The Plan - Texas Edition

Drive to PDX!
AA #492 from PDX (09:25) to DFW (15:05)

Hertz Gold Canopy:
Mazda 6 or Similar

Shoot to:
Country Inn & Suites By Carlson DFW Airport South
2000 Hardrock Road
Irving, TX 75061
972-399-9874

Shoot back to the Airport to get The Old Man

Shoot to Texas Stadium:
Dallas Cowboys vs New York Giants
Sponsored by FORD
Sunday, December 14, 7:15 P.M. (Central)
Texas Stadium, Irving, TX - NBC

***Celebrate huge win over hated rivals all night!***

Check out the new crib:
E Randol Mill Rd & N Collins St.
Arlington, TX 76011

Shoot to the airport:
AA #453 from DFW (11:55) to PDX (14:10)

DRIVE HOME!

Deep Thoughts

One of my all-time favorite quotes...

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Today I feel Old

Colleague 1: "I'll be in late today as Baby X has her 6 month checkup."
Colleague 2: "I'll be in late today as we have our first ultrasound."
Me: "I'll be in late as I need to pick-up some Celine Dion tickets."

Yikes.

Economic Collapse or Financial Panic?

A good dose of perspective from one of my favorites authors - TMQ!

"Economic problems are likely to be with us for awhile, but also likely to be resolved -- the 1987 panic and the 1997 Asian currency collapse both were repaired more quickly than predicted, with much less harm than forecast. Want to worry? Worry about the fact that the United States is borrowing, mainly from foreign investors and China, the money being used to fix our banks. The worse the national debt becomes -- $11 trillion now, and increasing owing to Washington giveaways -- the more the economy will soften over the long term. It's long-term borrowing, not short-term Wall Street mood swings, that ought to worry us, because the point may be reached where we can no longer solve problems by borrowing our way out. TMQ's former Brookings Institution colleague Peter Orszag, now director of the Congressional Budget Office, was on "Newshour" last week talking about the panic. Orszag is a wicked-smart economist -- for instance, he is careful to say pension holdings have declined, not been lost like most pundits are saying, as if there were no difference between decline and loss! The below exchange occurred with host Jeffrey Brown. Remember these words:

PETER ORSZAG: One thing we need to remember is we're lucky that we have the maneuvering room now to issue lots of additional Treasury securities and intervene aggressively to address this crisis.

JEFFREY BROWN: Wait a minute. Explain that. Lucky in what sense?

PETER ORSZAG: That people are still willing to lend to us. If in 20 or 30 years we continue on the same path, with rising health-care costs and rising budget deficits, we would reach a point where we wouldn't have that ability."

More Perspective

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
- George Orwell

The Plan (Revised)

Drive to PDX!
JB #166 from PDX (23:59) to JFK (08:12)
AirTran from JFK (08:30) to Howard Beach (08:45)
T#A from Howard Beach (08:55) to Broadway/Nassau (09:30)
T#4 from Broadway/Nassau (09:40) to Grand Central (09:55)
-Kick it or step out to the Blarney Stone
T#4 from Grand Central (11:30) to 161st (11:45)
-Monument Park, et al
***First Pitch: 1:05 PM***
T#4 from 161 (16:20) to Broadway/Nassau (16:50)
T#A from Broadway/Nassau (17:10) to Howard Beach (17:40)
AirTran from Howard Beach (17:50) to JFK (18:05)
JB #165 from JFK (19:35) to PDX (22:54)
DRIVE HOME!

AirTran round-trip: $10.00 (Pay-Per-Ride MetroCard - 2 x $5.00)
MTA round-trip: $7.50 (1-Day Fun Pass)
Parking $7.00

The Patriot Act - a little perspective

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- Benjamin Franklin

The Plan

JB #166 from PDX (23:59) to LGA (08:12)
B#72 from LGA (08:48) to Junction Rd (09:00)
T#7 from Junction Blvd (09:10) to Grand Central (09:30)
-Kick it or step out to the Blarney Stone
T#4 from Grand Central (11:30) to 161st (11:50)
-Monument Park, et al
***First Pitch: 1:05 PM***
T#4 from 161 (16:30) to Grand Central (16:50)
T#7 from Grand Central (17:00) to Junction Blvd (17:20)
B#72 from Junction Blvd (17:38) to LGA (17:53)
JB #165 from LGA (19:35) to PDX (22:54)

Round 6 - splat

Awful...abysmal...atrocious...and that's just the officiating. The announcers, the crowd, the fakers in green...absolutely horrible - there was NO WAY the Lakers were getting that game.

But, still, the Lakers played the most horrible game I've seen in forever. Basketball is a simple game - drive the ball, force the action, find the open man and REBOUND. The Lakers did none of this. Kobe will get the blame for this AGAIN. But, seriously, with Vujacic and Radmanovich jacking early 3s and playing ZERO defense, even Jordan wouldn't have won.

Kupchak still has some work to do - a big nasty to clear the board - wherever the next Charles Oakley is, he's got to trade Odom.

Bah....I hate the celtics.

Round 5 - another exhale

Lakers squeek through - they are not in championship form. :-( An omen for the bloodbath to follow.

Round 4 - crushed

Arrghhhhhhh.







Well, we'll see what this team is made of. An historic collapse. Enough said.

Round 3 - finally an exhale

The ship has righted and all is good again in the World. Lakes got rewarded for their aggressiveness - too bad they couldn't make the freebies. Form is holding and Game 4 will start to show us the real tenor of this series.

In a long series, the team that can successfully make the right adjustments will win it. I'm giving the edge to the Lakers on this one. If the C's can somehow steal 4 (not likely) then, different story. But, if it goes the distance, the Lakes have the biggest advantage. I'm really looking forward to that Game 6 - close em out in Boston!! 21 years seems like only yesterday.

Round 2 - the fix is in

After 30 years of watching NBA basketball, I will agree that the officiating is generally horrible. But, tonight, for Laker fans, it was atrocious. Its been awhile since I've seen suck erratic and one-sided calls (38-10 free throws!!). Almost like they said "Let's put LA in a huge hole and see what happens". Amazingly, they almost pulled it out. Looks like 3 straight for LA in LA - more familiar rims and home-cooking calls.

I'm still holding to the 2-0 Celtics, 3-2 Lakers and tense game 6 to C's and Game 7 to the Lake Show. We'll see.

Round 1 is in the books

Quite a frustrating night. Not unhappy but frustrated. Lakes have seen the best the C's have and came up short. The C's have *not* seen the best the Lakes have. That's why it was frustrating.

Clearly, if the C's win, PP will get the MVP. He is that important to the team. When he was out in the 3rd, Lakes made a huge run. If Pierce is compromised at all, Lakes have an easier path.

On the other hand, Kobe doesn't mean any less to the Lakers. Off night (off as in choppy) for him. They had sooo many open shots. Felt disjointed and rushed. Twill be interesting to hear the post-game chatter.

I still feel good about the series. Looking like 7 games for sure. 1/2 for C's 3/4/5 for Lakes 6 for C's and Seismic Game 7. Getting shivers thinking about that last - tho I'd love for Lakes to go 4 straight and close it out in Game 6. But, this already smells like a 7 Game Knock-down Drag-out affair (rubbing hands).

Larry Bird is the antichrist...

If it's truly possible to quiver with excitement, this week is it...for basketball fans. The best NBA team ever (Lakers) against the beantown bozos. The best part is we get a steady diet of highlights from the TEN NBA Finals between these two teams.

This reminded me that Larry Bird is such a despicable player. And, he is NOT the "basketball jesus" contrary to what many say (here and anything related to basketball by Bill Simmons). If he was, why haven't the Pacers won anything since he's been running the show (they did win 3 ABA championships)?

Plus, he's a Celtic. That, by definition, makes him evil.

Its funny but anyone under 30 probably doesn't realize the malice that Lakers and Celtics fans have for the other's teams. Even The Truth knows the Celtics are evil - you know he was laughing and had his fingers crossed!!

And, he was captain of the ugliest starting five in the history of basketball - Danny Ainge, Dennis Johnson, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish.

And, he was in those stupid commercials with Jordan. Ugh!

Go Lakes!!!

Can they sweep?

one down, 3 to go. I'm thinking the Spurs had their best shot to steal home court and blew it big time. I originally thought Lakes in 6. But, now?

Did it!

Stepped up to the plate and let the Spirit do so good work. David just looking for some money for food or a movie. We'll see if he follows through and finds me for a refill.

Praise God!

New Style

So, with a little prodding from a colleague, I've updated both my blogs(!) with a little more sizzle. Also, I was able to "fix" a configuration so that certain content wouldn't show up in a certain place. So, all good there.

Now that the bug is fixed, I'll be posting back here more on the current Silly Season and the Good News.

Ciao.

I'm Splitting Up (with) My Blog

Wow.  Google really is taking over the world...

"Your blogs are now accessed with a Google Account..."

...funny how we used to think (fear?) that about Microsoft.  Or, maybe its just my blog! :-)

Also, please note that this blog will become exclusively for my non-Jive, Political, Religious views.  I've established a second blog for non-Jive, non-Political, non-Religious posts here.

Thanks.

Hoops Heaven This Weekend

Never in the history has there been the hoops we'll see this weekend. CBS @ 300 PM Saturday and see ya Wednesday...

http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament - UCLA/Memphis and UNC/Kansas - woof
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/tournament - Stanford/UConn and LSU/Tennessee - dbl woof

I'm not sure which will better. We'll just have to watch all 6 games. :-)

(looks like espn is expecting a few hits for the Men's side, eh?)

Ciao.

Realistic Goals & What To Do When You Miss Them

My new commute has afforded me the opportunity to catch up on some reading. One book I'm running through right now is "Wars of Blood and Faith", a collection of articles by Ralph Peters.

WARNING: Mr Peters is retired Army so espouses a *very* pro-military viewpoint - you've been warned. I've included the link for context.

In the article "Plan B for Iraq", published in Armed Forces Journal, he says this:

"We must not only prepare for the worst, but calculate how to turn it to our advantage."

This struck a chord with me. I've heard the saying "Plan for the best and prepare for the worst" many times. However, in practice, I've mostly seen folks do the former and ignore the latter (cant? or wont?). Of course, in context, Peters' statement reflects the seriousness of the truly life and death decisions our military face in the field. In the software development world, we don't have quite the same consequences.

But, it seems this view can be quite useful - what happens after things didn't work out the way you wanted them to? Take the outcome and work it to your advantage. Seems easy. But, in practice...

Ciao.

More H4H Guatemala photos

Link from Karen Beck (she took tons of great pics) for the 2008 trip.
Link from Gerson Robboy for the 2007 trip.

Here's a good one showing the end result...

Things That Make Me Say "Huh?" - 2008-03-26

A new meaning of change.

Um, $300,000 for college... but the big tickets are giving it away and MIT is a bit less than that.

Speaking of "21" have you heard its opening this Friday...cool site tho.

The Giving Dilemma

(...finally figured out how to stick a title on these blog posts...)

One of the draws for jumping to Jive was the location downtown. I was/am excited to be in the middle of some action. The (perceived) downside is the number of FDOTL (Folks Down On Their Luck). To me, this a call to action....

But, what action. I've pondered for quite some time about how to spread His love without being too sappy or just handing out greenbacks. For a long time, my mentality has been "what they do with it they will answer for not me". However, I've felt that was simply "buying my way" out of any involvement.

So, time to put the faith to the test. Here's the plan:

1. Engage this *person* - ask for their name and story for prayer.
2. Pray! (this would be the key part)
3. Hand over a little encouragement (this would be the hard part)

Current thought: McDonald's "arch" card. For "repeat customers", I get the card back and throw some more cash on it. Concern(?) is that minimum increment is $5.00. Can buy remotely.

Option is to do the gift certificates. Didn't ask when I was there today (just got 4 arch cards). But, at the very least, they can be ordered online ($1.00 increments in book of 5).

Another option is Subway. Same deal as "arch" card. .50 fee to order online (if too lazy to go to a counter/store). Doesn't look like they do gift certificate.

Other options?

Working on building up some Good Dad Points. I didn't bring the camcorder but I should be able to take a pic w/the phone.
















And I'm skipping the UCLA and Lakers games to be here - plus points. But I'm blogging during the 4th Grade Musical - so minus points (rats).

Wondering what the distinction between "internal" and "external" blogs are (or should be)? Seems like many folks have two views to share - 1 that is relevant to "the company" and 1 that is relevant to "the self". Since the Jive-ing has started, I've noticed the line between these two views is blurring. Should it be so easy to "merge" these views? I expect the Legal Dept to be shaking at the thought of words and images "getting inside" with a chance to offend.

A link to a blog with interesting points/URLs about Waterfall.

Ciao.

Been meaning to post about Guate2008. Once again, a life-altering experience (how many of those can yo have??) and *highly* recommended for ANYONE. I've flickr'd some pix. Just got a ton (1800 is close to 2000, right?) and will update the flickr site with references.

In sum, helping other folks is simply the right thing to do. Going to Guatemala to do it is a stretch (mostly $$wise). Chances are pretty good I'll go again. Maybe Honduras or Costa Rica? But, also, why not Hillsboro, Eastside, New Orleans...?

I hope to post a longer thread on this mental discussion I'm having. For now, though, the Habitat trip is one of the best things I've done. Each time I feel closer to Him and isn't that the point?

Ciao

In the midst of "Day One @ Jive". But, I wanted to followup the "Last Day @ Serena". It was a bit surreal - I needed to inform HR of my departure. I'd thought a bit about the Going Away Lunch. As it turned out, it was quite neat. Its always interesting to find out what folks think about you when "politics" aren't in play.

Email worked until 600 PM. So, I managed to get some email best wishes and such. No one said good riddance...all good. I definitely felt an "he's old news" vibe from the management team. My thoughts are still with the good folks stuck there. I hope it works as well as possible there. Clearly, He has opened this path for me. (I pray I don't screw it up.)

Ciao

Haven't posted in awhile...went to Guatemala (will post on that later) but have been working on "the jump". Leaving Serena today to move to Jive Software. It's all good and I'll try and post through the process.

Currently, I'm sitting here waiting for an exit interview with Serena HR. Not sure if I need to book that or not. We'll see. But, for now, I'll work on some Java code. :-)