Colin

I do love to talk about myself, ( but I'm actually a little shy about this. )

I spend too much time on political news, discussions of policy, esp. foreign affairs. I'm sincerely angry about the fact that we tortured captives (whether or not they were "bad people") - I think it debases us as a nation, gives our enemies a recruiting tool, and gives us false information. And no, I don't buy the "ticking time bomb" exception - life is not an episode of 24.

But I saw this post linked a few different times...

(from The Observer)

( The 83 Waterboardings of Abu Zubaydah )

"Well, I think this puts an end to the pirates vs. ninjas debate...

Edit: Sorry - the link is to a Washington Post article about the SEAL takedown of the pirate stand off this weekend. The pirates were on a lifeboat with no fuel, on a tow cable from the Navy destroyer, with little water and food, and waving guns at the merchant captain. They didn't do a lot of endgame planning...

So finally, a post! Maighread and I officially closed on our home in Camelot this morning.
Our lawyer was excellent (and thankfully not very neccessary), the bank's lawyer was a bit of a jackass. Now resuming our unpacking, unloading and stowing away...

I don't post to LJ at all anymore, but I figure I can use this to relay some hard news -

Elmo (my parents' 8 yr old golden) died this morning while my parents were getting ready to go. He was a sweet dog with a wonderful personality and more smarts than I ever expected to find in a golden. My dad's going out this morning to find a spot in the yard to bury him.

If you knew Elmo, feel free to send my parents a note - I'm sure they'll be glad to get condolences from those of you who'll miss him too. I'm going to visit them after I get back from CA.

It's been like 4 months since my last post, but I really like movies...

( That same Movie Meme that all the cool kids are doing... ) - Well that didn't take too long... All but 2 are complete 3 hours after I posted...

For any / all concerned - Mom's in recovery right now in the ICU. Operation was a complete success, surgeon was very positive. That said, she still has 5 days in the hospital and then 6-8 weeks of recovery time.

But still, *WHEW*

For those of you I haven't seen or talked to in the last 2 days...

My Mom is in the hospital again - the angioplasty and stents that they placed in her coronary arteries in August are already starting to block up - my Mom's cholesterol delivery system knows just where it wants to place deposits. So my Mom will be having a double bypass performed tomorrow (ie Sept 28) in the morning. All signs from the surgeons are that she's an excellent candidate for this (young, healthy, thin, non-smoker), but she (and all of the family) are all freaked out about this.

So please keep her in your thoughts tomorrow morning, and I'll try to update everyone with news in the afternoon.

Can it?

Healthy Girly Drinks???

This is too much fun to not pipe up. Plus, I'm in training this week, so my work and sleep schedules are a little more relaxed... Here are 10 things that I've done (or at least experienced) that I don't think you have - please correct me if I'm wrong...

1. Worked a "grinder" on an America's Cup Yacht
   
2. Been teargassed (not recommended)
   
3. Ran a marathon
   
4. Driven a fire engine (and ran the siren!)
   
5. Toured "the Notch" (old SAC command bunker buried in the hills south of Amherst)
   
6. Grabbed the Queens' Banner in the Woods
   
7. Ran a weekly FRPG with 12 regular players (not recommended)
   
8. Slept in an open lean-to in -5F weather
   
9. Scored a 1st Class rating on the Marine Corps PFT
   
10. Showed Natural Born Killers to a high school class as a substitute teacher.
    

Thanks to all and sundry who attended the New Years Party - I had a great time last night and hope that everyone else who attended did as well. The party wasn't too crowded and I managed to keep the temperatures bearable throughout the house for the guests (so that all of the downstairs got used). We had about ten folks stay the night, after the party died out about 4 AM (yay, we're not too grown up to stay up late!).

Extra-special thanks to the overnight crew (and Cassia and Edward, who returned - and Dervishspin who lived up to her name by racing around the house 'pre-cleaning'). With plenty of hands we managed to clean up the house in under an hour and leave it better than it was when I arrived yesterday. We also demolished a pound of bacon, a box of waffle mix, a quart of maple syrup, a gallon of OJ and half a carafe of coffee. We've also left my parents a couple bottles of wine, a case of Sam Adams and a small horde of leftover goodies.

Recovery of the torn right gastrocnemius continues apace. My Physical Therapist thinks that I'm recovering well - which makes me only marginally happier about missing out on the Boston Triathlon this weekend...

Changes are happening elsewhere as well - I've been realizing that being management in my company feels tougher and tougher of late. While I can see changes that should be made and work that needs to be done, it's hard to get motivated for more than the bare minimum of work required. This might be related to the work required to keep 20 consultants happy, or it might be related to the vast range of issues that seem to rear their heads on a regular basis. Rather than drudge along getting more dissatisfied, or assume that a magical fix is available, I've engineered a more drastic career change.

Rather than jumping ship, I set my sites on a major new account in Boston that we've been working to win for 6 weeks, and made myself the technical lead on it. With my boss's encouragement, I'm moving out of management (at least temporarily), and back into the field, for at least a year. My travel will probably be lower than it has been for the past two years, and I'll be working in the John Hancock Tower (on Floor 57). Plus, I'll get a chance / be absolutely required to jump back into deeply technical work - I may even get a chance to seriously pursue my CISSP...

More hard work awaits, but it's work that I'm excited about doing again, for once...

So due to an early flight, a bad map and a moderate drive (damn, it sure appeared that Rte 4 connected to I-64) I was given the chance to "adjust" my travel plans. Instead of flying Louisville to Cleveland to Newark to Boston on Continental, I'm flying Louisville to Detroit to Boston on Northwest.

I must confess, Northwest is my least favorite airline. USAir may be falling apart, United may treat you badly, Delta packs you in like cattle, but no one manages to convey "Shabby" in quite the same way as Northwest. This isn't "you mean nothing to us" shabby - quite the opposite, Northwest consistently has friendly, kind staff. But every Northwest plane I fly in seems to have a decor that says "I was very luxurious in 1978. I have not been reupholstered since." The cloth is threadbare and slightly dirty. The plastic interiors look worn and faded. The bathroom has a funkiness masked by very strong ammonia. One overwing commuter jet I saw had significant oil / grease / crud stains around the engine cowl and mount point. These planes seem to say "Why, yes, we are in bankruptcy, but we'll update these details as soon as we get around to it. Or scrape together some cash, once we make rent next week." It's not an inspiring feeling.

Apropos of nothing, I still giggle like I'm doing something wrong when I go to Northwest's homepage, but that's mainly because I feel the urge to look for Ice Cube's page.

Completely the opposite (although possibly having to do with Northwest's current financial state), Detroit's airport is one of my favorite one's to connect in. It's gorgeous and spacious (what is it with the nastiest cities having the nicest airports? I'm looking at you Newark). The renovations are recent and make Terminal A open, light and airy. There's lots of nice restaurants, a bright red monorail tram, and big windows to view the rest of the airport. There's also a neat, hypnotizing fountain in the center - all black marble and smooth jets of water.

Today I discovered the tunnel from Terminal B to A... in the midst of a bad day's crises I walked into the long, dark tunnel, the walls decorated in smooth wavelines on metal panels. All lit by a colored light show and beautiful ambient music. As I walked through the tunnel I could see other people walking or standing on the moving slide, looking around at the colors, listening and smiling. It was an exceptionally nice break from a bad day for other folks too.
It made me smile enough to toss a penny in the fountain and make a wish...

If you're trying to sell me an Internet degree, wouldn't you try to spell check your email?

"Deerges Baesd On Yuor Kgwonlee"

"im wanting to show you this
Contact us NOW to receive your DI;PLOMA within days, and start improving your life! 
Bachelo;rs, Maste;rs, MBA and/or Doct;orate (PhD)"

That's just sad. I really don't want to receive a Masters of Science from Teh Univercity of Teh Interweb

I think the only subject with typos that scares me more is "enlargement products." If you can't properly spell the ingredients or the product, you aren't getting anywhere near my pen1s.

You know, I was thinking about buying one of those discontinued H1 HMMWV's for my next car, and then I saw this: Carbon Dioxide increases Urushiol Production.

I'm gonna buy stock in Zanfel...

It occurs to me that as of tomorrow I'll have traveled to all four of the timezones in the lower 48 since Monday.

Only 16 months or so after I submitted it (on the second try), the college of Heralds has responded...
I'm officially:

Colin mac Eoain mec Lachlainn

and my arms are registered as:

Per pale vert and azure, three boars rampant Or.

That's almost elegantly simple to remember. w00+!

Ahh, it's videos like this that remind me of what a wonderful thing a misspent youth is...