Installing IBM MQ on Windows

Over on IBM developerWorks, there are a couple of recent blog posting on how to install IBM MQ on Windows using MSIEXEC and a response file.

Installing MQ using MSIEXEC on Windows by Alamelu Nagarajan:
https://developer.ibm.com/messaging/2018/03/01/installing-mq-using-msiexec-windows/

Installation of IBM MQ components on Windows using Command Line by Prema Laxmanachar:
https://developer.ibm.com/messaging/2018/02/26/installation-ibm-mq-components-windows-using-command-line/

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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American Express and Me

A long time ago, I mean a LONG time ago when I was 20, back in 1981 (like I said, a long time ago), I was working full time at a Chrysler/Dodge dealership and also working part-time at McDonald’s on the weekends.

I already had a Visa credit card for about 8-12 months (I don’t really remember) and saw the pamphlet (credit application) to get an American Express credit card. I decided to apply for it. I filled everything out, I had good credit history, I was working 2 jobs, over 60 hours a week and figured I was a shoe-in to get another credit card (Plus I was still living at home).

I mailed the credit application to American Express and waited – no online instant gratification in those days!! A few weeks later, I received a letter from American Express declining my application. I was shocked!! So I decided to call the number on the letter. We went over everything and person said that “I didn’t make enough money”. I reiterated that I was working 2 jobs and that as time goes on, my salary would increase. They said no. I even grovelled/begged for them to look past the “hard line about income” and give a hardworking person a chance. And they absolutely refused. Cold as ice!!

When I hung up the phone, I was upset and mad. And the more I thought about it, the madder I got. As my wife would say (I didn’t know her back then), “my French blood came out” and I swore I would never EVER have an American Express credit card.

Over the years, I have had various Visa and Mastercard credit cards and even a variety of store credit cards (i.e. Sears) but I have never ever had an American Express credit card.

My wife has asked me to get an American Express credit card over the years and I said no. The kids have bugged me to get one because of the “American Express Front of the Line” for purchasing concert tickets and I said no. That French blood of mine never forgets!!

Even when I started Capitalware, I refused to get an American Express for Business credit card. Nope. Not going to happen!

One of my favorite credit cards is the Marriott Rewards Visa. Years ago, I used to be a traveling consultant doing MQ work for various customers. I would always try to stay at a Marriott property, so that I could get/keep my status to/at “Platinum”. There is absolutely nothing better than having Platinum status and staying at an upscale Marriott property. They treat you like you are royalty. 🙂 Its awesome. 🙂

A month ago, I received a letter from Marriott Rewards Visa saying that the credit card was being discontinued at the end of March 2018. I was disappointed but I know reward companies do change credit cards every once in a while. I figured I would use it exclusively until it was no longer valid (rack up those points).

A few days ago, I received a letter from Marriott Rewards saying that they had signed up with American Express. Ahhhhh. No. No. No. Why them – the evil empire!!! Why couldn’t they have picked Mastercard!!!


I thought about it for a while and thought about it and thought about it some more. Yin and Yang. My love for Marriott against my hatred of American Express.

I showed my wife the letter from Marriott Rewards, she smiled and said “so, are you going to apply for it” and I said yes. That’s right, I said yes. The love of Marriott won out over my hatred of American Express (I’ve been pulled to the dark-sided!). So, I applied online for the SPG American Express Rewards credit card and bingo, I was approved. (Of course, it would have been funny as hell, if they had declined me. It would have justified my hatred of them.)

So, what’s my point to the story? Companies need to look beyond simple hard lines in the sand and sometimes say that a hard working individual does make up that gap between what they have and what is required. I’m a loyal guy – a company treats me well and I will stick with them. Over 37 years, look at all the business American Express lost out on by alienating me.

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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Now That’s a Trailer!!

Early this week, the wife, kids and I went to see Black Panther (great movie). But before the Black Panther movie started, there was the usual assortment of trailers including the next trailer for Solo Star Wars. It was a fine trailer nothing that would make me say “I gotta see that movie”.

Last night, I stumble across someone’s recut of the Solo Star Wars trailer using the Beastie Boys Sabotage song. OMG! Now that’s how you do a trailer!!! If you haven’t see it, check this out – make it full-screen and turn UP the volume:

Lucusfilm (aka Disney) hire this person ASAP to do all of your trailers!!!

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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IBM MQ on IBM Cloud

Last month, IBM announced an experimental service for MQ on IBM Cloud:
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/bluemix/2018/01/experimental-service-mq-ibm-cloud/

Last week, IBM announced that MQ on IBM Cloud has moved into the “beta phase”:
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/bluemix/2018/02/mq-on-ibm-cloud-weve-hit-beta/

So, if you like your MQ in the SAAS (Software-As-A-Service) format then you should give the beta a try. If I can find some time this week, I’m going to give it a whirl. 🙂

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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My Saga in Getting New Speakers for my PC

A couple of weeks ago, my old Logitech 2.1 speaker system starting to crackle and pop in the right speaker, even with the PC off. After a few hours, it was driving me nuts, so it got pulled and trashed. It was over 10 years old, so I got good use out of the speaker system. 🙂

I did a bunch of searches and narrowed it down to either Audioengine A2+ 2.0 speaker system (no sub-woofer) for $329 CDN or Logitech z623 2.1 speaker system for $190 CDN.

The Audioengine A2+ speaker system has awesome reviews but no sub-woofer and most people suggest that you should also purchase the Audioengine DS1 Desktop Speaker Stands for another $55 CDN. So, it was getting a little pricey for the Audioengine A2+ plus I really do like having a deep and rich bass via a sub-woofer. Anyway, I wasn’t feeling well that week, so I put off the purchase.

Last week, I got an email from Amazon showing me all the speaker systems that they had on sale. I guess they were worried that I wasn’t going to buy anything. Note: I never put anything in my shopping-cart. So, they were definitely tracking what I was looking at. 🙂

The email had 12 speaker systems listed and of course both Audioengine A2+ and Logitech z623 were on the list but they had Logitech z623 listed for $149.98 CDN, $44 CDN off. 🙂 Well, that became a very easy purchase, click ‘Add to Cart’ and paid for the Logitech z623 on Thursday and it said they would be delivered on Tuesday (today) – yesterday was a holiday here.

Amazon showed that Purolator would be delivering the package. Purolator is owned by Canada Post and if you have read my previous blog postings, you know I hate Canada Post. It is toxic crown (government) organization that think everyone should worship the ground they walk on.

So, around 2:30PM today, I decided to check the status of my package. It showed that it was delivered at 1:04PM. I shook my head and looked again and said WTF!! I work at home and my office is next to the front door. I have a big window in front of my desk that I can see anyone driving up to my house. Plus, as many of you know, my wife home-schools our 5 kid, so there is ALWAYS someone at home.

I went outside and checked around the house, nothing. I checked the neighbors on both sides of our house, nothing. I checked the houses across the street from my house and nothing. (Of course, I looked like a thief casing the neighborhood). So I called Purolator and see what the @#$%# was going on with my package. The customer service rep was an arrogant ass. He blew me off, said there was nothing he could do and told me to complain to Amazon. I kept saying ‘why can’t he ask the deliver what actual house did he deliver the package too’. He said that there was nothing he could do, can’t contact the driver and I had to lodge a complaint with Amazon. And you wonder why I hate Canada Post and any company related to Canada Post.

I had a bitch session with my wife then went back to work, mad as hell. Around 4:30PM, the new neighbor (many houses down the street) showed up at my house. When I opened front door, the father and daughter were holding a VERY large box. I started to smile and the father said that they found this box at their front door and believe it belongs to me. I immediately thanked them (at least 5 times) and explained Purolator’s non-sense. I’m happy there are still honest people in this world because they could have easily kept it and nobody would be the wiser. Note: The shipping label on the box had my name, the correct address and was perfectly readable!!!

My wife said I should call Purolator again and tell them that our neighbor was doing their job. This time when I called, I actually got a useful customer service rep. who was (1) shocked at the incorrect delivery and (2) opened a case/ticket as to why it went to the wrong address.

So, I unboxed (no unboxing video) my new toy and hooked everything up. I fired up WinAmp, scrolled down to “The Glorious Sons” and then double clicked “The Union” album and turned up the volume. If you haven’t heard of The Glorious Sons, they are an excellent Southern-Rock (with a hint of Alt-Rock) band from Kingston, Ontario Canada. So, I played through that album and then moved on to “Royal Blood” and played their self-titled album. The boys and I saw Royal Blood a couple of summer’s ago as an opening act for Foo Fighters. They were awesome. I’ve never heard 2 guys make such complete and awesome sounding music in a live performance. Next up, was the “Foo Fighters” and their “Concrete and Gold” album. Then for some Euro content (ok – Icelandic), I played “Kaleo” and their “A+B” album (another Southern-Rock band with a hint of Alt-Rock). The last 2 albums, I played for the test was “Wintersleep’s” “The Great Detachment” album and “The Strumbellas’” “Hope” album.

So, after listening to 6 albums, I’ll give the Logitech z623 speaker system 2 great big thumbs up. 🙂 Ah music, it makes the world go around. 🙂 And reading application dumps so much easier!!! 🙂

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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Suganya Rane will be Speaking at MQTC v2.0.1.8

Suganya Rane of Sabre will be speaking at MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.8 (MQTC).

    Suganya Rane’s Sessions:

  • MQ Monitoring on the Cloud
  • MQ on AWS

For more information about MQTC, please go to:
http://www.mqtechconference.com

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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Tim Zielke will be Speaking at MQTC v2.0.1.8

Tim Zielke of Aon will be speaking at MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.8 (MQTC).

    Tim Zielke’s Session:

  • MQ Data Conversion

For more information about MQTC, please go to:
http://www.mqtechconference.com

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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Call for Speakers for MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.8

We are looking for speakers on any product/service that uses IBM MQ (aka WebSphere MQ & MQSeries) for MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.8 (MQTC). The sessions are to be technical in nature and on any subject so long as it relates to MQ (and you are a SME, Subject Matter Expert, on the topic you are presenting).

We offer speakers the conference fee for free and we also pay for your room at Kalahari Resorts. Note: Breakfast and lunch plus snacks & drinks during the breaks are included for all attendees and speakers.

If you are interested please contact me at callforspeakers@mqtechconference.com

MQTC is a premier event that brings together IBM MQ professionals from across the mid-west and the world. MQTC will offer 71 technical sessions and 15 vendor sessions that are designed to enhance the skills of IT professionals who are using IBM’s IBM MQ on AIX, HP-UX, IBM i (OS/400), Linux, Solaris, Windows and z/OS.

MQTC is the largest conference in the world solely dedicated to IBM MQ.

More information on MQTC can be found at http://www.mqtechconference.com

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.8

Capitalware would like to announce MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.8 (MQTC). MQTC is an event that will educate attendees on current practices, methodologies, administration, problem determination, security best practices and technology trends for IBM MQ. MQTC will offer 71 technical sessions and 15 vendor sessions that are designed to enhance the skills of IT professionals who are using IBM MQ on AIX, HP-UX, IBM i (OS/400), Linux, Solaris, Windows and z/OS. Since we have 5 session rooms at MQTC, there will be 5 concurrent MQ sessions at any given time.

MQTC is the largest conference in the world solely dedicated to IBM MQ (aka WebSphere MQ & MQSeries).

Date: September 24 to September 26, 2018
Location: Kalahari Resorts in Sandusky, Ohio
Duration: 3 Days

Early-bird Price: $449.00 until June 24th, 2018
Regular Price: $499.00 from June 25th to September 9th, 2018
Group Price (5+ people): $449.00 until August 24th, 2018
Late/Onsite Price: $549.00 after September 9th, 2018

For more information, please go to: http://www.mqtechconference.com

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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Burger King Explains Net Neutrality With Whoppers

In Canada, we have a Net Neutrality law, so the FCC Net Neutrality non-sense in the USA does not affect me. I’m not into politics but anyone can clearly see that Ajit Pai (FCC Chairman) motive for getting rid of Net Neutrality in the USA is all about the money. When he’s done at the FCC, he will want to be CEO of Verizon, AT&T, etc. and say to his boys “look at what I did, we can now charge BOTH the customers and the content providers for the same bandwidth or have fast, medium or slow lanes of the internet”.

This is truly a funny Burger King commercial and hopefully teaches everyone why Net Neutrality is important:

https://youtu.be/ltzy5vRmN8Q

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

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