Here’s an update on traffic statistics for mt.net. Seems you nine readers have been very busy! The month of January was the busiest ever at mt.net, with 23,000 hits and 134 visits. This is compared to March of last year, when there were 7600 hits and 29 visits. It looks like mt.net has reached some kind of tipping point.

February is shaping up to be an even busier month. We’re three days into February, and there have already been 75 visits and 1335 hits. The difference is the RSS feeds. Many folks are grabbing the XML feed now, which counts as one hit rather than the gaggle of images on this page.

Thanks to those nine readers who helped make it happen. You guys rule!

I ran across this advertisement for Pentanium cable spools and had to post a link. These are the cable spools you see unspooling the nations cable and fiber lines. While that’s amazing in itself, what is really amazing is their resistance to heat and explosions.

Incredible!

We got back last night after spending halftime at the Super Bowl party of my friends Scott and Dawn. We all had a great time, though the NFL doesn’t excite me. Even when its the home team. My biggest complaint has been that too many games are decided by a field goal. While I was thinking of a dullsville 9-6 score, the game last night was the preferred way to win by a field goal: score lots of touchdowns beforehand.

Hallie had a great time, though, interacting with her cousin Hadley and friend Emma. It was fun just watching the kids.

Today I’m off to Jackson, MS for a business trip. Hopefully it will be the last one for a while. I am going to put the kibosh on all this being on the road.
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I spent the morning working with my brother Jeff to get his neighbor’s living room wired for surround sound. Then it was home for a quick nap before cleaning all the useless junk out of my garage.

I’m turning in early tonight for a well-deserved good night’s sleep.

Also, I’m headed to Mississippi for the first half of next week on a business trip. Yay. What was that part about ‘never having to travel’ that was mentioned during my interview?

Man, what I wouldn’t do to have my guitar right now. All this snow’s got me dreaming of being “someplace other than here,” as the Jimmy Buffett song goes. I’m having the hardest time stopping myself from belting out a song right here at my desk.

I thought I found a fantastic way to keep American jobs from migrating overseas. Colorado legislators are pushing a state bill mandating that companies sending jobs overseas will lose their state contracts. It’s only fair that companies that make their money off taxpayer-supported government contracts not ship jobs to other countries, right? Is it fine for government to place stipulations on its contracts? After all, nothing compels you to accept the contract: its your choice.

I blew a gasket when the Reagan Administration forced states to lower their speed limit or lose federal highway funds. I suppose in that case I saw it as a matter of the federal government meddling in affairs of the states. It’s different when its government-to-contractor, isn’t it? Or is it?

What about government contracts that require drug testing? I am firmly opposed to drug testing, except in positions where the safety of the public could be at risk. What one does on one’s own time is no one else’s business. Yet, drug testing has become an ugly reality at many large companies because of government contracts which require drug testing of its contractors.

I’m thinking out loud (out blog?) here. So let me toss this out to the Peanut Gallery: is there a conflict between these two examples of contract stipulations? Is prohibiting companies that “offshore” from government contracts a good thing, or is it another example of government social-engineering?

I’ve been drawn into making travel plans for next week. I’ve been traveling way too much lately. And the last-minute travel thing is twice as bad.

Part of my planning is choosing a hotel, of course. One thing I insist upon is some sort of Internet access. That’s why I was glad I remembered a press release from this week announcing Best Western hotels will offer free Internet access chainwide.

Good to see Best Western taking note of its traveler’s needs and making it happen. I’ll look for them when I make my future travel plans (which, hopefully, will be few and far between).

My buddy Scott Greenough has a birthday today. For the past week, we shared the same age. Not anymore. Scotty leads the way once again!

Surf on over to his site and drop him a congratulatory note! Or maybe condolences.

Few of the nine mt.net readers realize that some of the most popular search engine terms leading to this site have to do with the Asterisk PBX software. The top one, of course, is “Clay Aiken naked.” Heh. Just kidding. I just mentioned that to bait the search engines.

Yes, I know I’ve blabbered on about Asterisk, but believe it or not some people seem to be listening. There’s a lot of interest in this software, and rightfully so. It squeezes the power of a $100k proprietary PBX system into a $500 desktop PC.

Asterisk is great software, but it suffers from poor-to-nonexistent documentation. Though the software is stable and mature, working with Asterisk still requires a hard hat. I am going to change that. I am going to write a book about Asterisk and how to use it.

You see, the way I figure it there can be two outcomes to this project. Outcome One has the book becoming a fabulous success, providing me the income needed to keep my yacht moored nicely in some tax-free Carribean harbor. I go on to fame and fortune, culminating in taking over the helm of The Tonight Show, of course.

Outcome Two has the book becoming liner for catboxes everywhere. I waste months of work, suffer a bad case of carpel-tunnel syndrome, and have a better chance of winning the lottery (or becoming host of The Tonight Show) than I do of ever making a penny on the book.

Even if Outcome Two wins, I’ve gained a lot. For instance, I will have become an expert on Asterisk. Perhaps even gaining the hallowed title of recognized expert. I could raise the profile of an amazing project. I could raise my own profile, perhaps gaining consulting and becoming a trusted source of information. I will have also filled an important need, and — at the very least — will have learned something in the process.

It will take a lot of learning, and a lot of work, but the project is just too fascinating to me to let it go. So its time to get busy!