In the early days of the mainframe, all work was done in "batch". Instead of each person that had work for the computer to do entering it themselves, data was sent to keypunch operators who would key the data onto punched cards, which would be fed into a card reader along with the program that was to process the data. CICS empowered the people to enter data themselves, and have it processed and the results sent directly back to them. Back then, that meant a green screen, but today, results could come in the form of a web page or a SOAP response as well. IBM is constantly adding new functionality to CICS to make it continue to fit in with modern computing environments.

Who runs CICS? A better question may be, who doesn't? Over 90% of the Fortune 500 companies run their businesses on CICS. CICS is used by companies from all industry categories. It is installed on 85% of all mainframes, and there are versions of CICS that run on AS/400's, *nix servers, and Windows. It is hands down the most popular transaction server in existence.

What do the letters CICS stand for? I'm guessing that many people that work with CICS daily would be hard-pressed to answer that question. CICS stands for Customer Information Control System. But everyone refers to it by the acronym. In the US, it is commonly referred to by the letters (as in "see-eye-see-ess"), but outside the US it is usually called "kicks".

What program languages does CICS support? CICS has always support COBOL and Assembler. Later, PL/I support was added. A few years back C and C## were added, and most recently, Java and REXX. Accessing resources that CICS controls (such as files and storage) is done through special API statements. By controlling the access to shared resources, CICS can manage multiple transactions running simultaneously, resulting in an environment where many people can access the same information independently and with little delay or overhead.

This quick overview just barely scratches the surface of CICS, but hopefully it will provide a good introduction to CICS for anyone that may have just heard about it. We'll be delving into more advanced topics in future postings on this blog.

We would like to welcome all viewers to read and share this page with others as it can be very useful in the near future. We will be posting reviews for our products and up-to-date information on fragrances and cosmetics.

The story behind my cousin Nikole is a long one. She's a few months younger than me, and we've grown up together. When we were young, her family moved up north, but we were always close. After graduating high school, I helped her move to Milwaukee and we were BFFs all over again. But she's one of those people that I need limited doses of. She's… exciting. We'll say that. She met a guy at Summerfest who lived in Phoenix. After a couple visits and months of talking, she decided to move there. It was a good fit, and she always wanted to live somewhere warm. Well, things didn't work out and she moved home. They missed each other, and long story short, she lives back out there and they now have a 9 month old child.
 
We've seen each other a couple times since then, and it's always been crazy. I love her, no doubts about that, but she's exhausting sometimes!

Her younger sister is getting married next fall, and she wanted to get all the bridesmaids together to do a little planning and dress shopping. We picked a weekend and Nikole (to our delight) planned to fly in from Arizona. And by herself! Not that I don't love her little boy, or her boyfriend, but after 9 months of baby, she needed some free time!!
 
She was supposed to get in on Thursday night, at 11:55. Fortunately my dad offered to pick her up and have her stay at his place that night, because her flight was delayed and she didn't get in until 2 am! I met them at Hector's for dinner after work, and had a fun night. I went out with some friends at Trocadero and then met up with David, Nikole, my dad, my dad's brother, and some of their friends at Euro Bar. From there, we went to La Cage. It was a good time, though going out with my dad is always an interesting event. The nice thing is he pays for everything and knows how to have a good time, the bad thing is he's my DAD!

When he FINALLY got out of the cage, Nikole and I went up and danced for a while. There were two hot, half-naked, sweaty dudes making out with each other right next to us. It was weird and awesome at the same time. Nikole almost got picked up by a pretty, though very butch woman, who smelled really nice.

I love La Cage because they play good music, and (almost) everyone is nice, friendly, and is just there to dance and have a good time! There was one downfall this time. A very creepy dude kept following our group around. There were these two girls in our group (somehow friends of a friend of my dad...) who were drop dead gorgeous. I'm talking, model beautiful. They probably were models. I think they were Russian. Oh, and to top it off, they were SO nice and friendly, even though I just met them that night!! Needless to say, eyes were on them wherever we went.

So anyway, this creepy dude kept trying to rub up on them. In a nasty way. As one girl put it, "That guy just rubbed his little boner on me." But in a Russian accent. David, the perfect gentleman, got our dancing circle turned around so that the boys were between creepy dude and all the girls. (Also, when I confessed to Nikole that I was maybe feeling a little drunkenly whiny about David having spent all evening with these maybe-models, she told me that he barely looked at them and talked to her all night. Nice! :) Hell, even I could barely stop looking at them!)

When creepy dude tried to dance with one of the model girls again, she said no thanks, and we moved to a different part of the dance floor. He eventually made his way over there! After a while of sitting on the sidelines, staring at the model girls, trying to dance, and getting rejected, he moved onto Nikole. He came up behind her and tried to dance with her. She turned around and yelled in his face, "NO!!!!! Can't you take a hint?! NOOO!!!!"

He left us alone after that. It was fantastic.

I've never had an experience like that at La Cage. Why would a straight dude come there to try to pick up chicks?? Any chick who is there is either gay, or just looking to have fun with friends and DANCE (or both)!! Not find a dude to go home with. DUMB.

The next morning we got up to drive to Madison to do some dress shopping at David's Bridal. This took pretty much ALL DAY. It was fun, and I was excited because Samantha (my sister)

was coming down from Eau Claire for it too. The bridesmaids are me, Nikole, Samantha, and two friends of Katie's. Only one friend showed up, and Katie was half an hour late, despite the fact that she lives the closest!

She spent somewhere around two hours trying on dresses. We all enjoyed it, but we were just itching to try on our own dresses! There were two finalists, but this is the one that really made Katie happy. It will be in "Cornflower Blue." I think it'll be great.

The rest of us decided it was time to get in on the dress action. By this point, we pretty much had the store to ourselves. We all grabbed armfulls of dresses. Katie wanted floor length, and blue, but we were free to choose our own styles. Somehow, we all looked best in the same style, so we're all going with the same dress anyway!

So, admittedly, part of why I was excited about trying on dresses was my weight loss. I went bridal gown shopping at DB several months ago, and was disappointed by how things fit me. I was excited to get into a smaller size and hopefully be happier with the way I looked. It happened! This dress is a 14! It didn't zip up ALL the way in the back, but it fit in the waist! When we order in January, I'll confidently order a 14, but by September, I'm hoping to have it altered down to at least a 12!

We tried on several other styles. This one made us feel like pageant girls. It didn't quite jive with everyone, but Nikole liked the black and white version. The colors I'm wearing are Katie's colors. Our dresses will be the color of the light blue inset.
 (PS- This was a 14 that DID zip up!)

The rest of the evening was spent driving around the little BFE towns up there and visiting family. We stopped by our grandparents' house and her parents' house. It was a treat to see everyone, since I usually see these people only a couple times a year. However, by the time we left to head back to Milwaukee, it was around 11:00! We were in Westfield, which is about 2.5-3 hours from Milwaukee if you drive the speed limit. Nikole wanted to get to MKE and still have time to party, so I floored it. We parked downtown at around 1 AM. Good lord. I dislike driving in the country, especially in the dark, especially while speeding.

So after HOURS in the car, I'm one big ball of stress, but we meet up with my dad at Euro Bar. But Nikole doesn't like their music. But it's already nearing 2AM! I wanted to just go home, but we finally leave in search of a "better" place. I certainly wasn't going to pay cover to dance in a place for a matter of minutes, but we wandered Milwaukee St to see if anywhere "cooler" was still open. Everything was closing. She finally had to accept that we were just going to go home. After that crazy day, it was hard for me to believe that she wasn't leaving until TUESDAY.

Sunday was nice. We had brunch with my dad, sister, uncle and other cousin. It was kind of funny that all this family happened to be in town on the same weekend. The best part is Leila and Sophia wanted to order a Bloody Mary like the grown ups. So they got a Virgin Mary. It was NOT what they thought it was (maybe they were picturing Mimosas?) and didn't drink any of it. Growing up too fast FAIL!

Monday morning I dropped Nikole off at her grandparents' house before I went to work. After work I picked her up and we went to visit our aunt, uncle, and cousins in Stallis. The plan was to stay there for an hour, max, after which we would pick up Kopps for us, and David, and head back to my place. Well, she wanted to hang out with a friend, but he lives in Oconomowoc. She asked if I could drive her out there. (?!?!) It was after 6 already, so NO, I was not doing that. It would be easier for him to pick her up from Stallis, but he was doing something and she could not get ahold of him. WTF?

After lots of back and forth and not knowing what was going on, she finally just told me to go and leave here there and she'd make him come get her. It was about 7:30 when I left. I was PISSED. The whole point of going to Kopps was for her, but I had promised David that I'd get dinner. And now I wanted Kopps anyway! So I drove out to pick it up. It was dark by the time I got home. SUCK.

After eating and watching the Olympics, we decided to get to bed early. As we were getting ready we hear the front door. Nikole comes up with this friend of hers!! If she had asked if he could come over, I would've said yes, but it was a big surprise to have a random dude show up with her. Whatever. He wasn't going to stay for long and it gave me the perfect excuse to get to bed early.

Tuesday morning. The end was in sight! I dropped her off at my mom's house before I went to work so my mom could take her to the airport in the mid afternoon.

I get a voice mail from her around 2:00, telling me to call her. I assumed she forgot something, so I gave her a call. Oh, she forgot something all right. Her return flight wasn't on Tuesday. It was on WEDNESDAY.

Oh dear lord. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I think I did a little of both. Sure enough, after work, she called asking if I wanted to do something that night. I had my final Pole 2 class, and wasn't about to skip it. I apologized, and told her she was on her own. After the class, I called her to find out how she was going to get to the airport. Being the nice, patient, understanding soul that I am, I took an hour of my precious, dwindling vacation time to have a two hour lunch to get her to the airport.

And with that, the whirlwind was over. I love her, but the crazy drama never fails to surface with her. And maybe that's part of why I love her. Who else, with a job, a baby, and a boyfriend in another state, would not know the exact time and date of her return flight?! But she's my family, she's my friend, and I'll miss her until we see each other again.

This post is here to help with getting your blogging started and I'll try to answer any questions you might have about using WordPress or how to post to the class blog.

If you don't find what you're looking for in this post, try the WordPress FAQ or contact me.
PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA FIRST CLASS RATHER THAN COMMENTING HERE. THANKS!

STEP ONE: ACTIVATING YOUR ACCOUNT

You should get an email from WordPress with a link. You need to click this link in order to confirm/activate your account. YOU MUST ACTIVATE YOUR ACCOUNT WITHIN 2 DAYS OR IT WILL BE DELETED. Once you have done this, you will receive another email that includes your username and password. Use these to log in for the first time.

Once logged in, you can explore the site, change your password, change your default email address, play with the settings on your blog, and of course make posts!

STEP TWO: JOINING THE CLASS BLOG

You will all be invited to participate in the class blog. You can only be invited once you've activated your account, so it's very important that you do that as quickly as possible. Once you are made a contributor of the class blog (CMJ211.wordpress.com), it will show up as a dashboard option for you.

STEP THREE: POSTING TO THE CLASS BLOG

When you log into WordPress, there will be a gray bar across the very top of the page. To make a post, hover your mouse over the New Post option. The dropdown menu will show you the different blogs you can post to. If you'd like to post to your personal blog, choose your username from the menu. If you'd like to post to the class blog, choose CMJ211 from that menu.

That will bring you to a posting page that says "History of Mass Communication". There you can title your post, and fill in the body will your text, links, photos, etc.

There is a "tag" option underneath the body section. If your post deals with specific things (for instance, yellow journalism), you can type the subject matter into the "Add new tag" area. So you can type in "yellow journalism" and then hit add. That will tag your post by the subject.

Sometimes you will want to place your post in a certain category. There should be a list of categories in the "Categories" box for you to choose from. You will be told which category applies to each assignment. Simply check the box next to the appropriate category.

Once you are ready to post, simply scroll back up. On the right side of the page is a "Publish Status" area. Make sure you choose "Pending Review" from the dropdown menu, and then click "Submit For Review". Once I am notified you've posted, I'll approve the post and it'll show up on the class blog.

STEP FOUR: FORMATTING YOUR POST

There are various formatting options (i.e. font, text style, etc.) at the top of the Post box. If you click on the "Show/Hide Kitchen Sink" Button (the one all the way to the right with little dots) you can have even more options. Using these buttons you can change the font and style of your text, add links, etc.

Above this bar is an "Add media" section. Use these buttons to add photos, videos, audio, etc. to your posts using items on your hard drive or items you find online.

If you are better with HTML, you can click on "HTML" rather than visual and format your post that way.

STEP FIVE: EDITING YOUR POSTS

If you need to go back and change something in a post, you can do that easily. Simply click "Manage" up under History of Mass Communication (it's next to the "Write" tab) and you will see all of the posts to the blog. The titles of your posts will be blue, and you just click to the title to reopen and edit your post. Make sure you save it when you're done, and voila! A fixed post.

I actually started one of these a while back but somehow lost / misplaced the account name and password. There are a lot of things I think we could do with this. There's a gmail account, itservergroup@gmail.com, tied to this blog. I'll be sending you all the password(s) for both of these so that we can start using them right away. I'm pretty sure that you can subscribe to this blog and then we would all get updates whenever they are published out!

Gameplay (parte V)

La incursión de TriAce en los juegos de rol de nueva generación se salda con Infinite Undiscovery, en tiendas desde el 5 de septiembre, como preludio a la esperada 4ª parte de Star Ocean. Una aventura la que nos ocupa sin grandes sorpresas aunque proponiendo algunas cosas nuevas dentro del género.

Gameplay (parte VI)

Gameplay (parte VII)

Ahhh! And without planning or forethought,

that leads me to my first unsent letter.

This blog is almost a waste of internet space.  Then again, I've seen worse!

It's where I'll electronically store my complaints about my current job situation.  

Read the whole backstory here on my about page.

Until next post...

Con el avance de la humanidad en este mundo ha avanzado, también,  la tecnología.  Mediante el conocimiento el hombre ha descubierto un sinnúmero de de cosas para facilitar su vida.  Hoy día uno de los temas  mas controversiales de los cuales más se habla es el de la energía.  El ser humano depende de la energía para sus actvidades vitales díarias.  Pero sucede que los recursos mas populares utilizados comunimente son no renovables.  Por otro lado existen otras alternativas, las cuales no son tan populares.  Estas alternativas, sin embargo, son renovables.  Entre ellas la energia eólica, hidraúlica y la que está en cuestión la energia solar, entre otras.  Pienso que es una buena alternativa mas aún en un país tropical como lo es Puerto Rico.  Aunque no es algo muy popular ha ido en crecimiento alrededor de la isla.  La gente poco a poco a creado conciencia y ha cambiado la forma tradicional en lo que  a estilo de vida se refiere.  En este blog, como ya han podido ver, podrán encontrar información sobre como ésta modalidad ha avanzado, informacion sobre lo que es, como funciona, beneficios, como ha funcionado para otras personas, como aplicarlo para si, entre otras cosas más.  El objetivo es el de aprender sobre una alternativa real y muy practica para cada puertorriqueño.

I live in the UK, in London to be precise. I was born abroad though and I'm British by naturalisation, not birth. I came to the UK in early 2001. I was UK-ed.

That's just to put things in perspective as what I'm about to write here is purely subjective and purely one of many blogs out there that no one reads. Given this disclaimer, I hope you will be gentle in your comments and take this blog lightly. I surely do so.

I will not share my name or any details about me and I'll stay an anonymous coward, but that's another feature I'm very upfront about.

All the best!

When I first decided to get back "out there" and put myself on the dating market looking back I think I was giving out the "don't f*ck with me vibe.  I was going out, looking cute but the guys were just not a-biting.  I suffer from it's written all over my face syndrome, so although I thought I was giving it the ole college try, my face read "keep it moving homie".

Then I met a couple of dudes that had just gotten out of or were still in relationships.  This was okay for awhile because I was in an emotional coma and I damn sure didn't want to deal with his.  But that got old fast.  At the end of the day I just want to be special to someone and have them realize it at that time and not once they've lost me...is that too much to ask???

So I took a small break and got into "girls just wanna have fun" mode.  I have the bestest friends in the whole wide world, I'm gonna stop focusing on getting a guy and just hang out and have fun with my friends because when I'm with them I'm happy and carefree.  That was and still is one of the most important ingredients of getting over it.

While in "girls just wanna have fun" mode, an unsuspecting suitor approached and I said what the hell.  We went on a couple dates, did a couple thangs (wink*wink) and it was cool I guess.  It wasn't what I wanted as he was physically unavailable more times than not but he kind of filled a void, so I do what I do best...I rocked with it.  I started to get into him a little more than I was comfortable with and got nervous, but still I rocked with it.  In retrospect I subconsciously did alot of things to sabotage that situation.  I regret that to this day but hey it's spilled milk.

So after sabotaging that situation to a point of destruction I put myself on punishment.  Yes I put my own self on time out.  I realized that I needed a little more me time to get my mind right before I go ahead and drive me and someone else crazy.  I'm on month 7 of time out and guess what I wanna go outside and play!!!!

I get nervous about things from time to time but I gotta tell you that I'm downright scared.  I'm afraid that I'm still not ready and if not a whole year later, then when?  Or will I ever?  I'm afraid that I'll still give off that vibe, that horrible noise that only dudes can hear that makes them run away, you know sorta like that dog whistle.  I'm most fearful, hell I'm sh*tting in my pants that I'm just damaged beyond repair.  I don't want a hole in my heart, I don't want the next dude to have a first aid kit handy.  I'm a bouncerback. I'm 1 Tough Cookie!

So let's go....this is my chronicle... 

Love.Live Life.Write.Progress.

It is supposed to be anonymous, because we are anonymous.  We are nobody special, but it still happened to us.

Something about me...  hrm.  I'm 24.  My mom is 63 this year.  She retired 3 years ago.  My father died 2 years ago from stomach cancer.

This whole thing started out so surreally.  I had been in out of town, visiting a friend.  My mom called me, and we talked.  I got home that afternoon, napped, and fixed dinner.  Shortly after dinner, I received a call from my mother.  She was in the emergency room.  She had gone because, she said, she was throwing up blood.  But there was no need for me to come, not to worry about it.

(My mom is notoriously like this, yet she frequently believes we have been killed in gang violence or snowstorms if she can't reach us for 2 hours)

Of course, we went.  Boyfriend and I were both worried.  Anytime a relative is in the hospital, you can't help but worry.  The hospital is a building of worry.  We both believed she had a bleeding ulcer because she was throwing up blood.  Not great, but not impossible.

When we got there, we found out the truth -- she was not throwing up blood, she was coughing up blood.  It had started that morning (why hadn't she told me when she called earlier?)  They admitted her to the hospital, did x-rays, and found a mass in her right lung.  It was probably cancer, they said, but it could be an infection.  My mother was a smoker of at least 30 years.  I did not have much hope that it was an infection.

It's strange the things you learn about people when they're in the ER.  I learned that night that my mother had tested positive for TB several years ago, but had never had anything done about it.

At any rate, they hospitalized her.  They asked if she was anxious, did she need Valium?  Did she need something to help her sleep?  Yes, she said, give me everything you've got.  She was not the least bit nervous, but I suspect we were all annoying her.  After all, she felt fine.  She hadn't expected them to admit her, she told me later.

After an hour or so with everyone in our family in attendance (literally.  we're from a small Southern town, no fewer than 13 people were there by the time they managed to get her into her room).

They put IVs into her, and wouldn't allow her to eat because tests would begin tomorrow.

She asked me to stay with her.  Sent home my stepdad, and my brother.  My boyfriend stayed at a local friend's house, and left the car at the hospital, in case they kicked me out (she was in a semi-private room -- you can't stay overnight if they admit someone else).

I spent a miserable night freezing on a chair and watching the Olympics.  The night was long and boring.  I didn't get any sleep because she frequently needed my help navigating to the bathroom while doped up on valium and ambien and dragging an IV which she frequently forgot was plugged into the wall.  She claims she didn't sleep well, but the nurse took her blood pressure several times and put on those leg cuffs they use without her stirring.

I remember watching the Olympics, and thinking on the unfairness of it.  That my mother was in the hospital, hacking up blood, while these young, healthy people did things that no one else could do.  I changed the channel.

My mother was in the care of a doctor she hated.  He had done a surgery poorly on my grandfather nearly 7 years earlier.  My grandfather also had lung cancer.

Regardless, she put up with him and his test, though she frequently made sure that staff were informed that she wanted to be transferred to another, larger, hospital for any surgeries.

They didn't manage to get a piece of the mass in her lung for a biopsy, but they did manage to get some of the fluid around it, and the tests came back clear.  She was discharged 2 days later, and she sought out a heart and lung specialist in another town.

This specialist did manage to get a piece of the mass during his biopsy, and it came back as negative for cancer.  She was scheduled for a PET scan and for a fine needle biopsy.  

The fine needle biopsy rendered the unhappy news -- she had lung cancer.  Third time's a charm, right?  It seems unfair that we should get so many negatives back only to have us knocked down by one positive.

Unfortunately, my mother is the worst doctor pesterer in the world, so I have no idea what kind, what the prognosis is, or what our plan is.  She says it has made it into a couple of her lymph nodes, but not into any organs.

She told me yesterday while I was at work, and I went home to cry and hope and pray and try to figure out my place in it all.  She does not want me to take time off of work and bother myself with helping her.  It is going to drive me batty not to go.   I feel like I have to.  I feel like I have no choice.

I am very afraid.  I went through this once with my dad.  This has made it no less surprising that my mom is not immortal.

Gameplay (parte I)

El 5 de septiembre ya estará en todas las tiendas el nuevo título de Square Enix creado por TriAce en exclusiva para XBOX360. Una carismática historia con gráficos de última generación, sistema de combates en tiempo real... dedicamos los próximos dos días a los primeros minutos de juego de Infinite Undiscovery.

Gameplay (parte II)

Gameplay (parte III)

Gameplay (parte IV)