2 weeks ago a standard email landed in my inbox, subject: “Your password will expire in 14 days”. 2 weeks ago I deleted it. 1 week later, another email landed, same subject: “Your password will expire in 7 days”. Again, deleted it.
The guidelines at IBM require to change password every 180 days. I’m guessing we’re not the only ones with such a policy. Obviously the password must adhere to certain rules, for security reasons. Back to that story in a sec.
Yesterday (Thu) SWG went on a field trip to Jerusalem. Very cool trip, all day long, with a bus, to increase our bonding and team spirit (and save some gas/mileage on the company cars…).
I’m living just outside in Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem, although only 50min away, was more of a business destination then personal travel. And that’s not good – Jerusalem is a beautiful city, and if you’re visiting Israel, don’t miss it. I know just the guide to tour you around the city.
We started with breakfast (important), at Yad Hashmona. Excellent food, lots of it and great view combined for the perfect meal. We continued to Jerusalem, into the old city, entered through Jaffa Gate, next to The Tower of David (which really wasn’t David’s tower – it was actually Herod’s fortress, which he built in 37-34 BC, to safeguard his royal palace…).
We walked towards The Church of the Holy Sepculchre, passing Jewish, Armanian and Muslim quarters. Walked through parts of Via Dolorosa (Way of Grief), where according to tradition, Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion.
Around 2pm it was time to head towards The City of David, a virtual tour into the ancient city of Jerusalem. Their website is very informative (and supports English, Russian, Spanish and French – on top of Hebrew of course), lots of flash and movies – you can learn a lot from it on ancient times.
Around 5pm we went to lunch (I know – late lunch), and right on time. The City of David tour is quite intense, especially if you’re heading down Warren’s Shaft, an ancient tunnel, 1000 feet long, dark and narrow, that used to transfer water to the city from the outside. Amazing!
At 9pm I got back home, and sat down to check emails, handle the calls I had during the day, etc. My wi-fi works just find at home, and I opened up my Lotus Mobile Connect client, but got an error message, something about authentication failed. Authentication? Failed?!
Then it hit me – the password. It expired on Oct 31st, and I didn’t change it. And in order to change it from home I need to connect to the IBM network, but I can’t, because the password expired. Do you see where I’m getting at? Due to my lazziness from last week I “earned” a visit to IBM HQ on Friday evening… work/life balance anyone? where are all the HR folks?!
So, 2 insights to learn from this:
- Visit Jerusalem. It’s a magical city, with 3,000 years of history, well deserved of her place of honor among the New Yorks and Tokyos of the world.
- Change your passwords on time.
Last thing, which I plan to comment about in a future post: Facebook – to be or not to be (a friend). I started my own Facebook because a friend sent me an invite. 
Then another one. And another one. Now I have 27. It’s nice, no more. I had quite a discussion about the actual effectiveness of Facebook with the CTO of a Web 2.0 consulting company – not over yet. I’m still searching the added value of Facebook – now it looks more of a children social network than anything else, but maybe Facebook will do something about that.
