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Erik Gfesser

📍 Greater Chicago Area

Rave Run: Great Western Trail (Lombard, Illinois)

This post is my fourth in a series that I started a couple years ago, unabashedly based on a regular spread in Runner's World Magazine called Rave Runs, in order to share interesting routes with other runners. Why a post on running within a blog that concentrates on

Product Reviews: Part 6

This past week (August 1, 2013), my Amazon reviews hit the milestone of 2000 cast votes. I had originally written a draft post that marked the milestones of 250 written reviews and 1500 helpful votes (May 24, 2012 marked the milestone of 1500 cast votes), but these milestones were quickly

Google Analytics: 3.5 Years, 25k pageviews, 135 Countries

While reviewing my posts which are still in a draft state, I noticed that I still had not yet submitted a post on the recently reached trifecta of milestones for this blog: the 3.5-year anniversary of setting up Google Analytics (this history of this blog stretches back another 6

New Book Review: "Instant Drools Starter"

New book review for Instant Drools Starter, by Jeremy Ary, Packt Publishing, 2013, reposted here: Since it had been several years since I last used a rules engine to any significant extent on a work project, and introductory Drools community documentation seemed to be lacking, I had thought it might

Personal Reading List: 3Q2013

My personal reading list for July, August, and September 2013. Color Key: Special Notes, Currently Queued, Completed Reading. Updated throughout the Quarter. Common Errors in Statistics and How to Avoid Them (Fourth Edition), by Phillip I. Good and James W. Hardin, Wiley, 2012. Drools Developer's Cookbook, by Lucas

New Book Review: "Leadership Conversations"

New book review for Leadership Conversations: Challenging High Potential Managers to Become Great Leaders, by Alan S. Berson and Richard G. Stieglitz, Jossey-Bass, 2013, reposted here: The content of this book centers around different types of leadership conversations: to build relationships, to develop others, to make decisions, and to take

Pro Bono: IEEE Chicago Section Statistician - Part 2

This past month, I submitted a first post in a series that discusses some of my pro bono contributions as Statistician for the IEEE Chicago Section. As stated in that post, my goals are to work with the Membership Development Chair to meet his immediate needs, as well as explore

New Book Review: "R Graphics Cookbook"

New book review for R Graphics Cookbook, by Winston Chang, O'Reilly, 2012, reposted here: This book is the third that I have recently used to get up to speed on the R language and environment. The other two texts include "R in a Nutshell" and "

New Book Review: "Seven Databases in Seven Weeks"

New book review for Seven Databases in Seven Weeks: A Guide to Modern Databases and the NoSQL Movement, by Eric Redmond and Jim Wilson, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2012, reposted here: Over the past couple years, I have read considerably about non-traditional database products, whether they be categorized as NoSQL or NewSQL,

New Book Review: "The End of Competitive Advantage"

New book review for The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business, by Rita Gunther McGrath, Harvard Business Review Press, 2013, reposted here: While the term "competitive advantage" can be defined in more than one way, it can be argued