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We met! We talked! We had fun!

Cathy and I have no social life now-a-days. Blame it on managing 5 children’s schedules, lack of money, or my constant working if you will but basically we have not created much opportunity for adult conversation. Yesterday we broke our mold and went to Atomic Tumor’s party and had an absolutely wonderful time! The crowd was very comfortable, the food excellent, the conversation fun, the children played hard and were happy among new friends, the very pleasant teenagers eagerly watched the younger children, and there was much laughter. There was at least one "small world" event (I met you in 2000!) and it resulted in some throwing of fire. Cathy has links to the exhausted children and others. The only noted damage appears to be the two youngest children ended up with fevers. Build those immune systems! Thank again to Atomic Tumor et al!

Update: More photos here, here, here, here, here and here, and video here.

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Terrorists on American Soil!

Domestic terrorism is prevented by improving the quality of life in America not by bombing Iraq, Iran or anywhere. To have Congress take on the credit card companies that hold so many of the American people hostage would be a good place to begin the Domestic War On Terror. I missed a payment on a closed credit card and they charged me $165 per month in fees and penalties until I got caught up. That should be illegal!

The letter demanded a large sum of money and set a deadline for its delivery.

“The letter did communicate that if the city did not comply, Las Cruces residents will be shot at random,” Lara said.
[Source]

If I had to guess, these extortionists are on their last nickel and feel this is their only option. If people actually start getting shot, I will change that opinion to these extortionists not being extortists but sick cold blooded killers. More information.

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Why document?

Because I have just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out what 1, 3, 5, and 6 mean in regard to access levels. Had the previous developer added a single comment to the database design to say 1=guest, 3=admin, 5=customer service, 6=suspended or the like my job would be more manageable.

Developers should document at a minimum within the code and in an external document. Further documentation can be injected into many other places such as the database table design via Enterprise Manager. Once you make commenting a habit, the pain goes away and it almost becomes fun.

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The Sound of Silence – Riiiiight

Programming is an art. Basically programming is mathematically solving complex logic problems that start out as word problems. That is why lateral thinkers make good programmers.

I have heard it stated that programming is 90% thinking and 10% coding. I am not sure if 90/10 is accurate but the concept is correct. To get your head around the problem, you have to be able to concentrate and sometimes for a long time. One disadvantage of working from home is finding long blocks of undisturbed time to concentrate and focus.

I used to have a Sony Discman (minidisc player) that was great for helping me block out ambiant noise (white noise drives me nuts) but it is gone or misplaced. I have often used ear plugs that cut noise down by about 20 decibals but I have lost ever single set. I would kill for a nice pair of noise reducing headphones. Of course, having a music source to plug those into would be even nicer.

In leu of all that, I will let Evan climb in my lap, listen to Amy’s shrill demands and shreaks, monitor the fights between the older children to decide when to intervene, listen to the dogs bark at unseen foes, hear the whine of the television and the hum of the refrigerator, heed my wife’s requests and listen closely to the words she does not speak, and between chaotic outbreaks I will slip in some coding enjoying the chaos and the logic.

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More 9/11 cover up?

9/11 hero raided by SWAT.

Major Mike McCormack is a hospital technician and civil air patrol pilot who worked the ground zero site for eight days after the collapse of the twin towers. He is one of the real heroes of 9/11 and was the man who found the American flag that was later displayed as a token of unity atop the rubble.
[Source]

"Numerous firemen were telling me that they heard numerous secondary explosions all over the building – these guys are seasoned firefighting professionals – a lot of them have military backgrounds and they’re not stupid." [Source]