Cool Gmail tip

I've tested this a little, and it works. Now I only have to go through the trouble of using different variations for different types of emails. The link is in the header, if you can't find it.

Ron Paul 2008

http://www.ronpaul2008.com


My thanks to James Hubbard for turning me on to Ron Paul. Like most people, (are you one of them? If so, click the link above) I had no clue who this Ron Paul was. First few times I saw his "rEVOLution" banners, I actually thought it was for a rap album. Turns out I agree with this guy on many of the issues that are important to me. I can't think of any candidate for any office that I have ever voted for that I have felt so strongly about. The problem is, he is fighting an uphill battle. So if you don't know about this guy, click the link above and find out about him. If you agree with his thoughts and ideas, tell someone else about him. And you should seriously consider voting in your states primary. It's the only way Ron Paul will win the Republican nomination.

May the revolution be successful.

To be a contractor in Iraq

I've always said that if I wasn't married I would seriously consider going to Iraq as a contractor. The hazard pay is ridiculous. And while I've always known that they get hazard pay for a reason, I didn't know it was quite this bad. 1,001 contractors have died in Iraq in the past 4 years. That is a large number. Makes you think twice about it, no?

China threatens the US dollar

I've been afraid that something along these lines would happen in the near future. If you are unaware, China holds hundreds of billions (almost, or more than , a trillion) dollars in US treasury holdings. They have decided to put those holdings to good use. The US is threatening trade sanctions against China because of all of the products coming into the US that are contaminated. (Toys with lead, food that kills, etc.) This wouldn't be a good thing for China's public relations campaign. Thus their threat to the US dollar. If China decided to liquidate its holdings, it would likely trigger a crash in the US dollar. Needless to say this would not be good. But at the same time, giving in to Chinese threats like this would also set a really bad precedent. So which one would be worse for us? I think that depends on if you are thinking long term or short term. Want to know more? Check this link.

Playset (Part deux)

I obviously didn't post any progress on the playset. However, it is done, and has been for some time now. The kids love it. I will, eventually, post a picture of it. There are 3 swings, one of which is for two people. My oldest likes the rock climbing wall and the swing the most. My youngest loves to go up to the top platform and look through the "periscope" and say "I see you!" even if she doesn't quite understand how to manipulate it to actually see anyone through it yet. All in all, it wasn't nearly as hard to put together as I would have thought. That being said, after a certain point, it became necessary for me to have the set in its final resting place before I could continue putting it together. This was due to the fact that it would probably take 6 men to move the set after it is put together. The best part of the whole process, though, dealt with my daughter helping me put the rock climbing wall together. It marked, in my mind, the first time that she had really and truly helped me do something that I would not have been able to do by myself. It is a memory that I hope stays with me forever.

SCAMPI

I'm in the second week of the Standard CMMI Appraisal Method for Process Improvement for my company. This process, for level 3 maturity, for this company, will take 12 people 9 working days to complete. When it's all said and done, it will have been 3 1/2 weeks since I last worked for any significant time on the project I REALLY would rather be working on. Not that there is anything wrong with this. However, that being said, it can become a somewhat heated atmosphere when we as a team have to come to a consensus on a particular issue. This needs to happen for us to move forward. I've learned much more than I ever wanted to about CMMI. If you ever want to know more about it, I'll give you the book (I want to forget everything I learned as quickly as possible). :)

Play set

We bought a play set for the backyard. It's one of those kits, where I only had to by a few of the bigger pieces of wood. We have been doing some work on the backyard, so I've had to wait to start putting it together. We've added some mulch. We'll need to add a lot more. We also got rid of both of the older play sets that we owned. We made profit on both of them, which is kind of amazing to me. [Begin Advertisement] Thanks Craigslist! [End Advertisement] So I've been spending a little bit of time here and there putting the thing together. This this is definitely not a one man operation, but I've been trying to clump all the things that require more than one person, so that I don't take up too much of other peoples time. I'll post a picture when it is done. I should post updates to it regularly to see the progress being made. Maybe I'll do that.

Away

So time ticks on. I go through phases of interest in things. I have been meaning to write something on this site for a while now, but can never seem to think of something that I feel like writing about. So maybe I'll just write about not having anything to write about. Sometimes, I go through a train of thought that involves whether or not to put anything too personal in these blogs. Also, should I talk about my family at all? And if I do, should I mention names? Or even ages or sex? My wife is one thing, but children are an entirely different issue. With more technology comes less privacy, it seems. That correlation may not be direct, but that's now really the point of this entry. And I would hate to inadvertently put something on a blog that might end up giving too much information to a person that might wish to do harm to others. It always seems to me that things like this didn't used to be an issue for parents to have to deal with. For one thing, information wasn't always right at your fingertips. But because of that, parents may have felt much more safe than they actually were. In this day and age of too much information, there are news channels that "have" to have news 24 hours a day. So if there isn't any big national news, then why not find something at some local level that will make people watch. It used to be that you would get what, maybe an hour of news a day, and usually it was only 30 minutes of new news during that time. So national headlines could easily fill that time slot. So are things really any more dangerous than they used to be, or are we just exposed to much more "news" than we used to be?

on Cars

It's still amazing to me how much it can cost to fix what seems to be a very small problem with your car. And on top of that, you have to figure out if it's worth letting the insurance company handle any of it. Money wise, that is. Not that I'm going to get into what happened, because that's not really the point here. Having a car can be such a convenience. The ability to just jump in your car and go wherever you want, whenever you want. Of course, that's not REALLY true, cause for me to go anywhere I really want to go, I'm gonna have to get on a plane. But again, I digress. When you really learn to count on that car being there all of the time, to cater to all of your needs, it can really be an inconvenience for that car to develop a problem. Not to mention the costs always associated with it. Whenever something like that happens, it never ceases to amaze me that my parents were able to get by on one car until I was somewhere around 11 years old. Would that even begin to be possible for any long period of time for my family now? We did manage to get by using only one car when I didn't have one for a month or so. But we borrowed other peoples cars constantly. I think the truth is that it has become such a part of our lives, like cell phones and computers, that we couldn't do without. Are we better off this way?

olen

I love reading your blogs. It's like you have a little editorial column in the newspaper and you get to comment about whatever you like. And you definitely dont have to be PC - what a PLUS!
I think you are doing a great job - your writing style is easy to read and I love it and I love you!

Heroes

There are several shows on TV that I like to watch. And I hate to miss an episode of these shows, cause then you might miss some important plot line. But, for most of these shows, if it went off the air tomorrow, I'd really just want for them to end it well, then I'd mostly just forget about the show. Every once in a while, a show comes along that just grabs your full attention, and won't let go. This year for me that show is Heroes. During every episode, I feel the intensity of that show like few other shows I've ever watched. And when the episode ends, the preview for the next week just leaves me shaking my head in amazement. Lost is probably the last show that came close to doing that, but while I still like that show, a lot of the magic behind it is, for lack of a better term, lost.

Running

I've never been a person who likes to run. I've never really run more than a mile in my life, at least without stopping 20-30 times. So yesterday I get to the Y, and every bike in the place it taken up. So I'm wondering what to do. I look around, and find that one of the treadmills is free. I hate running, but since I really need to get my cardio going, and that's all I have to pick from, I decide to at least walk for a little while. I was wearing Cross-Trainers, which are not the best things to run for long distances in. But I got on, and after getting adjusted to it, I picked up the pace, and soon was running. I ran a mile and a half before I slowed the machine back down. I have to say it was quite a rewarding experience to realize that the cardio I have been doing up to this point is actually working. But once I got off the machine, I felt like I was moving really fast, and it kind of freaked me out. So I don't know when I will get back on that beast. Maybe when the weather gets better, I'll go out to the track near the school and see how far I can run. But first, I had better go get me some new running shoes.

Fitness

Hazel and I joined the Y last night. I have to say it was quite a nice experience to work out with my wife. I didn't really know what to expect, but I feel like she pushed me pretty good, and I hope I did the same for her. It always helps to have someone else to go with. It keeps you honest. :) On a similar note, I finally did something I have wanted to do for so long, but it's just been so hard to do. I dropped my Bally's membership. And the person on the phone didn't give me a hard time at all. Probably because they weren't getting very much money from me in the first place. Bally's just sucked so bad. I've been a member there since 93, and they haven't added one new thing to that place in the last 13 years. On the opposite side of that coin, the Y we are going to has been open for a relatively short time, and has already undergone one expansion of it's facilities. How nice to know that they are trying to make things better for the people who give them so much money. Tonight we are planning on trying out the childcare services provided at the Y. Hopefully that will work out seamlessly, and Hazel and I will be able to go there together whenever we want.

Traffic

I've had this theory for the past month concerning the traffic congestion at the HRBT. It only works for non-summer months though. For the summer time, it's just always really bad. So my theory goes something like this: When college is "in", traffic stays relatively bad throughout the year. However, when college is "out", as in winter break, traffic will be almost non-existent. I know, not much of a theory, but it passes the time in my head when I am on the road. Anyways, since around the middle of December, I have not been stuck in traffic once. This is almost like some kind of minor miracle. So I have been waiting until this week to see if my theory holds any water. So yesterday, traffic is backed up 5 1/2 miles on the way home. Okay, so this is some anomaly. Well, this morning, there is a 10-20 minute backup crossing the tunnel. It appears as though my little theory actually holds water. HMMM. Another theory I have concerns traffic levels when the Navy ships leave port, but that one's a little more obvious.....

I figure it was about time

I've known about blogging for what, forever? I figured that since I had seen a friend of mines blog in this site, I would finally give it the old college try. I hope this isn't something that I just try for a couple of days, and give up on, but you never can tell with me. :)

The old me

So the picture of me and Hazel shows me with glasses. It took me a long time to get used to looking at myself in the mirror after having surgery on my eyes. But I'm so happy without them.