It's been a while

I have been watching the world go by, and deliberately holding my fingers (which seems to be a metaphor for tongue) in order not to become strident, shrill, or outright nasty.

This may turn into a rant, I'm not sure yet.  Then again I may save the rant for late at night when nobody is listening.

It is now part way into February.  February is usually a BFD month for us - Already we've lost a couple of days to snow (although that was never a part of the plan.)  In not too many days I will turn 72 (or 28 by Grandpop Rudolph's reckoning....) and I am not liking it.  I don't feel like I'm 72 (most days) and I try very hard not to behave like someone that old - but some days I just can't escape it.  On the day after my birthday I will have been married to my first wife for 46 years - something many people (including ourselves from time to time) would never have believed possible - and I find that it is all good.

And of course I still go to work every day.  Some days I'm actually worth more than I cost - other days they should make me pay to let me in.  I've been having a good deal of fun with code lately, finding new ways to do things with fewer instructions, less messy code - it keeps my head either on straight or shaking.

I discovered Google Hangouts, and resolved to set up an area for my brothers and I to get together in a video chat, since apparently that's the only was some of us will see the rest of us.  Looks like a nifty tool - be interesting to see if it works as I impute that it does, and if it doesn't it will be interesting to see how long it takes me actually to figure out precisely how it does work.  Either way, I won't get bored.

My Kindle library is growing - I may not live long enough to read everything that's in it - I get emails every day from a couple of places that keep track of what's available, and Amazon puts out a fair amount that is free, and I try to get as much of that that looks interesting as I can.

I think in a separate piece I'll talk about the new stuff I have discovered that works so well.

Google amazes me - I have switched to Chrome as the browser of choice, and have discovered various apps and extensions for it that make it more useful - nearly an entire working environment is available from the browser itself including rudimentary office applications (and, truth be told, it is all I really need - Word has over the years grown into everything for everyone, and has so many buttons, widgets, fladgets and such that I can't use it whout looking for stuff that I used to know where it was....  With Google Docs, there's a lot that I can't do - but over the last several months I have not found most of what it won't let me do to be all that useful.

There are things that work with Chrome and Android devices that work so well that I finally have a place to stick important stuff that I can reach from my office, from any PC, and from my android devices (Phone and tablets.) Now, whenever I start up Chrome, whether it be on my phone, a tablet, a laptop or a desktop, it knows who I am and presents me with whatever environment I left last.

Listening to Ray Bryant playing  Slow Freight and enjoying it.  I keep music here at work, and happily the folks around me like it (or they just don't want to tell me I have no taste....)  Music makes life better, don't you know.

Last night I met a group of German speakers that meets each week somewhere nearby, and I have been enjoying the social evenings with them, although to my chagrin I find I don't speak as well as I once did (or as I think I once did) and most of the folks there are not from the area where I lived, so my accent and dialect cause interesting misunderstandings - but it sure is fun!

Well, I just talked to a nephew I have not seen in at least 20 years - and got a video chat on my tablet by dumbing into how it works. Now I have to get a desktop working with that.  Looks like Google Hangouts is more useful than I would have imagined.

I gotta go home.  I may pick this up later, or I may decide it's rant time later.  You'll be able to figure out which has happened.

Friday the 13th

Well, it is still Friday the 13t, and so far no catastrophes have fallen on my head.  I am still at the office, moving from one area to another, which could take quite a while as there is a huge accumulation of stuff that must follow me until I can determine if it stays or goes.  It is truly appalling the amount and description of crap that seems to cling to and follow me where I roam.

Also there is a fair amount of hardware here that belongs to me, not to my employer, and I need to make sure I get it all.

And no, I am not superstitious - being superstitious brings bad luck, don't you know.

Looking through my email this morning, I am amazed at the amount of funny stuff comes from folks that I have known for over 50 years. I am sorry to note that I know more dead folks from 50 years back han live folks, so I guess I should feel blest, as I haven't joined them yet as far as I know - or if I have, they went to a different place than I did....

Christmas is 12 days away.  Every year I promise myself to do all the shopping I need to do in July - and every year it gets down to the last ten days and I get nuts.  Maybe next year....

Gotta get busy with Amazon - I don't like malls or crowds and the way shoppers behave any more I would almost expect to be shot (or at least shot at) some of the places I might want to go. My wife says don't spend money on her, but I ignore that some - nothing is free, and whatever I do spend, she's worth it.

I'm still moving things at work - it will take a couple of days to get myself relocated.  Soon I gotta go home; I'm tired and have to come back tomorrow.

Y'all be well, and be careful - it's dangerous outside!

It's been pretty quiet around here

so I thought I'd see if I had anything to say.

Of course, I always have something to say - just gotta get it organized a bit.

I had something bad happen at work a little bit back, but it looks like it may be solved after a few days extensive research.  My work desktop PC lost its mind, and with its mind lost a number of other things, including its way to do some automated things.  I moved them elsewhere, but it turned out one event just disappeared - and it took a while to find what it was doing and to get it into shape to be used again. Happily it seems to be on the mend, although some stuff may have to be renewed to get it to behave again.  Never a dull moment....

The weather hasn't been much for motorcycling - I did get a day of commuting in last week or so, but today it is supposed to snow - and when that happens it is too cold and too dangerous even to start a bike, so both of them are covered up in my carport, waiting for the next half-decent day.  Many friends are still riding - but they all have Gerbings electrically heated suits - and as of yet I have yet to see a reason to spend almost a kilobuck on getting outfitted that way, although if I get antsy enough this winter, and it stays cold but not snowy, I just might have to do it.

Commuting is becoming a pain - there are so many thoughtless idiots out there it is a wonder there is not wreckage strewn from heck to breakfast.  I watched four this morning pass over a double yellow at speeds of 30 over the limit, and just bulldoze their way back into where they should have been.  Two of them were talking on phones and one was arguing with a passenger.  It is not comforting to know that Darwin may get these folks - because Darwin might well use me as the immovable object, and I've no desire to be a sacrificial lamb to those who will not learn. Happily, the Guzzi has an air horn - and I am considering adding one to the Volvo.

Speaking of which, I still like the Volvo.  I have not driven anything more comfortable or more stable in a very long time - and it jut starts every day.  The bunwarmers (heated seats) are lovely in this cold weather, and the heater puts out seemingly within 3 minutes. If you need something to drive, you could do worse than an old Volvo - and mileage does not seem to matter all that much - my last one was out at 180,000 when I got rid of it, this one I bought at 128,000 and it uses no oil or anything - at least not any more - it did get me pretty good (close to a kilobuck) with a radiator leak, but everything I have ever had that I kept for anything over about 100,000 did that.

If there's anyone out there needing PC parts, cables, controllers, please leave a note - I have a load of stuff scattered around the basement that has to go, and I'd rather give it away than throw it away.  Motherboards, too - at least half a dozen or so, some with memory even.... I've been building and salvaging for the last 20 or so years, and have accumulated a bunch of parts, mostly not the most current state of the art, but still usable for folks eking out the lat years of a PC.  Let me know what you need, or even what someone you know needs, and I'll look and get back to you.

The Obamacare fiasco is one I don't feel like addressing right now - it just makes me angrier when I think about it.  When you consider that the software was written by a Canadian firm after failing in a spectacular way to get Canada's long gun registration even functional, then consider that the firm is connected to a friend of Michelle - THEN consider that the back end is not yet even written, well, if you do not wonder if there's something crooked afoot, try to keep your old insurance plan....  One size never fits all - anyone who wears clothes can tell you that.

Oops - I said I wasn't gonna talk about it.  Shutting up....

I guess everyone knows I was in Las Vegas a few weeks back for a family wedding - and I found Las Vegas to be a really odd place.  It isn't a great place for a fat gimp who an't drink and doesn't gamble, that much I can tell you - and everything is just so damn big that you can't get anywhere without walking at least 20 minutes - and that walk (if it is inside) will be longer than it needs to be because you'll have to walk around several thousand slot machines, all bleeping and booping at you.  The wedding was nice, the food in Las Vegas is exceptional - but the hotel cost too much for what it delivered, and they hammer you for internet access.  I ended up plugging my phone into a charger and using the HotSpot app to let my laptop and tablet talk to the internet.  I'm sure glad I have a grandfathered plan that has no data limit....

On another topic, my middle daughter is married - something that was a long time coming. The circumstances are convoluted, but from where I sit it all looks positive.  Her husband is a welcome addition to our familial circus, and we look forward to having them around for a long time. Now if my wandering son were only a little closer to us geographically - but he's in Texas, somewhere around Dallas, and has opened up a new enterprise that is interesting.  If you are curious, a visit to Jamie's Place will show you what he's up to, and may even give you a gift idea or two.

...

I got interrupted by life - it is now a day later than when I started this.  The weather is crappy, this is the last workday this week (followed by gluttony as Thanksgiving is tomorrow) and no hope for motorcycle weather any time soon.

So I think I'll just hang up here - there will be more as time permits and as things that bug me come to light.  Meanwhile, have a really good holiday or holidays, whichever you observe, be kind to one another, think positive thoughts and remember that you are truly unique - just like everybody else.

Moto Guzzi, redux

Well, yesterday I took the new (to me) motorcycle on a trip with some other riders who I know from the Baltimore Ramblers Motorcycle Club, a club of which I am a member.

It was an eclectic mix - a Triumph, my Guzzi, a BMW, a Suzuki Burgmann superscooter, a Harley Trike and about 5 Harley 2-wheelers.  The route was set by Jeff Hutchins, the club president, and was a really pleasant back road tour to see the leaves (although I spent more time looking down the road to see what I had to do than looking around) and included some rough roads, some twisty roads, and some turns that were not easy to make.  I was somewhere in the middle of the group, and managed everything pretty well, although I did go wide at one intersection and ride up on the grass.   Happily all I got for it was a muddy boot.

The day before, a group had gone on a ride that covered about 300 miles.  What I learned yesterday is that my arse isn't good for much over 100 miles, and I run out of strength soon after the 100 mark is hit. I don't actually collapse, but my skill erodes to the point that I really need to get off the bike and into a car if I am traveling farther.

Getting old is really a bummer - I used to think nothing at all of 300 and 400 mile days - now I don't even think about them because I am not strong enough to manage them, although there is hope if I get more weight off and finish healing this leg that I broke that it will become easier.  My fear is that I'll have to get my knees done first - and that is something I don't really look forward to.  I keep telling myself if I could get off another 60-70 pounds, my knees might stop yelling at me.  Then again, they might not.

But the Guzzi is one of the most pleasant bikes I have ever ridden. It is right up there with my old BMW's as nimble, and I don't exactly get on it and ride it - it's more like I pull it on and wear it.  Lean angles are (or seem to me to be) easy; very little requirement for counter-steer; no flex laid over in a fast curve, flexible power (although the engine does prefer to be kept over 3000 RPM,) good power delivery from the fuel-injected engine, and even decent mileage.  I'm slowly getting used to the brakes (the right hand lever controls one disk on the front - the other disk and the back disk are actuated by the rear brake pedal, and the proportioning valve is apparently set up very well.)  The pedal placement is not ideal after riding the Big Suzi, but I think I can get used to it (or change it if needed).  The shifter is the same, but the weakness of my knees and upper legs make the problem a lot worse than it has to be - maybe I'll get more strength back in the coming months....

But riding it is a real giggle - it doesn't need muscled - it seems as if all I have to do is drop a hint what I want to do, and it satisfies. Hands-off it tracks straight and true for as long as I am that silly, and it even has a steering damper that it doesn't need.  No shakes at all, no temperment at all - a wholly friendly ride.

This lack of strength is beginning to bug me.  It isn't apparent in the car (of course, the car isn't as much work to drive) but it sure makes itself known on the bike.  The commute ride is OK at 25 miles each way, and there's plenty of recovery time, but spending a couple of hours in the saddle wears me out to the point that I begin to scare myself (and possibly the folks around me, although they don't say anything....) and I am not happy about that.  Motorcycles have been a part of my life for so long now I hate to think that the day will come that I can only look at them and drool...

However, within my own limits, I am enjoying the Moto Guzzi a whole bunch, and the weather has been cooperating enough that it hasn't yet come to the time to put it up.

Anyone out there need a big Suzuki (VL1500, 2004?)

Until later - I'll have more to say about family changes as time goes by - right now, we are all feeling very positive, and thankful that we feel that way.

Monday Again....

It is Monday again.  It seems like it was Monday just yesterday (or maybe it only felt like a Monday.)

I know yesterday was Sunday, but for me it was a profoundly stupid day.  As I get older I seem to have more of these days.  Yesterday I came to work, secure in the knowledge I had offered to cover an uncovered 3-11 shift Sunday and Monday.  Well, I was part right - about the Saturday and Sunday part, but picked the wrong Sunday to start - it is next weekend that it starts. So, since I was already here I made a few programming changes that I had had on my to-do list for a while, then went home and proceded to arrange for my wife of 45 years to misunderstand something that I thought I had said.

Communication is something magical when it works. However, when it does not work, it leads to misunderstandings and cases of the grumps.  Happily it no longer leads to a week or more of the deadly quiet times.

When I got back home, I had intended to go motorcycling, but did not do so, Instead, I sat down to start writing this entry (which never even got to opening the app as I got distracted by something else....) and we talked briefly about something we had kinda planned for the evening and agreed (I thought) to pass it and go to dinner somewhere else later.  That's what I heard, anyhow.My wife heard something else, and when she reappeared, she had decided I probably wasn't going to get hungry and so she was going over to church to work a bit and would get something to eat on the way.  I of course was flummoxed, but I seem to spend a lot of time in that state.  Somehow later on in the evening we discovered each what the other had meant (and had heard) and learned something we have learned times without number - our assumptions about what is meant by what is unsaid usually are dead wrong.

So off she want, a little bit irritated, and I decided to go for a motorcycle ride....

By the way, if you follow you know that I have supplanted Big Suzi with  a Moto Guzzi (as yet unnamed) that is a couple hundred pounds lighter (at Phyllis's suggestion) (so maybe next time I drop a motorcycle it won't break my leg on the way down) and much easier to ride than Big Suzi, which is heavy, ponderous, comfortable, and a gas to ride except when I find it laying on my legs.

Anyhow, the Moto Guzzi (a V11 EV from 1999) looks like this:

except instead of a windshield it has a small fairing.  It is labeled a cruiser, but it handles like a sport bike, and is a blast to ride.  There are some quirks about it that are similar to some BMW quirks, but that's OK - I already know about them, and it is thoroughly happy once the quirks are noted.

It is also vastly cheaper to feed than Big Suzi, although it does demand high-test gasoline, and is fuel-injected, which makes it a great deal nicer to manage when things are not all warmed up. The long and short of it is that I love the thing, and wish I had found it sooner.  I've always been fond of the Moto Guzzi, and the folks I have known that have had them swear by them.

One thing I didn't know is that Moto Guzzi is the second oldest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world, having produced motorcycles of varying sized and descriptions since 1921. The current design involves a V-twin (what's new) but it is a 90 degree V, which is far better balanced than the other 'normal' V-twin angles, and is mounted tranverse in the frame, using a shaft drive to the rear wheel. - nice and clean and stone-reliable. The engine design itself is probably 40+ years old, but has had detail improvements throughout the years, and has appeared in sizes from 350cc to 1500cc - and typically will run 100,000 miles if you change the oil as it requires.  I like things that don't require fiddling (one of the reasons for my love of Japanese motorcycles - they just work, kinda like a kitchen sink or something) and the Moto Guzzi is atypical among Italian machines in that it is appliance-like (at least in the touring models.)

Probably enough about motorcycles....

Today's political circus reminds me of a story about a small southern town with two churches.  The town was so small that it could not adequately support one church, so strangers who passed through were often spurred to ask "Why in this tiny place are there two churches?  Would you not be better served if they would consolidate?" to which a handy native will always reply "They disagree on something fundamental - this church says ' there ain't no hell' and t'other says 'the hell there ain't!'"

It would appear, if you listen to the President, Harry Reid or John Boehner individually (before they get excited) as if all are the souls of reason and the other(s) is(are) one way sonsofbitches.

I guess it all depends on your worldview.

I do think closing open air parks that do not have a guard staff and are intended to be available 24/7 is pety and vindictive.  I also think WW-II vets ought not to be messed with - all of us who were born afterwards owe them a debt, and as a veteran myself (of a far less interesting period in history) I have an understanding of the commitment involved in military service - something not well understood in todays "I've got mine, Jack" social environment.

ACA is something that I just don't believe in, the president having assured all of us about a number of things proving not to be true, leaving me wondering what else we haven't yet discovered that is also not true. My personal physicians are being required to ask questions that have nothing to do with my treatment, and are having to complete revamp the way they do business to accommodate the demand for more and more information to be shared that used to be sacrosanct.  Questions like "Are there guns in your house" are none of anyone's business but mine unless and until I do something proscribed with one of them - and I refuse to give the government information to keep in a database that would let them render me helpless in the guise of making everyone else safer, which we all know, by looking at (among others) England and Australia is not the outcome. For further proof, we might consider looking at Switzerland.

Being required to report depression (and probably ADHD or anything else that would involve psychotropic but not anti-psychotic medications) is also a bit much. I work around cops - and if they had to turn in their guns for either depression or ADHD we'd be down to half strength or less in no time at all.

On other fronts, I'm headed for Sin City (also known as Lost Wages) for the first time in more than 40 years - the child of one of my cousins is getting married there, and I am representing the Reisterstown Rudolphs as Phyllis is unable to get free from her duties for that weekend. It should be an interesting time.  I thought about renting a motorcycle instead of a car, but then thought maybe a car would be smarter.  I have heard that Blue Man Group is in town there - maybe I can score some tickets for that.  Coming home on a redeye Monday Night onto Tuesday Morning - saved almost $100 that way.  Airline fares are a flaming nightmare!

Not much else to report - there's a major family change coming, but I am sworn to secrecy, so I'll talk about it after it happens.

Have a great day, y'all - the weather here is sucky, but it is outside - and I am inside, so it is all good!

New Things

It is Thursday and while all is not right in the world, all is pretty OK by me.

I had a really good time at the Stammtisch meeting on Monday - maybe I already talked about that.

Tuesday, the Moto Guzzi motorcycle I got via eBay arrived at home via uShip just as it should have, on time and in good condition. The culmination of a week of waiting and wondering, but as of today, it is all good.

It took a lot of Wednesday to get the inspection, insurance, tags and request for new title accomplished and it wasn't cheap - but when Wednesday was over, there were tags on the motorcycle, I had ridden it enough to know I was going to like it, and I even rode it to a pretty good choir rehearsal, after which I came home and died. Apparently I  moved around more on Wednesday taking care of Bike Things than I usually do and wore myself out.  It is becoming apparent that the healing from the broken leg and perforated ulcer is not anywhere near complete. I had allowed half a day to get that all done, and it took almost the whole day, but now it is done.

Bu now everyone knows that, between Congress  and the President are doing their best to  make their little pissing contest affect everyone. I can't believe that they would close a park that is open space and needs no guards, but apparently everyone is going to get hammered while congress and the president come to grips with the fact that they won't always get what they want.

Meanwhile, a judge n Maryland used a specious circumstance to get petulant with folks that are concerned about the gradual dilution of the Second Amendment, and denied a request for an unreasonable reason, thus falling in like with King-wannabe Marty.

I suspect that most folks who wander by here know what I think about guns, gun control, and folks who would tell me what I need, and why I should bow to their imagined possibilities of this'n'that - and probably also know that I don't have a whole lot of patience with those who harbor an irrational fear of an object that without a human to operate it mostly just stays where it is put.  If anyone doesn't know, I would suggest starting with the essay(s) found here:   http://lneilsmith.org/

I do own a motorcycle or two, a gun or two, a television or two, a computer or two and an automobile or two.  It is my opinion that just how many of each of these items I own is between myself and my wife and should be of profound indifference to anyone else.

Likewise if someone should ask why I need more than one gun I shall point out that if I were in charge of what folks need, well, nobody would have more than 1 car, 1 television, 1 house - you get the idea. If it gets as far as my daughter's shoes, well, I'll have to move to a new universe to get out of the way of invective that will surely be coming my way.

I did not intend this to turn into a polemic, but it looks like it might. Those easily offended would be well advised to go and watch The Price is Right or some similar twaddle on the TeeVee.

Speaking of TeeVee, Amazon had a hell of a sale a while back on TV Series, and I picked up Firefly, which has to be about the best show aside from maybe Roswell, NCIS, Eureka and the early Law & Order.  One of the few benefits of having a broken leg is that folks will leave you alone about parking yr arse in front of the TeeVee and watching all the episodes of a show in one sitting.  Firefly is just great!

I just heard someone tried to drive a car through the white house gate - wonder what that was about, and how that person missed knowing that there were no tours....

Someone's looking for me, so I really need to go and do something useful.  Y'all come back, y'hear?

Monday Morning

It's that time again -Monday Morning - start of a new week, glorious to wake up and look up and not see roots....   Also the day when all the oh-crap-I-overslept folks are on the highway trying to make up time, but succeeding only in making others miserable.  I guess you might think I had a lousy commute this morning....

You would be right - it seems all the cop's-favorite-word-type people were out - running 80 in a 55 zone, less than half a car behind the poor sap ahead of them, changing across 4 lanes with nary a signal, and putting on makeup in the process. I must confess I used a hand signal I learned overseas (no, not the 'and an upright middle finger to you' sign, the sign that says 'you're an anal sphinctre of the first degree') several times on the way to work, but not really in any more than a halfhearted manner - the energy that outrage takes isn't all that well spent, and eventually the arzls go and ply their trade on someone else and leave me alone.

I was a little late this morning, and someone was occupying my parking place again, so I just went elsewhere and became part of the problem for a change instead of wasting a lot of time trying to educate the ineducable - I parked in someone else's space, but only because I was late.

So far this morning, nothing is broken.  I have some more data to rip apart for the guy that's working on a project for the boss, but most of that code is done and just needs a little messing with.

I unpacked a new version of Clarion this morning, and will be converting everything that is currently in production to the newest version as time permits.  I also have my own version of the .NET product, and need to get busy learning about it, as I think it could be useful in the future.

Over the weekend I did something to the leg I broke so it hurt a good deal on Sunday, but it is quiet again this morning.  I was going to motorcycle this morning, but because I was late I didn't bother.  Maybe tomorrow, if I get home tonight early enough to get it out and feed it.  Tomorrow evening the Moto Guzzi arrives, and I am really looking forward to that.

The Stammtisch is meeting tonight at a saloon called Ryan's Daughter in Baltimore, and I plan on attending - see if I have improved either my accent of vocabulary since the last meeting.  I am enjoying resurrecting my command of German, and it has been a lot of fun meeting other speakers of German, particularly those who were born there.  It is also interesting having to deal with regional dialects again, and I am assured that my own is among the worst!

I wish I could remember more of the Russian I once knew - I would look for a similar opportunity to exercise that language.  Maybe in my spare time after I retire....

I thought about some political rants for this morning but decided I don't want to go there - it just depresses me, and some days it  even overcomes my Prozac - and I don't need that today.

Late in October a cousin (first cousin once removed) is getting married in Las Vegas, and I am going to go. I had hoped hot to be going alone, but some days it just goes that way.  I haven't been to Las Vegas in more than 40 years (last time was when Jamie was born!) and the spectacle should be interesting, but the best part will be seeing some cousins I no longer get to see often enough because they have migrated to the West Coast - and I no longer travel for work.

Traveling on the job can spoil a person - when I have to start paying my own way, I realize just how damn expensive it can get!  I wish I had the time to drive or take the train, but as long as I have to work, that sort of travel takes too much leave time.  Maybe after I retire....

I got called away and forgot where I was, so I guess I ought to end this and wait for coherence to come back into my life.

I would sure like to know who reads this....  Leave a comment if there's a topic about which you might want to read my views - I'll try to avoid outright obscenity.

Y'all have a good day.

Guns (again)

Well, once again a crazy has surfaced, killed a bunch of folks, and got himself killed.

The President wants more laws to keep this from happening.

Has nobody noticed that the laws he wants and the laws that are being proposed in congress will not affect him or the CongressCritters, since they have, and can afford bodyguards, all of whom have, guess what, GUNS?  The laws only affect the Common man, who works for a living and might like to protect his family, home and hearth from the increasing number of people who are criminally inclined or crazy and would seek to do him harm?

Who among you actually believes that one more law will suddenly be obeyed by the criminally inclined when, so far, those folks have managed not to obey so many?  Is there a magic tipping point at which a criminal says to himself, "Golly, there are so many laws now I really have to start paying attention - they just passed another, and that makes one more than I can ignore."

The criminally insane have been a problem since someone's social conscience decided lo these many years ago that their civil rights were being violated by their commitment to a treatment facility.  Are Americans all so dumb as to believe that it is the purest of coincidences that the rise of mass shootings by folks later found to be criminally not responsible for reasons of mental illness is not related to the fact that they can no longer be institutionalized because of their civil rights?

What of the civil rights of the rest of us?  Do we not have the right to be secure in our own homes?  Do we not have the right (indeed the duty) to protect our homes and families from uninvited interlopers who would take the fruits of our labor and do our loved ones harm for the sole reason that the aforementioned loved ones were there and might have objected to being victims at the time?

Why is there no hue and cry to restrict automobiles as used by drunks, who kill far more people than we do with guns?  Instead of blaming the car, which is ludicrous, we blame the person in charge of the car - why is it not the same with guns?  Where is the logic, folks?!

mr. obama (lowercase purely intentional) would reduce us to serfs.  Frankly, we worked too hard to get away from serfdom, and I've no interest in being controlled.  Advised, yes, but not controlled - and you may rest well assured that that is what we are facing if we allow the rights which the constitution recognizes as having preexisted itself to be turned into privileges, which can always be removed.

For the moment, that's all I have to say.

Anyone care to argue?

Monday Mornng

It's Monday Morning, 8:00 AM.

There are two lab slips out on the kitchen table, waiting for me.

I have to go into a lab this morning and bleed - for two doctors, not just one.  Results of each lab to two doctors, not one, and not the same pair for each lab.  I am assured that it will take between 11 and 13 vials for each slip, which means that I will be more than a little anemic when lab tech finishes.

If I am very lucky, she'll get a vein with the first stick (this almost never happens.)  If it is a typical Monday that comes on Monday, they'll have to try both arms before they get any blood, and probably will end up going into the back of my hand in order to get me to bleed enough to be useful.

I Just love lab days.

When they are finished, I can come home and get some breakfast, some meds, and maybe some coffee.

What a way to start a week!

Back to Work after the first week...

Well, this week I went back to work, most of the day.  I am now allowed to drive my car, and even to start my motorcycle provided I don't drop it on myself.

Going back to work was good, felt good, and tired me out at the same time.  I forgot how much little things like walking get taken for granted.  My parking space is as far away from my office as it can get in our garage, and right now it takes a lot longer to walk that little bit than it used to - and wears me out worse.

Not helped by the fact that they finally fixed our air conditioning, so I finally had to resort to a flannel shirt in order not to shiver and have chattering teeth!

Kinda nice to have my tools & toys the way I expect them to be, instead of working remote with things ass I like them at home but not for work purposes.

I even managed to fi a couple of things this week, one of which had me angry and frustrated when the long hiatus started back in late July.

Damn.  I just realized I was out for nearly two months. My email is still a bit behind but is getting caught up. With any luck t all, by the time December comes, I'll be ready for Thanksgiving.

I have ridden the motorcycle a couple of times, and it did feel good.  My wife thinks I should go for one a little lighter, which has put me into looking at some of the BMW R-series that I so loved, as well as the Honda Pacific Coast and ST models, and the oddball but marvelous Moto Guzzzi tourers.

I was considering a sidecar on a Gold Wing or maybe a BMW K-model, but they are all coming up a bit too dear.  My wife is backing this, but hasn't yet given me an indication of  what she will tolerate by way of a price, so for right now i am just looking.  I, of course have the New Motorcycle fever, but she tends to be a bit more grounded than I am, so I can be sure it won't happen today or tomorrow.  We shall see.

Overall, I am feeling better, but still tire far too easily and find pain when I've been doing too much and, of course, dietary restrictions don't do much for my good nature.

Be well, y'all

PS - I sometimes wonder who reads this - whoever you are out there,  you might leave a comment or something.

Doing What I Do

I'm an info systems specialist, who does odd jobs for a living. I'm one of the people who, when asked "Do we have this information and can we get it in this form?" says yes, no, or I'll look into it.

I've been in Info Systems since the late 60's, and one thing that is becoming more apparent each year is that everyone knows things and presumes that among the things known is how something has to be done to be effective.

More and more, when someone wants something, that someone will take up a lot of time telling me what to do and, often, how to do it. Nobody any more tells me what it is that they hope to accomplish, which would go a long way towards getting an optimum result.

Where I work, most of our data is stored in Oracle - partly because one of our major systems is purchased and was written to use Oracle, and partly because it is a good product, with a long life and a solid company behind it. It is also reasonably easy to use when I write stuff in the language I use most of the time, and while there is a lot that I do not know, I understand how stuff is stored and have written enough code that I can usually do whatever is needed if the data exists in any rational format.

Just an example - I was asked to strip down a Personnel database and a Mobile Phones database so the bosslady could load the resulting files into Excel and use Excel to find out what phones were in use by people who weren't our employees any more - so we would know to turn them off. A couple of fields from one and a couple of fields from another, creating two files.

I had designed both databases, and knew they could be tied together in retrieval, so I did what was asked, and in one file added one field from the other database, giving one of the files all the info needed to avoid writing the Excel program. Then I thought some more about it and wrote an extract to create a file showing only phones assigned to people who were gone.

In the end, the person who actually had to use the data was as happy as a clam to get only 79 records to deal with instead of 800+ with only some labeled as needing attention. The person who originally directed that I do this was dismayed to see that there was no longer a need for the Excel program to do the comparison - but ran it anyhow and it worked, and it verified my results. I'd've had it two days earlier had it been clear what we were trying to accomplish - which was to find out if we had any cell phones assigned to people we no longer employ.

Then this morning I found that there was to be an inventory comparing our vendor's data about who was using what phone to ours. I found that wity minimal massaging I could download from the vendor site a detailed statement, parse it and pass it against our equipment and personnel databases and come up with a list of mismatched names - reducing the number of records to be examined from 1400 to around 200 - but this time I was asked if there was a way to take the vendor data and validate it against our data.

I guess the message here is if someone is going to be doing something for you, rather than let your preconceived notions of the process guide the request, explain what the desired result is and let the professional pick the methodology. If the pro is a pro and needs more information, you'll get more questions, and if no more questions are needed you'll probably get a happier result a lot faster than if you try to guide the methodology.

Enough of my grumbling. Have a good evening, y'all.

On rights, on earning rights, and on responsibility

I wish I could take credit for this, but I can't - someone else put me onto it. It's worth reading.

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock , did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

'Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.'

They thought, 'Well, maybe it's our grades.'

'No,' she said.

'Maybe it's our behavior.'

She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior.'

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms. Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the deskless classroom, Martha Cothren said, 'Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'

By the way, this is a true story. (Click on this link if you want more information: http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp .)

Please consider passing this along so others won't forget that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by the Veterans of the United States Military.

This lesson is no longer taught in schools, and in many places the military is ridiculed as the last place for those who otherwise might be homeless. The notion that the military is a place for losers is belied by the fact that we still speak English - had our military been other than dedicated, we might be speaking German or Japanese right now. All the talk by the appeasement monkeys accomplishes very little unless others recognize that there is intent to follow through on all promises of reaction.

In the last few days, we have remembrance of events in the world - the wall in Germany coming down and 9/11 here on our own soil.

It's also a time for remembering heroic efforts like the Berlin Airlift which helped keep a city from starving, and convinced the Bear that we were sincere in our wishes that the city stay at least partly free and its occupants not be starved into submission. It was thought to be an impossible task - our military personnel and civilian personnel showed that not to be the case.

We have lost most of that generation, but a few remain. We must be certain never to lose the memory of those heroes of yesteryear lest we repeat the actions that brought about the need for them.

/dismounting soapbox

Back to work

I was off from the day before Christmas through Monday.  By off, I mean not obligated to go to work - some folks will tell you I'm off all the time, but they're just being unkind.  At least that's what I think.  Anyhow, I made it in Monday, and forgot that the boss was still off, so there wasn't much on Monday to elevate my blood pressure, and it wasn't a bad day as days go except, of course, for the weather that was so bad it could not even be said to suck. 

I finally had a good day last week, and got the motorcycle out to get the last little bit of fixing done.  At least that's what I told myself - the truth is I really wanted a reason to ride, and I really did enjoy getting out to ride.  After I got back in the evening I dropped an email on one of my riding pals, and was more than a but chagrined to learn that he had spent part of his holidays having a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted in his chest.  He's at least 6 years younger than I am, and has already had cardiac surgery many years back.  Getting old sucks.  But by the spring I'll bet he's ready to ride again.  Meanwhile, maybe I can talk him into an afternoon of music making....

I need to get some more weight off - at least another 100 pounds, although another 20 would take care of the 18 I have gained back and then some, and make me feel good.  I'm really pretty grumpy right now, and people at work are starting to avoid me.  I'm antisocial enough that this is good to a point, but when folks tremble and walk sideways against a wall to get past me I begin to wonder if I'm not just a little bit more incendiary than I need to be.  

Maybe I just need to spend a day with my daughter and let her baby drool all over me and giggle at me a while.  That'd be cheaper than a weekend away at a gambling resort or somewhere like that.   Of course I could always take a train to Chicago for a day - the overnight trip there is really great, a day wandering wouldn't be bad, and the overnight train back is wonderful - and nobody would do anything to disturb me at all during the whole trip.  Now all I need is a business reason for it....

I've been finding classmates and other friends on FaceBook.  Everyone should get a FaceBook page! Some of what's there, like what's on YouTube, is reprehensible - but some of it is pretty good, and even the ads can be useful.  I probably spend more time at this than I should, but sooner or later it'll get old and then I'll be more productive until the next thing comes along.

I found a ShoutCast station that plays nothing but The Blues Brothers.  They did some stuff I never heard and it's pretty good.  There are a couple that specialize in solo piano, and it really is nice.  I have to introduce my wife to this - maybe for some good music she'll touch a computer - particularly if I buy one for her, maybe....

I think I've had all the fun I should have on any one day, and it is pushing 6 PM pretty hard, so I will clean up here (or at least hide most of the crap in desk drawers) and head for home.  Y'all be good, y'hear?

Roswell Fanfiction

This is one of my secret vices.  But it is a big one.

The Internet is a marvelous place - you can find all sorts of stuff there if you are not in a real hurry and don't mind that searching is a lot like free association.  Among the things one can find is what amounts to fan clubs for various TeeVee shows, some long defunct.

Fanfiction is fiction that takes the characters and sometimes the circumstances of a show series, a book series, or some other grouping and creates new stories, story lines, and story series based loosely or tightly on the information already present.

Some of this stuff is really well written, some is crap - just like everything else in the known universe.

I was a fan of the Roswell series when it was on TeeVee.  It lasted only three seasons (resurrected twice by fans who drowned the production company in tabasco sauce...) and had its ups and downs depending on who was writing - but the young actors in the series had chemistry such as rarely gets observed.  The Pilot and the first 5 episodes were probably where the show peaked, and after that it sometimes got gimmicky and appealed to folks looking for outlandish or outrageous anachronism or science untruth.  

For those who don't know, Roswell centered around the lives of four teenagers that had been foundlings at around the age of 6 and adopted in Roswell - and the four other teenagers who were schoolmates, playmates and soulmates some of the time - and the attempt by the first mentioned group to keep secret that while the looked like other kids, they were not at all like other kids, having been created from a mix of terrestrial people DNA and the DNA from elsewhere.  Sounds kinda uninteresting, but the relationships between the aliens and the natives were convoluted, and the analysis of what sorts of paranoia might rest in the aliens was well done, along with the interplay of the two species after the natives became aware of the secret of the others.  

In any event, the relationships were well done, the chemistry between the player pairs was so great that I've not seen the like before or since, and I could identify with one of the aliens - the alienation in school, the need to stay private - I've been there, and it is hard.

Anyhow, even before the show was taken off (and there was still enough interest that DVD's for all three seasons were released before the show had been gone for a year; and I own all 3 sets....) there were a large number of web sites collecting fiction written to the Roswell characters and legends - and there was an incredible load of it, and a surprising lot was really good.  Of course, some was absolute shit, and some was borderline pornography, but a surprising amount was very well crafted stuff, and over the years I have developed a list of writers whose every word I will read - as well as a list from whose stories I will run.

I check on some places several times throughout the day looking for new stuff from "my" writers, and have a pretty steady diet of new approaches to Roswell characters and circumstances, some of which might have allowed the series to run much longer.  The depth of understanding of the human condition that some of these writers have is amazing.  Many are young people, but many are not - the age spans high school to late 60's / early 70's - student, worker, retiree, retired military - everyone is in there writing for all they're worth.  

When I started reading this stuff, I had over 200 sites in my bookmarks.  Some have closed, some have gone static (nothing new, but site still there) but many still remain.  Most of my reading occurs over at RoswellFanatics.net - it is active with a good slate of good authors, and a large number  of finished stories.  Some of the writers are quick, some are not, and some never finish anything, so you take what you can get and enjoy the stuff that flows.  Right now my favorite writer over there calls himself GreyWolf and from what I gather, he's probably around my age, retired carreer Air Force officer, and pretty bright - and he really does his homework!

I have always been one to read, and read a couple of books a week, in addition to trade magazines, email and my beloved FanFic - but it is amazing how good a lot of what is out there is. Another site is FanFiction.net which has 3477 Roswell stories, and a huge number of other stories written around a couple of hundred show characters sets and stories.

If you like to read and are searching for new sources, google FanFiction and pick some places to try out.  It's cheaper than paperbacks, and you get the added treat of watching the story grow, and even of shaping it by your feedback to the writer.

Try it - just be advised it can become quite a large part of your day if you let it.

Sunday Afternoon

I thought I would get to dog it today , but it is not to be - choir this morning went well, but I forgot about an organ committee meeting this afternoon, which will keep me from computer stuff I need to do on the church's network.  Maybe next weekend.

I saw several motorcyclists today, and can only conclude that they have better circulation than I do, that they're dead, or that they don't feel the cold like us older folks do.  I thought about starting one motorcycle this morning and then changed my mind and took the old Volvo to church. Probably one of my more clever moves this weekend - I sure didn't have any on Saturday....

Phyllis and I had lunch at a place we like for the first time in many weeks, and it was nice to have an hour undisturbed and uninterrupted by some reality of life.  We don't have enough of these times any more - one of the things I am suposed to work on is somehow finding or creating more of them.  For some reason I thought that when I reached this age there would be leisure aplently, and that it would not be hard to schedule relaxed time since that's all there would be.  I sure did get that one wrong. 

Out baby Elizabeth sang in early church and I didn't get there, but Phyllis assures me that she did beautifully.  Liz's baby Sam was bellyaching when I arrived but stopped within a couple of minutes (no thanks to me) and I was reminded how not ready I am for my baby to be a Mom.  I guess maybe I never will be completely ready for her to be a totally independant person, but she's doing it so well, and has scheduled her life much better than I had at her age.  She was 26 today, has her master's degree, a couple years of teaching experience, a husband and a baby - and they're all well, healthy and happy.  I wish I could take some credit for all of this but I can't - she's her own person, and that person has grown into a really great adult, seemingly while I wasn't looking.  How does this happen?

Well, I have to go get some coffee and get back to church for the organ committee meeting, after which I just might get to work on the network for a little bit - if I can remember to take this ToughBook with me.  One thing I am learning is to have Vista, which is what was on the last two computers we bohght for church.  Granted, it does a lot that I used to have to do for myself, but I am not convinced that it does it better, and I know damn well that it takes away many options, not to mention sucking down resources like they were infinite.

Of course, I am still convinced that OS/2 should have won over WinDoze 3.1....

Be well, y'all - I gotta go.

Weekend Thoughts

It was a nice weekend. Except for the rain, that is.

I had a lot of stuff I was going to get done this weekend. I don't remember what most of it was - and the stuff I do remember didn't get done. But weekends come around pretty regularly.

As I recall it, Saturday was to have been a motorcycle day - or at least enough of one that I'd get the Kwacker up to Jack for the installation of its new column lock. That didn't happen - I don't care for riding in the rain in the summer - and it was only 47 out yesterday. I think most of Saturday went to catching up on FanFic reading (about which more in another diatribe) and working on making this new laptop into what I think I want it to be. It seems to me I did some other stuff, but not much. I tend to nap a lot on weekends - I don't know if it is age-related, depression-related, or blood sugar related - but it doesn't bother me enough to want to find out.

I also did some work on unloading the DVR by watching some stuff I had recorded.

EVERYONE needs a DVR - if you have one, you can watch any show in just over 2/3 of the time it would normally take because you can quick-skip the commercials. That means I can watch three episodes of Eureka in the time it took to record two. Unfortunately, HD TV takes a LOT of space, and the DVR storage just is not enough to this point. There are drives big enough to do it, but the vendors won't let us into the box to replace its 100 gig drive with one of 1000 gig or so.

Sunday I made music in the morning, and visited with my youngest daughter and youngest grandson for a while in the afternoon, making myself useful by building a fire in her living room (in a wood stove, of course.) I also amused Sammy for a while, played with the cat a while, touched not one book, TeeVee or computer all that time.

Then we went home, and as I recall it I watched the drag racing at Pomona and slept intermittently, even through CSI:Miami, which usually doesn't put me to sleep. Before I knew it, it was Monday Morning, time to get myself up, get the other grandson up, make coffee, read the paper, take Ronnie to school and myself to work. Traffic sucked bigtime this morning - what takes me 25 minutes at night takes just over an hour in the morning sometimes. I'm not going off on a rant about Verkehrsarschloecher (Griesheimer for Anal Sphincters of Traffic) but I will let you fill in your own, because I suspect that everyone who doesn't work at home and has to drive to the office has their share of rants.

The first thing I learned after my arrival was that some work that had taken me a couple of weeks a year back was going into the dumper because someone decided we didn't need to be quite so nice to our client base, and we could get by making them use other processes that are more arcane and less intuitive to get the data I was spoonfeeding them. I guess I don't care - I get paid to do this stuff, but I kinda like it when it gets used.

The rant about outside data is postponed - right this minute it is entirely too profane to be posted here. Laer, when it gets less profane and more germane i'll get into the Uses and Misuses of Data ias it relates to people who save data without knowing that somewhere that has to be a unique identifier.... It's like a mailing list for all your friends filed under "Friends" without any distinction between the various names - like they were interchangeable parts. I guess there are probably folks that operate that way, but it gives me a headache and makes my eyes bleed.

I gotta go back to work. Have a good balance of the day, all of you.