Now that I’ve figured out how to get Google to crawl this blog, I figured I would post an entry for those trying to find me on the web. (How vain am I?) Anyway, you can ignore this post completely. It’s simply a stream of consciousness that will dump enough key words into the Google index.
I was born in July of 1969 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. I’ve lived in New Bedford, MA, Fredonia, NY, Orlando FL, Marlboro, MA (Marlborough, MA), Waltham, MA, Hull, MA, Bridgewater, MA, Arlington, MA and Hyannis, MA on Cape Cod. I now live in Walpole, MA.
People know me as Rob Mello, Robert Mello, Robert J. Mello, and Robert James Mello. I’m the son of James Mello and Marjorie Benton. I am the brother of Leslie Mello, Rich Mello and Steven Mello, and uncle of Lillian Wood. (Whew, this is starting to look like an obit!)
I have worked in New Bedford, MA, Norfolk, MA, Norwell, MA, Providence, RI, Boston, MA, Burlington, MA, Marstons Mills, MA and East Providence, RI. I have worked for the Standard Times, Brooklawn Variety, Pine Grove Pharmacy, Lesco Tobacco, Showtime Sound, Robbie Jarvis Music, the Zeiterion Theater, A1 Courier, Megamix, X-Mix, Benton Computer Services, BrainTree Security Software, Pentasafe, OAD, eBusiness Technology (eBT), Alphablox, Relicore, MaxSea Marine Software, Nestor Traffic Systems, and Palladium Group, Inc. (formerly Painted Word, Thinkfast Consulting, and the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative).
I have attended school in North Dartmouth, MA, Acushnet, MA, Newton, MA, Fredonia, NY, Chillicothe OH, Orlando, FL, Burlington, MA and Lowell, MA. These schools include Friends Academy, Saint Francis Xavier, Bishop Stang High School, (Class of 1996) Boston College, SUNY Fredonia, The Recording Workshop, Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts, Northeastern University, and U-Mass Lowell.
I was in a couple of rock bands, Surge in high school and in The Igloos in Fredonia NY. I have worked with literally hundreds of bands and recording artists, but the ones I spent most of my time with were Best Kept Secret, Style, Living Proof, Second Wind and Satellite Elvis.
So, if you don’t know it’s me by now, it’s not me you’re looking for. If you are looking for me, you’ve found me, so send me an e-mail. Chances are, I’ve been looking for you!
March 13th marks a geek anniversary for me. It's been 10 years since my first internet posting. I have to give these guys at miffed.com credit for keeping the site up and keeping the faith! If you’re into speed-metal, I highly recommend their records.
(When the link stops working, click here for the version from the Google cache.)
I bumped into Tink in a CompuServe music forum and actually met him in person once when he came to the Boston area to visit his state-side girlfriend. He was instrumental (no pun indented) in turning me on to the web and web technology. My original CompuServe ID was 76102.572. (This will be a great trivia question when I’m famous someday.)
I enjoyed Legos a lot when I was a kid, but nothing holds a 14-day open-top sanctuary candle to this project. The notes on the web-page have me convinced that this person isn't crazy.
There are only 78 web sites that post the lyrics to Pulling Mussels by Squeeze (or "Pulling Muscles" as some might search for it.) I thought there should be at least 79, so here they are.
The 45 image was shamelessly swiped from this site. (I don't always give credit, but these guys worked hard to post some interesting images.)
Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)
(Difford/Tilbrook)
They do it down on camber sands
They do it at Waikiki
Lazing about the beach all day,
At night the crickets creepy
Squinting faces at the sky
A Harold Robbins paperback
Surfers drop their boards and dry
And everybody wants a hat
But behind the Chalet
My holiday's complete
And I feel like William Tell
Maid Marian on her tiptoed feet
Pulling mussels from a shell
Shrinking in the sea so cold
Topless ladies look away
A he-man in a sudden shower
Shelters from the rain
You wish you had a motor boat
To pose around the harbour bar
And when the sun goes off to bed
You hook it up behind the car
Two fat ladies window shop
Something for the mantelpiece
In for bingo all the nines
A panda for sweet little niece
The coach drivers stand about
Looking at a local map
About the boy he's gone away
Down to next door's caravan
Photos taken in Provincetown by my friend Erin can be found by clicking here.
My mother recently discovered my very first business proposal - a note I left for the tooth fairy when I was 5. (May of 1975 - we didn't have Power Point back then.)
"Hi fery wold you trad-e this penny for A dime. LOVE Robert mello."
A 7-minute video of the 2005 blizzard can be found in the Lily video folder: http://www.robmello.com/lillian/videos/
Rich Schiesser: IT Systems Management: Designing, Implementing, and Managing World-Class Infrastructures
To all the CEO's out there - read this book, then take a long, hard look at your IT department. (IT managers, read this book before your CEO does.)
Jesse James Garrett: The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web
Light read, but enjoyable. Recommended for anyone (technical or non-technical) involved in a web applicaton project.
Ralph Kimball: The Data Warehouse ETL Toolkit: Practical Techniques for Extracting, Cleanin
Make this the first book you read on data warehousing.
Shilpa Lawande: Oracle 10g Data Warehousing
This is an amazing book by an amazing technical author. A must-read for dba's involved with Oracle data warehouseing projects.
Simon Robinson: Professional C# (Programmer to Programmer)
Aimed at experienced programmers, this book is remarkably complete.
Laura Lemay: Sams Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days (2nd Edition)
If you've worked with any scripting languages before, this book will actually teach you in 5 days.