Wired News: Outsourcing to the Heartland

Outsourcing to rural America. Very cool

Worship on Sunday

Worship on Sunday was pretty good. I think the best part was the before service worship. We've changed things up at church and now we are doing "before service prayer" for about 30 minutes. We started with the idea that people would pray and the worship team would practice, both at the same time. But that didn't work too well as the people praying are in the same room as the worship team - and us practicing is a little distracting.

So we reworked the format to where we get set up pretty quick, practice, and then we do some worship music while they pray. This type of approach worked very well with the teens - because it provides a strong backdrop of worship during which people can pray. Worship music is sometimes good in helping block out "the noise of the world" and letting you focus on God, thus being able to hear his voice during prayer.

Sunday we were doing that and I was playing with my eyes closed when we went into a very sweet song - and I started hearing this very cool voice that sounded like... Joyce. Joyce granduated from high school this last spring and left the worship team when she went off to college - but it sounded like her, and opening my eyes, sure enough it was. She must be back in town for the holidays. That was very cool - because it was "her song" and she always flows in it so weel. Plus I didn't know she was going to be there - she just kind of jumped in. (Maybe Teresa asked her to). Anyway, it was a very sweet time of worship with us just flowing in that song and following where she lead. Probably the best time of worship of the service.

I just really like that impromptu - flow with the spirit - kind of stuff. It is so conducive to prayer.

Wal-Mart employee fired for Christmas email | The Register

While not the only point of the story, I think this is a good example of why the whole "separation of church and state" thing is carried just way to far, and how it shows that in some countries, they feel that we have nothing better to do here than be stupid and nit-picky.

"Deferred Success" is new term for failure? - Yahoo! News

"In 2005, some people wanted the word 'brainstorming' replaced by 'thought shower' so as not to offend people with brain disorders, and they also wanted 'deferred success' to replace 'failure' so as not to embarrass those who don't succeed."

For the most part, I hate PC words.

Lemur Species Named After John Cleese - Yahoo! News

Lemur Species Named After John Cleese - Yahoo! News

Yeah, that's me. I'm a cat.

On my way to work a few days ago. Opened the door to the garage, pushed the garage door opener, light comes streaming in the door and the door starts going up. I'm reading something and walking to the back of the car so I can put my laptop in the trunk. The sound of the door in my ears, as the door continues to rise.

THWACK

The sound/feeling of my head slamming into the door as I run into it looking downward at whatever I was reading.

I quickly look around to see if anyone say this graceful move on my part. No. Good. Yeah... wasn't me. I didn't just do that.

I wait for the door to finish raising, throw my computer in the trunk and jump in the car, pulling out and checking again to make sure no one is laughing. At the same time making a mental note - "I can get to the end of the garage and arrive at the door much faster than the time it takes for the door to get above my head level. Next time - stop and look before trying to exit the garage." Yeah... something I need to remember.

Well that was fun

I just got done paying my traffic ticket on-line. I got a speeding ticket a few weeks ago. I'm going out of town tomorrow and won't be back until Wed, and my court date is Tuesday. I figured I'd just call them and get it moved... but you can't do that, you have to go down in person. So I went down Friday... but since it was a holiday, the court was closed. (I didn't get it off - so I didn't think about it). So - my choice was to have a bench warrent issued - not a HUGH deal, but still something I didn't want to have happen, or just pay it. So I paid it.

I was thinking about trying for a plea bargin. Doing 48 in a 35 is a $140 fine and 4 points on my license. The $$ is bad enough, but the increase in insurance is probably the real killer. Sigh.

And even though I think it was totally unfair, and considered trying to fight it, once I read this:

Strict Liability: traffic offenses are strict liability crimes. This means that one’s intent is irrelevant. A person’s lack of intent to commit a particular offense is not a defense to a strict liability violation. All that matters is that the elements (eg: "defendant drove a vehicle Five (5) to nine (9) miles per hour over the posted speed limit" in Colorado Springs) occurred.

Radar: With a radar speeding ticket the only issue for the court to decide is the speed of the vehicle. The fact that one did not intend to speed, had a broken speedometer, or oversized tires, is not a defense to speeding. Again, speeding is a strict liability offense.

I decided it wasn't worth it. Basically, the fact that

• I didn't see any speed-limit sign, because I was driving west and the sun was in my eyes, as the Cop said, "Yeah, pretty bright out here today. Can I see your license?"
  
• The road was brand new (they just opened it)
  
• The road connects a road where the speed limit is 50 (I was going 48) to a road where the speed limit is 45, and
  
• About 1/4 of a mile past where I got the ticket, the speed limit goes back up to 45

Is irrelevant, because the fact was - regardless of intent, I was speeding.

Some days it is pretty cool to have long hair and wear a head-band... other days, not so much. Jaime got stopped a while back and the officer was "Please watch your speed young lady, we wouldn't want anything to happen to you. So this is just a warning. Have a nice day." For me the officer was like, "Yeah. Bright sun. Get your license and registration."

Oh well... its only money. :-S

House for sale, bride included - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com

House for sale, bride included - Countdown with Keith Olbermann - MSNBC.com: "Woman offers two-for-one package deal online"

Robbing Four Banks, on the Phone All the While

"When it comes to multitasking, it's hard to beat the woman who can rob a bank and never interrupt her cell phone conversation."

Takes all kinds...

A constant state of insecurity | InfoWorld | Column | 2005-11-04 | By Roger A. Grimes

An article discussing how easy it is to sniff plain text passwords in most hotels, hot spots, etc.

The gift of hospitality

In some Christian circles they talk about different gifts (strengths, etc.); one of them being the gift of hospitality. That is certainly a gift that Rich and Angela have. They hosted a Star Wars marathon at their home today. It started at 9:00 AM and probably went to after 10:00 PM. I was there from close to the end of 2, through the end of 4.

It was really fun, and they were so cool how they opened their home up. Their home isn't all that large, but they were comfortable having 20 or so people in it. Rich has a great sound system and a 90" TV that basically covers the entire end of his living room wall. Very cool. :)

Angela was great, cooking the whole time (hot cookies, brownies, chili dogs... yeah - so much for dieting).

Anyway, not that many people have this "gift" - and they certainly do. Was a very cool day.

Clyde - reminds me of some of the volleyball times in the trailer park. Everyone just getting together and having a good time.

Evanescence

My favorite band right now is Evanescence. While their genre is listed as goth rock. I saw one site (that I can't find now) that called it chamber rock. I think I like that term. I think the thing that I like about them most is Amy Lee's erie voice, and the passion in their songs brought on by her voice, the driving bass, drums and hard guitar, and (from the chamber rock point of view) some keys, strings, etc. that are in the background on many songs.

I usually listen to CDs in phases, where I'll listen to only one CD for a month or so. I've got through that at 3 times with Fallen. Usually I'll listen to one CD for a few months, finally get tired of it, and hardly ever go back to it. This has not happened with Fallen.

I've added Anywhere But Home to my Amazon Wish List - having gotten it from Blockbuster and watched it quite a bit. In the amazon review someone posted the easter egg, which is the grammy video. Very cool.

Also cool that Amy Lee and Ben Moody (original co-founder) met at youth camp and they were originally thought to be part of the Christian rock scene. Something that I think can be felt on several of their songs.

Its snowing!

Yikes. I just looked out the window and it is snowing. Brrr... I'm cold now.

Crockpot: Chicken ala King (and Chicken Soup)

A new recipe on my blog: "Tina and I have been pretty much splitting dinner duty lately, but I don't get home until 6:00 or 6:30 - which is a little late for us to start dinner. So I've been making things in the crock-pot. This worked well for dinner and then soup for lunch the next day."

Congress divided on broadcast flag plan | CNET News.com

"Earlier this year, a federal court threw out Federal Communications Commission regulations mandating the so-called flag, a device intended to prevent television viewers from freely copying digital broadcasts and reusing them. "

I wonder if this means it wouldn't be possible to TiVo HDTV. That would be a total drag.

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

"SAN CLEMENTE, California (Reuters) - A pizza parlor burglar who took the time to bake himself a large pepperoni to go, beat it when the overnight crew arrived but still got away with plenty of dough, police said."

That takes some guts (or stupidity) to make yourself a pizza while you are waiting for the safe. Especailly since it takes some amount of time for the oven to warm up, etc. Takes all kinds I guess. :)

Tiny Vegas home sits at center of housing craze - Real Estate - MSNBC.com

Tiny Vegas home sits at center of housing craze - Real Estate - MSNBC.com: "Manuel Corchuelo's 700-square-foot house in the Las Vegas neighborhood of Naked City, purchased for $30,000 in 1978, is currently on the market for $1.2 million. The tract home is rapidly being surrounded by high-rise condominium projects."

Hmm...

Google Quote of the Day,

The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities, Sophocles

Hmm... coming on the heels of my last post. Yeah... I know. Part of why I'm so upset, etc. is just myself. How I deal with things. How I hash them over and stew on them. Maybe I need to work on that...

What to do, what to do...

I've started a few entries with the following explanation, and here I go again... I used to blog about church stuff quite a bit - but I usually don't like to blog about things (especially personal things) when times are hard, I'm upset, etc. Too many people involved, too many people that might read by blog that are involved, etc. But every once in a while this is just my journal and I just have to get stuff out.

Last week, church was AWESOME. Practice was great, worship was great, the preaching was great. I was interested like I haven't been for a long time. Teresa always does a GREAT job at preaching. Always something from her heart, and from the Holy Spirit. Or so it appears to me. Of course, there was only like 1 person in church when we started worship, but that is pretty normal. Teresa just turned around towards us and said, "If it is just us and the sound team, and no one shows up, we're just going to worship God." In my opinion, that is how it always should be. We should worship God with all our might, regardless, and whoever else is there can follow along. That is how we lead the congregation into his throne room. But by 15 minutes or so into it (about 1/2 way) there were quite a few people. Anyway, it was just an awesome time. Jacque was over there rocking.

Jacque is a singer. She doesn't think she is all that great, and might not be. I don't know. But she is a worshipper. There are certain people you just connect with. The kind that worship like you do. I can still hear Di Stucki sing in some songs, and its been probably 8 or 9 years since I sung with her. But I would be worshipping and hear these angelic voices in my head and all of a sudden Di would start singing the same line. You just connect with some people. Jacque is like that with HOW she worships. She just rocks. You can tell what parts she feels are passionate and which are intimate, etc. Anyway, she was rocking and I always feed off of that.

And then Bobby was laying down some lines on his lead guitar, and he is so easy to follow. He'll just take it some place at times. Again, another person I can just worship with so easy. Plus I've watched him grow over the last... gee 4 or 5 years. From being this "kid" who wanted to play guitar, and knew how to some, to someone who lead the youth worship team, to an excellent lead guitar player on the adult team.

And then my baby was playing keys and singing (which is so awesome for me) and Michael was of course... well Michael - another person I can follow anywhere, and the rest of the team was all in sync. Steve with his "ad libs" which I can always hear in my head, even when he isn't there or the song is on the radio - and cause me to follow his voice, and everyone else. It was just awesome.

So last week was very good. The anticipation for this week was... hard. Pastor Joe had been in CA for a week, praying about what to do about the church. The church is getting smaller and smaller, and the finances are shrinking. There has been a feeling all summer that the church is going to close. Once Tina left I wasn't sure if I should stay or not. But I hate giving up and I'm extremely loyal to the worship team. So honestly, I've just been hanging in there, waiting to see if it will close - because then I won't have to make the decision to leave.

Jacque had quit at the office the week before last. Two Fridays ago was her last day, and that was hard. She felt in all good conscienceness that the church just couldn't afford her any longer, and she couldn't do it for free. So she had to quit. Pretty much some of the same things that Tina went through. I was wondering if she'd be back. Sometimes when you quit working in the office, you stop coming to church as well. But she was there the following Sunday (when things were so awesome) - so i was happy about that. And then I found out during the week that she and Spanky had left the church. That was her last Sunday. And I was pretty sad about that.

Worship team members come and go, its just part of being at Impact, which has a rather large turn-over rate. Larger than any church I've gone to before. You get used to it. All summer I've been worshipping every Sunday like it might be the last Sunday I worship with this team. Either because someone will leave, I'll leave, or the church will close. And all summer that has pretty much been how it has been. You come in one day and Teresa says "So and so has stepped down". And you know that you'll most likely never be part of a worship team with that person again, unless something really bizzare happens (and you end up at the same church), they come back, or most likely until you get to Heaven and you're playing together. (That is always my big "sliver lining" - "Well... some day I'll play with that person in Heaven. And then it will be awesome") So it was very sad.

So this Sunday I came into church and started setting up and looked over and knew I wouldn't see Jacque, and that saddened my Spirit. And then Rich (the lead sound tech) said, "You can set up closer to the drums because Bobby isn't going to be here today." I thought "great", sigh. I hate when Bobby ins't there. Oh well. So I started setting up and got all my stuff unloaded and Jaime came over and I said, "So Bobby isn't here today?", "Nope... And I doubt he'll be coming back. He was pretty upset." And I knew in my spirit that was true. Bobby is Jacque's son and because Jacque was so hurt, and upset, etc. when she quit - well Bobby probably is feeling bad for his mom (and whatever else might be going on) and so he probably quit too.

And it just hit me and I had to get out of there, so I had all my stuff unloaded and I always have to drive the Jeep around front. (We can't park in back of the school because it is a fire zone. There is only room in the back for the music trailer and Pastor Joe's car when he gets there). So I went out and got in the Jeep, drove it around front, and started crying. Its just so pointless. All the hurt people. All the people that tried so hard, that worked so hard, that gave their lives and finally just couldn't do it anymore. I called Tina and cried for a minute, then put on my happy face and went back into the church to finish setting up.

Practice was ok, other than the fact that I felt like Bobby might never be there again... but you never know. Maybe he was just taking the day off. Then it was time to start and Pastor Joe and Patti (his wife) were there. That is pretty extrodinary. Usually Pastor Joe doesn't show up until the worship service is about half or 2/3rds over. But he was there this morning. Something must be going on. Worship was pretty good - but there was a lot in the air.

Then Pastor Joe preached... Well really not so much preached, but just talked about where the church is. How things had been rough for so long: Teri leaving him, the church going through a split, people leaving, etc. Why he believes what he believes. He talked about how he has really hasn't been there for the church, for a long time. How if it hadn't been for Teresa and all her effort, the church would be gone. [Which is true... but it was Tina that held it together for 2 years - with help from Teresa and Jacque, and its Teresa - with help from Jacque that has been holding it together for the last 6 months. But the politically correct thing to do is just mention those who are present. To bring up people who are gone just makes people think about them, and that is a bad thing] So that upset me a bit that he didn't mention Tina - but hey, I didn't expect it.

He talked about how we in the American church are programmed to need a vision, but that isn't a new testament thing. That our vision is to do Christ's commission, and that is all we should need. So he isn't going to talk about a vision and a mission of the church to be "missions based" or "worship based" or whatever. We are a grace church and that is what we are. We don't need a vision.

He talked about how some pastor's like dealing with people's problems and fixing them; but that's not him. He hates people problems. He can't deal with them. He can't solve them. He is terrible as a counsoler. All he wants to do is teach and not deal with people problems. So if dealing with people problems is being a pastor, then he guesses he isn't a pastor.

He talked about he had wanted to give it all up. That he asked God to kill the church or let him kill it. But God told him to hang on. God let the church die, so that it could be reborn. "If a seed drops and lies on the ground, it just lays there. But if it dies, and is reborn, it bears fruit." God had to let the church die so it would bear fruit. This is a grace church, with a different ... (well not vision - because vision is an old testament thing - I forget the word used) whatever. We will teach grace, and things made get weird at times, but they'll be fun too.

God let the church get to the point it did because some people had to leave. People who had their own agendas. And now that they were gone, the church could be what God wanted it to be. [So Tina - who had cancer surgery on Tuesday morning and then came in Tuesday night to work with a speaker, did so because of an agenda. And Tina who had cancer surgery and came in that weekend, because Pastor Joe needed her to do something, did it because she had an agenda. Tina and Jacque, who with Teresa moved the entire office, mostly by themselves, and laid on the floor and cried because they were so exhaused, and so frusturated because Pastor Joe wouldn't come over and help move one box, and the furniture and boxes were so heavy for them, but they had to get moved in. And then when they did get moved in, when they thought and planned and figured out how to make the 3 offices work for the 7 people who needed to be in there; then Pastor Joe came in and said that Tina couldn't share the back office with him, but needed to move her stuff out, move the stuff out of the middle office, and she needed to take that office, because he needed the back one to himself - and then for the next 6 months he never set the office up. He never came in and actually used it as an office. After they all just submitted, sacrified their own time, their family time and worked so hard - because they believed in the dream of Impact - that was all because of their own agendas.] So you look at Tina, and Jaque, and Roger and Rachel, and all the others - and they all had their own agendas. They were in God's way, and now that they are gone, God can do with the church what he wants. Yeah, that ticked me off to no end. But maybe that isn't what he meant. That is always a good church spin/PoliticalCorrect thing to say - "The bad ones are gone and now God can do what he needs to." It gives the people hope and makes the feel better.

I'm a Pace (PDP test) and very loyal. And I'm a father with 2 girls. No boys. I'm it. The only man. I'm fiercly protective of my girls. And one of my girls was just attacked. In my younger days I've been known to "come out of my shell" (of being an introvert) and beat into someone for doing that. But I'm a Christian now, and that isn't very Christ like.

So - Pastor Joe has seen the light now. God is going to rebuild, and he is going to try and follow the spirit more. So maybe the church is going to turn around. But what does that mean?

The he said, "If you aren't having fun here, then I really suggest that you find another church where you can have fun. Because we can't rebuild and have people here who aren't having fun and who are bitter." Well, I'm certainly not having fun, and I am bitter. I've seen too much.

So I was angry anyway, and then after service when I was packing up (we had 5 minutes to pack up or pay extra fees because we only have the building till Noon and it was 11:55), Teresa walked up and told me that Bobby had stepped down from the team. And I just started shaking. Tina, Roger and Rachel, Tina Nance, Jacque and Spanky, and now Bobby. Yup, all people who were just here with their own agendas.

I was so mad I couldn't even eat or stay at home. I went home, unloaded my equipment, and went and saw Dreams. (Where I wanted to just reach around and tell the woman behind me to SHUT UP - but I figured partially it was just the mood I was in (yeah... ya think? ;)).

So - what to do. The choice seems clear. Pastor Joe said it. "If you aren't having fun, I suggest you go somewhere else, where you can have fun." - And I always have an open door to do ministry with the Tom and Jennifer. But it isn't that easy. I love the worship team. My baby is on the worship team. And she is growing every week. She looked like such the young woman yesterday. It saddened me that Tina doesn't get to see that. (Tina knows the church is hurting, and it just tears her up to come in and see the people). Do I want to miss that? Do I want to step down and not play with her every week? And I love Teresa and Greg. Teresa and I had a rough time at one point, but I know she is called to be a worship director. She flows in the spirit. She follows God during a service. I'm a rut person, I'm a loyal person, I'm a passionate and loving person. I don't want to lose playing on the team. Steve is there. Michael is there.

So - even though I'm not having fun, I have a lot to lose. And that is the boat most everyone who has left has been in. That was certainly the place Tina was at. But she just couldn't take it any longer. That is the place I believe Jacque was at.

And its not Pastor Joe's fault. He'll tell you straight out. He is who he is. He doesn't believe a church needs a vision. He doesn't believe a church needs elders and trustees. He isn't a good counsoler. He avoids dealing with people problems. He believes that church is a ministry from God - and that God is our loving Father who only wants good for us. If the ministry is hard - then you are doing it wrong. If the ministry takes too much time - then you are doing in wrong. So he is probably never going to be what Tina wanted from him. He is probably never going to be what other people want from him. He is never going to deal with people problems. He is never going to be a leader (either you know how to do ministry and its from God or you don't. He doesn't need to spend time showing you how to do that.). He is never going to be in the office 9 - 5. (If its hard or something you don't want to do - its not from God). And its unreasonable to put those expectations on him. We are all who we are. I was raised with a strong work ethic. I was raised that the man takes care of the family, no matter what. The family comes first, not the man. That isn't how Pastor Joe is - and it is unreasonable for me to expect him to be me. He isn't. (And he has strengths that I don't have).

So the question is - can I serve with that kind of teacher (because as he said, he isn't a pastor or a leader) as the head of my church? Is being on the worship team with Teresa, Greg, Steve, Domonic, Michael and my baby Jaime, worth it? Can I have a good heart, listen to God, worship Him, and get something out of the services. Or will I continue to be so mad, so frusturated and so hurt by all that the lack of leadership and effort has done to my wife, my friends, and to me?

I don't know. Pastor Joe says things are going to change. But what does that mean. It probably means things are somehow going to get better. But it doesn't mean he is going to change. He is who he says he is - and that is fine. But can I put up the good fight? Can I give up Thursday nights with Tina to practice. And then get up at 6:00 on Sunday so I can load my equipment for 30 minutes, go set up for 45, practice for an hour, so I can do worship in a church where the Pastor, the example to the people, usually blows off worship? But maybe that has changed. Maybe at the very least he has gotten a revelation that part of being a Pastor is at least showing up.

And all of this is not how it is supposed to be. Being a Christian and going to Church is not supposed to be about being angry, about leaving church shaking you are so mad. Can I put down this "ugliness" that is in me, stop talking to Tina about it and ripping open her wounds, and just let things be how they are, and go for just the worship.

I don't know. And after writing all of this... I still don't know. But I do think writing this has helped. I think it is causing something to happen in me.

Maybe it will be alright. Maybe things will change. Maybe things will get better. Maybe so much better that we'll all be happy and it will be a good place, and Tina will come back.

But it will still be sad regardless. There are people that have left - good people - people who did all that was within them to do - that will never be back. And that is sad. It is sad because it was a dream we all had. A dream we all fought for. A dream, in my opinon, that God had. And it will never come to pass. At least not with that exact set of people.

So - I'll just have to put my anger down, my hurt down, my offenses for other people, and talk to God about it. Really talk to him. And see what he wants me to do.

Thanks for listening. Most likely no one has read this far. Too depressing. Too "ugly". But hey... sometimes I just need to talk - and I'm too much of an intravert to do it in person.

The movie theater is NOT your personal therapist room

Yesterday was a hard day, more on that later, so I went to the movies, just to get away from it all. At first I thought about going to see some shoot 'em up, army, honor, loyalty type movie - but I couldn't really find anything that looked good that was playing at the time I got there. So I went to see Dreams (which was really good). Kurt Russel and Dakota Fanning, both of whom I like.

But when I first got there it was almost exclusivly parents with their pre-schoolers... "Uh oh, is this a little kids film?" (It is a family movie, but not just a little kid movie, again, I really liked it). But I decided to give it a shot and sat down.

Directly behind me I could hear two women talking. One rather loudly, the other mostly just agreeing, saying "Uh huh", etc. Basically one pouring out her story, and the other just agreeing. I felt for the woman, but come on... is the movie theater, with your (2 to 4 little kids - I didn't turn around and look) really the place to do this? Statements like the following:

Much talk about what sounds like foster kids - because she was discussing so many different ones. ADD and other problems, grades, their parents, etc.

Yeah, I told James he couldn't come up yet. He has to get his life in order. He comes up and says how much he missed David, but I think its just an excuse to have someone take care of him. James... one of her foster kids?

Yeah, he just lays around and watches the TV. I wished he'd do something around the house.OK... maybe her husband? But he sounds like one of the kids. Even though I wished she'd just be quite, I can't help but hear her - she is really loud

Yeah, I wish he'd just win his stupid lotto. Then we'd be all set. He could get a maid, so I wouldn't have to clean up after him. And if wasn't against the church rules, he could get a concubine too (laughs), then everything would be perfect. He wouldn't need anything from me, and we could just hang out together and have a good time. OH MY GOSH. Like I really want to know that much about your personal life

Then the previews start, and she is still talking... I'm HOPING she is going to be quite during the movie. She tells one of the little kids, "Now you are going to have to be quite, so people can hear the movie wants it starts" - A good sign.

The movie starts - the talking stops. I sigh with relief. Cause I'm about "this" close to going and getting a manager or saying something to her, and I'm usually too much of an intravert for that.

And then in one scene Dakota Fanning opens her bedroom window like she is going to sneak out. "Wow. That is so Jennifer", and she pulls open the window and climbs out onto the roof, "Yup, exactly like Jennifer", walks over the edge and jumps into a pile of leaves, "Exactly like Jennifer. When she's 17 that would be Jennifer." At this point I just want to turn around and say, "For the LOVE OF GOD, would you SHUT UP".

But I decide that wouldn't be very appropriate (but "For the LOVE OF GOD" makes me think of Nick Black, Tiffany and Lindsey, and that is cool - another story for another time), so I just sit there, and luckily I either got into the movie so much, or she didn't find anyting else to compare to her life, that I never heard her say much else.

I just don't GET people who are so wrapped up in themselves that they do this kind of thing in a movie theater FULL of people (there were familes who split up because they couldn't find 3 seats together - it was packed).

So for anyone out there who might read this and talk a lot in the theater... please keep it down, please stop once the movie starts, and PLEASE, PLEASE for the LOVE OF GOD, don't talk about your personal life. The rest of us really aren't that interested and would rather not hear all about it.

Chili Rellano Casserole

After making my Chili Rellano Casserole today, I updated the recipe. Using a 9x13 pan, it works better with 2 layers and I had to cook it for an hour and a half to get it firm.

Tiffany called and asked a question about the recipe a week or so ago, so it was sounding good. I made it to freeze and have later, but I had to sample a piece of it now anyway. Yum! :)

Mrs. Fields Cookies & Cream Chiller

TheChiller E-mail Blender is pretty cool. Don't know that I'd ever actual use it, but it is cool to mess with. Its powered by Anagram Genius. The things you can find on the web... :)

Vision

The bible says, Without vision, the people will perish. or something like that. I looked for it today but could not find it... so maybe that is a paraphrase. Anyway, I've heard plenty of sermons on it, so I'm sure it is there. ;)

I was thinking about vision this morning, particular in the context of organizations. Being where I am, at work, at church, etc.; its one of the things I do. Think about process stuff, how organizations work, etc. And this morning I was realizing how important vision is. That's not really a big revelation or anything, I mean there are plenty of books and topics on it. Plenty of speakers who will tell you how important it is. But regardless, not everyone gets it.

I've been in groups that have no vision other than to "keep getting work so we keep getting paid". An admirable goal, after all, that is why we work... but not very good as a vision. I'm in a group right now where the vision is much more than that. I don't know that the vision is written down or anything, but we take pride in what we do, feel that it makes a difference to the company (which is always a great thing) and do a good job for the customer. Our boss has always been good at looking for new work. We started with a generic system that could be used to detect fraud - seeing as our first customer was in the job of detecting fraud. Since then we've branched into many different areas: network management, network security, credit card fraud, etc. In one sense our system is a data reduction and correlation system, and we wrote it independent of the domain. Thus we can use it for all of the above. But many groups get stuck on "what we do is fraud", for instance. Our boss has always had the vision to see past that. Which is such a moral boost for architects and designers. I've been on other systems where "our system could do so much more if we could just get other types of customers" but the bosses have kept focused to just one customer. Our boss doesn't do that. He is always looking for new ways in which the system can be used. New uses to the business and company. That has kept us fresh over the years. I've been on this project for 10 years, and I'm still not bored... because what we do keeps changing. We keep finding new ways for it to be used, which presents new types of problems, requiring enhancements to the system, etc.

I wasn't so much thinking about the good aspects of this, this morning, as the bad. Thinking about an organization I know where there is no vision and very little leadership... and it made me realize how fortunate I am to be working in an organization where that its true.

People need a leader and they need a vision. Without out it, they "perish".

PCWorld.com - United States to Require RFID Chips in Passports

Big Brother type discussion. Will it be easy to scan the data (has to be within a few inches of a reader). Looks like it is more secure, but the controversy goes on.

Official Google Blog: The point of Google Print

Official Google Blog: The point of Google Print: "Imagine sitting at your computer and, in less than a second, searching the full text of every book ever written. Imagine an historian being able to instantly find every book that mentions the Battle of Algiers. Imagine a high school student in Bangladesh discovering an out-of-print author held only in a library in Ann Arbor. Imagine one giant electronic card catalog that makes all the world's books discoverable with just a few keystrokes by anyone, anywhere, anytime."
Wow - some cool stuff on the google blog site. This is my last post for today, go read them for yourself if you want to see more. As always, they are doing some cool stuff.

Official Google Blog: Supporting open source

A very cool things. First the Summer of Code and now they are contributing to other programs. Very cool to see industry and schools getting involved in Open Source.

Official Google Blog: Rumor of the day

Official Google Blog: Rumor of the day

You may have seen stories today reporting on a new product that we're testing, and speculating about our plans. Here's what's really going on. We are testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google

Cool. So I can submit my blog pages to google and have a better chance of them showing up on searches. :) ;)

development standards

Within our development team we have standards on how mail subjects should look when coding reviews, design reviews, etc are sent out. The standard is in place to insure that certain information is easily asertained from the subject. This is done because requiring that people open the mail to determine the information is too slow; given some of us can get up to 20 of these mails a day and have many outstanding during a particular point in time.

A personal pet peeve of mine is people that can't seem to format a timestamp correctly. There are many ways to represent time (2005-10-25, 25-Oct-2005, 10/25/05, etc.) - and pretty much any as good as any other (unless you have specicial requirements). The key is picking one and everyone using it. That way it is standard. It just gets me that some people can never quite figure it out. I mean, if your job is to write code - something that in general has to be very exact, and you can't even get a timestamp right... well...

Sigh.

fredoland

fredoland contains link to the Flock download and is the author's (or main contributor, etc.) blog.

Advanced browser gives taste of Web 2.0: ZDNet Australia: News: Software

Talks about Flock. Looks interesting.

Father of Wiki Quits Microsoft; Moves to Open-Source Foundation

Ward Cunningham, one of Microsoft's high-profile hires, is leaving the Redmond software company to join the open-source tool group, The Eclipse Foundation

The end of VCRs

Read the following on an email from TiVo.

Many manufacturers have halted production on VCRs forever! 2006 will be the last year for VHS movie releases.

Wow. I haden't even heard that. Not that it effects me much. We rarely use videotape or the VCR any more. We always rent DVDs and have quite a few - although we do still have some tapes so will keep our VCR. Also, I'm a big TiVo user, so now that we are into the normal fall season on TV, we don't even watch movies all that often.

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Arkansas Woman Gives Birth to 16th Child

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Arkansas Woman Gives Birth to 16th Child: "Michelle Duggar (search) just delivered her 16th child, and she's already thinking about doing it again."

Internet crime shifts to Russia - Yahoo! News

Internet crime shifts to Russia - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Trafficking in stolen credit cards has largely shifted to Russian-language Web sites after an international crackdown sparked disarray among English-speaking scam artists, a U.S.
Secret Service official said on Wednesday."

More of the kind of stuff I deal with.

To Bike or Not To Bike

Been up for a few hours, reading email - I always have a ton of unread, and reading some blogs - waiting for the sun to come up. (BTW: My kid writes a great blog - I so enjoy reading it. What a young woman she is turning out to be!)

Anyway - the temp is dropping, but the cloud cover is disappating, and I think the wind is reducing. So colder, but less wind. Hmm...

Guess I'll jump in the shower, grab a lite breakfast and then head down to the bike rental place, getting a feel for the weather on the way. After all - it is my last day on the Island. I can always get warm on another day. It can't be as bad as standing on the side of the interstate in Montana all day flagging traffice and having your boss yell at you for getting in the truck to try and get warm because its like 0 degrees outside, you can see a car coming from a mile away and one passes by only every 10 minutes or so - so really, what does it hurt to sit in the truck watching in the rear view mirror when ITS ONLY 0 DEGREES OUTSIDE.

Hmm... that was a random thought. :)

CNN.com - Python vs. alligator in swamp - Oct 5, 2005

CNN.com - Python vs. alligator in swamp - Oct 5, 2005: "A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said."

Mac Day 2 - yup, we are sooo on vacation

The plan - get up, eat breakfast, do the tour, check out the fort, go for a horse ride, then eat lunch and maybe go for a bike ride.

Actual - get up, lazy around, eat some breakfast, go for the tour, hang out at the fort awhile. Stop back at the room, go eat lunch (Patrick Sinclairs again! Rebuens, chowder, and Bass Ale - Tif - you were right. I did like it!). Bike ride? A little cold out, but sure, maybe. Walk two blocks to the bikes... nah, back to the room. Take a 2 hour nap. Get up at 4:45 - too late to do anything (bikes, horses, etc close at 5:00). Ok, hit a few shops, buy a Mac Island running jacket - I needed a new jacket, it was nice, and 20% off. Plus its from MI and the Island, so that is cool.

Go to the Villiage Inn (no - not the chain). Get Whitefish on a Maple Plank. Their speciality. Yum - very cool! First time I've had fish on a plank, although I've seen it popping up a lot lately on the cooking channel. Was very good, and would be so easy to do. I may try it at some point.

Have a few after dinner drinks, chat with some folks, then back to the room.

*Maybe* I'll get up early tomorrow before we head back and go for a ride, while Tina sleeps in. We have to check out at 11:00 - so we'll see. We are so on vacation and just having a lazy fun time. But if I came here much, I think I'd bring my own bike and explore. The Island is very big, has tons of trails, and would be so fun. But it was kind of cold and windy today - fine on the tour, but I'll have to see how it is in the morning before deciding if I want to go for an hour ride... I'm thinking yes right now - but we'll see.

Then back "home". We were thinking of going up to Canada or maybe across the UP for a bit... but we figure we'll get around, get some lunch, buy some fudge and then just head back. Lazy time for us. :)

WorshipJunky Photos - Mac Day 2

WorshipJunky Photos from day 2 on the Island. Mostly from out tour and pictures from the fort. This is where the War of 1812 started! Learned something new today - I didn't know that.

Looks like a good day

Cool and partially cloudy. 40% chance of rain, but by 11AM less chance of rain and only about 58% cloud cover. High around 60. We'll probably take a tour of the island this morning and then maybe once it looks a bit nicer go horseback riding or something.

Well... breakfast is done and time to get around - so I'll "see" the you later. Check my photo blog for more pictures later this afternoon or evening!

Weather Underground: Current Gaylord Nexrad Radar Mapbbbbb

Hmmm... early this morning I could just see the system that is to the island. But now I can see one that is heading across the top of the lower pennisula and looks like it is heading right for the island. But doesn't look too bad. Hopefully we won't get much rain. Still dark here. How weird. I'm use to it being light by this time of the day.

BTW: Not sure if the link above will show "current" or this point in time. Very cool though to click on "6" frames and Speed "fast" and watch the system move. Again - the internet is a cool thing.

Fudge on the Island

So the island is known for its fudge. Fudge shops on the Island are more plentiful than pizza shows in Marlboro MA. There is one every 3 or 4 stores. In fact, in a 1/2 mile strip (or shorter) one of the local fudge shops has 3 stores!

So we are walking down the street and this guy walks up to an Information Booth. Little booth with all kinds of pamphlets on things/sites to do/see on the island, and there a few ladies inside of it to help with guestions.

Guy: "Hey, is this an information booth?"
Lady: "Yes, how can I help you?"
Guy: "Could you possibly tell me where I might be able to buy some fudge?" innocent look on his face

And then he starts cracking up... Well it made Tina and I laugh. :)

Early morning comments

Yeah - I love WiFi. Sitting in my bed & breakfast room on the island, listing to the horses wake up, and doing some work, surfing, catching up on email, blogging. Its still dark out, but the island is starting to come to life, and I'm sitting here connected, because there is a wifi router 10 feet from me. Its a cool thing. Gotta love technology. :)

On a side note - stupid blogger comment spam. Yeah... like I'm going to follow a link on a "your blog is so cool - come look at mine" type comment. Sigh. I'm off to cleanup comment spam... well in a bit.

Internet Archive: Petabox

Just in case you need to store a petabyte (1 million gigabytes) of data. :)h

WorshipJunky Photos

Pictures from Mackinaw Island, MI. This is the final picture from day 1. Its at sunset looking towards the bridge. If you follow the "home" link, you'll be able to browse all 25 of them.

SPACE.com -- Scientists Discover 10th Planet's Moon

"Brown labeled the object a planet and nicknamed it Xena after the lead character in the former TV series ``Xena: Warrior Princess.'' The moon was nicknamed Gabrielle, after Xena's faithful traveling sidekick."

Geeks and SciFi movies. :)

Serenity

Went and saw Serenity on Saturday. I enjoyed it. It was partially fun because the 3 people sitting next to me were hugh fans.

P1: How are you doing?
P2: Awesome, I'm seeing Serenity in 15 minutes

and comments like, "Oh my gosh, Joss Whedon is such a genius".

The movie was good. A must see for any Firefly fan, and should be enjoyable for any SciFi fan who hasn't seen Firefly as well. There were a few unexpected twists. Don't want to say too much more, as it might be a spoiler.

Bicycle sales boom in US amid rising gas prices - Yahoo! News

"More bicycles than cars have been sold in the United States over the past 12 months, with rising gas prices prompting commuters to opt for two wheels instead of four."

The Future Is Worth Fighting For

"There's no power in the 'verse that can stop me.", River - on last night's episode of Firefly.

Going to see Serentiy today. Can't wait. Should be very cool. :)

Chip Helps Electric Outlet Go Broadband - Yahoo! News

"TOKYO - The common electric socket will serve as your home's connection to broadband with a new chip developed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. — doing away with all the Ethernet cables or the hassle of hooking up to a wireless network device."

Very cool.

Verne's monster of the deep caught on camera

"A GIANT squid, the elusive behemoth of the deep that inspired Jules Verne, has been observed alive for the first time, scientists reported yesterday."

Oil prices prompt another look at shale - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com

Colorado is one of the main Rocky Mountain states to have shale oil. Wikipediate provides another article on shale oil.

And from an artcile in Billings Gazette:

A reserve estimated at nearly 2 trillion barrels of oil buried deep in rock formations stretching from western Colorado into northeastern Utah and southwestern Wyoming may be a way to ease U.S. dependence on shrinking foreign oil supplies. The newly enacted energy bill was written to help open the way for research programs and commercial leasing of federal land containing oil shale.

Part of the discussion is that shale oil could reduce are dependence on foreign oil. Which would be a good thing imo. Isn't part of what funds terrorism the profits from OPEC. I know there are all kinds of issues (environmental, cost, etc.) - but its probably a good thing that they are at least starting to explore it again.

InformationWeek > Security & Privacy > Judge Sides With Visa, Mastercard In Test Of Consumer Protection Law > September 26, 2005

"MasterCard attorney Gary Halling countered that the law's disclosure intent had already been satisfied because the mid-June press release that announced the CardSystems breach had attracted prominent media coverage throughout California and spurred a hearing in U.S. Congress."

I think the law's intent was that consumers should be individually notified. But I guess the judge disagreed.

Serenity

Only 10 days until Serenity comes out. I can't wait. :)

Overheard in the "store"

Downstairs grabbing a Diet Mt Dew from the "store". It sells soda, pre-made sandwhiches, salads, snack food; a little of this and that. Some place to grab something when the full blown cafe is not open. Seems I hit it along with everyone else, because the line is long and I'm standing there getting impatient, watching the only cashier work on making some Starbucks.

C: While this milk is heating up, I'll take the next person in line. What do you need? pointing to the next person in line
M: Just this cookie
C: That will be 95 cents, motions to the next person. And You?
W: I'll have a medium cheese tortalleni
C: Woefully looking at the espresso machine and sighing. I'm really new at this and don't know most of these drinks. You'll have to tell me how to make a Cheese Tortalleni
W: Its a salad
C: Oh... if its Italian I don't know what it is. I thought it was some coffee drink

My TiVo has gone wireless

TiVo has the capability to be hooked up to a wireless network - and even though I have one, I just hadn't gotten around to doing it. Mostly because I'm a procrastinator, and it is usually some form of "pain" that drives me to do things. Our TiVo upstairs was hooked up to a phone line, and that seemed just fine. However, the girls said they'd get me a 2nd one for my birthday, but would let me pick it out. Again... procrastinator. But now I *need* it, since the new fall season is starting and there are just too many shows on at the same time, that I want to see. Why stress over it? Just go get the 2nd box and set it up.

And since the 2nd box is downstairs, and I don't want to run a phone line through the family room and across the kitchen to the phone jack; I *NEED* a wireless connection. :)

So I got it set up - well partially. I got the 2nd box all configured and setup. While I was doing that, I also configured the upstairs box to connect to my home network. Took some playing around, but it got connected. The signal seems to vary in strength quite a bit - so we'll see how successful it is. For just talking to TiVo, I don't think it needs to be all that good. But for beaming TV shows between the boxes, it probably needs to be pretty strong.

Once I got the downstairs box setup, I tried connection another network adaptor, but it just doesn't seem to be working. So I'll play with that a bit more today.

And - while I was doing all of this, I tried connecting my serial cables from the TiVo to the Cable box. I had tried before but it didn't work... LUser error? I'm not sure. Because this time I tried it on the downstairs box and it replied with something along the lines of "Yup, that worked." Woo hoo! So I went up-stairs and tried that again, and it worked too! This is great news for me, as I've been missing a few shows because the IR controls didn't work exactly right and the channel didn't get changed. I've missed two episoides of Firefly because of this. Sniff. But now all is good. No such problems with one computer talking directly to another, without the stupid IR in the way. :)

So - a few more kinks (like is the adaptor downstairs no good, is the software too old on the new box - it ships old and then gets upgraded, or what?) - But I'll probably try and get them ironed out today. If not, well I'm out of town Wed - Sat, so will have to mess with it when I get back. But I'm "this" close to having it all hooked up. Technology is a cool thing.

In theory I can even download the shows from my boxes to my laptop and watch them there. Pretty sweet. :) - Might come in handing during long meetings at work. ;) (Not really - since I run most those meetings - but I'm sure other people would appreciate it. :) )

CNN.com - A book that googles Google - Sep 12, 2005

CNN.com - A book that googles Google - Sep 12, 2005: "Battelle explains how AltaVista might have become what Google is today if its innovations hadn't been mismanaged by Digital Equipment Corp. and Compaq Computer."

Yeah... I always wondered about that. AltaVista was a pretty good search engine written by Digital. For quite some time it was my primary search engine - now you hardly ever hear of it.

Identity Theft Scam - scammer claims you've failed to report for Jury Duty

Snopes Snopes article on an Identity Theft scam, "The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest." This is real, has been reported on a number of web sites, and has been reported as happening in a number of states.

EBay to Buy Skype - New York Times

EBay moves into the VoIP business.

Samsung builds foundation for 32 GByte Flash cards

32 GByte Flash memory. Also mentions 160 GByte 2.5-inch hard drives. Wow.

The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security

#2 - Enumerating Badness - I see that in a lot of different areas. Don't look for what you think is bad - instead, look for anything that isn't good. That way you find bad stuff you never thought of before.

Google bomb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I had never heard of Google bombing until someone sent me mail saying that "miserable failure" was linking to the President. Seeing as this is somewhat a form of fraud, I would have thought I would have heard of it sooner. Oh well, learn something new every day. :)

Google Talk

OK, so Google Talk seems cool. I'll have to install it and give it a shot at some point.

Vint Cerf goes to Google

This Press Release talks about Vint leaving MCI and going to Google. Vint was always a big fan of Sheriff. We'll see if somehow that relationship still continues. The fact that he is going there again confirms that they are doing some very cool stuff.

Louisiana's Wetlands @ National Geographic Magazine

This is an article from last Oct., talking about how New Orleans could be in real trouble if hit by a hurricane.

MCI LAUNCHES TOLL FREE SERVICE TO REUNITE LOVED ONES IMPACTED BY HURRICANE KATRINA

We provide a toll-free service to help in the Katrina effort. I didn't have anything to do with it, but its cool. :)

Wired News: A Disaster Map 'Wiki' Is Born

Wired article about http://www.scipionus.com/. A google based map of the Katrina disaster area with ability to provide your own information. Very cool use of the technology.

Wired News: Furniture Causes FedEx Fits

Wired news artical about the previous post.

FedexFurniture.Com

Wow - only in America. I just think this is really cool on so many levels

• I can't believe that some corporate siste is so upset that it is going after him.
• Its so cool that the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society is helping him in his fight
  
• I think it is cool he didn't just roll over
  
• Its a very creative idea
  
• Having uses an old cable spool for a dinning room table, boxes for end tables, and boards & cement blocks for shelving - when Tina and I first got together - its just cool.

Anyway - an interesting site. And the blog is cool too - all the stuff that is going on, corporations sending him free furniture, etc. Blogs and the internet are cool. Anyone can be a start - you just have to be creative. :)

Well that was prophetic

Tina and I are getting ready for work this morning. I'm brushing my hair and she is blow-drying hers. The blow dryer is making a humming noise, but it is getting louder and quieter.
Tina: I think this blow dryer is about to go out
She pulls it away from her, looks at it, and moves it back towards her head
Blow-dryer: Humm, whirl, CLANG
Tina jumps, yanks it away from her head and stares at it
The blow-dryer gasps one last time and the coughs out a puff of smoke
I start laughing.

Evelyn Waugh Quotes - The Quotations Page

Evelyn Waugh Quotes - The Quotations Page: "Punctuality is the virtue of the bored."

I'll agree with that... I'm rarely bored - and always running late. :)

Wired News: Flickr Fans to Yahoo: Flick Off!

Google seemed to do this just fine with its google portal, gmail and Blogger. When Blogged was bought out by google, we weren't forced to start logging into google to get to Blogger, or log into our gmail account, etc.

I understand the underlying idea - from the company point of view, but it doesn't seem necessary.

That's just crazy!

I'm proceeding down the checkout line with my lunch at work, and I overhear the following conversation between the cashier and a friend of hers, as she rings me up.

W: Well maybe if they just played the music and didn't sing the words.
C: I don't know
W: Well maybe it would be quiter that way
C: I don't know. Originally they wanted to do Knocking on Heaven's Door, but she said that was too loud - so told them they had to do a song by Gun 'n Roses.
W: What? That's just crazy!
C: I know. I've never heard anything like it before. Its just crazy!

Denver Airport Saw the Future. It Didn't Work. - New York Times

DIA is turning off the automated baggage system.

Tarragon Roasted Chicken

Made Tarragon Roasted Chicken a week ago Tuesday. Jaime told someone at work and she keeps asking me to post the recipe. (Well she asked me to write it down, but what would be the sense in that, when I can post it? ;) ) So - I finally got around to it today, while taking a break from working on the yard.

Or course now I'm really hungry and thinking how good it would be for dinner! :)

Home Depot is alright

Any place I can get a freshly grilled brat at 9:30 in the morning is alright in my book. :)

(/me grabs new weed-eater line and goes back to working in the yard).

Yeah... its just a Def Leppard kind of day.

As you can tell from my previous post... its one of those days. Well really weeks. I can tell quite a bit about what kind of mood I'm in, by the music I listen to. I go back and forth between things like Evanescence, Avril Lavine (sp?), etc.; Worship music; and hard rock like Def Leppard, Van Halen, Aerosmith, etc.

I'm currently in a hard rock frame of mind.

Rarely is doing the wrong thing, the right thing to do

Living mostly in a technical world (as a Software Architect), and having a certain amount of control; I can almost always do "the right thing". And even when I have to maybe let something go because it isn't pure or perfect, I have a good enough reason for doing so. But it is vary rare.

I don't get the management philosophy that doing the wrong technical thing, is the right thing to do, because it appeases more people. "We know that is the right thing. And you know that is the right thing. But some people are having issues with pursuing that course... so tell them their way is right. Even though all the senior level people know it is wrong. It will make them feel better." And then there are the explanations about how polictically or feel-good or group-dynamic wise - it is right, even though it is wrong. I just don't get it or buy it. I think that just promotes people continuing to do the wrong thing, and not learning.

But what do I know... I'm not in management. And part of me hopes I never get pointy-haired enough where I understand it either...

Geeks to hold open-source campout | CNET News.com

If I lived in CA, I'd probably go. It sounds like fun to me. :)

Scenes from a rain storm

Driving home the other day, the rain is POURING down.

• Man bent over on his bike, pedaling for all he is worth, trying not to get blown over. - reminds me of Tif getting swept off her bike in a storm.
  
• Man waiting for the bus, hair slicked to his head, water pouring off his clothes, looking up the street with a "I just know its going to be late" forlorn look on his face
  
• Pulling up to the stop light, Teen jumps out of his Jeep, no shirt, and quickly tries to get his top on before the light changes
  
• flashing lights, sprinkles of broken tail/head lights everywhere, watch out for the wreak - and then a boom of thunder that makes you almost jump out of your skin - as the entire scene is highlighted by the lightening. Sigh of relief as it fades into the background, having made it past another wreak in this weather.
  
• Double rainbow - for every bad thing, there is a good thing
  
• Looking over at the empty seat, where my jacket laid for a week, but then I'm finally took it into the house becase, hey... who knows when it will rain again. Sigh
  

Flashback

Driving down the streat the other day... I notice a woman walking on the sidewalk, baby on hip, looking down at something. I glance down and there is a little, blonde, curly haired 2 - 4 year old, leaned over, pointing at some trash on the ground and then turning to look up at her mom.

In a flash I remember back to Ann Arbor... Tina telling me that her and Tif were walking to the store. Walking on the sidewalk, chainlink fence along a field, all kinds of trash blown up against it. Tif looks at the trash, then looks up at Tina with her "intent - I'm only 4 but I say things from a 30 year old" look pouring out of her piercing blue eyes.

Mommy, does it make God sad when people litter?"

Then I'm back in my car driving down the street again. Man... what makes a 4 year old "get it" so much, and ask such a question. I don't know. But I'm glad she did. One great thing about your kids - they can be such cool people.

Love ya sis.

RUP vs XP

A very good article (well actually a chapter in a book) by Robert Martin on the Rational Unified Process vs XP. In addition to the comparison, it also contains the Developer Bill of Rights and Customer Bill of Rights, which is cool.

As an aside... I accidently posted this to my photo blog. Sometimes BlogThis just seems to pick the wrong page... and I'm hardly ever paying attention. Oh well.

defective yeti: PIC 20

defective yeti: PIC 20: "I dunno -- this doesn't seem like the target demographic for Gibson. If we were guitar players we would have had girlfriends in high school, instead seeking solace in our Commodore 64s."

That cracked me up. I've been on reading mailing lists quite a bit, and haven't kept up on blogging. Erika mentioned there was some good stuff on DefectiveYeti. I'm glad I checked it out. :)

An Extreme Stake in the Ground

Although the XP mail list is very active, its well worth belonging to. I can't read every entry, but I'm trying, and I'm finding great things like this.

Meteor 'Outburst' Expected Friday Morning - Yahoo! News

Meteor 'Outburst' Expected Friday Morning - Yahoo! News: "For as long as records exist, the Perseid meteor showers have always been strong. This summer's Perseid shower will be exceptional. The moon is mostly out of the way later in the night, and higher-than-normal activity rates are expected over the United States."

Athought it was the best this morning, maybe it will still be good for a number of days. I didn't hear about this until just now... And I've been up before dawn every morning. I'll have to read this in more detail to see what hours.

Ex-WorldCom CFO Gets 5 Years in Prison - Yahoo! News

Another one bites the dust

Unhappiness drives open source adoption - Computer Business Review

Unhappiness drives open source adoption - Computer Business Review: "A common reason why more governments and enterprises around the world are moving to open source software is unhappiness, it was revealed during a panel discussion at the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco yesterday"

S.Korean man dies after 50 hours of computer games

OK... that's a little ridiculous.

CBC Arts: TV anchor Peter Jennings dies at age 67

CBC Arts: TV anchor Peter Jennings dies at age 67: "
Tributes were pouring in Monday for Peter Jennings, the Canadian-born anchor of ABC's flagship network news program for more than two decades, who died from lung cancer over the weekend."

Qwest and Public Safety Officials Encourage ''ICE'' (in Case of Emergency) Entry on Wireless Phones - Forbes.com

Qwest is encoraging people to put an ICE entry in their cell phones. Started in England. Which is cool in that it is a world wide (or at least not just US) idea. So could possibly be of use when travelling internationallly.

I'm so aware

I'm so aware of my surroundings. I usually work in the dinning room, sitting at the end of the table and working on my laptop, over WiFi.

In the past, on the weekend, when I've left the machine on for extended periods of time, its gotten pretty hot and weired out a bit. So I come up with this enlightened plan this morning (as I'm about to head out for a massage).

I'll jury-rig it by sitting it on a cooling rack, which should let some air under it. (This is where the chef/hacker connection comes together ;)) - But that might dent the pine table... so I'll stick the rack on a placemat. That should help things.

I figure I'll pull a place-mat off the bar, so I grab the cooling rack, look over at the bar and just kind of stare at it for 30 seconds... "OK... there are no placemats on the bar. That is weird. Tina always has placemats on the bar." And then I start getting flashbacks of me preping food on the bar, or filling plates off the bar, for the LAST FEW MONTHS or so - and realize. "Hmm... she stopped putting placemats on the bar months ago. Weird that it just now registed it self with my conscience."

Yeah... there are lots of little details that my brain captures and stores away, but fails to make me aware of.

Happy Birthday to Me - Part 2

Last Tuesday Jaime and I went out on the town for my birthday. We went to Jun's and had sushi, then went and saw The Island, then went to Cold Stone after and got ice cream.

And she *paid* for it all. The coolness of having a daughter who now has a good job. :)

It was an awesome night. Just hanging out, having sushi, going to the movies, etc. We need to do it more often, it was so fun. And just a great "daddy/daughter" time. :)

We both thought The Island was pretty good. And we both enjoyed the sushi. Although it was the first time we had a Spider Roll. It looked interesting, but we didn't realize it was *soft shell* crab, not just regular crab. First time either one of us had that... and it was a little strange. I think the mutual feeling was, "Well that was interesting, but not sure I'd ever get it again."

Anyway - a great time. Love ya babe!

What Business Can Learn from Open Source

What Business Can Learn from Open Source: "If you could measure how much work people did, many companies wouldn't need any fixed workday. You could just say: this is what you have to do. Do it whenever you like, wherever you like. If your work requires you to talk to other people in the company, then you may need to be here a certain amount. Otherwise we don't care."

Once again, I'm lucky enough to be in a pretty good position. While perhaps not as much freedom as the above, I have close to it. Other than when there are scheduled meetings, I can pretty much come in when I want. Probably conditioned by years of working in a large company, I do show up before lunch and stay until at least 5:00 or 6:00, but no one is telling me to. And if I'm being fairly productive and home and in the middle of something, sometimes I won't go in at all.

Its kind of amazing "what you can get away with", if you are really productive. :)

Wired News: An Insider's View of 'Ciscogate'

Wired News: An Insider's View of 'Ciscogate': "Lynn knew that Cisco had fixed the problem he found and stopped distributing the vulnerable code, but he was deeply concerned that the company did not do nearly enough to persuade its customers to upgrade promptly, or to explain to them why upgrading was necessary."

Well everyone knows now. Now that they sued him, its the hot topic.

Enter the infobot

We just starting running an infobot at work on one of our irc channels. So far it is just amusing. But I can see how it could be helpful.

Whitedust: VoIP Security: Uncovered

Whitedust: VoIP Security: Uncovered: "VoIP insecuritywill most likely progress to the point where answering an incoming call could infect your OS with a VoIP enabled virus."

Article on VoIP, giving some backround on what it is and security wrt PSTN, etc. I thought the above statement was interesting. I hadn't really thought about that.

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Soft sell

A discussion by RMS on software pattents, something he is very opposed to. I'm not sure how I feel about it - given I have 3 of them. :) - Mostly I think it is cool for the recognition factor, i.e., ego I guess. "Hey... I've got 3 patents, that's cool." - He is against them, in my understanding, because they take software copyrights a step further. Not only can't you copy the software, but you can't even re-engineer it. So for instance I see a program that does some cool thing - and I can't copy it, but I don't want to pay for it. Or I want to add some stuff to it and decide - we'll its not Open Source, so I can't get the source, so I'll just rewrite it and add in my stuff. With a copyright you can do that. With a patent you can't. A patent says you can't even write something similar. So... given an "open source" / "free software" philosophy, you are pretty hosed.

I'm kind of in the middle. I'd probably rather have something be open or free then it copyrighted without a pattent. The main thing again is probably ego. We work hard on our stuff, and it is sometimes irritating if someone just goes and rips it off. I'd rather give it to them, letting them update it and keep the copyright that says I wrote it. :) - But then again, I don't get paid for the use of software, I get paid for writting it. So I don't have all the business concerns. But thinking about this stuff lately has made me start thinking about contributing to some open source stuff. We'll see...

Connexions - About Connexions

Connexions - About Connexions: "Connexions is an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web. Our Content Commons contains educational materials for everyone — from children to college students to professionals — organized in small modules that are easily connected into larger courses. All content is free to use and reuse under the Creative Commons 'attribution' license."

More free course materials, software, etc. on the web. Very cool.

Windows-NT is VMS re-implemented

Some cool Windows-NT and VMS stuff...

Oh yeah, its a *virtual* world

Logging in this morning, and CCM pushed some junk to my machine, so it took a while. So I finally get in and I'm moving a window from my primary screen (my monitor) to my secondary screen (my laptop). As I wisk it across the screen, a sticky stuck to the front of my monitor falls off. "Oh, I guess I moved the window too fast and the breeze blew the sticky off my monitor."

Oh yeah, blush. Its a virtual system. Grabbing a window and moving it "really fast" doesn't cause wind which effects the *physical* world.

So many little things in the day that remind me that I tend to blur things between the worlds. :)

Reading ban on leaked Harry Potter

Canada makes it illegal to read a book that you legally bought. Yes.. you walk into a store, you buy the book, you take it home - whoops, it wasn't supposed to go on sale yet. So if you read it, you are breaking the law.

How bizzare.

Found this on RMS's web site. I don't agree with most of his political views... - but I'll point to his site anyway, since that is where I found the story. And he is RMS - and whether I agree with him or not, he is still a great hacker.