The Stone that the Builder Refused

Do better

Jason Rashaad — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:51:30 +0000

Ever since I switched from my fairly anonymous blog to this one which bears my name I’ve been super cautious with my blog posts. Read: I rarely post. I think I’ve suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder with regards to social media, given my previous line of work. I think going forward that I’m going to think of this blog more as an extension of my Tweetstream: a place to elaborate on my thoughts, not necessarily to vent. If this is going to come up when someone Googles me (and it will because my name lends itself splendidly to SEO) then I want it to be representative but not embarrassing. I think I’m mature enough to walk that line. We shall see.

Law School Personal Statement

Jason Rashaad — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:01:50 +0000

Once upon a time I wanted to go to law school. Had scholarships to Ohio State, Temple, and Howard University. That…was long ago. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.

Loving parents want only the best for their children. They want to see their children successful, to see them make full use of their talents in order to get into the best possible position in life. My mother sacrificed to provide me with the guidance, care, and nurturing necessary for me to achieve a full realization of my potential. Unfortunately even the best parent can only hold open the door. Once through a child is on his or her own, free to make decisions, take advantage of opportunities, and to use his or her natural talents for good or for ill. In my case it appeared early on as if I was all too willing to squander my talents and my mother’s sacrifice. Early on I excelled academically, but the lack of intellectually challenging material combined with my ability to do well on assignments with little to no effort fostered within me a sense of complacency. This laziness led to my failing to perform near my potential both at the high school and later at the university level, where I found myself thrust suddenly into classes in which I couldn’t grasp the material quickly. I was in the unfamiliar position of having to spend hours trying to learn something, and it was readily apparent that I lacked both knowledge of proper study habits and the wherewithal to learn the same. This apathy and overall immaturity culminated with my expulsion from the University of Michigan. The safety net that most nineteen year olds rely on to catch them should they fall was snatched from under me, and I was forced to deal with the very real consequences of my actions.

I consider the six years that followed as my rite of passage. The directionless boy full of promise but lacking in work ethic slowly evolved, giving way to a man armed with the knowledge and discipline to accomplish what he chose. Through trial and error, I stripped away the bad habits that led to my previous failures, and learned how best to take advantage of my strengths. After a hard fall, I learned how to get back up. Throughout this time, my definition of success was the ability to set a goal, identify the steps needed to reach that goal, and to make forward progress towards it. At the beginning, this end goal was simple: Get back in school and finish what was begun. As the years passed and I got closer and closer to realizing this goal, I began to question exactly whether this was a goal worth pursuing. If I was successful in this goal, what would be the result? What was it that I really wanted? Years of working in corporate information technology showed me that even if I finished my education, work with computers would never be something more than what I was good at, and a way to pay the bills. I asked myself the question: Do I want to be safe and stick to what I know, or do I want to take the road less traveled and do something for which I felt real passion? It was my mother, to whom I had been such a disappointment for so long, who then galvanized me with a suggestion as to how I should now use my talents to realize my full potential.

I live in a world where the people with the ability to make real change use that ability to enrich themselves, while the people with the will to make real change often lack the ability, the skills, or the power. What I wish for myself is to be one of those people that can combine talent and will with power and resources, and effect real and actual improvement within my community and by extension the world. Toward this end, I wish to pursue an education in civil rights and constitutional law. It is my goal to use my law degree to, as Thurgood Marshall said, “Be the voice of the voiceless.”

This shift in focus in order to immerse myself in the community that I felt most connected to in order to learn how best to serve it. I began to attack my classes with an ardor I had never shown to my academics. I began my studies focusing only on the goal graduation and admission to law school; selecting a major was an afterthought. However, as I plowed through my prerequisite courses I discovered that it was the liberal arts which most drew my interest. What I was learning in the classroom never felt like routine drudgery, in fact with each course I felt my goals, originally as vague as “I would like to make a difference,” come more and more into focus. No longer was I taking courses for some vague or meaningless reason; each and every decision I made had a distinct purpose. I double majored in Africana Studies and History because the richness of the curriculum attracted me, and fueled my nascent desire for social change with historical perspective and depth. I joined and later chaired the student chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union because it was an organization whose goals were directly in line with my own, particularly with regards to voter education and equitable application of the Bill of Rights. My membership in Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity stemmed directly from my desire to aid my community dovetailing nicely with the Wayne State chapter focus on supporting the city of Detroit specifically.

As I became further engrossed in my studies, I found myself gaining a new sense of duty to my community. The axiom “Evil prevails when good men do nothing” began to take on new meaning for me as I learned about historical injustices whose effects are still seen today. This increased knowledge led me to add another two facets to my growth: Political activism and community service. I became very involved with organizations that I felt were committed to making the sort of changes that I wanted to see within the community, from voter registration and education to full-scale political lobbying. I balanced this activism with local community service, which I felt was my duty as a citizen to perform not only because I possessed the ability, but because of a sense of responsibility and dedication to work to improve the community that produced me, with the hopes that this improvement will get more individuals in the position to help, and the cycle of improvement will spread.

Booker T. Washington said that the measure of success was not the position that one reached in life, but the obstacles that one overcomes in order to succeed. I believe that it is precisely the adversity that I experienced that instilled within me the passion to drive toward my goals and the character to deal with bumps along the way. My idealism has been tempered in the fire of real world experience. I believe that I have come as far as I can while still shackled by the constraints of balancing full-time employment, and I am enthusiastic about the opportunity to transition and evolve. It is my fervent hope that admission to your institution will provide the opportunity to truly fulfill the potential that my mother saw in me so many years ago. Thank you for your time.

Count your Blessings

Jason Rashaad — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:10:59 +0000

I've been having a rough couple of weeks to say the least, however I just recently had a Moment. You know, one of those Moments where you take a step back from your problems and look at the bigger picture. The way I see it, I have the following things going for me:

I was hired on to a contract that puts me on client-site and gives me excellent experience handling contract financials and personnel management, which in turn puts me in an excellent position career-wise both short- and long-term.
I live in the DMV, which for all my whining and complaining is an amazing place to be for a young socially-conscious and politically-aware young IT professional like myself. I'm literally surrounded by opportunity.
I think I make a strong candidate for one of the top-tier MBA programs in the area, regardless of which one I choose. Which itself exposes me to more positive experience and opportunity for success.

My relationship situation (or lack thereof) and lack of dependents are part of the reason why I was able to tear up roots and move out here. Moving out here is the only reason why I have the above positives going for me.

So why complain? Good point. From this point on I'll make it a point to remember that I'm in the driver's seat, not hitchhiking.

See you at the finish line. Or not.

Brotherhood

Jason Rashaad — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:09:16 +0000

In honor of my second year as a duly initiated Brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. My favorite poem, and a poem I wish all Brothers took to heart.

To Be an Alpha Man – Bro. Fred Woodruff

To be an Alpha Man means more than just to wear a Pin
It requires intrinsic qualities that are developed deep within
It calls for lasting Brotherhood, a word sometimes used in vain
It means honest Devotion, not anticipation of personal gain

Fraternity speaks of Brotherly Love; that's something to achieve
It's more than just a Grip of hands, it's an Ideal to conceive
You're proud to be an Alpha and share Her praises won
Before you inflate yourself with Pride ask yourself, honestly How much have I done?

To realize the Wealth of Personal Satisfaction, from knowing you've given your all
To have helped Her cause unfalteringly, when you rally to Her call
To combine all these Qualities and root them deep within
The product would be an Alpha man, deserving of his Pin

So take an honest inventory of your Character within
And for every virtue you find missing, try and weave it in
For a man without these virtues isn't worth a grain of Sand
It's plain to see, it's more than just a Pin that makes an Alpha Man

Golden Birthday

Jason Rashaad — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:33:37 +0000

There are moments which mark your life; moments when you realize nothing will ever be the same, and time is divided into two parts: before this, and after this. Now sometimes you can feel such a moment coming; that's the test – or so I tell myself. I tell myself that at times like that, the strong people keep moving forward anyway…no matter what they're going to find. – Denzel Washington as Det. John Hobbes, Fallen

I'm awake at 6a, ready to start a week that feels like the start of something. A week that wraps up six tumultuous years in which I got dumped, moved to Detroit, got a job, started school, did some dating, ran a 5K, got accepted to a prestigious law school on scholarship, completed my degree, got promoted, crossed Alpha, got laid off, and moved to Baltimore. I'm willing to admit that since I made the decision to stick with my career and not go to law school that I've lacked purpose and direction. And it's shown. But now I know what I want and more importantly I know how to get it. This week will hopefully be the beginning of that next chapter.

It's good to have a plan again.

This Saturday, the 31st, is my 31st birthday. Stay tuned for some birthday resolutions.

President Obama wins the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

Jason Rashaad — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:39:35 +0000

I’m writing this as most of America still sleeps, and the announcement by the Nobel committee is still fresh. The committee announced its decision was due to "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples." Anyone who has been paying attention to international media even since before the President was elected can see how strong of an effect he’s had on US foreign relations. From attempting to heal US relations with the Islamic world to Russia and the missile defense shield to Iraq to Afghanistan to the United Nations to China to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, President Obama has arguably made more strides to improving America’s image and working towards sustainable peace than any President in years.

But that’s not why I’m writing about this. I’m writing because I get that feeling that even now keyboards are clacking away as the hate machine rolls into full gear. I can almost see the headlines: "OBAMA SHOCKER - WHAT HAS HE DONE TO DESERVE THIS?" "OBAMA, AL GORE, JIMMY CARTER – IS THE PEACE PRIZE AN AWARD FOR FAILURE?" I say this because we’re living in a time where anything, absolutely anything the President does is spun by the cable news networks as an awful, controversial thing. The very things that the President has done to even make the list of nominees for this award are the things for which he is castigated by the citizens of this country. "Why is he spending so much time in Europe?" "How dare he reach out to the Muslim community!" The rabid jingoistic element in the country will froth at the mouth, saying that this international recognition means nothing. This element longs for the days of "You’re either with us or against us!" that is exactly what led to America’s image going from "shining city on the hill" to "schoolyard bully."

As the rest of the world lauds our President in recognition of his effect on the rest of the world, it would be wonderful if we as Americans could do the same. I doubt sincerely that we will.

Update: Yeah, pretty much.

Update #2: The good people over at Jack & Jill Politics reinforced my point much more eloquently.

Workstation Imaging: Transitioning from Symantec Ghost to PING

Jason Rashaad — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:03:09 +0000

Recently I faced the challenge of imaging a series of workstations using Symantec (nee Norton) Ghost 8.0. Traditionally these workstations had been imaged by physically attaching an internal hard drive containing the Ghost image files to the workstation to be imaged. The workstation was then booted with the Ghost boot disks, and the workstation primary drive was imaged from the attached secondary drive. This process was time consuming and labor intensive, requiring physically opening each individual chassis and connecting and reconnecting the drive containing the Ghost images. It also put the hard drive containing the images at risk of damage while being handled. I began working on a method that was more efficient that didn’t increase cost nor require major retraining.

I started with GhostCast, the bundled tool that allows for images to be deployed via the network. This allowed me to build a centralized server that would host all workstation images. I would then be able to boot the workstations via the Ghost boot disks, attach to the network, and image at will. Everything went according to plan until I tried to create the Ghost boot disks. The machines I was tasked with, HP/Compaq DC7900, required an ethernet driver that was newer than what had been included with the (admittedly ancient) Ghost 8.0 software. I suppose I could have manually bundled the driver, but overall frustration with the product led me to seek elsewhere.

Which is what brought me to PING. PING [PING Is Not Ghost] is a hybrid product consisting of a Linux LiveCD that can either be burned and used directly (similar to the Ghost boot disk + directly attached hard drive scenario above) or integrated into a LAN and used via Preboot eXecution Environment [PXE] which is exactly what I needed. I was working with a pre-existing test environment in which test hardware was at a premium. Luckily I had a VMWare ESXi 3.5U machine from a previous project, and was able to spin up a virtual Windows 2003 Enterprise Server that would serve as my image host. From there I took the following steps:

On the image host: Select a location from which to serve your images and unpack the PartImage bundle. You’ll have a hierarchy with a base called \PartImage. Share this directory on the network (NFS and SMB both work, but I used Windows built-in CIFS sharing) and set permissions as you like. This is the directory that will be mounted by our PXE booted workstation.
PXE requires TFTP as well as DHCP. I used the excellent TFTPD32 on my image host. TFTPD32 also provides DHCP and DNS, but my environment had an existing DHCP server so I disabled the built-in functionality. Once TFTPD32 was set-up and configured I also needed to configure my DHCP server (Microsoft DHCP) to point to the image server for PXE booting, which I’ll cover in a later step.
Create the PING LiveCD boot bundle hierarchy:

PXE
PXE\i386
PXE\i386\templates
PXE\i386\templates\pxelinux.cfg\

The boot bundle files [kernel, initrd.gz, pxelinux.0] will be placed in the PXE\i386\templates directory.
Within the PXE\386\templates\pxelinux.cfg\ directory, create a file named default that will serve as our PXE configuration. It should contain the following:

DEFAULT rescue
PROMPT 0
LABEL rescue
KERNEL kernel
APPEND vga=normal devfs=nomount pxe ramdisk_size=33000 load_ramdisk=1 init=/linuxrc prompt_ramdisk=0 initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/ram0 rw noacpi noapm pci-noacpi lba acpi=off apm=off

Now for DHCP: The Microsoft DHCP Server I was working with had to be configured to enable Option 066 Boot Server Host Name (set to point to our image server) and Option 067 Bootfile Name (pxelinux.0). Once complete, our DHCP server was configured to accept PXE requests from any machine that made a DHCP request (our workstations) and point them to the image server to execute the boot bundle.

Once all these pieces were in place I was able to boot a workstation on the network via PXE, eschewing the use of boot disks. Once the machine was booted it loaded the PING environment, from which the machine could be either imaged or restored. Image/Restore times were a fraction of what they’d been using Ghost, and I’d added the possibility of imaging multiple machines simultaneously. All at zero additional cost.

Thanks to the good people at windowsdream.com for creating an excellent product, and for the documentation who’s default steps I cribbed above.

A Letter to my Unborn Son

Jason Rashaad — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Hello, Son:

Your grandfather died yesterday. I’m sorry that you never got the chance to meet him; I didn’t know him all that well myself. I’ve been thinking about you for a while now, which is actually what drove me to get back in contact with him this past holiday season. He hadn’t been a part of my life for years, but my thinking was that one day you’d want to know where you came from, and I wanted to be able to tell the whole story. His passing is making me think about a lot of things, so I figured I’d put virtual pen to paper and talk to you about why your Dad is such an insufferable pain in the neck.

What I want most for you is to have what I never had: a sense of community, continuity, and support. When you’re thirty years old I want you to have a circle of close friends that you’ve known since elementary school, since middle school, since high school, since undergrad. I want you to be able to say you grew up in a house, on a block, in a neighborhood. I want you to be able to tell stories about family traditions and summer vacations. I want you to have opportunity and resource at your disposal; “can’t” will not be a part of your vocabulary. You will have, know why you have, and never take what you have for granted. Your grandmother and I both agree: In the past, the major failure of the working and middle class family has been to shield their children from the pain of the labor that bears the fruit that they enjoy. You will learn the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Speaking of your grandmother, I hope to instill a strong sense of responsibility within you the way she did for me: If you fall, it’s up to you to get up, dust yourself off, figure out why you fell, and try not to fall again. All while refusing to blame others for making you fall in the first place. To be honest I hated what she put me through when she was putting me through it, but today I recognize how invaluable of a gift I received. As I’m sure I’ve forced you to read by now, it is the willingness to take responsibility for one’s actions – whether right or wrong – that separates a boy from a man.

Behold Monument, Atlanta, GA

One last point: A man needs a father to teach him how to carry the weight of this world, but he also needs a woman to show him how to appreciate the beauty of this world and all it has to offer. More than that, he needs a mother to teach him how to love and respect women, ALL women. I know your mother drives us both crazy, and you may have even had your heart broken by a few young ladies at your school. That’s to be expected, especially if you’re any son of mine. But Son, the moment you begin to let the pain that only a woman can cause make you hate, you’ve lost. Your soul dies a little, and it isn’t an easy thing to repair. Trust me, long before I met your mother I was at the precipice, but the way your grandmother raised me allowed me to step back. That’s a key lesson: Don’t let anyone – no matter how stinging the lash – beat the love out of you, because the moment that happens, you’ve lost something that can’t be regained.

At the end of the day, what I want most is for you to be better than me in every way possible. I’m sure I’ve made mistakes and I’m positive I’ll make some more, but I’ll never stop improving myself so that I can continue to improve you. I’ll always have your back whether you want me there or not; that’s one lesson I learned from your grandfather.

Time for me to get out of here, Son. If I’m going to be the ideal of manhood by which you gauge yourself, I’ve got a lot of work to do. Kiss your mother for me, and if you tell her I wrote this you’ll be limping to school in the morning.

I love you,

Your Dad

P.S.: I’d say “Stay out of my office or I’ll hurt more than your feelings,” but if you’re any son of mine you’ve already broken into the computer, found the porno, and figured out how to cover your tracks. That’s my boy.

Hello and Welcome visitors from the Social Sun!!

Jason Rashaad — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:15:48 +0000

When I was in the fifth grade, my entire class lined up in the hall to walk to the auditorium for a graduation ceremony. We had almost reached the door when my teacher pulled me to the side and said “You’re giving the graduation speech.” That sudden thrust into the spotlight is quite similar to how I feel now as a Featured Local on the new Baltimore Sun Social Sun site. So, um…hi everyone!

The new Baltimore Sun social media directory

I’ll try to spend the week being as interesting as possible. I’ll also spruce the place up a bit, starting with my hastily thrown together Twitter background (Hey, I’m not a graphics guy. Don’t judge me!) By way of introduction I’m a recent import into the city of Baltimore, having moved here to work at a federal consulting firm located near Ft. Meade. When locals recommended that I move to Columbia or Laurel to be closer to the office I chose instead to move to Baltimore. I didn’t know anything about Baltimore (OK, outside of The Wire) but I did know that it was similar to my hometown in a lot of different ways. Even in just five months I’m appreciating the character of the city and looking forward to being a positive part of it.

So that’s about all…again, welcome, and I’ll try to do at least one of these a day. Thanks for visiting!

The Blog…Rebooted

Jason Rashaad — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:48:44 +0000

I’ve maintained a blog in various forms since right around 1996 when I had a modest personal site on the University of Michigan College of Engineering web servers. At the time the intertubes were still geeks-only, Netscape gray was still the standard, and animated GIFs and blink tags were quite the novel idea. A solid thirteen years and several platforms later, here we are. Personally I’m entering a new phase of my life, so I figure why not reflect that on my personal site, a site that is no longer a novelty but a standard in an era where web presence and online branding is everything, and “you are who you know” has become the standard with the prevalance of social networking. I may not be a member of an elite geek club anymore, but I like to believe that I have a unique perspective and can still bring something to the table.

The most recent revision of this site saw me in a bit of a transition phase, where I wasn’t quite sure exactly what the audience of this particular web space would be. I did know that it was time to move away from the frank and often vulgar honesty that used to occupy this site, particularly given the Google happy world that we’re living in. Said transitionary period reflected one I was going through personally, that I am proud and blessed to report that I am now past.

So dear readers, sit back, relax, and get ready to read a gaggle of posts written from the perspective of a 30 year old Black native Detroiter recently relocated to Baltimore. Topics will include but aren’t limited to my beloved hometown, my profession, my passion for politics at every level from local to global, my nascent start-up company, and of course, just random thoughts that might wander through my mind. If nothing else I’ll try to entertain with my trademark blend of sarcasm and insight. And I’ll make a serious effort to keep the cursing to Facebook, though I don’t know how long that’ll last. Maybe I’ll pull a Livejournal and lock posts where I really want to vent my spleen. We shall see.