Personal

It’s Valentine's Day, so I figured I would talk a little about my honey. It actually is probably more of a rant to be totally honest. You see, my girlfriend, Catherine, and I were recently on a trip overseas and one of our stops was in New Zealand. While we were there we had been told that we have to try, and likely purchase, Manuka Honey.

Now, I hate honey. Always have. I suppose I am one of the few people in the world that does, at least I have met no other people with such distaste for the sugary "treat". Oddly enough, I do really enjoy Mead, which, if you are not aware, is made from fermented honey. I also have a sweet spot for Baklava, along with a few other honey baked goods and candies. Very odd I know, but I have never been known for being normal. The point is I really do not like honey itself, so I was a bit dubious over trying this Manuka Honey. But what is the point of visiting foreign lands if you are not going to try new things, right?

Well, let me just tell you, I loved the stuff. Its color is much darker than typical US honey, with a thick rich flow and what can only be described as an almost graininess. It was fabulous. So we bought three very expensive jars of this wonderful, tantalizing oasis of oral refreshment.

One jar was opened and enjoyed throughout the trip, and was promptly confiscated by customs during out international flight. Knowing my friend Liz's love for honey, I insisted we give one jar to her as a gift from our travels. Leaving one jar for the homestead. Not really much for two people who just dig in with a spoon whenever they pass by it sitting idly upon the counter.

Not wishing to ever be without this new found treat, Catherine managed to find the same name brand Manuka Honey on the web and ordered three more jars of this delicacy, paying a hefty premium for international shipping and such. Only it is not the same. It is Manuka Honey, it is produced by the same company, but it has that horrible flavor that has made me despise honey all these years. I even compared a spoonful to the remaining jar we had brought back with us. There is no difference between the look and texture of the two separate jars of honey, but the flavor, and particularly the after taste definitely tells a different story.

That really is it for me with honey, trying that taste test between the two; it is the after taste of US honey that bothers my palate so. And here is this gem of a honey that I grew fond of so quickly, which contains that same after taste. Tonight I found out why. On the very edge of the label is a small block of words explaining everything so clearly as if there never should have been a question in my mind. "US FANCY GRADE".

So why is it that we must ruin something as simple as honey from a foreign land? Is it that our US honey is so inferior in taste and quality? Or does the FDA require some hidden ingredient in all honey bought or sold within the US borders? There is only "Honey" listed for ingredients after all. Or perhaps there is some sort of pasteurizing process that taints the pure taste of honey? I doubt I will ever know the reasons, but for me my honey will always be untouched New Zealand Manuka Honey.

And you thought I was going to talk about something romantic, didn't you?

For those unaware, besides being my last name, the name of a magazine, an integrated circuit manufacturer, and countless other companies; a Maxim is a universal truth. A proverb. As you might have guessed, that is where the name of my company came from, Proverbs, LLC. Pretty clever, huh?

It is also the name of a specific proverb coined by my friend Liz. Simply put, the Maxim Maxim states that "For any item that a person is in need of, having specific requirements, and which should be readily available off the shelf, will, in fact, have to be custom ordered and/or manufactured." It is the proverb that I have been cursed with most of my life.

We recognized the Maxim Maxim while shopping for my first high definition television some four years ago. I had done all my research on brands and models, determined the perfect viewing angle from the ideal reclined position upon my couch, and performed all the measurements for distances from the wall, viewer and floor. I found the perfect television, right down to the model number. Research completed, time to purchase.

Only no one carried it in stores, and we went to them all. One store had the same model in a larger screen size, which they offered to sell at the same price. Good deal, right? Except being a larger television would require the screen to sit further from the wall (bigger means a deeper box) and thus closer to the viewer ruining the optimum viewing experience. Much like sitting in the front rows of a movie theatre.

The worst part of the shopping experience, aside from having to go shopping, is that none of these stores could even order the model I wanted for some reason. Or maybe it was just too much hassle for them. I wound up having to special order the television online and pay the extra premium shipping charges. Thus the Maxim Maxim was born.

It wasn't until after that ordeal that I noticed it was something I had always been afflicted with. Some friends (*cough* Heather *cough*) say I am being too picky, but I don't believe wanting shoes and clothes that fit classifies as "picky". Yes, the Maxim Maxim really does hold true for those things as well; from purchasing shoes (I am a men’s 10 extra wide, and no one use to carry that size), to buying clothes (30/32 waist, 32 length pants are impossible to find in American stores, not enough girth apparently), to furniture (the stand for above mentioned television was a two week ordeal), to computers, to parts for robots; and the list goes on and on.

At this point when I mention to friends needing an item for something, I will generally produce a tale of the heroic ordeals that I will likely have to go through in order to find said items. "I'll be out of the country for a few months as I travel to the darkest reaches in the Amazon Rainforest in search of the sap of a rare and endangered dwarf tree to mix with the volcanic ash from a long dormant volcano buried under miles of ice on Antarctica and cured with the methane rich waters from the under ocean lakes found only in the Gulf of Mexico. It must all be mixed within the perfect vacuum of space and set to dry under the warmth of a star going super nova. Unless you happen to have an extra bendy straw for my orange juice."

And that is the Maxim Maxim.

Eventually I will put together a biography static page containing a reader’s digest version of the wonder that is Andrew Maxim. I will also likely include a copy of my professional resume, just to tout myself a little further. Arrogance really is a wonderful thing. In the mean time I thought I should throw out a little further information on the "where I am at" and "where I am going" aspects.

In January of 2005, after much procrastination, I finally decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree. Given the levels of experience I had already gained in the workforce I was, as previously mentioned, over qualified for many positions, but lacking a four year degree was under qualified for the remainder. I was never very good at pickle as a child, and figured it was time to rectify the issue. After my typical research frenzy, I enrolled into the Computer Science program at Excelsior College in March of 2005.

Pursuit of my degree can be described as sporadic, with long periods of inactivity followed by completion of far too many credits in the following few months. Mostly this is just me taking advantage of what free time I have, but I also enjoy a break between educational overload sessions. After two years of this I was nearing completion of my degree, three classes remaining.

Unfortunately, (didn't I already mention there was always an unfortunately?) Excelsior College was removing their Computer Science program and rolling it into a different degree. Those who were in the Bachelor CS program were given until November to have all credits submitted for a December graduation or we would be rolled into the Computer Technology major, with differing requirements. Given the course availability this was an impossibility for me (as I am sure others) to complete, as the courses I required ended in December, after the cut off.

I took this as an opportunity to change majors to something more suiting to my career and instead switched to the Management Information Systems degree program. A few additional business classes are required, but I believe the extra work will be rewarded in the long run. I hold a 3.75 GPA, with a 4.0 in my major, and currently am sitting at 131 credit hours completed while I wait for additional transcripts to arrive. I then have two classes to complete and expect to be part of the June 2008 graduation. Not quite the three years I was hoping for, but it is under the four years one normally takes.

Aside from working and college, my professional life also consists of maintaining current certifications, as well as certifying in new technologies. Most of the time spent in this category belongs to my beloved ISACA Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), which, unlike my Cisco certifications, I intend to maintain. And that is Andrew Maxim, the technology professional, in a nutshell.

I found that "something else" for myself in two parts. The first being Information Security. While a few might say that infosec is the reasoning behind the specializations that I dislike, segregation of responsibilities for security reasons really came much later (relative to I.T.), but I will save all that for another entry. What infosec did offer was the continued reason to learn and understand all of the systems within an organization. How each application behaves and relates to one another is just as important for security as the application itself, and for the record, it is just as important for the I.T. personnel who is an Expert in said application.

The second part of my solution was to step slightly away from the hands-on aspect of technology (at least in the work force) and push a little paper. Supervision and management became my primary new focus within the Information Technologies world. Although becoming a manager allowed a continued broad focus on technology and learning, it was not enough within many larger organizations as managers were department heads over specialized groups. Back to that again.

There was only one avenue to travel and that was Information Systems Director (similar titles included). Many groups, many specialties, many projects, many small pictures; one hat and a big picture view. My hands might not get so dirty, but they are definitely not manicured. With every project and every task I was able to explore the new systems and applications, and then have the luxury of taking a step back and seeing how it all relates. I was home.

As a good supervisor, I firmly believe I should understand everything my employees do, should be available to assist or provide information, and should never be willing to ask an employee to handle something that I, myself, can not handle. At least that is the stance I take and it is one that has allowed me to stay in touch with the technology I hold so dearly.

For my future, I can only see myself staying in the Information Technologies and Securities field. My soul burns for robotics, but I can never see myself inventing, designing or building someone else's vision or idea. It was the same, to a lesser extent, with programming and development for me. So I will continue to learn and grow in the I.S. industry, and devote my personal time and resources to fulfilling the whisper I heard when I was still so very young. And I will smile.