Learning Network. The website offers in-depth information about the certification courses and it helps people find the right track for the technology careers they’re interested in. This new website is a big improvement over the old Cisco Academy website because it has a whole community aspect that allows students to network with each other and become more involved with the company and its developments which could make the process of getting certified that much easier.
I can honestly say that my Cisco training played a big part in getting the job I have today and I utilize the skills I’ve learned from the CCNA course for my everyday functions with the company. If you have any interest in an IT career and for some reason haven’t looked into Cisco training, I highly recommend checking out the new Cisco certification website.
Somebody’s got a case of the Mondays
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/23/08 at 05:06:15 amI can’t say I haven’t fantasized about doing this, I like how the guy goes absolutely insane.
Typical.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/07/08 at 11:06:17 pmWhy is it that Murphy’s Law , that is if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, applies to almost every situation in life?
This past week I’ve gathered a little collection of checks and I’ve been planning to deposit them all this morning. I’ve been waiting for one more that was slated to arrive in the mail sometime this past week. The check didn’t show, so naturally I head down to my bank, which is half an hour away, and deposit what I have. By the time I get home sure enough the additional check I was expecting was in today’s mail. *sigh*
Charter Cable - Father’s Day in HD Sweepstakes
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 06/05/08 at 12:06:45 pm
I work in the cable industry so I have a good idea of how awesome this prize is that Charter lined up for their Father’s Day in HD Contest. Charter Communications is doing a little essay competition for people that have father’s living in Charter’s service areas. If your dad has Charter Cable or lives within one of the many Charter service areas around the US, this contest could give you a shot at winning the nation’s largest High Definition television and a complete HD & bundle package from Charter Communications FREE for LIFE.
Think about that, free for life, say the average cost of their bundle service was $100 a month (with the HD it could be more) in 20 years alone your talking over $24,000 in free HD cable, telephone and internet service. So that’s the Grand Prize, a few lucky runner-ups will also receive free HD and bundle services for a year, still an awesome price valued at over $1,200 (using my rough calculations).
Interested? To enter in the contest all you have to do is register on the Father’s Day in HD website and write a short essay about why your dad deserves the giant HDTV and cable service from Charter Communications.
Making Money Online: Niche Blogging FTW
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/28/08 at 10:05:12 pmI’m starting to notice the growing number of blogs that are focused around making money online. I’m not just talking about A list bloggers like ShoeMoney and John Chow, it’s like every other blog I visit is trying to give me tips on how to make money, off blogging. Since I joined Entrecard I’ve started exploring other blogs outside of my little ring of interest and I come across countless websites that have just a redunkulous amount of subscribers and most of them barely offer any real content, they just refer people to advertising networks and claim they make X amount of money off of the networks they are referring their readers to.
Every time I read the title on John Chow’s website, which says “I Make Money Online by Telling People How Much Money I Make Online” I get a good laugh, it gets me thinking about the whole ‘Make Money Online’ niche and all of these blogs people are turning into cash cows simply by talking about how to theoretically make money on the internet. Maybe I should start talking about how to make money on the internet…
They claim they are making my future easier.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/18/08 at 10:05:17 pm
I opened a SEP-IRA with ING last year. Since the account was established and I started investing I receive at least 1 letter a week with all sorts of financial information that apparently may or may not relate to the services I actually have with them. I really wouldn’t know as most of the stuff is over my head, it’s to the point where I’m barely glancing at the letters before they are filed away or shredded.
This past week ING has brought the paper wasting to a new level. I received a package in the mail and when I seen it was from ING I could only groan and try not to slam my head into the wall. What could they possibly be sending me now?!
My Variable Annuity Account C Annual Report, of course! I’m glad I received it because if I hadn’t I’d be completely lost. In reality I have no idea what this book is about or why I need it, perhaps it’s my extremely novice experience with investing and retirement plans but I flipped through it and it might as well have been in another language entirely. Sure, this book could be important to some but am I really on the list of people that should find this information useful? Really?
I bought something this weekend.
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 05/04/08 at 08:05:39 amI bought a new car. I’ve been going back and forth in my mind the last few weeks about trading in my van and purchasing a new car and the better half of this past week was dedicated to shopping around and finding out what I really want out of my new vehicle.
I just bought the van like 10 months ago, and it wasn’t that old of an automobile but the miles were getting up there, about 161K when I traded it in on Friday, and the cost of mechanical repairs and keeping body damage and rusting from spreading was really depressing. I wanted something that I can be truly happy with, a car that I’m comfortable in that has a solid warranty to where I don’t have to worry about anything. I wanted something brand new.
Friday I purchased a 2008 Chevy Malibu Classic LS sedan. When I was initially shopping around I didn’t think I’d be looking at purchasing a Malibu of all cars but I literally test drove 6 other vehicles last week before I found what I really wanted. The Malibu is well equipped with the 3.5L V6 that’s rated for 30 MPG highway. The LS package comes with power everything, single disc CD, the GM information center that shows you everything from oil life to tire pressure, leather wrapped shifter & steering wheel with leather accents throughout the car, I absolutely love it.
I’ve had quite a few vehicles in the past but I’ve never purchased anything this new or have spent anything close to this much money. Nor have I ever had a commitment like this before, I mean 6 years is a long time to have a loan for a car. But I swore to myself that my next vehicle would be new, that was my goal and it feels amazing to have accomplished it. The 34,000-Mile Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty means that for at least a year or more I don’t have to worry about anything at all, and with the 100,000-Mile Powertrain and Rust Through/Corrosion Warranties I don’t have to be concerned about major components or weather taking too much of a toll for essentially the entire time I’m paying on the car. That piece of mind alone is almost worth the 18 grand.
I took my new best friend out for a drive yesterday and I snapped a few pictures of her at the car wash, check ‘em out here. Since this car is brand new, don’t be surprised if I try to write my very first automobile review sometime soon 
My official list of 17+ must-see computer geek movies – Part 2
Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 04/24/08 at 07:04:07 pmContinuing from where we left off in Part 1, I’ve got another batch of must-see technology related movies that geeks, gamers, programmers, and nerds will all surely enjoy if they haven’t already.
Swordfish & Firewall
Two more Hollywood movies to make the list are Swordfish and Firewall. Swordfish is about a DEA dummy corporation codenamed SWORDFISH that was shut down in the 80’s who in it’s time had generated $400 million which they apparently let sit around; fifteen years later and the compound interest has put it to $9.5 billion. A covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell headed by Gabriel Shear (John Travolta) wants the money to help finance their vengeance war against international terrorism, but it’s all locked away behind super-encryption. He brings in convicted hacker Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman), who only wants to see his daughter Holly again but can’t afford the legal fees, to slice into the government mainframes and get the money.
Firewall is a typical Harrision Ford kidnapping movie that features him as Jack Stanfield, the chief computer security expert of a large bank in Seattle, Washington. A terrorist named Bill Cox (Paul Bettany) has been spying on Jack for the last year and he knows the family’s daily routines, friends, and personal information. Cox leads a team of mercenaries who break into Jack’s home and take his wife and children hostage. With the lives of his wife and children at stake, Jack is forced to steal $100 million from the bank by electronically transferring the money to an offshore account.
Sneakers
Sneakers is another great caper film from 1992, it’s about this guy Martin Bishop (Robert Redford) who is the leader of a group of experts that specialize in testing security systems. When Bishop is blackmailed by government agents into stealing a top secret “black box”, the team find themselves embroiled in a game of danger and intrigue. After they recover the box, they discover that it has the capability to decode all sorts of encryption systems and the agents who originally hired them didn’t actually work for the government.
The Net
Angela Bennett (played by the beautiful Sandra Bullock) is a young computer software analyst. A fellow analyst from Cathedral Software, Dale, sends her a program on a disk that when run displays a peculiar symbol in the lower-right corner. When clicked in addition to a couple keystrokes the software reveals a bug that gives the user entry point access to government and military computer systems. When Angela discovers the potential in this security flaw her life turns into a nightmare. Her records are erased from existence and she is given a new identity, one with a police record. Throughout the movie Angela struggles to find out why this has happened and who is behind it all.
After The Net there was an unsuccessful TV series by the same name that ran only 22 episodes on the USA network. There was also a direct-to-video sequel called The Net 2.0 released in 2006 that I have yet to see.
The Matrix Trilogy
Ok well, technically this is three movies and I’m not going to bother writing a synopsis for the whole trilogy. Most people are familiar with The Matrix and unlike many I’m personally a fan of all three movies and I recommend them equally. If you consider yourself a Matrix fan make sure you check out The Animatrix. The Animatrix is a collection of nine animated short films that detail the back-story of the “Matrix” universe and the original war between man and machines, which led to the machine’s creation of the artificial reality for humans. The short films fill countless plot holes created in the original trilogy and the artwork alone is truly stunning.
Enemy of the State
Another good Hollywood film that isn’t too farfetched is Enemy of the State. Will Smith stars in this film as Robert Clayton Dean, a lawyer with a wife and family whose happily normal life is turned upside down after bumping into a college buddy at a lingerie shop. Unbeknownst to the Dean, he’s just been burdened with a videotape of a congressman’s assassination. A group of National Security Agents chase him and track his every move by using surveillance from satellites, bugs, and other sophisticated devices, the NSA infiltrates every detail of Dean’s existence. Driven by intense paranoia, Dean enlists the help of a former NSA operative named Brill (Gene Hackman) to stay one step ahead.
Mercury Rising
NSA thrillers must have been a popular theme in 1998 because Mercury Rising is essentially the same movie except instead of a videotape they are after an autistic boy named Simon who has an affinity for puzzles and is able to crack the NSA’s new ‘unbreakable’ encryption. Instead of Will Smith playing a lawyer the movie stars Bruce Willis as Art Jeffries, an undercover FBI agent who protects Simon from the NSA agents trying to terminate him.
Live Free or Die Hard
I bet the last movie you would expect to see on this list is the latest chapter of the Die Hard anthology, but despite Live Free or Die Hard following the typical ‘Die Hard’ storyline it does have a geeky twist. Even if it didn’t who could not like the Die Hard movies right?
12 years after John McClane (Bruce Willis) stops the German terrorists from successfully robbing the Federal Reserve, he’s about to face a new kind of challenge more difficult and personal than ever before. An organization of cyber terrorists led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) is taking control of everything in the United States from public utilities to the stock market. McClane, accompanied by Matthew Farrell (Justin Long), one of the hackers who accidentally assisted the villains in setting up the system, must stop Gabriel from taking over the country completely. In response to McClane’s diligence Gabriel also manages to take McClane’s daughter hostage.
Pirates of Silicon Valley
Last but not least is Pirates of Silicon Valley. I almost didn’t include a synopsis for this movie but it’s actually not bad and the characters did a decent job playing the roles of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. Pirates of Silicon Valley was an unauthorized made-for-television docudrama that’s loosely based on the book Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer by Paul Freiberger. The film documents the rise of the personal computer through the rivalry between Apple Computer and Microsoft.
More?
Johnny Mnemonic, 23, Breach, Tron, Total Recall, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Thirteenth Floor, all great movies you could look into and I’m sure there are plenty of others that I’m missing so feel free to post your own favorites in the comments.
Looking for more must-see computer geek movies? Check out Part 1 of this list.
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