CHANGE in priorities

In President Obama's first 2 full days in office he seems to have shown that his priorities are messed up.

Exhibit A: His first executive order was nothing but political posturing. This order froze the pay of his top administration officials. These officials at that time had been on the job less than 24 hours, what exactly could they have done to deserve the consideration of a raise in that time? This made him look like he was getting tough on the economic problems without actually having to do anything of substance. If he really wanted to do something why not create some tax-free holidays, lower the tax rate on small business', or issue some type of stimulas package?

Exhibit B: His next day in office, again before doing anything of substance for the American people he issued another executive order to stop the trials of foreign terrorist/freedom fighters/soldiers and close Guantanamo Bay. President Obama said during the campaign that it may take him up to a year to deside what to do with Guantanamo Bay but he seems to have managed to make the choice within 48 hours of taking the oath of office. I wonder how much of that decision was made for him by the people who supported him during the campaign calling in favors. Estimates are that with this closure at least 100 detainee's will be released, the remaining detainee's to be put on trials within the US. So people whatever you choose to call them who were captured taking up arms against our soldiers, without uniforms are going to be released with no trial, or given a trial within the country they wished ill.

If you look up the definition of a soldier in Section one of part 3 of protocol 1 of the Geneva Convention you'll see that they must distinguish themselves from the civilian population. These detainee's didn't do that and thus aren't covered and should be treated as the terrorists they are.

A nation in need of change

Today the US watched another president sworn in (either the 44th by traditional counting, or the 51st if you count all of them.) But we also watched as the out-going president was boo'ed and sung "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey good-bye" to him. Regardless of how you feel about former President Bush that is not an acceptable way to treat him.

President Obama talks about uniting the political sides, yet I've not to see him doing anything to heal the wounds that are killing this nation. He's had 2 months already as President-Elect, despite his promises against a "revolving door of lobbyist" in the administration has now invited William Corr a federal lobbyist with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids until Sept 2008 to be deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

President Obama also questioned Hilary Clinton's ability to negotiate while her husband takes money for speaking at foreign nations, yet she is up for Secretary of State. Where is this Change we were promised?

Looking professional and being professional are two different things

I like jeans. One of the things I enjoyed about where I work is that we were able to wear jeans. Not any more.

An edict came from the CEO that those of us in the downtown office must "look professional" and that jeans apparently don't fit that description. I'm ok with this in principle, however this edict came with a "NO EXCEPTIONS" clause. Here's the thing, I spend about 1/2 of my work day crawling around either under desks, in a dirty warehouse, or in a server closet. I'd much rather were a durable pair of denim jeans, even if their black., than a pair of "professional" dockers or khaki's that will tear or show dirt more easily.

I went to my supervisor and requested he speak with the powers that be, explain about my work day, and that at a previous employer I wore out a pair of dress pants on average every month. I was told there would be no exceptions.

Obviously I'm not going to quit over this but really, what do they care what I wear as long as I get the job done and act professional doing it?

Week from HELL

OK, I declare Dec 14 through Dec 20 2008 the week from hell for my family.

Late Saturday night (about 10 PM) I took my wife into the emergency room, and shortly after midnight on the 14th we found out she was having a miscarriage (we didn't know she was pregnant until that night but had 20 minutes between when we were told she was pregnant and when we were told the baby was in trouble.)

On Wednesday my brother had a second surgery for thyroid cancer. All went well but those two items themselves were quite a bit to take.

Then on Friday, while at work I got a call first from my father saying that they didn't get the right lymph nods in Adam and they would have to be going in again on Saturday. about 20 minutes later I got a call from Heather and was told that there were some complications and that if her hormone levels weren't where the doctors wanted to see them she would be going into surgery that night. About 4 hours later we found out Heather wouldn't have to have surgery, but Adam would definitely need it. Then when I got home from work I was told by my father that his brother had commit ed suicide that morning by over-dosing on pills.

Everyone is doing well from their various medical issues, Adam is recovering well from 2 surgeries within 4 days, and Heather and I are still getting over the shock and pain of the miscarriage but this isn't a week I'd want to relive for anything in the world.

To the Child I never knew

This is written on Sunday Dec 14, but will be delayed posting until Heather gives the OK due to reasons that will become obvious in the reading.

I got to bed at 5:45 am this morning. We just got back from the ER where within a 20 minute stretch we found out that Heather was pregnant, and that she was in the middle of a miscarriage.

We've been trying for a second child for about a year and a half now, so this was a major blow to both Heather and I. I doubt we've fully processed it.

The hardest thing about the whole experience was in the ER the doctors kept referring to the collection as "tissue" that wasn't tissue, that was my child. I'll never know him or her, I didn't know they existed until they were in trouble.

That's hard for me as well. I'm very traditional in that I feel it's my job above all others to protect my family, and there was nothing I could do. I know logically there was something massively wrong with the child and that's why this happened, but in my heart I failed to protect my child, and my wife from the pain associated with this ordeal.

I barely knew this child, and now I never will, and that saddens me to the core.

Why I use Linux

I'm a geek, I readily admit this. I love all things geeky: comic books, video games, sci-fi, and of course computers.

I enjoy almost all aspects of computers; building hardware, troubleshooting problems, giving people advice, working on them, playing games. However, I don't like Windows. Windows is how I make my living; removing virii, repairing BSOD's, and in general fixing the headaches that Windows causes.

I use Linux because I don't understand why people use an operating system that to operate safely requires you to buy an anti-virus, if it's needed shouldn't it be included? If you bought a car would it be acceptable for them to require you to buy the seatbelts seperate, and then you had to pay every year for a new subscription to the belts?

I use Linux because it's Open Source, so instead of the programmers of one company fixing bugs 7 years after it's first reported Linux bugs are able to be fixed by anyone in the world and generally are patched within hours of them being found.

I use Linux because there is no entry fee to play. Linux can be downloaded for free from a number of places. Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Fedora. In many cases you can actually download the .ISO file and burn it to a CD and start your computer to run from the CD to test Linux without making any changes to your currently installed system. Linux is easy enough for beginners, and robust enough that geeks can delve deep into the guts, get their hands dirty and they system comes back for me.

Open Letter

This is an open letter to all retailers, merchants, and others who would like to separate me from my money this Christmas season.

If your employees tell me “Happy Holidays” after I wish them a Merry Christmas (and therefore state that this is the holiday that I celebrate) I am not buying a single thing from you.

I am not a religious zealot, in fact I only go to church because it's important to my wife. I'm at best an agnostic and at worst an atheist (it changes almost daily.) However, I was raised a Catholic and my family celebrates Christmas. I'm not asking the clerks and employee's address wish me the Merry Christmas first, I know this day and age that's too much to ask, but if I say Merry Christmas this should give them freedom from corporate policy to wish me the same in turn.

By the same token, if your employee's are free from this idiotic policy of not acknowledging exactly what holiday they wish to make happy for me, I will not take offense if they wish me a Happy Chanukah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa or Magic Snowflake Day.