Shaker Cup

So I get geeked out on the weirdest stuff, I recognize that and embrace it. Yesterday, I found a new shaker cup for my protein drinks that I have to share with the world because it is so simple but effective. Its called the Blender Bottle. You can find it here:
http://www.blenderbottle.com/

This thing is pure awesome goodness.

The hypocrisy of our School System

Last night one of my sons brought me a letter from his high school which was a permission slip that we needed to sign in order for him to hear the presidential speech. Now, of course we signed it; but I am outraged that this had to be done.
Regardless of 'who' is in the presidential office; what sort of message does it send to our youth when they have to have a signature to hear our leader speak?
It is appalling to think that the right-wing extremists of our country have scared the system of our leader so much that the presidential speeches are now lumped in the same category as pornography, racism, and other taboo topics. I encourage everybody to write their local and state representatives to have this practice removed.

Price Gouging By Sirius

Yesterday, I received a email from Sirius Satellite Radio with the subject line of:
"Immediate Action Required Regarding Your SIRIUS Service"

The email was notifying me that my satellite radio was going to cut me off of the internet streaming for my Sirius Stiletto unless I pay an extra 3 dollars a month or an extra 36 dollars a year. I am already paying 12.95 a month and don't feel I am getting the value for an additional increase.

I am very upset about this because I no longer have a competitor to switch to. The foundation of the arguement for the merger was that there would be no price increases and greater content available for the average consumer. Less than one month after the merger, I started to lose channels and now I am loosing the single greatest feature for the average office worker "to listen to sirius when I'm not in the car".

Sadly, I will be selling my radio and dropping my subscription after march 11th. Sirius defrauded me and now I am paying the price. What is on regular radio nowadays?

The 'what' is not as important as the how

As we are nearing the close of January, I have had some time to reflect not only on my New Years resolutions; but other folks that surround me. A common thing that people do is they set a generalized goal rather than a specific. Such as: Lose weight, Drive Less, Be More Green, Smell Better.

I find that more often than not I fail at generalizations and others fail because they are just a goal, there is nothing specific to them that gives you a reachable target. For example, if my only goal is to 'lose weight'; there are dozens of ways to accomplish this and you lose target. If your goal was to smell better, this could be accomplished by bathing, using soap, changing your sheets, etc..etc...

Do we generalize for the secret wish to not achieve our goals?

Grieve for what you have?

I can't remember where, but I once read that people should experience grief for what they have. My thought at the time was 'That is just plain nonsensical' and moved on with my life & studies.

However, events have occurred in my life that have forced me to evaluate what is important to me and where I want to be in 3,6,9,12 months from now. So I ask this question gentle readers: Have you ever grieved for what you have?

Drill Baby Drill???

So, a recent campaign speech from McCain called off-shore drilling as our solution for oil independence from the middle east. You have to be kidding me; this can't be our solution. While I am now a supporter of Obama for president (I was a Clinton booster); I do think McCain has done a great job for Arizona. He was and is a good senator; but his energy solution for the country is horrible. In a speech recently he spoke a line that scares me to the core: "Drill baby Drill".

All it takes to see the failure of this solution is to use common-sense. How much does humanity currently depend on the ocean? Now why in the world would want to dump oil into the ocean?

The discovery for oil requires a 'lot' of test-drilling; and during this test-drilling thousands to millions of gallons of oil could be released before the proper facilities are put in place to harness this oil.

Consider the public outrage that occurred during the Exxon oil-spill not to long ago, this is *nothing* compared to the damage we will be doing should be start doing off-shore drilling. Its all about common sense people.

Been away awhile, whats new?

Busy Busy!
It was mentioned to me that I haven't blogged in awhile and yes that is very much true. At my new digs at Ping Golf, we have been busy with a very large project of deploying our Business Automation software at our Japan facility. While a large project that involved tons of coordination and rework was actually a lot of fun; in some aspects it reminded me of my early days at ISV's.

I'd like to comment on something that is interesting. Way back in the early 2000's; we undertook a localization effort at SalesLogix. While the language was different (Delphi); the effort to localize in C# was very similar. One might have expected that over the last 8 years our industry would have learned something and made the process easier. Granted, we didn't have to worry about things such as AnsiString or the such; but the effort was *not* easier by any stretch.

Internet Addiction

The brief times when I'm not listening to Sirius satellite radio; I am an avid NPR fan/listener. On the way home from the gym today I happened to catch a segment that was discussing internet addiction.
Just the brief mention of the word addition in a subject topic is usually enough to catch my attention. Usually I scoff at the idea of a person being addicted to something as mundane as Food, Beverage, or Video games. Most often, I agree with any experts and term some of these items to be nothing more than a compulsive behavior. I do understand that there is a psychological draw to these items and people can and usually focus their energies on a non-threatening item as a way of escape. however, this particular topic hit very close to home.
Due to my career and hobby of choice, I am what many can consider a prime candidate for internet addiction even though I do not possess an addictive personality. However, for fun I took an online test to determine if I am an addict; turns out I am.
The individual that was being interviewed on NPR was undertaking a test to see if he could 'survive' 3 consecutive days being disconnected to the outside world. This got me to reflecting if I could survive; which is a short answer of yes I could. Now, my life would be radically changed as a significant portion of my income is a derivative of internet access; however, I do not define my self-being around my perusals. This minor detail for me drags the whole discussion of "is it an addiction or not" back on the table. If a person is merely 'dependent' on an item to facilitate their work or life is addicted, then we can apply the same label to individuals that use a hammer, screwdriver, or an other tool.
Thoughts?

And Another Thing

Happy birthday mom, I love you.