The next Y2K

The US government decided in 2005 to change the beginning and end of daylight savings time. The following changes occurred:

• Previous start: first Sunday of April (1 Apr. 2007)
• New start: second Sunday of March (11 Mar. 2007)
• Previous end: last Sunday of October (28 Oct. 2007)
• New end: first Sunday of November (4 Nov. 2007)

Since the Canadian economy is heavily dependent upon the US economy, our government has also decided to follow suit on these changes. The rationale behind these changes is increased energy savings, due to greater sunlight during the day. I have discussed the rationale behind daylight savings time in a previous post.

These new start dates will catch most people and businesses by surprise. Especially, in the business world, many IT systems may have the incorrect date for three weeks.

This issue is similar to the computer problem encountered during the turn of the century, known as the Y2K bug. People were afraid that computer systems would not process dates correctly after January 1st, 2000. Fortunately, there were only minor issues reported. However, the business world at that time took advantage of the panic of consumers to cash-in. This time, there has not been much awareness made about the daylight savings time change and I expect there will be disruptions to many services. For those people who are responsible for IT systems, I recommend you take your vacation during the week of March 11th ;-).

Hockey night in Pittsburgh

I spent the last week in Pittsburgh, PA, a city situated at the crossing of three rivers (Allegheny River, Monongahela River, Ohio River), headquarters to Heinz corporation, and the hottest team in the NHL; Pittsburgh Penguins. The latter, which I was able to witness first-hand.

I took the advice of the hotel concierge to avoid purchasing tickets online and try to purchase them before the start of the game through scalpers instead. This strategy seemed to backfire as I did not see any scalpers. As I started my reluctant walk back to the hotel, I walked by a person trying to sell his ticket desperately. I purchased the ticket for a double-digit amount ($30 below the box-office price). I sat six rows from the ice. A seat that costs over $400 for a Toronto Maple Leafs game at the Air Canada center.

The game was full value for the ticket price, where the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Chicago BlackHawks 5-4 in a shootout. The winning shootout goal was scored by Evgeni Malkin. The Pittsburgh Penguins are the most exciting team in the NHL, with talents such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, and Marc-Andre Fleury. They are reminiscent of the 1980 Edmonton Oilers, a team consisting of many talented players such as Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jarri Kurri and Grant Fuhr. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but was able to take some photos with my cell-phone.



I would not mind going to see another game in Pittsburgh ... it is only a five and half hours drive from Toronto.

Technology overload

I remember in 1999 when I created my first email address. It was not something that I was pressured into doing, nor was it popular at the time. As years passed, everyone I know has created an email address or two and checks them frequently throughout the day. Email has become the preferred way of communication at school or work. It has become so prevalent that the good old fashion phone call or face-to-face meeting is becoming less popular. Obviously, phone calls and face-to-face meeting still have their place, but aren't we using email more than we should?

How many times have you exchanged an email with a group of people attempting to resolve an issue, where each person responds with a short comment? If someone had picked up the phone and called the person directly involved, the situation would be resolved quicker.

At work, I am usually surprised when I get a voicemail or if someone calls me because it happens so infrequently. I rarely check voicemail either, I wonder if I should create a more interesting voicemail message, probably something as funny as George's voicemail from Seinfeld.

George's Answering Machine: "Believe it or not, George, isn't at home, please leave a mes-saaage at the beep. I must be out or I'd pick up the pho-one. Where could I be? Believe it or not, I'm not hooome.

I wonder what would be George's out-of-office reply or vacation response, the email equivalent of voicemail.