Surfing less, but enjoying it more

Bill Kalivas is vice president of regional sales for NextSentry Corp., the former CEO of Connect Northwest, and co-founder of LaunchPad events. Here’s what he had to say about his favorite sites:

I am basically connected to the Internet all day long, Monday through Friday and often on weekends. However, with the arrival of our 3-year-old son and our 9-month old daughter, my weekend surfing has decreased dramatically. I used “dramatically” very loosely in the previous sentence, knowing that my wife may read this article. I love you, honey!

Since I work in the tech sector, information is critical to me, and the Internet is my key resource. Like most people, throughout the day I use Google to research information. I use it to research clients, partners, competitors, investors, you name it. Google has set the bar for efficiency and speed.

I also subscribe to daily, customized newsletters from sites such as Networkworld. These allow me to keep up on the tech industry by receiving stories about the technologies and companies I am interested in.

I was recently introduced to a very informative site called Darkreading.com, considered one of the top Web security sites. Since I work in the information technology security industry, this has been an incredible source of information and has interesting blogs and video clips.

Inspiration and music

For inspiration I signed up for a daily e-mail devotional called, “Today in the Word Daily.” You can sign up for it at Moody.edu, and I must say this has been a great way to start each day.

At work I listen to smooth jazz in the background so I use MSN Radio powered by Pandora.com. You provide a song or the name of a singer you like, and it programs several music streams based on your preferences.

From time to time a friend will send me a link to a video clip at Youtube.com, which I usually wait to open until I get home. (You never know what might end up on your screen, so be cautious!)

News, sports, health

I like to keep up on what’s happening in our community, so each day I read the S-R online – at Spokesmanreview.com. On weekends, while my wife is shopping, of course, I like to read sports articles at ESPN.com and often keep up on former Gonzaga University players in the NBA and overseas.

For health-related issues I like WebMD.com and Menshealth.com.

Researching family history

Finally, over the past few years I have spent time tracing my family tree in this country and in Greece. For the best results I recommend Genealogy.com.

Although I have been estranged all my life from my biological father, whose parents moved to the U.S. from Greece, the Internet provided me with the resource to help find when and where my grandparents lived before immigrating during the early 1900s.

I was also able to locate family members and learn more about their lives. Recently, I learned more about where my family’s village is located in the Peloponnesus, near Kalamata. Although I lived in Greece in the early ‘80s while serving in the Air Force I was unable to find this information. For this reason alone I am very thankful for the Internet.