About 1.0

Rick 2007RickMahn.com is my personal blog where I expound on various topics including (but not limited to) mobile, wireless, IT, and blogging. Always on the lookout for another exciting avenue of technology, I believe mobile data communications and the proliferation of online services delivered via those mobile devices, are the next wave of change that will rock our world.

Currently:

I am an independent consultant starting Avatar Consultants, which will focus on IT infrastructure and services planning. The goal is to be able to work with businesses both large & small to help plan for both business growth and future technology changes.

In addition I write for four blogs, mine here at RickMahn.com, The Mobile Lifestyle, Minneapolis, MN at 451Press, and Snowmoblog a (currently) seasonal blog about snowmobiling. Video blogging is the next component that is being added to these blogs, having recently added decided to become a new media entrepreneur and push the bounds of blogging, video blogging, podcasting, and personal broadcasting.

Previously:

Recently I left the Sr. Client Technologies Analyst for Michael Foods, Inc. in Minnetonka, Minnesota where I implement technology on a rather large scale. As a corporate IT visionary, I worked on conceptualizing and implementing the technology that helps run the business, and kept the systems in a manageable state. Some of the more interesting things have been: VPN, systems management, automated client image delivery, automation of systems installation, disaster recovery, messaging, infrastructure design, managed research & development facilities, and mobile device specifications. It was a difficult decision to leave Michael Foods as I have many friends after 9 years with them, but I believe that it was the correct one.

Blogging History

My current fascination is with blogs. I started blogging in Dec. 2004 on MSN Spaces. At the time I was trying to use all of the MSN properties, trying to see if there was a cohesive package for email, search, weblog, etc… Well, it was interesting. I didn’t post much and found the whole experience kind of cheesy. I posted sporadically, not really making an effort of it and wondering what this blogging thing was really about. Then I ran across Blogger in November of 2005, and it seemed much more flexible, somehow, more professional. So I tried my hand at blogging again with a blog called Rick’s Ramblings, posting on a regular basis and finding a number of interesting blogs out there. It was kind of fun! Then I ran across a post or two out in the blogosphere (can’t remember where) about WordPress.com – heard it was a really great blogging platform. So I headed over there to create another new blog called Rickster. I tried to run both blogs for a short time, making Rick’s Ramblings a mobile technology focused blog and Rickster a personal blog. The frustration of using a free hosting service quickly started to get in the way of what I wanted to do (though I still don’t know what that is), mainly I was not able to customize things the way I wanted.

So with that frustration and having already bought my vanity domain, I chose to host my own WordPress blog. The rest may or may not be history, but I’m enjoying it.

Background:

I’ve been a long time technology enthusiast, since my first Tandy TRS-80 (I’m one of the few who did not have a Commodore 64 or Apple II) and Sony Walkman cassette player. So my digital world started sometime around 1980 and has never stopped expanding. I’ve been lucky enough to have been involved with practically everything I’ve found interesting in technology, landing a career in Information Technology and keeping in the technology side of IT rather than management.

My odyssey in the technology industry started almost 20 years ago as a telecommunications cable installer back in 1987 (just a few short years after the AT&T breakup). Since then, I’ve worked on large and small networks, built & repaired PCs and servers, became a NetWare guru, implemented cable broadband systems, built a distance learning infrastructure in Montana, helped develop and install site-to-site wireless networks, orchestrated several massive Windows client/server upgrades, designed and implemented systems management environments, and several corporate messaging environments (my favorite is still the original WordPerfect Office :) ).

Future:

The future for me holds tremendous interest in continuing to blog, to further erase the boundaries of technology and how we use it, and to finally harness technology for my own ends, for my own agenda. Consulting, blogging, and building a community portal site based on my hobbies and interests (hopefully more on that another time).

As I look into the future of IT, I see the inevitable adoption of ‘Web 2.0‘ based systems, and the replacement of most PCs with simple network access devices of several types. Also, the stand-alone client operating system as we know it today in Windows, Linux and Mac will cease to exist, replaced with a solid-state device that boots instantly, remembers where we left off, and is connected to the corporate network and Internet either wired or wirelessly. A lot of this is obvious, but the subtle changes that it will make to our working and private lives will be enormous.

No matter what avenue technology takes us, no matter the shape or form, it will be new, it will be exiting.

Written About:

Below are some links to interviews, or articles featuring me. Either blogs, traditional MSM, or print articles.

New Media:
View my video introduction on USTREAM.tv

Updated Contact Information for 2007

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