I'm leading IT & operations for a startup, but it's also a startup that isn't run by a bunch of 20-somethings. I was brought on board by one of my former CTOs who started his own company. It definitely pays to not burn bridges, network, and keep your skills going. Personally, I'm not management type. I enjoying leading teams and such, but I will NEVER step away from keyboard.

If you've been a sysadmin for any number of years, you know that the nature of the gig is thankless. Everything goes well, you hear a peep out of no one. As soon as something goes wrong, it's an immediate emergency for you. The holiday season in the US is our busy time, so needless to say everyone is on edge. This past week has been the week of everyone suddenly remembering everything they needed done before the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rush. My typical response: Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part. You're in the queue, we'll get to it when we can. Stack on top of this moving from one data center to two brand new facilities in the past 4 months (plus a third going online in January), my stress level and lack of free time has been maxed.

So this weekend starts my self-imposed stress reduction. That includes, getting back into the gym 3-5x weekly, eating better, and regular trips to the shooting range. Stress relief in the form of a .40 pistol and 12 gauge shotgun are quite effective. :)

I've used this in my data center, sitting in the hot row on a conference call, and no one complained about the noise & could hear me fine. I've used it paired to my Crackberry as well as my Macbook Pro. Probably the best bluetooth device I've used.

I've been using a PHS300 from Cradlepoint with my Sprint USB broadband dongle for almost a year. I commute by train 50 mins each way daily. I turn it on, toss it in my backpack, and I'm online for the train ride with no problems & nothing hanging off my laptop.