From the desk of the YamahaDrummer

Kinect is amazing, so why are so many people douche bags?

2010-12-01T15:36:00.002-06:00

I'm having a rough week. I've worked my poor little fingers to the bone, and burned the midnight oil about as much as I can. So today I've been spending the little down time I've had reading about Microsoft's new gadget Kinect. If you haven't heard about this, I don't blame you. I've been so focused on work, family, and dirtbikes, that it took my brother Matt telling me about it. Sure, I'd heard about it, but I hadn't done the smallest amount of reading, and didn't really understand what it did.

Now I have, and I'm blown away. Basically the Kinect is a sensor that you put above or below your television, and plug into your Xbox 360. Then you play games similar to the games using your body as the controller. Nope, that wasn't a typo, your body is the controller. I never bought a Wii, and only played on one a couple of times. I've never even touched the Playstation Move. Of course I haven't played with the Kinect yet either... but I will be buying one.

"Why?" I'm glad you asked! Because even with it's current limitations, it is a giant leap into the future of user interfaces. You don't have to hold a controller, it senses your arm (and leg) movements. Depending on the distance from the controller it can also detect hand movements. It does facial recognition, and can automatically load your profile when you get on your console to play! This is a fundamental re-imagining of the way we will interact with technology in the future. This is motion capturing that is light years beyond the techniques used in creating The Matrix!

So on to part two on this post. I've read three or four different blogs, tech articles, and reviews today. In each and every case there is at least one moron in the comments section bashing Microsoft. Why? I'm no Barack Obama fan, but if he did something brilliant (like reduce federal spending, or reduce tax rates across the board), I wouldn't be the first to sing his praises. It seems that there are some people that can't put partisanship aside for anything, be it politics, or gaming consoles.

Here are some of the most ludicris complaints I've read, and my reactions to them;

"I guess it's cool, but $150! and M$ is making almost $100 per device in profit!"
Umm, were you stupid enough to think that Microsoft is a charity? According to EEtimes the Kinect costs Microsoft only $56 to produce. OK even if that was the case, I'd be completely fine with it. However the EEtimes article is completely misleading. The $56 price tag is what it would cost to buy all of the parts. It doesn't account for assembly, shipping it to the local Game Stop, or "gasp" the R&D that went into determining what combination of $56 worth of parts it would take in order to achieve the results!

The original prototype cost Microsoft $30,000 to build. They have spent an estimated $500 million in advertising to get people on the Kinect bandwagon (obviously it didn't work for me). But this is all part of the larger problem, and until we start teaching the younger generation that people deserve to get paid for their work, it's going to keep getting worse.

Mike

A Note on Christopher Hitchen

2010-10-29T10:15:00.000-05:00

It’s a strange world we live in, and from time to time we are affected by people, in ways that make no logical sense. For example I want to talk to a person that I respect in certain areas, and view as a side show freak in others. I don’t know how many people reading my blog will recognize the name Christopher Hitchens. He is an author and journalist who has a long and heady history of defying conventional norms.

Like many other people Christopher went from being an avowed socialist, to a free market capitalist, all the time staying a fan of Marx. He believes that Marx’s revolutionary ideals are a good thing, and that if Marx had truly understood the revolutionary nature of capitalism, then he would have been a fan. I’m not convinced.

Politics however is not what I want to talk about. Mr. Hitchens is an atheist, and one of the founders of the “New Atheism” movement. Feel free to read the Wiki on it, but the down and dirty sum is, New Atheism is a religion. Basically a religion, whose key precept is to reject the notion that there is any God.

His writings are not just of a questioning nature; they are a categorical denial of God. He has made statements impugning men because they have some sort of faith, saying that he believes, “All religious belief is sinister and infantile”.

Now Mr. Hitchens is fighting for his life. In June he was diagnosed with Metastatic Esophageal Cancer. The prognosis isn’t good, and Mr. Hitchens has stated that with prodigious use of alcohol and cigarettes, you “make yourself a candidate”. Many people all around the world are praying for him to recover from this dreadful disease. And that makes Mr. Hitchens mad, very mad indeed.

Well Mr. Hitchens, I am here to give you solace. If you want to reject the prayers being directed at you, then that is your prerogative. One of the things that believers like myself do is pray for those that we care about. It’s not that weird, actually it’s kind of nice. Maybe he should take the advice of fellow atheist Penn Jillette (Warning - Language, but since when did Penn say anything that didn’t have curse words in it?).

Christopher, you don’t mind if I call you Christopher do you? Has it ever occurred to you that there are many people who are as passionate about their faith as you are about your lack there of? Don’t worry, I’m not going to try and convert you, us Mormons send out young men in white shirts and blue suits to do that ;-) What I am going to do is try to talk to you on a human level.

It does not hurt you when others pray for you, and there is nothing you can do to stop the people who love you from praying for you. They are giving you the most significant gift anyone can give, bandwidth. Sorry if you don’t understand, I’m a Network Engineer, and I am putting this in terms that make sense to me. You see everything has limited bandwidth. Think about a water hose, the amount of water that can be pushed through that hose is limited by the diameter of the hose. The same goes with computer networks, and people’s lives. There is only so much that we can fit into our lives, only so many things we can think about in a day, and only so many mentions we can make in our prayers. If someone has decided to include you in one or more of those things, then they have given you the greatest gift they can give you.

As precious as that gift is, does it really matter what form it comes in? Do the prayers tear away slowly at your atheism? Some people would swear that they can feel the prayers of others strengthening them. I know you would never say that you can feel them like a burden, since that would make your stance against them null, but honestly other than fodder for your articles what does it matter to you if people are praying for you health and well being?

Mike

The Vaccination Debate

2009-10-05T13:22:00.002-05:00

I will admit that I am reflexively turned off by a few different things, multi-level marketing, and big-government are in my top three. However, there is one that tops them all. It's not easy to define because it ranges across political affiliation, religion, and all other demographics. What is this issue? Well, it's not an issue it zealotry. Every once in a while I am confronted with someone who is so insanely devoted to their little idea that they have ceased to think rationally. They accept those who build up their fervor un-questioningly, yet shun anyone who dares to question the veracity of their claims. This ugly little monster has reared its ugly head again, and I decided to spend my lunch addressing the issue.

For most people vaccinations are a nothing, something that we don't spend a lot of our mental energy thinking about. Most of us look at it as a given that we will have our children vaccinated against deadly diseases, but look at a flu shot as something that we may or may not get each year. It's not a terribly sophisticated position, and that's because it means so little to us. Unfortunately there are people among us who get worked up into a frenzy over the slightest mention of vaccination. Since I am aware anyone in the latter category has passed beyond the point of reasonable discussion, this is for those of you who are wondering what the issue is, and want to understand some of inner workings. I have taken the most common objections to vaccinations that I have heard and done some research. I am disregarding any unsubstantiated claims, all the numbers I get will be backed up by data from reputable institutions.

So let's get started with this claim: Vaccinations are not the life saving medicine we have been told. I've heard this claim a thousand different ways. Some state that even though diseases died down after vaccinations were created for them it wasn't the vaccinations that did that it was the change in climate, or change in hygiene of the population. I'm sure that modern hygiene has gone a long way to curbing diseases, there is definitely something to be said for sanitary living conditions, and proper nutrition increasing our resistance to disease, but numbers from every institution that I searched showed that immunizations have done a much greater job then hygene. Here is a graph showing the reported incidents of measles from 1920 to 1995.

In 1963 the vaccine for measles was licensed for use, and by 1965 is was in wide production and distribution. Does anyone notice what happened after that? Well that cliff isn't conjecture, this is according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and if you find them to be to biased a group I can't help you. This is one example, anyone willing to do a little research will find that this is not an isolated case, the same story has been told in relation to rubella, pertussis, and diphtheria.

Claim: Vaccines have more severe side effects than the disease itself. Many people who say this have bought into some very dubious claims made by the anti-vaccine groups. Most of these claims rely heavily on the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and seem to believe that every issue reported to VAERS is directly linked to the vaccine. As with any medication there are some possible side-effects. If you get a shot you may experience muscle soreness in the limb to which you received the shot. Of course the anti crowd will cling to the worst reported events, even if they cannot be laid at the foot of the vaccine. Here is a sampling of some typical vaccine related health risks, against some of the typical risks of getting the disease itself. I think it speaks for itself (numbers are combined from the CDC, and US Public Health Service).

Disease-Related Risks

Adverse Effects ofVaccination

Measles

Pneumonia: 1 in 20 Encephalitis: 1 in 2,000 Death: 1 in 3,000

Mumps
Encephalitis: 1 in 300

Rubella

Congenital Rubella Syndrome: 1 in 4, (if woman becomes infected early in pregnancy)

MMR Vaccine

Encephalitis or severe allergic reaction: 1 in 1,000,000

Diphtheria

Death: 1 in 20

Tetanus Death: 3 in 100

Pertussis

Pneumonia: 1 in 8
Encephalitis: 1 in 20
Death: 1 in 20

DTP Vaccine

Continuous crying, then full recovery: 1 in 100
Convulsions or shock, then full recovery: 1 in 1,750
Acute encephalopathy: 0-10.5 in 1,000,000
Death: None proven

Claim: Vaccine preventable diseases have disappeared from the US, so there is no reason to vaccinate children.

I took this verbatim from Quakwatch.com because it said everything I wanted to say about this issue

"It's true that vaccination has enabled us to reduce most vaccine-preventable diseases to very low levels in the United States. However, some of them are still quite prevalent—even epidemic—in other parts of the world. Travelers can unknowingly bring these diseases into the United States, and if we were not protected by vaccinations these diseases could quickly spread hroughout the population, causing epidemics here. At the same time, the relatively few cases we currently have in the U.S. could very quickly become tens or hundreds of thousands of cases without the protection we get from vaccines.

We should still be vaccinated, then, for two reasons. The first is to protect ourselves. Even if we think our chances of getting any of these diseases are small, the diseases still exist and can still infect anyone who is not protected. A few years ago in California a child who had just entered school caught diphtheria and died. He was the only unvaccinated pupil in his class.
The second reason to get vaccinated is to protect those around us. There is a small number of people who cannot be vaccinated (because of severe allergies to vaccine components, for example), and a small percentage of people don't respond to vaccines. These people are susceptible to disease, and their only hope of protection is that people around them are immune and cannot pass disease along to them. A successful vaccination program, like a successful society, depends on the cooperation of every individual to ensure the good of all. We would think it irresponsible of a driver to ignore all traffic regulations on the presumption that other drivers will watch out for him or her. In the same way we shouldn't rely on people around us to stop the spread of disease; we, too, must do what we can."

http://www.quackwatch.com/03HealthPromotion/immu/immu06.html

Claim: Vaccines cause Autism. Autism is a chronic developmental disorder characterized by problems communicating, socializing, and limited or repetitive interests. No one knows the cause of autism, and the parents of autistic children deserve all of our sympathy and support. Boys are 3-4 times more likely to be autistic, and though most autistic children are mentally retarded, about a quarter of them are not. The experts believe that autism is a genetic disorder, and studies have found brain abnormalities in structures that start to grow during the first few weeks of pregnancy.

Let me ask you a question, and be a little bold about it. If you were the parent of an autistic child, and knew that your child would never get to live a normal life. Never get married, have children, and that you would be taking care of them for the rest of your life. Would it be easier to a) Accept that you or your spouse passed down this genetic defect to your child, or b) blame the MMR vaccine…? I think the answer is obvious. I don't blame these parents, I blame the people pushing this nonsense. If they really cared, then they would put their energy into autism research, not scare mongering.

OK, I've given four and there are a lot more, but the real issue is that people are spreading this nonsense. There are many people who will believe anything, I like to call them the 12Percenters, statistically 12% of people believe in insane theories. Pick a conspiracy theory and you will have 12% or less of the population that believe it is true. Case in point, 12% of the U.S. population believes that Elvis is still alive, and I bet we'll have similar numbers for Michael Jackson.

So who exactly are the people waging the attack against immunization? I think the term "the usual suspects" works here. Most of them are practitioners of homeopathic or allopathic medicine. These are people who don't believe in 90% of western medicine, and think that herbs or moon stones are better at treating cancer than chemotherapy and other "traditional" methods. Of course their real claims are that if you lived the lifestyle they suggest then you never would have gotten cancer in the first place. While these people may believe their hype, and honestly believe what they are preaching, most of them have a degree from a correspondence school. This is about the same as getting religious guidance from someone who became a minister after sending $500 to an online church. I believe the most important thing to do is research yourself, research the people who are making the claims also. Remember, not all M.D.s are created equal. Also, ask your DOCTOR questions, if the doc thinks you don't deserve to have your questions answered, find another doctor. Above all, ignore youtube videos with outrageous claims. I could make a video that would star Mother Theresa as Jiminy Cricket, it doesn't mean she was.

Mike

P.S.

My biggest disappointment in this was the relationship between Chiropractors, and the anti-vaccine movement. I've respected the Chiropractic profession for years, but their throwing in with this nonsense is very disturbing. Read more Here.

Chicago’s Out, Obama’s Done

2009-10-02T11:36:00.001-05:00

Who could have seen this coming? This time last year Obama was golden, he was going to re-define the world's view of America. Today he has officially become the Jimmy Carter clone that many of us said he would be.

Let me be clear (to borrow his phrase), Obama has trounced upon this country in every venue he has been to. Maybe the fact that he didn't have a strong family unit played into this. You see, all of us who grew up with siblings know that no matter how badly we talk about our brothers, and no matter how many times we fight with them, it is never acceptable to allow others to do the same. My brother and I used to beat the stuffing out of each other on a regular basis, but it was never acceptable for anyone else to do so. The world feels the same way, I'm sure the French talk about their countries flaws amongst themselves, but if Jaques Chirac were to do that on the national stage his countrymen would turn against him in a very decided manner.

So when he shows up at the IOC and starts to talk about his country (more himself than his country, but hey his ego is bigger than Alaska and Texas combined), and makes little back handed jabs at our society it doesn't sit well with other people… even the ones who agree with him. Here are a few ways he could have spent his time more productively than going on a fun run to Copenhagen.

Give General McChrystal a call. You have only talked with him once since you got into office, maybe you should actually listen to the man who is in charge over in Afghanistan. He has said that more troops are needed or the mission will end in failure. In case you missed this line from the job description the President is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces; that means YOU are supposed to make them a priority above paying back political favors to you Chicago friends.
Remember the "Stimulus" that you said was needed immediately or else unemployment would hit record highs, and the U.S. economy would continue downward? Well, you got your wish; congress gave you what amounts to a $182,000,000,000 check (CBO numbers including the "tax cuts" to people who don't pay income tax anyway). Nine months later only 10% of the stimulus has been spent, and unemployment is at a record high 9.8%. Either stop the spending of the stimulus or, get on with it. If it was cancelled Wall street would have a banner week, and if it was actually spent then there would be a short term boost. Either way pick a path and get trucking.
Address the ACORN issue. In case you've been hanging out in the bunker for the past month, ACORN has been exposed as the criminal enterprise it has always been. Your campaign paid $800,000 to ACORN for their Get Out the Vote efforts, and you have past affiliations with them as a trainer and community organizer. I know people largely gave you a pass in the last election on your dubious connections (Rev. Wright, William Ayers, ect.), but your shine has dulled. If you plan on running for re-election in 2012 then I highly suggest you stop blaming everybody else, and get out in front of this scandal. We all know that this ACORN mess is going to just get worse as the investigations go on. You were willing to call a white cop's actions stupid when you didn't know the facts of the case, why aren't you willing to call ACORN out knowing a lot more about them?

I wasn't coherent when Carter was president. But I do remember the lame duck status of Bill Clinton's second term. Right now this President Obama looks just as lame, but even more so due to his arrogance. I can see a swing in both houses of congress next year, and someone else in the White House in 2012 (if I were a Democrat I'd be looking for someone else to run for the Presidency in 2012). It's going to take a lot of work to save this presidency, and I don't think President Obama is good at actual work, he is the empty suit stereotype incarnate.

Mike

A Great Escape

2009-09-08T15:17:00.001-05:00

I know that the calendar says today is Tuesday, but let's be honest for a moment, it's a Monday. The tasks are typical Monday fair, and the feeling of running in quicksand is distinctively Monday.

That being said, it was a great weekend. On Saturday Janika the twins and I hung out with Steve and Lori. We went out to breakfast at Norma's, looked at musical instruments at Murphy's Music, and then went to Silverlake Marina on Grapevine Lake. Steve and I both love to look at boats, and since we were in Grapevine we decided to go to Bass Pro and look at the boats there. While we were there I decided I wanted to look at the archery equipment.

You see, one of my fondest memories is saving up $12 to buy a bow and arrow set. Once I had managed to save up the money, my parents took me to the feed store to get a bale of hay to use as a target. I remember shooting it at the football field across the street, and being very proud of the accuracy I was able to produce. Sadly, once that bow was gone I didn't pick one up again seriously until this weekend.

We had been in Bass Pro looking around for a while when I headed over to the archery department, and started browsing through the bows and various accessories. I thought it would be fun to shoot as a hobby, and then use my bow for hunting as well. So I looked at bows, and then left the archery department to find the rest of my crew. They were in the clothing area, and Steve was trying on some very spiffy shirts. Janika was looking through the clearance racks, but I knew what I wanted, and I couldn't wear it.

As adeptly as possible I strung my fellow travelers over to the Archery department, and proceeded to pick up the bows that I had determined to be the best options for my goals. Matt, the associate who helped me, talked me through some of the finer points of modern compound bows. I settled on a Fred Bear Showdown, and they proceeded to adjust the sights, pull and all of the other bow dynamics for me. The gentlemen at Bass Pro were great. Not only did they set up my bow, they gave me some advice on proper form, and how to use the equipment I was buying.

The bow I bought had a front sight, a rear peep sight, and weird things like a "stabilizer" and a "whisker biscuit". I also had to buy a release, arrows, and a target. Once I had purchased all of this, (to the silent, peaceful resignation of my wife) we headed home. I was excited, and posted on Facebook that I had bought a bow. I was amazed at the speed in which the conversations started. My brother Matt has a very similar bow to mine, and we started talking shop. Soon he was posting videos of him shooting, and the bug became too much. I grabbed my gear and headed out to the back yard.

Honestly I was a little scared, it had been many moons since I had last fired a bow, and now I was dealing with a completely foreign sighting system, release system, and style of shooting than I had ever know. To amplify the new factor, I was shooting in my back yard. After a couple of shots I was in love. Using a release is almost a Zen experience compared to using your fingers. Add to that the sighting system, smoothness of pull, and balance of a modern compound bow and it was incredible. I continued shooting until my shoulders and back where sore from using muscles that hadn't seen work in years.

I love my family, and over the years regret that my relationship is not stronger with my closest (age wise) brother. The fact that there is something like this that we both thoroughly enjoy makes me hopeful for future days; Possible hunting trips, and getting together to enjoy a great sport together.

Mike

Go Green Death!

2009-09-03T09:46:00.001-05:00

Volunteer soccer coach Michael Kinahan is a volunteer, and now he is coaching no longer. Why? As we all know if must have been a very malicious act to get him to resign his post. Was he a pervert? No. Was he abusive? No. He was funny, but not funny enough it seems to save his position.

Before the season began he wrote an e-mail to the parents of the precious snowflakes he was going to be coaching. It was an insane rant that would have had everyone cracking up, had Will Farrell done it. Alas, Michael has never been an SNL cast member. So instead of the standing ovation he deserves he got parents complaining to the league. So he resigned, and now these little snowflakes will get another coach. Will their new coach have the passion and love coaching that Michael had? We may never know. What we do know is that these little girls missed out on being coached by comic genius.

Here is the letter of death that Coach Kinahan wrote;

Congratulations on being selected for Team 7 (forest-green shirts) of the Scituate Soccer Club! My name is Michael, and I have been fortunate enough to be selected to coach what I know will be a wonderful group of young ladies.

Okay, here's the real deal: Team 7 will be called Green Death. We will only acknowledge "Team 7" for scheduling and disciplinary purposes. Green Death is not a team but a family (some say cult) that you belong to forever. We play fair at all times, but we play tough and physical soccer. We have some returning players who know the deal; for the others, I only expect 110 percent at every game and practice. We do not cater to superstars but prefer the gritty determination of journeymen who bring their lunch pail to work every week, chase every ball, and dig in corners like a Michael Vick pit bull.

Some say soccer at this age is about fun, and I completely agree. I believe, however, that winning is fun and losing is for losers. Ergo, we will strive for the W in each game. Although we may not win every game (excuse me, I just got a little nauseous), I expect us to fight for every loose ball and play every shift as if it were the finals of the World Cup. As I spent a good Saturday morning listening to the legal-liability BS, which included a thirty-minute dissertation on how we need to baby the kids and especially the refs, I was disgusted. The kids will run, they will fall, get bumps and bruises, even bleed a little. Big deal; it's good for them (but I do hope the other team is the one bleeding). If the refs can't handle a little criticism, then they should turn in their whistles. My heckling of the refs actually helps them develop as people. The political-correctness police are not welcome on my sidelines. America's youth are becoming fat, lazy, and noncompetitive because competition is viewed as "bad." I argue that competition is crucial to the evolution of our species and our survival in what has become an increasingly competitive global economy and dangerous world. Second-place trophies are nothing to be proud of. They serve only as a reminder that you missed your goal; their only purpose is as an inspiration to do that next set of reps. Don't animals eat what they kill? (And yes, someone actually kills the meat we eat—it isn't grown in plastic wrap.) And speaking of meat, I expect that the ladies be put on a diet of fish, undercooked red meat, and lots of veggies. No junk food. Protein shakes are encouraged, and while blood doping and HGH use is frowned upon, there is no testing policy. And at the risk of stating the obvious, blue slushies are for winners.

These are my views and not necessarily the views of the league (but they should be). I recognize that my school of thought may be an ideological shift from conventional norms. But it is imperative that we all fight the good fight, get involved now, and resist the urge to become sweatxedo-wearing yuppies who sit on the sidelines in L.L. Bean chairs sipping mocha-latte-half-caf-accinos while discussing reality TV and home decorating with other feeble-minded folks. I want to hear cheering, I want to hear encouragement, I want to get the team pumped up and know they are playing for something.

We are all cognizant of the soft bigotry that expects women, and especially little girls, to be dainty and submissive; I wholeheartedly reject such drivel. My overarching goal is to develop ladies who are confident and fearless, who will stand up for their beliefs and challenge the status quo. Girls who will kick ass and take names on the field, off the field, and throughout their lives. I want these girls to be winners in the game of life. Who's with me?

Go Green Death!

Amen…

My problem with Apple

2009-09-02T16:01:00.001-05:00

I'm a geek, we all know that. I want the latest greatest machine, overflowing with hard drive space, memory, processing power and the latest GPUs (the more the better). I am also a fan of slick styling, remember looks cool is cool. There are few companies that have accomplished this last objective better than Apple. Their devices look like they were designed by the coolest aliens of all time, and their operating system is a great blend of functionality and fun. Someday Microsoft will start throwing in music editing software with their OS. However it is really hard for me to swallow the crap and what I think is getting really close to lies on their commercials. Every time I hear Justin Long start talking about how Macs don't get viruses, and are unlimitedly stable I want to throw my iPhone at the TV.

I know there is a perception that Windows machines are inherently weak and virus prone, but that is not the case. Let's say for a moment that you are writing a piece of malicious software that you want to use to wreak havoc on the computer community. Are you going to write that virus to attack 10% of the computers or 85%? The simple answer is that you are going to write it to the largest audience available, and that is why there are so many more viruses targeting Microsoft OSs than Macs. Even with their underdog status, there have been plenty of viruses that target Macs. One of the fun ones was called Oompa Loompa, and spread itself via AIM/iChat. The amazing thing is that no one seems to want to talk about this. If Macs were "immune" to viruses, then why do Symantec (and others) make a Mac version of AV software? The fact is that most Mac users are so pathetically incompetent on a computer that they wouldn't know they had a virus until it had almost shut them down.

On to stability, there are people who claim that Macs are more stable. They may be right, but for one very big reason. Mac writes the software, specs and sells the software, writes the drivers, and takes care of compatibility as one unit. On the other hand if you have a Windows machine, your Operating System is made by Microsoft, your chassis (read case) was made by one manufacturer, your video card, sound card, hard drive, hard drive controller, network adapter, and every other device that you have on your computer were made by someone else, and then all the drivers were made by other people too. Sure, HP, Dell, ect. take try and ensure driver compatibility, but three months from now if you update your network adapter driver, you may be hosed. Is that Microsoft's fault?

Well the truth is, maybe. You see it's really hard to tell. Microsoft wrote the kernel, and the GUI, but nVidia, Intel, HP, Dell, and thousands of other manufacturers wrote the drivers, and other software that you have running on that same system. So you have your choice; pay three times as much for a Mac, and you will get a system that is marginally more stable, and has less exposure to viruses, or buy a PC that will cost you a lot less, but may develop issues after software updates (very rarely in my experience), and of course a great AntiVirus will set you back $30/year.

I don't know what laptop I am going to buy my wife this month, but the more Mac commercials I see, the more likely it won't be a Mac.

Mike

Reverse Proxy and Me

2009-09-02T15:25:00.001-05:00

I am starting to learn that I am not the big fan on Microsoft that I once was. I still don't think they are the great Satan like most Macophiles do, but am becoming frustrated by the number of security issues that are being discovered, and the patches that are required to fix those issues. Also, I wish that some of additional functionality would be included with different pieces of their software.

Currently I am addressing the lack of Reverse Proxy in IIS 6 (that is Internet Information Server 6 for the uninitiated). It seems like re-directing port 80 hits should be simple, yet it's not. I am going to have to utilize another piece of software, and while there are hundreds of options, it seems to be either open source or $1500 pre-packaged solution. Frustration runs deep in these veins.

Mike

And now it can be told

2009-08-26T11:04:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I did my normal reading, checking out interesting news stories and editorials from around the internet. One in particular made me want to drop kick a hamster, but I got over it. Then this morning I read Steven Crowder's indictment of Hollywood's leading Beta males and it all came back to me.

Let me start off by saying that I don't have a problem with people creating their own wedding traditions. I also don't have an issue with people deciding to do away with formal proposals (I've never made one). I do have a problem with people acting like they are somehow wiser than all of us lemmings for having done it the way they wanted to.

I see modern feminism as one of the most damaging institutions to our families and women. Yep, you heard me correct, OUR women. You can't get mad at that right? After all Hillary Clinton wrote a book called It Takes a Village, so we are one big tribe! While I take exception to her message I agree that we should take care of our own. That includes the next generation of women.

Let's start this conversation by defining what feminism is (you noticed the small "f" right?), and what modern Feminism is (capital "F" now). The traditional feminism acknowledges the difference between the sexes, and understands that the different sexes have different inherent attributes. Men tend to be physically stronger than women, and women tend to be more compassionate than men. No men can give birth, and no women can get pregnant without a man. Generally men make better firefighters, and women make better mothers. There are exceptions, and since we live in a free society those exceptions usually are able to work through the natural cycle.

Modern Feminism teaches that men and women are the same. The only difference is genitalia. Only a moron can believe this, bless their hearts. If you have children you have no doubt noticed that boys gravitate to more masculine, and girls to more feminine, toys. One of the famous quotes of the new feminists was "a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." Of course if you are like me and believe that the human race needs to continue on, then a woman needs a man, if just for simple pro-creation. If you believe that a healthy family unit is important to society, then you will believe that a man needs a woman, just as a woman needs a man.

We have taught a generation of women that they will only get ahead if they behave like men. In return we have ended up with women who have buried natural instincts in favor of outward actions that convey more machismo.

Let me be very clear, women are our moral compass. Men if left to their most base desires would not be faithful to a woman, and would sow their oats in any way possible. The reason men behave civilized in modern society is because women have expected them to do so. When women stop making it clear that they will not throw sex in for pizza and a movie the behavior of men changes, drastically. I have known, and still know, women who are very free with their most personal gifts. They are constantly being hurt by men who use them for that, and then leave them. Because modern feminism has taught them that they have a right to act like men sexually they have done so, but their natural desire for love, understanding, and commitment has gone un-answered. Even more devastating is that they know they shouldn't feel this way, so they are conflicted at a level that most of us don't understand.

Men face a similar challenge, but have been taught to deal with it in a more productive and dynamic way. Our base instinct tells us to procreate, seeing a desirable woman on the street starts a natural hormonal reaction. However we know what the cost is if we pursue that course. We understand that we have given up the stag life for a more rewarding life with our wife and children. Additionally we understand that if we stray from the life that we have chosen, then we will risk losing what we currently have.

Because of this, weaker men play a mind game with themselves. Using lawyer like reasoning they figure, "If I don't get married, then I can't be un-faithful." Society has shot this down and now expects men to behave well even in dating relationships, but the theory still remains. When a man tells a woman that he doesn't need a piece of paper to legitimize their relationship, what he is really saying is that their relationship doesn't need to be tangible. Ladies, you wouldn't buy a car without getting the title, so why would you give something more precious than any amount of money without getting a contract?

I have three daughters and two step daughters; they scare the crap out of me. I want everything for them, and I hope that they will make wise decisions. My oldest just turned fourteen, and is a beautiful young woman. On top of that she is brilliant, I know that someday I will be paying for an Ivy League education. I also know that no matter what school she goes to she will have professors that attempt to indoctrinate her with leftist and feminist propaganda. With just as much conviction I know that there will be a long line of young men vying for her attention. Some of those young men will be of strong character, and others will not be. If she behaves like a lady and lives up to the standards that she has been taught, then she will end up with the former. However, if she abandons those standards the chances are she will end up with the latter.

Mike

All behold the iPhone

2009-06-30T22:53:00.001-05:00

I have been neglectful of my blog for a long time. My wife nagged me into dowloading a blogging app for my iPhone, so I guess you'll have to start reading again!

And the winner is!

2009-04-16T12:02:00.001-05:00

Does any of our North Carolina contingent know this man? If so, laugh at him once for me!

A tantalizing review of "The One's" trip to Europe

2009-04-11T15:24:00.002-05:00

From Charles Krauthammer, the best review of Obama's trip to Europe so far. If Bush had performed this poorly to an international audience the left would be aghast at the embarrassment that tasteless rube had brought down upon us.

I'm not against gift-giving in international relations. But it would be nice to see some reciprocity. Obama was in a giving mood throughout Europe. While Gordon Brown was trying to make his American DVDs work and the queen was rocking to her new iPod, the rest of Europe was enjoying a more fulsome Obama gift.

But of course Obama's duck like back attracts none of that water, especially since the media is willing to carry all the water they can for him.

Read the whole thing.

Prayers for Max

2009-04-08T12:46:00.002-05:00

My brother Max is fighting for his life right now. He was in a motorcycle wreck on Friday night, and is currently in a coma. He is a tough guy, and can do anything. We all need your prayers. To see his fighting spirit check out the video below.

You need to read...these

2009-03-25T11:55:00.002-05:00

Stephen more wrote a great article about the current state of out economy, comparing it to the education that some of us have received from the reading of Atlas Shrugged. The economic problems, and subsequent government responses seem to have been pulled straight out of the pages of this novel. I'm struck by the magnitude of the similarities, and by the public's complete and total blindness to the image that was beamed to the world by Ayn Rand in 1957. Fifty years later we are living in the world that she saw coming, and I am terrified.

Read it all.

If you have not yet read Atlas Shrugged, then please do so. While it is a novel the importance of the message is crucial. Amazon offers it for less than $10 and it is worth ten times that. Make sure that it is in your library, and that you understand the message.

Yours.
YamahaDrummer

Hariukin!

2009-02-25T16:13:00.003-06:00

I just did this thing on Streetfighter.com where you upload your pick and it makes puts you in the movie. The only way you can tell it isn't me is that I would never hit a woman... Enjoy!

Funny, funny... True

2009-02-20T10:19:00.001-06:00

Sing it loud Brotha!

2009-02-06T15:18:00.001-06:00

Gangstas Dancing to manly music!

2009-01-25T18:45:00.001-06:00

ROTFLMAO!!!

I've felt this guys frustration

2009-01-23T11:29:00.003-06:00

For anyone who has ever listened to a certain child play a song over, and over, and over, and over... well this is exactly how I feel about that.

Roommate Requests New Song - Watch more free videos

Inauguration Litter

2009-01-21T21:43:00.002-06:00

This guy had the right idea, and I for one applaud the effort.

Unfortunately, other people didn't hear the message, and this is how it turned out.

And this...

You know as a conservative I get tired of hearing about how much more respectful of the environment the left is. Especially when I see something like this.

George Bush Monument Defaced

2009-01-21T15:01:00.001-06:00

This story is actually a little pedestrian, but I noticed that in one of the pictures they blurred out parts of the image. It looks like a dove to me and makes me wonder why they would blur that our... Unless the media really does like to cover up for the radical hippy left.

Take a look, and tell me what you think.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6615053

Take a moment to let the President Bush know you care.

2009-01-20T17:44:00.004-06:00

I have given President Bush a heart felt thank you (number 2,035) Please go to this site and send him one also.

Mission 1 Accomplished

Gov. Patterson on the vacant senate seat... AND MORE!

2009-01-20T17:20:00.003-06:00

All the politically astute around know that New York has lost one of it's senators. The blogosphere has been chomping at the bit about the appointment that NY Gov. Patterson seems almost set to appoint Caroline Kennedy to the position, and while I agree that it is a moronic choice, it has blinded people to many of the other statements that are being made during this occasion. Watch the video below, and then read on for my analysis of what the real issue is.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

If you notice at the end of the clip Gov. Patterson makes a key acknowledgment. Not only are white Americans celebrating the day that a black man becomes the next President of the United States, many of these white people (myself included) did not vote for the man, and are worried about his policy positions.

I reserve great admiration and respect for the office of the presidency. President Obama is my president every much as he is Ted Kennedy's. When he makes policy decisions that I take issue with I will be vocal about it. Until then, and even during those times, I will give him the respect that is due his office.

The big elephant of a news story that seems to be ignored here is the hatred and vitriol that exists on the left en mas that does not bear nearly as prominent a position on the right. How different would the world view us today if the left had been accepting and congratulatory of George W. Bush as Republicans are being of President Obama?

The radical and insane hatred of former President Bush on the left has made the rest of the world think of us as a house devided. Let us prove to them that they are alone in this type of reflective hate, and say to President Obama, "Well done, you have garnered our respect due to the status of your office. Use it wisely."

Change is here /sarcasm

2009-01-20T16:08:00.001-06:00

Change Is Coming - Watch more free videos

History of the Heavy Metal horns!

2009-01-09T14:44:00.000-06:00

Alright you Macophiles!

2009-01-09T01:43:00.003-06:00

Here you go, the latest and soon to be (in your warped minds), the greatest Mac...

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

The Eclectic Electric Corvair

2008-12-27T13:18:00.002-06:00

A plan has been forming in my brain for a while. My good friend Cash gave me a '65 Corvair Monza that has just minor work to be done in order to make it a driving vehicle. The engine has been rebuilt, and the interior is in excellent condition. All things considered it is about $800 and some work away from being ready.

Here is where I hit a snag. I'm now considering making it an electric vehicle. For those of you who don't know me, I am not a Global Warming alarmist, and I don't believe we are going to run out of oil any time in the forseable future. Because the Corvair has a four speed manual transmission, cruising at 60MPH means you are turning the engine at 3,000RPM. This is not good for gas milage, and also means you are not going to get to more than 75MPH. Due to the high torque of an electric engine, and the fact that electric motors are more efficient when turning at higher RPMs, the conversion to electric would make the Corvair more realistic for long trips, if only we could overcome a few little obsticles.

Here is the list of things that I am requiring in order to make this project a reality;

Must be able to spin the tires
Minimal alteration (read: Distruction) of the origional Corvair
30+ miles on a charge
Hybrid, Unlimited range
A/C, Stereo, and Heater working

I plan to use a DC electic motor, a Zilla controller, and some sort of generator to achieve this. I am also going to look into solar power for some of the charging, but the math will determine if this is advantagouse or not. The solar may only be viable for charging the 12v system that will run the lights, instruments, and radio.

If anyone has information/experience with these types of conversion, please let me know!

It's almost bikini season!

2008-11-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

I've officially put this off as long as I can. My waist line has expanded to a level that I am very unhappy with, and now I am going to do something about it. This is nothing new, I fight this battle constantly. However, in order to do this correctly I need to have three things.

A plan. If I don't set my goals in writing, and back them up with a plan to accomplish them it won't happen
Proof. I am going to take pictures of my round form and post them on my blog for all the world to see. Additionally I will be posting the same pictures weekly so that you can see my progress, and help me with the last part.
Accountability. I need YOU in my corner, cheering me on, and calling me out when I slack off.

Over the weekend I am going to get my plan in place, and Janika and I will be gearing up to start the process on Monday. If you don't want to see my pics (and I don't blame you) then don't visit Monday!

Funny 'cuz it's true!

2008-10-30T10:04:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Jim Treacher for creating this great comic. Visit him at jimtreacher.com.

IMPORTANT; WATCH THIS!

2008-10-26T21:19:00.002-05:00

I've never seen anything as important as this before. Watch this, and spread it around, this needs seriouse exposure between here and Nov. 4th.

Counting on the Babies!

2008-10-25T01:14:00.001-05:00

Simply Incredible

2008-10-20T23:05:00.002-05:00

I hear it everyday in innuendo and plainly stated, "Republicans are RACIST". I've heard how boorish and faux masculine I am. Even more I've seen the pictures of the rallies that are held in the liberal hot beds on the East and West Coasts. But most of all I've seen the vendors selling t-shirts and such outside of Obama rallies, the ones that say charming things like "Sarah Palin is a Cu!@. The one thing I have never seen is Obamas supporters stand up to these radicals and tell them to stop. That this is not acceptable behavior, and the other party deserves respect.

Well, once again the Republican party is being the grown ups, while the Democrats live the Lord of the Flies life. Watch here as we police our own, and tell the nut cases on the right that they have stepped out of bounds.

Something strange is a foot at the Circle K

2008-10-15T18:11:00.003-05:00

Well Here it is. This USED to be my engine fan. However, a little while ago it's good friend Mr. Fan Clutch went out and just a couple of days ago it tossed Mr. Fan into the Shroud. As you can see from the picture, not a single blade survived the Shroud's wrath at it's untimely intrusion.

I was lucky that none of the flying bits decided to make a home for themselves on the other side of the radiator, otherwise I'd be forced to replace that as well.

Now my BMW guy (the great Mark Bander) tells me I need to replace my engine and transmission mounts in order to get everything back in alignment. He says that the Transmission mounts going bad is part of the reason this happened. Since he's never steered me wrong before I am going to believe him. He'll have the mounts in tomorrow, and I will pick them up whenever I have the money and time. I really appreciate help from guys like Mark. Since I am not independently wealthy (thus why I am driving a 1985 BMW) it is great to have someone who give you advice on how to do some of the repairs, and when to do other things to avoid future repairs!

Another trailer for An American Carol

2008-09-29T09:51:00.001-05:00

This looks GREAT!!!!

2008-08-28T22:37:00.000-05:00

After a long struggle...

2008-08-27T23:46:00.000-05:00

Here is the full video of Max's KO

I'm not scared

2008-08-25T12:30:00.003-05:00

One of the most amazing knockouts I've ever seen!

A lesson in Off-Roading

2008-06-04T10:27:00.004-05:00

I don't think that any two people who walk the same path in this life. Mine undoubtedly differs from any of yours. That being said, there are simular cross sections in every one of the paths that we walk. We cross them differently, some turn right, some left, I chose to go off-road for a bit.

We've all been down some tough roads, and most of us have found our way back, or at least we are trying to. The thing that really bothers me is knowing the right path to take, and feeling utterly helpless to get to it. It's like seeing a a river in the desert, but being so tired and hot that you can't find the energy to get to it. I feel that way right now.

I know what I need to do in order to pull things into check, but knowing and doing are two totally seperate issues. But, I push ahead, I'm enrolling in school, and working hard. I'm married to an amazing woman, and have a great kids, but there is the rub. As great as the kids are, they are still dumb as stumps. Now, I'm not saying that to be mean, all kids are idiots... Yes, yours too. The most frustrating experiences one will ever know in life is parenting. We want for our children to learn from our mistakes, we tell them exactly what is going to happen if they do something, but they do it anyway. Suprise! Exactly what we said would happen does happen!

The saddest part is watching the next group falling in line behind them, and watching them start the same cycle. I know why God sent the Flood...

The market, how it works, and why things suck right now...

2008-06-02T13:18:00.003-05:00

I'm growing increasingly weary with the discussions that have been happening in my office, as well as on capital hill. That planted firmly in the back of your mind, here is why I am aggravated.

Since 1976 we have not built a single new oil refinery in the USA. It's not that the oil companies don't want to build them, it's that they can't! We have been enlarging refineries, and trying to combat the problem that way, but we still use 36 million gallons of gas more than the refineries can make... and that was just today. You heard me right, daily WE use 36 million gallons more gas than can be created in our domestic refineries.

This problem is significant for multiple reasons, not the least of them being that instead of importing crude oil that needs to be refined we have to import refined and ready gasoline.

Think about that, we have to import refined gasoline. Have you ever been to a gas station that serves only one flavor of fuel? No, you at least have regular, mid-grade, and premium. Not to mention diesel. Now think about the sheer number of other variants required due to state/local laws, and we are approaching 100 different blends of gasoline.

There are a hundred different things that I want to unload about this situation, and amazingly the oil execs getting stupid amounts of money isn't one of them. Maybe it's time for the morons in congress like Barbara Lee to shut her trap about nationalizing the oil industry, and start to vote for more refineries, and drilling.

KISS's Greatest Performance...

2008-05-23T12:15:00.002-05:00

You've been Rick Roll'd

James Earl Jones is all Star Wars ever needed!

2008-05-23T09:57:00.002-05:00

OK, I save the best for last... Enjoy!

Arren Tagged me! Oh the humanity!

2008-05-11T11:29:00.003-05:00

5 JOBS I'VE HAD IN MY LIFE

1. Network Engineer
2. Car Salesman
3. Drummer
4. PA designer/Sales
5. Pepsi Special Events Technician

5 MOVIES I WOULD (OR HAVE) WATCHED OVER AND OVER:

1. Wedding Crashers
2. History of the World
3. Blazing Saddles
4. The Grail
5. Princess Bride

5 PLACES I'VE LIVED:

1. Provo, UT
2. Denver, CO
3. Castle Rock, CO
4. Tampa Bay, FL
5. And Currently... Dallas, TX

5 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARLY:

1. Erik
2. People trying to sell me stuff
3. All these personal networking sites
4. Bill O'rielly
5. Michael Medved

5 OF MY FAVORITE FOODS/RESTAURANTS:

1. Razoo's (Yummy in my tummy)
2. Firehouse Subs
3. Steak N Shake
4. Pho .95
5. Bob's Chop House

5 PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:

1. In bed asleep
2. Snowboarding
3. Wakeboarding
4. Swimming
5. getting a massage

5 THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2008:

1. Working Less
2. Making More
3. Playing with babies
4. Family reunions
5. Buying a bigger house

5 FRIENDS I WANT TO TAG:

1. James (since he started this evil)
2. Erik
3. John
4. Devanie
5. Marianne

Here I Blog again on my own...

2008-05-09T15:27:00.004-05:00

I found one of the coolest things ever!

It is the enlistment information for my Grandfather during WWII. How cool.

Check it out... Here at the national Archives

Quickie

2008-04-07T16:42:00.003-05:00

Disturbing... UPDATED

2008-03-28T12:20:00.006-05:00

It seems that some "Christian" churches have out grown the need for the Savior. In Toronto the West Hill Protestant United Church of Christ has decided that it's going to take a little something out of it's teachings... You guessed it, Jesus Christ. Also they are going to downgrade God to god, and limit the time spent on much of the Biblical passages.

One question, then how do they retain their affiliation with the UCC? Isn't it an oxymoron to be a Christian church that doesn't teach about Christ?

Read more... Here

BTW, I completely agree with the line from The Anchoress. Not that I agree with everything she says, but this is the typical self indulgent type of tripe that has led us to the dark times we are now seeing.

Update v2;

OK, so the reactions haven't been as visceral as I expected. Some of the point made were expected, and now I will attempt to answer them in a very straight forward manner. I am not arguing for the superiority of men, I am making the point that we are different in nature, and because of those natural differences each have been given devine roles.

My wife sees herself as a better multi-tasker because she shifts from project to project without any discernable objective in mind. The conversation she mentioned was one in which she was frusterated that she had worked her tail off that day and the house really didn't look that much better. She stated that because she saw the project as a whole she was doing it in what to her was a logical order. The problem that I saw is that she spent the day shifting between things that had only a shoestring connection instead of focusing her efforts on one project and finishing it before moving on to the next one.

I recieve between 80 and 100 e-mails a day, and I talk on the phone to roughly the same number of clients. The e-mails come from a dozen or more different clients spread out accross the country. Each has different needs, budgets, and expectations. If I attempted to work in the same manner as Janika does I'd lose clients and get fired. I'd spend all of my time working reactively instead of pro-actively.

Instead I prioritize the things that need to be done each day and work down my list as quickly as possible. That doesn't mean that I lock myself into a set routine, but that I go in with a basic gameplan that can be modified as needed. With that in mind I also know what I have to finish certain tasks before I can move on to another. I call this my alphabet. Projects that are an "A" priority are more important than ones that are a "B" priority. Anything lower than a "D" can wait indefinitely.

Women operate on a more emotional plane than men. When I see a problem I don't "Feel" anything, I just analyze and look for a solution. A woman's ability to understand issues and people on an emotional level is very powerful, and in my opinion a strength. On the other hand, left unchecked it weakens society and becomes a destructive force.

How many times have we been told that we need to understand what someone's been through before we can understand what they have done? How about being told that the rough upbringing of a serial killer somehow justifies the horrors that they have committed? Of course none of this is more true than the people who tell us that these suicidal terrorists who try and kill us do it because of how poor and downtrodden they are.

Is anyone out there going to tell me that a masculine instinct is responsible for this line of thinking?

This lady who has decided to take God and Jesus out of a church and continues to operate under the name Chucrch of Christ. Is operating from two planes. She is as my wife pointed out narcicistic, but she is also relying on her compassion to guide her. She is horrified by the thought of actually labeling good and evil. The Bible says that homosexuality is a sin, but her church wants to ignore that part. They start out by gutting the doctorine that they find inconvinient, and then end up with nothing of value so finally they scrap the whole thing.

She is operating from the feminine instinct to be inclusive. She doesn't want to hurt people's feelings so she deletes the portions of the gospel that offend. This is not just true of "Progressive" churches, but "Progressive" movements in general. Think about the outcry from the left when President Bush labeled the "Axis of Evil". I personally think he didn't go far enough.

We have de-evolved into a world of whimpering cowards. We have allowed the Woman's Liberation movement to morph from a group that was interested in equal rights into a group that looks down their noses at women who choose to stay home and raise the next generation. We have allowed people like Gloria Stienam to tell us that there is no difference between boys and girls. And the whole time we have been told that we need to be more sensetive.

I'm plenty sensetive, I care about my family and worry about them when they are sick or in pain. More than that I worry about the roots of the issues that are causing them pain. I worry about them not being prepared for the world, about them being un-equipped to deal with important issues.

More later.... Man it feels good to vent!

A very important piece

2008-03-28T09:47:00.003-05:00

This is one of the most important videos/movies I've ever seen. Last night I saw it at Little Green Footballs, and watched it with one of the twins sitting on my lap. The images are graphic, and not something I'd suggest that young viewers watch. However, I would suggest that adults watch this, and if you are disturbed by the images then GOOD!

To many people are sitting on the sidelines and watching the world go by. They complain about the price of gas and how much the war is costing. After watching this tell me is the war in Iraq really that disproportionately expensive?

Live Leak was forced to pull the video because of death threats from members of the Religion Of Peace, but here is the video from YouTube. Watch it fast, because they are notorious for pulling videos that don't agree with their world view.

Thankfully Modern

2008-03-17T10:40:00.001-05:00

The last few weeks have opened my eyes, and brought into clear focus something that my mind has touched on but not been able to grasp. Thank heaven I live in modern times. Having watched as my twin girls were sick and in the hospital was terrifying. The scariest thing is that 50 years ago we probably would have lost one, or both of them.

So now I say to all the people that hate the medical community... SHUT UP!!! Grinding up some ginger root and putting it in your granola is not going to solve every medical problem. I believe their is a place for Holistic/Homeopathic medicine, but it seems to me that people who become part of that world are their own worst enemy. Let's face it, the stiff they are peddling is not that much less expensive than the stuff the pharmaceutical companies are selling. Take into account that the Pharma's are getting sued every two minutes, and personally I'm amazed that medication is as cheap as it is.

I'm not defending the drug companies completely, I think we have way to many psychological drugs on the market, and some of them have side effects worse than the disease they are trying to cure.

The most amazing thing to me is that even my wonderful wife is taking shots at the hospital, saying "Amelia is doing much better. Funny how that coincided with them letting her eat." Actually it was because of the fact that she was only getting nourishment through an IV for a period that she got better, and they let her start eating again once she had started the road back to recovery. If they had been letting her "eat" the whole time she would have been Aspirating the food and depositing liquid in her lungs. Which would have exacerbated the problem.

This is a symptom of the Natural Medicine crowd. They use a hospital when they really need one, and as soon as everything gets better they start second guessing what they Nurses and Doctors have done. "Yeah, the treatment worked, but all I really needed was a cabbage compress, and some yohimbe and pine bark tea." Really Einstein? Then next time why don't you drive down to your local Herbalist instead of the Emergency Room! Everybody has the right to do what they want when it comes to their health, but the misinformation that is spread is insane.

Pound for pound the Nurses and Doctor's at Children's Medical Center in Dallas are the best. For the record, they didn't use a single drug in treating my daughters. The IVs were used to deliver sugar water, and saline solution. The treatments they did were to get the mucous and liquid out of their throats and noses so that they could breathe. This is what allowed them to get better. I am glad that they didn't have to give them a cocktail of medications in order to get them back on their feet (metaphorically of course, they're only two months old.) However, if it had been a bacterial infection instead of viral I would have had no issue with them using antibiotics to treat them with.

Well that is my two cents worth.

This is my D&D Character...

2008-03-07T16:35:00.002-06:00

According to this website, I am the following D&D character;

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Ranger (5th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-14

Dexterity-17

Constitution-16

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-14

Charisma-17

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Rangers are skilled stalkers and hunters who make their home in the woods. Their martial skill is nearly the equal of the fighter, but they lack the latter's dedication to the craft of fighting. Instead, the ranger focuses his skills and training on a specific enemy a type of creature he bears a vengeful grudge against and hunts above all others. Rangers often accept the role of protector, aiding those who live in or travel through the woods. His skills allow him to move quietly and stick to the shadows, especially in natural settings, and he also has special knowledge of certain types of creatures. Finally, an experienced ranger has such a tie to nature that he can actually draw on natural power to cast divine spells, much as a druid does, and like a druid he is often accompanied by animal companions. A ranger's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that he can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Scotty if he hadn't married Arren

2008-03-07T12:00:00.001-06:00

Yeah, sometimes it feels like that...

2008-02-14T13:06:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

You know I'm happy that his aim was good enough to strike both Janika and me, but it does sting sometimes. Remember, even if Cupid missed you with his arrow, you can still see the carnage and laugh.

This time of year

2008-01-31T14:17:00.000-06:00

*****The following is an e-mail that I sent out today, but I wanted to share it more openly*****

To all my friends,

I rarely every send out an e-mail to the vast majority of my mailing list, I do it today because I'm worried. Not about the "Reagan Coalition", or that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, but that we are not looking with a critical eye at the people who are vying to become the next President of our country. This election season we've seen some of the most shameful examples of the "Politics of Personal Destruction", from Hillary and Bill Clinton overtly playing the race card, to last week John McCain so distorted Mitt Romney's words that news papers that had endorsed him called him on it. The scariest part of this to me is that we as a country have become so divided that we can't even see the things that make us the same.

In during World War II, before the U.S.'s official involvement, there were several groups that openly apposed our joining of the war. Some of them were sympathetic to the Socialist aspects of Germanys NAZI party, while most of them were just Pacifists that opposed violence in any form. It was important for all sides to be heard, it was even more important for us to support our country while we were at war. During WWII the film industry in Hollywood cranked out pro-American films as fast as they could. How many films have come out in the last seven years that bare a patriotic pro-USA, pro-Military message? How many that have an anti-USA or anti-Military message? Though there were many people in the film industry whose political ideologies were much more in line with those of the National Socialist movement, they adopted the attitude of a family.

My brother and I used to beat the pulp out of each other at the slightest provocation, but if anyone else tried to beat my brother up they had to go through me too. That is the way I feel about this country. I may not agree with your politics or the candidate that you are planning on voting for, but I will fight for your right to make those decisions. I will continue to stand by our soldiers in the Middle East, the same way I stood by them in every other conflict that they have been in.

As for the person who eventually becomes the 44th President of the United States of America, I have just a quick thing to say to you. While I may be frustrated by decisions you will make (that goes for either party), I respect you, because I respect the office. Be worthy of that respect, live your life in a moral and decent way. Treat your fellow man with respect for their hard work, and remember just because you can do something doesn't make it right.

Sincerely,
Michael Skembo

Adventure continued...

2008-01-29T22:49:00.000-06:00

As I woke the next morning I noticed the first rays of sunlight streaming into the room. I stood beside the bed and stretched out the soreness that I had acquired during the previous days drive, and started to take in my surroundings. It was a very plush room, probably referred to as a suite by the hotel since it did have a sitting area. The decor was classic, and unobtrusive. On the sofa in the sitting room there was a package with my name on it. I eyed it suspiciously for a minute wondering why I hadn't heard someone entering my room and leaving it, but ultimately decided it didn't matter and opened it up.

The package contained clothes. Nothing too fancy, just jeans a button up shirt, shoes and a leather jacket. I set the clothes aside and went to the bathroom to take care of the three S's. On the counter laid a selection of toiletries, and a note.
"Pack a dop kit, you still have more to do."

I packed my kit, and went in to get dressed, starting to notice more details. The suit that I had worn to work the previous day was hanging up and looked freshly pressed as did my shirt and shoes. I contemplated the effort that was being put in while I dressed. They had done a pretty good job shopping for me. The clothes fit, even the shoes, and the jacket was soft and inviting. As I slipped the jacket on the phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered attentively.
"Good morning Mr. Skembo" Replied the vaguely familiar voice. "When you are ready to continue please come up to the penthouse."
"I'll be there in just a minute."

The past few evening finally started to come back, the strange man, Whitlowe I think. And of course the rapid trip to Denver in that fine piece of machinery. I could get used to driving a car like that.

The phone rang again.
"Hello"
"A slight change of plans, go downstairs and retrieve your car. We will have the navigation system set up for you. Meet us at that destination."
"My car?" Came the question.
"Yes, the Lamborghini, it is yours now, congratulations."
"Oh! Thanks" Escaped my stunned reply
"I am not the one to thank; you will meet some of the benefactors at your destination. Please do not delay too much, they are not patient people."
"Oh, ok on my way."
The line went dead, and I grabbed my belongings and headed for the door.

After a quick stop by the front desk arranging for my suit to be sent back to my home I went out to front to valet stand. They were already waiting for me, door open and engine running. I slipped in behind the wheel and started driving. The traffic was light as the navigation system guided me onto I-25 south. I didn't pay a great deal of attention to where I was heading until I started to see the tell tale signs of a municipal airport. Sure enough the signs for Centennial Airport showed up, and I drove on.

As my navigation system said I reached my destination, I looked around. There was one hanger that had an unusual number of very expensive cars around it, and I guessed that was where I should go. As I pulled up outside of the hanger I saw ole Whatshisname standing there waiting for me. I walked over to him and he gave me a wry smile.

"This will get more challenging with every day." He said his tone conversational, "Just remember, what you have is yours, don't be afraid to quit."
"Thanks" I said sincerely. I was starting to feel very alone in this.

We walked toward the cracked hanger door; one look told me what the next challenge would be.

Another Day another $$$

2008-01-28T11:18:00.000-06:00

Today is just another day. It is a little depressing actually. I think about people hundreds of years ago, and all of the stuff we have that they didn't. Sure I love my Blackberry, air-conditioning, and pillowtop mattress, but I wish life had an adventure or two thrown in for good measure.

So here is my ideal adventure.

The wind was blowing under dreary skies as I walked down the long tunnel toward Union Station. It had been a day that was about the best I could say for it. No one yelled, all the network hardware worked. I had been free to sit at my desk working quietly most of the time. Of course this stinking walk to my car was making the day last even longer.

As I reached the elevator a man I hadn't met before said "Hello". I replied in kind thinking nothing of it, then he said these words.
"Do you consider yourself an adventurous man Mr. Skembo?"
I didn't know what to make of the question, but replied to the affirmative, and told a quick anecdote about my friend Erik who calls me a Renaissance Man due to all of the varied interests I have. Then he asked if I would be interested in taking on a challenge. This conversation has gone to a very interesting place.

As we talked he explaned to me the rules. His is Mr. Witlowe, and he represents a group of extraordinarily wealthy and eccentric men. They have decided to place a wager of sorts. I would be asked to drive/pilot a variety of different vessels with very little training, and show some aptitude with them. Whether or not I did so successfully would determine which of these eccentrics became richer. No matter how I performed I would be paid a handsome sum to be the subject of this bet. However if I performed well I would undoubtedly receive more compensation.

I stood in that dimly lit tunnel, my mind racing through the questions that needed to be answered. After receiving satisfactory answers to those questions I accepted. Mr. Witlowe and I boarded the elevator together, and he told me what the first challenge was.

We stepped out of the elevator I saw it. Sparkling in the grey light that the overcast day projected onto it., a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. I walked toward the car looking at it like a lustful teenager, Witlowe handed me the keys and said very firmly. "Six hours to Denver, you need to be in the penthouse of the Brown Palace hotel by midnight to win." I took the keys and hastened my steps toward the car, and swung the door open. Settling in I adjusted the seat and mirrors, inserted the key and turned it. The V10 roared to life, and I blipped the throttle. I put the Lambo into first gear and eased out on the clutch. We had all evening to get to know each other, no reason to rush things.

Driving quickly I entered I-35 northbound. Called my wife and told her what was going on, I could here the hesitation in her voice as she said "OK", but by that time I was getting further away. As I crossed the state line into Oklahoma I looked at my watch, I had better pick up my pace. I shifted down into fourth, and pushed the throttle to the floor. The engine seemed to howl as the speedometer climbed deeper and deeper into three digits. By the time I reached sixth gear my eyes were glued to the road scared to blink. I gave a sigh of releif as I passed into Kansas, knowing that at least I would be out of the reach of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. I stopped and gassed up, then got back on the highway, my previouse trips have taught me that it is a long drive through Kansas, taking I-35 to 135, and then treking west on I-70 to Denver.

Seventeen miles per gallon makes this trip a little harder, once you realize that you are low on fuel you have to slow down in order to find a gas station. Luck stays with me allowing me to get all the way to Bloomington, CO without aggravating one single police officer, that I know of. As I start to see the lights from Denver I look down at the clock; 11:28. I punch it taking full advantage of all the horsepower at my disposal. I notice a police care in the center divide, but he is out of view before I can even see if he is able to turn his lights on.

As I exit onto Brighton Blvd and turn left the tires momentarily loose traction, reacting quickly to get it back in line. I keep a steady pace of 95mph down Brighton until I reach 19th street, then I slow down to the 30mph speed limit and swing quickly into the valet. I rush through the lobby and up the elevator, making it to the Penthouse with less than five minutes to spare.

After enjoying a glass of water and a very nice meal I am offered to continue onto the next challenge. I accept and head to my suite for a much needed nights sleep wondering what awaits me tomorrow.

Win one for the Gipper

2008-01-24T11:17:00.000-06:00

The people in my office are having their annual weight loss contest. Since this is my first year here, I have valiantly thrown caution to the wind, and my hat in the ring. Here are the ground rules. Everyone pays $10 and weighs in, and then has to lose 10 lbs by the 15th of Febuary. If you are among the people who are able to lose 10 lbs by the 15th then you can take your share of the winnings and go buy a Whataburger double-meat with cheese, or you can double down, throw in another 10 spot and maintain for a month.

First things first. I could probably lose the weight by the specified time if all I did was cut the Dr. Peppers out of my diet. If I also started to moderate my food intake then I could probably drop even more. Of course excercise is a double edged sword for me. I would definitely loose the fat, but my body likes to pack on muscle, and we all know that it weighs more than fat.

Either way Janika is getting a sexier play-thing, and we all know that there is no downside to that.

yamahadrummer

2008-01-15T10:25:00.001-06:00

Here they are!

2008-01-15T09:41:00.000-06:00

Janika did a great job on Friday. She gave birth to two beutiful girls. Anastasia came out weighing 6lbs 2.7oz, and measuring 17.25in long. Amelia topped both numbers at 6lbs 3oz, and 19in long. All said and done, Janika was carrying 12.5lbs of baby! Pretty impressive stuff.

I know what you are thinking... who cares about the stats, give me pictures! Well, here you go.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22867883@N06/show/?no_back=1

Another one Bites the Dust

2007-12-25T21:39:00.000-06:00

As soon as you read that title, I'm sure John Deacon's beautifully crafted bass line ran through your mind. Doo doo dum dum dum, Another one bites the dust. This Christmas was fantastic, the kids have had a great time. No one got everything they wanted (my living room is still missing a 60+ inch big screen TV), the kids got several wonderful presents, and we got a couple of family presents that everyone has enjoyed.

First one was a video game for the Xbox 360 called Rock Band. It comes with a guitar controller, a mic controller, and a drum set controller. Mikey has laid claim to the drum set, and pushed me off to the guitar. Janika can rock the mic like no one else. All said and done, it has been a lot of fun today playing as a family. We also got Harry Potter movies, and Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.

Some kids got electronic gadgets, some got bikes, but all recieved love. As I write this I am sitting in my living room watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The kids are exhausted, and so am I, but it was well worth it.

Three Shopping Days Left

2007-12-21T09:32:00.000-06:00

Ok, here we are again three shopping days left till Christmas. I have to admit that I am ready to throw in the towel, but there are still kids that we haven't finished shopping for. This year I really want to make it special for the kids.

I know that this year hasn't been easy. With ups and downs in the job department there has been a lot of stress that I'm sure the kids have felt. Add to that Janika being pregnant... with twins no less, and I know I haven't been as warm and loving as I should be.

This is the hardest part about combining a family. It's not that you love the other kids any less, or that you want anything different for them. But each child has different quirks, and that can take some getting used to.

I know it seems like I've deviated a bit from my previouse topic, but the truth is these two merge together nicely. I want for all of the children in my household to feel loved. Last year we didn't have any money, and everyone felt shafted. We are still far from wealthy this year, but we can have a nice Christmas. The hard part is balancing what one kid wants with what each child needs. Some things I am never going to buy. You will never see me buying D&D figurines and 20 sided dice. I am never going to buy trading cards Baseball, Pokemon, or any others. I want kids to have things that put them in the mainstream, not flushes them out of it. Things that increase their ability to relate to others not ones that suck them into a universe of inverted moral relativism and antisocial behavior.

That being said, I love this time of the year and unfortunately my attitude hasn't started to come into the season until the past couple of days. So to all my loved ones, thank you for making my life happier than it has ever been.

Achmed the Dead Terrorist sings Christmas songs... Wonderful!

2007-12-20T22:38:00.000-06:00

My babies

2007-11-15T22:02:00.000-06:00

I am officially the expectant Dad of twins. I don't know how this happens, only that I am blaming Janika's side of the family... yep that whole side, not just Marianne and Molly. For those of you who want to see my future ulcers, here they are.

Ok, so this isn't the best shot of them. What happened was the NP was doing the ultra sound, and saw one head (we can call that one monkey A), and then started looking for the other. When she finally found the other one it looked like the same head to me, and I was just about to say something, but then she came accross this view. Now we see Monkeys A & B already butting heads. We are in for a long 18 years...

Back in the saddle... Almost

2007-09-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

This has been a very hard two months. My job is taking up a lot of my time, and sleep is occupying far to little of it. The company that brought me on as a contractor is experiencing signifigant growing pains. Currently my time is currently torn between putting out fires and implementing new processes. Do I enjoy it? Yes! Is it frustrating? YES!

My boss just last week told me to focus 100% of my time on a certain project, and then later the same day told me that I have to be flexible and multi-task... Yeah, that's what I said! It's OK though, I have broad shoulders and can carry the world.

I didn't think it was that bad!

2007-09-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

As you can see below I started to write a novel... I decided to post it on my blog and see what anyone had to say about the writing/plot. I'm in the process of writing the second chapter, and since I have not yet done a full plot outline (I know my English teachers would be very upset with me). I'd like your feedback. My lovely wife has added a comment, but i am very interested to hear what the rest of you think about it.

Chapter 1

2007-08-31T22:04:00.000-05:00

The garage darkened unexpectedly. Jake didn't feel anything, just sensed the sensations draining from his body. His mind fogged over as his senses dulled and his memory faded. A couple of times new thought started to appear only to be halted suddenly when his mind failed to connect with the memory he was searching for. The darkness wasn't light, it was life. He felt it drain from him slowly, yet he had no desire to stop it.

He could barely remember what had just happened. A lady? Yes he was almost certain that the figure had been a woman. She approached him as he walked to his car on the fourth floor of the parking garage. She said something that didn't register with him, and as he turned to look at her a figure moved. He had been startled by that, but before he was able to think further he was enveloped by a gentle but firm force. He thought that it felt cool; much to cool for a Florida parking garage in August, but then the memories started disappearing.

"What was that?" his mind caught on another thought, one that almost made sense, but then it was gone. He didn't care it was over, but at least he wasn't in pain. The voice inside his head was that of a child, yet it was also him.

*******

Carson walked briskly from his desk to the elevator. Ever since Enduron moved IT from the fourth floor to the tenth it had meant five or more trips a day back down to the data center on the fourth. Sometimes these trips were a blessed retreat from the gossiping of the secretarial pool that shared the bank of cubicles with him, but this time he was really interested in what they were talking about.

For some reason people always seemed to assume that if you knew anything about computers then you had bad eye-sight, poor hearing, and weren't able to lift more weight than a CCNA study guide. Much to the contrary Carson had 20/20 vision, and could hear better than most people. Not a body builder by any means, he had been taking Muay Thai ever since he left the Air Force, and after four years of training thought he'd be able to defend himself in most situations.

"Sorry!" Carson barely caught himself before running over Jessica. She had only been with the company three months, still in within the 90 day "You could lose your job for wearing the wrong shoes" phase. She seemed competent, and never wore the wrong shoes so it was a pretty good bet that she would be around for a while.

"No, that was my fault", Jessica stated directly, "I wasn't watching where I was going."
"Well, that makes two of us then, how about we call it a draw?"
"A draw? Doesn't there always have to be a winner?" Jessica stated coyly.

Carson acknowledged the mild flirt by cocking his head to the right, slightly raising his eyebrows. “I thought only wars require that there be a winner and a looser."
"Working here it feels like a battle is raging almost daily!"
"Oh, so you're assimilating nicely!"
Taking a moment, Carson couldn't help but enjoy the playful banter that had transpired so naturally. Unfortunately, he knew from experience, this is where he usually managed to screw things up.

"I gotta run, the servers are calling me. It was nice almost running into you." He thought about adding more, and was impressed by his ability to control his tongue.

Jessica caught herself and quickly transitioned, "You too, I'll see you around." Not her best moment she decided. Despite her best efforts she blurted out, "What are you doing for lunch today?"
Carson turned on his heals and very eloquently said, "Um, I don't know, why?" With all the courses he took in college would a speech class really have killed him! Now he struggled within trying to find the right words to redeem his last gaff.
"Did you have something in mind?"
"I wanted to go this German restaurant that people keep telling me about." She found herself rubbing her hands together.
“Sounds good” replied Carson, “Meet you here at Noon? Sorry, I really have to get the server room.”
“OK, have fun; I’ll see you at Noon.” Jessica replied, turning to resume her journey down the hall.
Carson got on the elevator feeling more confident than before, he had never allowed himself to dwell in illusions of grandeur where his romantic prowess was concerned. He knew far to well how awkward he was in romantic situations. It never seemed to go away either. There had been a few, well two relationships that had lasted more than a month. One of them lasted almost two years, but even then he still felt awkward with any type of intimacy. His friends told him that he was pushing it too hard, the first thing he needed to do was let go. That seemed to be a constant in life, he cared about doing his best. Not just in relationships, but in every aspect of his life. Meema, his Grandmother on his Father’s side used to say, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” He had lived with those words in his mind for the past twenty plus years, and they served him well in his education, schooling, and job. The only place that it seemed to be problematic was in his love life.

As he entered the server room he paused briefly to feel the blast of cold air that characterizes server facilities the world over. Even though it had been a wet summer, particularly for Dallas, August had brought with it a number of over 100 degree days. September wasn’t shaping up to be quite as warm, but it definitely wasn’t down into the low 70s where he liked it. The blast of cold air brought a blessed relief from the heat, but would make it feel that much worse when he left.

The first server rack held the server he was looking for, a problem child named “Kermit”. Some IT guy with a strange sense of humor had named all of the servers after Jim Henson characters long before he joined the company. It had stuck, and while he had initially thought it was a silly, even unprofessional idea, he had come around. These days it offered a mild relief to the pressures of the job, and also made him feel less stupid when he talked or yelled at a server that wasn’t doing what he wanted it to do.

Kermit was a data base server that held all the data for the accounting department. The fact that a little green amphibian was the namesake of the box that controlled the companies green was ironic. Much less amusing however was that it was rebooting itself about every two hours. Gerry Prett, the CIO had handed down firm instructions that all of the other projects Carson was working were on hold until Kermit had been nursed back to health.

Two hours later Kermit was still alive, even though it had taken restraint on Carson’s part. He had checked system setting, hard drives, RAID devices, NICs, even the power supplies and still hadn’t found anything that would cause the problem. Now the only thing he could do was let the log run, and wait for it to happen again. “Hopefully I’ll still have a job tomorrow.” Carson thought.

Finally at 11:15am it happened. The server’s lights suddenly went out and it went down. Carson jumped from his chair and went quickly over to the server to see if there were any signs of life. All of the LEDs that usually indicated the status of the components housed inside of the HP Proliant G4 were dark. He walked around to the back of the rack, and noticed that those light too were out. Reaching into the rack he started to fee around the back of the server. Checking one cable after another, trying to determine if any of them were loose. Frustration set in, and he gripped the back of the server tightly. Suddenly images filled his head, it was as if he was looking at in depth diagrams of Kermit, the server, not the frog. But it wasn’t diagrams, intrinsically he knew that he was seeing the actual circuitry of the server, and exploring it.

His eyes were open, yet he wasn’t using them to see. All of the imagery was coming from somewhere else. Somehow he was seeing what was inside the case, and even more interestingly he understood it. “There it is!”, a small crack, one that was probably imperceptible by the naked eye, and right between the processor and memory. He could tell that it was only a problem when the server reached peak operating temperature, and once the motherboard cooled down it would be fine again. He rushed over to his make-shift work station and quickly dialed his CIO’s extension. Gerry would know it went down again by now, and Carson’s call would go a long way toward easing his tensions.

“Hello?” Mr. Prett answered sounding at least a little pissed.
“Gerry, I mean Mr. Prett, this is Carson. I’ve found the cause of the problem!”

Carson spent the next ten minutes explaining what the issue was, without going into how he knew. He also told him they should be able to get a replacement from HP before the end of business the next day.

“Are you sure this will fix it?” Asked Mr. Prett unconvinced.
“I can’t be totally positive, but I would say that I’m 95% sure.”
“Fine, do it, but tomorrow is no good, we need it today.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t know how we are going to get one today.” Carson answered nervously.
“I don’t care how you do it, just make it happen.” Prett replied caustically, “This isn’t the web server for My Little Pony, this is our financials.”

Suddenly the line was dead. Carson wasted no time in dialing his rep at HP. Gloria answered on the second ring and having heard Carson’s predicament started to explain the available options. None of them were good enough. She offered him numbers of local companies who might have the part he needed on hand, which he jotted down on a yellow note pad. He thanked her and ended the call quickly. He started working his way through the list of vendors and quickly found that he was looking for a needle in a haystack. Finally at 11:50 he reached a warehouse in Mesquite that happened to have one of the motherboards in stock. He jotted down the information Googled a map and headed for the door.

He got on the elevator and headed back up to the tenth to retrieve his wallet and car keys from his desk. A blister of reality popped when the doors opened. Jessica was standing there with her back toward the elevator, he hadn’t spent any time looking at her from this angle, and was surprised by how shapely her legs were. His eyes traveled upward and snapped to her face just in time to catch her turning around. She looked right at him and smiled.

“There you are!” She said joyfully. “I was beginning to think you weren’t going to show.”

It took a second for the meaning of her statement to sink in. Carson had been so wrapped up in his work that he had completely forgotten about their lunch date. His brain rushed scenarios trying to figure out how to tell her. Finally he thought, “Tell her the truth, and ask her if she wants to join you.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t forget, well I did a little, what I’m trying to say is…” Carson stammered on. “I got hung up on a project, and I have to drive out to Mesquite to pick up a motherboard for a server.”
“Oh, I see, I guess we’ll have to do this some other time.” Jessica replied a little dejectedly, “At least it’s Gyro day down at the deli.”
“Would you like to go with me?” Carson asked, “I mean if you want to, I wouldn’t mind the company.”
“Great” he thought, “now I sound like a desperate looser.”
“Sure” came the unexpected answer, “Could we stop by the deli and grab some food for the road?”
“Um, sure, let me grab my stuff, I’ll meet you down there.”

They quickly switched places, Jessica boarding the elevator, Carson stepping into the hallway and heading for his desk.

After retrieving his things he headed back to the elevator. While he waited for the elevator to arrive Gerry Prett came around the corner.
“Going to lunch?” Prett asked accusingly.
“I’m heading to Mesquite to pick up the part, happened to find one in the Metroplex.”
“Good, how long till we are back up and stable?”
“Two-thirty, three at the latest.” Carson replied sheepishly.
“That’s a pretty big outage, isn’t it?”
“Um, yes sir, I guess it is.” Carson stammered, “But you know how it is with hardware…”
“No, I don’t, that’s why I pay you to do this job.” Prett said his eyes going cold, “I want a full incident report before you leave tonight. I want to know why this happened and how to keep it from happening in the future.”
“Yes Sir!”

That uneasy sinking feeling came over him. Reports were not Carson’s strong suit, and they took hours to write correctly. Tonight was going to be a long night typing and struggling with writer’s block.

By the time he got downstairs to the deli his stomach was in knots. He opened the door to the deli trapped inside his own head trying to sort through the mass confusion of thoughts that were bombarding his mind. So lost was he that he almost walked right past Jessica, who had just finished paying at the cashier and was heading for the exit.

“Do you like Greek?” She asked cheerfully, “I got two gyros just in case you wanted one.”
“Haven’t tried it, but sounds good. Sorry I’m running behind.”
“That’s OK, you seem a little… Frazzled.”
“Yeah, Mr. Prett is all over me and I’m getting a little buried.”
“Is that part of this whole roadtrip to Mesquite?”
“Yes” he said blankly. Then suddenly thinking, “Are you sure you can be gone for a while? It might be a couple hours before we get back.”
“No problem, I’m so far ahead of my team that I’m actually running out of things to do.”

They walked to the garage and headed up to the 4th floor. The air was warm and humid, and they skies were threatening to rain. “It will probably just sprinkle enough to make things unbearably humid.” Carson thought. As they approached his car Carson gave the obligatory apologies for the messes in his car. In reality his car was cleaner than most, and it was obvious that he took care of it.

“Dot”, as the car was affectionately called, was a 1985 BMW 325e. It was technicaly old enough o buy itself a drink, and had been a hand me down when his Grandmother passed away. For the past two years he had spent a lot of time maintaining and rebuilding her into a car that he could enjoy. The only downside was, that he had a hard time looking at her without seeing the things that he needed to do next.

“That’s your car?!” Jessica exclaimed.
“Yeah, it’s a work in progress.”
“It looks great, how long have you had it?”
“I got her two years ago, my Grandma left her to me when she passed away.” He replied, a little embarrassed that he had shared so much personal information.
“Well, either your Grandma took really good care of her, or you’ve put some work in.”
“A little of both I guess. Grandma did all the maintenance, but she was a large lady and the seats weren’t in great shape.”
“Well, I’ve always been a fan of the E30s.” Jessica stated using the name BMW used for the 1984-1991 3 series body.

Carson walked around to the passenger side door, unlocked and opened it for Jessica. Smiling as he walked back to the driver’s side. This was going to be a good day.

The drive was enjoyable for both, the conversation ranged from cars to life histories, and by the time they arrived in Mesquite Carson felt like he had known Jessica all his life. She was from a small town north of Denver Colorado, and had grown up watching her parents struggle to make ends meet trying to run a farm. By the time Jessica graduated from high school her parents had stopped talking to each other, and were only staying together out of financial necessity. She had three siblings, two sisters and a brother. Both of her sisters had stayed in the same town where they had grown up, and each had been pregnant before graduation day. Her brother had developed a drug habit as a teenager, and had disappeared six months ago.

The drive had also given Jessica the chance to learn more about Carson. He had a much happier childhood than her own, but had lost his mother while he was in college, and his father two months after graduation. His Grandma had been his only remaining relative until she passed away two years ago. He had a small group of friends who he saw occasionally, but he wasn’t a fan of the “Happy Hour” scene, and really hadn’t dated much recently.

The subject of relationships had come up very accidentally, and caught them both off guard. Like the rest of their conversations, talk flowed smoothly, and neither of them felt the need to hide themselves from the other.

As they pulled into the parking lot at the warehouse, Jessica looked at Carson and realized she wanted to spend a lot more time getting to know him. Carson caught the look on her face, and was a little surprised by his gut reaction to it. He was scared. The look conveyed longing, intimacy, and surprise. Most of all it carried a hint of sadness. He walked into the warehouse wishing he hadn’t seen that look. It had caught him off guard. Did he feel the same way?

The door closed behind him and he focused his thoughts on the mission at hand. He walked to the counter and dinged the bell. Please let them still have the motheboard.

Here I go again

2007-08-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I dedicated myself to blogging more... Yeah it looks like that didn't happen. Of course when I did that I thought that I'd be in Iraq in a couple of days. That didn'thappen either, which probably led to the other thing not happening. Do you want to hear the story? I thought you might.

It was a dark and rainy night, the wind was coming from the north, which is never a good omen. In my bed room the bags were being packed, and I was prepairing myself to travel half way around the world. I went to bed tired, but restlessly tossed and turned thinking about the new experiences that awaited me.

In the wee hours of the A.M. we loaded the kids in the car and drove off toward the airport. Hugs and kisses all around and then I boarded the airplane to El Paso, TX.

OK, I'm already tired of telling this story. Four days and 8 shots later (Ouch!) I was ready to go to Iraq. Yet with less than 24hrs till lift off, my company called me and tole me that my security clearence had not come through. The next day I was on a plane heading back to Dallas and looking for another job.

On the positive side, I am working again, and the position that I have now is not in the desert. I haven't heard a single gun shot, and no body armor is required. All is well...

Strange World

2006-08-14T10:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's been a while since I posted, but there is an excuse. I've been busy, and unless you are married and have half a dozen kids to concern yourself with, you won't understand.

That being said, I haven't had my head stuck in the sand. There are so many things that are going on in this weird wild world of ours, that I want to use this post to try and show some of the mile high observations I've made.

A lot of other people have been diving into the minutiae. I have to give credit to the people who I read daily.

Little Green Footballs;
Charles Johnson has done more to expose the scam and swindle mentality of the traditional media than anyone else. Let's face it he has forced the media to pay attention.

EU Referendum;
The most complete chroniclers of this current rash of shameful media dishonesty.

Zombie Time;
He has taken some of the best photos and videos of nutcase San Francisco protests.

Hot Air;
Witty, intelligent, and they give us videos staring Michelle Malkin!

Jawa Report;
All your fakes belong to us... ROTFLMAO! That is just greatness!

OK, so you are still reading, and that's a good sign.

I'm perplexed by the many insidious implications that the current rash of violence has. I see things like Michelle Malkin's Vent and wonder how none of this ends up on the so-called news.

How many hours did the national news outlets spend on the latest developments in the Jon Bennet Ramsey case last month? Yet not a single on of these networks took more than thirty seconds to talk about the photoshopped "News" photos that Reuters put into distribution. Of course Fox News was the only one that even did that! Fox has become as bad as the rest of them as far as I'm concerned. Not in the way that they lean, but in expending enormous amounts of time on stories that really don't mean anything.

Is a plane crash, due to stupidity, really more important than an American citizen broadcasting Al Manar out of his home on Staten Island?

These are things that we really need to address as a consuming public if we want our children to see their grand children. I want actual news. I don't care if a three legged dog ran a race today. I'm tired of the media being consumed by tawdry scandals . What does it mean to my life if John Mark Karr really killed Jon Bennet Ramsey? NOTHING! It has absolutely no bearing on my life. What if Iran gets nuclear weapons? See what I'm talking about? Some things are just a little bit more important.

Master!!!

2006-07-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, we all know what it takes to become a great musician, right? Dedication, practice, and of course some talent never hurt anyone. My question is what does it take to master an instrument that no one cares about? There are people out there who take up the Banjo, Bagpipes, or Bassoon. Why? I am obviousely a drummer, by no means does that mean I've mastered the drums. I like to many other things, so my focus has never been completely on my music. I do however know many people who have mastered their instuments. Like Rhett Butler, Phil McNeese, and Martin McCall. These guys are masters of their craft. They have dedicated literaly years of their lives to honing their skills.

But when you are becoming a great guitar, bass, or drum player there are immediate payoffs. You instantly become more attractive to the opposite sex. You enter into the fraternity of musicians and feel instantly like you have more friends. There are none of these benefits to mastering the Ukulele, but this guy did it anyway. Check him out.

OK, I admit it... I'm a slacker!

2006-07-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

For those of you who religousely read this sad excuse for a blog... Last month was a big week for me! Oh, no I didn't make a mistake there, because last month didn't feel like a month, it felt like a week.

How? you ask? Well, let's start off. On Memorial Day I met a woman, two days later our children met for the first time, and then a week after our first meeting we decided to get married!

Ok, I know what you're thinking, "Gee, that's really fast to make that decision!" Well, you don't know the half of it! We decided to forget the long engagement, and opted to be married on June 17th. So I've now been married for a couple of weeks, and my wife and I have moved into a new place where the six (again not a typo) children that we now have are free to roam.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. I started a new job as well. Ok, so it's more like a new career, in a totally different industry, but none the less Life is GOOD!

Time flies when you're having fun!

2006-05-24T12:28:00.000-05:00

Time stands still when you are looking for a new job.

I've been in the job market for a few months and I've got to tell you... it sucks. Spending hour after hour on Monster, HotJobs, Dice, and every other job forum out there is sucking my will to live. I've calculated that for every 150 jobs I apply for I get 3-5 responses. The worst thing is that my e-mail has been inundated with e-mail about "Exciting opportunities". Let me be real clear, I need money, and that is a very immediate need. I don't need a job that I can possibly make $100 grand my first year, but won't see a penny for at least 60 days. That doesn't work for me.

So here is the tale of an interview I went on that had me on the verge of murder. I got a call back from the "HR" person, and he scheduled an interview for me. I was pretty excited, they had a nice website, even though it was pretty vague. Also the job I was interviewing for sounded like exactly my cup of tea.

I arrive about 15min early (as I always do for interviews), and introduce myself to the receptionist. She told me the before the interview she needed me to fill out a questionnaire and an application. Ok, I hate this practice. You have my resume on file, and even if your server crashes, I have a hard copy with me! Why do you feel the need to make me fill out an application? Of course being the nice guy I am I just sat down and filled out the application, returned it to the receptionist, and she hands me the survey. I understand the reason for the surveys, the are pseudo-scientific questionnaires that supposedly give the company a window into your soul.

After all is said and done I've finished the survey, and now it is the time that I was officially supposed to arrive for my interview. Of course this company was obviously not ready for my efficiency, and I proceeded to wait for another thirty minutes! I was just about ready to leave when a guy came out and introduced himself to me.

Let's get something straight, I'm a 32yr old man, I have over 7 years work experience in the IT industry, and have managed networks with over 500 nodes. My interviewer couldn't have been more that 21.

He started off with the typical rah-rah speech, and started to outline how the company works. Drawing on the board he started a diagram and low and behold, it was a pyramid. According to him the great thing about this company was that all promotion was done from within. Even the VP was once the lowest man on the totem pole.

I was pretty pissed by this point, half my day and a quarter tank of gas was now gone. So, I decided to ask some questions. What's the base? Nothing. What is the commission percentage? Uh, What? Is there re-embursment for expenses? No. Oh, and the second interview was a day long "drive-along".

So this was the IT version of Amway. I asked him how long he'd been doing this "job", and he's only been in it for a couple of months. I asked he had done before coming to this company, and he had been a waiter at Chile's.

I walked out of there feeling used. The plus side is that I came out wiser. I have turned down "interviews" since with many companies that are similar in nature. My question is how many people have been sucked in. So desperate to find a job back in the IT field that they are willing to go to work for a 21yr old without industry experience. And just wait and hope to make a dollar.

Mike

Immigration reform

2006-05-17T23:04:00.000-05:00

This is a touchy subject, but we need to talk about it. Not everyone agrees what should be done about illegal immigration, but I think we can all agree that something has to be done. Now I realize the hard-liners on both sides will start to scream, but we need to secure the border, and we can not deport all the illegals.

Here's how I see it going down;

1) Secure the borders, without that the rest is meaningless.
2) Start a guest worker program for the people who are already here, and have been here for more than a year.
3) Have a $1000 fee for getting the visa and a reasonable time period for them to comply in.
4) Upon application for the Visa you must declare whether or not you intend to become a U.S. Citizen.
5) Every person who applied would be issued a LEGAL temporary worker's permit.
6) If you were pulled over, or otherwise detained after the drop dead date, and didn't have proper a permit, you would be deported.

That's a good start. I would also want required citizenship classes for anyone who wants to come here and work if only temporarily. Our nation is a melting pot, it's one of the things that makes this country great. This notion of Multiculturalism is what is dividing us. More later.

Mike (one man melting-pot) Skembo

Keep checking back

2006-05-16T11:22:00.000-05:00

Inspired by my first comments, (thanks Erik and Janika) I have started writing a post for the ages! Trust me, that post (unlike this one) will be worth reading.

To tempt your taste buds, I am righting a timeless peice on relationships, and the difference between dating girls you meet in bars and girls you meet in church. Guess which one feels better, stop that, I mean in the long run! For those of you who don't know me, I hate dating! It is such a beating... until it happens. That moment when you look in her eyes and see that she feels the same way about you as you feel about her.

Ok, it's been a long time since I've looked in a woman's eyes and seen that look, probably four years. The pitifull thing is it's all chance.

Mike (Taking a chance) Skembo

My battle with addiction

2006-05-15T15:04:00.000-05:00

Today I have realized that I am addicted. To something that I never thought would be a problem for me... "24". You heard me right, I am addicted to the Fox TV show "24". Every Monday I hope I can get out of work on time so that I don't miss the opening minutes of the show. While some people were complaining that the President's address to the nation was going to delay "24", I was glad, that meant that I would not have to drive 100mph down I-30 in order to get home and watch my show. Hey, I might even be able to eat before hand!

So what makes this show so addicting? I have been trying to figure out the answer to this question for a while. I think the true answer is, Everything! The show has it all. The actors are divinely top drawer, and the writers aren't afraid to kill off major characters mid season. Truly Jean Smart is an amazing actor, and it doesn't hurt that she is a hot older lady. If you have any doubts about her acting ability, check her out on youtube.com, she is truly amazing. The other actors on the show are just as great, and the characters have real depth and feel.

Just for the record, I know that 24 is a soap opera with guns. That's probably why I like it! You get to watch a chick flick without all the guilt! Really, who hasn't wanted to watch a terrorist get tortured, while a man confesses his true love to a woman. This is great stuff!

Of course none of this is works without great writing, and 24 has that in excess (we'll just leave out that the writers tried to kill off Aaron Peirce earlier this season). The writers seem to enjoy taking the plot somewhere completely different then you'd ever expect. All I can tell them is if they don't have Martha confess her undying love for Aaron before the end of this season, I will never watch again... Until next season. That's right no re-runs for me and I mean it!

Ok, so my title is probably a little mis-leading. I'm not battling it, because I like it!

Mike (Soap Opera With Guns) Skembo

Blah blah blah!

2006-05-11T12:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's been a while since I updated my blog (not that anyone is reading!) , but that doesn't mean that I haven't been working. Currently I am writing a book, and making some progress. Of course progress is relative, but a good friend of mine has been proof reading for me. The great thing about having a proof reader is they catch things that you miss. The downside is that has meant a lot of re-writes. I've chosen to view that as a good thing. I'm debating posting the first chapter on my blog, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to be that naked right now. On the band front, Dean will be arriving back on the 29th! Hopefully that means we will get to play again. It's been rough not playing, but Steve's cousin stopped by and we jammed with him on bass. His Mom, Lisa, was there too, and she recorded the jam. I am personally in awe of the quality of the recording, both sound and video. If I can figure out how to put that up on here I will, otherwise I will post it to MySpace.

Ok, I haven't really addressed this on my blog yet, so I will put it out there. I've been doing the online dating thing lately, and it has been a positive experience for the most part. Of course only one of the women I met lives within a convenient dating distance. The cool thing is that I have met three different women that are close enough that it would be acceptable. Of course I feel like a sleaze. Some guys can date several different women, deciding later on which one is his best match. I have never been that way. At the same time, I don't want to commit myself to one of them and then have to start over again when the feelings aren't returned. It's a totally different mindset dating with eternity in mind. Trying to concentrate on getting to know a woman is different for me, but it feels really good.

I know what your saying, "Mike, you're a musician! You're not supposed to have these types of feelings floating around!" Sorry to disappoint you, but contrary to what my ex might say, I am not dead inside!

Well, that's enough from me for now. I'll try to post more regularly, but I promise nothing!

Up to no good!

2006-03-23T12:38:00.000-06:00

OK, this has been a really strange week. It all started with me agreeing to go to Missouri and help my Dad build his log home. Of course being the over acheiver that he is, he got Oak logs instead of pine. Just for the record... Oak is 31-58lbs per square foot, and Pine is 22-35. Multiply that times 10ft long logs that are 18in high and 12in wide... Yeah, that equals heavy! Well, I'll have to share more fun things from this trip later.

Mike

2005-12-05T23:08:00.000-06:00

This is a pic of me with my band Stone Jackson. Oh, Yeah that is my lovely Yamaha Absolute Beech Custom. On the left is Dean "the Machine" McGee and on the right is the Master Steve Howell

2005-12-05T23:02:00.001-06:00

This is not attractive

2005-12-05T23:02:00.000-06:00

Me loking like a complete poser!

Dumb da dumb dumb

2005-12-05T22:40:00.000-06:00

Explain something to me. For the last week I've been pondering an occurrence. I was invited to attend the Rolling Stones concert last week by a friend of mine. It was a great night, but during the show Mick Jagger felt the need to take a swipe at our President. Being a conservative I’m used to this, but the guy on my right was incensed by the audacity of the statement. He turned to me and said, “I’m a Democrat, but he has no right to come over here and say that!” I let out a heartfelt “Amen”, and left it at that.

After the show we went out and had a bite to eat and talked. This guy was really steamed! I started to explain why I wasn’t as upset by it as he was, but as soon as the words “I’m a Republican” slipped out of my mouth, he went the complete opposite direction. Finally I talked him back from the ledge and was able to explain to him. This is everyday life for a conservative. We hear it on TV, read it in the News, and get it in music all day long. If we got bent out of shape every time it happened we’d never get anything done.

Since then I’ve had the opportunity to talk to him about several of the asinine statements from the left. Today he called me asking if I’d heard what John Kerry said. I told him I had and then listened to him rant. Finally I told him, “Dude, you are the worst Democrat ever!”

I think we’re still friends!

Yesterday Today and Tomarrow

2005-12-05T12:36:00.000-06:00

Since this is a relatively new thing for me, etiquette requires me to do a quick introduction. Born in 1974 in Provo Utah while my parents were students at BYU, the world knew to expect great things from me... To bad they were wrong!

I am a divorced father of two who loves music, politics, food, my kids, and my church. If the previous paragraph didn't clue you in, I am member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I play drums in a band called Stone Jackson, check it out if you get a chance the music is available for download. If you are real nice to me I might send you a higher definition version.

Well, that feels good enough for this outing. Hopefully it will get easier as time goes on. I'd love to hear from those of you who have been doing this for a while.

Mike

Get in the saddle!

2005-12-04T19:26:00.000-06:00

OK, this is pretty much my first post. Even though you have seen other things that look like posts they are not posts. I will return though with many ramblings and musings. Oh... and I look forward to getting to know some of the more flagrant bloggers.

From the desk of the YamahaDrummer

Kinect is amazing, so why are so many people douche bags?

A Note on Christopher Hitchen

The Vaccination Debate

Chicago’s Out, Obama’s Done

A Great Escape

Go Green Death!

My problem with Apple

Reverse Proxy and Me

And now it can be told

All behold the iPhone

And the winner is!

A tantalizing review of "The One's" trip to Europe

Prayers for Max

You need to read...these

Hariukin!

Funny, funny... True

Sing it loud Brotha!

Gangstas Dancing to manly music!

I've felt this guys frustration

Inauguration Litter

George Bush Monument Defaced

Take a moment to let the President Bush know you care.

Gov. Patterson on the vacant senate seat... AND MORE!

Change is here /sarcasm

History of the Heavy Metal horns!

Alright you Macophiles!

The Eclectic Electric Corvair

It's almost bikini season!

Funny 'cuz it's true!

IMPORTANT; WATCH THIS!

Counting on the Babies!

Simply Incredible

Something strange is a foot at the Circle K

Another trailer for An American Carol

This looks GREAT!!!!

After a long struggle...

I'm not scared

A lesson in Off-Roading

The market, how it works, and why things suck right now...

KISS's Greatest Performance...

James Earl Jones is all Star Wars ever needed!

Arren Tagged me! Oh the humanity!

Here I Blog again on my own...

Quickie

Disturbing... *UPDATED*

A very important piece

Thankfully Modern

This is my D&D Character...

Scotty if he hadn't married Arren

Yeah, sometimes it feels like that...

This time of year

Adventure continued...

Another Day another $$$

Win one for the Gipper

yamahadrummer

Here they are!

Another one Bites the Dust

Three Shopping Days Left

Achmed the Dead Terrorist sings Christmas songs... Wonderful!

My babies

Back in the saddle... Almost

I didn't think it was that bad!

Chapter 1

Here I go again

Strange World

Master!!!

OK, I admit it... I'm a slacker!

Time flies when you're having fun!

Immigration reform

Keep checking back

My battle with addiction

Blah blah blah!

Up to no good!

Dumb da dumb dumb

Yesterday Today and Tomarrow

Get in the saddle!

Disturbing... UPDATED