McCain's VP

Archival recording of McCain inviting Palin to be his VP.

Olympics

A few notes about the Olympics:

1. I love the Olympics.
2. I've long thought NBC coverage of the Olympics was crappy. Drama over sport and only showing events dominated by Americans or attractive, white non-Americans.
3. nbcolympics.com is actually pretty good. You can watch a broad cross section of events, many with no commentary or only technical commentary. (No "Ra-Ra Go USA!" or "Jim-Bob came back from adversity to be here today.")
   
4. nbcolympics.com commercial selection sucks. I've seen the trailer for Tropic Thunder literally at least 50 times in the past week. It was uninteresting the first time around. I vow to die never having seen that movie.
5. Women's High Jump has replaced women's Beach Volleyball as my my favorite Olympic event of all time. Sorry, Misty!
   

BJ and Warren

I met BJ Lawson when I got involved in the Ron Paul campaign. BJ was the Triangle Ron Paul Meetup organizer and decided he felt so strongly about responsible government that he'd run for Congress. I worked on BJ's campaign for the last couple months before I moved to Seattle and got to know him as a smart, hard working and very determined man. You can check out his campaign at lawsonforcongress.com.

I've long intended to write about his campaign but fell out of the habit of blogging regularly. The thing that gave me the final push today was learning that BJ's campaign is sponsoring the premier of a new documentary about the impending financial disaster of our national debt, I.O.U.S.A. The best part is that after the showing there will be a discussion with an A-list panel including my personal hero, Warren Buffett. Warren is to clean business what BJ and Ron Paul are to clean government. The world would be a richer place in every sense of the word if there were more people like these three.

Sadly I won't be in Raleigh on the 21st but if you are, be sure to check out the premier and meet at least two really good people.

Anniversary

Well, it has been a full year since leaving SAS and starting this blog. I'm very much a creature of habit and I can completely forget about the passage of time if I don't make a conscious effort to think about it. But time marches on - people age, relationships ebb and flow, and things of crucial importance become trivial (and vice versa).

A year ago I had a blank slate and didn't know what I'd do with it. I knew I wanted to make some changes in my life but I wasn't sure exactly what those should be. And I was realistic that external changes like job and locale were not really what it was about. So how'd I do? I'm basically happy with my choices but I still have the same vague gut feeling that something is not as it should be. Is that just normal? Will I still feel that way this time next year? How much will I grow?

I can hardly remember who I was nine years ago when I came to North Carolina. Or the nine years before that when I entered high school with a face full of acne. Or the nine years before that when I was playing with blocks in kindergarten. But you hardly ever notice the change as it happens which I guess is a shame.

In nine more years I will be over 40. What a preposterous idea.

The Best of Youth

I just saw The Best of Youth and loved it. It is the best thing to come out of Italy since Monica Bellucci. It follows two brothers for over 30 years starting at the end of college. You see their everyday joy, sadness, love and heartbreak against the historical and sometimes turbulent backdrop of modern Italy. Loved ones die; children are born and shaped and come in to their own. Life!

Not sure how else to express it, so I'll leave it at that. Be aware that this movie is six hours (on two dvds) and is in Italian with subtitles. No need to watch it all in one go, though.

DC pics

About a month ago I went Washington DC with Sarah. We caught the final weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The blossoms were mostly gone but we had some nice weather and got to take a tour of the White House grounds which is only offered two times a year. I hadn't seen Arlington National Cemetery before and am glad I got a chance to before heading out West.

Pics

John From Cincinnati

I watched John From Cincinnati (an HBO series) this past week and boy was it good. HBO makes such good stuff that I long ago stopped watching regular television. And watching the series on Netflix makes it cheap and easy; "I don't have HBO" is no excuse.

It is hard to give much of a synopsis of JFC. It reminds me a bit of X-Files where the audience keeps picking up clues but never enough know what lies in store for the characters. Add some LSD to the writer's room and set it in a surfing community and you've got yourself a show.

If you aren't accustomed to shows that make you scratch your head, start off with The Wire, The Sopranos or Six Feet Under from HBO. They are less trippy than JFC.

First week at Amazon

My first week on the job was nice enough, but not very eventful. There is even more to learn than the large amount I was already expecting. Hopefully for this coming week I will have all the accounts and permissions squared away and can begin to do real work.

I'm in a cubical but it is fairly isolated and has a nice view of Qwest Field (where the Seattle Seahawks play) and Seattle's container port. And I am right in the midst of the people in my group which will be quite useful. My group gets along great and has been very welcoming to me; we went to lunch every day and out to the waterfront after work on Friday.

Nothing much else to report, but I wanted to put something up since I know people are curious. I'm happy that I decided to work for Amazon; it is way nerdier than SAS which is what I was looking for.

Meeting people

I got moved into my apartment yesterday and transfered the stuff from my temporary housing today. As I was walking across my new courtyard my way was blocked by ten or twelve people taking swings at a pinata for Cinco de Mayo. I put down my suitcases to watch the show and am immediately informed that it was my turn. So I was blindfolded and spun and made a few pathetic swings. They went out of there way to make me feel welcome. I happened to have a few leftover ciders in my suitcase and passed them around to my new friends. As a bonus, at least half were nerds; Amazon, Microsoft, and Google were all represented. After the pinata candy was all eaten I went up to one their apartments to play Rock Band and Scene It on the Xbox for an hour. I'm really happy to have started meeting some people...

Tomorrow I report to work at 8:30 for orientation. Yeeha!

The eagle has landed

I made it to Seattle today. I've run the whole gamut of emotions. Fingers crossed.


It's not a dress rehearsal.

ACK!

My place is all packed and half emptied. I'm not usually all that sentimental but this is a bit unnerving. Is it too late to change my mind? Eight years of memories. Most of my adult life.

I need a drink. Too bad the liquor is already packed...

Open Invitation for Thursday Evening

A week from today I'm leaving for the next chapter of my life in Seattle with Amazon.com. Procrastination and a busy schedule means I haven't been doing a good job saying my individual 'goodbye's. I'm going to be having an informal 'open house' kind of thing at Torero's on Harrison Ave. across from SAS tomorrow (Thursday, April 17) after work. I'll be eating burritos and drinking margaritas on the back patio from 5 until 7:30 or so or as late as people want to hang out. The weather is supposed to be great! (update: I will be inside if the patio happens to be closed.)

Sorry about the late notice, but hopefully it will be easy for people to stop by for a bit after work if they are so inclined. Please don't feel obligated if it doesn't work out, I know many of you are introverts like me and have busy schedules to boot.

Please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. All are welcome. It should go without saying, but please no gifts.

It's not your fault

Recently a friend confided in me that they had been molested as a child. "Molested" is actually a bit tame of a word for what happened. The memory had been mostly buried until the recent news coverage of abuse and forced child marriage in a polygamist group in West Texas. I was the first person they had ever told.

Fortunately I never went through anything like that as a child but I did have an unpleasant episode as an adult several years ago. I've told a couple people over the years but always felt very embarrassed and shameful recounting the story (though the episode itself holds no power over me...it is just a learning experience at this point.)

I was alone on vacation, walking back to my hotel at the end of the night. Ahead of me a panhandler was getting in this guy's face. The guy was a bit rattled and saw a friendly face in me. "Would you mind crossing the street with me and walking down a block so I can get past this guy?", he asked. The situation wasn't quite that bad but I figure why not if it makes him feel better.

We got to chatting about my trip and the city and whatever. With the panhandler safely behind us he asked if I want to get a cup of coffee with him. It's a bit odd but what is visiting new places for if not to try new things. We walk a bit further and arrive not at a coffee shop but at his car. "The coffee shop is a bit too far to walk to." I would never have agreed to get in a car with him but since I agreed to get coffee I felt honor-bound to go through with it. There's a bunch of junk in the back seat covered by a sheet; I quickly felt it as I got in the car to make sure it wasn't severed heads or something.

The short drive became a bit longer as we get on the Interstate for a few miles. This is not what I had bargained for. "We'll just go to my place for some coffee and I'll drop you back off at your hotel." I was definitely on guard now but there wasn't much I can do from the passenger seat of a moving car. When we got to his place I am not impressed. It is a roach motel. There is no coffee. The conversation had remained superficially friendly but dripping with tension. In retrospect I should have just called a cab but at the time I was absolutely focused on maintaining the friendly charade and getting him to take me back to my hotel as promised. Plus I didn't want to give him any cause to draw a weapon if he had one. "Yes, I'll take you back. After we've talked for a while."

I didn't have much to say but he did. He told me about a suicidal teen he took in a few years ago. How the kid wasn't really gay but they came to be lovers anyway. How he was able to control him. How he graciously "released" him and allowed him to get married and start a family. How he could reclaim him at any time with a simple phone call. Through it all I just glared silently. Waiting. He had more to tell me but he wanted to give me a massage while he did so. "I want you to take me home now." I said calmly but forcefully. The charade was over. "Maybe I will and maybe I won't." he replied.

I remained firm about him promising to take me back and was very glad to have a good 40 lbs. on the guy. But he was on home turf and I had no idea where we were or if he had a weapon. We ended up reaching a bargain that is hard for me to admit to even today. He said he'd take me back if I let him take a picture of my feet and another of my face. "Fine!", I said through gritted teeth. Though he was annoyed I refused to smile for the camera, we did get back in the car afterwards. On the ride back I was quiet but seething with anger and shame. He threatened to drop me off in a part of town where "white boys don't last too long."

I quietly plotted a million different kinds of retribution. Upon pulling up to my hotel and getting out I settled for kicking off the passenger side mirror (he was very fond of his Mercedes). The plastic and glass shattered into a million satisfying pieces. That's the price for a photo of my feet, asshole. I tried to break the passenger side window, too, but it held. After two seconds of rage, fear (of him and of the cops) took over and I ran into the hotel. The elevator couldn't open or close fast enough; once inside I pushed buttons for floors other than mine so I wouldn't be followed. My heart has never beaten harder than it did in that elevator.

It ruined my vacation but in the end I got off cheap. I made some absolutely stupid and embarrassing mistakes but I still didn't deserve to be treated that way. And I was a grown man. To my friend and all the others out there who have been victimized (as children or otherwise), IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT! Predators target those who are unable to defend themselves and use your own sense of right and wrong to keep you off balance and submissive. They plan out their scenarios far in advance and you have only seconds to react. They capitalize on the fact that we are raised to see the good in others.

Say it to yourself. "It is not my fault."

Now say it again.

Condo For Sale

With pizazz!

Imp Ending Slackerdom

(click picture for a larger version)

An interesting period of my life is drawing to a close. Slackerdom is over; I'm going back to work.

I'll also be leaving North Carolina and SAS Institute after almost nine years (counting this Leave of Absence). Both have been very good to me and will be missed. And who knows, I may be back some day.

In the fourth week of April I will be moving out to Seattle, Washington to take a job with Amazon.com. I'll be working on their supply chain software (inventory/shipping/etc.)

The next few weeks will be a blur. There's a lot of people I need to meet up with again before I ship out. I'll be visiting SAS and making rounds. I'll also set up a time to sit out on Torero's back patio to throw back a few margaritas and reminisce about the MVA W-layer and the indefatigable JBI project. I guess I'll need a similar event for non-work friends that don't speak Nerd.

That's all for now. Start checking out airfare to Seattle and remember to order lots of books online!

Lightning

A few minutes ago lightning just struck right outside my bedroom window. My heart is still racing. I'm not used to feeling mortal.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw electricity arc out of something on my desk (which I was sitting at). Nothing seems to be damaged though.

Hopefully the rain will at least put a dent in North Carolina's drought.

Patriotism

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country. -- Hermann Goering

(From politico.com, click image for larger version)

Respect

I came to Ron Paul because he was for libertarian ideals, a change in our foreign policy and sound fiscal policy. The latter position is a breath of fresh air when the two major parties are locked in a battle to the death over whether we should spend recklessly on the military or whether we should spend recklessly on social programs. Essentially, which set of corporations and special interest groups should get the pork. Paul is running as a Republican because he supports what they claim to stand for on paper, though not at all in practice. This page shows the conventional wisdom that the Republicans are fiscally conservative to be complete fiction.

Given that McCain seems certain to win the Republican nomination and Paul has ruled out a third party run, I ask myself who, among McCain, Hillary and Obama, I'd prefer as president. None have made fiscal restraint as central to their campaign as I think is warranted to avoid long-term damage to the economy (though I'm sure they all pay lip service to it.) On foreign policy, however, Obama is by far the best choice.

We should engage the friendly nations of the world instead of demanding they follow our lead. We should talk openly with Iran and Cuba. They are both the victims of acknowledged U.S. plots to overthrow their government, yet we act indignant when they don't make such-and-such concessions as a precondition of negotiations. So their wary governments become radicalized against us. We should openly acknowledge mistakes made in Iraq and pain inflicted on its people. Instead we just blame the al Qaeda boogeyman for 100% of what's gone wrong like we are innocent bystanders. In short, we need to learn some humility and respect.

The culture of respect (or lack thereof) of people who think differently goes back to what I was saying in the last post. This video shows a long, but very good, speech by Obama about tolerance and respect in a democratic society. I defintely encourage you to watch it. If Paul is not on the ballot I will vote for either Obama or a third party candidate.

NBC is a bunch of pansies

Hillary had her daughter Chelsea make calls to some of the Democratic superdelegates asking for their support. That's fine...free country. An anchor on MSNBC expresses disapproval that Chelsea was 'pimped out' for political reasons. That's fine...free country. Hillary gets mad and threatens to remove herself from scheduled political debate on MSNBC. Sigh...free country. NBC makes multiple on-air apologies, forces anchor to apologize on-air, and suspends anchor. Grr...free country? (AP story)

Don't want your daughter to be in the media spotlight? Then don't use her for political means. At 27 she's a big girl now and can decide for herself.

I'm sick of politicians who can't tolerate any dissention. "You're either with us or against us!" If those are my two options, then I guess I'm against you. The other choice means giving into your coercion. There's a name for that. Terrorism. This attitude is why people don't stay informed or get active in politics. This attitude is why our foreign policy and reputation is in tatters.

I'm sick of news media that lacks any kind of balls or integrity. Instead of Woodward and Bernstein style investigative journalism we are led to believe the whole story can be covered by letting someone with an 'R' and someone with a 'D' after their name speak for 20 seconds each. FOX News, ever so efficient, eliminates the person with the 'D'.

Microsoft bids for Yahoo!

I often stumble on things on the internet that I find interesting but not quite enough to blog about. Today there were two such things: Microsoft's $44B offer to buy Yahoo! and the above snapshot of two men on the verge of giving in to exquisite carnal bliss. I decided the parallels between the two ran deeper than one might expect.

As both a nerd and a software professional, I've always found Microsoft to be distasteful and corrosive. They habitually behave in a way that restricts consumer choice and competition. They use their dominant position in one market to preempt competition in other markets despite producing low quality goods. There's nothing so annoying to an engineer than seeing manipulation get in the way of an optimal solution.

Given a long enough timeline, however, markets prevail. The growing technical superiority of Linux on one end and the design and polish of Apple on the other have started to bring back some good old competition. Microsoft is still giant, but mortal. Today MSFT trades at $30.45 which is the same price some people paid for it all the way back in 1998! Bill Gates is rich but not getting much richer.

The most pressing concern for Microsoft now is Google. On the Internet, Microsoft's dominance on the desktop counts for little and they are faced with competitors that actually want to serve their customers rather than treat them as captives. Money and power can't 'fix' that, especially when none of the nerds want to come work for you due to your track record.

Yahoo! was a plucky startup that made a lot of good choices as the internet was coming of age and then some not so good ones. Over time, they lost much of their spark, uniqueness and customer focus and fell behind Google despite a big head start. Given these problems, I find it implausible that joining with super-bland Microsoft will provide any benefit or even slow the decline.

As a libertarian and not being particularly gullible I've always found George Bush to be distasteful and corrosive. He trades in fear rather than reason and has no respect for civic debate or the rule of law. He completely disregards the half of the country that didn't vote for him and then went the extra step of disregarding many of the people who did vote for him, too. Over time his flaws caught up with him, leaving him politically weakened and discredited but still a viable force for his remaining year in office.

John McCain was a plucky politician at a time when people were growing tired of partisan politics. A maverick. Engineer of the Straight Talk Express. Respected for being above the fray. Over time he lost his independence. He became a cheerleader for the debacle that is the occupation of Iraq. Now he tells the public that the Surge is working and that he is prepared to dig into a hundred year war there. Yet even now our soldiers are dying at a rate of 'just' one a day. So expect another 350 deaths under Bush and 1500 under McCain were he to get four years in the White House. So much for the Straight Talk Express.

Well, it's late and I don't want to stretch this post's metaphor any further or invest time in the kind of tie-it-all-together concluding paragraph they teach you about in Composition 101. Plus my readers from the road trip posts are tired of me blabbing about politics by now. Peace out.

Charlie Wilson's War

I just saw Charlie Wilson's War. It tells the story of a congressman who guided the US military and CIA to arm the Afghani mujaheddin against the Soviets in the early 80's. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit despite some flaws. What little combat footage there was consisted of grainy footage from 25+ years ago interleaved with bad special effects; also I felt like I was watching Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts rather than Charlie Wilson and Joanne Herring. The story was decent and had you rooting for the good guys even though you knew "good" would gradually lose all meaning.

The writing for the dialog, however, was spectacular. Aaron Sorkin was the writer for some of the best shows to ever grace network television (Sports Night, The West Wing, and Studio 60) and he brought the same fast, witty, biting dialog he did to those shows. Hopefully we can get the whole writer's strike behind us and Sorkin can get back to plying his trade.

Two other writers who are way ahead of the pack are Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) and David Milch. (Deadwood)

Who are your favorite writers/directors/actors? Leave a comment!

Pics from SC

Haven't posted any pics in a while, but I liked a few I took in South Carolina.

The cemetery was really neat although these pics only partly capture it. Most of the tombstones had a last name of 'Venning' on them and the main street nearby was also 'Venning'. The area was a mix of really old, poor (but proud), dirt roads as well as swanky new subdivisions.

Also pictured are an aquarium at a sushi joint, a very young supporter of limited constitutional government, and Ron Paul himself.

Back from SC

Well, I'm back from South Carolina where, thanks to my help, Ron Paul had his poorest finish yet with only 4% of the vote. He did end up getting 2nd in Nevada with 14% on the same day, so it isn't all bad.

I went down to SC on the premise that there would be plenty of back office stuff to do. Something on the computer perhaps or even stuffing envelops. In the end I was 'encouraged' to do phone banking and door-to-door canvassing. Both go against my introverted and "live and let live" personality but I wanted to contribute and there weren't any alternatives on the horizon. There were some high points (getting to know the fellow canvassers, talking to a nice old man for 56 minutes, seeing a bit of Charleston) and low points (getting within a whisker of a very angry dog attacking me, being told I'm not welcome in this neighborhood). I don't necessarily regret going but I will never canvas/phone bank again. Not for peace in the Middle East, a billion dollars, or two chicks at the same time.

I came across this music video and it spoke to me about optimism, politics and community. Watch it...it will bring a smile to your face.

2nd in Nevada?

With 78% of the precincts reporting, Ron Paul is running second in Nevada. It will be great to have such a high finish. The polls in South Carolina don't close for another hour and a half so there are no results yet. We'll be leaving Charleston, SC shortly for Columbia where the Ron Paul victory party will be tonight. Hopefully our canvassing and phone banking have made a difference.

On the road again

I'm on I-95 barrelling South to Charleston, SC to canvas for Ron Paul. There are four of us from the Triangle Ron Paul Meetup group going and hope to get a few more later in the week. The South Carolina primary is this Saturday and we're hopeful we can improve the ~10% results Dr. Paul has gotten in the primaries so far. Today is Michigan primary and from what we hear Paul will get 4th ahead of Giuliani and Thompson.

When I say we're canvassing for Ron Paul I mean the others in the car are. I did canvassing for Kerry in 2004 and found it excruciating. (Especially since I knew I'd be voting third party anyway...I just hated Bush that much.) I often prefer not to talk to people I like so knocking on a complete stranger's door and initiating a conversation is just not something I'm built for. I will offer to do logistics or computer stuff or just about anything else for the campaign that doesn't involve ringing doorbells.

I didn't decide to go until today. I'm not sure what this week will hold, but it should be an adventure. Wish me luck!

"Once" and "Juno"

I saw Once tonight and really liked it. It's a very simple but well told story about a boy and a girl. They are both musicians so it borders on a musical at times but not in a way that would bug people who don't care for them.

Friday I saw Juno in a theater which was quite packed for a movie not involving wizards or pirates. I also really liked this one. A high school girl gets pregnant and is none to happy about it. Offbeat, irreverent and funny like Knocked Up but that's about as far as the similarities go. Juno explores adoption; I have no idea why this isn't a more pursued option in our society.

Not the most verbose reviews you will ever read, but oh well. For a real reviewer, check out the Filthy Critic. His Kung Fu is strong.