A juggling technophile shares personal stories, challenges, humor and perhaps some political commentary.
I think all too often we consulting programming types say, "one day I’ll take the time to write something for me." One day never comes.
Don’t wait for your "ship to come in" and feel angry and cheated when it doesn’t. Get going with something small.
– Irene Kassorla
Something small…
Student: I’ve lost hope.
Master: Find new hope.
Evan, Cathy, Molly and I picked up Granddaddy and the 5 of us when downtown to watch Sarah march with Bearden High School’s band’s flag team in the Veterans Day parade. We parked in the State Street garage for only a dollar and walked 2 blocks to be near the front of the parade route. The aircraft fascinated me. 
I loved the helicopters playing overhead. The vintage planes doing the missing man formation was excellent. As a matter of fact, all the military vehicles were awe inspiring. Evan waved at the tank driving down the street and the turret spun around to wave back at him! Those things move quickly!
Evan was in a foul mood to begin with and getting him to wave took some effort. The nice lady who got near him and showered him with candy helped a lot. After the attack of the "cannie!" he was much chipper and social. About half way through the parade he started to get into the waving.
Molly was on great behavior but quivered whenever a noisy vehicle or drum section of a band walked by. She was on alert whenever Evan would wander too far. She has to be able to see him and much prefers to be beside him. 
She was a hit with all the police officers and many of the military. You could see them in the parade pointing to her, smiling and chatting amongst themselves. She eventually relaxed enough that I didn’t even have to hold her leash.
I was disappointed in the attendance at the parade. More people should take time to let this parade be their lunch break or to bring their families out. The weather was perfect. The patriotism high! Mardi Gras spoiled me for parades and I never thought I would enjoy this kind of parade again. I was wrong. This parade left me feeling very good!
Btw, Barney Fife was there! He’s great! Don Knots would be proud.
Life is not holding a good hand; Life is playing a poor hand well.
– Danish proverb
I feel broken.
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Newscoma shares the Facebook photo deception which is very, very funny if you have ever watched the Dove evolution self-esteem campaign. Listen closely as you watch the two videos. And you should show the Dove evolution film to your children! Because self-esteem is important.
The Washington Post brings us a story from Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, about the AT&T secret room used by the NSA to copy the entire Internet.
He knew that the NSA was supposed to work on overseas signals intelligence. … "This splitter was sweeping up everything, vacuum-cleaner-style," he said. "The NSA is getting everything. These are major pipes that carry not just AT&T’s customers but everybody’s." … the NSA was doing content analysis. [Source, The Washington Post, A Story of Surveillance]
Do you feel safer giving your government unchecked authority?
Update: See also: AT&T Whistleblower: Telecom Immunity Is A Cover-Up
Update: BoingBoing points to Senator Dodd’s video at the EFF.
I don’t know how single parents like AtomicTumor (or is he?) manage to work and still be such awesome parents. With two of us, sometimes I don’t feel like there is enough parent or energy to meet the demands of the children much less the demands of the children and work! And some mornings there is this game that goes on. Evan wakes and announces himself and I lay in bed waiting for Cathy to get up while she lays in bed waiting for me to get up. I always lose this game; after all, I’m the morning person.
We should all reach out to the single parents in our lives and offer to care for their children one Friday night so that they can sleep in on a Saturday morning. I bet they’d love that! Don’t get me wrong. Nothing is better than spending time with the children but everyone needs a break to catch their breath every now and then.
If you are going to be stupid, you’d better be tough!
(with credits to a very good friend of mine commenting on my own stupidity years ago)
I woke up having my wife’s dream waking up having my wife’s dream waking up having my wife’s dream. She did this the other night and it is both disturbing and cool. After coding during the wee hours I took a nap and dreamed that I woke up and went back to coding and after a little work I really woke up to realize I had been dreaming about work then I closed my eyes drifting back to sleep to have the same dream. I repeated this cycle about 4 times.
I feel very sleep deprived.
First we ban tag because playing tag causes physical and emotional injury and now we are giving girls detention for hugging because it violates the school policy banning public displays of affection!
Megan’s mother, Melissa Coulter, said the embraces weren’t even real hugs — just an arm around the shoulder and slight squeeze.
…
District Superintendent Sam McGowen said that he thinks the penalty is fair…
[The student handbook] states: "Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved."
[Source, MSNBC
What kind of poor, scarred adult wrote that handbook?! I want my children to hug! I want them to hug their friends. I want the elementary school teachers to hug my children when they fall down on the playground. Touch is important for emotional development.
An example of this can be seen in early childhood development of infants who respond and attach themselves to the adults who love and are responsible for them. In the magazine American Baby it states, “What’s usually the fastest way to soothe a crying baby? Snuggle together while gently stroking him. Your touch has an amazing power to communicate love†(Wu, 2004). [Source, Debbie Cluff, Emotional Development and the Self Esteem in Children]
Touch is one of the five love languages. We need to encourage touch for healthy people and a healthy society! We need to move beyond the sensationalism we hear and read in the news and quit assuming every adult is out to assault our children. Hug frequently!
It is so crispy and beautiful outside! If I had my druthers, I’d drop everything and go on an all day hike.
If you are eligible to participate in today’s elections, please do! We must actively work to get ourselves and others to the polls. Every vote counts! You have time. Your employer is required to let you go vote!
The software industry is filled with "two more weeks" promises and deadlines. The truth of the matter is that I can always tell a project is nearing the end when the incense starts to run out. I’m down to pine, musk amber (Cathy says smells like dust), and rose. This is almost as bad as running out of coffee!
