April 12, 2009 by kastorff.

What is our state of life…as in “state of the union”, or “state of mind”? Is it about what we think, what others think, or what God thinks? We often tie our dreams to some yardstick we apply to ourselves, in those moments of reflection when we measure our accomplishments and failures. Persons of faith would say it’s about God’s judgement, while mystics and agnostics would find comfort in other mechanisms for examining our soul’s net worth.

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June 14, 2008 by kastorff.

I’m involved in the Open Source community. This week the official openSUSE Forums went live. I’ve been working on making this vision become a reality since January 2007, over 16 months. It’s not been easy.

I’ve learned a few things, not all of them for the first time, but during the project they all felt brand new. ☺

• I’ve learned that working with volunteers to accomplish anything with due dates will make you crazy.

• I’ve learned that working with people you’ve never met to accomplish a shared goal gives one an amazing sense of accomplishment.

• I’ve learned that vision and perseverance trump resistance to change and skepticism.

• I’ve learned that if you lead, and people don’t understand your vision, folks will hate you.

• I’ve learned that commitment means different things to different people.

• I’ve learned that doing something, and not caring about who gets credit enables success.

• I’ve learned that if you don’t do something, folks will criticize you.

• I’ve learned that if you do something folks will criticize you.

• I’ve learned that criticism fades away when you succeed.

• I’ve learned you can bridge language, distance, and time to make new friends.

• I’ve learned who my friends are.

• I’ve learned that when you reach the goal, none of the shit matters.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen.

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December 6, 2006 by Keith Kastorff.

So what is knowledge? We all think of it as something to be desired, something to attain…something that makes us better than we are without it. Too often we confuse it with wisdom, which is the correct and proper merger of knowledge and life experience. I propose that knowledge without sharing is worthless, and that the value in knowing lies in the giving of that information to someone else. It’s not in keeping the information secret, or hidden. It’s like currency that has no value until it’s spent.

One of my first managers told me to always prepare those working for you to take your job…train and educate them, sharing everything you know to improve their skills. His point was if you are invaluable where you are, you aren’t going anywhere.

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August 4, 2004 by kastorff.

It’s funny how your mind can be filled with things, but when you put your fingers on the keyboard, everything goes blank. Dogs, computers, sports, books, music, parenting, friendship, religion…it will all be here at some time…

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August 16, 2003 by kastorff.

The RIAA continues to attack the market it’s trying to protect. I’ve now deliberately chosen not to purchase CDs I would have purchased because I’m angry with the RIAA. I don’t even have P2P software loaded on my computers, and I’ve purchased 1200 LPs and 1500 CDs in my lifetime. They have alienated me in their single-minded attack on personal liberties and fair use of copyrighted materials. I intend to vote with my wallet. I feel sorry for the musicians; the businessmen who are responsible for marketing and distribution of their product have lost touch with reality.

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